How do you solve a problem like Volcano?

[Andor13]

So I just joined a high level Pathfinder game and apparently our first job is to fetch an artifact that a previous team of heros chucked into a volcano. It's at the bottom. Of the Magma Chamber.

So, anyone have any ideas for spells or items to allow one to survive, navigate, and move through enormous amounts of lava? Pretty much anything in the SRD is on the table. So far the only ways I've come up with to actually be immune to fire is either a 20th level Fire Charm Onamori using the Sutra rules or the Form of the Dragon III spells.

[Elysiume]

So I just joined a high level Pathfinder game and apparently our first job is to fetch an artifact that a previous team of heros chucked into a volcano. It's at the bottom. Of the Magma Chamber.

So, anyone have any ideas for spells or items to allow one to survive, navigate, and move through enormous amounts of lava? Pretty much anything in the SRD is on the table. So far the only ways I've come up with to actually be immune to fire is either a 20th level Fire Charm Onamori using the Sutra rules or the Form of the Dragon III spells.Fiery Body (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/f/fiery-body/) gets you fire immunity, but is a 9th level spell. Depends on how high level we're talking, I guess. A tenth level Hellknight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/e-h/hellknight/) also has fire immunity. Fire (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/paizo-domains/fire-domain/) and some subdomains (Arson, Smoke) get fire immunity at level 20.

That said, just moving through lava would be incredibly difficult. Lava is way denser than a person, so you wouldn't sink. You'd mostly float, even in armor. Something like Etherealness + Conditional Teleport would work (set the condition to "one round after I discharge Etherealness") for swimming around in lava without taking damage, but once you find it, you're still taking 30d6 - 50d6 damage from being in the lava and 1d3 rounds of residual half-lava damage. Protection from Energy would take care of half of that, assuming average rolls, and Energy Resistance would take a good chunk of out of the remainder.

Summoning, allying, or binding something that is immune to fire is also an option, but prone to the same issue: moving through lava would be incredibly difficult. You can use the same Etherealness trick, follow the elemental down, then, once the item is found, exit, discharge Etherealness, and the now tangible elemental grabs the artifact as they float up like a cork.

What classes are available to you, either as party members, allies, or hirelings? What's your budget?

[Helluin]

Assuming there is no enemy in the volcano, and that the artifact is not sentient, there is no reason that you’d have to do this yourself. Since you are high level, I assume you have access to 8th level spells. Just bind an elder magma elemental (16HD, within the limit of greater planar binding) to your service, or ask your deity for a fire-immune creature through planar ally. Locate the artifact with Discern Location and communicate it to your minion with telepathic bond.

[Arcane_Secrets]

Couldn't you try bringing the artifact to you with some kind of boosted telekinesis after scrying for exactly where it is in the chamber?

[Andor13]

What classes are available to you, either as party members, allies, or hirelings? What's your budget?

The party has no casters as such, unfortunately. I just joined, and the first session was mostly greetings and information so I don't have a good handle on everyone's exact abilities, but we have an Alchemist, A Paladin (I believe), I'm playing a Warlord/Zealot who should be very good at keeping the party alive, as long as the threat isn't killing all of us every round.... Not sure about the other party member.

Allies and hirelings are limited, we're direct agents for a group of deities, but the deities are under a curse that means no one who doesn't serve them can recall that they exist and the same effect partially covers us.

Our budget is, frankly, ridiculous. We're on a mission for a god of magic and she can just mojo up whatever we want within a budget of 1 Million (!?!), each. But the catch is she needs to be able to un-mojo the items at the end of the mission for divine budget reasons so no consumables. Which is an inefficiency, given that a Ofuda scroll for the Charm of Fire Sutra would cost 10,000 go and provide immunity to fire for 20 hours. But as a permanent item the Onamori of the same charm is 800,000 gp. So... yeah.

Oh yes, and the artifact is under some kind of Divine level anti-divination effect. She was ticked about that, apparently she had to scry every volcano on the planet herself, and even then her results are not high-res.

[DeTess]

Does anyone (you care about) live near this volcano? If not, is making it erupt maybe an option? I think that there is at least one spell that would allow you to do so, and there might be some ways that don't require a spellcaster either. Maybe your alchemist can prepare a suitable large explosive to shock the mountain into wake-fullness?

[heavyfuel]

TL:DR: Fire Shield + Resist Fire works out to around 5 fire damage per round when diving in lava.

Lava deals 20d6 damage per round if you're submerged in it, but only deals 1d6 damage per round you're just touching it

A simple casting of Water Walk (which explicitly works on lava) should do it. You can then either heal the damage, or get some minor fire resistance (such as from a Resist Energy spell)

Since you need only dive for a while to get the item (assuming the item has withstood 20d6 per round every round ever since you threw in the volcano), a casting of Locate Object will definitely help you pinpoint the location. Just dive in and power through the 20x d6 of damage you'll suffer in the few rounds. Fire Shield spell might help (you halve the damage, and then Resist Energy cast by a 11th lv caracter takes care of the rest)

These spells are all relatively low level, and you can even buy scrolls with these spells if you don't have direct access to them. The most expensive scroll would be the Fire Shield one, at 700 gp.

[Pex]

Have it become a babysitter to an archipelago of 7 small land masses, fall in love with the island, and get married?

[Andor13]

Does anyone (you care about) live near this volcano? If not, is making it erupt maybe an option? I think that there is at least one spell that would allow you to do so, and there might be some ways that don't require a spellcaster either. Maybe your alchemist can prepare a suitable large explosive to shock the mountain into wake-fullness?

As far as we know, no. However it's been implied that the artifact is the reason the volcano has been erupting continuously since it was thrown in, so probably not? I think it's been more Mauna Loa than Krakatoa, but we could always screw that up.


TL:DR: Fire Shield + Resist Fire works out to around 5 fire damage per round when diving in lava.

Lava deals 20d6 damage per round if you're submerged in it, but only deals 1d6 damage per round you're just touching it

These spells are all relatively low level, and you can even buy scrolls with these spells if you don't have direct access to them. The most expensive scroll would be the Fire Shield one, at 700 gp.

Moving across the top of the lava is fairly trivial, but I'm under the impression that it's at the bottom of a large magma chamber, under perhaps a mile of lave? With the poor scrying it's unclear, but we're under the impression this is not a little dip. And while we can buy minor scrolls out of pocket, our mission budget specifies no consumables so... Plus I specifically asked if whatever was causing the anti-scrying effect would mess with our protective magics and the answer was "Not if they are at the Divine power level" so using regular scrolls there is a definite implied risk that the magic might fail us. At the artifact. Under a mile of lava. That seems like a thing to avoid.


Have it become a babysitter to an archipelago of 7 small land masses, fall in love with the island, and get married?

We probably need to excise the artifact giving her chronic explosive indigestion before she'll be able to win hearts.

[Andor13]

bump for the night crowd

[Blackhawk748]

Solidify the Lava using some sort of AoE cold spell, then use Fabricate to drill a tunnel to walk through. Normal Fire Resist should protect you from the heat.

[Mechalich]

So you need two things: immunity to fire damage, and the ability to earth glide. Earth glide works on lava.

Elemental Body - which is an alchemist extract - gets you Earth Glide. That takes care of the moving around in lava issue (though spell duration might be tricky).

Sonic Form - a 6th level alchemist extract - allows you to be 'considered' incorporeal. This should include the immunity to nonmagical attack forms that comes with being incorporeal, which means lava can't hurt you. Duration is short though, so you'll have to stock up on castings.

[Ramza00]

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

:smallfurious: I blame you OP for getting music stuck in my head for it is the same exact number of syllables and thus same musical timing.

How do you solve a problem like Volcano?

Stupid sound of music!

[Falontani]

As someone else has stated, planar ally a magma elemental to go down there and grab it. you have a deity, who honestly should have done this first