3.P - Real Life. 1,000,000 gp. Magic and Psionic Items. GO!

[MaxiDuRaritry]

So, you are you, in real life, with no class levels or D&D abilities at all. You are given the option of spending one million gold pieces on magic and psionic items, and you can use the magic item creation rules in the MIC to stack item qualities to make items with lots of different special abilities all in one. You can specify what feats and class/race abilities are utilized in the creation of your items, though you are using the base costs in the books, so using cost reduction feats (or usage restrictions, etc) don't affect the amount your items cost. You can also use the trap creation and magic item creation guidelines in the DMG to add x/day spells to your items.

What magic items do you want?

You can exchange the remainder of the 1,000,000 gp into real-life currency (selling the gold in exchange for its market value in whatever denomination you desire), but that's pretty boring when you have access to what amounts to superpowers, so try to use the vast majority for D&D equipment, por favor.

I'm not sure of everything I want, but I'll start with a specially crafted, high ML psychoactive skin of proteus with a video game inventory-slash-hammer space (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?177889-Brainstorm-for-Psionic-Tricks-Tactics-and-Combos-Handbook&p=23285432&viewfull=1#post23285432) using Reserves of Strength to break the ML limits on metamorphosis. I'd probably expend some money for some spellcasting services (or possibly just shell out for some soul crystals [MoI] of some psionic powers) to craft myself a new, immortal body (similar to Emperor Tippy's shadesteel golem tricks) to transfer my psyche into after applying the skin to it.

I was thinking of adding a bunch of /day spellcasting to the skin, as well, nabbing mainly divinations, healing, and transmutation/psychometabolism effects. Maybe some teleportation and blasty stuff, as well.

I'll have to think on it a bit.

But in the meantime, I'd like to know what kinds of things you'd like to get. Remember, you have 1,000,000 gp base cost magic items, adding a +50% markup to all but the most expensive effect on each item and the "common item effects" mentioned in the MIC. So a +6 belt of Con on a belt of battle wouldn't cost anything extra, beyond the cost of each separately.

[edit] Due to the posts just saying, "I want my x/day items of wish and miracle!" and more that would have undoubtedly followed after to +1 them, those are now disallowed. Das boring and predictable.

[AvatarVecna]

I mean, my first thought was just "Wish Abuse". Like...okay a Ring Of Big Wishes (let's call it...1/day Command Word "Wish" CL 17 w/ 9448 XP limit) costs 999,880 gp (and presumably the 120 gp left can be spent on making sure the physical ring is really cool or something I guess). Now I can duplicate basically any spell in the game, permanently summon things worth absurd amounts of gold, permanently create magic items of up to 55600 gp in value (or improve an existing magic item's value by up to 55600 gp), raise the dead, travel anywhere...or I can go beyond the normal effects and just hope the twisting doesn't screw anything up. But honestly, if I don't gotta worry about other mages in the world, 1/day Wishing is pretty cool for a mere mortal such as myself even without abuse.

At that point, presuming I don't have to compete with other mages out there in the world for at least a month, I probably take my time abusing the hell out of it. I'll use that "improving magic items" use to increase the XP limit on the Wish (which increases how much it can improve the item going forward). After like 35 days of that, my Ring Of Big Wishes has enough of an XP limit to create items with base cost ~3.05 million gp, which is enough for a "Ring Of Frequent Wishes" (at-will Command Word "Wish" CL 17 w/ 5544 XP limit). Now I spend every round using my "Ring Of Frequent Wishes" to exponentially increase its value. Sure, each round is only multiplying the previous round's XP limit by somewhere between 1.0023 and 1.024, but with 600 Wishes, all that multiplication builds up; by the end of the first hour on the 35th day of having my original item, I have an item of at-will Wish with a ~1.4 billion XP "limit".

At this point, among other things, I take a break from my monotonous "I wish this ring granted more powerful wishes" chanting. What I do next honestly barely matters. Make NI items worth ~17 billion gp each that duplicate spells Wish can't directly duplicate (like, spells that would be above the level limits of Wish, including breaking into epic), or items that give me millions of feats? Use my NI Wishes of NI power to somehow generate XP until I hit epic? Is "Epic Spellcasting" really significantly better than NI Wishes if NI power? Probably, but how much better? Is the power increase worth the grind to epic? Maybe. Is that power increase necessary for what I want to accomplish? Probably not, I don't think I'm imaginative enough to want things too grand for these Wishing rings to be incapable of granting. Of course, maybe I'll feel differently after my Int/Wis/Cha get boosted up 500 points and I suddenly realize I wanna take over the multiverse or something since it'd be so easy for a being of my massive intellect, and that massive intellect would realize some reason why it's the best course of action that stupid me doesn't yet realize.

Heck, even what I've described here isn't really all that abusive, since it took me 35 days to really get things going, but I could just as well have used my 1/day Wish to set up Planar Binding shenanigans in like...the first couple days. Maybe even the first day, if I could squeeze enough functionality into 55600 gp worth of item (realistically, I need a summoning circle, the actual PB spell, and then probably some skill boosters so I dominate the conversation). Wish up an Efreeti who gives the finger to XP limits and just wish for actually-infinitely-powerful items super-early.

[Maat Mons]

This was looking interesting until you said that custom items are allowed.

The base price of an item of Wish, usable at-will, at caster level 20, is 612,000 gp. The market price is a lot higher, because that includes 100 * 5 * 5,000 gp (at minimum) for the xp cost of the spell. But you're oddly set on base price, which stays the same no matter how much xp is allotted to each wish. So I guess it's the Wish item with an arbitrarily high xp limit.

Even if you switch things over to market price, to eliminate slightly delay Wish cheese, an item of at-will Miracle is still affordable, and very, very powerful.



For the much less cheese-able scenario of only printed items, I think I'd take it mostly in Platforms of Healing (Stronghold Builder's Guide, p81) and Beds of Regeneration (Stronghold Builder's Guide, p70). I don't know... 4 Beds of Regeneration and 20 Platforms of Healing?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Okay, fine. If you're gonna just parrot "wish/miracle 1/day lol" then no x/day or hour/minute/round/whatever of those spells unless the item in question is already in the books. Of course, the ring of 3 wishes already does this, but whatever. So no items of wish or miracle period.

Feel free to use the MIC rules to add item abilities to other items, though.

[AvatarVecna]

Candle Of Invocation then.

I mean okay yeah, I kinda figured going in that even just using a 1/day Wish with like a 10k XP limit (without abusing the infinite loop potential) would still be utterly absurd and not a helpful answer, but this is at least part of the point I was making: it takes something like 600k to get a 1/day Wish that can do the infinite looping thing, or it costs less than 10k to get a CoI and accomplish the same thing. "What could/would you get with a million gp" has "everything" as a legitimate answer, depending on how much cheese tolerance is in play. Sure you can put more effort in to get lesser effects, but like...the way the forum is being right now isn't exactly motivating me to put tons and tons of effort into posts that might not even become visible, y'know?

Anything decidedly uncheesy is gonna be borderline useless because it's polishing my Commoner 1 turd ass, and you can only polish a turd so much, and getting anything significant requires turning up the cheese. Sure, +6 Dex/+5 deflect/+5 natural is gonna make me hard to hit even for a professional sniper, but not impossible, and honestly I'm a lot more likely to die from a car crash anyway - and +3 HP just isn't enough to make me not become a meat crayon in that situation. Most of the really fun things that can be abused with magic items is pulling off nonsense with putting spells in items, but if that's off the table then items get a lot less interesting...but if it's on the table, anything that isn't "wish yourself to godhood" is deliberately playing down out of...what, a sense of fairness?


36000: Str +6 (enhancement)
36000: Dex +6 (enhancement)
36000: Con +6 (enhancement)
36000: Int +6 (enhancement)
36000: Wis +6 (enhancement)
36000: Cha +6 (enhancement)
50000: NA +5 (enhancement)
50000: AC +5 (deflection)
25000: Saves +5 (resistance)
50000: Saves +5 (luck)
13000: Monk's Belt
90000: Diplomacy +30 (competence)
10000 each: 20 skills +10 (competence)

AC +16, HP +3, Saves +13, Atk +3, unarmed damage 1d8+3, all skills +3, some skills +13, Diplomacy +33...eh? I guess in a real fight basically nobody can touch me, and my saves are good enough I'm never gonna get sick, my Diplomacy is good enough for basically anything I want and a bunch of other skills are nice too, but I'm still surprisingly fragile if something gets past my AC/Saves, and I'm not explosion-proof the way a real monk would be. +13 to a bunch of skills and +30 to Diplomacy is gonna be pretty useful. Can put that to good use making more money to use on IRL stuff in the future. But like, I got no casting to enhance with items, I've only got the 1 HD for fueling skill/HP shenanigans, and I have no idea if I'm gonna have magical competition at some point in the future with other people who got this offer. A million gp either can't save me from my fate, or can't not save me, depending on how far I'm allowed to take it.

If I'm less worried about actual combat, especially with other mages, I'd probably drop the NA bonus and the luck bonus and just turn that extra 150k into 70 million USD and see how I can use my wily skills and negotiation powers to become a billionaire quickly? But that also feels like a boring answer...but then what doesn't? Maybe I'm just kinda lacking in motivation to give the kinda answer you're looking for? Sorry. >.<

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Third Eye: Sense (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/universalItems.htm#sense) - 24k gp
Ring of Invisibility (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rings.htm#invisibility) - 20k gp
Custom: Teleport at will, CL 9 - 90k gp
Custom: Indomitability at will, CL 9 - 90k gp
Custom: Heal at will, CL 9 - 90k gp
Custom: Ruby Ray of Reversal at will, CL 11 - 132k gp
Custom: Telekinesis at will, CL 9 - 90k gp
Custom: Call Lightning Storm at will, CL 9 - 90k gp
Custom: Remove Disease at will, CL 5 - 30k gp
Custom: Guidance of the Avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a) at will, CL 3 - 12k gp
Custom: Fabricate at will, CL 20 - 200k gp
Custom: Restore Extremity at will, ML 9 - 90k gp
Custom: Lesser Restoration at will, CL 3 - 12k gp
Custom: Creeping Cold at will, CL 3 - 12k gp
Custom: Psionic Tongues at will, ML 3 - 12k gp
Ring of Sustenance - 2.5k gp

3.5k gp remaining for whatever else. I'm pretty sure neither Call Lightning Storm nor Creeping Cold has an obvious culprit.

[Kazyan]

A jade circlet of X/day Shapechange, at CL 25, can let you do more-or-less whatever it is you need to do (even with Wish via Zodar off-limits). I'm not sure what to do with the rest of the gold, but probably some of the passives from Biffoniacus_Furiou's list that I'd like to have on all the time.

[Bohandas]

lich phylactery 120000
Hewards handy haversack 2000
helm of teleportation 73500
ring of regeneration 90000
hand of the mage 900
bags of holdingx3 10000x3
bag of tricks (rust and tan) 3000, 6300
(subtotal 323800)
Decanter of Endless Water (9000)
Headband of Intellect 36000
device that uses fabricate at will 90000
Talisman of the Disc 500
Belt of giant Strength 36000
Rod of escape 3500
323800+175000=498800
survival pouch 3300
at will scholar's touch gloves 2000
tome of worldly memory 1500
and probably a bunch of other stuff

[Quertus]

Me as the base, eh? Hmmm…

So, immortality, including surviving the heat death of the universe, would be a priority. The easy answer is to pay for spellcasting services to travel to another universe that follows different laws, and doesn't have those problems. But let's ignore that for the moment, and look at the challenges inherent in remaining in this universe.

Surviving the heat death of the universe requires, at a minimum, the ability to… create air / survive in a vacuum regulate the amount of matter on the planet (both create and destroy) / survive without a planet avoid/survive/prevent the sun going supernova survive/prevent the sun going out create food & water / sustenance survive without company / create/summon new friends

And that's not even getting into things like black holes, dark matter, diseases, or just plain dieing from taking damage, or old age.

So, getting a new, immortal body, and having a safe, stable realm - like a permanent dream, or realm created with Genesis - and using Astral Projection seems the optimal route. And should work for protecting both into this world, or into another after the heat death of the universe.

Ages ago, when we rolled for superpowers, I rolled up (iirc) something like Sunbeam and Miracle. So, despite it having been taken off the list, that's still what I would aim for (just in the 0 XP, only to duplicate other spells versatility way, not in the crazy "go infinite" way).

Also, going against the spirit maybe, but I'd look towards the possibility of having some of these items being through Sculpt Self. Yes, horribly expensive, and not only utterly pointless but potentially actively detrimental if I'm just using Astral Projection, but, sometimes, you just want super powers, not gadgets, you know? (Especially for when you're enjoying a nudist lifestyle, after all other sentient life has long vanished from the universe)

Last thought before I try to save this: Dragons can eat anything. Which means that, when they cast Purify Food and Drink, it can affect anything. Which means that pollution (and maybe even radiation) are solvable issues. So maybe, just maybe, humanity might be eternally salvageable, too. Which means a few creature comforts for my Chosen (Heal, Regeneration, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, Steal Youth(?)) would be in order, too. And maybe an item or two just for them to research.

Although, honestly, I think I'd want a custom "Quertus' Man Cave" (complete with video games, movies, RPGs) over the default Mansion.

So, if there is a next time, I'll get down to the brass tacks of pricing and evaluating options.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

I came here to say "Shapechange at CL 25, and Dark Chaos Shuffle". Everything else (maybe Mind Blank, Foresight, stat boosters, something to keep your item safe, etc) are just gravy. Shapechange and the proper feats allow you to gain more HD, to gain a bevy of spells and special abilities, and that's just the beginning!

[Bohandas]

Me as the base, eh? Hmmm…

So, immortality, including surviving the heat death of the universe, would be a priority. The easy answer is to pay for spellcasting services to travel to another universe that follows different laws, and doesn't have those problems. But let's ignore that for the moment, and look at the challenges inherent in remaining in this universe.

Surviving the heat death of the universe requires, at a minimum, the ability to… create air / survive in a vacuum regulate the amount of matter on the planet (both create and destroy) / survive without a planet avoid/survive/prevent the sun going supernova survive/prevent the sun going out create food & water / sustenance survive without company / create/summon new friends=

Is a lich's phylactery a magic item?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Is a lich's phylactery a magic item?Yes, except to attune it to you you must be a lich.

[Maat Mons]

Actually, wait a minute. If you switch the limit to market price, Wish items are off the table.

Market price = item price + component price + base price. For a charges/day item of Wish, the component price is 50 * 5 * 5,000 gp = 1,250,000 gp. The cost reduction for charges/day applies only to base price, so it doesn't reduce that figure at all.

I think the cost reductions for "only usable by X" apply to the entire market price, but you should be banning those cost reductions anyway.

This would still allow items like the Ring of Three Wishes, which only have some finite number of uses. But it would prevent things like the 1/day item, which can give infinite Wishes if you wait long enough.

It wouldn't prevent people from getting Miracle, Limited Wish, or any number of other highly abusable spells at-will though. So disallowing custom items that duplicate spells is probably for the best.



Tangentially, if this were for the D&D world, I'd go with an amulet with the following effects:

Ability score bonuses, +6 enhancment, all (6x 36,000 gp)
Death Ward (Ring of Death Ward; 60,000 gp)
Energy resistance 30, cold and fire (2x 44,000 gp)
Immunity to critical hits (Heavy Fortification armor ability; +5 (so 35,000 gp?))
Immunity to transmutation effects (Proof Against Transmutation armor ability; +5 (so 35,000 gp?))
Mind Blank (Third Eye Conceal; 120,000 gp)
Save bonus, +5 resistance (25,000 gp)
True Seeing (Hathran Mask of True Seeing; 75,000 gp)

And, of course, a curse that prevents it from being removed (unless Remove Curse is cast). I mean, if my head comes off, the curse would logically no longer keep the amulet in place. But once my head is off, the protective powers of this item won't really be able to help me anyway.

If I've done my math right on non-associated slots, the cost increase for multiple abilities, and the specific exemptions in MIC to that second one, it comes out to 987,500 gp, plus whatever the curse costs.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

Some cheap items would be nice too. At-will Prestidigitation seems nice, but even just a Vestment of Many Styles (shapeshifting clothes) would be so useful! At 500gp, it's a steal!

[Bohandas]

And an item with a continuous prestidigitation effect. 1000 gp

[Kaiwen]

I'd post useful or powerful items, but it seem people have already tackled that, so..

5400gp – 3 command word items of Animate Rope
10800gp - Command word item of Aversion
10800gp - Command word item of Attraction
12000gp - Continuous item of Hold Person
56000gp - Continuous item of Sensory Deprivation
1800gp - Command word item of Stupor
10800gp - Command word item of Crisis of Breath
50400gp - Command word item of Implanted Suggestion
27000gp - Command word item of Dominate Person
50400gp - Command word item of Control Body
50400gp - Command word item of Modify Memory
27000gp - Command word item of False Sensory Input
2000gp - Continuous item of Lesser Vigor
1800gp - Use-activated item of Power Word: Pain
8000gp - Nipple clamps of exquisite pain
12000gp - Continuous item of Alter Self (The only item here that intentionally benefits me)
1800gp - Command word item of Psionic Minor Creation
2500gp - 5 Vestments of many styles

In total, that's only 356,100gp, so you have plenty to combine items and get other, more practical items. You should probably also pick up items of Delay Death, Dispel Magic, Revivify, and Programmed Amnesia, in case something goes very wrong.

[Maat Mons]

I just realized my Cursed Amulet of Avoiding Nasty Things somehow didn't wind up with Freedom of Movement. That's a oversight that cannot be allowed to stand.

*Sigh* I guess the +6 to all ability scores has to go. It didn't really fit with the defensive theme anyway. Well, the bonuses to Dex, Con, and Wis did, in part. At least getting rid of those bonuses makes room for all 5 energy resistances.

So the amulet is currently standing at:

Death Ward (Ring of Death Ward; 60,000 gp)
Freedom of Movement (Ring of Freedom of Movement; 40,000 gp)
Energy resistance 30, acid, cold, electricity, fire and sonic (5x 44,000 gp)
Immunity to critical hits (Heavy Fortification armor ability; +5 (so 35,000 gp?))
Immunity to transmutation effects (Proof Against Transmutation armor ability; +5 (so 35,000 gp?))
Mind Blank (Third Eye Conceal; 120,000 gp)
Save bonus, +5 resistance (25,000 gp)
True Seeing (Hathran Mask of True Seeing; 75,000 gp)

Which I think comes out to 980,000 gp, plus however much it costs to get it cursed. Though it's possible I assigned the "uncustomary slot" price increase to some things that shouldn't have had it.

[Kaiwen]

I just realized my Cursed Amulet of Avoiding Nasty Things somehow didn't wind up with Freedom of Movement. That's a oversight that cannot be allowed to stand.

*Sigh* I guess the +6 to all ability scores has to go. It didn't really fit with the defensive theme anyway. Well, the bonuses to Dex, Con, and Wis did, in part. At least getting rid of those bonuses makes room for all 5 energy resistances.

So the amulet is currently standing at:

Death Ward (Ring of Death Ward; 60,000 gp)
Freedom of Movement (Ring of Freedom of Movement; 40,000 gp)
Energy resistance 30, acid, cold, electricity, fire and sonic (5x 44,000 gp)
Immunity to critical hits (Heavy Fortification armor ability; +5 (so 35,000 gp?))
Immunity to transmutation effects (Proof Against Transmutation armor ability; +5 (so 35,000 gp?))
Mind Blank (Third Eye Conceal; 120,000 gp)
Save bonus, +5 resistance (25,000 gp)
True Seeing (Hathran Mask of True Seeing; 75,000 gp)

Which I think comes out to 980,000 gp, plus however much it costs to get it cursed. Though it's possible I assigned the "uncustomary slot" price increase to some things that shouldn't have had it.

You can squeeze some extra in if you reduce the spell and caster levels on your spell effects.
Death Ward and Freedom of Movement can go down to SL2, CL1 (Sanctum Spell + Mage Slayer + Runescarred Berserker).
Resist Energy can go down to SL1 (Practiced Spellcaster + Ranger).
You can replace Heavy Fortification with Sanctum Living Undeath (SC) cast by a Spellgifted Ur-Priest (SL1, CL1). You get -4 Cha, but there's ways to boost that back. You can add Invisible (+0 metamagic) if you don't want to look like a zombie.

In total, I think that saves you around 172k gp, which is enough to squeeze some other things in. Maybe even some of the ability bonuses you dropped!

Edit: Just curious, how are you putting Proof Against Transmutation on an amulet?

Edit 2: Just a suggestion I was playing with earlier, Sanctum Invisible Necrotic Empowerment (LM, Clr8 Sor8 Wiz8) cast by an Ur-Priest with Necrotic Cyst, Mage Slayer, and Pierce Magical Concealment can be SL7 CL1, for total of 56k gp for +8 enh to Int, Wis, and Dex, +8 NA, and +5 comp Fort. And 100 temp HP, whenever you feel like taking your amulet off and putting it on again.

[Quertus]

At-will Miracle should cost 9*9*2k=162k, or 324k as a super power via Sculpt Self. That would allow me to Plane Shift to the Astral plane, where a single casting of Genesis would cost (9*17*10)+(1k*5)=6530.

Next up, a new body. And here we hit the first snag for at-will Miracle: AFB, but the ritual of transformation likely imposes an XP cost (and might only explicitly mention Wish - again, AFB). So, at a minimum, it's (9*17*10)+(5000*5), or 26,530 per casting of Wish - which, really, it should only require 1 to transform me into… what? An Elan? I would probably lose all my memories. A custom "me-lan", where I keep my memories? Well, even astral projecting, if I take subdual damage and get knocked unconscious, I wouldn't be able to activate my powers, and might starve to death. We'll go into more detail later in another post as to what exactly I'd become, but a new body is definitely in the plans.

Astral Projection is where we hit our second limitation on things at-will Miracle just cannot duplicate. So, at-will Astral Projection will run (9*17*2k)+(50*(1k+(17*50))), iirc. That's a lot of math. (1850*50)+306k=92500+306000=398.5k.

But now we get to the real cheese. As much as I may hate it, by RAW, apparently items used while using Astral Projection aren't really used. So it seems a waste not to utilize that, and reuse any one-shot items… like that Wish. So it would make more sense to buy a Ring of 1 Wishes, and reuse it, than to pay for spellcasting services.

Wish is banned? No problem - just a custom spell of changing race is fine. I'll even pay full wish price for this much more limited item.

What else can't I cover with Miracle? Well, obviously I'm missing a lot of static bonuses that would be really nice. Obviously, this build isn't "perfect". But, shrug. I've done without thus far, I'll continue doing so unless having them is essential to my plans.

What else do I need for my own immortality? Immunity to subdual damage, Continent Teleport (or, really, just a custom "Triggered Dismissal"), Immunity to Disease / Cure Disease. What else can render me "unconscious but not dead", or otherwise crimp my style? Drugs, aging, limb loss, radiation, starvation, dehydration, maybe suffocation. I think that the combination of race, Miracle, and Astral Projection will suffice.

Once we hit magic, we've got mind control and petrification to worry about. There's a cowl for Mind Blank, but I'm not sure - outside race - how to protect from petrification or various Polymorph effects. We'll add that to our considerations for race when we circle back.

Two spells come to mind as being outside the range of Miracle, but inside the circle of "things I love": Teleport Through Time, and Mindrape. Polymorph any Object is also desirable, but likely exists on some domain or another. So, one use of those two should run (9*17*50)=7650 each. Not so much "essential" tactically as "things I'd feel bad not taking".

So, I still need to address my form. Plus my Chosen - what abilities I'm going to take for three purpose of being able to take care of them (potentially for eternity). And delve a bit further into how I'll deal with intelligent opposition from both the muggle and magical worlds.

We'll see what actually posts.

Ideas so far
324,000 at will Miracle, as a super power via Sculpt Self
6,530 180' radius demiplane, via Genesis
398,000 at will Plane Shift
32,650 Ring of 1 Wish / 1-shot transformation ritual
7,650 1-shot Mindrape
7,650 1-shot Teleport Through Time

Maybe…
(200,800 Cowl of Mind Blank)
(120,000 Third Eye Conceal)

[Crichton]

I'd look towards the possibility of having some of these items being through Sculpt Self




At-will Miracle should cost 9*9*2k=162k, or 324k as a super power via Sculpt Self.



I'm probably just missing something, as I'm not super familiar with the ins and outs of Sculpt Self shenanigans, but how do you substitute the xp costs that Sculpt Spell says you have to pay personally, for gp expenditure here instead? SS isn't a magic item, you can't buy it, nor is it a spellcasting service you can pay for. It's a feat, that doesn't do anything on its own aside from enable you to then spend your own xp for the alterations. The xp costs are calculated from magic item pricing numbers, but no actual gp is ever involved, nor is it a thing you can substitute for paying the xp costs (at least not according to my quick readthrough of the Dragon 304 article.

[Quertus]

I'm probably just missing something, as I'm not super familiar with the ins and outs of Sculpt Self shenanigans, but how do you substitute the xp costs that Sculpt Spell says you have to pay personally, for gp expenditure here instead? SS isn't a magic item, you can't buy it, nor is it a spellcasting service you can pay for. It's a feat, that doesn't do anything on its own aside from enable you to then spend your own xp for the alterations. The xp costs are calculated from magic item pricing numbers, but no actual gp is ever involved, nor is it a thing you can substitute for paying the xp costs (at least not according to my quick readthrough of the Dragon 304 article.

Point. I'm very accustomed to thinking in terms of GP / XP transparency (and often create custom spells for that purpose). If that's not available, that's another wrinkle in my plans.

Hmmm… for that price, it could be "ribcage runes" or some other similarly "part of me" item. Or a Ravenloft Device, maybe? (I don't actually know how those work)

[Kaiwen]

Point. I'm very accustomed to thinking in terms of GP / XP transparency (and often create custom spells for that purpose). If that's not available, that's another wrinkle in my plans.

Hmmm… for that price, it could be "ribcage runes" or some other similarly "part of me" item. Or a Ravenloft Device, maybe? (I don't actually know how those work)

Ravenloft devices simulate magic items, and their effects are identical, besides for being nonmagical and requiring external power sources. It doesn't let you get out of paying XP.

The obvious solution is to gain XP. Gate + "Fail your save against my Wrack" + repeated coup de graces should do the trick.

[Quertus]

Ravenloft devices simulate magic items, and their effects are identical, besides for being nonmagical and requiring external power sources. It doesn't let you get out of paying XP.

The obvious solution is to gain XP. Gate + "Fail your save against my Wrack" + repeated coup de graces should do the trick.

… my usual solution to GP/XP transparency (or, at least, my favorite) is to purchase XP components. In the case of Sculpt Self, I have my characters eat said XP components in order to gain the XP (for Sculpt Self purposes only).

In that regard, I treat sculpt self exactly as any other magic item.

Also, WBL calculations suggest you count Sculpt Self against character wealth. So it's counted that way there, too.

So I don't think I'm too far off base considering Sculpt Self upgrades as "items".

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Don't forget to add a constant magic circle against evil effect on yourself, in case anyone gets past your mind blank effect. Remember that not only does MCAE protect against charm and domination effects, but also against being possessed.

And add in a dominate effect, as well, since anyone managing to get past your mind blank and magic circle with any sort of mind-control effect that isn't mind-affecting (like necrotic cyst, I believe) still has to make opposed Cha checks against your concurrent dominate effect.

Yeah, they overlap somewhat, but not completely, and having multiple ways to defend yourself is always nice.

[edit 1] Also, Quertus, note that I have my very skin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?177889-Brainstorm-for-Psionic-Tricks-Tactics-and-Combos-Handbook&p=23285432&viewfull=1#post23285432) as the locus for my magic item-ness. It costs less than giving them to yourself as a set of superpowers, since you get to spend GP instead of XP.

[edit 2] Would crafting a psychoactive skin out of riverine make you physically invulnerable?

[Crichton]

… my usual solution to GP/XP transparency (or, at least, my favorite) is to purchase XP components. In the case of Sculpt Self, I have my characters eat said XP components in order to gain the XP (for Sculpt Self purposes only).

How does that work? Legit question, how can I buy real xp? That would make things like Sculpt Spell a lot better. I know of ways to pay for crafting xp, such as distilled joy, etc, but those specify that they can only be used in item creation.





[edit 1] Also, Quertus, note that I have my very skin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?177889-Brainstorm-for-Psionic-Tricks-Tactics-and-Combos-Handbook&p=23285432&viewfull=1#post23285432) as the locus for my magic item-ness. It costs less than giving them to yourself as a set of superpowers, since you get to spend GP instead of XP.


Would still be susceptible to Disjunction and/or AMF or Dispel, though, right? Unlike Sculpt Self abilities, which are Ex (aside from direct spellcasting gained through SS, which is Su, so stops working in an AMF, but is still unaffected by a Disjunction)

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Would still be susceptible to Disjunction and/or AMF or Dispel, though, right? Unlike Sculpt Self abilities, which are Ex (aside from direct spellcasting gained through SS, which is Su, so stops working in an AMF, but is still unaffected by a Disjunction)Well, this thread IS about magic items.

But if you consider that to be a big enough problem to worry about IRL, go to the Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood book and look up Devices. They're (Ex) versions of magic items. They require batteries to run, so you'd have to spend some resources on those. My favorites are the ones that run off your own bioelectrical output. No having to charge the batteries, since your body's electrochemical production does it for you. And since my main magic item is my own skin, adding a bio battery to power it only makes sense.

[Crichton]

Well, this thread IS about magic items.

But if you consider that to be a big enough problem to worry about IRL, go to the Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood book and look up Devices. They're (Ex) versions of magic items. They require batteries to run, so you'd have to spend some resources on those. My favorites are the ones that run off your own bioelectrical output. No having to charge the batteries, since your body's electrochemical production does it for you. And since my main magic item is my own skin, adding a bio battery to power it only makes sense.

No yeah, I get that. It was mainly to point out the primary difference between his suggested SS abilities' downsides and those of magic items, even ones made nearly 'innate' as your skin idea.

As for devices, yeah, they are pretty great, in that they are effectively Ex magic items. If they're allowed, they're awesome.
Sadly, they're also 3rd party, and so aren't often an allowed source. (licensed, yes, but still 3rd party)
This particular thread is your creation, though, so if you're good with 3rd party sources, that opens up a ton of really good options, including devices.

[Quertus]

Making friends and influencing people - Quertus' Chosen

There are a great many potential options for how to not spend eternity alone. The most obvious is to use that "totally not a Wish" to transform my Chosen into similarly immortal beings. This has merit, and we'll discuss this plan further when I circle back to considering my new form. But it's not the only possibility.

For example I could turn my Chosen into Undead. This would certainly make them low-maintenance. However, since I don't want to completely discount magical opposition, and I don't know how turning interacts with Astral Projection. Also, should they die to accidents or unnatural causes, undead are harder to revive. Ultimately, I think we'll skip that option.

We could simply live on the Astral, or some other timeless plane. But, over an infinite timeframe, if there's a greater than 0% chance of them dieing, being sucked into a color pool and dieing of old age, etc, it still results in the inevitable death of all the Chosen.

----- Enter the Dystopia -----

Something that has actually long appealed to me is… OK, let me give the background. I dimly recall a short story about a… cursed?… library where people would learn about their soulmate - who died 3,000 years ago. Or the happiest moment in their life… which was when they were 9.

I also dimly recall a… movie?… where people went to heaven, and got to choose their personal heaven - which was them reliving their best moment.

Combine that with the idea of Simulacrum - an immortal being that cannot grow or learn. And, being me, Mindrape.

Set everyone to their best day, and let them relive it for eternity.

But, wait, what if a Simulacrum perishes? Well, I guess you have to keep the original on hand - perhaps petrified, or the subject of Sink or Trap the Soul - in an area where they can regenerate. Or, even more macabre, 50x the required components (so, a little over 4 pounds of the individual) worked into a focus for the Simulacrum spell.

But let's assume I'm too dumb to accept just being happy, and want to learn and grow. So I'm not a Simulacrum, but everyone else is. Sound like a nightmare? Probably. But let's talk logistics. Well, that 180' radius demiplane can doubtless hold a bunch of statues and foci - probably more than I'd care to keep. If I'm wrong, well, Genesis is pretty cheap to cast, and the total volume, what, goes up x8 with 1 more casting, x27 with a second, x64 on a third… and increases 3 orders of magnitude by the 9th. Just how many Chosen could I want?

That which I love, I love forever. I still enjoy videogames that came out 20-30 years ago. But, eventually, I might get tired of companions who can never learn or grow. What can I do to accommodate "real boy" Chosen?

----- Caring is Sharing -----

Again, the obvious answer is to share my transformation tech. There might be some wrinkles there, and… OK, a finite number of Chosen, over an infinite time frame? If there is any chance of accidental death, intentional death (from each other or outside sources), or even suicide, well, over an infinite timeframe, it means that I'll have 0 Chosen left.

So, maybe I can give them their own demiplane where they're statues, use Astral Projection on the statues, then return just the projection to flesh?

Even so, humans like having kids. If I don't Mindrape that away (or prevent it with a non-reproductive form, which might still require Mindrape to prevent unhappiness) I'll still have Family to protect. So, let's assume that, no matter what, it needs to be a solvable issue.

Well, Miracle can let me cast Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, and variants thereof, like Quertus' Man Cave, and probably even extradimensional gardens and forests. The wording of the spell discusses "components", but not "foci", so it's questionable whether I'll need the bit of marble, silver spoon, etc, or counterparts for the other spells. At 5 GP each, it's a trivial expense - and, better yet, I can always collect them later.

The Mansion can feed 12 people per caster level. And nothing says I can't cast it repeatedly. In fact, since everyone needs time off, or has days where they want to wander a hedge maze when someone else wants to work on art projects or whatever, I'll almost certainly be creating several different environments simultaneously.

But the Chosen - and their Families - still have to transition between them. This may prove difficult after the heat death of the universe.

So, it sounds like I'll need to use Genesis for yet a 3rd realm - this one simply as a "transition station".

But what if - for whatever reason - I'm not around?

For bare minimum subsistence, they'd need Create Food and Water traps, and a Heal effect would be really handy. Also, at least 1 Ring of Prestidigitation, to flavor the food, would be a huge quality of life improvement for quite cheap (and, being me, I might well make it an "Infinity Gauntlet of Least Wish" instead). And something would need to dispose of the waste products - if for no other reason than because the plane is of finite size.

Also, unless they're all naked, something to Mend or Make Whole their clothes (and bedding, bowls, utensils, etc?) is probably important.

Yes, the best answer is probably to just give them their own "dynamic Mansion generator" - however, that's expensive. Also, over an infinite timeframe, I need to make sure that the probability of these devices being destroyed is 0. Adamantine? Living metal? Force?

Still so much work to be done. But this is the direction I'd go.


Don't forget to add a constant magic circle against evil effect on yourself, in case anyone gets past your mind blank effect. Remember that not only does MCAE protect against charm and domination effects, but also against being possessed.

And add in a dominate effect, as well, since anyone managing to get past your mind blank and magic circle with any sort of mind-control effect that isn't mind-affecting (like necrotic cyst, I believe) still has to make opposed Cha checks against your concurrent dominate effect.

Yeah, they overlap somewhat, but not completely, and having multiple ways to defend yourself is always nice.

Also, Quertus, note that I have my very skin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?177889-Brainstorm-for-Psionic-Tricks-Tactics-and-Combos-Handbook&p=23285432&viewfull=1#post23285432) as the locus for my magic item-ness. It costs less than giving them to yourself as a set of superpowers, since you get to spend GP instead of XP.

I wasn't going to address this yet, but… since you brought it up…

I'm still working on the math, but I expect that surviving the heat death of the universe alongside the Chosen will cost most of my resources.

Further, since I'm working on an infinite timeframe, anything greater than a 0% failure rate is unacceptable.

No matter what defenses I take, ultimately, an infinite number of dedicated magical attackers / predators / whatever will eventually succeed in bypassing them. For example, will any of that hold up to a Chosen of Mystra + antimagic?

Subsequently, my plan had been to get any really cheap defenses that I could afford, supplemented with whatever I can cast via Miracle.

And, if Magic turned out to be a thing… in this world? Hopefully I'd just outlive any aggression. In other D&D worlds? If I go there (or they come here), and I survive, I'll get more loot, and worry about perfecting my defenses then. In other, non-D&D worlds? Who knows how my defenses will interact / hold up. One of my characters can simply ignore Mind Blank (much to the chagrin of Quertus, my signature academia mage for whom this account is named), so, yes, I would want the kind of layered defenses you discuss. But I just haven't got the money for all of what I'd want.

I love your "skin" idea and, for a character, I'd absolutely do something like that. But I'm too paranoid. Having "your skin" as an item leaves it vulnerable to you being flayed alive. That's the level of paranoia I'm operating under - "what if I'm so drugged/Dominated/whatever that I don't object to being dismembered and flayed alive"? I want, when I recover my senses from being turned into a brain in a jar, to still return to "quality of life" immortality beyond the heat death of the universe.

Organic creatures can generally be drugged and mind controlled; Undead (and Outsiders, and Plants, and…) can be Rebuked; Constructs are vulnerable to the Rod of Construct Control. It's really hard to reach that oh so necessary 0% if facing the potential for infinite D&D threats - let alone infinite non-D&D opposition.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Your skin should be relatively safe from removal if it's cursed relatively harmlessly, such as with a "different effect" or "opposite effect" curse that prevents its removal. Like, if you have the psychoactive skin of proteus stacked twice, and the first is normal (albeit high level) while the other "cursed" effect adds templates of the appropriate CR/LA/HD (whichever is highest) instead of altering your entire form. Add on a regeneration effect to repair any damage it takes, and you should be good.

Give yourself Nystul's magic aura x/day and make any nascent mages around think that your magic powers are via items you're carrying instead of from your own skin, and you're good to go. It's not like anyone will know unless you tell them, especially since the skin is an (Ex) Device that doesn't show up under detect magic/psionics/whatever. It'd take some stupidly high divination abilities, and anyone you go up against who has that would be able to screw you almost no matter what.

If you're still worried, build yourself a body via (Ex) items of greater fabricate and polymorph any object, and enhance your body itself. Make it out of aurorum coated in thin sheets of riverine (and enhanced to rebuff/withstand disintegration effects). Now your body itself has a bunch of (Ex) powers, and you can make yourself immune to mind-swapping effects via things like mind blank, magic circle against evil, and the iron circlet of guarded souls (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/h-l/iron-circlet-of-guarded-souls/). Make that last one to be a warforged component, and give your body the ability to install such. You'll be protected from soul-altering stuff until and unless you die, in which case, the circlet will be removable, allowing you to be rezzed.

[Calthropstu]

So. 50 gp = 1 lb. 1lb = 16 oz. 1 oz of gold = 1,500(ish) USD. 16 oz of gold = 24,000 USD. ergo, 1gp = 480. 480 * 1,000,000 = 480,000,000.

So what items are worth more than becoming an instant Millionaire?

Attack spells are comparable in power to modern weaponry. I can buy a grenade launcher for 100,000 fairly easily. Much lower than the price to make a fireball at will item. So attack spells are out. Charm spells? Maybe. A charm at will item would only cost about 2k gp. That's like 480,000 USD. I could buy a lot of good will for 480,000, but using a charm during negotiations could easily recoup that. So put me down for 1 charm person at will item.

So 2k gp spent. I am down to 998,000. So now what? What would be worth more than the nearly 500 mil I would get by just converting? Hmmm. Teleportation is pretty high on that list. In fact, if you could get the ability to teleport at will, and then study how it works and replicate it scientifically you would be more than a millionaire. You would literally be making the most useful invention in the history of... ever. So how much for a teleportation item use activated infinite item? Looks like 5 * 9 * 2000. So 90,000 * 480 = 43,200,000. 43 mil to be able to teleport at will and, if you play your cards right, you could unravel how it works and duplicate it. But, that takes capital. So let's go ahead and convert 100k gold now to put aside towards uncovering the secret of teleportation. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Definitely worth trying however. Actually, let's just go ahead and spent that 100k on a ring of three wishes and just wish to know how to apply science to replicate teleportation without using magic, wish for the items required to make it happen, and wish for the finished product. (I know you don't want wish abuse, but this seems like a legitimate non abusive wish and can probably be replicated with other magics. I just don't want to go hunting for alternate methods.) Now you know how teleportation works, have the items to make it and have the finished product. So you can now replicate it as much as you need to. So now you're a guaranteed billionaire and have a secret "I teleport instantly" device that pretty much makes you a national security nightmare.

So what's next? After all that I have 808,000 gp left. I've become a household name, have revolutionized transportation, and will likely become the wealthiest person on earth. So now, some defense might actually be needed. I can already teleport and charm anyone, which is pretty cool. So now, let's make myself as hard to kill as possible. Invisibility at will will cost 20,000 (ring of invisibility). Hard to shoot what you can't see. So now I am down to 788,000 gp. I can teleport, turn invisible and charm at will.

Now let's get fabricate so we can infinitely recreate the items we made with the wishes. 9 * 5 * 2,000 = 90,000. Yay, now we can quickly make the machines that will replace airplanes. At a cost of near nothing. But now we're down to 698,000 gp. Still have over 2/3 of the original amount and I have already made a world changing effort.

So what next? Let's go ahead and get a 3x per day contingency item. So (11 * 6 * 2000) / (3/5) = 79,200. Let's put the contingency of "Someone is about to kill or seriously injure me: Teleport to safe location" 698,000 - 79200 = 618,800. Still over half.

Let's go ahead and get something fun. Hand of the mage. At 900 gp, I can manipulate objects from far away. Minor telekinesis at will? Sure. Only 900 gp. 617,900.

Let's grab a bag of holding. Go big or go home. Type 4 for a total of 10,000. In fact, let's go ahead and grab 5 of them. 50,000. 567,900. Yay, now we can open a smuggling operation. Or, you know, store all of our items for making teleportation devices. Ideally, we make a teleportation device that only teleports people to and from a teleportation device. Governments will be much less scared of a device that doesn't render their ability to dictate who comes and goes meaningless. So let's cooperate for now.

Hmm, not even half spent yet. Wow, this is a lot of cash. Let's get to spending some more. Let's get something both offensive and practical. Disintegrate. This nigh peerless attack spell is both both powerful and functional. Its ability to turn construction and nature alike to dust, as well as creatures, is extremely versatile making it far more useful than modern weapons. At will is very expensive. 6 * 11 * 2000 = 132,000. The most expensive item thus far, and arguably the least useful. But let's grab it because having something like this is a great deterrent to potential enemies. 567,900 - 132,000 = 435,900. We've fallen below half. My goal is to have at least $10,000,000 after all is said and done which is between 20 and 30k gp. Let's aim for 25,000.
So, 435k hmmm? So right now I can:
charm
teleport
turn invisible
be saved from harm
store stuff
disintegrate stuff

So what else can I do? I've protected myself reasonably well, made a world changing discovery, and set myself up to make billions. But wait, I haven't made a place for myself. I know, a one use item of mage's magnificent mansion. And a one use item of permanency. ((5 * 2500) + (5 * 9 * 25)) + (13 * 7 * 25) = 15,900. Whee. Now I have an invisible, unassailable and massive home. 435,900 - 15,900 = 420,000. (heh, 420. I swear I did not set that up.) Let's go and play some more.

Let's go ahead and get comprehend languages always active for 2,000. 418,000 remains.
Let's also get disguise self for an addition 2,000. 416,000.
Expeditious retreat always active would be fairly nice. 414,000.
Detect thoughts at will? Yes please. 402,000.
Minor Image at will. Seriously useful. Easily as good as invisibility, but you have to concentrate... and you can make all sorts of things happen as a result. 390,000.
Blindness/Deafness at will. Some will think it cruel, but having run into so many worthless jackasses, especially racist ones, I feel being able to say "Well, now you don't have to worry about people's skin color" would be immensely satisfying. 378,000.

So now I have a bunch of nifty abilities, but, aside from disintegrate and teleport, nothing that reaches super hero level. And I still have 378,000 left. And that's all from the wizard spell list. But what would I like from the cleric spell list?

Well, removing diseases and recovering from injuries would be nice. Let's get at will remove disease for 30k. 348,000.
Let's get cure serious wounds too. 318,000.
Hold person for 12k. 306,000.
Let's take a once per day heal as well. 306,000 - 26,400 = 279,600. We've almost spent 3/4. I can remove diseases at will, cure serious injuries at will stop people from moving at will, and completely remove all afflictions and injuries from someone once per day. Best doctor ever. If the teleportation scheme fails (unlikely) at least I know I have a good chance at becoming a world famous doctor.

But now I still have a problem. I am mortal. How do I make myself immortal? Or at least immortal enough that I can choose the time of my own death?
I can think of many ways, but the one that would arise the least suspicion? I've become a huge power by now. Many will think what I am about to suggest is pure evil, and they would be right. When I am old, I will invite my chosen "heir" to receive some private advice and lessons. I will use the detect thoughts vigorously to know all I can about him. I will then use the following items when ready:
True Mindswitch 1/day = 161,200
1/day finger of death = 36,400
I'll lose a level, so I need a restoration once per day item as well. That runs 21,200
161200 + 36400 + 21200 = 218800.
Naturally, my will would leave everything to my chosen heir.
I've got 60,800 left. So, I can afford a few more small items or 1 big one and still be in my goal. Let's go ahead and grab an obsidian steed. A once per week jaunt to and from other planes might be interesting.
So now I have 32,300. Converting to cash for 15,504,000. Good amount to live off of until I start getting my teleportation business running. And I can start pimping my "doctor" skills immediately. Lots of income, a functional immortality method, a plethora of powerful abilities, and a nice little cozy home to retreat to.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

So. 50 gp = 1 lb. 1lb = 16 oz. 1 oz of gold = 1,500(ish) USD. 16 oz of gold = 24,000 USD. ergo, 1gp = 480. 480 * 1,000,000 = 480,000,000.

So what items are worth more than becoming an instant Millionaire?Anything that does something that could not otherwise be done -- or at least, not without a WHOLE lot more effort.

Many spells can be used to make money IRL, fairly easily. Money, however, cannot buy magic IRL.

If you want to make lots of money, how about at will permanencied energy wall set to either fire or electricity? Voila! Infinite power generation for everyone! How about the ability to make create food and water traps? You have an infinite amount of food you can use to feed the world. At will (supernatural) true creation? You can make whatever the hell you want whenever the hell you want it. Those three abilities alone could catapult the world into a post-scarcity society, if you use them properly.

[Quertus]

Ah, I see someone mentioned "research" before I got that far in describing my plans.

I had planned on buying a couple cheap magic items for experimentation - probably a couple of Rings of Prestidigitation, and a few potions. Try to Miracle an Alamir's Fundamental Breakdown on a potion or two first, before risking one of the rings. See if understanding how to make them, plus having samples, allows mankind to replicate even magic.

Also, Boccob's Blessed Book - it doesn't cost more when filled, does it? A full spellbook to study sounds like the best I can do to get magic going. OK, actually, the second best. I could try to summon a teacher - a Wizard, or a god. I wonder if anyone has ever considered using a Necklace of Prayer Beeds to bring Magic to a new world before…

[Calthropstu]

Ah, I see someone mentioned "research" before I got that far in describing my plans.

I had planned on buying a couple cheap magic items for experimentation - probably a couple of Rings of Prestidigitation, and a few potions. Try to Miracle an Alamir's Fundamental Breakdown on a potion or two first, before risking one of the rings. See if understanding how to make them, plus having samples, allows mankind to replicate even magic.

Also, Boccob's Blessed Book - it doesn't cost more when filled, does it? A full spellbook to study sounds like the best I can do to get magic going. OK, actually, the second best. I could try to summon a teacher - a Wizard, or a god. I wonder if anyone has ever considered using a Necklace of Prayer Beeds to bring Magic to a new world before…

And thus was the world of shadowrun born...

[Quertus]

----- Immortality and Leapfrogging -----

Me as me, I can learn new skills, and improve the ones I have. To me, it sounds like the easiest way to go about improving skills (for most skills) is to alternate between having the skill and not, recording the difference, and then learning by studying my notes. Or by trying to perform the more advanced usages of the skill that I could do a minute ago, depending on the skill.

There are several low-level Cleric spells that will help with this - most notoriously Wield Skill. However, I think that items that grant a permanent +1 bonus to a skill check will be more useful. At 100 GP each (or less since, if I put them all in the same item, I should probably get a discount for profession: sailor and profession: butcher not generally being used at the same time), that seems a worthwhile investment. If I am in an "e7" world, 10 skill ranks is the maximum the greatest teacher in world could have, so "+10 bonus to teaching" should make me better than the best teacher to ever live (never mind the circumstance bonus for teaching myself). Seems a small investment to reach (and teach?) the limits of human skill.

But who wants to be restricted to human limits?

----- The Miracle of Life -----

Ultimately, I want a new form - but what form? As I've already covered, if D&D is a thing, there's very few safe forms: organic forms can be drugged/poisoned/Charmed/Dominated, let alone annoying little things like have Vorpal reactions, go into comas, or develop allergies; Undead (and Plants, and Outsiders, and…) can be Rebuked; Constructs are vulnerable to the Rod of Construct Control. And that's not counting things that cross-pollinate, letting Undead be Charmed/Dominated, for example. So, even things that I'm "immune" to, I'll still want protection from, won't I?

But there are other considerations. A lot of these forms - notedly Undead and Constructs - have their senses and… "appetites" messed with.

I like the idea of an Elan, but if (for example) I'm injured and go into a coma, I could starve to death, or be vulnerable to all kinds of nasty things. I need something even safer than that if I'm going to survive for eternity.

Looking at types, "elemental" seems possible. Yes, you can Rebuke the four classic elements, but I don't think other elements have any particular vulnerabilities. So I invent a new anthropomorphized creature, an elemental of Time, or Space, or Thought, or some more abstract concept. Let's call it a "Quertus" elemental. If I give it minimal (ie, basically human) capabilities, it should be fine for the transformation ritual for anyone.

But what about for me?

According to one unpopular theory, the number of programming languages I know (let alone the number of skills I cannot count as "untrained" in) requires me to have such high skill ranks (in "programming languages", or in total) that it makes me an epic level character (or, I suppose, a ridiculous super genius, with an Intelligence score all but unheard of outside of high epic levels), or requires that I have variants on several feats (all epic feat, iirc, still making me epic) in order to know so many languages / skills. "Back of the napkin" math from laser tag on the difference between my BAB and "average" humans similarly supports me being an epic level Expert. In this case, I could probably afford to become, say, a Paragon Q~ elemental, and get some cool things out of the deal.

On the other hand, going under the theory that programming languages don't count the same as "real" languages, and that the majority of the plethora of things I'm "trained" in don't count as skills and/or don't qualify as even half a rank "trained" in D&D logic, and that I've somehow tricked the world into lots of free BAB? Under that theory, where I'm not super epic level, and I'm just a normal part of an "e7" world, it brings up a question: given the concept of savage species progressions, does anything stop me from transforming into a "young" anything? Could I not simply transform what levels I do have into progression along a "Paragon" path (keeping all the things I apparently didn't pay for with levels, mind)? And, as long as we're talking cheese, if people are unable to earn XP / gain levels, would giving them an incomplete and uncompletable progression make them functionally immortal, as they could never stop being a "young" whatever?

Why would I do this - why would I want to become a paragon - partial or otherwise? Honestly, the biggest reason is in the hopes that it increases the chances that I can "level up", and learn D&D magic, putting that Boccob's Blessed Book to good use. If I'm low level, and D&D worlds exist, then all of these cheaty items should make leveling up easy, right? (Well, maybe not - I didn't exactly take good "adventurer" choices. :smallfrown:) Also, being a Paragon gives me a few bonuses that I'm missing out on by not buying better items. And it's just cool :smallwink:

Also, my life experiences have taught me that 2 arms are insufficient - I could certainly stand to benefit from my new form having 4 arms. Granted, unfamiliarity could cut into my attack bonus. So maybe I'll save that for Polymorph shenanigans? Nah, probably not.

Now, what about everyone else?

Obviously, I don't want to make the Chosen or their Family into something that requires levels that they don't have (and can't get?)… unless it's free bonus immortality, I suppose. And, even if it is, I can see some mean rivalry and "castes" forming around how much of that progression their lives were "worth". So… maybe not identical to my form.

Beyond that? It's complicated. Short answer, if there aren't other worlds, I don't know that I'd want to have removed the "humanity" from the Chosen if, a Google years from now, Humanity is otherwise extinct. So… I would probably want to keep them immortal via Steal Youth (or, rather, a custom reverse form, Grant Youth, that turns their clocks back while withering me (it's just pain, I'll regenerate)). And I'll give them, if possible, a custom Contingency for transformation should I somehow perish? … nah, I don't want to encourage them to off me.

Although… if the "real" them is an unaging statue, can their Astral Projection age? Are they immortal, or are they the reverse of Dorian Grey? :smallconfused:

But, if I do find other worlds (with humans), I could make the Chosen… something, if they want. Me-lan, anthropomorphized elementals, their choice? I'm not sure about the Family, though… I guess it depends on how much space I can Genesis (ie, if there's D&D worlds and Magic Item Walmart) / whether anyone starts learning Magic (or psionics, or…). (But, as we'll see in a minute, space is a solved problem)

----- Dystopia 2: the return of Dystopia -----

I still haven't given up on my Simulacrum idea yet. And I've got a crazy new idea for an implementation: multitasking. Much like D&D gods are able to be in multiple places at once, what if I linked my mind to that of a Simulacrum of myself, and experienced its existence simultaneously with my own? So, I'll use a custom "Share Experience" spell to experience its life concurrent with my own.

If I really am in an e7 world, and there's no other worlds, then that sets the cap for what I'd need to copy… if I were just making humans. I can see the value in making Simulacra of animals, too - and, in addition to other uses, such Simulacra would make great immortal pets for the Chosen and their Family. Really, since RAW ingredients are worth ⅓ the final product, and animals are tasty, I imagine it should be easy to have variants on Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion along the lines of "Quertus' Pet Store" and "Quertus' livestock" - cooking need not become a lost art.

If I'm not in a strict e7 world, or if meeting high-level D&D characters is a possibility, then Simulacrum for the potential Chosen could get really expensive. I guess I'll want to plan for that. It would be silly not to prepare for at least the level I estimate myself to be. :smalltongue:

----- The Life of Miracle -----

What am I using Miracle for? Well, I guess I'd have to say… whatever I want. :smalltongue:

But, if I couldn't take Miracle, what would I take? I guess the answer is, "it depends". It depends on whether I have to answer all at once, or can take some Divination items first before answering.

But, just going by the effects I've used Miracle to produce so far, we've got…

(Greater?) Plane Shift
Heal
Stone to Flesh to Stone
Quertus' Dynamic Extradimensional Spaces <- Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion
Protection from Good/Evil/Law/Chaos/Neutrality/Donuts/Whatever
Steal Youth (?)
Grant Youth (custom reverse of Steal Youth)
Bestow Greater Curse¹

Taking them all as one-shot items, and using cheesy Astral Projection cheese, it's likely that I can afford a lot. Which brings me to my other one-shot items:

Wish / Racial Transformation
Polymorph any Object
Genesis

So, I guess, really, I could make a plane of arbitrarily large size via a 1-shot Genesis plus Astral Projection cheese.

But what would I want to cast without having to blink out of existence between castings?

Shrug. If I were trying to live in this world, it might matter. If I were trying to be an adventurer, it might matter. The biggest thing I can think of is maybe not wanting to give away when I cast Mindrape, or not wanting to miss things between castings of… Skill boosters? Healing spells? Yes, blinking out in the middle of a disaster after casting a curative spell just sounds bad.

And, of course, being able to Plane Shift multiple times - to get somewhere, and then transport people from there, at a minimum.

----- Adventuring -----

As if my thought process wasn't complex enough in other sections, here, I've got a whole series of "what ifs". Do D&D worlds exist? Can I gain XP? Do they have item shops? Can I use items beyond what I "start" with? Do the same answers apply to the Chosen? Are there multiple D&D worlds? Any worlds that I know? Any characters that I know? If there are multiple D&D worlds, do they all follow the same rules?

Maybe there's no D&D worlds, in which case any money I spend just for adventuring will be wasted. So I'll aim to keep the spending here to a minimum (and/or on things that are useful elsewhere), and hope to pick up more adventurer gear if, you know, adventuring actually is a thing.

----- Adventuring 101 -----

My advice to most parties is to make sure that they have a magical weapon; I suppose I should follow that advice. If laser tag is any indication, I've got a plenty high BAB. IIRC, calculations from Hank's Bow indicate that "unlimited ammo" and "dynamic strength bonus" run about 1k each. So, if I don't know how things will turn out, I may spend 3k for a +1 firearm with unlimited ammo, and 4k for a +1 bow with unlimited ammo and dynamic pull.

For melee, I would love the coolness points of having a lightsaber, or "my" katana, but, even if they were able to be priced, they probably wouldn't be worth it to me. However, 2k for a +1 katana that sheds light (with a pistol in the other hand) may sufficiently confuse opposition (whether they were familiar with technology or not) to be worth the price.

These should do enough damage at low level, but at high level? Well, if I'm me, running under my physics, maybe everyone else is running under my physics, too - in which case, a bullet or an arrow through a body can really crimp one's style (or, you know, even be fatal). So I might not need more damage, at least against squishy organic foes. And, if I'm actually needing improvements, upgrading to the full "Hank's Bow" package later is probably a possibility.

If I'm leveling up, hopefully I'm getting levels as a Wizard. Although… being ~10 levels behind in a casting class because of race is certainly not a Playground-approved tactic, and might be a small problem. If I'm already high level, hopefully I can rebuild these Expert levels to Wizard - and I definitely can do so if I can get access to one of my worlds in particular.

The second big thing I prioritize is the ability to run away. Astral Projection kinda has that covered in spades, but Boots of Striding only cost 2k. And, really, I would probably enjoy "comfy shoes of move real fast" IRL. So they're in.

Even cheaper is to give my mount Horseshoes of Speed. Except… what is my mount? With ranged attacks, it's not quite as essential that I have a flying mount. But it would still be handy - both to fly over terrain, and to get away from BSFs who aren't clever enough to take either a source of flying or ranged attacks themselves. Not to mention the value of staying out of other ranges - from sneak attack to Beholder eye rays to Hydra breath weapons, there's an enormous number of things that it's nice to just straight up avoid via range, and being able to move quickly and in a 3rd dimension just makes doing so that much easier.

There's probably little debate that the coolest flying mount would be a Dragon. And dragons are fast, and tough. IIRC, Dragon eggs run upwards of 10k GP. And, being me, I'll want a custom Dragon, one that uses "Orange and Blue" (ie, not D&D) morality for its "always X" alignment (most people seem to agree that even D&D Exalted Good is or can be real-world evil - I want my Dragons to actually be good, in a meaningful way, and I'll happily code that into their DNA). But there are several problems. Obviously, I'd need to boost my skills to train the Dragon. Even then, over an infinite timeframe… aren't Dragons mortal? Maybe True Reincarnation might return it to a usable mount after it dies of old age. Lastly, do Dragons / Dragon eggs count as magical items? Is it actually legal in this thought experiment for me to buy one?

But the idea of a Dragon is just too good to pass up. As I already said, Dragons can eat anything, so they can use Purify Food and Drink on anything. So… maybe a petrified Dragon egg that fell on & killed a monster, giving it XP, which it spent on its own Sculpt Self for Purify Food and Drink… would count as a magical item?

As it can eat anything, the Dragon technically could be the solution to waste disposal for the Chosen & their Family.

Lastly, Dragons get spells. Maybe we could learn magic from them.

Yes, them. Cloning is a thing IRL. If I had a Dragon, and interacted with this world, I have little doubt that someone would be willing to clone Dragons. Also, I'm giving myself every skill through leapfrogging. Eventually, that should include the ability to successfully build cloning technology all by myself. Even if I have to store individual components in Quintessence while I build other things.

Speaking of cloning & learning magic, I just want to point out "Hand of the Mage". Maybe I could even specify whose hand it is, and Resurrect myself an awesome magic tutor. (Rimuru's voice: "Elfs! Elfs!")

Um… mechanically, there's nothing that keeps Elves from being resurrected in 3e, like there was in 2e, right?

And speaking of specificity cheese, if I'm buying spellcasting services, if I can specify who is doing the casting, well, that could give me the opportunity to meet dependable magical allies, and therefore (among other things) both find magical tutors (yay!) and a way to be resurrected (thus making the "0% failure" I've been trying to build towards not quite so essential).

If I cannot buy a Dragon egg with my starting funds, there's always Undead Dragons, and Dragon Effigies - perhaps they count as magical items. Speaking of, if I cannot take Miracle, I should probably take Cure Light Wounds (reversible) and, uh, Repair Light Damage or whatever. If I go adventuring, you never know what allies I might have.

(On a related note, Faith Heal, set to every known religion, would make for an interesting information-gathering tool. If anyone cared.)

Worst case scenario, I can use PaO cheese to breed some Dragons.

Hmmm… what else is good for adventuring? I encourage people to get "fixers", so a 1-shot True Resurrection, 1-shot True Reincarnation, 1-shot (Greater?) Restoration. And rerolls, so 1-shot Fate of One, and Resurgence at will.

Lastly, illusions seem a Playground favorite to deal with a plethora of mindless foes, so I should add that to my toolkit, too.

So, as an adventurer, with Miracle, I'm primarily a "caster" unit. Without Miracle, I'll provide unlimited (out of combat) healing, RDPS at low level (and maybe later, if physics or shops allow), Minionmancy (via Simulacrum (not my usual Animate Dead, because ick), and I'm a skill monkey (via training / leapfrogging & spells). Plus maybe I'm learning spells. I think I can legitimately say that I'm a valuable addition to a similar-level adventuring party, and not The Load. I think that the worst case scenario would be if I were an epic level Expert with a single level of Wizard, and no Miracle, in a world that ran on HP rather than my physics. I think that that would be the scenario under which it might be the most difficult for me to find parties where I could earn XP and still feel useful. Of course, I don't have to earn XP to get loot. So I'm not opposed to joining lower level parties if necessary, providing them with power cheats and me with loot. But a 20th level "duel 9's" Simulacrum (perhaps the materials could be bargained for when I hire spellcasting services (or cheesed out of a spell component pouch, but I actively attempt to disbelieve that particular cheese)) - or several such caster minions, for that matter - might help me hold my own even at epic levels.

If I were to add anything else adventurer-worthy that would be generally useful to me, I think I'd have to go for items to boost Sense Motive. Preferably to epic levels (although that gets expensive real fast - even 20 different slotless +5 bonuses would run 100,000 GP (10% of my total budget), so it's not something I can just do on a whim. Maybe later, if adventuring and item shops are a thing…).

----- worksheet -----

According to my math, I'm at 1,033,000 GP. :smallfrown: And that's without the Hand of the Mage to Resurrect, meeting people through spellcasting services, or the ultimate cheese (I didn't explicitly put the components together in my various posts - can anyone guess the recipe?).

Probably the thing that would have to get the axe first is the "experimentation" budget. So I guess Boccob's Blessed Book will have to be a "if D&D and magic item Walmart exist, I'll pick it up later" purchase. Which sounds backwards - I'll only purchase training materials if I'm already in "easy mode". :smallamused:

So, I guess I'll hope that 17k will suffice for everything I've missed: alternative methods of acquiring tutors, my own personal betterment / comfort / amusement, real world funds, etc.

1,000 GP will buy 100 caster-levels of Spellcasting services. Buying 0-level spells, that's 200 levels of casters I get to meet. And, if I buy a Cleric Cantrip from a Wizard 19 / Cleric 1, that only counts as 1 level of casters spent. And 900 GP buys a Hand of the Mage. If I get to choose the details, I think between 200 levels of optimized "meet and greet", and one elven Resurrection, odds are good that I'll have a tutor, and learn magic (if, you know, me learning magic is possible in this thought experiment).

Heward's Handy Haversack is, well, handy - but I'm not sure of its fail conditions (will it work in my pocket dimension? Will it explode if fed the wrong contents? Etc). So, maybe something with similar performance characteristics, but as built by me, rather than by team "yay it explodes great!". Something with potentially completely different underlying mechanics to get functionally the same result.

Except… real me? I'm not exactly thrilled about the concept of getting into a fight with a backpack on. I mean, I'm not thrilled about the idea of getting into a fight to begin with, but, unlike in D&D, real me would prefer not to be wearing a backpack if I have to fight.

So, here, I might consider combining some tech. An Enveloping Pit normally runs 3.6k. putting it in a slotted item - say a psionic skin - should make that 1.8k. If you actually can combine that with H³ tech… eh, when the forums come back up, I may see what math others used. But Handy Enveloping Skin (of Disguise?) sounds fun.

Oh. I haven't mentioned the second biggest cheese I was considering at all yet. Well, here goes: a 1-shot item of Permanency. Sadly, that's… 500 XP + 1 caster level (which translates to 2,550 GP) per level of the spell to affect, on top of a base 1,750 GP. To be able to make 3rd level spells - which include things like Flight and Tongues - permanent would cost 9,400 GP. I'm not sure, by RAW, if someone else (ie, me) casting Tongues on one of my Chosen actually lets them Permanency it on themselves, though, should my astral projection hand it off to them. :smallfrown: So this particular bit of cheese may be fairly useless. Subsequently, I think I'll file it away under "if I can buy more items later".

Costing chump change, however, is a 1-shot item of Continual Flame. I can create nightlights for the Chosen and all of the Family. (I should reread Miracle, to see if this is even needed, or if the component cost of Continual Flame is within Miracle's budget)

Miracle is great, but one thing it cannot really duplicate well is immediate actions. An investment of 2k gets one of the best of these, Nerveskitter, at will. And, unlike many "combat" items, this would be useful in many ways IRL. Maybe not $200,000+ useful, but still.

324,000 at will Miracle, as a super power via Sculpt Self
-----
398,000 at will Astral Projection
32,650 Ring of 1 Wish / 1-shot transformation ritual
12,650 1-shot Genesis
12,650 1-shot True Resurrection
12,650 1-shot True Reincarnation
7,650 1-shot Mindrape
7,650 1-shot Teleport Through Time
7,650 1-shot Regeneration
7,650 1-shot Mordenkainen's Disjunction
6,000 1-shot Mind Blank
1,000 Infinity Gauntlet of Least Wish (Ring of Prestidigitation)
506,200 subtotal
----- for greater dystopia -----
23,750 1-shot Simulacrum
7,650 1-shot Share Experience
31,400 subtotal
----- for the Chosen -----
40,000 Heal trap
18,000 Create Food and Water
4,000 At will Prestidigitation x4
18,000 Make Whole
Continual Flame x?
80,000 subtotal
----- for experimentation -----
50,000 Boccob's Blessed Book
2,000 Ring of Prestidigitation x2
150 1-charge wands x10 (x20 if cantrips)
Hand of the Mage
5,750 Headband Slap Bracelet of 100 skills +1
2,500 Headband of Teaching +5
60,400 subtotal
----- for "adventuring" -----
3,000 firearm of infinite ammo +1
4,000 dynamic strength bow of infinite ammo +1
2,000 glowing katana +1
2,000 Comfy Shoes of Move Real Fast <- boots of Striding
10,000 petrified Quertian Dragon egg
10,000 Sense Motive +5 (slotless, x2)
31,000 subtotal
----- if no Miracle, then maybe… -----
7,650 1-shot Bestow Greatest Curses
3,200 1-shot Polymorph any Object
Grant Youth
Greater Plane Shift
Heal
Stone to Flesh to Stone
Quertus' Dynamic Extradimensional Spaces <- Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion
1500 foci for 100 different destinations - note that I may want to start with some of these anyway, just in case
Protection from Donuts
Alamir's Fundamental Breakdown
Contingent Teleport
Contingent Dismissal
Remove Curse
2,000 Wield Skill at will
2,000 Cure Light Wounds at will
2,000 Repair Minor Damage at will
2,000 Resurgence at will
2,000 Silent Image at will

----- The Visual ----

I guess I'll want to remain recognizable to those who know me, so… I guess new race + me would be… imagine if Dr. Manhattan came from a Viking lineage. And had 4 arms. One wields a glowing katana (although, IRL, I'm more comfortable wielding one 2-handed), another aims a pistol (which, some day, may be firing energy bolts alla Hank's Bow). The other two (one sporting an Infinity Gauntlet) are not reaching for the bow on my back - no, they are holding tight to the reins of a shiny silver Dragon with a curious rainbow fin tail (that's an appearance for a Dragon that doesn't exist in any official material, right?).

----- Fail States -----

Sure, there's a lot of ways in which my choices are suboptimal, and potential scenarios where I'd want to do things differently, but are there any straight-up fail cases?

Yes. :smallfrown:

The first is, if the transformation (or, if successful, the acquisition of spellcasting) changes which physics I operate under. That is, if, by becoming a Quertus elemental, or by gaining Wizard levels, I switch to D&D logic, and lose the ability to grow except through XP/leveling, then several of my plans - such as leapfrogging - will fail. This will be especially problematic if D&D worlds do not otherwise exist, and I therefore cannot really get items or XP to advance D&D-style. At this point, "real" me and "Simulacrum" me would be all but indistinguishable.

Another fail state is if the purpose of this exercise was to have us interact with this world. There's a lot in this world worth preserving, just… the bulk of humanity not only isn't on that list (IMO), but actively makes preserving what's good in this world difficult. My ideas to make the world a better place would generally involve selectively and drastically reducing the human population (making Thanos look like an underachiever), and/or mass Mindrape the entire world - neither of which are within the scope of this exercise.

Yes, if I count as epic level, and can retain those levels to caster (Wizard) levels, -- or -- if adventuring is a thing, and I can make it to epic Wizard levels, -- or --… then, yes, I could acquire epic casting, and implement such solutions. But that has little to do with the thought experiment of spending 1 million GP.

Thus, I prefer to leave humanity to fail on their own merits, while removing myself and the Chosen to an eternal recollection of what humanity once was.

The Family will, of course, fail in completely human ways. Short of preventing their existence, I doubt that there's much that I can do about that.

Except… as horrific is this sounds, isn't human suffering necessary to produce Art? That is, in a "perfect" world, could Van Gogh have produced Starry Night? In a "perfect" world, would we have Star Wars, or Grapes of Wrath, or Romeo and Juliet, or Kilkelly? If an omnipotent being retroactively removed the worst parts of humanity, would they not also remove much of what I like best?

I lack the desire to weigh such morality. As such, I have no interest in imposing a mandatory "fix" to humanity. An opt-in fix? Sure, that I would do. So, I might give humanity the option to live in a better world as better people… but it takes so long to Mindrape, Polymorph, and Plane Shift people to a new world that I would likely be unable to fulfill demand, let alone fix the entire world that way. And even those slow tools are suboptimal compared to the level of "fixing" of humanity that I would desire. So the items, at best, provide a means (contacts, travel, survivability) for me to acquire what I would need (epic levels) to go this route.

On the "this world" front… suppose I did decide to try to make the world better. Well, the idea of a "post-scarcity society" is a myth, a pipe dream. It's human nature - and nature's nature, for that matter - to grow to consume all available resources. No matter what finite amount of resources I add, humanity will grow to consume them. If I create a truly - or functionally - infinite supply of one resource, then humanity will grow until a different resource becomes a limiting factor: food, shelter, air, space, light, whatever.

Short of significant changes to reality, and/or significant changes to humanity / human culture to deny their nature, the only way I know to implement a post-scarcity society is to introduce a perfect predator: one which will maintain the population at "no scarcity" levels.

So, if I am best represented as an epic level expert, as my numbers suggest, and if I have the opportunity to convert those to epic Wizard levels, and if I can develop an appropriate epic level spell, then I could create a post-scarcity society by creating a perfect predator which would constantly (or periodically) monitor population, and, if it exceeded the desired amount, would kill off the {oldest / most immoral / least productive / whatever particular criteria we choose} members of the population to force it back into balance.

This would, of course, simply encourage the target population to engage in murder / force abortions / whatever in preservation of their own lives. It's great dystopia material, IMO.

Alternately, I could hit the problem from the other end, and create an epic dwoemer of infertility, that simply didn't allow for the possibility of reproduction until the population fell below acceptable levels. This, of course, would encourage people to commit murder in order to make room for them to have children, engaging in procreative acts immediately after murder (or even natural death) to increase the odds of successful fertilization. Once again, great potential dystopia material.

No matter how you slice it, post-scarcity humanity just isn't a pretty picture.

So, what could I do? Hmmm… from pollution to germ warfare to nuclear war, we have so many ways to potentially prematurely exterminate the species, long before the death of the sun, or the heat death of the universe. At best, I suppose, I could attempt to introduce a method of exterminating the species that involves minimal collateral damage. And I would try to position that method as the optimal genocide. Happily, I believe that introducing Dragons fulfills those criteria nicely. Dragons are highly optimized weapons of death that actually care about art and treasure. Dragons are, in 3e, smarter and wiser than humans. And my Dragons are "always Good" (for a non-D&D definition of "good").

Germ warfare? Good luck. What's the Fort DC (and, also, Cure Disease). Pollution? Purify Food and Drink. Radiation? Um… Purify Food and Drink? Dragons aren't likely to fall easily to human genocide, making them weapons that change the battlefield, and redefine what a genocidal "victory" looks like.

And, if allowed to breed with humans, they'll produce a physically and mentally superior species that is "always good". And that, I suppose, is the way that I would prefer for humanity to make itself extinct: through voluntary self-improvement of the species.

So, with Infinite Finite Cosmic Power, the best I can think to do for humanity at large is to save them at their best, help them die well, and remember them kindly after they're gone.

I look forward to someone convincing me of something better.


¹ I haven't actually mentioned that in this thread, but this is (short of Miracle) my nuclear deterrent. Sure, you oppose anyone else, they can potentially kill you. You threaten what I care about, you make me angry, and I'll shatter your psyche into its component pieces and send them hurling through the void. They will each have, uncomprehending, been begging for the sweet release of death for a million years before I consider finally releasing my curse. And that's assuming you didn't make me angry enough to actually get creative, and put any effort into your punishment. Maybe I should invest in a stronger version of Bestow Curse, just to be safe. Also, I think I'll add a deterrent that's easier to understand: Mordenkainen's Disjunction.

[Maat Mons]

Ten and a half pages at type size 12, with 0.79-inch margins.

[Quertus]

Ten and a half pages at type size 12, with 0.79-inch margins.

Lol. Consider it my not-so-subtle threat: if the forums go back down, and I'm forced to obsess over the single post I have Gmail, this is what it will look like. Nobody wants that.

[Blackhawk748]

Tatoo of 3/Day Greater Teleport with the appropriate shenanigans to make it cheaper.
Tatoo of At-Will Extended Alter Self at CL 20 with the same cost decreasing shenanigans.

Not sure what that comes out to, cuz Im too lazy to look it up right now, but with that I can literally be whatever I want for about 5 hours at an activation with teh ability to flip whenever I want and I can just pop in wherever i want so I don't need to fly places.

Whatever's left get's liquidated into cash.

[unseenmage]

Magic resetting trap with several spells including

Energy Transformarion Fields for several spells

Summon Elysian Thrush whose SU powers ETFs

several True Creations for special materials set so the material conjured falls into place like puzzle pieces with the resulting assemblage being roughly humanoid

Minor Servitor and Awaken Sand to animate said materials

and a side of Simulacrum and Mirror Travel for farming duplicates

if Wish were allowed itd be use to set the ETFs in Craft Contingent Spell items instead

and be used to modify the spell generated Constructs using the MIC item combining rules and the Constructs Are Magic Items rules interpretation



low op?

Create Crawling Claw trap. As of Lost Empires of Faerun Crawling Claws are swarms. The spell never says you cany use the severed left hand of statues or I guess even paintings or whatever.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

If it were allowed (which it's not*), would an item of shadow miracle from a shadowcraft mage allow anyone to cast miracle as a 0 level spell? And would the cost be of a cantrip or a 9th?

I'm not 100% sure on how items made by unusual characters work, honestly.






*That's basically because I want interesting answers, not "I want wish/miracle too!" like literally everyone would be saying, otherwise.

[AvatarVecna]

If it were allowed (which it's not*), would an item of shadow miracle from a shadowcraft mage allow anyone to cast miracle as a 0 level spell? And would the cost be of a cantrip or a 9th?

I'm not 100% sure on how items made by unusual characters work, honestly.






*That's basically because I want interesting answers, not "I want wish/miracle too!" like literally everyone would be saying, otherwise.

My gut feeling for how it would work is that it doesn't work like that. Items can sometimes replicate spells and abilities you have, and pathfinder makes it explicit that metamagic can be a part of that, but building class features into items for the sole purpose of affecting the other effects within the item isn't something you can do by default.

By default, with rules support, you can build existing items, or you can build 'custom' items that replicate specific effects as described on the provided table. Going outside of that is almost certain allowed, but the specifics of how it works don't currently have rules for them.

Like...as some examples, maybe you've got a staff that gives you Empower Spell and lets you cast a bunch of spells; unless you have an ability letting you apply metamagic to staves, you can't use Empower on the staff spells even though the staff is what gave you Empower. It wouldn't be difficult to assign a price to the ability to use built-in metamagic on the attached items spells, or to assign a price to the ability to apply metamagic to staff spells in general, but because there isn't a RAW metric to go off, it's not anything guaranteed.

Tye fact that a particular combination of feats and class features could be read as letting you cast 100% real miracles at-will out of 0th level slots doesn't mean you can build all that into an item. A gnome wozard could make an item of Silent Image as a 0th lvl spell cuz that's what it is on their list, but that's about as far as it stretches - and even that's only feasoble hecause a spell being different levels for different people is in Core.

[the_tick_rules]

Expect numerous edits as I revise. By the way in MIC it kind of says adding common abilities can be considered not using the 1.5x rule. Specifically the last sentence of improving magic items on 233. However I will include the 1.5 until directed otherwise. Also if anyone asks I am assuming this to be used in our world which affects choices. Let's face it throwing fireballs around will get some cops asking what's up and you don't need evil outsider bane weapons when hitting other people.

Head: Helm of Teleportation (73,500)+ Helm of Detect Thoughts (40,500)+ Hat of disguise (2,700)+ Helm of Comprehend Languages and Read Magic (7,800)+ Crystal Mask of (5) Languages (3,750)=128,250

Face/Eyes: Eyes of Charming (56,000)+ Third Eye of sense (36,000)+Crystal Mask of Insight (30,000)+ Goggles of Draconic Vision (24,000)+Crystal Mask of discernment (15,000)=161,000

Shoulders: Wings of Flying=54,000

Throat: Periapt of Proof Against Poison (27,000)+ Amulet of Natural Armor +2 (12,000)+ Periapt of Health (11,100)+ Necklace of Adaptation (13,000)=63,100

Weapon 1: +5 Collision, Distance, Compound Longbow +3 Strength Pull with Least Crystal of Return=128,700

Weapon 2: +2 Adamantine Dagger with Least Crystal of Return=11,302

Armor: +5 Heavily fortified Mithral Chainshirt with Least Adaptation Crystal=101,600

Torso: Vest of Resistance +3=9,000

Ring 1: Ring of Invisibility=20,000

Ring 2+Ring of arming (5,000)+Ring of Sustenance (3,750)=8,750

Waist: Belt of Magnificence +6=200,000

Feet: Gwaeron's Boots (6,000)+ Vanguard Treads (4,650)=10,650

Miscellaneous: Psychoactive Skin of the Troll (60,000)+ Personal Oasis (4,600)+ Quiver of Anariel with Adamantine Arrows (34,000), Heward's Handy Haversack (2,000)+ Magic Bedroll (500)=101,100

Grand total=997,452

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Expect numerous edits as I revise. By the way in MIC it kind of says adding common abilities can be considered not using the 1.5x rule. Specifically the last sentence of improving magic items on 233. However I will include the 1.5 until directed otherwise.Use the MIC rules, which include no surcharge on specific items (such as save- and stat-boosters). Might be a good idea to use the belt of magnificence, since who wouldn't want to have +6 to all stats? It's cheaper than getting +6 to everything normally, and only utilizes one body slot (not that that matters, if you're filling up slots anyway).

[the_tick_rules]

Use the MIC rules, which include no surcharge on specific items (such as save- and stat-boosters). Might be a good idea to use the belt of magnificence, since who wouldn't want to have +6 to all stats?

I do not know of this belt, tell me more.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I do not know of this belt, tell me more.+2, +4, or +6 enhancement bonus to all stats. All of them. The +6 is 200,000 gp, which is quite a bit less than getting six +6s. It's in the Miniatures Handbook.

[the_tick_rules]

I don't have that book, but that is what the internet is for. I might edit later but I have a pretty good combo. I specifically geared it for something that would operate well in a non-magical society and would provide complete autonomy in event of some collapse of society or anything that would remove modern comforts. I'm trying to find room for helm of detect thoughts, knowing what people are thinking has so much potential. And I found it, now I need to find way to speak all languages, I guess 5 will do..

[Maat Mons]

Speaking of MIC page 234, I have a question.

It says you can, for example, add a +5 Resistance bonus to saves to any Shoulder-slot or Torso-slot item for 36,000 gp. This price clearly does not have markups for extra abilities or for non-associated slot.

Do these rules do anything if I want to add a +5 Resistance bonus to save to, say, a Throat-slot item? A strict reading seems to say "no." The price only holds for the listed body slots. So the bonus to a Throat-slot item does, in fact, still have the x1.5 cost markup for multiple abilities. (But not the cost markup for non-associated slot, because protection is an associated effect for the Throat slot.)

But it also says the DM could choose to apply these costs to items on other slots. So, MaxiDuRaritry, you're the DM here, what say you?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Speaking of MIC page 234, I have a question.

It says you can, for example, add a +5 Resistance bonus to saves to any Shoulder-slot or Torso-slot item for 36,000 gp. This price clearly does not have markups for extra abilities or for non-associated slot.

Do these rules do anything if I want to add a +5 Resistance bonus to save to, say, a Throat-slot item? A strict reading seems to say "no." The price only holds for the listed body slots. So the bonus to a Throat-slot item does, in fact, still have the x1.5 cost markup for multiple abilities. (But not the cost markup for non-associated slot, because protection is an associated effect for the Throat slot.)

But it also says the DM could choose to apply these costs to items on other slots. So, MaxiDuRaritry, you're the DM here, what say you?I certainly don't see why you shouldn't be able to toss common abilities on different slots for no additional cost, if you want.

Really, I think that rule was to keep people from just loading everything onto a single item for...balance purposes...I guess? I dunno. I mean, I don't care, so go ahead.

[the_tick_rules]

Speaking of MIC page 234, I have a question.

It says you can, for example, add a +5 Resistance bonus to saves to any Shoulder-slot or Torso-slot item for 36,000 gp. This price clearly does not have markups for extra abilities or for non-associated slot.

Do these rules do anything if I want to add a +5 Resistance bonus to save to, say, a Throat-slot item? A strict reading seems to say "no." The price only holds for the listed body slots. So the bonus to a Throat-slot item does, in fact, still have the x1.5 cost markup for multiple abilities. (But not the cost markup for non-associated slot, because protection is an associated effect for the Throat slot.)

But it also says the DM could choose to apply these costs to items on other slots. So, MaxiDuRaritry, you're the DM here, what say you?

It is his thread so he can make the guidelines as he wishes. But I swear there is something I read somewhere that says something that doesn't match the slot can be done at double cost instead of 1.5.

[Quertus]

It is his thread so he can make the guidelines as he wishes. But I swear there is something I read somewhere that says something that doesn't match the slot can be done at double cost instead of 1.5.

I think, at that point, you may as well make it slotless…

[the_tick_rules]

I think, at that point, you may as well make it slotless…

Making it slotless doubles the cost, or is that just if you are making your own? Plus the MIC has rules for adding common abilities at cost instead of 1.5. Maybe if there is a 50% jump say common abilities can be added out of slot at 1.5 instead of 1?

[Malphegor]

Heward’s Handy Haversack. My job is basically over with the auto-sorting capabilities of that 2000 gold item, stuff paperwork inside it then draw it out as required

Next, a ring of sustenance and a set of robes of endure elements. For general survival needs, I no longsr need to eat. I can wear pajamas under my swanky robes in the depths of winter.

Next I’d find a eternal wand of vigor to be useful for aches and scrapes.

Maybe a quil of scribing... I mean, my phone can autodictate but come on, style points.

Next, cloak of charisma, as I am lacking in that.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I'd like a haversack + a deck of many things. Toss the latter in the former, then choose which cards to draw out.

[the_tick_rules]

That is clever. Though personally I would say you could draw the entire deck but not an individual card.

[Jack_Simth]

+2, +4, or +6 enhancement bonus to all stats. All of them. The +6 is 200,000 gp, which is quite a bit less than getting six +6s. It's in the Miniatures Handbook.
If you're using all the slots (and with the MiC "common effect" rules in play, it doesn't really cost the slots), the savings is less than 10%: 6 * 36,000 = 216,000 for all six +6 stat boosters individually, vs. 200,000 for the Belt of Magnificence. Savings of 16k. Still, it is a savings.


Expect numerous edits as I revise. By the way in MIC it kind of says adding common abilities can be considered not using the 1.5x rule. Specifically the last sentence of improving magic items on 233. However I will include the 1.5 until directed otherwise. Also if anyone asks I am assuming this to be used in our world which affects choices. Let's face it throwing fireballs around will get some cops asking what's up and you don't need evil outsider bane weapons when hitting other people.

You're investing 17% of your wealth into weapons (and not even the "utility" type). How often do you actually need to try and kill someone in real life? Sure, some defense against getting hit is just good sense (you only need to get hit once in real life), but your basic firearm will do just fine for most situations where you'd be carrying sharp metal things.

I'd be inclined to drop those, pick up a Skin of Proteous instead of the Skin of the Troll, drop the basic +X's on the defensive-only items and pick up things like "invulnerability" for armor properties.

Edit: Although really, with Pathfinder in the mix? Memory of Function (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/memory-of-function/) makes a wonderful spell to duplicate out of a Ring of Three Wishes or a Luckblade (and back onto same) due to the "If the object uses charges, the object becomes fully charged" clause in that spell.

[Calthropstu]

I'd like a haversack + a deck of many things. Toss the latter in the former, then choose which cards to draw out.

That doesn't work. The haversack has "Deck of Many Things" not "cards from Deck of Many Things". You go to pull out an item from the sack, it will put out "Deck of Many things."

[Calthropstu]

If you're using all the slots (and with the MiC "common effect" rules in play, it doesn't really cost the slots), the savings is less than 10%: 6 * 36,000 = 216,000 for all six +6 stat boosters individually, vs. 200,000 for the Belt of Magnificence. Savings of 16k. Still, it is a savings.


You're investing 17% of your wealth into weapons (and not even the "utility" type). How often do you actually need to try and kill someone in real life? Sure, some defense against getting hit is just good sense (you only need to get hit once in real life), but your basic firearm will do just fine for most situations where you'd be carrying sharp metal things.

I'd be inclined to drop those, pick up a Skin of Proteous instead of the Skin of the Troll, drop the basic +X's on the defensive-only items and pick up things like "invulnerability" for armor properties.

Edit: Although really, with Pathfinder in the mix? Memory of Function (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/memory-of-function/) makes a wonderful spell to duplicate out of a Ring of Three Wishes or a Luckblade (and back onto same) due to the "If the object uses charges, the object becomes fully charged" clause in that spell.

Luck Blade doesn't use charges. It has a "number of wishes." Similar wording on the ring. The ring has 3 one use items - rubies - with wishes stored. Not charges of Wish.

[Hackulator]

I'm not going to go custom items cause I feel like it makes it too easy.

Lyre of Building
Wings of Flying
Ring of Invisibility
Ring of Nine Lives
Periapt of Health
Helm of Telepathy
Decanter of Endless Water
Belt of Magnificence +6
Boots of Teleportation
+4 tomes of every stat but Con

With this I can make almost infinite wealth if not just take over the ****ing world and I'm unlikely to die of anything but old age. The Wings of Flying are mainly for fun.

[Telonius]

I'm losing my hearing and have several family members with a connective tissue disorder (Ehlers Danlos); getting sick generally is also a drag. So first on the list would be one scroll Remove Blindness/Deafness 375gp) and an Eternal Wand of Remove Disease (10900) to get rid of those illnesses and any future maladies. Three scrolls of Regenerate to kind of reboot their current collagen (6825gp).

Basically anything above that is just icing on the cake. An eternal wand of Alter Self (4420gp) since that would be too much fun to pass up. Rod of Security (61000gp) would be nice. I'd have to think about the rest.

[Sinner's Garden]

I'm losing my hearing and have several family members with a connective tissue disorder (Ehlers Danlos); getting sick generally is also a drag. So first on the list would be one scroll Remove Blindness/Deafness 375gp) and an Eternal Wand of Remove Disease (10900) to get rid of those illnesses and any future maladies. Three scrolls of Regenerate to kind of reboot their current collagen (6825gp).

Basically anything above that is just icing on the cake. An eternal wand of Alter Self (4420gp) since that would be too much fun to pass up. Rod of Security (61000gp) would be nice. I'd have to think about the rest.

It's a pretty generous assortment of funds. You might as well take a 1/day heal and regenerate item. Or even at will, if you're really lost for things to get.

[SimonMoon6]

I'd be thinking primarily of two things, one of which has already been mentioned (at will Shape Change item). The other item I would want is an at will (or maybe 1/day) item of True Mind Switch. After all, even with a lot of shenanigans, you're gonna still get old and wouldn't it be nice to just hop into a younger person's body at some point? And you could also hop into a millionaire's body, deposit his money into a secret account (not necessarily ALL of his money, just enough), then switch into another millionaire's body, etc. , until you're tired of that and then hop into an 18 year old's body and get all the money from your account and live your new life. (And yes, you have to prepare in advance to get your True Mind Switch item back... tie up (or handcuff) your body then switch then go visit your old body before they get free and figure out what's going on and take your item back.)

Unlimited money plus unlimited youth is pretty good for the real world.

But, yeah, also shape change stuff.

And with the leftover gold, maybe get some unlimited items of healing, curing, etc to go save the sick and the dying.

I'm also thinking of Control Weather to help prevent disasters but that might be too much.

[Maat Mons]

Heal 1/day? Pfft. See my previous post about Platform of Healing.

To recap, it's Heal an unlimited number of times per day for 30,000 gp. It's from Stronghold Builders Guide, page 81.



Actually, that book is a treasure trove of world-changing magic items.


ItemEffectActivationCost
Bed of RegenerationRegeneratelay on it for 2d10+3 rounds91,000 gp
Bed of Wellness (Remove Curse)Remove Curselay on it for 3 rounds15,000 gp
Bier of ResurrectionResurrectionput corpse and 500-gp diamond on it44,500 gp
Platform of HealingHealstep onto it30,000 gp


Sadly, I haven't been able to find an item that gives unlimited Break Enchantment.

But since this thread is focused on the real world, there shouldn't be many enchantments to break. Or curses to lift, for that matter. And bringing the dead back to life, but only if they're rich, is a can of worms I wouldn't want to open in the real world. So, as I said before, Beds of Regeneration and Platforms of Healing seem like the way to go.

[Bphill561]

A little late to the party, but I have not had a 3.5 game since last year.

I think there are a couple of notable techniques that can help with price reductions and interesting items. Maat Mons already mentioned some of the items from the Stronghold builder’s guide, but there is also wondrous architecture. You can have a spell placed on a stronghold component (20x20x10 feet) that is immovable for Spell Level X Caster Level X 500gp. The effect is constant and is considerable cheaper than the 2000gp X multiplier for spell duration on constant spell effects. Very useful for utility spells.

Additionally there are the rune circles in races of the stone. This takes it a step further because you can convert any magic item into an immovable rune circle. If you make a 5 foot diameter circle, it costs 1/8 the price. Again very useful for utility spells. Make a workshop with cheap fabricate, make whole, etc.. You can freely mix these effects with an Acorn of Far travel if you need something on the go.

Revealers Magic Vestments: 178,250gp Torso and Shoulder Slot

-Starmantle Cloak, Cloak of Protection +5, Shiftweave x10, Handy Haversac Pockets, Prestidigitation (at will), Mending (At Will), Glamour Costume (At Will), Endure Elements (Constant), Shadowsilk Material

Basically have any outfit you need clean, undamaged, and with lots of pocket space. Glamour costume lets you further modify you and your outfit’s appearance. Shadowsilk also adds some flare and reduces the overall weight of the outfit. Immunity to normal weapons are an added bonus. I took liberty with having the equivalent of 10 shiftweaves (50 outfits), but less would also work with glamour costume

Acorn Ring of Vitality: 184,395gp Ring Slot

Kissed by the ages, Ring of Regeneration, Heal L6, Remove Disease L3, Remove Blindness Deafness L3, Ring of Substance, Ring of Arming, Acorn of Far Travel (Constant), glassteel material

Kissed by the ages stops you from aging. It destroys a magic enchantment worth 4,000gp when cast which can never be restored. But there is nothing preventing you from placing different enchantments on the ring afterwards. The ring is also mostly indestructible. The low spell caster levels on the 1 per day spells are using Ur-Priest tricks. You could weapon graft this item if you are paranoid (fiend folio and another poison ring) to make it non-magical. I think you could restore full hand function a gloves of man tattoo.

Ring of Solar 159,646gp Ring & Weapon Slot

Solar Ring, Improved flight feat, Fly like an Arrow Extended L7, Rapid Wraith Unique weapon in poison ring form, Glassteel Construction

There are cheaper ways to fly, but this gives you a speed of 150 improved to perfect maneuverability. Rapid Wraith doubles you speed, and when you need that extra boost Fly like an arrow can multiply that further by 10 for long flights. 342 MPH at top speed, bring your googles. When you don’t want giant wings, store the weapon in your ring of arming. I am sure you can find other interesting feats to add to gear.

Ankh Tattoo: 65,000gp Throat slot

Perpiat of health, Necklace of Adaptation, Plane Shift Greater L8, Aging Touch (3 Time a day, reversed)

Basically stuff we don’t want to ever loose. Plane shift is to get to our demi plane. Aging Touch is pretty amazing when we dip into pathfinder. Aging touch is an instaneous spell that pushes a target up an age category. Pathfinder has costs for cursed items, including reverse effect at 50% normal cost. Now you have spell that makes targets younger and with 3 uses we can push someone from venerable all the way back to adulthood. Now just this part of the item is cursed, it can be moved to another open slot if you are worried about the curse effecting other aspects of the tattoo.

Kaltec Shotgun of Force 21,000gp Weapon

+1 Force Weapon (+2) with Everbright and Lesser Crystal of Return

More liberties, but why not bring a modern weapon to be enchanted assuming it counts as master worked. The Kaltec shot gun has two loads so you can switch between shot and slug. It never runs out of ammo and you can shoot ghosts. Everbright to avoid rust and the crystal of return for fast draw and easy return to you hand if dropped. Another item to keep in you ring of arming. Not a gun guy, but could not help with Army of Darkness and Hobo with a Shotgun references.

Hermit Hut 383,832gp

Too much to include everything, but basically a stronghold in a pocket realm via genesis. Numerous rune circles of utility exist here such as Gate Key (Epic Item), Mages Mansion, True creation-Fabricate-Make Whole-Skill bonus spells, and my secret circle of power underneath a floating Oak Tree. The tree room also bestows a Holy Transformation followed with an Altered Self. All the goodies of the Archon subtype (unlimited teleport) with the physical appearance of an Aasimar. As fun as shapechange/polymorph would be, not sure what my actual HD would be so you might not get all the mileage. Also multiple Effegies with the Sacred Guardian Template.

The question would be how the 100gp 1x Day True Creation spell would work. 2lb of gold would be about $48,000 USD. You could make all kinds of stuff, but worse case you could just make 2lb gold ingots if you were not allowed to make items based on the 48K USD.

Enough gold left over for about $3.7 million USD. Kind of long and I will keep tinkering, but again I am without a game currently.

[Ruethgar]

Ok, so an Epic StP Erudite/Mind Mage Illumian who spent some time with a counterspell happy Spellhoarding Dragon made my items.

Every cantrip and orison in existence at will as Circle Magic Sanctum Earth Magic Improved Sigil Krau spells Mind Magically reduced and then countered by the dragon for learning afterward. That puts them at costing 2000*(-23)*40= -1,840,000 per cantrip and orison. If that is vetoed, Whispering Way Sanctum cantrips drawn from a Spell Pool to specify their level instead of leaving it to DM interpretation as how low a Whispering Way spell goes. That would still put them at 2000*(-3)*40= -240000. Sanctum may be considered a cost reduction feat, but the others are not and so are, currently, allowed by the rules.

To the actual items.

One time use item of permanent application of Sculpt Self similar to the Epic Skill Focus tomes. 20,000gp
Nipple Clamps of Exquisite Pain 8,000gp. 5' Rune Circle Spell Trap of Distilled Joy and Liquid Pain, 17,675gp. Rune Circle Spell Trap of Symbol of Pain 15,750gp

Total to have any feats and spells I want at will. 161,425gp

As to what I would actually go for, probably Spheres of Power magic mostly. Without levels I can't get much of a caster level. So let's see, Magic Tattoo for a +3 since it is untyped CL bonus. Reserves of Strength and Elder Giant Magic, don't really care too much that it is longer casting time if I have magic. That gets me to a CL 9 for casting. D&D trait for +1 illusion CL. Dark Metamorphosis, Planar Bauble, Shadow Weave Magic, Enhanced Shadow Reality and Solid Shadows. SoP magic focused mostly on Illusion, Warp and Dark(mostly for the extra space and shadow walk), and Creation(limited to Shadowstuff) with a dip for decent Protection Barriers, Telekinesis for Tactile Illusions and Mind just for Dreamspace and Implausible Deniability. Catalogs of Enlightenment for 3.5 Artifice and Craft Domains so I can reach that delicious permanent creation as a CL 12. Be sure to take Surreinforcement as well because I want to be able to make a massive variety of materials and all of the Surreal feats. Spell Dabbler and Adept for PF and 3.5 Shadow spells, bestow and remove curse, and status removal effects, and Attune Gem or whatever that dragon's spell version of it is. Oh frell, Wyrms of the North is gone now isn't it? I can't remember the spell name.

After that I would try for a way to get rid of the Ambrosia and Agony creation, not permanently, but try and make it exceptionally difficult for me to get it back. So if something goes south and I need more XP, I can go get it, but not just have it on tap for infinite power. Super shadow magic is enough already, but unforeseen circumstances might need me to take up the mantle again for more power. Maybe something as simple as putting them at far corners of the world so I would have to burn all my magic to Shadow Walk/Teleport to one of the 3 items needed in a day.

From there, Imbue with Spell Ability to help with the Covid situation. Sanctum Remove Desease from the Healer list can be granted to everyone within an Ocular Ray Burst Widen 60ft radius 4/day. Throw on Sanctum to double that to 8/day, War spell to go up to 12/day, Mind Mage StP learning for lvl 0/1/2(no ability to cast lower with Spell Adept) to bump that to 24/day. Because of the limitations of Ray Burst, probably wouldn't hit more than like 5 people per cast in a hospital setting,but still 100ish people a day, a lot more if you can target higher traffic areas or somehow make it a spread. Wouldn't be game changing but it would certainly be helpful. The bestow and remove curse is for the obvious curse abuse, but mainly want it to help a friend from high school who can't afford to transition, one minute cast and boom, they become fully physically a woman for all time.

It might seem heartless not to go all out with a cure, but I don't want that much power. If I had the power of self-replicating spell clocks of remove disease, I could and probably would do the same with curse or similar against people I disagree with. Small scale magic is enough for me and what I listed would probably still be a bit much and go to my head, but the creative potential of 100% real shadows that mimic a myriad of materials is too awesome to pass up. Shadow Magic can give me the Nature and Weather abilities I would want on occasion and might even skip the actual Protection sphere to have them mimicked in shadow most of the time instead.

Would be making my own little worlds of exotic plants and animals with my warp rooms. Can't make proper dragons, but a normal egg is not the hardness of wood. Eggs, even live ones, are counted as objects. So Surienforcement Create Materials for a fertile, ready to hatch, Drakkensteed eggs or similar. Same with plant seeds for the elemental plants, namely the water lotus to make my home in the deserts of the southwest USA, near Big Bend is nice and fairly cheap. Sandstone and Forge Earth for the basics of the house, would have a massive cave with my shadow monsters in there. Hard Light to light the place. Would be so much fun carving those caves. Love it in Minecraft, can't imagine how giddy I would be irl.

[OrbanSirgen]

1 Girdle of Opposite Gender, and put everything else in a savings account... Then just open a sex-change service and make more money...

[White Blade]

Platform of Healing and Bed of Regeneration for sure, with a Teleport square attached.

Circlet of Knowledge (Local, Nature, Religion, Architecture and Engineering, Nobility and Royalty) +30 and Diplomacy +30 since I probably have Education.

Continuous Tongues

Decanter of Endless Water for the remainder

[Celestia]

I don't want for much in this life. I'll just take an at will item of polymorph any object, and the rest as cash.

[Maat Mons]

I was trying to do some math on the Platform of Healing. According to a study I found on emergency exits, the rate at which you can get people through a space is between 2 and 3 people/second for each meter of width. So each Platform can cure more than 500,000 people of disease each day... if you can manage the logistics of herding them all in a continuous stream.