Ironwood is weird

[Venger]

Splinter from a question in simple RAW reprinted here for posterity:




Q 745
Ironwood (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/ironwood.htm) lists the wood you are enchanting as the material component. This means it disappears when you cast the spell, so it is not altered into a metal-like substance. From the description of the spell, it doesn't sound as though it's replaced with another set of armor once the wood is consumed. It says it's possible to make +1 armor. If this armor disappears after a day/cl, it would not be practical to further enchant this with armor enhancements since it would disappear eventually. None of this seems exactly right. Am I misunderstanding the spell, or was there an alteration or erratum to this spell someplace?



You are correct by RAW. This is potentially a dysfunction of the ever-popular "the devs forgot the difference between a material component and a focus" category.

One arguable reading that mitigates the dysfunction is that the component is simply "wood shaped into the form of the intended ironwood object" and not actually the specific item you're transforming. Meaning that you don't actually have to use a full-size wooden suit of armor (for example), just wood in that general shape. (This of course gets into the "is it really transmutation?" issue, familiar from things like fabricate, which also consumes its material component and creates a new object rather than actually transforming the component.)

I would argue that since ironwood is intentionally temporary, the intended use is not to try to put on long-term enhancements but rather to use magic vestment, greater magic weapon, and so on. But we all know that intention only goes so far.

Of course, ironwood is already dysfunctional by RAW because spells with a range of 0 ft are... problematic. But that wasn't your question.

What exactly is going on with ironwood?

Zaq mentions that the intent was to beef up ironwood armor with spells to enhance armor. Was the expectation when writing the phb that druids would never have permanent armor with armor enhancements on it? Given that the wild armor property exists and within the confines of core only offers any benefit to druids. The spell is normally acquired at level 11. Even using textbook wbl, most druids will have permanent magic armor of some kind (leather, dragonhide, etc) prior to this, so if ironwood can't be used to create permanent armor, what is it supposed to do?

I think the designers likely did conflate focus and material component and ironwood armor is supposed to continue to exist indefinitely and the duration refers to how long it retains its metallic traits. I believe the smallest tweak required to make it work this way mechanically is to simply change the wooden armor in question to a focus rather than a material component. Are there other alterations that might make it... do something?

Zaq also refers to problems caused by 0ft range spells. What might those be? Would it be that they aren't touch, so don't apply to things touched, but also aren't a range expressed in feet so they cannot in fact be cast anywhere or on anything at all, or something else?

Basically, I want to explore ironwood and see what it is it's supposed to do, what it does, and how it might be altered to be usable. I have never used this spell in a game. Have other people? What have you done with it?

[Darg]

As for the material component, Transmutation alters the physical properties of things. Take Fabricate for example: you turn a gold bar into a gold statue, while destroying the gold as a cost for the spell. Doesn't make sense right? The intent here is not that you end at a loss, but simply change the object into something else for the duration of the spell. This means that for the duration of the spell you no longer have the original material to use (no longer that object and therefore technically annihilated). When the spell ends it turns back into the original material.

The thing about Ironwood that makes it special is that you can halve the weight to turn it into a magical item with a +1 enhancement bonus. This means it is treated as a masterwork item. If you enhance the item after this it retains its magic item status after it reverts back. If you do this I would recommend making the material full sized instead of miniaturized in order to not break the object on a dispel or entering an anti-magic zone.

The only thing I can think of for 0 ft range spells being problematic is that you can persist them, but that would be nerfing the spell hard. 0 ft range simply means that the object in question must be within your square at least in part.

That's at least my experience with it. One other nice utility is that if your DM is sunder crazy, you can carry a handful of toothpick sized wooden weapons to fuel your companions weapon needs to not risk the good stuff until important fights.

[Silly Name]

My best bet is that the spell was meant to provide druids with (temporary) access to medium and heavy armor. Yes, dragonhide is a thing, but it's also pretty hard to come around if we disregard WBL and assume that, narratively, you need to actually slay a dragon or find someone who has and is willing to give/sell you its hide to have the dragonhide armor crafted. Not how everyone plays, I know, but I feel it's fair to assume stuff like dragonhide armor wasn't intended to be something you can just buy.

Another possible intended use is the creation of temporary weapons (even +1, thus counting as magical) for relatively cheap. Potentially useful in a scenario where your party has lost their weapons and doesn't have easy access to a blacksmith.

In general, I figure that the idea behind the spell was that druids could use it to create weapons and armors quickly to defend the woodlands and their sacred groves, arming themselves, rangers and various allies in prospect of a battle. At 11th level, a druid can create 55 pounds of ironwood, which translates to 13,75 longswords for less than 1 hour of work, and that will last for 11 days.

[Darg]

In general, I figure that the idea behind the spell was that druids could use it to create weapons and armors quickly to defend the woodlands and their sacred groves, arming themselves, rangers and various allies in prospect of a battle. At 11th level, a druid can create 55 pounds of ironwood, which translates to 13,75 longswords for less than 1 hour of work, and that will last for 11 days.

The effect mentions one object. I guess you could leave the swords attached to each other when you cast the spell by a sliver and then after simply break them apart.