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shadow_archmagi
2008-02-11, 08:12 PM
The challenge is simple.

Create the most powerful result using the most random, unrelated, low price magical items. Additional rules:

1. Must be useful to someone planning world domination. Of course, world domination through infinite wealth or food is perfectly acceptable.

2. Cannot include anything which, INDIVIDUALLY, would be particularly useful in world domination.

3. Bonus points for including a use for a keg of infinite beer.

4. Assume that, whether or not the handbook agrees with me, an infinite use low level spell is less expensive than, say, a scroll of a spell two or three caster levels higher.

ImperialGolem
2008-02-11, 08:18 PM
Hmm...

Candle of Invocation, summon a genie, get three wishes.

Wish for three candles.

Do the same until you have lots of candles.

Summon more genies and wish for either Decanters of Endless Water or Kegs of Endless beer.

Hold the world ransom by flooding it with water or beer.

shadow_archmagi
2008-02-11, 08:19 PM
Hmm...
Hold the world ransom by flooding it with water or beer.


... interesting. *nods in approval*

Zincorium
2008-02-11, 08:20 PM
Any item which could cast the 'locate city bomb' even once per day is bound to be useful.

It only has to happen once, and as long as the form it's in isn't obvious, everyone is going to realize that there is no defense against it. Then either you kill them or they bow to your will.

Other than that, Decanter of Endless water and an army marching unexpectedly through desert terrain seems like an interesting combination.

Hyozo
2008-02-11, 08:26 PM
Bonus points for a keg of infinite beer? Domination through infinite wealth? That's easy.

Strategy:
-Be an Elan
--you now have infinite time to work with.
-acquire a keg of infinite beer
-?????*
-INFINITE profit!!!
-you now have infinite money.

* the ????? step should infolve building a (magical?) bar. having an advertisement of infinite suggestion "try our beer* would probably help, as would chosing a city with a high Dwarf population.

shadow_archmagi
2008-02-11, 08:29 PM
Ermm... actually, the guy planning world domination stole it from a bar. Several times.


No one caught on the bar owner actually has a rod of create kegs of infinite beer. Probably because they're all very, very drunk.

Jack_Simth
2008-02-11, 08:48 PM
Evil, Magic-domain Cleric-8, with a Wand or Scroll of Enervation.

Cast Enervation at a humanoid Commoner-1, lock the corpse in a cage, and wait.

When the corpse turns into a Wight the next night (standard, 4-HD Wight), Command it.

You now have an undead minion with the Create Spawn ability under your absolute control. Feed it an arbitrary number of Commoner-1's.

Per the Wight's Create Spawn Ability:

Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by a wight becomes a wight in 1d4 rounds. Spawn are under the command of the wight that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.

You are King, with absolute control over an (undead) general. Your undead general now has an arbitrarily sized army of Lawful-Evil minions, under his (?) absolute control.

Done.

FlyMolo
2008-02-11, 08:53 PM
Evil, Magic-domain Cleric-8, with a Wand or Scroll of Enervation.

Cast Enervation at a humanoid Commoner-1, lock the corpse in a cage, and wait.

When the corpse turns into a Wight the next night (standard, 4-HD Wight), Command it.

You now have an undead minion with the Create Spawn ability under your absolute control. Feed it an arbitrary number of Commoner-1's.

Per the Wight's Create Spawn Ability:


You are King, with absolute control over an (undead) general. Your undead general now has an arbitrarily sized army of Lawful-Evil minions, under his (?) absolute control.

Done.

I tried to work out a way of doing the same with Warlocks, but it's harder. Actually, Utterdark blast and a scroll of control undead and permanency should work. This option is open to anyone with a little cash and UMD.

Chronos
2008-02-11, 08:55 PM
Does the keg produce any particular type of beer, or is it customizable? I'm thinking of somehow making the beer particularly addictive, or of incorporating some sort of enchantment potion into the beer.

expirement10K14
2008-02-11, 09:00 PM
I would say easiest is be a vampire, or control one somehow. Find humanoid with at least 5 HD. Drain constitution below 0. You now have a new vampire. For a humanoid with less than 5 HD you have a vampire spawn. Create a mass army. Have all vampires use children of the night. Attack a city. Reduce as many creatures as possible to below 0 constitution. Rest and wait for all dead bodies to raise into vampires/spawn. Find new city. Go back to sentence "Have all vampires use children of the night." ????????. Profit.


Edit: Buy many keg's of infinite beer, flood all sewers in any city attacked, then flood any low lying areas. This kills the heathens in the hills.

Edit 2: I see an idea for a new campaign. The vampire army has taken over a city and the sewers are filled with beer, go kill them.

GrassyGnoll
2008-02-11, 09:05 PM
Step #1: Find a volcano
Step #1b: Gain immunity to fire
Step #2: Acquire a decanter of endless diet pepsi
Step #3: Major creation up a ton of mentos
Step #4: ???
Step #5: Profit!

ImperialGolem
2008-02-11, 09:10 PM
Evil, Magic-domain Cleric-8, with a Wand or Scroll of Enervation.

Cast Enervation at a humanoid Commoner-1, lock the corpse in a cage, and wait.

When the corpse turns into a Wight the next night (standard, 4-HD Wight), Command it.

You now have an undead minion with the Create Spawn ability under your absolute control. Feed it an arbitrary number of Commoner-1's.

Per the Wight's Create Spawn Ability:


You are King, with absolute control over an (undead) general. Your undead general now has an arbitrarily sized army of Lawful-Evil minions, under his (?) absolute control.

Done.
Good plan, but I think that there would be a better choice.
Just be a level 12 undead (I'm sure you can become one). Get undead leadership. Get a shadow as a cohort. Then, profit.
Or, if you still want to get a wight, you just have to be level 6.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x

expirement10K14
2008-02-11, 09:22 PM
Using the Undead leadership I have an idea for an hero.
1) Become an undead, lich or high level with large charisma and ability to create/control undead is ideal
2)Get as many Wights/Vampires possible using undead leadership (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x) feat.
3)Create more Wights, Vampires, and Vampire spawn using the undead's abilities and gather as many Keg's of Infinite beer as possible.
4)Find a city and at night flood the sewers with the Kegs to cut off any escape routes.
5)Sack city, using vampires and wights to create more undead.
6)Raise any left over bodies.
7)Repeat steps 3-7 until world is controlled.

I can just see a lich with millions of undead to control, and I wish it was me.
Edit: I now know what a locate city bomb is so new step.

8) If you get tired of the undead or need a backup, have a Locate City Bomb (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3925348&posted=1#post3925348) ready for detonation.

dyslexicfaser
2008-02-11, 09:44 PM
Other than that, Decanter of Endless water and an army marching unexpectedly through desert terrain seems like an interesting combination.
"Our desert stronghold is completely impassable! We will never fall!"
*fleet of ships arrive, having used Decanters and lyres of building to create canals*

GrassyGnoll
2008-02-11, 10:36 PM
Or for the patient type. Upturned decanter(s) of endless water set to geyser + undeath. Just be sure to have good relations with the aboleth.

Talic
2008-02-12, 01:10 AM
Be an Elan.

Start with a keg of infinite beer.

Sell beer for a reasonable rate, make checks with profession (barkeep).

Use profits to hire a mage (preferably an alcoholic) to make a bowl of infinite beer nuts.

get a flying carpet.

Fly over a city, upend the bowl, and bury it in beer nuts.

Go to city two, hire an urchin to deliver the ultimatum for money or burial by beer nut.

Take profit, rehire wizard to make a decanter of infinite tomato juice and a flask of endless vodka.

Turn them on, drop them over the side of a ship, attached to an anchor.

Start a religion. Prophesize that in the end times, the seas will become as Bloody Marys.

When you're proven right, dominate the world via religion.

Jack_Simth
2008-02-12, 07:11 AM
I tried to work out a way of doing the same with Warlocks, but it's harder. Actually, Utterdark blast and a scroll of control undead and permanency should work. This option is open to anyone with a little cash and UMD.Permanency does not work that way except by DM Fiat. There is a list of spells that can be made Permanent (listed in Permanency, or in the spell's description) and Control Undead isn't on it.

Good plan, but I think that there would be a better choice.
Just be a level 12 undead (I'm sure you can become one). Get undead leadership. Get a shadow as a cohort. Then, profit.
Or, if you still want to get a wight, you just have to be level 6.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x
Mild Issue: Cohorts are NPC's, under the DM's control, not completely commanded NPC's, under your mental control. Plus, yours requires a non-Core source, mine doesn't. "Better" is a matter of perspective; I have a different set of criteria.

MorkaisChosen
2008-02-12, 07:50 AM
Tenser's Floating Discs full of beer (from the Keg). Hover them into a city, and tell them that you'll give them FREE BEER! if they work for you, and flood the city in beer if they don't. Drown all dissenters in stale beer, reward your closest lieutenants with fresh beer. Become King of the World through your beery goodness.

Best for a Cleric/Rogue of Olidammara with UMD to use the Infinite Disc Creator item and Olidammara for the beer. In fact, if you had one of the Faith Point feats from Complete Divine, you'd probably get loads of Faith, and therefore be able to pass just about any check, as you just have to involve beer and carousing in some way to be following your God's ethos.

Says the player whose Cleric got a Faith point for saying (in character), "Let's all get drunk!"

shadow_archmagi
2008-02-12, 05:52 PM
Good and all, but I forgot to post the last rule:

Use as many DIFFERENT items as possible.

mabriss lethe
2008-02-12, 06:56 PM
Magic items used: none
Cost: Basically free.
Type: Undead Pyramid Scheme

-Obtain the Death Devotion feat at 1st level.

-Commit suicide using the feat, rise as a free wight a bit later.

-Create a small army of spawn. Dress half of them up in pretty armor with nice concealing visors. Start running a protection racket. Wights attack a remote village (securing a handful of spawn in the attempt) Only to be fought off by a bunch of "Knights in Shining Armor"... guess who they are. The Knights demand a fee for continued protection. It's not much at all, "just enough to cover the costs of supplies" they say. Doesn't matter that the Knights don't have much in the way of needs. They set up a modest fort just outside of town. While in a location, they actively scour the land for bandits and other undesirables, converting them into wights. These new wights get sent out to start the scam all over again in another town.

-Once large areas of rural populations are under their thumb, the knights start using their vast wealth and resources to erode the local political structure, eventually eventually, every nation is ruled by one of your pawns. Just to keep yourself entertained, continue the illusion of rivalries and wars between your puppet kingdoms. Continue to reap the wealth of several wartime/cold war economies.

-Rename yourself and your spawn the Illuminati, then leak the name and assorted conspiracy theories to a handfull of nutjobs that no one will believe. Hilarity enuses.

KoDT69
2008-02-13, 01:05 PM
If you are using the custom spell research and custom item creation rules:

Create a custom 1st level spell that deals elemental damage in a blast radius - so it will be a 1st level fireball with a max of 5d6 but cost much less. Make an item that casts it at 1st or 5th level (depending on how cheap you want) unlimited times per day/use-activated (whatever you consider that).

Same token, create a spell to summon kobolds or something small and seemingly harmless. Make an item of unlimited use, and flood the city :smallbiggrin:

You could always create budget golems, like 2-3 HD iron golems. With all the immunities, the commoners will run in terror.

Prometheus
2008-02-13, 01:36 PM
A drunken master with a ring of water elemental control had fun making beer rain from the sky in one of my campaigns. Actually happened.

Zincorium
2008-02-13, 01:44 PM
You could always create budget golems, like 2-3 HD iron golems. With all the immunities, the commoners will run in terror.

Medium size, 1 hit dice Elder Eidolons from Lords of madness are about 5 grand a pop, but they would be a decent challenge for up to 3rd level characters.

Using the effigy template is cheaper but the special abilities of the elder eidolon make up the price difference easily.

Mando Knight
2008-02-13, 03:03 PM
I can just see a lich with millions of undead to control, and I wish it was me.

You don't happen to mean our friend :xykon: , would you? ...Except that he has a lot of goblinoids right now, along with the undead hordes...

Telonius
2008-02-13, 03:13 PM
Step 1: Acquire a keg of infinite beer.
Step 2: Purchase the building next to the local tavern.
Step 3: Set up a rival tavern.
Step 4: Because your production costs will be zero, you can undercut the tavern's prices, causing it to shut down.
Step 5: Ensure that the decor is bright, and that there are no shadowy corners.
Step 6: Hire a bouncer, and train him to throw out all rich merchants, royals in disguise, and other troublemakers.
Step 7: Expand operations to all taverns in the kingdom.
Step 8: Congratulations! You have effectively eliminated 90% of the plot hooks in the kingdom. Your path to power is now clear.

expirement10K14
2008-02-13, 03:34 PM
Magic items used: none
Cost: Basically free.
Type: Undead Pyramid Scheme

-Obtain the Death Devotion feat at 1st level.

-Commit suicide using the feat, rise as a free wight a bit later.

-Create a small army of spawn. Dress half of them up in pretty armor with nice concealing visors. Start running a protection racket. Wights attack a remote village (securing a handful of spawn in the attempt) Only to be fought off by a bunch of "Knights in Shining Armor"... guess who they are. The Knights demand a fee for continued protection. It's not much at all, "just enough to cover the costs of supplies" they say. Doesn't matter that the Knights don't have much in the way of needs. They set up a modest fort just outside of town. While in a location, they actively scour the land for bandits and other undesirables, converting them into wights. These new wights get sent out to start the scam all over again in another town.

-Once large areas of rural populations are under their thumb, the knights start using their vast wealth and resources to erode the local political structure, eventually eventually, every nation is ruled by one of your pawns. Just to keep yourself entertained, continue the illusion of rivalries and wars between your puppet kingdoms. Continue to reap the wealth of several wartime/cold war economies.

-Rename yourself and your spawn the Illuminati, then leak the name and assorted conspiracy theories to a handfull of nutjobs that no one will believe. Hilarity enuses.

How does the feat make you a wight? By making you level 0?

kamikasei
2008-02-13, 03:54 PM
How does the feat make you a wight? By making you level 0?

It causes your attacks to bestow negative levels.


A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain. Depending on the creature that killed her, she may rise the next night as a monster of that kind. If not, she rises as a wight..

Of course, it only really works if you're first level. And you'd want to have a low Con and fort save along with a high Cha in order to actually take the negative level before running out of hit points.

Douglas
2008-02-13, 03:56 PM
By allowing him to inflict a negative level on himself. Since he is level 1, a single negative level kills him instantly. The rules for death by negative levels (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#energyDrainAndNegativeLevels) state that if there's no monster ability involved (such as the Vampire's Create Spawn ability), he rises as a wight the next night.

Burley
2008-02-13, 05:07 PM
Ah HA!
You make millions of Kegs of Endless Beer (of Various drafts and flavors, including fruity coolers for the ladies and low CON NPCs), flooding them into the market for little over cost.
Soon, there will be so much beer to go around that nobody will buy your product anymore. Also, with so much endless/cheap beer floating around, people will stop making their own beer.
Then, you wait for the secret plan to unfold. (Helps if you never die...Elan.)
Unbeknownst to anybody but you, the beer that comes out of the Kegs of Endless Beer (of Various drafts and flavors, including fruity coolers for the ladies and low CON NPCs) is highly addictive, and alters the DNA of the offspring of anyone who is addicted, causing a genetic need for your drink.
Then, using all the Instant Summons Spell and all the Arcane Marks you secretly put on the inside of the kegs...Summon them all back.

Anybody who wants to live is at your mercy.