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Randel
2008-03-08, 08:19 PM
We all know how a decanter of endless water can be used to irrigate fields and run waterwheels. What other kinds extremely simple magic items could be used to change a magical civilization?

I figure that cheap evocation effects that provide cheap energy could cause some big change by themselves, but then even short range divination spells that work like walkie-talkies could work too.



Examples:

Wind Tube- a metal tube with a permanent Gust of Wind effect placed on it. Air is sucked in one way and blown out the other. Can be made as small as a vacuum hose or as wide as a fan. The speed that it blows air is chosen at the time of creation and more expensive ones blow harder.
Uses:
1. Place one or more by a windmill to provide motor energy.
2. Replace the blades on a windmill with Wind Tubes, causing them to pull rotate the thing directly.
3. Put a bag on the 'out' end and make a vacuum cleaner.


Light Pellet- a simple transparent glass marble with Continual Flame cast on it. it essentially works like a light bulb without needing to have a battery to power it.
Uses:
1. Make a small metal container no larger than a standard potion vial, polish it up and glue a Light Pellet in the inside. Now add a lid you can flip open and you have a flashlight.
2. Get a lot of them and make a greenhouse to grow crops underground.
3. Build the above mentioned 'flashlight' into a helmet. Now there is no need to carry a torch underground.

Ivius
2008-03-08, 08:25 PM
Trash Compacter: A large box with Shrink Item at will.

Jack_Simth
2008-03-08, 08:27 PM
Archmage with Mastery of Elements Permanencies two castings of Wall of Fire; one standard, one cold-substituted. Set a couple of Decanters of Endless Water running in a big holding tank, and run pipes from the tank through the flames, and you've got hot and cold running water for an entire city. For that matter, put a boiler over the Hot one, and you've got cheap steam power, too.

Of course, the cheapest way to make limitless work is with zombies and skeletons....

Collin152
2008-03-08, 08:34 PM
Archmage with Mastery of Elements Permanencies two castings of Wall of Fire; one standard, one cold-substituted. Set a couple of Decanters of Endless Water running in a big holding tank, and run pipes from the tank through the flames, and you've got hot and cold running water for an entire city. For that matter, put a boiler over the Hot one, and you've got cheap steam power, too.

Of course, the cheapest way to make limitless work is with zombies and skeletons....

Skeletons pushing on a whell is what makes hte Eath revolve. We bury the dead so that they can join them.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-03-08, 09:21 PM
Continuous Mage Hand or Unseen Servant for running small mills, spinning wheels and simple pumps.

FlyMolo
2008-03-08, 09:25 PM
Skeletons pushing on a whell is what makes hte Eath revolve. We bury the dead so that they can join them.

Where do you come up with this stuff?!

SilentNight
2008-03-08, 09:28 PM
Enlarge object. Solve the world's hunger problems. Also see hero's feast and create food and water.

Azerian Kelimon
2008-03-08, 09:30 PM
He's got an awesome rating of N-1+3/4 Solos. Awesome exudes from him like crappiness exudes from lesser forms of existance, like mortals.

Kedami
2008-03-08, 09:31 PM
First, you set up some pipes and somewhere to sit. Then you set up a handle that uses Create Water. Then, as the waste is pushed down the pipe, Prestidigitation kicks in at key points and cleans the pipes.

Ta-da! We have a toilet in the D&D universe that doesn't require some poor guy having to clean out cess pools.

All spells would be permanent of course.

I'll post more when I think of them, but that was all I could come up with for now, since I was actually looking to make that in a campaign...

Collin152
2008-03-08, 09:39 PM
Where do you come up with this stuff?!

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be my Evil Side. I have three personalities, you see.
One is evil (among other thinfs) and does all he can to do away with us.
One is weak, and does what he can to put ourselves out of danger.
One is everything else, and he despises the other two's existance.
When the ywork together, only then can the greater evil be destroyed.

Oh, infinite energy? Sure, Decanters and permanent gusts can get you continuous energy, but then you have to do something with it. What exactly are we going ot do with these self powering windmills?

Arakune
2008-03-08, 09:44 PM
Electricity.

FlyMolo
2008-03-08, 09:51 PM
If I were to hazard a guess, it would be my Evil Side. I have three personalities, you see.
One is evil (among other thinfs) and does all he can to do away with us.
One is weak, and does what he can to put ourselves out of danger.
One is everything else, and he despises the other two's existance.
When the ywork together, only then can the greater evil be destroyed.

Oh, infinite energy? Sure, Decanters and permanent gusts can get you continuous energy, but then you have to do something with it. What exactly are we going ot do with these self powering windmills?

Grind grain, mill swords. Industrial Revolution all over again.

Umm, actual uses for simple spells. Wall of stone, stone shape, flesh to stone. I don't know what you could accomplish here, but it would be cool.

quiet1mi
2008-03-08, 09:56 PM
stone to flesh at will = mystery meat again?

dominate person on yourself + intentionally failing your will save = best way to remember dates (birthdays and anniversaries etc ) and quit addicting habits

Roderick_BR
2008-03-08, 09:57 PM
Of course, the cheapest way to make limitless work is with zombies and skeletons....
There's a DC Comic series where a hidden village of sorcerers do that... XD That's how creatures like Grundy were created, apparently.

Collin152
2008-03-08, 10:00 PM
Electricity.

Isn't that a little too much metagame knowledge?

Kedami
2008-03-08, 10:03 PM
I'm sure there was something in my head about helping the homeless and a Sustaining Spoon...

Collin152
2008-03-08, 10:06 PM
"What about hte homeless?" "We'll worry about them later." "No, the homeless could pull the rickshaw!"
Oh, cast mount. Voila, one horsepower of free energy.
Cast it again.

Kedami
2008-03-08, 10:29 PM
Inspired by a different thread...

Use a Wall of Force to stop an enemy invading by jumping or flying over those castle walls.

the_tick_rules
2008-03-08, 10:39 PM
prestidigitation, run your own laundry business, and we all know how much medevial society loved cleanliness.

Da King
2008-03-08, 10:54 PM
I invented the flamethrower in a previous campaign. Bottle of air (or whatever it's called) plus alchemist's fire. Ahhh, good times.... I can still remember the screams of pain as the flesh of those commoners burned... I think my alignment should have been just a little
different from neutral good.

Dan_Hemmens
2008-03-09, 09:17 AM
I find it interesting that people consider "Permanent" anything to constitute a "simple" spell. You're talking about a fifth level spell with a hefty XP cost. All these things you're talking about making (with the exception of the Continual Flame stuff) are significantly more costly than raising the dead.

And when you get right down to it, using a decanter of endless water is a much less efficient way of making a water wheel than just using a - y'know - river.

Talya
2008-03-09, 10:18 AM
Sustaining Spoon...

The rules in BoEF for how long you can sustain don't differentiate based on position.

Kedami
2008-03-09, 10:21 AM
The rules in BoEF for how long you can sustain don't differentiate based on position.

Right... No idea what you're talking about, but the Sustaining Spoon is the SRD name for Murlynd's Spoon (Sp?), since they can't realease names, just like Bigby and Mordenkainen (whose name I'm sure I just spelled wrong).

Talya
2008-03-09, 10:23 AM
Right... No idea what you're talking about

I know what it is. It was a joke. You'd need to be familiar with the BoEF to get it.

Kedami
2008-03-09, 10:27 AM
Sorry, just got what BoEF stands for.
Not something I like to think about at all.

Grug
2008-03-09, 10:32 AM
The thing about decanters of endless water is that it creates water.

Think.

The world already has lots of water in it. If you keep adding more, over a long period of time, the ocean levels will rise and the entire world will become more humid. Drastic long-term effects.

Blackadder
2008-03-09, 11:58 AM
The thing about decanters of endless water is that it creates water.

Think.

The world already has lots of water in it. If you keep adding more, over a long period of time, the ocean levels will rise and the entire world will become more humid. Drastic long-term effects.
Search back through the forums, there was a calculation that showed that even on the "Geyser" setting(Highest) 72 Decanters of Endless Water would take over ten thousand years to raise the worlds sea level. by 1 inch

Drastic long term effects in geological time(IE Twenty million years) but not drastic effects in any reasonable time frame.

pmurray
2008-03-09, 12:34 PM
Light Pellet- a simple transparent glass marble with Continual Flame cast on it.
2. Get a lot of them and make a greenhouse to grow crops underground.


Won't work. Sunlight makes plants grow because it is imbued with divine, lifegiving power (that's also why it is inimical to certain undead). Simple illumination will not do the same job.

Paul H
2008-03-09, 12:40 PM
Hi

Magic Carpet - pollution free transport
Bags Holding - storage
Tenser's disc - trailer/palletiser/sack truck etc.
Leomund's Hiny Hut - caravan/tent for camping
Crystal Ball - TV/video phone
Protection from Evil - anti bug cream
Sending - texting/letters (snailmail)
Endure Elements - central heating (no heaters/fans reqd in house)
Bag of Tricks (Gray) - childrens pets?
Periapt Health/Proof Poison - doctors etc working with contagious patients
Horseshoes of Speed - turbo boosters
Horseshoes of Zephyr - 4 wheel drive
Ioun Stones Clear & Irridescent - perfect for off-world explorers.

The list goes on.....

Cheers
Paul H

Chronos
2008-03-09, 01:52 PM
The thing about decanters of endless water is that it creates water.

Think.

The world already has lots of water in it. If you keep adding more, over a long period of time, the ocean levels will rise and the entire world will become more humid. Drastic long-term effects.I decided a while ago that that's why Spheres of Annihilation exist. The laws of magic demand that the amount of material in the world remain constant, so the more Conjuration (creation) and the like is used, the more Spheres spontaneously spring into existence to compensate.

RandomLogic
2008-03-09, 02:17 PM
Tensor's floating disc in a large circular shaft = elevator.

Or similarly, cast Fly on tubes and you create either magical sewer systems, people transportation, or those el neato things at banks that go "Whoosh!" and give you money.

Teleportation + phone booth type thing = teleporters!

Actually tensor's floating disc + carriage = semi-truck or bus or hover car, etc.

Benejeseret
2008-03-09, 04:56 PM
Combine the wind tube with a bottle of air. Now we have a permanent pressurizing system that works in any environment......

And with pressure we can do nearly anything from powering 'cars' to blowing stuff up, to building a space-rocket.

Randel
2008-03-09, 05:47 PM
I actually had an idea idea for a sort of magical restaurant. Alot like a Sushi-go-round (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conveyor_belt_sushi)

Have some mini-tensers floating disks that are flat and about the size of serving platters. Make a device that creates them constantly and has them float in a loop around the restaurant until somone touches them or gets food off them. Then they follow the person to their seat.

Then the kitchen can has an magic item that casts Create Food and Water, either to make simple foods like bread of porridge to serve or as ingredients for the cooks to make better stuff.

With something like that, you could have a huge room of people constantly getting as much food as they need with minimal lines and only limited by how fast the kitchen can make the stuff.

ashmanonar
2008-03-09, 05:54 PM
The rules in BoEF for how long you can sustain don't differentiate based on position.

I don't know which is more disturbing to me; that you made this joke, or that I got the joke.:confused:

Tavenknaughtlin
2008-03-09, 07:24 PM
Coin-activated boxes of Create Food and Water = Vending machines

Rat Skeletons whose orders are to scour the city and only attack other rats, followed by Unseen Servants to collect the dead rat bodies for reanimation = self-replicating pest control.

Phantom Steed = Fast city transportation. Equivalent to flying cars if the caster is high enough.

Hill Giant Skeletons = Construction cranes + loadlifters. Ribcage serves as excellent control room for Gnomish Necromancer Architects.

Feather Fall = Paratroopers. Also useful for those citizens who fail their Ride checks on their flying car Phantom Steeds.

mabriss lethe
2008-03-09, 11:28 PM
warlock....the ultimate civil servants.

Clean out the sewers with eldritch blasts... check
animate the dead for cheap and efficient labor... check
flying/ teleporting delivery service... check
Demolition and mining via hammer blast and baleful utterance... check
Animal control via call of the Beast... Check.

CASTLEMIKE
2008-03-10, 03:27 PM
The various L1 and L2 Darsson's spells that can be made permanent: Darrson's Cooling Breeze, Chilling Chamber and Fiery Furnace.

Benejeseret
2008-03-10, 07:04 PM
Is there clear rules for making Living Spells in Game? If so...

Living Sleep - helps parents get their children to bed.
Living Sound Burst with Non-lethal substitution - Great for starting parties

Living Darkness - Great for introducing n00bs everywhere, "I attack the darkness"

Living Zone of Truth - In every church and principals office

Living Silent Image - Raises your kids for you (just like TV!)

Living Magic Mouth/Alarm - Functions as fire alarms and raid sirens to alert the townies of danger

Benejeseret
2008-03-10, 07:14 PM
A Living Spell called Edit, which creeps around forums to counter the Living Spell Horror Lag....

Sorry for triple posts.

Megafly
2008-03-10, 08:48 PM
with decanters of endless water, and devices of "gust of wind" you could position a device on a mountain top that would make snow forever.

as a method of control (close the pass with a glacier)

or as recreation on a slope (snowboard of springing and leaping anyone?)

NobleSavage
2008-03-11, 04:34 PM
I decided a while ago that that's why Spheres of Annihilation exist. The laws of magic demand that the amount of material in the world remain constant, so the more Conjuration (creation) and the like is used, the more Spheres spontaneously spring into existence to compensate.

Wait... did this just bring a catgirl back to life?

Jukashi
2008-03-11, 08:48 PM
Rat Skeletons whose orders are to scour the city and only attack other rats, followed by Unseen Servants to collect the dead rat bodies for reanimation = self-replicating pest control.

Would reanimated rat corpses running around the city in hunter-killer patters really be much better than having rats in the first place?

Collin152
2008-03-11, 09:04 PM
Wait... did this just bring a catgirl back to life?

If so, I demand my "skeletons rotating the earth" comment merit me a catguy slave. Or a rough approximate.

Zim
2008-03-12, 12:27 AM
A simple magic item I came up with used phantom trap and arcane mark. Make a little idol or nastly looking clockwork ball and cast the two spells on it. The glowing rune makes it visible to all, and the phantom trap reveals it to obviously be a trap. For flavour, have it whirr or click ominously every so often. Cheap nonlethal security.

Another thing that would be useful is a magic disk that can be attached to any wheel or axle. It spins on command and provides unlimited mechanical energy. Probably use greater mage hand for that one.

I found that ghost sound combined with glyph of warding or explosive runes works well. "Tweet, tweet!" Wuzzat? A bird in the dungeon? Where? Oh, up above me (looks). Aw, Crud! BOOM!

Electric jolt and popcorn is fun.

But the best all-purpose spell is prestidigitation. There's not much you can't use it for.