What would you do with a poe bust?

[Amador]

So I was thinking today about the title and came up with the idea that if this were D&D I'd get a wizard to research a stone to chocolate spell. Then I'd eat the tasty bust. This got me thinking, why not play a wizard who specializes in transmutation and then research a bunch of "X to Y" spells?

[Assassin89]

I see a big problem in the economy with such a concept. If a spell such as X to gold/platinum, where X is any substance, is created, gold/platinum become worthless. The same applies for changing any substance to gems.

[Blackjackg]

I see a big problem in the economy with such a concept. If a spell such as X to gold/platinum, where X is any substance, is created, gold/platinum become worthless. The same applies for changing any substance to gems.

Gold and platinum would only become worthless after people realize what you're doing. You could probably spend a great many years living high on the hog if you were circumspect about your spending.

[The Dark Fiddler]

What would I do with a Poe Bust? I'd buy a Raven/have a Raven familiar and perch is on it and teach it to say "Nevermore."

As for a transmutation specialist doing that, I have no idea. I personally wouldn't allow it if I could find a way to keep the players from doing it in the game.

EDIT: Well, maybe I'd let them do it a little bit. After all, is it that different from making magic items?

[lsfreak]

So make such valuable metals only available as epic spells. (Plus, I mean, Wall of Iron already breaks the economy).

For the ones that already exist, flesh-to-ice is always fun, because you can pretend you're Calvin and his army of tortuously-melting snowmen. Stone-to-lava. Vitrify from Sandstorm is essentially "sand to molten glass." Stone-to-sand and sand-to-glass (not the melty burny kind) are in there too. Flesh-to-salt is fun but less useful than others because it requires you do drop a target to half health or something (though, of course, there is Mass Flesh-to-Salt for your mookkilling needs).

For inventing new ones, flesh to scales (defensive buff) and metal to cloth (debuff your armorwearing enemies) would be good lower-level, temporary spells.

[shadzar]

Flesh to Pudding(jello) Spell. YUM!

Eat your enemies.

[warrl]

I see a big problem in the economy with such a concept. If a spell such as X to gold/platinum, where X is any substance, is created, gold/platinum become worthless. The same applies for changing any substance to gems.

Not necessarily.

"This spell changes one pound of iron to one pound of gold, shrinking the target object in the process. Material component: two pounds of gold."

[Lycanthromancer]

Well, we all know that 1 xp = 5 gp, so as long as your spell requires an xp component (and I'll let you guess the conversion rate), it'd still be balanced.

[Flickerdart]

Polymorph Any Object: BBEG to Chair.

[Glimbur]

I see a big problem in the economy with such a concept. If a spell such as X to gold/platinum, where X is any substance, is created, gold/platinum become worthless. The same applies for changing any substance to gems.

But there is an inherent value to gems; they can be used as spell components. So the price drops from the one set by rarity and difficulty of digging them up to one set by what casters charge for it.

[JeenLeen]

I think somewhere it's mentioned that expensive materials (copper, silver, gold, and gems) cannot be created by magic. There's something intrinsically unique about those materials that makes it that they cannot be (at least permanently) created by magic. That is part of why they are valuable, I assume. (This is, of course, fluff that could be waived, but it does add something to the economy of the world.)

Thus, if such a spell could be made, it would have to be expensive to use, such as xp mentioned above.

A useful utility spell for when storage space is accounted for would be "Gold to Platinum", where you make 100 gold into 1 platinum (or is the ratio 10 to 1?), and equivalent conversion spells.

[Heliomance]

What to do with a Poe bust? Defend it and keep it somewhere safe so those pesky ninjas from the rival school can't get it.

Cookie for the reference.