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Thread: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
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2009-12-28, 10:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
At a previous gaming session, one of our players wanted to try out his newly acquired Fabricate spell. Due to the vagueness of the spell description, we were confused if the spell was solely for quickly creating items out of raw material, or if finished materials could be used, via Full Metal Alchemist.
Examples that came up:
- Turning an enemy sword into a largely useless item (a spoon was mentioned)
- Fabricating shackles from a throne to keep an official tied to his chair.
- Creating a gaping hole in the deck of a ship (by turning the wood into something else; giant nutcrackers were mentioned).
I'd be greatly appreciative if someone could shed some light on our query!
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2009-12-28, 10:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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2009-12-28, 11:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2008
Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
I'm a bit confused by your question, so I'll try to be clear. Fabricate allows you to craft an item, as per the Craft skill, although the action only takes 1 round. "Creatures or magic items cannot be created or transmuted by the fabricate spell," as the spell says, so you could not Fabricate an enemy's magical sword or turn a golem into a chair. The end result of Fabricate needs to be something achievable through the Craft skill, so you could not, say, fabricate a gold throne out of a single gold piece.
Also note that the "casting time" depends on the volume you are trying to affect.
To answer your specific questions:
- You could fabricate a nonmagical sword if you could get your hands on it. This may require anything from making a melee touch attack against the weapon (and possibly provoking an AoO) to actually needing to disarm the weapon first, depending on the DM rulings. Weapons held by creatures would probably deserve a saving throw, as per attended objects.
- Fabricating shackles from a throne would only work if there is enough spare material in the throne that some shackles could be "chisled" of forged out of it. You would still need to grapple/pin the official to get the shackles on them, though.
- Using fabrication to destroy objects is certainly an interesting way to use the spell, and I would allow it. I see nothing wrong with fabricating a hole into a boat or a passageway through stone. Please note that you need to make a Craft: Stonework check to ensure that the passageway doesn't collapse on your head, though. It would be reasonable for the DM to restrict Fabricate when it comes to special materials. (Mithral, Adamantine, etc.)
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2009-12-28, 11:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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2009-12-28, 11:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
What are the rules for casting spells on attended objects? I don't think you could cast, say, Melf's Acid Arrow on a weapon or shield an opponent is holding - in that case, you wouldn't be able to Fabricate a sword an opponent is holding.
Perhaps I'm just mixing up the rules for attended objects, though.
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2009-12-28, 11:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
Limited Wish to replicate Fabricate or Major Creation is the way to go.
Create Iron Maidens, Lead Half Plates of Crappywork + Towershields, Chains and restrains, Iron Masks or Guilhotins and imprision/kill your enemies with one standard action.
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2009-12-28, 11:52 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
None of the aforementioned items were magical.
So, what I'm getting is that the character in question would basically have to make Craft checks (within limits of the skill) in order to achieve what they wanted to do. That sounds fair, thanks!Last edited by Lappy9000; 2009-12-28 at 11:53 PM.
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2009-12-28, 11:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
Don't wizards have really really high int and most craft DCs are really really low?
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2009-12-28, 11:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
Last edited by Tar Palantir; 2009-12-28 at 11:57 PM.
Thanks to Thormag for my Legion avatar.
Current Characters:
Lily Nightingale, a.k.a. Sparrow, in V for Victory (OoC)
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2009-12-28, 11:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
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2009-12-29, 12:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
I'm not sure what he's referring to, either. Fabricate has a casting time of 1 round per 10 cubic feet affected.
And you only need to make a Craft check to make a specific item. Turning a sword into a spoon would require a Craft check - turning it into a twisted piece of metal would not. (I would personally roll Craft anyways, because turning an opponent's sword into a slinky is far cooler than just disabling it. )
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2009-12-29, 01:34 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
Based on what DnD spell and timing trends are, I'd guess that the actual rules as intended were that it should take at least 1 round. Most of the time when you see phrasing like that ("it takes X time for every Y amount") it means, and is clarified as such, "X time for Y amount or less."
That said? It's not explicitly penned, and I think that that is an excellent use of the spell, very creative indeed. I like it a lot.
If you start imposing craft checks, considering the Wiz's Int focus and somewhat low craft DCs, I think you're well within reason to increase in-combat DCs to keep difficulty paced - I mean, you're trying to do it split-second, and under duress, so a higher DC is natural.
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2009-12-29, 08:22 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
Well, you can Craft very complex illusions under those circunstances, so that's hardly a nuisance at all, wizards are used to it. But i still maintain that Limited Wish is the way to go with this, like its uses with Move Earth spell (producing the effect in one standard action to trap an entire army ftw).
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2009-12-29, 08:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2009
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2009-12-29, 08:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
I don't think anyone has directly addressed this. From the spell:
You convert material of one sort into a product that is of the same material.
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2009-12-29, 10:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
Re: Fabricate [D&D 3.5]
Thanks, I'm sure he'll appreciate it. However, the character in question isn't exactly a wizard, and gets to add his level to Craft checks anyway
Cool beans. Thank you everyone!