Free gold?

[Private-Prinny]

You can cast Major Creation to create precious metals that last for 20 min./level. Can you create platinum to sell to sufficiently stupid NPCs for real money as long as you skip town quickly? Platinum is listed as 500 gp/lb, so a light load of platinum carried by the party's BSF should cost about 116,500 (assuming STR of 24 by the time the wizard can cast 5th level spells)

I think there may be something against creating money written somewhere, but I can't find it.

[Reynard]

As a DM, I'd allow it.

Depending on what sort of shop they're in.

A general, mundane item shop (tents, bedrolls, whathaveyou), yes, they'd probably get away with it. For as long as the spell lasts.
Magic item shop? Hell yes, but I'd have some sort of dispelling device the shopkeeper uses on coins to check for fakes. Which would lead to some fun.

[The Shadowmind]

Why not produce rare woods to sell instead? They would last long enough to skip town, and if you use summon monster VII, the Djinn can make permanent versions so no need to skip town.

[Geiger Counter]

This is however a chaotic evil act and will likely draw in a lot of bad press and attention. However if the party is made up of changelings pulling this off becomes a whole lot easier.

[Private-Prinny]

This is however a chaotic evil act and will likely draw in a lot of bad press and attention. However if the party is made up of changelings pulling this off becomes a whole lot easier.

I'm a Killer Gnome that can do this as a standard action while disguised. Does that count?

[Ravens_cry]

Sure, but you have to deal with the consequences. SUch as the fact you can't go to that nation again ever, as counterfeiting was petty treason. Before you get all excited about the petty part, it still carried a death penalty.

[Dairun Cates]

Short Answer: Sure. As long as your characters are willing to deal with the bounty on their own head and the fact that they'll be unable to enter said city or any of its neighboring cities or villages without either good disguise check, sneaking in, or fighting the town guard every single time. Even if you're a Changeling party, they'll catch on if you do this more than once.

Even the biggest cities aren't going to just turn the other cheek when you make off with over a hundred thousand gold in wealth.

Seriously, you'd be surprised how many players pull this kind of thing and are shocked when people either try to arrest them or kill them for a bounty.

[LibraryOgre]

Heh. This actually came up in a Dragonlance book. A hedge witch (in a generally arcane-hostile world) was getting strung up for passing bad money. Folks didn't mind phony love potions HALF as much as they did bad money.

[Dusk Eclipse]

This is however a chaotic evil act and will likely draw in a lot of bad press and attention. However if the party is made up of changelings pulling this off becomes a whole lot easier.

Evil yes, but I don't see why it is chaotic. Care to elaborate please?

[Starbuck_II]

This is however a chaotic evil act and will likely draw in a lot of bad press and attention. However if the party is made up of changelings pulling this off becomes a whole lot easier.

Chaotic sure but evil?
The first few times it won't be. I can see if you continue to do this leaving people destitute, but a few times no.

[LibraryOgre]

Evil yes, but I don't see why it is chaotic. Care to elaborate please?

Actually, I'd see it as far more chaotic than evil. I tend to associate chaotic acts with "crimes against property", rather than crimes against persons. Stabbing a dude is evil. Picking his pocket is chaotic. This is just a large-scale pocket pick.

[Dairun Cates]

Evil yes, but I don't see why it is chaotic. Care to elaborate please?

It's kinda breaking the law, don't you think?

NINJA'D!

Edit:

Chaotic sure but evil?
The first few times it won't be. I can see if you continue to do this leaving people destitute, but a few times no.

Uh... Stealing 116,000 gold is actually enough to leave a LOT of shopkeeps destitute. Not to mention, that this is still essentially doing something for incredibly selfish gain at the cost of someone else. Just cause an act is evil doesn't mean that the good guys don't do it occasionally, but this really does push the boundary.

Seriously. Unless you're stealing from a baron and giving this to the poor, this is going to be filed as an evil action by most GMs.

[2xMachina]

Why bother when you can cast Wall of Iron, and do it legitimately?

EDIT: Clarify.

Wall of Iron creates permanent iron. Which is a trade good. Which means it's as good as gold (except the price of course). Which is not a problem, given that how much you can create.

[Private-Prinny]

Why not produce rare woods to sell instead? They would last long enough to skip town, and if you use summon monster VII, the Djinn can make permanent versions so no need to skip town.

I like this one. Now I just need to find valuable wood.

[The Shadowmind]

I like this one. Now I just need to find valuable wood.

Not wood, but plant matter there is the Black lotus extract, 4,500gp each and since you are selling the thieves and assassins anyway, they might want a poison that by the time the body is check the poison has disappeared without tract.

[Private-Prinny]

Not wood, but plant matter there is the Black lotus extract, 4,500gp each and since you are selling the thieves and assassins anyway, they might want a poison that by the time the body is check the poison has disappeared without tract.

Not to mention we could keep some for ourselves.

[Dairun Cates]

Also, another point a friend made. Selling cursed items is inherently an evil action (actually says it in the book). I'd put this on the same level of fraud and selfish gain.

[Ernir]

I'd allow it.

Evading the wrath of someone who is rich and powerful enough to toss around 116500 GP is an adventure of its own, anyway. So if that is the plot hook the PCs want to create, sure.

[Beorn080]

Yes, you could do it. However, you make a lot of people very mad, very quickly, for minimal gain. Any location rich enough to have routine transactions on the order of 100000 gold is going to be large enough to deal with magical fraud.

Personally, I would go the reverse route. Wizard hires party to do a job for massive payout, party comes back, gets paid in platinum ingots, party leaves. Next day, party notices their wagon is riding very high, checks, notices platinum is missing, heads back, wizards tower is old and decrepit. I would DEFINITELY do this if any of my PC's tried to do something like that.

[Keld Denar]

A 1st level wizard can do this all day, although the rewards are a bit lower.

Cast Disguise Self into a horse merchant, invest ranks as required.

Cast Mount to produce a magical mount

Cast Magic Aura to mask the mounts magical aura in case the uppity buyer gets fancy and tries to Detect Magic on it.

After all that, make like the Steve Miller Band.

[Dr Bwaa]

A 1st level wizard can do this all day, although the rewards are a bit lower.

Cast Disguise Self into a horse merchant, invest ranks as required.

Cast Mount to produce a magical mount

Cast Magic Aura to mask the mounts magical aura in case the uppity buyer gets fancy and tries to Detect Magic on it.

After all that, make like the Steve Miller Band.

Or the ever-popular Magic Aura on a pile of nonmagical swords (your whole WBL). Dress in your Adventurer's Outfit or whatever (you know, the clothes your DM doesn't make you pay for). The spell doesn't allow a save until the other person actually casts Identify; otherwise it radiates whatever magic you need. Sell as many as you can around the city. Then GTFO (as above).

[graeylin]

I have always played, and DMed, that in a world where a person can heal someone from the dead, make gold and fire and walls of blades appear and disappear on a whim, that games of chance and fooling the common merchant wouldn't be any easier than cheating a casino is in our world.

even the lowliest merchant would either have magic on hand to detect phony items, glamoured things, spells in place, anti-magic shields, etc., or the world would have evolved that all trades and transactions are done through escrow services, with your goods and their money set aside a certain length of time, to foil such things.

I just can't believe a world of wizards wouldn't have evolved a way to deal with magic in a mundane, daily basis way.

[Irreverent Fool]

I have always played, and DMed, that in a world where a person can heal someone from the dead, make gold and fire and walls of blades appear and disappear on a whim, that games of chance and fooling the common merchant wouldn't be any easier than cheating a casino is in our world.

even the lowliest merchant would either have magic on hand to detect phony items, glamoured things, spells in place, anti-magic shields, etc., or the world would have evolved that all trades and transactions are done through escrow services, with your goods and their money set aside a certain length of time, to foil such things.

I just can't believe a world of wizards wouldn't have evolved a way to deal with magic in a mundane, daily basis way.

The common merchant in real-life is much easier to cheat than a casino. Granted, if he's got the gold to be worth ripping off, I imagine he's at least got someone handy he can hire. Paying for a detect magic spell cast by someone else is pretty cheap. Arbitrarily giving them magic x-ray machines is just silly though.

Anyway, closer to being on-topic, I don't think ripping people off with major creation is necessarily a chaotic evil act. A character capable of using this spell has much better ways of causing direct misery. However, I cannot say it is a good act and is probably not a neutral act. Motivation comes into play, as well. If a character is doing it specifically to cause instability as part of a plot against the town, it's a different act than if he's just trying to get gold, or is punishing the populace, or for fun, or to bring everyone to 'equality' (ie: nobody has any money), and so on.

Ripping off commoners should probably be considered evil, but why would you even bother?

obnoxious
sig

[Teddy]

You can cast Major Creation to create precious metals that last for 20 min./level. Can you create platinum to sell to sufficiently stupid NPCs for real money as long as you skip town quickly? Platinum is listed as 500 gp/lb, so a light load of platinum carried by the party's BSF should cost about 116,500 (assuming STR of 24 by the time the wizard can cast 5th level spells)

I think there may be something against creating money written somewhere, but I can't find it.

The big question is, who would buy 233 pounds of pure platinum from an adventurer? It's not like it isn't going to raise any suspicion from the precious metal merchant when a group of shaggy missfits carrying odd weapons and armor stomps into his shop and wants to sell a huge bag of platinum as soon as possible. At least I would hire a wizard or get some magic item to confirm that the metal isn't magical.

[Touchy]

The big question is, who would buy 233 pounds of pure platinum from an adventurer? It's not like it isn't going to raise any suspicion from the precious metal merchant when a group of shaggy missfits carrying odd weapons and armor stomps into his shop and wants to sell a huge bag of platinum as soon as possible. At least I would hire a wizard or get some magic item to confirm that the metal isn't magical in a way that would generally hurt my business/self.

Fixed.

white text to extend post

[Lord Loss]

Hehehe... Wall of Iron is truly devious. If WOTC bothered to reread their own products they wouldn't wind up with things being so Bah-Roken wizardmonksamuraisaywhat (or underpowered).

[Teddy]

Fixed.

Uhm, I know that there are a lot of whacky wizards out there, but who would get the idea to enchant 233 pounds of pure platinum with any helpful enchantment? Especially if you intend to sell it (although some sort of levitation spell would be usefull, if it wasn't for the fact that it's a light load for your Str 24 buddy (what does BSF stand for anyway), and thus carried around without any problem by him).

[Divide by Zero]

(what does BSF stand for anyway)

Big Stupid Fighter, I believe.

[Mastikator]

You can also use illusions to make copper pieces seem like platinum pieces.

Now, keep in mind that if something is easily doable, then it's often done. This is fraud, and if a form of fraud is often done then people look out for these sort of things. And you'll probably be put on some wanted list.
So it's not free, in the long run, sure, you'll make a monetary profit, but you'll have to pay for it one way or the other in the end. I would seriously recommend against it unless you want your character to be a devious little thief.

[awa]

Stealing in this manner is evil because you are injuring the person by taking their hard earned wealth for personal profit. Now their are mitigating factors if the person acquired it immoral.

Its chaotic because your breaking the law and disrupting civil order