Wealth and Sling Bullet shenanigans [PF/3.5]

[subject42]

I was looking at the price lists in 3.5/Pathfinder and I noticed that sling bullets are very cheap (1sp/50), but quite heavy (5lbs/50).

If a 20th level PF character were to spend his entire wealth by level on Sling Bullets, he would end up with 22,000 tons of sling bullets.

That's equal to 110 fully grown blue whales.

Or 1760 city buses.

It kind of gives you a sense of scale of high level wealth, doesn't it?

With that amount of metal, what kind of abuses could you cook up?

It seems like cutting the number down, combining them with two pairs of ring gates, and heavy gravity extra-dimensional storage would give you a machine gun, but that's all I've got right now.

[Gauntlet]

Ring Gate bomb works best with an iron rod. Stick one end through the gate, then weld the two ends together. Hilarity ensues.

As to mass, I think the best solution there would be casting Wall of Iron. It's permanent, has no extra costs and creates plain nonmagical iron. This does, however, have interesting effects when used in conjunction with the 'Invisible Spell' feat- you get invisible, nonmagical iron walls

[Greenish]

This does, however, have interesting effects when used in conjunction with the 'Invisible Spell' feat- you get invisible, nonmagical iron walls

Further proof that Invisible Spell is perhaps the best Metamagic Feat in the game.

How's ring gate bomb work, by the way?

[arguskos]

Ring Gate bomb works best with an iron rod. Stick one end through the gate, then weld the two ends together. Hilarity ensues.

Yeah, not seeing what this one does, other than waste time. I mean, ok, you manage to weld the bar together, creating a bar that is looping together forever, but, nothing really happens.

[Asheram]

Yeah, not seeing what this one does, other than waste time. I mean, ok, you manage to weld the bar together, creating a bar that is looping together forever, but, nothing really happens.

Stick magnets on it and you'd have nice engine. (As long as DM agrees that it doesn't count against the "transerfered weight per day")

[Greenish]

Stick magnets on it and you'd have nice engine. (As long as DM agrees that it doesn't count against the "transerfered weight per day")

That's not a bomb though, and unlimited free energy is pretty easy to achieve with magic.

[Gauntlet]

Use something sealed, with no air inside (maybe use a Sphere of Annihilation to suck it out? I'm sure there are spells which do it, too). Play a Warforged, so no trouble breathing while setting your apparatus up. Put one ring above the other, with your welded iron rod in between, and let go. Teleport out.

Iron rings keep falling permanently, no air resistance results in NI velocity. When your shielding runs out of duration, or otherwise stops, air rushes in and meets a NI concentration of energy. That's rather a lot. I'm not sure about how much damage it does to anything in the vicinity (I think it depends which table you use for conversion of energy to damage) but it's more than enough to vaporize stuff.

Of course, this is in D&D, so applying the laws of physics may not be a good idea. Considering that 1st levels spells like 'Cold Fire' could pretty much be written as 'destroy target law of thermodynamics'.
I also vaguely remember a discussion of the amount of damage you could do using 'True Creation' to make antimatter. I believe the result was something along the lines of 10^1200 d6, if you extrapolated from the falling damage tables.

[Tetsubo 57]

Well, in the real world a sling bullet could weigh as much as 16 ounces, 1 pound. Though something in the 4 - 8 ounce range was probably more common. They were often football shaped as well. The ancients didn't have a firm grasp of the aerodynamics of a sphere. I've seen examples that had sayings cast right into the bullet. An ancient Greek example had, 'Eat This' cast on it.

High level characters are like the riches 1% of Americans or oil sheiks. They break the mold of the economy.

[Asheram]

Well, in the real world a sling bullet could weigh as much as 16 ounces, 1 pound. Though something in the 4 - 8 ounce range was probably more common. They were often football shaped as well. The ancients didn't have a firm grasp of the aerodynamics of a sphere. I've seen examples that had sayings cast right into the bullet. An ancient Greek example had, 'Eat This' cast on it.

High level characters are like the riches 1% of Americans or oil sheiks. They break the mold of the economy.

Would make for a great distraction though.

"Argh! Who cares if he's dead! He's got a bloody goldpiece lodged in his skull and it will be mine!"

[Greenish]

They were often football shaped as well.

Do you mean real football or American "football" (which, coincidentally, isn't even ball-shaped)?

[nedz]

I was looking at the price lists in 3.5/Pathfinder and I noticed that sling bullets are very cheap (1sp/50), but quite heavy (5lbs/50).

If a 20th level PF character were to spend his entire wealth by level on Sling Bullets, he would end up with 22,000 tons of sling bullets.

Well you've probably cornered the market in sling bullets, and for lead too.
Sell for profit.

[elonin]

DnD rules clearly do not take physics into account or else for example there would be maximum falling damage (for terminal velocity). My idea is to put all of your bullets into a portable hole and fly up as far as you can over your target and upend the portable hole. That should take out any creature that is tangible (course if you got them imbued with ghost touch that handles them also).

[Drakevarg]

DnD rules clearly do not take physics into account or else for example there would be maximum falling damage (for terminal velocity). My idea is to put all of your bullets into a portable hole and fly up as far as you can over your target and upend the portable hole. That should take out any creature that is tangible (course if you got them imbued with ghost touch that handles them also).

Terminal velocity? Pfft. DnD doesn't even bother with a rate of fall. As near as I can tell it's assumed that any fall is instantaneous, or at least you will never fall off anything high enough for it to matter. (I've been dangling off mile-high cliffs before. IT MATTERS.)

[The Dark Fiddler]

DnD rules clearly do not take physics into account or else for example there would be maximum falling damage (for terminal velocity).

While I agree with you, you didn't pick a very good example, because there in fact is a maximum falling damage: 20d6.

[The Glyphstone]

Do you mean real football or American "football" (which, coincidentally, isn't even ball-shaped)?

He probably means American football...cause, y'know, he's talking about sling bullets that weren't spherical. "Real' footballs are more-or-less spherical, so his point would become invalid.

[Greenish]

He probably means American football...cause, y'know, he's talking about sling bullets that weren't spherical. "Real' footballs are more-or-less spherical, so his point would become invalid.

He didn't mention them not being spherical.

[Drakevarg]

They were often football shaped as well. The ancients didn't have a firm grasp of the aerodynamics of a sphere.

Yes he did. (Or implied it, at least.)

[Beorn080]

Here is a question.

What happens with that ring gate with the welded together bar when you move the two rings away from each other? Or closer?

As for 22000 tons of sling bullets? Use mage hand to force feed them to the elves goblins. Caution, Choking hazard.

[Cieyrin]

Terminal velocity? Pfft. DnD doesn't even bother with a rate of fall. As near as I can tell it's assumed that any fall is instantaneous, or at least you will never fall off anything high enough for it to matter. (I've been dangling off mile-high cliffs before. IT MATTERS.)

The PHB does actually state a terminal velocity, though you have to dig around for it. You can find it here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.h...hreeDimensions, under Minimum Forward Movement. You fall 150 feet in the first round, then 300 feet every round after.

This also appears in the planar section of the PHB, when they talk about planes with alternative gravity, though that doesn't appear to be in the SRD.

[arguskos]

This also appears in the planar section of the PHB, when they talk about planes with alternative gravity, though that doesn't appear to be in the SRD.

The names of the planes are trademarks, which is why.

[Drakevarg]

That and the planar section is in the DMG, not the PHB.

Either way, they should have put it under "Falling" in the Environmental Hazards section of the DMG, on account of that being the logical place to look in regards to information about falling.