Mage with Galatea direction

[Kurrel]

One of my players has stepped up to the plate and is offering to run a DnD 3.5 game in the break coming up in a long running campaign.

One of my favourite stories is the tale of Pygmalion and Galatea, wherein the sculptor fell in love with his finest creation and I'm intruiged by the concept of running a mage with the same concept.

After 'falling in love' with an incredible statue (probably not his own work), he wants to bring this creation to life. Rather than begging the Gods for intervention, he wants to use awesome magical power to do instead.

I was wondering if there is any spell/process/enchantment that would enable this? I have access to core books and the Completes. In Completes, the Effigy Master seems to come closest but the devices seem little more than magically driven machines.

[draco_nite]

If worse comes to worse, there's always Wish.

[kamikasei]

I'd allow it with a custom spell that references stone to flesh and awaken as the guidelines for its power. This is assuming you want the end result to be a normal human rather than a golem or some other statue-themed creature.

Polymorph any object, applied correctly, should also be able to do it, but is probably more power than you want here.

I don't think you need to build your entire character around the specific idea of bringing statues to life. You certainly could, of course, but then his class features and spell choices don't all need to apply directly to the problem if he's supposed to be exploring it from all angles. I'd just make the spell itself or some required component the subject of an (ongoing) quest.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Isn't there a spell out there called Awaken Construct? That and a permanencied Animate Object might work.

[hewhosaysfish]

Hmm... contructing a stone golem apparently requires a stone statue weighing 3000lbs so maybe if she's a big girl that could work...

Alternatively, there's Animate Objects + Permanency in the PHB but they do leave you true love vulnerable to being dispelled.

Once she is animate, the Awaken Contruct spell (in SpC) can make her aware and intelligent.

I've seen people talking about an 'Incarnate Construct' template which I believe can be used to turn Pinnochio into a real boy, so to speak, but I've no idea which book it's from or how your wizard would apply it.

[Leeham]

D'awwww, I thought this was going to be a WoD thread... Oh well.

[nedz]

Can you not just make a small stone golem ?

[Asheram]

Can you not just make a small stone golem ?

Point. We could always shift this whole thing to the right.

A mage that falls inlove with the golem he sculpted, and does whatever he can to make it aware and into a real living being.

[The Cat Goddess]

If you're not worried about the "this is what she was originally" part, the Mineral Warrior Template seems like it could work for "this is what she is now".

[dextercorvia]

Stone to flesh, and then flesh golem. If he likes softer women.

Or one of the various animate dead type spells since stone to flesh changes the statue into a corpse.

[Kurrel]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Ideally, it would be to first awaken motion, then intelligence, then finally transform to a human.

What is the SpC book, though?

Our characters already have reasons to be adventuring, this is mostly for subtext and personal hooks than the be all and end all of the character.

I wouldn't know about nWoD-Mage, but with th original it'd be a slew of powers from Life, Mind and probably Spirit as well. The whole new life thing is more than a touch difficult.

[Kalirren]

Random animal + Magic Jar + Stone to Flesh + Limited Wish(Awaken)?

Build a gem into the statue, use it as the Jar, switch with an animal, Stone to Flesh on the statue destroys the jar and sends you back to your own body. Then awaken the statue.

You get...a woman.

Completely Core, but you can't do it alone as an arcane caster unless you're high enough level to have Limited Wish. Otherwise, the Druid who helped you may fall.

Edit: Strictly by RAW, when the Stone to Flesh destroys the Jar, everyone goes back to their original bodies. But a carefully phrased Limited Wish used beforehand ought to be able to ensure that the whole chain of spells works. Arguably the reason why it works at all is that the jar isn't destroyed, it's turned into a usable body.

[Divayth Fyr]

What is the SpC book, though?

Spell Compendium

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Stone to flesh, and then flesh golem. If he likes softer women.

I hadn't considered that. A very good point.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Ideally, it would be to first awaken motion, then intelligence, then finally transform to a human.

With that in mind, maybe do:

- Stone to Flesh
- Animate Object, permanencied (motion)
- Awaken Construct (intelligence)
- Polymorph any Object, maybe using a Wish or Limited Wish to pump the duration factor up to 9 (human)

Or just talk to your DM about making a custom spell or three. That could work too.