You just gained a level in real life: 2022 edition!

[Jack_Simth]

Well I really don't remember why I originally went warblade but looking back it was clear that I was going for Suel Arcanamach prestige class so if I live long enough I'll get some spellcasting, fear not!
I probably picked warblade just to be different though. I recall looking to see what everyone else was doing and then not doing that. I have fun writing my dudes year in the life recap each time too. Wonder if he'll find the Grimoire Arcanamacha in some ancient ruins this year.

Who wants to form a party this year?

Dunno. Would you really want to party with an Angel Summoner?
... although I suppose I could throw very nice parties. Magic makes wealth very easy to come by.

Oh. We're on different chains, though. I'm using Pathfinder with a little 3rd party...

[TalonOfAnathrax]

Here's my list of XP expenditures since 2016. Gold cost would be trivial as already demonstrated in the past threads

I don't suppose you could remind me of those methods? Are you selling items (which means your available XP should decrease), stealing stuff, or entering a lucrative profession with your new skillset and powers?
If that last guess is correct, I'll remind you that you're working over two hundred days a year as an full-time item crafter, which takes 8 hours a day and will likely seriously impede your ability to hold a job.
Yes, I've been grappling with the logistics of full-time crafting myself. My current best plan is "devote some of me XP to sell specific items at massive prices" so I've been picking through books to find stuff that I think would sell very well. Hat of Disguise for spooks whose agencies can afford big prices thanks to their cocaine slush funds, Heward's Fortifying Bedroll for billionaires or star CEOS or whoever wants to add more effective hours to their life and/or stay on top of crisis response, etc. If you've got a better way to get money, I'd be quite interested in hearing it!

@everyone Since I already have Third Eye Sense, I now have free Clairvoyant Sense services 1/day.

IIRC the item works at-will in the MIC. Or do you mean you're offering other people 1/day free services?
I'd considered making a Third Eye Sense (its potential as a moneymaker seems massive and I was lured in by the CL 3) but I'll have to wait another few years to get the prerequisite spell.

[H_H_F_F]

I've been rethinking my position from last year about not using custom prestige race alterations with my sculpt self feat. I'm not sure yet I will, but I'm thinking about making a wilderness focus, opposed to the gear focus in a way that is akin to the opposing elemental foci. A couple of questions about that:

1: It was stated last year that I'd need to research my meditative focus on wilderness, akin to spell research.
So, question 1A is, how do I determine the equivalent spell level of the prestige race alteration, and do I still need to do a spellcraft check, or can it be replaced with a more appropriate check?
Question 1B is, do I have to research my own spiritual and physical focus in some big lab in a large city? Could I instead devote the same amount of time and resources to like, traveling or voulenteering in wild life sanctuaries to research that alteration?

2. Do I get to write the fluff implications my custom race alteration has on my physical/emotional status, or is it again something I'll only discover once I've done it? I remember someone explicitly working on turning into a TARDIS, so I'm assuming the former, but perhaps I'm mistaken?
Could I devote all this effort to becoming closer to nature and to my own core only to become some mushroomy mess with memory difficulties or something?

Edit: spell research lets the DM inform you at the end of research that the spell doesn't work. So, could I just write down the focus, including fluff, and simply be informed whther or not the research was succesful?

[ben-zayb]

I don't suppose you could remind me of those methods? Are you selling items (which means your available XP should decrease), stealing stuff, or entering a lucrative profession with your new skillset and powers?
If that last guess is correct, I'll remind you that you're working over two hundred days a year as an full-time item crafter, which takes 8 hours a day and will likely seriously impede your ability to hold a job.

Not all professions demand the same time commitment. Added to this are mind-affecting charm/compulsion effects and souped-up diplomacy that are readily available to compound my performance, and more professions that don't really take more than a few hours of attention per week will open up.

I've limited myself to crafting ~100 items a year, each costing <1000g. That's 100 days of eight-hour crafting time each, which is approximately less than the amount of weekends in a year.

Yes, I've been grappling with the logistics of full-time crafting myself... If you've got a better way to get money, I'd be quite interested in hearing it!

I still plan on enjoying my life, so I don't plan on becoming a full-time crafter. I really can't discuss how I plan on raising my financial capabilities due to forum rules, but those who were paying attention to my previous post may be able to conclude some of the more obvious ones. Suffice to say, finances shouldn't even be a massive issue as early as Telepath 1, more so Telepath 3.

IIRC the item works at-will in the MIC. Or do you mean you're offering other people 1/day free services?

The latter. Even if the item is at will, I can only offer so much free time using it. Had Troacctid allowed 3.0 psionics, I would've use it to at least have around 10 standard actions per round and help more.

[Troacctid]

I've been rethinking my position from last year about not using custom prestige race alterations with my sculpt self feat. I'm not sure yet I will, but I'm thinking about making a wilderness focus, opposed to the gear focus in a way that is akin to the opposing elemental foci. A couple of questions about that:

1: It was stated last year that I'd need to research my meditative focus on wilderness, akin to spell research.
So, question 1A is, how do I determine the equivalent spell level of the prestige race alteration, and do I still need to do a spellcraft check, or can it be replaced with a more appropriate check?
Question 1B is, do I have to research my own spiritual and physical focus in some big lab in a large city? Could I instead devote the same amount of time and resources to like, traveling or voulenteering in wild life sanctuaries to research that alteration?

2. Do I get to write the fluff implications my custom race alteration has on my physical/emotional status, or is it again something I'll only discover once I've done it? I remember someone explicitly working on turning into a TARDIS, so I'm assuming the former, but perhaps I'm mistaken?
Could I devote all this effort to becoming closer to nature and to my own core only to become some mushroomy mess with memory difficulties or something?

Edit: spell research lets the DM inform you at the end of research that the spell doesn't work. So, could I just write down the focus, including fluff, and simply be informed whther or not the research was succesful?

Don't ask me what magic research looks like, I've never done it before. 🤷

All I can tell you is it takes time and xp and you don't know if it worked until afterwards. Since you're spending xp, you also won't be able to earn xp while you're doing your research.

[H_H_F_F]

Don't ask me what magic research looks like, I've never done it before. 🤷

All I can tell you is it takes time and xp and you don't know if it worked until afterwards. Since you're spending xp, you also won't be able to earn xp while you're doing your research.

My copy of the DMG says only time and money to research spells, though I'd be willing to spend XP instead.

I'm sort of unclear right now on the rules here. By the rules presented in alter self, I just need to calculate xp cost and I can go ahead and make a custom prestige alteration.

As the pseudo-dm, you introduced some modifications/house rules, mandating research to be made. Fine by me - but how can I abide by these rules without guidelines to questions like determining spell level, etc?

In short, I feel I need some guidance. If you'd like to solve this ad-hoc instead of providing general rules for researching prestige race alterations, I can write down the new Wilderness Focus and you could let me know how I could go about researching it.

[Troacctid]

I'm sort of unclear right now on the rules here. By the rules presented in alter self, I just need to calculate xp cost and I can go ahead and make a custom prestige alteration.

(By the rules presented in Sculpt Self, the DM can do that. No such ability is conferred to the PCs.)

As the pseudo-dm, you introduced some modifications/house rules, mandating research to be made. Fine by me - but how can I abide by these rules without guidelines to questions like determining spell level, etc?

In short, I feel I need some guidance. If you'd like to solve this ad-hoc instead of providing general rules for researching prestige race alterations, I can write down the new Wilderness Focus and you could let me know how I could go about researching it.

You have the guidelines in the FAQ. If that doesn't feel sufficient, well, when you're the first person to attempt something that's never been done before and might not even be possible, figuring out exactly how to go about it is part of the research.

[Jack_Simth]

Oh, hey. Pathfinder has Retraining rules. So I can have my paintings teach me feats, and swap them out. Handy, not using Scribe Scroll at all, and probably want to stay away from minor components....

Of additional use is that it means I can customize my paintings to be more useful. Trade lower value feats (Improved Sunder, Improved Critical, et cetera) for higher value feats (Craft Wondrous, Craft Magic Arms & Armor). And when I get Forge Ring or Craft Rod, they can do those, too. Handy.... save my time via teaching the first one, and having it teach the others....

[aglondier]

Spoiler: On Item Security

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Pathfinder has a section on Intentionally Crafting Cursed Items.

As I don't really want my personal equipment in the hands of others, I do that.

So for all the items intended for personal use, I (or my crafting minions) add:
1) Requirement: Must have a specific skill (Spellcraft, which I have natively, needed for crafting).
2) Intermittent Functioning(Dependent): Within ten feet of a half-elf (I qualify due to Racial Heritage, and I am always within ten feet of myself, and so is any item I carry)
3) Intermittent Functioning(Dependent): Within ten feet of a Divine Caster (which I am, and again: I am always within ten feet of myself)

As a bonus, I get a discount that way (which theoretically also applies to crafting time, as it changes the market price, and the write-up for deliberately cursed items included making money quickly).
1) 10%
2) 30%
3) 30%

Depending on which math this aspect uses (real world or D&D maths), that's either a 30% of normal cost and time (1-0.10-0.30-0.30=0.30) 44.1% of normal costs (0.9×0.7×0.7=0.441)

Can't believe I forgot that. That is going to make next years expenditures a lot cheaper, and more secure. Thanks.

As for life/research/work balance, well, I work on whatever for 5 days a week, spend my Saturday selling my spellcasting services, and take Sunday as a rest day. I also take public holidays and family celebrations off.
I maintain a moderate monthly lifestyle (10gp/month), and spend 10gp each public holiday and birthday, and 80gp at Christmas.
Probably more detail than most are interested in going into, but since I'm using Pathfinder's downtime rules, it helps to have everything on a spreadsheet.

Having an extensive and well equipped Wizard's Tower will make life much easier in the coming years. Building businesses and town infrastructure will help a lot too. I have tentatively calculated that within 6 years I'll be earning somewhere in the vicinity of 500gp per day, which will make level 7 and Forge Ring very interesting...but where am I going to find 3 elves to go with my 7 dwarves and 9 men?

[bekeleven]

Spoiler: last post

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Guess I'll become a second-level warlock, for the same reasons as I took my first level:

• Abilities are subtle (don't want to get vanned)
• Abilities include buffs to social skills, which are useful in everyday life
• Abilities also include (eventually) things like invisiblity and magical item crafting
• Doesn't require any high stats.
• None of my class features require magical items, magical inks, knowstones, or even fancy weapons that I wouldn't be able to find IRL.

My build is probably along the lines of:
Neutral Human Warlock 2
8/11/9/13/10/12
Skills: Bluff +5, Diplomacy +2 (2.5 ranks), Sense Motive +5, UMD +5
Feats: ??? (might have several: According to empirical data I have almost every flaw )
Class Features: Eldritch Blast 1D6, Detect Magic at will
Invocations: Beguiling Influence, See the Unseen.

I'm not doing anything flashy... but that's by design. I'll keep being me, just with +11 to some social skills and better night vision. It really is a shame how few invocations warlocks actually get, but as long as I don't plan on combat, most of them aren't useful to me anyway.

Ok, I've done a bit more work on this.

Chaotic Neutral Human Warlock 2
8/11/9/13/10/12
Feats: Murky Eyed (Flaw), Grudge Keeper (Flaw). Feats: Able Learner (1), Silver Tongue (Human), Noble Born (+Flaw), Slow Maturation (+Flaw). 4 feats that all require first level, how'd that happen?
Skills (20 ranks): Bluff 5 ranks, Diplomacy 5 ranks, Intimidate 4 ranks, Knowledge (Arcana) 1 ranks, Sense Motive 5 ranks.
Class Features and Invocations: Eldritch Blast 1D6, Detect Magic, Beguiling Influence, Call of the Beast.

Skills at this point: Bluff +12 (5 Ranks, 1 Cha, 6 Influence), Diplomacy +18 (5 Ranks, 1 Cha, 6 Influence, 4 Synergy), Intimidate +13 (4 Ranks, 1 Cha, 6 Influence, 2 Synergy), Knowledge (Arcana) +2 (1 Ranks, 1 Int), Sense Motive +5 (5 Ranks)

Phew, got all the mindbender prereqs out of the way. Next I need to pump Arcana for obtain familiar, throw 1 rank into a bunch of knowledges, then figure out future crafting stuff. Maybe throw some ranks into profession.

[H_H_F_F]

Okay, I'll work a wilderness focus out.

One last clarification question: can each of the 4 steps only emulate 1 item, or can they emulate several less pricy items?

[Edit]And when specifying that we are limited to "two such Foci", are we talking about being limited to two custom foci or to two foci, total?[/edit]

[Jack_Simth]

Can't believe I forgot that. That is going to make next years expenditures a lot cheaper, and more secure. Thanks.

Glad to help, although for me, neither the time nor money investment actually matters at this point. I make minions that make stuff for me, and in the modern world, if you have magic, money is really easy to come by.

Spoiler: And minions only make that better

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As a Healer: A Solar (of which I make several) get Remove Disease and Lesser Restoration as at-wills; resurrection and Heal 3/day; Greater Restoration and Wish 1/day; oh yes, also 20th level Cleric casting and Alter Self at will. Proper, repeatable, at-will healings make the "as a healer" REALLY go sky high. Also good diplomacy.
Playing Stocks: Solar gets at-will Commune. This makes playing with stocks a breeze (Get list of stocks. For each: "Will this stock be up by more than 50% from today in one week?") ...and the Diplomacy check is good for when the SEC comes knocking.
Hollywood: A Muse (which I created for making my paintings for the rest) has very good perform checks (+37), and can use those for many other skills (Diplomacy, Bluff, Disguise, Sense Motive...) and shapeshifts. Can pretty much go straight to Hollywood and be an instant super star. Or I give her a few pages of spell knowledge (Major Image, Mirage Arcana), a camera, and have her create her own "big budget effects movies" in an empty studio - very, very quickly (unattended nonmagical objects don't get saves, so the camera always sees the illusion; folks carefully examining the footage later might figure out it's fake but... well, Hollywood...).
Sports team help goes faster when crafting time is a non-issue (I teach Craft Wondrous and Craft Magic Arms & Armor to my minions).
Theft becomes trivial when my sky dragon has invisibility and dimension door, but there's better things for him to do.
Cheating at the casino don't improve much.... but really don't need to at this point.

And of course, the special abilities of some creatures open up completely new avenues, too:

Spoiler: Proper New material

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The Pleroma has a 3/day ability to create mater ("of a single natural substance (such as clay, wood, or stone).") Additionally, it gets Fabricate as a 7/day spell-like.
All precious metals and and gemstones are derived from (or directly are) a natural substance - various ores, mostly, but amber comes from plants and pearls come from oysters - which the Pleroma can make via it's 3/day, and then refine or cut with Fabricate (may have the Muse do it via Page of Spell Knowledge due to her better Craft check). So Platinum, Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, Diamonds, Rubys, Emeralds, Sapphires, Jacinth, Onyx, et cetera are all easily accessible - in quantity, for precious metals/gemstones - once you have one of these. And they've got 20th level Cleric casting, too.

Spoiler: Magic Plastic Surgery

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*Most* (not all) folks who don't look like what they want still want to be human. Many Great Wyrm Dragons in Pathfinder 9th level arcane spells, and a lot of them also get Change Shape. A page of spell knowledge for Polymorph Any Object turns them into quite the plastic surgeons. Minor Image lets them preview the result for the client. Human -> Human will usually hit all the duration checkboxes, so it's quite Permanent. Ranges from that actress who'd like to dump a few wrinkles or lose a few pounds to folks who want to hop the fence or find out if they really are treated differently with a different skin color.

Edit:
And... oh. Hmm. Well, fortunately, Trompe L’oeil's inherit the alignment of their maker (when deliberately made). Because a Succubus has some really nice options (I'm looking at Profane Temptations, Gift of Transformation). +2 to an ability score, and I get at-will shapeshifting, with the drawback being telepathic communication to a minion under my control (which I can simply order to not use it's spell-likes on me).

Hmm. A succubus in real life would be really, really scary for a government, wouldn't it? Bluff +27, Diplomacy +19, Disguise +19 (more with the at-will Change Shape!), Intimidate +16, and Sense Motive +13; Tongues, Telepathy, Detect Thoughts, Suggestion, Ethereal Jaunt, Greater Teleport, and Charm Monster all at will or constantly; Dominate Person and that very interesting Profane Gift 1/day. Can get basically anywhere very easily (Ethereal Jaunt, Greater Teleport), impersonate just about anyone very effectively (Disguise, Bluff, Change Shape), control nearly anyone (Charm Monster, Suggestion - which also helps getting to the movers & shakers), and the 1/day Profane Gift makes permanently linking to a mover & shaker easy (spam Suggestion on them afterwards until it takes). Dictatorships would be easier to manipulate (just need to subborn the ruler and key power players), Representative Republics harder (more folks that need to be controlled, as the power is spread out... and they change periodically, so you have to refresh your control), Makes a nice choice for mass production to try and clean up the world situation. Lucky for the world, I don't care to rule. But I will keep one on file for the special ability boost and shapechanging.

[Troacctid]

Okay, I'll work a wilderness focus out.

One last clarification question: can each of the 4 steps only emulate 1 item, or can they emulate several less pricy items?

[Edit]And when specifying that we are limited to "two such Foci", are we talking about being limited to two custom foci or to two foci, total?[/edit]

One each, two custom.

[Jack_Simth]

Oh yes, I can now also clean up the power and disposal industries.

Spoiler: Wall of Fire'd Power plants

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Buy a coal-fired power plant.
Have one of my Solar paintings replace the burners with Wall of Fire and Permanency.

The place is much less expensive to run (don't need to buy, move, or manage fuel). And of course, no burning coal means no more coal smoke. Cheap, clean energy. I can out-complete most other forms of power plants this way. Which means buying and converting more coal plants.

Spoiler: Prismatic Disposal

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Make a demiplane, timeless with respect to magic. Spell + Permanency, my Solar does this.
My Great Wyrm sky dragon casts Prismatic Wall in there.
My Gate Archon creates a portal there, landing at the endge of the prismatic wall.
Throw stuff through the gate, it lands in the prismatic wall, and is GONE.

No more garbage, with no need for landfills.

[Telonius]

Honestly, I’ve avoided them in the last few years because of fear of doing time. But there are definitely some jerks out there that pick fights and deserve a bruising in my life.

I think the question can be flipped too. Why caster? If this is a low-power setting already, we’ve gotten by fine with ONLY martials, so what need does magic fulfill that hasn’t already?

For me, medical issues. Science will eventually figure out how to cure progressive hearing loss, and (for my family) Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. But if divine magic can take care of it years before science can catch up (and without even a co-pay), I'm all over that.

[Jack_Simth]

Honestly, I’ve avoided them in the last few years because of fear of doing time. But there are definitely some jerks out there that pick fights and deserve a bruising in my life.

Can do that as a caster, too, it just looks a little different.

Or it looks the same. A Cleric-7 has as much BAB as a Fighter-5, and as many hit points from the base hit dice as well (max first + average? 5d10=32, vs. 7d8=35), and can make up any additional discrepancies in combat prowess via crafted items (which a Fighter has a much harder time creating). It just takes slightly longer.

I think the question can be flipped too. Why caster? If this is a low-power setting already, we’ve gotten by fine with ONLY martials, so what need does magic fulfill that hasn’t already?

'Gotten by fine' is true. And a martial can thrive well enough.

But D&D/Pathfinder magic lets you share your good fortune with your family (whether they're by genetics or not).

Spoiler

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Sure, a +10 fort save means you shake off basically any real-life disease in a few days.
Being able to cast Remove Disease spell means you shake off any disease as soon as you notice, and you can cure your family.

Sure, +7 BAB, 16 strength, 14 Con, 7d10 hit dice, and a few combat feats likely makes you a great bruiser on the planet. You've got nothing to worry about if someone takes a swing at you.
Craft Construct lets you create bodyguards that are the best bruisers on the planet (wearable, even, but do modify it a bit). You get that, and for your family, too.

Sure, as a martial, you may eventually be able to take Extended Lifespan every few decades and be effectively ageless yourself.
Eventually, Astral Projection + a timeless demiplane can let you be ageless, and share that state with your family.

Sure, you can hop on an airplane and fly to the other side of the world in less than a day (assuming you've got your visa for the destination in your passport).
As a caster, not only can I just teleport there, but if I like, I can set up a network of Teleportation Circles linked at international airports so long distance travel is about as convenient as the bus, for everyone (note: doing it at airports is so customs can get involved conveniently if they want - they're already set up there).

And there's stuff magic lets you do that technology and money might, eventually, if we're all lucky.

Spoiler

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Set up shop on Mars? A Necklace of Adaptation, Arcane Eye, and Greater Teleport get you there (and a few passengers as well, whom you can set up to feed themselves if you're not arranging for Heroes' Feast or something).

Clean energy? Permanent Walls of Fire can run the boilers at coal or nuclear power plants.

Waste disposal? Permanent Prismatic Walls destroy everything that comes in contact with them. Bio-hazardous, toxic, radioactive? The violet layer doesn't care. It's all gone.

Unsatisfied with your height (or just about anything else about your body)? Polymorph Any Object has you covered.

[El Dorado]

My long-term plan is gaining the arcane discovery of immortality at 20th level. It gets rid of any accrued aging penalties so that'll be nice. In the meantime, craft an amulet of age resistance to stave off age penalties. As the years pass, a greater hat of disguise will be needed. Will also set up different mundane homesteads/identities around the world (really glad I'm learning all of these languages). Access to mage's magnificent mansion is almost a decade away. Even with that spell, will have to find out more about other extra planar abodes. Hopefully that won't be too necessary---I fancy myself an (earth-bound) homebody.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

Immortality is a fairly easy problem to solve once you get enough levels. Instead, I've been looking for easy ways to help out ESA (or NASA if you're American) at low/mid levels, while still following the "no custom items" rule. Obviously at high levels you can just Greater Teleport an astronaut to Mars to gather samples or whatever, and eventually build a Stronghold space that can bring passengers from planet to planet. But in the meantime, here's what I've come up with:

1. Weeping Flask seems very very easy to make, and creates 8 ounces of water a day. If all you want is personal consumption, you could do worse than this.
2. Everful Basin promises an endless supply of water, and requires only Craft Wondrous Item and Create Water. Of course it stops working if it's even turned upside down and emptied, but that's what covers are for. This item immensely facilitates logistics and weight issues.
3. Similarly, once you get third-level Cleric spells you can give them infinite food fairly easily (Everlasting Rations, Travel Cloak, etc)
4. If you want motive force, then good ship design + "solar" sails are now the optimal way to move through space. Everfull Sails from Stormwrack are very easy to craft (my Sha'ir 3 could make them right now!) and creates enough motive force to drive the ship forward "at its full normal speed". Simply design a spaceship so that its "normal speed" is spaceworthy, and you have now created a cheap way to travel through space that doesn't rely on Teleportation or high-level spellcasters! Of course you'll want a real space agency to actually design the ship. This isn't the kind of space exploration one PC can do from his backyard (you'll want to wait a few more levels for that).
5. Obviously there's the Necklace of Adaptation (craftable at level 7) that I'm sure every astronaut would love to have. Theoretically, you could even use it to fly in something that isn't very spaceworthy (that doesn't bother with air supply, for example). This again potentially massively decreases logistical constraints on safety, range, etc.
6. I'm not listing Decanter of Endless Water, because at the level where you can craft this you can already Plane Shift or whatever.

[Jack_Simth]

Immortality is a fairly easy problem to solve once you get enough levels. Instead, I've been looking for easy ways to help out ESA (or NASA if you're American) at low/mid levels, while still following the "no custom items" rule. Obviously at high levels you can just Greater Teleport an astronaut to Mars to gather samples or whatever, and eventually build a Stronghold space that can bring passengers from planet to planet. But in the meantime, here's what I've come up with:

You'll need either stasis or a teleporting stronghold space if you want folks to get from one planet to another without dying of old age. In terms of stellar distances, the fastest speed on a stronghold space is essentially no speed at all. 10 mph isn't much when Mars is 34.8 million miles at the closest (397 years and change to make that path, and that's the shortest it's gotten)

[Crichton]

You'll need either stasis or a teleporting stronghold space if you want folks to get from one planet to another without dying of old age. In terms of stellar distances, the fastest speed on a stronghold space is essentially no speed at all. 10 mph isn't much when Mars is 34.8 million miles at the closest (397 years and change to make that path, and that's the shortest it's gotten)

Yeah, the fastest speed in the mobile stronghold section is 10MPH, but I assumed they meant a stronghold space with a stargate portal (from the next section in the book) leading to another stronghold on Mars.

[Peelee]

1. If you want motive force, then good ship design + "solar" sails are now the optimal way to move through space. Everfull Sails from Stormwrack are very easy to craft (my Sha'ir 3 could make them right now!) and creates enough motive force to drive the ship forward "at its full normal speed". Simply design a spaceship so that its "normal speed" is spaceworthy, and you have now created a cheap way to travel through space that doesn't rely on Teleportation or high-level spellcasters! Of course you'll want a real space agency to actually design the ship. This isn't the kind of space exploration one PC can do from his backyard (you'll want to wait a few more levels for that).

There's... a lot of questions here. With radiation pressure, to get 1 newton (roughly the weight of an apple), you would need a solar sail about 360 meters (about a fifth of a mile) on each side. Presumably the Everfull Sails still needed to be full size, so the solar sails would still need to be as well, which puts us right back to square one on the solar sail issue. Unless you're creating actual wind in space, which would be it's own whole set of things, and would still require a massive amount of sail material.

Also, there's the whole issue of how the acceleration would be handled, if we stick with a "max speed" for space travel.

[H_H_F_F]

Question: if one of these years I decide to retrain one of my first level feats to apprentice (spellcaster) could I? That is, if one of the more veteran casters here would be willing to mentor me.

[Wildstag]

It's kinda surprising to me how many altruistic casters and immortality seekers there are in this thread, or at least those that lean towards those two archetypes.

I kinda figured there'd be a lot more "I'm gonna mind my own business away from people" sorts. But then again, there are also only three second-level or higher druids among us. Even if one of them forgot they'd actually become a Druid 4 this level.

[El Dorado]

It's kinda surprising to me how many altruistic casters and immortality seekers there are in this thread, or at least those that lean towards those two archetypes.

I kinda figured there'd be a lot more "I'm gonna mind my own business away from people" sorts. But then again, there are also only three second-level or higher druids among us. Even if one of them forgot they'd actually become a Druid 4 this level.

For me, it's more "I'll help but on my terms". Beneath my veneer of self-centered indifference is more self-centered indifference with a hint of social responsibility.

[H_H_F_F]

It's kinda surprising to me how many altruistic casters and immortality seekers there are in this thread, or at least those that lean towards those two archetypes.

I kinda figured there'd be a lot more "I'm gonna mind my own business away from people" sorts. But then again, there are also only three second-level or higher druids among us. Even if one of them forgot they'd actually become a Druid 4 this level.

I want to do my own thing. I deserve a life too, and I've realized over the years that I shouldn't treat myself as some tool to improve the lives of others. That's why I chose a class that feels natural, and spend time doing what I love.

But I still think the life well-lived is a life of doing good, and I will always strive for that, IRL and here.

Also, to clarify, I don't seek immortality precisely. We all die, and eternity is an illusion. I'm simply looking for an indefenite life span - removing the hard, knowable cap of years I have on this planet. It seems like a thing worth doing - a natural continuation of the self love I've learned to express by keeping healthy, looking to both sides when crossing the road, etc. I'm still a finite creature, and a human life in linear time is still all I seek.

[bekeleven]

It's kinda surprising to me how many altruistic casters and immortality seekers there are in this thread, or at least those that lean towards those two archetypes.

I kinda figured there'd be a lot more "I'm gonna mind my own business away from people" sorts. But then again, there are also only three second-level or higher druids among us. Even if one of them forgot they'd actually become a Druid 4 this level.

My plan is to get more altruistic once I'm able to control my rate of altruism. All I've done so far is become more socially adept.

[Jack_Simth]

It's kinda surprising to me how many altruistic casters and immortality seekers there are in this thread, or at least those that lean towards those two archetypes.

I kinda figured there'd be a lot more "I'm gonna mind my own business away from people" sorts. But then again, there are also only three second-level or higher druids among us. Even if one of them forgot they'd actually become a Druid 4 this level.

Well... time will get everyone, everyone eventually, although we can put it off a bit.

But humans are social creatures. They aren't stable without other humans, and one of the things humans need to be happy is to feel appreciated - with the best route for that being "do nice things for others"

So in a roundabout way, altruism helps the person who is helping others.

Some people know this, and help others at least partially for that reason.
Others do not, but do nice things for other reasons.
Others don't do nice things.

So yes. I will share my good fortune. Cheap, clean power? Sure. Clean out hospitals? Sounds fun. Ooh, space exploration! I will need to make at least some money along the way for supplies to do this, too.

So yes, I would do nice things. A part of that is training, a part of that is my own nature, a part of that is selfish. What alignment am I?

[ben-zayb]

It's kinda surprising to me how many altruistic casters and immortality seekers there are in this thread, or at least those that lean towards those two archetypes.

I kinda figured there'd be a lot more "I'm gonna mind my own business away from people" sorts. But then again, there are also only three second-level or higher druids among us. Even if one of them forgot they'd actually become a Druid 4 this level.

I honestly consider my Clairvoyant Sense services as less driven by altruism and more of a sampler for possible trading of benefits/goods in the future, similar to what Crichton suggested. Something like a "freemium" service as an investment for the inevitable psionic/magic-based economy.

As for minding my own business, I go about it by ensuring my non-mundane activities don't attract much attention IRL. For my preferred "playthrough" of real life, I still assume that there would be various powerful agencies that can and will take notice of any suspicious and possibly supernatural activities, and choosing psionics lets me easily conduct business without arousing so much suspicion. Even crafting power stones is simply an extension of my house decoration crafting hobby. Moreover, being a Telepath lets me easily turn some of these 3rd party agencies that would otherwise pose a threat into unwitting source of information and manpower instead.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

You'll need either stasis or a teleporting stronghold space if you want folks to get from one planet to another without dying of old age. In terms of stellar distances, the fastest speed on a stronghold space is essentially no speed at all. 10 mph isn't much when Mars is 34.8 million miles at the closest (397 years and change to make that path, and that's the shortest it's gotten)

Stronghold spaces can Teleport and/or Plane Shift. You can also create Stronghold Spaces that let you instantly teleport pretty much anywhere, and/or that let you instantly appear in another linked but arbitrarily distant stronghold space. This costs a lot of money and would take ages to build, but it's not impossible or anything once you have enough levels under your belt.

Yeah, the fastest speed in the mobile stronghold section is 10MPH, but I assumed they meant a stronghold space with a stargate portal (from the next section in the book) leading to another stronghold on Mars.

I was thinking about Plane Shifting an obdurium cube, actually. It's less precise, but faster. But now that I double-check, you can just pay 50k per stronghold space to give it Teleport Without Error, and there's that wondrous component that's basically a portal/transport ring.

There's... a lot of questions here. With radiation pressure, to get 1 newton (roughly the weight of an apple), you would need a solar sail about 360 meters (about a fifth of a mile) on each side. Presumably the Everfull Sails still needed to be full size, so the solar sails would still need to be as well, which puts us right back to square one on the solar sail issue. Unless you're creating actual wind in space, which would be it's own whole set of things, and would still require a massive amount of sail material.

Also, there's the whole issue of how the acceleration would be handled, if we stick with a "max speed" for space travel.

Everfull Sails explicitly create a gust of wind from nothing. It creates enough wind to push you at your vehicle's max speed (whatever that is), and it's always active while the sail is unfurled and in use. Then it's just a matter of designing a spaceship that can be pulled by a sail without breaking or becoming uncontrollable, and that has a sufficiently massive max speed. The spell will just generate some crazily strong gusts of wind to push the ship that fast, and must definitely be custom-designed for the job.
That's a problem for advanced material science + magic. IDK how to solve that, but that's the whole point of working for NASA instead of trying to reinvent this in my basement! Regarding magical improvements to material science: Augment Object is third level, affects very big objects for day/level, and is a massive toughness improvement that scales with the native toughness of the item. Hardening is permanent, Shaper of Form improvements are permanent, etc.

[Kalkra]

I'm not sure what people have against using teleportation for space travel, but I'll mention that you can get to very high speeds with ion thrusters and other forms of constant acceleration. The main issues are carrying fuel and getting it into orbit in the first place. Slap a decanter of endless water or two onto your spaceship and teleport it into space, and already existing technology will take you the rest of the way. I suppose you'll need some everlasting rations and maybe bottles of air, but fuel is the main issue.