What's up with Universal Solvent?

[zaei]

Universal Solvent is the cheapest Wondrous Item in the SRD, at 50gp (The anchor feather token is also 50gp). However, Universal Solvent requires a CL of 20 to create.

Perhaps Universal Solvent is a natural byproduct of a high level wizard's massive brain power?

It's all made by the 20th level Plumber wizards in Forgotten Realms?

The magician in the next tower over is an *******, and likes to put sovereign glue in your gas tank?

How do you explain this?

[Darkxarth]

Game mechanic-wise: It is cheap so that players have an easy way to counter Sovereign Glue, Tanglefoot bags, and cruel DMs.

Fluff-Wise: Illithids sneeze it out and Underdark hippies collect it and sell it above ground to stupid adventurers.

[Chronos]

I imagine that this is yet another case where the game designers didn't communicate well among themselves, and muddled up memories from 2nd edition. In 3rd edition, Universal Solvent is an item with very limited application, serving only to counteract a few simple, inexpensive nuissances. Thus, it has a low price. On the other hand, in 2nd edition, Universal Solvent truly was universal, to the point where it was impossible to store the stuff without magic (it would eat through any container you put it in). Such a substance is clearly very powerful, and should only be available to high-level characters. So it gets a CL of 20.

In other words, whoever set the CL of Universal Solvent was thinking of the 2e version, and never noticed that the guy who wrote the text for it and set the price had changed it considerably from what it used to be.

[Jack Zander]

I imagine that this is yet another case where the game designers didn't communicate well among themselves, and muddled up memories from 2nd edition. In 3rd edition, Universal Solvent is an item with very limited application, serving only to counteract a few simple, inexpensive nuissances. Thus, it has a low price. On the other hand, in 2nd edition, Universal Solvent truly was universal, to the point where it was impossible to store the stuff without magic (it would eat through any container you put it in). Such a substance is clearly very powerful, and should only be available to high-level characters. So it gets a CL of 20.

In other words, whoever set the CL of Universal Solvent was thinking of the 2e version, and never noticed that the guy who wrote the text for it and set the price had changed it considerably from what it used to be.

And two revisions later they still missed it, figures.

[Ellisthion]

No, actually, it's a remnent from 3.0 and earlier. In 3.0 and earlier, if you distilled the solvent down, you got disintegrate potion. It also cost a lot more, but significantly less than a disintegrate scroll. Thus, you could do all sorts of nasty things. To remove this, this functionality was removed and the cost dramatically reduced. However, the CL20 and Disintegrate spell requirement have not been removed, probably an oversight.

[Saph]

Universal Solvent is the cheapest Wondrous Item in the SRD, at 50gp (The anchor feather token is also 50gp). However, Universal Solvent requires a CL of 20 to create.

This is a common mistake. The CL of an item has nothing to do with the prerequisites for making it. The fact that Universal Solvent is CL 20 means it makes saves at CL 20 and registers strongly on Detect Magic - not that you need to be 20th-level to cast it.

Universal Solvent's main pre-requisite is the disintegrate spell, so you have to be at least level 11 to make it.

As for why it's listed at CL 20, I think Ellisthion got it. In 3.0 it was distillable to make bottled disintegrate (and disintegrate was worse in 3.0, too).

- Saph

[Telonius]

It's all made by the 20th level Plumber wizards in Forgotten Realms?

Yes. That particular wizard is actually a Halfling. He makes Enlarge Person potions in the form of mushrooms, and enjoys casting Fireball. He mainly uses the universal solvent to travel quickly through pipes.

[Emperor Tippy]

My question is what's up with Sovereign Glue? The stuff costs 2,400 GP per ounce and if you use less than the full amount you have to go and spend another 1,000 GP on Salve of Slipperiness to be able to store the stuff.

I mean I sally keep an ounce or 2 on all my characters just because it can be useful at times but it's really not worth it when the crap can be dissolved with a magic item that costs 50 GP.

Now if Sovereign Glue was 500 GP per ounce and a container only needed 1 coating of Salve of Slipperiness one time to be able to forever after hold Sovereign Glue then the stuff could be worth it.

[zaei]

This is a common mistake. The CL of an item has nothing to do with the prerequisites for making it. The fact that Universal Solvent is CL 20 means it makes saves at CL 20 and registers strongly on Detect Magic - not that you need to be 20th-level to cast it.

Now I have to get my head around CL 11 casters creating items with 20 Caster Levels worth of power. Another item to put into the "Doesn't make sense" list for D&D =]

It also changes the question slighty. Why is Universal Solvent so cheap, and yet so very powerful (caster level wise, not game effect wise).

Also, can I rub Universal Solvent all over myself to get some extra protection against, say, Disintegrate?

[Starbuck_II]

Now I have to get my head around CL 11 casters creating items with 20 Caster Levels worth of power. Another item to put into the "Doesn't make sense" list for D&D =]

It also changes the question slighty. Why is Universal Solvent so cheap, and yet so very powerful (caster level wise, not game effect wise).

Also, can I rub Universal Solvent all over myself to get some extra protection against, say, Disintegrate?

No more than you can rub gruel over your self from the bowl of gruel that refills itself (that bowl in DMG) to get protection.

[Fax Celestis]

It also changes the question slighty. Why is Universal Solvent so cheap, and yet so very powerful (caster level wise, not game effect wise).

It's not powerful, it's just "magically resonant", if you will. Sometimes the product is more than the sum of it's parts.

[Fiery Diamond]

@Saph (or anyone else, really) -- could you point me to the page # or link me to the place in the SRD that says this? I don't recall ever seeing the description for CL for an item that you're giving - after all, CL is listed in the prereqs to make it section of the description.

-Fiery Diamond

[zaei]

@Saph (or anyone else, really) -- could you point me to the page # or link me to the place in the SRD that says this? I don't recall ever seeing the description for CL for an item that you're giving - after all, CL is listed in the prereqs to make it section of the description.

-Fiery Diamond

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems...tm#casterLevel

Enjoy!

[Fawsto]

Technicaly it is water...

Edit: I mean... Chemicaly.

[Toliudar]

My brain hurts.

If the creator doesn't actually have to be the caster level listed for a magic item (presumably, except for the items which say otherwise specifically), then what happens in the following scenario:

I hire a 3rd level wizard with the craft magic item feat to make me a mirror of life trapping. I provide her/him with the necessary materials, and a few scrolls of Imprisonment. They complete the crafting (and eventually one of the spells goes off properly). Do they go into negative XP? Does the item creation fail?

[Cuddly]

Isn't there a rule somewhere that says you can't item craft below your level of xp?

So at level 2, with 1500 xp, you couldn't make more than 150 xp worth of items.

[Jack Zander]

So at level 2, with 1500 xp, you couldn't make more than 150 xp worth of items.

You mean no more than 500 xp methinks.

[deadseashoals]

A common misconception. The item IS caster level 20, it doesn't require caster level 20 to create. If that was the intention, it would say "must have a caster level of at least 20." The caster level is there for the purposes of targeted dispel magic and the like. Not that you would ever want to disable a universal solvent for 1d4 rounds, but it's really hard to do anyway.

Edit: Er yeah what Saph said a long time ago.