Unlimited power with simple spells.

[Randel]

We all know how a decanter of endless water can be used to irrigate fields and run waterwheels. What other kinds extremely simple magic items could be used to change a magical civilization?

I figure that cheap evocation effects that provide cheap energy could cause some big change by themselves, but then even short range divination spells that work like walkie-talkies could work too.



Examples:

Wind Tube- a metal tube with a permanent Gust of Wind effect placed on it. Air is sucked in one way and blown out the other. Can be made as small as a vacuum hose or as wide as a fan. The speed that it blows air is chosen at the time of creation and more expensive ones blow harder.
Uses:
1. Place one or more by a windmill to provide motor energy.
2. Replace the blades on a windmill with Wind Tubes, causing them to pull rotate the thing directly.
3. Put a bag on the 'out' end and make a vacuum cleaner.


Light Pellet- a simple transparent glass marble with Continual Flame cast on it. it essentially works like a light bulb without needing to have a battery to power it.
Uses:
1. Make a small metal container no larger than a standard potion vial, polish it up and glue a Light Pellet in the inside. Now add a lid you can flip open and you have a flashlight.
2. Get a lot of them and make a greenhouse to grow crops underground.
3. Build the above mentioned 'flashlight' into a helmet. Now there is no need to carry a torch underground.

[Ivius]

Trash Compacter: A large box with Shrink Item at will.

[Jack_Simth]

Archmage with Mastery of Elements Permanencies two castings of Wall of Fire; one standard, one cold-substituted. Set a couple of Decanters of Endless Water running in a big holding tank, and run pipes from the tank through the flames, and you've got hot and cold running water for an entire city. For that matter, put a boiler over the Hot one, and you've got cheap steam power, too.

Of course, the cheapest way to make limitless work is with zombies and skeletons....

[Collin152]

Archmage with Mastery of Elements Permanencies two castings of Wall of Fire; one standard, one cold-substituted. Set a couple of Decanters of Endless Water running in a big holding tank, and run pipes from the tank through the flames, and you've got hot and cold running water for an entire city. For that matter, put a boiler over the Hot one, and you've got cheap steam power, too.

Of course, the cheapest way to make limitless work is with zombies and skeletons....

Skeletons pushing on a whell is what makes hte Eath revolve. We bury the dead so that they can join them.

[CASTLEMIKE]

Continuous Mage Hand or Unseen Servant for running small mills, spinning wheels and simple pumps.

[FlyMolo]

Skeletons pushing on a whell is what makes hte Eath revolve. We bury the dead so that they can join them.

Where do you come up with this stuff?!

[SilentNight]

Enlarge object. Solve the world's hunger problems. Also see hero's feast and create food and water.

[Azerian Kelimon]

He's got an awesome rating of N-1+3/4 Solos. Awesome exudes from him like crappiness exudes from lesser forms of existance, like mortals.

[Kedami]

First, you set up some pipes and somewhere to sit. Then you set up a handle that uses Create Water. Then, as the waste is pushed down the pipe, Prestidigitation kicks in at key points and cleans the pipes.

Ta-da! We have a toilet in the D&D universe that doesn't require some poor guy having to clean out cess pools.

All spells would be permanent of course.

I'll post more when I think of them, but that was all I could come up with for now, since I was actually looking to make that in a campaign...

[Collin152]

Where do you come up with this stuff?!

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be my Evil Side. I have three personalities, you see.
One is evil (among other thinfs) and does all he can to do away with us.
One is weak, and does what he can to put ourselves out of danger.
One is everything else, and he despises the other two's existance.
When the ywork together, only then can the greater evil be destroyed.

Oh, infinite energy? Sure, Decanters and permanent gusts can get you continuous energy, but then you have to do something with it. What exactly are we going ot do with these self powering windmills?

[Arakune]

Electricity.

[FlyMolo]

If I were to hazard a guess, it would be my Evil Side. I have three personalities, you see.
One is evil (among other thinfs) and does all he can to do away with us.
One is weak, and does what he can to put ourselves out of danger.
One is everything else, and he despises the other two's existance.
When the ywork together, only then can the greater evil be destroyed.

Oh, infinite energy? Sure, Decanters and permanent gusts can get you continuous energy, but then you have to do something with it. What exactly are we going ot do with these self powering windmills?

Grind grain, mill swords. Industrial Revolution all over again.

Umm, actual uses for simple spells. Wall of stone, stone shape, flesh to stone. I don't know what you could accomplish here, but it would be cool.

[quiet1mi]

stone to flesh at will = mystery meat again?

dominate person on yourself + intentionally failing your will save = best way to remember dates (birthdays and anniversaries etc ) and quit addicting habits

[Roderick_BR]

Of course, the cheapest way to make limitless work is with zombies and skeletons....

There's a DC Comic series where a hidden village of sorcerers do that... XD That's how creatures like Grundy were created, apparently.

[Collin152]

Electricity.

Isn't that a little too much metagame knowledge?

[Kedami]

I'm sure there was something in my head about helping the homeless and a Sustaining Spoon...

[Collin152]

"What about hte homeless?" "We'll worry about them later." "No, the homeless could pull the rickshaw!"
Oh, cast mount. Voila, one horsepower of free energy.
Cast it again.

[Kedami]

Inspired by a different thread...

Use a Wall of Force to stop an enemy invading by jumping or flying over those castle walls.

[the_tick_rules]

prestidigitation, run your own laundry business, and we all know how much medevial society loved cleanliness.

[Da King]

I invented the flamethrower in a previous campaign. Bottle of air (or whatever it's called) plus alchemist's fire. Ahhh, good times.... I can still remember the screams of pain as the flesh of those commoners burned... I think my alignment should have been just a little
different from neutral good.

[Dan_Hemmens]

I find it interesting that people consider "Permanent" anything to constitute a "simple" spell. You're talking about a fifth level spell with a hefty XP cost. All these things you're talking about making (with the exception of the Continual Flame stuff) are significantly more costly than raising the dead.

And when you get right down to it, using a decanter of endless water is a much less efficient way of making a water wheel than just using a - y'know - river.

[Talya]

Sustaining Spoon...

The rules in BoEF for how long you can sustain don't differentiate based on position.

[Kedami]

The rules in BoEF for how long you can sustain don't differentiate based on position.

Right... No idea what you're talking about, but the Sustaining Spoon is the SRD name for Murlynd's Spoon (Sp?), since they can't realease names, just like Bigby and Mordenkainen (whose name I'm sure I just spelled wrong).

[Talya]

Right... No idea what you're talking about

I know what it is. It was a joke. You'd need to be familiar with the BoEF to get it.

[Kedami]

Sorry, just got what BoEF stands for.
Not something I like to think about at all.

[Grug]

The thing about decanters of endless water is that it creates water.

Think.

The world already has lots of water in it. If you keep adding more, over a long period of time, the ocean levels will rise and the entire world will become more humid. Drastic long-term effects.

[Blackadder]

The thing about decanters of endless water is that it creates water.

Think.

The world already has lots of water in it. If you keep adding more, over a long period of time, the ocean levels will rise and the entire world will become more humid. Drastic long-term effects.

Search back through the forums, there was a calculation that showed that even on the "Geyser" setting(Highest) 72 Decanters of Endless Water would take over ten thousand years to raise the worlds sea level. by 1 inch

Drastic long term effects in geological time(IE Twenty million years) but not drastic effects in any reasonable time frame.

[pmurray]

Light Pellet- a simple transparent glass marble with Continual Flame cast on it.
2. Get a lot of them and make a greenhouse to grow crops underground.

Won't work. Sunlight makes plants grow because it is imbued with divine, lifegiving power (that's also why it is inimical to certain undead). Simple illumination will not do the same job.

[Paul H]

Hi

Magic Carpet - pollution free transport
Bags Holding - storage
Tenser's disc - trailer/palletiser/sack truck etc.
Leomund's Hiny Hut - caravan/tent for camping
Crystal Ball - TV/video phone
Protection from Evil - anti bug cream
Sending - texting/letters (snailmail)
Endure Elements - central heating (no heaters/fans reqd in house)
Bag of Tricks (Gray) - childrens pets?
Periapt Health/Proof Poison - doctors etc working with contagious patients
Horseshoes of Speed - turbo boosters
Horseshoes of Zephyr - 4 wheel drive
Ioun Stones Clear & Irridescent - perfect for off-world explorers.

The list goes on.....

Cheers
Paul H

[Chronos]

The thing about decanters of endless water is that it creates water.

Think.

The world already has lots of water in it. If you keep adding more, over a long period of time, the ocean levels will rise and the entire world will become more humid. Drastic long-term effects.

I decided a while ago that that's why Spheres of Annihilation exist. The laws of magic demand that the amount of material in the world remain constant, so the more Conjuration (creation) and the like is used, the more Spheres spontaneously spring into existence to compensate.