Philosopher's Stone from Council of Thieves


Rules Questions

Sczarni

Ok, so the item is perhaps, IMHO, the worst written up artifact in the game:

philosopher’s Stone

Spoiler:

Aura strong transmutation; CL 20th
Slot none; Weight 3 lbs.
Description
This rare substance appears to be an ordinary, sooty piece of
blackish rock. If the stone is broken open (break DC 20), a cavity
is revealed at the stone’s heart. This cavity is lined with a magical
type of quicksilver that enables any character with at least 10
ranks in Craft (alchemy) to transmute base metals (iron and
lead) into silver and gold. A single philosopher’s stone can turn up
to 5,000 pounds of iron into silver (worth 25,000 gp), or up to
1,000 pounds of lead into gold (worth 50,000 gp). However, the
quicksilver becomes unstable once the stone is opened and loses
its potency within 24 hours, so all transmutations must take place
within that period.
The quicksilver found in the center of the stone may also be put
to another use. If mixed with any cure potion while the substance
is still potent, it creates a special oil of life that acts as a true
resurrection spell for any dead body it is sprinkled upon.
Destruction
The philosopher’s stone can be destroyed by being placed in the
heel of a titan’s boot for at least 1 entire week.

So the question is: is this a ONE SHOT ARTIFACT? Sure seems so. Nowhere does it say it "regenerates once a day/week/month/year" And it says it loses its power after 24 hours (after being broken open) - so no matter which use you use it for, it is useless after 24 hours. I mean, am I missing something here? An artifact that becomes useful after 24 hours, can't be destroyed, but just sits there being a useless rock? AMAZING!

Conversely, can you break it open 10000 times a day and convert everything you can to gold in that day? (after all, it isn't destroyed by breaking it open and it doesn't say you can only do this once, right?)


Yup. It's a one and done artifact. On a note, it's useless if you break it open and do nothing with it for twenty four hours.

For your second question, you break it open and you have a LIMIT of what it can transform. Do note it says 'or' when talking about transmutation, no mixing and matching for those pesky PC if they get their grubby little mitts on it.

Sczarni

So basically if you can find some sucker to sell it to for 50,000 gp you are better off... lol


Likely, it's limited as such because a 20th level Alchemist can crank out one of these bad boys a month.

Plus the oil isn't said to have a time limit after it gets combined with a cure potion. Though that may be up to GMs.


True resurrection outside the purview of the divine? Sounds like an artifact to me. Campaigns can revolve around one of these.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Philosopher's Stone from Council of Thieves All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.