HungryGnome's page

to help balance this out, you could always ask for a crafting skill check for any "complicated" shapes (aka the spheres, laticeworks ect..) This would still allow it to happen, but make it something that the caster would have to work at to get right.

You could require the character to make a spellcraft check to break the spell down smaller than 1 cubic foot sections.. set the DC based on how much you are reducing the base listed dimension.. assume DC 0 to cast the spell as stated.. in 1 cubic ft sections.. DC 10 to go with 10" sections, DC20 to go with 8" sections, DC 30 to go with 6" sections, DC 40 for 4" sections, DC 50 for 2" sections.. so only a near Epic caster has a remote chance of carving 2" wide sections affecting enourmous amounts of stone by using negative space...your average 10th level caster has about a +15 spellcraft... so cutting it into 6" sections is feasable, but a little difficult...

So what would you all say to touching a wall ( as the range IS touch ) and having a 1 ft. square with a point go shooting out of it at an opponent? Damage? DC should obviously by 10+spell level+ability mod. or what about holding your action until an opponent is in the doorway in front of you, then touching the walls to form arcing bands confining him there? ( a band running from the left wall arcing horizontally to the right wall, with the same running behind)

Here is a thought:

A 10th level caster has 20 cubic feet to work with.... now, if we convert this into 1 inch x 1 ft x 1 ft. slabs, we now have 240 of said slabs to work with...

If the DM would allow a little creative usage of the spell in this aspect, as this requires a little adjucation on the spells effects, you can affect more than you think..

If we assume the average dungeon wall to be 1 ft. thick, if you affect the stone AROUND what you really want to carve, then you can make some remarkably large openings, with some debris left over...

If you take a wall, and chose to affect 1 in. wide, by 1 ft. deep sections, you have 240 linear feet at this point to work with. If you use 5 ft. vertically, 5 ft horizontally, and another 5 ft vertically again, and once again 5ft horizontal, forming a square, you have only used 20ft of your 240.. and you have carved a 5ft block out of a 1ft. thick wall. Now intersect that wall through both axis ( 2 more 5 ft. lines in a plus shape) and you have used all of 30 ft to carve 4 x 2.5ft square blocks, which are MUCH easier to move by hand. Now keep extending this off the original, and a 10th level caster could cut a hole in a wall 5 ft high and 45 ft long!!!!

But you have these little blocks of stone left over,at 2.5ft on a side ( 2.5 ft CUBED, or 15.625 cubic ft.) which can be stacked into a remarkably easy wall, which with another casting, you can then fuse back together.. or you can just chop structural walls out of a building until it collapses...

If you are wondering, since the arcane focus says clay shaped into the rough shape of the item to be affected, you make a lattice of clay....