|
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....
You can indeed and there is the onion. You need a GM who is parfait with the 3D math. Once you start detailing size and dimensions into something more than simple blocks you might find your GM's head explode. This can be messy :).
In these situations I tend to use modeling clay cut to the dimensions represented on the game table (1"x4/5"x1/5" to represent 5'x4'x1') which gives him the equivalent of 20 1'x1'x1' game table blocks or 20 cubic feet. Then I let the person casting stone shape to build what he wants to build with that dimension-wise. That way he can prove to me that his stone shape calculation is fine visually and I don't have to waste precious game time doing the calculations in my head.
Having to wait while someone site there to culpt clay actually saves time?
I hate to think of how long a round for you guys actually takes.
|
Just guessing but I suspect most GMs will say that the amount of stone manipulated must be contained in 20 cubic feet of volume. The spell is not extremely precise in the way it's stated but I would feel comfortable ruling that way even at a con.
Just for kicks look at some possible ways you can use 'negative space' to manipulate huge things.
20 cubic feet
A slab 240 square feet 1" thick or a 12'x20' slab I think this is legit.
A fissure 1/32" thick and 85' to a side. You could slice any stone tower
in 2. You could also use that 1/32" fissure to collapse a section of dungeon ceiling 10' thick 10' wide and over 100' long.
Alternately you could extract everything except for 1" stone spheres in a very large area "Not manipulating the spheres but the stone around them". The wall would lose cohesion and most of the bits would roll off leaving massive gaps. I'm not excited about the math but you can calculate the difference between the volume of a 1" diameter sphere and a 1" cube to figure out the volume of material you could effect that way, it's easily 5 times the 20 cubic feet the spell normally allows.
Personally, it's a pretty awesome spell if you just limit it to the volume allotted.
|
|
You can indeed and there is the onion. You need a GM who is parfait with the 3D math. Once you start detailing size and dimensions into something more than simple blocks you might find your GM's head explode. This can be messy :).
In these situations I tend to use modeling clay cut to the dimensions represented on the game table...
I don't think you need to have actual clay for most people but it's a good idea and maybe if my players ever try and get too creative I'll grab some and have them try and show how they would do it :)
Just guessing but I suspect most GMs will say that the amount of stone manipulated must be contained in 20 cubic feet of volume. The spell is not extremely precise in the way it's stated but I would feel comfortable ruling that way even at a con.
Just for kicks look at some possible ways you can use 'negative space' to manipulate huge things.
20 cubic feet
A slab 240 square feet 1" thick or a 12'x20' slab I think this is legit.A fissure 1/32" thick and 85' to a side. You could slice any stone tower
in 2. You could also use that 1/32" fissure to collapse a section of dungeon ceiling 10' thick 10' wide and over 100' long.Alternately you could extract everything except for 1" stone spheres in a very large area "Not manipulating the spheres but the stone around them". The wall would lose cohesion and most of the bits would roll off leaving massive gaps. I'm not excited about the math but you can calculate the difference between the volume of a 1" diameter sphere and a 1" cube to figure out the volume of material you could effect that way, it's easily 5 times the 20 cubic feet the spell normally allows.
Personally, it's a pretty awesome spell if you just limit it to the volume allotted.
This sounds like fun, but I am having trouble following. Care to translate for me Marcus?
|
|
Look at it this way, if a chunk of stone is 1' to a side is made of 144 1" cubes welded together. You can fit a 1" diameter sphere into each of those 1" cubes. The difference between the volume of the 1" cube and the 1" sphere is what you have to extract.
You can get more optimized than that though because the spheres aren't constrained to an individual 1" cube. You can see some fairly readable illustrations here. (Edit: Just focus on the pictures, they tell 99% of the story anyhow I only skimmed the text to get the general idea)
The end result:
In other words, with face-centered cubic packing, 74.05% of the space is occupied by spheres and 25.95% is unoccupied space.
So if you were using stone shape only to squeeze out the gaps between spheres you can turn four times the spells volume from solid stone into free rolling spheres.
(again I don't feel that's the intent of the spell, just playing with math)
|
|
Having to wait while someone site there to culpt clay actually saves time?
I hate to think of how long a round for you guys actually takes.
Believe me it's quicker than trying to explain to all the players who can't get their heads round it, and waste time in arguments like the ones that have occurred in this thread. It might be simple to me but I'd spend the whole session getting them to understand the math.
Which is easier, a piece of modeled clay or a set of equations thrown to math illiterate gamers?
Look at it this way, if a chunk of stone is 1' to a side is made of 144 1" cubes welded together. You can fit a 1" diameter sphere into each of those 1" cubes. The difference between the volume of the 1" cube and the 1" sphere is what you have to extract.
You can get more optimized than that though because the spheres aren't constrained to an individual 1" cube. You can see some fairly readable illustrations here. (Edit: Just focus on the pictures, they tell 99% of the story anyhow I only skimmed the text to get the general idea)
The end result:
In other words, with face-centered cubic packing, 74.05% of the space is occupied by spheres and 25.95% is unoccupied space.So if you were using stone shape only to squeeze out the gaps between spheres you can turn four times the spells volume from solid stone into free rolling spheres.
(again I don't feel that's the intent of the spell, just playing with math)
So basically, I could take a stone ceiling and turn it into a bunch of disconnected stone spheres, thereby causing the ceiling to collapse into (perfectly round) rubble?
That's pretty easy to grasp I guess. It's the numbers I don't get. If the spell says I can effect (say) 20 cubic feet, how am I targeting four times the spell's volume to begin with?
If I target 20 cubic feet of the stone ceiling, and move the stone around to create the gaps you describe (creating the spheres), then that's it. I can't effect any more volume...
...Ah...
...Now I think I get it. I haven't moved 20 cubic feet have I? I've only moved ~25% of the volume (the volume of rock that used to occupy the empty spaces).
So then I am using the rules as written to, in effect, move nearly four times as much volume as the spell says I can target even target (since all I did was move the appropriate amount, and then let gravity move the rest). Is that what you mean? That's rather close to real cheese my friend. Counting just the amount of stone moved, I could make exra thin "slices" out of the stone ceiling in order to drop tons and tons of stone on the heads of my foes!
If that IS what you mean, then I am SO proud of you!
This will definitely see use at my gaming table!
Having to wait while someone site there to culpt clay actually saves time?
I hate to think of how long a round for you guys actually takes.
Believe me it's quicker than trying to explain to all the players who can't get their heads round it, and waste time in arguments like the ones that have occurred in this thread. It might be simple to me but I'd spend the whole session getting them to understand the math.
Which is easier, a piece of modeled clay or a set of equations thrown to math illiterate gamers?
Good point.
|
|
This sounds like fun, but I am having trouble following. Care to translate for me Marcus?Just guessing but I suspect most GMs will say that the amount of stone manipulated must be contained in 20 cubic feet of volume. The spell is not extremely precise in the way it's stated but I would feel comfortable ruling that way even at a con.
Just for kicks look at some possible ways you can use 'negative space' to manipulate huge things.
20 cubic feet
A slab 240 square feet 1" thick or a 12'x20' slab I think this is legit.A fissure 1/32" thick and 85' to a side. You could slice any stone tower
in 2. You could also use that 1/32" fissure to collapse a section of dungeon ceiling 10' thick 10' wide and over 100' long.Alternately you could extract everything except for 1" stone spheres in a very large area "Not manipulating the spheres but the stone around them". The wall would lose cohesion and most of the bits would roll off leaving massive gaps. I'm not excited about the math but you can calculate the difference between the volume of a 1" diameter sphere and a 1" cube to figure out the volume of material you could effect that way, it's easily 5 times the 20 cubic feet the spell normally allows.
Personally, it's a pretty awesome spell if you just limit it to the volume allotted.
It's not hard. Just experiment with the clay. Role it into little balls 1/5" in diameter until you run out of clay. That will give you a least a few 1' game spheres to play with. I would not advise going into inches at the game level, because it's going to get very tedious. The reason I used the modeling clay example is so I shouldn't need to explain the complexities to you.
But for you I'll help a little. Use the following formula to work out the volume of a sphere:
Volume=4/3πr^3
where π=3.142 and r=radius of the sphere, which is the direct distance from center to circumference.
But always remember to maintain the units of measure you are using, in your case it will be 1' in the game world = 1/5" in real terms.
Beyond this I haven't the energy to explain. It would take too long.
EDIT: Dern How does one use symbol characters in this editor? "π" is unicode for Pi
Thanks for trying Marcus, but I think I understand now (not the exact equations, but the principle of it).
Just remember everyone, you are shaping stone, not making it magically disappear. You have to find a place to move all that excess stone. In the case of "slicing" stone blocks out of the ceiling to crush one's enemies, I would simply move the "thin plates" of stone to the surrounding ceiling, effectively making the ceiling surrounding the falling block trap a fraction of an inch lower.
|
|
Just guessing but I suspect most GMs will say that the amount of stone manipulated must be contained in 20 cubic feet of volume. The spell is not extremely precise in the way it's stated but I would feel comfortable ruling that way even at a con.
Just for kicks look at some possible ways you can use 'negative space' to manipulate huge things.
20 cubic feet
A slab 240 square feet 1" thick or a 12'x20' slab I think this is legit.A fissure 1/32" thick and 85' to a side. You could slice any stone tower
in 2. You could also use that 1/32" fissure to collapse a section of dungeon ceiling 10' thick 10' wide and over 100' long.Alternately you could extract everything except for 1" stone spheres in a very large area "Not manipulating the spheres but the stone around them". The wall would lose cohesion and most of the bits would roll off leaving massive gaps. I'm not excited about the math but you can calculate the difference between the volume of a 1" diameter sphere and a 1" cube to figure out the volume of material you could effect that way, it's easily 5 times the 20 cubic feet the spell normally allows.
Personally, it's a pretty awesome spell if you just limit it to the volume allotted.
You could do all kinds of destructive things with this spell even with a single casting. Undermine a section of city wall. You could even collapse a room on yourself and you party buy undermining a few load bearing columns. TPK care of Stone Shape, a mad wizard with degree in geometry. I love it. This gives me an idea for a trap ...<grins evilly>...
|
|
Thanks for trying Marcus, but I think I understand now (not the exact equations, but the principle of it).
Just remember everyone, you are shaping stone, not making it magically disappear. You have to find a place to move all that excess stone. In the case of "slicing" stone blocks out of the ceiling to crush one's enemies, I would simply move the "thin plates" of stone to the surrounding ceiling, effectively making the ceiling surrounding the falling block trap a fraction of an inch lower.
Hmm. I wonder if Stone Shape allows you the use of Boolean operations ;) <ducks for cover>
|
|
Thanks for trying Marcus, but I think I understand now (not the exact equations, but the principle of it).
Just remember everyone, you are shaping stone, not making it magically disappear. You have to find a place to move all that excess stone. In the case of "slicing" stone blocks out of the ceiling to crush one's enemies, I would simply move the "thin plates" of stone to the surrounding ceiling, effectively making the ceiling surrounding the falling block trap a fraction of an inch lower.
You are extruding that excess, squeeze it out like toothpaste and it drops to the floor. Ultimately it doesn't matter what happens to the stuff you remove unless it's a confined space.
In The Master of 5 Magics there was a puzzle/ secret where the wizard shrunk a pillar of metal I think and that sunk into a hole in the floor that was smaller than the diameter of the pillar. It would be interesting to make a puzzle in the game where they party had to do something like that. Use stone shape to make a pillar slide down into the floor revealing ****. Would likely come off as a bit contrived though.
You could make a section of stone flooring form into a very narrow, yet very nasty spike(s)--perhaps in front of a doorway while you are being pursued.
Since the spell is instantaneous, do you think it possible to impale someone on such a spike by making it pop up underneath them?
EDIT: Could someone please check my math, I most likely have it wrong.
If you have the ability to shape 17 cubic feet (the minimum for stone shape), then you could create 467 stone spikes (cones) each 5 feet long, with a 1 inch radius at the base.
I figure it's either that, or 70 such spikes. One or the other.
Here's the calculations for determining the volume of a cone, if it helps.
|
|
You could make a section of stone flooring form into a very narrow, yet very nasty spike(s)--perhaps in front of a doorway while you are being pursued.
Since the spell is instantaneous, do you think it possible to impale someone on such a spike by making it pop up underneath them?
I would let you craft stone caltops with the spell over a fairly good sized area. Not so much using it as a weapon though.
I would let you craft stone caltops with the spell over a fairly good sized area. Not so much using it as a weapon though.You could make a section of stone flooring form into a very narrow, yet very nasty spike(s)--perhaps in front of a doorway while you are being pursued.
Since the spell is instantaneous, do you think it possible to impale someone on such a spike by making it pop up underneath them?
That's a whole hell of a lot of caltrops! Also, see my edit in the post above.
Could someone please check my math, I most likely have it wrong.
If you have the ability to shape 17 cubic feet (the minimum for stone shape), then you could create 467 stone spikes (cones) each 5 feet long, with a 1 inch radius at the base.
I figure it's either that, or 70 such spikes. One or the other.
Here's the calculations for determining the volume of a cone, if it helps.
Some kind people on another thread confirmed the answer to be a whopping 467 spikes.
If I can find a GM that would allow me to weaponize the spell, I could impale small armies with a single casting!
If each spike has a 2 inch diameter base, then I could potentially have a circle (5 ft. diameter) of 134 spikes pointed up from the floor and inwards from the circle impale a single medium target.
I feel really sorry for that guy!
|
to help balance this out, you could always ask for a crafting skill check for any "complicated" shapes (aka the spheres, latticeworks ect..) This would still allow it to happen, but make it something that the caster would have to work at to get right.
Also, just re-reading the spell, I noticed this:
You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits your purpose. While it's possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn't possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn't work.
your DM might rule that a ton of small 1-inch spheres might be counted as "fine detail".
|
|
to help balance this out, you could always ask for a crafting skill check for any "complicated" shapes (aka the spheres, latticeworks ect..) This would still allow it to happen, but make it something that the caster would have to work at to get right.
Also, just re-reading the spell, I noticed this:
your DM might rule that a ton of small 1-inch spheres might be counted as "fine detail".
You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits your purpose. While it's possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn't possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn't work.
I kind of think we went far too far in this discussion about Stone Shape, and its resulting capabilities. I'm not even sure that the spell to all intents and purposes has changed much since Gygax wrote the original for Ed. 1. I doubt even the great man had thought about the possibilities for the length of time we have. I like the idea of a craft check when players start trying to build anything from war machines to Michaelangelo art works, but I think we might be missing the point of the spell. Just a thought.
|
|
Basic geometric shapes (even a lot of them) hardly constitutes fine detail.
When I think of fine detail, I think of things like this, this, and this.
I never said it did. But if we aren't careful that's what players will start coming up with unless we specify to what limits the spell has as to "shaping" things. I was being tongue-in-cheek in my comments concerning great works of art mind ;l
|
|
Basic geometric shapes (even a lot of them) hardly constitutes fine detail.
When I think of fine detail, I think of things like this, this, and this.
but I would consider 300+ 1 inch spheres as "fine detail" for the purpose of this spell. A small handful I would allow, but more then that and you are pushing yourself to make that many accurately, and in in the 3-6 seconds you want to count as a standard action.
|
|
to help balance this out, you could always ask for a crafting skill check for any "complicated" shapes (aka the spheres, latticeworks ect..) This would still allow it to happen, but make it something that the caster would have to work at to get right.
Also, just re-reading the spell, I noticed this:
your DM might rule that a ton of small 1-inch spheres might be counted as "fine detail".
You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits your purpose. While it's possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn't possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn't work.
I agree, my example was merely a mental exercise not something I would ever try and use in the game. I think I said as much in my post.
It's one of those spells where it's largely up to the GM to interpret what "Crude" means and how much detail he will allow. Most of the examples I game above I would not allow in my game. Nor would I allow ravingdorks 400 5' spikes.
Nor would I allow ravingdorks 400 5' spikes.
Short of a house rule/GM fiat, I don't see how you could. You could keep me from weaponizing the spell for sure (since that obviously is not its intended purpose), but if I were to, for example, create 400+ spikes around a stone fort to help in a a coming siege, I don't see how I would be breaking any rules as written.
|
|
Nor would I allow ravingdorks 400 5' spikes.Short of a house rule/GM fiat, I don't see how you could. You could keep me from weaponizing the spell for sure (since that obviously is not its intended purpose), but if I were to, for example, create 400+ spikes around a stone fort to help in a a coming siege, I don't see how I would be breaking any rules as written.
I don't consider anything with 400+ pieces oriented in a specific way to be "crude" so I don't see it as a house rule at all.
If the intent had been that you could instantly transform XX amount of material into XXX precise form it wouldn't have used the word "Crude" the fact that they use clay that the caster molds into the desired shape also speaks to the intent of the spell.
I'm just telling you how I feel comfortable judging it, your GM might say otherwise. I wouldn't try popping complex shapes on an unsuspecting GM and start beating him upside the head with the rulebook though.
Edit: I like the way you carved out just the one final phrase of my quote to isolate it from it's context. Crafted like a true rules lawyer.
|
|
but I would consider 300+ 1 inch spheres as "fine detail" for the purpose of this spell. A small handful I would allow, but more then that and you are pushing yourself to make that many accurately, and in in the 3-6 seconds you want to count as a standard action.Basic geometric shapes (even a lot of them) hardly constitutes fine detail.
When I think of fine detail, I think of things like this, this, and this.
Strangely enough I was re-reading the Stone Shape spell this evening and it explicitly states:
While it's possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn't possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn't work.
So I think we've wasted our time discussing complex stone shapings. Dern should have re-read this the other day. :)
|
|
to help balance this out, you could always ask for a crafting skill check for any "complicated" shapes (aka the spheres, latticeworks ect..) This would still allow it to happen, but make it something that the caster would have to work at to get right.
Also, just re-reading the spell, I noticed this:
your DM might rule that a ton of small 1-inch spheres might be counted as "fine detail".
You can form an existing piece of stone into any shape that suits your purpose. While it's possible to make crude coffers, doors, and so forth with stone shape, fine detail isn't possible. There is a 30% chance that any shape including moving parts simply doesn't work.I agree, my example was merely a mental exercise not something I would ever try and use in the game. I think I said as much in my post.
It's one of those spells where it's largely up to the GM to interpret what "Crude" means and how much detail he will allow. Most of the examples I game above I would not allow in my game. Nor would I allow ravingdorks 400 5' spikes.
Oops sorry you already nixed me :)
|
|
Nor would I allow ravingdorks 400 5' spikes.Short of a house rule/GM fiat, I don't see how you could. You could keep me from weaponizing the spell for sure (since that obviously is not its intended purpose), but if I were to, for example, create 400+ spikes around a stone fort to help in a a coming siege, I don't see how I would be breaking any rules as written.I don't consider anything with 400+ pieces oriented in a specific way to be "crude" so I don't see it as a house rule at all.
If the intent had been that you could instantly transform XX amount of material into XXX precise form it wouldn't have used the word "Crude" the fact that they use clay that the caster molds into the desired shape also speaks to the intent of the spell.
I'm just telling you how I feel comfortable judging it, your GM might say otherwise. I wouldn't try popping complex shapes on an unsuspecting GM and start beating him upside the head with the rulebook though.
Edit: I like the way you carved out just the one final phrase of my quote to isolate it from it's context. Crafted like a true rules lawyer.
Gotta agree with you here Ogre, sorry Dork :)
Gotta agree with you here Ogre, sorry Dork :)
8^(
Two thoughts :
1) In addition to clay, a small pile of lego blocks can work wonders, especially if they are trying to just make walls/etc, and much quicker.
2) I would have to fall into the camp of '20 cubic feat of stone inside of a 20 cubic foot area' with a minimum thickness of 1 inch to that area. Primarily to avoid the 'I chop the tower in half with a 1/32 inch slice out of it'. I'd probably require all the stone to be within 20 feet of each other as well. So you could go with a 1 inch by 10 foot x 2 foot since no piece of stone would be more than 20 feet apart, but not a 1 inch by 20 foot by 1 foot since two of the four corners would be slightly more than 20 feet apart.
However, I would have no problem at all with someone taking a 20 cubic foot area and turning it into 960 6"x3"x2" bricks and using that to build a house (in fact, I'm sure that would be much faster than baking bricks by hand, and probably a lot sturdier as the conversion of stone sheet to bricks would reasonably remove the cracks and stress points in it).
You could then make a 3 inch thick brick wall by stacking the bricks on each other and re-fuse them with another casting (depending on how long your wall is, see (2) above). Or you could just turn into a brick maker and pass the bricks off to a mason to put into the wall.
For making fortified walls, 1x1x1 blocks of stone (20 at a time) are beautiful (and all exactly the same size!) which makes making a wall much easier and much sturdier.
So many limitations for a game of imagination. *shakes head in disappointment*
So many limitations for a game of imagination. *shakes head in disappointment*
The GM is there to put limits on the players imagination in order to get a good story told that *everyone* can enjoy, not just the guy with the wild imagination.
I have had a player who asked if he could use his basketweaving skill to disarm a bomb, since I described the bomb casing as being 'full of wires, like a nasty coil of vines'. Seriously. That actually happened.
I'd put that with the 'I want to slice one one 32nd of an inch out of the 400 foot high 50 foot wide tower starting at 1 foot off the ground and then arcing upward at a 45 degree angle and watch the big bad wizard's tower slide and fall off the side of the mountain'.
Yes, that would look cool. But, it flies in the face of reality in that the wizard wouldn't BUILD a tower if a low level caster could destroy it with a single spell. Even in simulated reality you have to have 'reality'.
I don't think I'd have a problem with any of the following stoneshapings :
1) 1000 Bricks (pretty easy to imagine)
2) 1000 softball sized round stones (again, pretty easy to imagine)
3) 20 or 30 basketball sized round stones
4) 20 or 30 stalagmite type spikes
5) Stone rods (in any configuration within the size, so, a bunch of 5 inch thick rods 1 foot apart completely filling a doorway horizontally and vertically in a lattice)
6) A rough statue (stone horse with rider, etc)
7) A couple of hundred rough stone mugs (looking as if made in a school's pottery class)
8) A couple of hundred rough stone plates (school pottery class)
9) A dozen large stone wheels (rough but circular, like off Flintstones)
10) Large lumpen furniture of various types
11) A simple dog house
Note that most of these would be very VERY useful starting forms. A horse/rider statue with no details that you then carve the details into. Same with the furniture, etc. Basically, stone shape should be a very useful shortcut to working with stone. On the other hand, it shouldn't produce finished products.
I would not have an issue with a similar leveled spell that allows fine crafting (but not gross shaping) of a similar amount of stone that requires a skill roll (just shortening the time, not the knowledge).
|
|
I would not have an issue with a similar leveled spell that allows fine crafting (but not gross shaping) of a similar amount of stone that requires a skill roll (just shortening the time, not the knowledge).
I would suggest 1/4 the volume and 1 minute casting time along with a skill check. Might even work as a footnote to the existing spell.
I would not have an issue with a similar leveled spell that allows fine crafting (but not gross shaping) of a similar amount of stone that requires a skill roll (just shortening the time, not the knowledge).I would suggest 1/4 the volume and 1 minute casting time along with a skill check. Might even work as a footnote to the existing spell.
I actually like that.
Something along the lines of :
Special : By increasing the casting time to 1 minute, and reducing the volume to 1/4 the normal amount of stone, the caster may gain fine control over the stones final shape. Instead of making gross changes to the stones shape, the caster may make fine changes to the stone, such as turning a rough 'man shape' into a detailed statue of a man. The amount of detail, as well as the 'beauty' of the detail is dependent upon a Craft(stoneworking) check, made as if the caster were carving the stone from scratch with normal tools.