Ahhh, such an open question with so very many possibilities...
What better way? Well, not everyone is OK with stealing. If you're talking about a lawful sorcerer (LG, LN, or LE) then you're character is probably not hunky-dory with the idea of theft. Then again, since you're considering it, I'll assume lawful is not one of your sorcerer's character flaws.
Then there's always the problem of retribution. There are very few people in Golarion or any other world that would take the loss of 40,000 gold lightly. In fact, most anybody who has that kind of money to begin with is probably willing to go to amazing lengths to protect it, and to amazing lengths to recover it when it's gone. Invisibility and teleport won't save you from a vengeful NPC who is willing to hire assassins, bounty hunters, and other legal or illegal mercenaries to hunt you down, especially if they are guided by a bunch of the right divination spells to find out exactly who you are and where you are. Is the 40,000 gp really worth all that?
And let's not forget the gamist aspect of the situation. There are guidelines in the core rules that suggest just how much wealth you're supposed to have. If your DM cares about such things, he might feel that just letting you ride off into the sunset with your stolen 40,000 gold might create an imbalance in the game, might allow you to increase your personal power beyond what the game is designed to easily handle. Therefore such a DM might make this more of a challenge, might even make it impossible. Or might make you consume your own resources in the process. Or might do what I would do and turn this "heist" into a side adventure, one that is likely to end up with you gaining enough XP that you go up a level, thus increasing your expected Wealth-by-level value to accomodate your new riches.
So, assuming your character is an unlawful schmuck who has no respect for the property of others, and is desperate enough to face all kinds of law enforcement and bounty hunters and even assassins carrying out the retribution of your victim, and assuming your DM doesn't impose obstacles to your sudden influx of wealth, then you're probably right, there may not be a "better way" to gain 40,000 gold than to steal it.
Other ways, however, might include:
1. Sell some junk. No doubt by 10th level (Unless you got Teleport from an item, you are at least 10th level, right?) you have a few magic items laying around that you really don't need. You're a sorcerer after all; it's not like you're bankrupting yourself pouring all your gold into buying spells and scribing them into a spellbook.
2. Get a job. I mean an adventurer job. Maybe there's some missing princess somewhere, with a rich kingly father who will pay 40,000 gold to anyone who rescues her. Maybe there's a temple hiring adventurers to clean out a haunted tomb serving as a lair of a wicked necromancer, and they're offering 40,000 gold to the heroes who perform the task. Etc.
3. Make some magic items. Whip up something worth 80,000 gold and sell it. Your cost was only 40,000 so you net a profit of 40,000 - just what you need.
4. Just go adventuring. Even if nobody is hiring you for a quest, you're bound to find a dungeon full of loot somewhere. It's what adventurers do, after all.
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Obviously the more valuable the items/gold you are trying to steal, the more sophisticated the defence mechanisms too. The world's largest bank isn't going to be guarded by 1st Level warriors, and it likely has forbiddance cast on it etc.
I am reminded of Haley Starshine from OOTS pointing out the flaws of banditry...
Stealth roles would still be needed to make sure no one hears you. Silent spell and the spell silence might help. What about knock to open a locked chest or door? Traps might be an issue and teleport can be unpredictable and don't you have to have been there 1st? maybe you have been there. Dimension door could help.
Of course if i'm your GM i'd let you do it as long as you RP it, have it well thought out, and make any roles. Congratulations your rich!
That night your attacked and during the fight the gold is stolen.....easy come, easy go.
There is a lot of context missing here, such as *why* you need 40k gold. If it's just to build some large widget, then you're likely SOL.
However, if what you are planning is of general use or is generally desireable to others, you might be able to get a person or organization to bankroll you.
If you have standing in the community, or have gotten around to getting property, it's possible you might be able to borrow the funds, and pay it back over time..etc, etc.
Steal it from a Dragon and get XP to boot. Seriously a Dragon is your best bet. A CR 15 Dragon like an Adult Red would provide about 225,000 GP in treasure split 5 ways on basic party size is 45,000 a peice. It would be an epic fight though. If you are on your own go after a Young Blue Dragon instead at CR 9 it shouldn't be too tough and that would get you 46,000.
Ahhh, such an open question with so very many possibilities...
...Then there's always the problem of retribution. There are very few people in Golarion or any other world that would take the loss of 40,000 gold lightly. In fact, most anybody who has that kind of money to begin with is probably willing to go to amazing lengths to protect it, and to amazing lengths to recover it when it's gone. Invisibility and teleport won't save you from a vengeful NPC who is willing to hire assassins, bounty hunters, and other legal or illegal mercenaries to hunt you down, especially if they are guided by a bunch of the right divination spells to find out exactly who you are and where you are. Is the 40,000 gp really worth all that?
I, too, once was a thief. I stole a lot of money from the Governor of some town and wanted to escape to sea. But my party warned me about high-level divination spells, assassins tracking me across the endless waterways, blah blah blah.
So what we decided to do was go back to the guy I stole from and kill him.
Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either, but it was my first time playing in an evil party (for the record, I was a LN cleric of a death and disease god) so I went along with it. Later that night the CE halfling stabbed me to death while I slept....so I never had to worry about the ramifications of being hunted down by the people I robbed!
Since then I've only played goblin paladins.
Ahhh, such an open question with so very many possibilities...
...Then there's always the problem of retribution. There are very few people in Golarion or any other world that would take the loss of 40,000 gold lightly. In fact, most anybody who has that kind of money to begin with is probably willing to go to amazing lengths to protect it, and to amazing lengths to recover it when it's gone. Invisibility and teleport won't save you from a vengeful NPC who is willing to hire assassins, bounty hunters, and other legal or illegal mercenaries to hunt you down, especially if they are guided by a bunch of the right divination spells to find out exactly who you are and where you are. Is the 40,000 gp really worth all that?
I, too, once was a thief. I stole a lot of money from the Governor of some town and wanted to escape to sea. But my party warned me about high-level divination spells, assassins tracking me across the endless waterways, blah blah blah.
So what we decided to do was go back to the guy I stole from and kill him.
Yeah, it didn't make much sense to me either, but it was my first time playing in an evil party (for the record, I was a LN cleric of a death and disease god) so I went along with it. Later that night the CE halfling stabbed me to death while I slept....so I never had to worry about the ramifications of being hunted down by the people I robbed!
Since then I've only played goblin paladins.
Ahh, yes, few things that are more satisfying than playing an evil campaign with a bunch of children (not you - I mean the CE halfling douchebag).
See this is the reason i dont steal things in RL i would never think of all this stuff lol. And thanks for offering the alternatives Blake guess i need to think this through some more.
One hope is to steal the money and frame an obvious enemy for it.
For example, if one city hates another, you steal from the first city and blame the second. Of course you don't want it to be an OBVIOUS frame-up, but pointing at the most likely candidates rather than the guy from left field (you) wastes the victim's time, money, resources, patience, etc.etc.etc.
Alternatively, steal smaller amounts from multiple targets. If you steal 5000gp from a target, the cost of recovering the money rapidly overcomes the compensation of getting you money back. High level divination isn't cheap, after all. Also, stashes of 5000gp are a LOT more common than stashes of 40,000gp, and each will be much less guarded.
BUT, don't steal from someone who's likely to get offended 'on principle' - usually highly Lawful organizations.
OTOH, don't forget that robbery isn't the only possible profitable crime - blackmail and smuggling (teleport smuggling at that) can be very profitable.
See this is the reason i dont steal things in RL i would never think of all this stuff lol. And thanks for offering the alternatives Blake guess i need to think this through some more.One hope is to steal the money and frame an obvious enemy for it.
For example, if one city hates another, you steal from the first city and blame the second.
This tactic also works when you murder a princess and frame a neighboring land, such as Gildor, for the crime. But you would really have to be a slime.
It's mean to kill people or take their money. And it's never ever funny.
OK, no more rhyming, I mean it.
Anybody want a peanut?
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I think as a GM I would allow the robbery and USE it as a MAJOR side adventure... just to have some fun and worry the heck out of the PC for giggles and grins. Hey, GMs have to have fun too! But would certainly make the character "pay" for the gold... either in resources to steal it, and get away and run from the long arm of revenge, or through worry, fear and tears, or by leveling the character in the process so that the "extra" cash becomes just a part of the leveling process.
BTW in addition to that 40K I would add the cost of a Raise Dead or some similar spell... because better safe than sorry.
One real challenge depending on your setting is finding 40k all in one place.
If you target a really valuable item to sell you might have to find an item or combination of items as high as 160k. 1/2 lost for resale and another l/2 lost for the fence. You're expecting them to have 40k in movable wealth if you expect to simply sell it.
I'd try to line up a buyer first.
Looting the treasury of your arch nemesis might be more game worthy but there is no guarantee you'll find 40k, much less 40k per share. You'd have to talk about what you want the money for.
Game worlds with wealth too easily available tend to loose their challenge very quickly.
S
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oh oh oh and 40,000 gold pieces weigh 800 pounds so you need a way to store and transport that much gold!
BTW I know there has been many topics about how 50gp to a pound is stupid but I did some research (internet research... ahem!) and found that corresponds closely to the weights of gold coins produced in many countries since the 1600s... so 800 pounds is a "realistic" value.
And if you steal a single item worth 40K you still need to sell it... which may prove more difficult than the robbery!
Don't forget the need for dispel magic for that pesky alarm and magic mouth. Detect ,magic will be a must have and are you sure the place is not warded against teleportation?
And unloading any non coins might require "unsavory contacts" hope they don't turn on you. Also if the local thieves guild gets wind of you "operating" in there city, well they will want a piece of the pie. And leave you with a unpleasant reminder that you have to clear big jobs like that with them next time.
Another thing you might want to consider before embarking on your career as a black-hearted pirate or thief is that there might be some opportunities in the "privateer" field. You would go find someone in authority and ask for a letter of marque, which basically gives you the blessing of said authority to go and steal from their enemies, in exchange for them getting a percentage of your take. The benefit here is that they (read: the GM) may be able to provide intelligence in respect to where exactly you could find good targets from which to steal. They might also be able to provide some support services and a friendly place to fence any stolen goods.
Did Paizo close the loophole that a ladder costs less than 2 ten foot poles? Because if you have the time, you could make the 40K that way. Required cost of a saw would be easily made back.
There might be aging penalties however.
Quarterstaffs have no cost. You just have to get an infinite number of them to turn into something valuable.
:)
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See this is the reason i dont steal things in RL i would never think of all this stuff lol. And thanks for offering the alternatives Blake guess i need to think this through some more.One hope is to steal the money and frame an obvious enemy for it.
For example, if one city hates another, you steal from the first city and blame the second.
This tactic also works when you murder a princess and frame a neighboring land, such as Gildor, for the crime. But you would really have to be a slime.
It's mean to kill people or take their money. And it's never ever funny.
OK, no more rhyming, I mean it.
Anybody want a peanut?
+1 for the Princess Bride reference. ^_^
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Did Paizo close the loophole that a ladder costs less than 2 ten foot poles? Because if you have the time, you could make the 40K that way. Required cost of a saw would be easily made back.
There might be aging penalties however.
Nope, ladder breaking still profits.
There's also the nigh-infinite money production line in Rise of the Rune Lords
So we employed a team of peasants to move the artifact every hour into another vial. We paid them a bit of the money, and generally indicated that if they ran off with the artifact, it would end badly for them. Disintergrate badly.
While I don't know about your gaming group, mine would probably hit me until we started playing Shadowrun again if I suggested something like this.
So you got an artefact the first thing that popped into your head was to earn money?
Well, I guess your world was enslaved because you retired from adventuring to reap the rewards of your incredible cash cow and Karzoug was able to return. :P
Did Paizo close the loophole that a ladder costs less than 2 ten foot poles? Because if you have the time, you could make the 40K that way. Required cost of a saw would be easily made back.
There might be aging penalties however.
Ladders (2sp each) to Poles (5cp each) got fixed, but a 15gp spellbook still contains 20gp worth of parchment.
Ladders (2sp each) to Poles (5cp each) got fixed, but a 15gp spellbook still contains 20gp worth of parchment.Did Paizo close the loophole that a ladder costs less than 2 ten foot poles? Because if you have the time, you could make the 40K that way. Required cost of a saw would be easily made back.
There might be aging penalties however.
Shuddubshuddubshuddub! Do you know how expensive arcane tuition is? Students need to pay for that somehow. If you bring this to general attention, there will be no more common wizards. Only insufferable noble pricks. Snotty bastards don't know their evocations from their invocations, and they always snigger when they hear the word lucubration.
In short: another dark age for the learned Arts! The death of proper research (only spells that make you survive fraternity hazings or cure hangovers.), divination reduced to being used to spy into sorority dorm rooms, enchantment becoming Magic Mickeys, and so on.