I was hoping to start a brain storm session of "clever uses for marvelous pigments."
Before we start: I don't want to hear cries of "ABUSE!" or "BROKEN!"
That is up to the individual GM to decide. This thread is solely to come up with ideas. You may discuss them or elaborate on them if you like, but since views vary so widely, keep balance out of it.
To help facilitate this project, here are the rules for marvelous pigments...
Only normal, inanimate objects can be created. Creatures can't be created. The pigments must be applied to a surface. It takes 10 minutes and a DC 15 Craft (painting) check to depict an object with the pigments. Marvelous pigments cannot create magic items. Objects of value depicted by the pigments—precious metals, gems, jewelry, ivory, and so on—appear to be valuable but are really made of tin, lead, glass, brass, bone, and other such inexpensive materials. The user can create normal weapons, armor, and any other mundane item (including foodstuffs) whose value does not exceed 2,000 gp. The effect is instantaneous.
...as well as my own ideas so far.
- Expensive material components. MP can create any expensive material component you need up to 2,000gp in value and that is not made of a precious material. You could create hundreds of material components in only a few minutes!
- Bear traps (APG 186). In a few short minutes, a simple hallway can become a deadly mine field. (Alternatively, make ANY trap under 2,000gp value.)
- False expensive materials. Diamond rings and similar items are worthless, but they still LOOK valuable. Sell them to the gullible!
- Paint a book that has the information you need to solve the problem at hand. Found a murdered villager next to a strange and monstrous footprint? Paint up a footprint book (APG 186) and open it up to find out what kind of monster made the print!
- Alchemical items. Never again carry 10 of each kind to be ready for any problem, just paint them as you need them!
- Anvil (APG 185) or similar heavy object. Paint it next to a ledge and push it off onto somebody' head. Bonus points if you paint something that belongs (such as a gargoyle atop a castle known for its crumbling gargoyle statuary.
- Paint a brick wall or similar barrier on the floor and watch it magically rise out of the ground.
- Paint a doorway on a wall or a release switch on manacles where there previously was none (great for escaping)!
- Clothes. Go to that ball and look like you belong.
Create jars of nightmare vapor and similar poisons that you can use as gas-grenade weapons. A gallon jug filled with hundreds of doses of cheap contact poison you painted up will totally ruin someone's day.
Create a huge chunk of meat to keep the dire wolf pack/roc/... busy while you slip away.
Paint moustache on sleeping persons your rogue robs at night.
Create a quick and lasting disguises that are not detectible by true seeing etc.
Create a boulder to roll down from a hill to start an avalanche.
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a 1,000-cubic-foot sphere of lead...
A player once used a creation spell to conjure a lead sphere above a monster... (He's a chemical engineer or something like that, way too smart for his own good) He calculated the damage using the falling rules... it was nasty, and I let him do it because it was quite ingenious, but told him it would only work the once...
I've got one, when you cast your pit spell (lvl 1 works), fast-paint a river over lava around it ^^
As the borders of the pit are a bit glitchy, in should run into the pit. If you DM hates you for the Idea, it still prevents people to exit without damage.
You could also bullrush a river of lava with hydraulic push. (lava is "cheaper" than bear traps ;-) )
A big heavy ball of iron can be used in the same 2 situations.
Lava is just the most damaging thing I can think of that you can imagine.
Other uses might be balllistas (true strike them.
Ravingdork, your ideas are quite good, but I very much doubt that that book would work, that would be like scrying into the past ... I think you would have to picture every single page, or it wouldn't work at all (blank book). But I truly love that magic item. It's so versatile, only limited by your imagination. Just like Major creation and similiar things.
I've got one, when you cast your pit spell (lvl 1 works), fast-paint a river over lava around it ^^
As the borders of the pit are a bit glitchy, in should run into the pit. If you DM hates you for the Idea, it still prevents people to exit without damage.
You could also bullrush a river of lava with hydraulic push. (lava is "cheaper" than bear traps ;-) )A big heavy ball of iron can be used in the same 2 situations.
Lava is just the most damaging thing I can think of that you can imagine.Other uses might be balllistas (true strike them.
Ravingdork, your ideas are quite good, but I very much doubt that that book would work, that would be like scrying into the past ... I think you would have to picture every single page, or it wouldn't work at all (blank book). But I truly love that magic item. It's so versatile, only limited by your imagination. Just like Major creation and similiar things.
I dunno about the lava river into the hole thing. The pit lasts rounds, and it takes 10 minutes to paint anything.
Maybe if it was a normal pit rather than a spell-induced pit, but if I actually got them stuck in a mundane pit, then I don't need a river of lave to win the fight.
And a GM will likely decide whether the book thing would work or not. Some might see it as cheesy or broken, others might think it clever and reward the good roleplaying.
Anyways, spellbooks being inherently nonmagical and not (usually) being made of gold and silver, can be painted with marvelous pigments. Surely, you are innately familiar with your own spellbook and can clearly envision the interior as well (which gets past your concern).
Either keep it as a backup, or sell it for lots of money. Better yet, trade the spells in it for spells you didn't already have.
yep, you're right, I forgot to read the 10 min. thing, tought it was more like a scrap.
If you party is good a bullrushing people or otherwise owning the combat, but lacks damage capacity, lava might still be an option. But well, you need to know when, what happens.
The spellbook with spells is worth wastly more than 2000 GP I imagine. Even if the GM likes you, I doubt he thinks it's worth less than the GP used to write spells in it. So at the first lvls, it might be okay, but after that it's probably up to the GM.
okay for another good use:
a spiky big iron ball, that your bullrush with hydraulic push+true strike, ... well if you like bowling, and again you need to know where the fight happens.
D&D meets Poko
The spellbook with spells is worth wastly more than 2000 GP I imagine. Even if the GM likes you, I doubt he thinks it's worth less than the GP used to write spells in it. So at the first lvls, it might be okay, but after that it's probably up to the GM.
Paint it up as a traveling spellbook then (50 pages). Assuming you use low-level spells throughout, you could probably fill up the whole thing for 2000 or less. Even if you can't, it's still a great money maker. Market a whole series of them as "Wizard Spell for Dummies."