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No. Seriously. It rains diamonds on Uranus.
Step 1) Get access to interplanetary teleport, some protection spells, and the biggest open mouthed bucket you can carry.
Step 2) Interplanetary teleport to Uranus
Step 3) Hold bucket up until full.
Step 4) interplanetary Teleport back before your protection spells run out.
Step 5) Repeat as necessary
Step 6) Profit.
If I were an enterprising archamge I'd create a souped up Ring gate that works over any distance. Set it up on Uranus to catch the "rain." Have the other end over the portal to a demiplane created for this purpose. Cover the Uranus side of the ring gate when your demplane is full. Uncover as necessary.
Also, try not to flood the market or their value will go down and you'll need more of them for your spellcasting than you used to .
Question: Do spell materials keep their purchase value, or do they respond to market forces in real time?
That could be funny.
Question: Do spell materials keep their purchase value, or do they respond to market forces in real time?
That could be funny.
According to the rules you need X gold worth of diamonds for stuff. "worth of" says that it responds to market forces.
There's a comic about it somewhere. Basically an apprentice is sent to buy diamonds. He finds diamonds on sale and saves the master money. The master sends him back because he needs him to spend X on the diamonds or they're "worthless."
You do realize that diamonds are really not all that rare. The sole reason that they appear to be rare is the two or three major diamond mining companies and countries limit the amount mined and sold.
You do realize that diamonds are really not all that rare. The sole reason that they appear to be rare is the two or three major diamond mining companies and countries limit the amount mined and sold.
They'd be significantly more rare if they were destroyed while spell casting.
What sort of magical protection would you need to survive in such an environment? Is there anything that can protect you from the pressure?
Also, the diamonds they are talking about are tiny. If you want big enough ones you're going to have to go a lot deeper as they're going to grow as they fall. The biggest ones will be found when you're standing on the core of the planet. (You'll also be standing on diamond but it's probably going to fuse into lumps you can't make off with.)
Is there any magic for that harsh an environment?
Necklace of adaptation, immunity to cold and heat, and something resembling a wall of force over your head. Resilient sphere would do it, but then you're stuck in a bubble.
I think even the really expensive PF/D&D diamonds are relatively small, rather than the huge one-in-a-million ones that are worth a lot in the real world. I mean, the market price of diamonds must be tremendously inflated because of all sorts of spellcasters needing them for this or that :)
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You do realize that diamonds are really not all that rare.They'd be significantly more rare if they were destroyed while spell casting.And if mines had a tendency to become infested with horrible monsters.
Now... _synthetic_ diamonds as spell components. Discuss. :D
A synthetic diamond results in a synthetic resurrection-effect. It looks and acts just like your friend, but there's just something off about it.
And that's where doppelgangers come from.
No. Seriously. It rains diamonds on Uranus.
Step 1) Get access to interplanetary teleport, some protection spells, and the biggest open mouthed bucket you can carry.
Step 2) Interplanetary teleport to Uranus
Step 3) Hold bucket up until full.
Step 4) interplanetary Teleport back before your protection spells run out.
Step 5) Repeat as necessary
Step 6) Profit.
If I were an enterprising archamge I'd create a souped up Ring gate that works over any distance. Set it up on Uranus to catch the "rain." Have the other end over the portal to a demiplane created for this purpose. Cover the Uranus side of the ring gate when your demplane is full. Uncover as necessary.
Also, try not to flood the market or their value will go down and you'll need more of them for your spellcasting than you used to .
You don't need interplanetary teleport. Only greater teleport. Liches are ideal for this sort of thing (any 11th level lich with greater teleport and possibly contingency can do some easy space-traveling without much concern for their well-being and can skip on a lot of the protective spells and/or magic items (often exploring space relatively naked). Eschew materials even means all you need is a bucket and a goal.
Another useful trick is gemcutting. Craft (Gemcutting) can make a diamond worth X value where X is 3 times the value of the starting diamond. So if you use a 50 gp diamond as the material you can preform a Craft (Gemcutting) or (Jewelry) to create a diamond worth 150 gp.
This is exceptionally nice with fabricate.
But ... you start with a diamond and end with a diamond. I can already imagine a player repeatedly casting fabricate on a diamond to change its value from 50, to 150, to 450, to 1,350, to 4,050, to 12,150, to 36,450, to 109,350, to 328,050 ...
Shopkeeper: What ... what are you offering me? Dust? A grain of sand?
Adventurer: It may be small, but it's of exceptional quality. I'll just take the pair of +5 menacing dueling shocking corrosive burst kukris, and you can keep the change.
Heheh. But no, I sense that something here is amiss.
Wrong. Everyone knows diamonds are formed when Superman squeezes coal.
Duh.
Wrong. Everyone knows diamonds are formed when Superman squeezes coal.
Duh.
In Lunar the most precious diamonds in the world...are dragon s#$$. The way dragon ecology has traditionally been would support this theory as well (the offical lore was that dragons - at least true dragons - can eat almost anything with their bodies being like powerful blast furnaces that can digest stuff).
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In Lunar the most precious diamonds in the world...are dragon s*@@. The way dragon ecology has traditionally been would support this theory as well (the offical lore was that dragons - at least true dragons - can eat almost anything with their bodies being like powerful blast furnaces that can digest stuff).
Dragon crap? That's crazy. I swear some people will believe anything. ;-)
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The core of our sun is formed from carbon, slowly being compressed into diamond. If you could find something that could withstand the immense pressure, then you could just mine the sun.
Surprisingly the heat is less of an issue since there are hundreds of critters immune to heat.
No rules that I can find for the effects of the Gamma radiation given off from the reverse fission reactions though. Not sure how you'd survive that.
Note that all the major gas giants also emit massive quantities of radiation from their cores. I don't think there are many spells that protect from that.
While heat is a form of radiation, not all radiation is heat. Just wanted to put that in there before someone tried to use it as an argument.
Cheers
Ps the diamonds come from the gods. They are the frozen droplets formed when a god takes a whizz. Just like how toilet waste from aircraft occasionally freezes up and falls from the sky. Hehehe.
No. Seriously. It rains diamonds on Uranus.
Step 1) Get access to interplanetary teleport, some protection spells, and the biggest open mouthed bucket you can carry.
Step 2) Interplanetary teleport to Uranus
Step 3) Hold bucket up until full.
Step 4) interplanetary Teleport back before your protection spells run out.
Step 5) Repeat as necessary
Step 6) Profit.
If I were an enterprising archamge I'd create a souped up Ring gate that works over any distance. Set it up on Uranus to catch the "rain." Have the other end over the portal to a demiplane created for this purpose. Cover the Uranus side of the ring gate when your demplane is full. Uncover as necessary.
Also, try not to flood the market or their value will go down and you'll need more of them for your spellcasting than you used to .
You don't need interplanetary teleport. Only greater teleport. Liches are ideal for this sort of thing (any 11th level lich with greater teleport and possibly contingency can do some easy space-traveling without much concern for their well-being and can skip on a lot of the protective spells and/or magic items (often exploring space relatively naked). Eschew materials even means all you need is a bucket and a goal.
Another useful trick is gemcutting. Craft (Gemcutting) can make a diamond worth X value where X is 3 times the value of the starting diamond. So if you use a 50 gp diamond as the material you can preform a Craft (Gemcutting) or (Jewelry) to create a diamond worth 150 gp.
This is exceptionally nice with fabricate.
Don't know about that last bit... every time you cut a diamond it gets smaller, ergo worth less. Though you could certainly still need a gemcutting skill to be able to turn the rough rain-diamonds into jewel-grade cut diamonds... but do you need cut diamonds for spells? I'd imagine they could just be rough.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_of_the_Coco_de_Mer
The worlds largest nut or seed. For centuries, it was very rare and in museums and historical displays in Europe, you will fined it in-cased in gold filigree. Until the mid 18th century when a ship found the islands where they actually grew - the Seychelles He of course loaded up the boat (leaving behind the also newly discovered dodo bird) and, as soon as he arrived in Europe, it was almost worthless. IF he had only loaded one or two, he could have retired a rich man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legends_of_the_Coco_de_Mer
The worlds largest nut or seed. For centuries, it was very rare and in museums and historical displays in Europe, you will fined it in-cased in gold filigree. Until the mid 18th century when a ship found the islands where they actually grew - the Seychelles He of course loaded up the boat (leaving behind the also newly discovered dodo bird) and, as soon as he arrived in Europe, it was almost worthless. IF he had only loaded one or two, he could have retired a rich man.
Now, what you do as an incredibly powerful wizard is take your bucket and teleport from city to city, selling one in each, and get rid of them all before people even realize how many there are now.
No uranus jokes? Seriously? WIth an opener like "diamonds come from uranus" no one took that and ran with it? You disappoint me.
No uranus jokes? Seriously? WIth an opener like "diamonds come from uranus" no one took that and ran with it? You disappoint me.
If it helps, my co-workers and I spent a few minutes snickering about "diamonds on Uranus" and "liches teleporting to Uranus".
You do realize that diamonds are really not all that rare.They'd be significantly more rare if they were destroyed while spell casting.And if mines had a tendency to become infested with horrible monsters.
Now... _synthetic_ diamonds as spell components. Discuss. :D
Can you take coal and fabricate it into a diamond?
Another useful trick is gemcutting. Craft (Gemcutting) can make a diamond worth X value where X is 3 times the value of the starting diamond. So if you use a 50 gp diamond as the material you can preform a Craft (Gemcutting) or (Jewelry) to create a diamond worth 150 gp.
This is exceptionally nice with fabricate.
Gemcutting isn't listed as a choice for the craft skill.
Jewelery makes jewelery, not cut gems.
Can you take coal and fabricate it into a diamond?You do realize that diamonds are really not all that rare.They'd be significantly more rare if they were destroyed while spell casting.And if mines had a tendency to become infested with horrible monsters.
Now... _synthetic_ diamonds as spell components. Discuss. :D
You'd need the value of a diamond's worth of coal, but sure. That's a lot of coal.
Can you take coal and fabricate it into a diamond?You'd need the value of a diamond's worth of coal, but sure. That's a lot of coal.
Correction. You'd need 1/3rd the value of a diamond's worth of coal. That's a bit less than a lot of coal.
Correction. You'd need 1/3rd the value of a diamond's worth of coal. That's a bit less than a lot of coal.Can you take coal and fabricate it into a diamond?You'd need the value of a diamond's worth of coal, but sure. That's a lot of coal.
Am I missing something?
Fabricate
School transmutation; Level sorcerer/wizard 5; Domain artifice 5
CASTING
Casting Time see text
Components V, S, M (the original material, which costs the same amount as the raw materials required to craft the item to be created)
EFFECT
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target up to 10 cu. ft./level; see text
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
DESCRIPTION
You convert material of one sort into a product that is of the same material. Creatures or magic items cannot be created or transmuted by the fabricate spell. The quality of items made by this spell is commensurate with the quality of material used as the basis for the new fabrication. If you work with a mineral, the target is reduced to 1 cubic foot per level instead of 10 cubic feet.
You must make an appropriate Craft check to fabricate articles requiring a high degree of craftsmanship.
Casting requires 1 round per 10 cubic feet of material to be affected by the spell.
Craft Rules:
"3. Pay 1/3 of the item's price for the raw material cost."
Craft Rules:
"3. Pay 1/3 of the item's price for the raw material cost."
Ahh. Gotcha. Still a lot of coal though.
Ahh. Gotcha. Still a lot of coal though.Craft Rules:
"3. Pay 1/3 of the item's price for the raw material cost."
Or a lot of really tiny diamonds (due to the volume requirement of fabricate).
Interestingly, diamond is only 3.33 times denser than coal.
Or a lot of really tiny diamonds (due to the volume requirement of fabricate).Ahh. Gotcha. Still a lot of coal though.Craft Rules:
"3. Pay 1/3 of the item's price for the raw material cost."
I'm not sure you can "craft" diamonds, but that's a separate discussion.
back on topic: Diamonds on Uranus!
Why teleport? Make yourself a Stargate-like device, put another one out there, and rig them both with sensor/alarm systems to let you know when it's raining. Then...grab your bucket and open the gate.
Actually, that'd be a cool 9th level spell. You cast your spell and a hailcone of diamonds hurls with unbelievable force at your enemies through a weird black rift in the sky. Then you get to say you killed them with Uranus.
...
C'MON!
Why teleport? Make yourself a Stargate-like device, put another one out there, and rig them both with sensor/alarm systems to let you know when it's raining. Then...grab your bucket and open the gate.
Actually, that'd be a cool 9th level spell. You cast your spell and a hailcone of diamonds hurls with unbelievable force at your enemies through a weird black rift in the sky. Then you get to say you killed them with Uranus.
...
C'MON!
And thus is born an offensive conjuration (teleportation) spell that doesn't involve ripping off transporter malfunctions... ;)
Don't know about that last bit... every time you cut a diamond it gets smaller, ergo worth less.
Nope. A properly cut diamond is worth far more than a raw uncut diamond, even if 1/2 the weight is lost.
Several hundred thousand times Earth's atmospheric pressure.
Your lich would be crushed to the size of a pea.
Necklace of adaptation, immunity to cold and heat, and something resembling a wall of force over your head. Resilient sphere would do it, but then you're stuck in a bubble.
Your air bubble from the necklace of adaptation would be crushed to about a one-micron thick layer around your body that got crushed to the size of a pea. Fortunately you were immune to heat but your itty-bitty crushed body really doesn't care anymore.
Resilient Sphere is a nice try, but it can't hope to survive long. You better get out quick. 60-80 PSI is considered lethal to a normal human. Let's call that 6 damage at 70 PSI. The atmosphere of Uranus is about 1470 PSI, so that does 126 damage to your resilient sphere every round. With a hardness of only 30, that's 96 damage per round, so your Resilient Sphere cast by a 20th level caster would have 400 HP and survive just 4 rounds. On the 5th round, whoever is inside it becomes a crushed little pea. But, how will you hold and fill your bucket?
Your permanent ring gate or stargate would possibly work, but if you open it, that pressure blasts into your world with the force of a tornado 8 times worse than any F5 tornado ever recorded on earth - I think that would knock over your bucket.
The demiplane idea might just work, if you could figure out a way to open and close your ring gates without killing yourself. Minions are good for this, but he'll have a hard time getting there to close it when it's open. And your demiplane better be a lot bigger than Uranus, otherwise the pressures would equalize and your demiplane would be an impossibly lethal environment - but if it's bigger than Uranus, the pressure will still equalize and be much less so no more diamond rain. Either way, don't leave that ring gate open very long.
Several hundred thousand times Earth's atmospheric pressure.
Your lich would be crushed to the size of a pea.
Necklace of adaptation, immunity to cold and heat, and something resembling a wall of force over your head. Resilient sphere would do it, but then you're stuck in a bubble.
Your air bubble from the necklace of adaptation would be crushed to about a one-micron thick layer around your body that got crushed to the size of a pea. Fortunately you were immune to heat but your itty-bitty crushed body really doesn't care anymore.
Resilient Sphere is a nice try, but it can't hope to survive long. You better get out quick. 60-80 PSI is considered lethal to a normal human. Let's call that 6 damage at 70 PSI. The atmosphere of Uranus is about 1470 PSI, so that does 126 damage to your resilient sphere every round. With a hardness of only 30, that's 96 damage per round, so your Resilient Sphere cast by a 20th level caster would have 400 HP and survive just 4 rounds. On the 5th round, whoever is inside it becomes a crushed little pea. But, how will you hold and fill your bucket?
Your permanent ring gate or stargate would possibly work, but if you open it, that pressure blasts into your world with the force of a tornado 8 times worse than any F5 tornado ever recorded on earth - I think that would knock over your bucket.
The demiplane idea might just work, if you could figure out a way to open and close your ring gates without killing yourself. Minions are good for this, but he'll have a hard time getting there to close it when it's open. And your demiplane better be a lot bigger than Uranus, otherwise the pressures would equalize and your demiplane would be an impossibly lethal environment - but if it's bigger than Uranus, the pressure will still equalize and be much less so no more diamond rain. Either way, don't leave that ring gate open very long.
**COUGH**
**MAGIC****COUGH**
Oh, yeah, right. Magic. I forgot. Not like this thread started by discussing a natural atmospheric phenomenon or anything. Well, while you're trying to survive Uranus' atmosphere with a bucket, I'll just build my own **MAGIC** demiplane made out of diamond, but with no sharp edges on anything in the plane. With diamond trees that grow diamond fruit, ripe for the picking, where I can harvest diamonds all day long, bucket after bucket, with no need for any protection at all.
Ah well, while magic is fun and all, it kinda takes the fun out of kicking around actual hazards and actual game mechanics...
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Can you take coal and fabricate it into a diamond?You do realize that diamonds are really not all that rare.They'd be significantly more rare if they were destroyed while spell casting.And if mines had a tendency to become infested with horrible monsters.
Now... _synthetic_ diamonds as spell components. Discuss. :D
Actually, in the real world, you can create microscopic layers of diamond on steel plates using methane gas (bottled farts) as your carbon source. Just need the right combination of temperature and pressure. It's actually easier to do it if the carbon is in a gaseous state than if it starts out as a solid.
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Etherealness might give you about 20 minutes of harvesting time. You'd have to also have an indestructible ghost-touch bucket. However, force affects would still hit you, so it might not be enough.
Incorporeal seems to be harder to get than ethereal for any period of time. I don't think dust form is going to cut it.
Some items can get you incorporeal for 10 rounds a lot earlier, but that's not a lot of harvesting time.
It starts with diamonds on Uranus, and then everyone starts pulling ideas out of their butts...
Oh, yeah, right. Magic. I forgot. Not like this thread started by discussing a natural atmospheric phenomenon or anything. Well, while you're trying to survive Uranus' atmosphere with a bucket, I'll just build my own **MAGIC** demiplane made out of diamond, but with no sharp edges on anything in the plane. With diamond trees that grow diamond fruit, ripe for the picking, where I can harvest diamonds all day long, bucket after bucket, with no need for any protection at all.
Ah well, while magic is fun and all, it kinda takes the fun out of kicking around actual hazards and actual game mechanics...
If you're smart enough to make a magic stargate you're probably art enough to put a filter on it as to not destroy the planet. Either that or put your stargate on your custom made space station.
Actually it's probably easiest to figure out how to teleport and recall your indestructible bucket and its contents.
Well, the very existence that there are diamonds and they're not immediately crushed by the atmospheric pressure would indicate that all you need to do is make a bucket out of diamond. Expensive start-up costs, but the profits are tremendous!
(Oh - and to make another "Uranus" joke, why do people have to be so anal about magic??)
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Cast stone skin, fickle winds mage armor and shield for good measure , heck resistance and virtue for good luck, greater/interplanatary teleport or plane shift twice wear an item that grants immunity to heat/cold and grants air bubble, say, a necklace of adaptation, and a ring of freedom of movement, or better yet get your fighter/barbarian buddy and cast these things on him while he's in an Adaminite full plate. and in case it doesn't work somehow take wonderous tattoo (Phoenix) to cast heal if you are about to die.
There you go, you're good for at least 20 miniutes I would say.
Or you can say "I wish for 500 pounds of the diamonds on, or in the planet of Uranus or its atmosphere to be affect as per interplanetary(or greater) teleport, resulting in them appearing inside the rounded shape made by me, 12 miniutes ago 20 ft in front of me"
Sure you need a bit of diamond to start this way up but you'd still be fine.
Rather than using a combination of spells and magic items to try and get around the pressure and other environmental hazards of Uranus, wouldn't it just be easier to cast Planetary Adaptation? I mean, if the caster already has access to Greater Teleport or Interplanetary Teleport than, presumably, casting a 5th level spell (or 7th if you want to bring your friends) isn't much of a problem.