#1 "any tool the wielder can clearly visualize that contains only limited moving parts". How much does the end product weigh? "WEIGHT 2 lbs".
#2 "any tool the wielder can clearly visualize that contains only limited moving parts". How much does the end product weigh? "WEIGHT 2 lbs".
End weight and size are not limitations of the item.
Case in point: It supports the exact same weight as a normal Block and Tackle and comes with the same things on it as the normal tool has. So if you normally have a tripod when you buy one, the magic item makes one. If not, it sounds like you need a second Traveler's Any-Tool to make a tripod.
sled or wheelbarrow? Are they tools? Can you visualize them? Do they have limited moving parts?: It answers itself.
Really the only grey area is what counts as a tool as there is no real definition of it in the game.
Crimeo: I wouldn't put too much stock into where things are listed to figure out what's a tool or not. Several lists feature things that could be counted as tools. I also wouldn't count a 2' sled as the same thing as a 300 lbs wagon on runners that needs 2 horses to pull.
That leaves it up to GM fiat really, much like the Wheelbarrows.
Traveler's Any-Tool
Based off major creation, and at CL 9, that effects up to 9 cubic feet of metal/stone, which most tools are made of. I think weight and size is not an issue.
/cevah
Is it a one-shot item?
Based off major creation, and at CL 9, that effects up to 9 cubic feet of metal/stone, which most tools are made of. I think weight and size is not an issue./cevah
Except that the tool doesn't cast the spell or produce an effect like the spell. The tool doesn't generate extra material or change its material composition in any way, it just "can be folded, twisted, hinged, and bent, to form almost any known tool". No matter what you do with the tool, it will still weigh 2 pounds and be made of iron (as per its description).
It's a very large magical leatherman/multitool/swiss army knife. Wheelbarrows and sleds are slightly outside my definition of "tool", but the any-tool could probably create a smaller version of each one. Not large enough for a medium creature, but maybe a small one. I agree with the others that it is the GM's call though.
And no, its not a one-shot item, it can be re-used and re-shaped as many times as needed.
Enh. I agree with Cevah on this one; I personally think that it will never be LIGHTER than 2 lbs, but considering the spell inherent in its making, and the fact that it's radiating that 'moderate transmutation', the 'use weight' may be greater - specifically, equal to that item which it is at the moment imitating. The tool, I would rule, does in fact create more iron as needed to expand its size to become a tool larger than its own starting size, and as it's folded back up, that materiel is removed.
GMs will have their own opinion, of course. This one's mine, but you can share it if you want. ;)
I guess I can see that interpretation, but generally magic items strictly do what their description says, regardless of what spell was used in their creation. The description doesn't say that the any-tool produces more material or grows in size or weight, so my opinion is that its better not to assume more than what is written.
*shrugs* Like I said, that'd be my rule. It'd be my rule because it fits my conceptualization of a magic item that is any basic tool for any general need, which can go from a 6" long scissors to a 4' x 3' x 3' wheelbarrow. The material being so folded, twisted, hinged, bent, etc. is to my mind obviously changing, and doing so magically, gaining mass as necessary to make a sturdy wheelbarrow, or 10' ladder, or non-combat boathook, or whatever. It may not make a wooden handle of a shovel, but it makes a perfectly fine iron handle instead, the form being replicated - the perfect form being replicated, because you get a +2 circumstance bonus for a masterwork tool!! - though not the exact material.
I suppose it comes from my headplace that says 'if it was merely a highly-complicated system of folding and unfolding, always the same amount of metal and always 2 lbs, it wouldn't need to be a magic item.' It uses Major Creation; it can become something very small or pretty big; it creates and removes metal as necessary for the tool, albeit in such a manner that it's hidden during the folding, twisting, hinging, bending, etc. It'd be like pulling out one blade of a swiss army knife, but instead of just it being a fingerwidth knife, it's a 2" long, 4" wide, 1/8" thick plate that you can then unfold so it's 4" long and 4" wide, but still 1/8" thick. And keep doing so until you get the bottom of your wheelbarrow, then twist and pull on those two knobs and they both lengthen to become the handles.
Maybe it's just 'cause I'm a Whovian, I dunno. It's bigger on the inside!!
Major Creation was used to make the any-tool, but that doesn't mean that the any-tool can use Major Creation itself. Despite its aura and CL, it is still a 250gp item, so giving it the full power of a 5th level spell at will seems like a bit much.
It also comes back to the question of just how large a tool the any-tool can make. There is a vague limit on complexity in the form of it not having too many moving parts, but its not clear why that limit exists. Lack of material or a limit to the number of folds/twists/hinges seem like the most logical explanations for such a limit that I can imagine. Both of those limits also seem like they would lead to a size limit, but a size limit itself is not mentioned.
In the end, it is a magic item in a fantasy world and the item description is vague in such regards. I don't really see either interpretation as being notably more valid than the other (outside of my own opinions), so I just hope that maybe people will read both and come to their own informed conclusion on the matter, and then not argue too much if their GM comes to a different conclusion.
Well, it isn't giving it the full power of a 5th level spell; it's giving it the very restricted channeling of the power of a 5th level spell (i.e. 'after some work, make any masterwork tool needed'). I agree with you on the idea that there should be a size limit, otherwise you could wind up with a ladder to the sky or some such foolishness. And I agree wholeheartedly that either description is plausable, because in this case, 'MAGIC!!'
So vary your mileage, because your mileage can vary!