Selling a petrified creature?

[Yqatuba]

Considering being petrified turns the creature into a VERY lifelike statue, wouldn't said statue be pretty valuable to the right people?

[Kimera757]

There probably would, but only evil spellcasters would partake in this.

I could picture some horrible wizard who will do "custom orders". You want that person as a statue (enemy, or stalking victim), or a person who looks like [insert description here], or a member of a certain species as a trophy, or statues of enemies that have certain damage inflicted on them (much like a dartboard or someone's face, but much more horrible).

I don't think this is in the rules because it's too controversial, and most games are not evil games.

[Mudfoot]

Part of the problem is the pose that the creature is in. A statue is meant to look imposing or beautiful or dramatic or whatever. If you have a statue of something falling over as it writhes in fear and cramping pain, that's not going to be a big seller.

Add to this the problem of transport. Stone is heavy (eg granite is 2.7 x water) so it's not going to be an easy thing to move, not least because it's in a shape that might not be designed to support its own weight without a limb or digit snapping off. And as Flesh to Stone is a 6th level spell, you're looking at a CR11+ creature. Most of them are pretty big.

[Meirril]

Most wealthy people aren't going to pay for a petrified creature and then display it in their private residence. After all, someone could undo the petrification.

Now someone could intentionally buy a petrified creature and use it as part of an elaborate assassination/harassment plot. If anyone decided to gift a petrified creature to someone of importance without warning them before the gift was delivered they should be accused of such a plot. Trying to hand off petrified creatures without clearly labeling them as such should be seen as acting with ill intent.

And lets point out, most stone statues aren't as valuable as paying for the spell casting services. The minimum cost of a 6th level spell is 660 gp and trying to cast Flesh to Stone on most creatures is considered an attack and a dangerous action to the caster. The caster would normally charge extra for being put into peril.

There is a lower level spell that can do the job, but its a touch spell and usually requires multiple touches. The risk is much greater and most NPC casters would refuse. Also being lower level the chance of that spell being dispelled is greater.

All in all, hiring an actual artist to make a statue is going to be cheaper and give a better result than trying to petrify a creature that looks good as and art display.

[avr]

I read a story more or less about this recently. Stone Unturned by Lawrence Watt-Evans, where the protagonist gets creeped out by a lifelike statue and discovers that a deceased statue collector had a few dozen stoned people in his collection from various sources.

[ErichAD]

Carry Companion is likely to produce a more valuable statue. It's reduced in size, and much easier to reverse. "Here is the 500 head of cattle my master promised you sir" <the large bag clinks>

I'm sure there would be some amount of value in flesh to stone afflicted space smugglers among organize crime bosses, but generally they'd be looked at as dangerous, if not ghoulish, art pieces.

[pad300]

A number of the problems in this thread could be mitigated with more magic:

Stone Shape would allow you to pose the statue appropriately, although you would need a skill check(s) to do the posing "right". It would also allow you to hollow out the statue... which mitigates some of the weight concerns, and makes the "someone un-petrifies the monster" a lesser problem - with no internal organs, the un-petrified result is only going to be a smelly mess; it is quite dead.

[Mark Hoover 330]

I want this to be a villain's schtick. Like, not just petrified monsters, but Baleful Polymorph so as you wander around the villain's lair you see frogs, cats and so on that he/she keeps as "pets;" Polymorph Any Object for one or two super fancy chairs made from the villain's former enemies; Temporal Stasis for obvious reasons and so on. Most of the decorations in their place is just a transformation of someone that got in their way.

[Phaedre]

That's not a chest. That's a mimic. That's been polymorphed into a chest. With animate object cast on it to make it try to bite you.

[thistledown]

If you're high enough level to petrify someone, and the right class, then you're also high enough to use Possess Object. Then just Possess the statue to repose it.