Post/Author/DateTime	Post
claypigeons 12-04-06, 11:28 PM	Assuming a character is either A) too lazy, B) too cheap to pay for labor or C) isnt allowed to create lots of undead... How much would about 1 million...yes... million... cubic feet of stone cost? A rough estimate is all I need. Thanks in advance.
Chrono Nexus 12-04-06, 11:32 PM	If you have a caster mage with access to wall of stone... assuming the caster charges you the normal rate for spells... Too much. It would cost you nothing but time if you are a wizard, cleric, or druid with access to it though.
claypigeons 12-05-06, 12:03 AM	Okay.... I mostly suck at math...so help me if I'm off... A Wall of stone, at level 9 (earliest my wizard could cast it) creates 37.5 cubic feet of stone, correct? Now, assuming my other calculations are correct (triple checked to be sure).. I need 1,021,612 cubic feet of stone. So, it would take me about 27,243 castings of the spell to get the stone required. Can you create wands of 5th level spells?
Tempest Stormwind 12-05-06, 12:09 AM	Check out the Stronghold Builder's Guide for this. It does most of the math for you. That said, you should be able to boost your caster level quite easily -- which adds PILES to what you've got there. Now, what are you using it for? I could probably find another way to the same goal.
Lokiyn 12-05-06, 12:22 AM	As stated before if we knew the purpose of that much stone then it would be slightly easier to figure out somthing. On another note 600 Gp purchases 6*120*120 = 86400 cu inches / 1728 = 50 Cubic Feet of Hewn Stone 600 Gp / 50 = 12 Gp per Cubic foot of stone So 12 Million Gp for the stone amount. however again we can probably thin that out if we knew why you needed that much stone.
claypigeons 12-05-06, 12:23 AM	Check out the Stronghold Builder's Guide for this. It does most of the math for you. Unfortunately, the Guide isnt available. Having it would make this easy for me, which isnt allowed, apparently. :P That said, you should be able to boost your caster level quite easily -- which adds PILES to what you've got there. Now, what are you using it for? I could probably find another way to the same goal. I'm going to build a fortress. My character doesnt like being underground much (but will venture there for shiny prizes left there by the nice people that I killed...), so building a fortification underground or in a mountain isnt the way I would like to go (though if there isnt at least a reasonable way otherwise, I will).
Tempest Stormwind 12-05-06, 12:41 AM	A high enough manifester level on Greater Psionic Fabricate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fabricateGreaterPsionic.htm) (which you can certainly pay for) could transmute the peak of a mountain into your fortress, complete with bricks. You then pay for (or conjure, or planar bind) help to move it, brick for brick, from the mountain to wherever. A few hundred uses of Shrink Item could make this significantly easier (which you can probably make into a wand now). Total cost for a million cubic feet of stone: 300,000 GP through the fabricate (less if he owes you a favor). This would require a manifester level close to ten thousand to do in a single shot -- you're more likely to pay for it in surges. Or you could just by an X/day item of it at ML 20 (affects 2000 cubic feet, so it could hit the entire thing in 500 manifestations) for far less (43,200 GP * the number of uses per day you want). This is even less if you use the Landlord feat in the Stronghold Builder's Guide (really, why isn't that book available?) which gives you a lot of extra cash for establishing strongholds -- and doubles any money you throw in beyond that.
claypigeons 12-05-06, 12:50 AM	This is even less if you use the Landlord feat in the Stronghold Builder's Guide (really, why isn't that book available?) which gives you a lot of extra cash for establishing strongholds -- and doubles any money you throw in beyond that. No one in the group has the book. And if I were to buy a book, it would be one the entire group could benefit from (complete mage, probably). That, and I'm the only one in the group that actually cares about building a castle. The others would rather just take one over.
Tempest Stormwind 12-05-06, 01:11 AM	No one in the group has the book. And if I were to buy a book, it would be one the entire group could benefit from (complete mage, probably). That, and I'm the only one in the group that actually cares about building a castle. The others would rather just take one over. Well, suggest that they try. And then have the DM read the Tomb of Horrors right before designing the castle they want to raid. Do it yourself > buy pre-owned. ;)
claypigeons 12-05-06, 02:05 AM	Well, suggest that they try. And then have the DM read the Tomb of Horrors right before designing the castle they want to raid. Do it yourself > buy pre-owned. I guess they prefer that "lived-in" feel... While I prefer the "new castle" smell. :P
Mordent_Sage 12-05-06, 04:51 AM	How about this... Hire lots of stonemasons and labourers, and a couple of architects, and some wizards. Buy lots of undressed stone (boulders/rough-cut: should be cheeper than dressed stone). The stonemasons dress it as required to build with [see below] (keep the spoil - you'll need it later). Also, get your hands on lots of 'junk' stone - rocks, pebbles, anything that's stone, hard and cheap. You should be able to find this for free. The architects design the castle, in particular designing which bits would be needed for the following. Then, build those bits (using the labourers). Using this as a frame, fill in the long bits (should be the bulk of the build) with wall of stone. Here's the cunning bit - make the walls only a couple of inches thick, with a gap between them where bulk stone should be. Fill this gap with the rubble, stone off-cuts, and other cheep stone. Then, cast transmute stone to mud on it. Using summoned earth elementals, compact that mud, then use transmute mud to stone. Repeat this until the wall is full. This gives you a wall of fused stone, which will be far stronger than conventional walls. The tops of the walls, the inside of towers, staircases etc can be added afterwards with wall of stone. Filling the walls with rubble is easy with summoned/bound help. A note on the bit you build with labourers: you need this initial 'frame', because wall of stone needs firm anchorage to be cast. Think of these bits as 'pegs' that you join together with the walls. If you want, you can replace the 'pegs' with the magical construction afterwards. This will take months (and most likely lots of wands!). There's no two ways about it. But months beats the years (or decades) that a conventional castle build takes. Remember - the major cost of any build is the time, not the materials, because peoples time costs money. Or: Research a True Ritual (see the Relics and Rituals books) to do it for you. This will most likely cost more than the above method. And before you ask, yes, I'm an engineer, and no, I don't have anything better to do than work out how much easier it would be in the construction industry if we just had D&D magic!
Ocalus 12-05-06, 09:29 AM	B) too cheap to pay for labor This makes no sense. It is a helluva lot more expensive to hire spellcasters to create the stone than it is to hire peons to mine it for you.