cost of stone [Archive] - Wizards Community

cost of stone [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Aryxbez
11-03-06, 11:36 PM How much does stone like the kind used to build castles walls?

I prefer a cost per a 5ft square

I wish to know this so the village can get stone walls because pcs
in my campaign wishes to help fund it. and they will be in the village for
a long time.
Steevo
11-03-06, 11:59 PM The stone itself would be fairly cheap, I would imagine, even free. But finding it, carving it, transporting it back to the village and then building the wall itself, that's where the money is going to go.

So how much does that cost, then? Well, there's an excellent thread up in Regdar's Respository regarding commoners earning money, I'd suggest you give that a read through and then see how it applies to building the wall.

Basically it boils down to a skilled worker (ie: someone with Profession or Craft skills) will earn wages on the order of 10gp per week. If the party is funding this wall, then that's what they'd be paying, per skilled worker. Not everyone will be a skilled worker, though. You don't need too many skills to do the manual labour of moving the blocks and placing them on top of one another, so those workers would probably only earn the standard 7-10sp per week, but you would need a couple of architechts, a couple of stonemasons and probably a scout or two to go find a decent place to build the quarry. They'll also need clay or something to use as mortar (I don't know much about that stuff or when it came into use), so there's another whole set of NPC labourers.

So figure out how many people are going to be involved in this project, work out how much they earn and you'll have your answer for how much it will cost.

Of course, the PCs can do the scouting themselves (maybe bring along a stone mason or two to help them figure out what's good rock for wall-building), which could turn into a whole little side-quest all by itself. If the PCs also have applicable Craft or Profession skills, or possibly a mage with Stoneshape, they might also choose to apply those talents to the project, thus reducing the cost even further.

This is a medieval society after all (I'm assuming.) The PCs aren't just going to find a rock vendor and order so many blocks. They'll have to set it up themselves, or else the village mayor will, in which case he'll work it out and quote the PCs a price. I personally think it'd be more fun if the PCs got involved themselves, but hey.
risner
11-04-06, 11:54 AM Get Stronghold Builder book.

Cost for a one room stone house is approx 4,000 gp.
It goes up from there.
dengarbountyhunter
11-04-06, 01:52 PM Use walls of stone if you are of a high enough level. Even if you can only cast it once per day, it builds way more quickly than with workers and stone.

And now, we wonder how can the economy survive when there are walls of stone and walls of iron...
Aryxbez
11-04-06, 02:25 PM do you think you could set a price for me? as well as how long it will take?

most specifically i want 20ft wide, 30ft high stone walls

covering the village in a rectangle

the village is 20 miles wide

also my campaign is Low-Magic
aekilez
11-04-06, 03:52 PM im in a situation like this xd
Legdiwena
11-04-06, 04:03 PM need the length dmimnsion of the village.
Iver Gearsham
11-04-06, 08:51 PM Low magic? Does your party have Arcane casters? is thier spell selection limited by what they learn per level? Or can they find other casters who would swap spells?

If you have spells available try this.
For those party’s with arcane casters who want to make a castle and don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing people/resources can do it themselves with these spell combos.

Fabricate, Shrink Item, Transmute Rock to Mud, Servant Horde, Dispell Magic and Suspension.

Fabricate is used to make molds for blocks out of wood these blocks can be designed to interlock eliminating the need for mortar.
And use it to make wood chutes in sections to channel the TRM mud to the molds.

Shrink Item to carry the molds and chutes all made to peg together and be of an individual size to Shrink down.

Transmute Rock to Mud: Find a suitable cliff or a quarry with good hard rock set up the chutes and molds, Then cast TRM in a vertical strip just over the chute that butts up to the cliff (you could Stone Shape a ”lip” for a better connection).
Gravity will help move the mud to the molds in the initial down rush and any slope you can make will assist the Unseen Servant Horde.

Unseen Servant Horde or Servant Horde from SC: for hauling (pushing it down the chute) 20 lbs. too 100 lbs. of mud to the molds then slurp out the air bubbles and smooth the surface.

Dispell Magic Hit the area of the molds with area Dispell Magic and poof! It is back to solid rock open the molds and move the blocks to a staging area and chisel a mark on each block so it can never be TRMed again.

Suspension is a 4th level levitation spell From Shining South (FR) that lasts days per level and can lift 1,000 lbs. per level.
At the staging area after marking them load them on to platforms hitch up some draft animals and haul it off to your building site.
An added bonus is you will need very little scaffolding in your construction as the platforms can rise to the necessary height work is progressing at.

To sum it up you can make the blocks for 2 ten ft. cubes of wall per level with one TRM, one Dispell Magic, with your pre-Fabricate-d equipment and Servant Horde. An 18th lvl caster should have about 6 5th lvl spells one for SH and 5 for TRM will give you 180 ten ft. cubes or 1800 ft. of wall ten feet thick and high.
If she uses all of her higher level slots in this endeavor she would make a total of 756 ten-ft. cubes of wall or 7,560 ft. of wall ten ft. high and thick.
All by herself in one day. With other mages to support this in three days you could have the Great Wall of China around your small city
Aryxbez
11-05-06, 08:16 PM no one in the party is an arcane caster and the length of the
village is 20 miles
Legdiwena
11-07-06, 01:02 AM since there is a height dimension, answer will have to cube not square

based on a square village, 20 miles to a side, wall extending out 20 ft and up 30

will require 1,272,000 ftł for the four sides and 48,000 ftł for corners

comes to 1,272,000 ftł total
Aryxbez
11-07-06, 04:59 PM glad to know that, but how much is it going to cost?

for i was hoping for someone to set a price for me.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Aryxbez 11-03-06, 11:36 PM	How much does stone like the kind used to build castles walls? I prefer a cost per a 5ft square I wish to know this so the village can get stone walls because pcs in my campaign wishes to help fund it. and they will be in the village for a long time.
Steevo 11-03-06, 11:59 PM	The stone itself would be fairly cheap, I would imagine, even free. But finding it, carving it, transporting it back to the village and then building the wall itself, that's where the money is going to go. So how much does that cost, then? Well, there's an excellent thread up in Regdar's Respository regarding commoners earning money, I'd suggest you give that a read through and then see how it applies to building the wall. Basically it boils down to a skilled worker (ie: someone with Profession or Craft skills) will earn wages on the order of 10gp per week. If the party is funding this wall, then that's what they'd be paying, per skilled worker. Not everyone will be a skilled worker, though. You don't need too many skills to do the manual labour of moving the blocks and placing them on top of one another, so those workers would probably only earn the standard 7-10sp per week, but you would need a couple of architechts, a couple of stonemasons and probably a scout or two to go find a decent place to build the quarry. They'll also need clay or something to use as mortar (I don't know much about that stuff or when it came into use), so there's another whole set of NPC labourers. So figure out how many people are going to be involved in this project, work out how much they earn and you'll have your answer for how much it will cost. Of course, the PCs can do the scouting themselves (maybe bring along a stone mason or two to help them figure out what's good rock for wall-building), which could turn into a whole little side-quest all by itself. If the PCs also have applicable Craft or Profession skills, or possibly a mage with Stoneshape, they might also choose to apply those talents to the project, thus reducing the cost even further. This is a medieval society after all (I'm assuming.) The PCs aren't just going to find a rock vendor and order so many blocks. They'll have to set it up themselves, or else the village mayor will, in which case he'll work it out and quote the PCs a price. I personally think it'd be more fun if the PCs got involved themselves, but hey.
risner 11-04-06, 11:54 AM	Get Stronghold Builder book. Cost for a one room stone house is approx 4,000 gp. It goes up from there.
dengarbountyhunter 11-04-06, 01:52 PM	Use walls of stone if you are of a high enough level. Even if you can only cast it once per day, it builds way more quickly than with workers and stone. And now, we wonder how can the economy survive when there are walls of stone and walls of iron...
Aryxbez 11-04-06, 02:25 PM	do you think you could set a price for me? as well as how long it will take? most specifically i want 20ft wide, 30ft high stone walls covering the village in a rectangle the village is 20 miles wide also my campaign is Low-Magic
aekilez 11-04-06, 03:52 PM	im in a situation like this xd
Legdiwena 11-04-06, 04:03 PM	need the length dmimnsion of the village.
Iver Gearsham 11-04-06, 08:51 PM	Low magic? Does your party have Arcane casters? is thier spell selection limited by what they learn per level? Or can they find other casters who would swap spells? If you have spells available try this. For those party’s with arcane casters who want to make a castle and don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing people/resources can do it themselves with these spell combos. Fabricate, Shrink Item, Transmute Rock to Mud, Servant Horde, Dispell Magic and Suspension. Fabricate is used to make molds for blocks out of wood these blocks can be designed to interlock eliminating the need for mortar. And use it to make wood chutes in sections to channel the TRM mud to the molds. Shrink Item to carry the molds and chutes all made to peg together and be of an individual size to Shrink down. Transmute Rock to Mud: Find a suitable cliff or a quarry with good hard rock set up the chutes and molds, Then cast TRM in a vertical strip just over the chute that butts up to the cliff (you could Stone Shape a ”lip” for a better connection). Gravity will help move the mud to the molds in the initial down rush and any slope you can make will assist the Unseen Servant Horde. Unseen Servant Horde or Servant Horde from SC: for hauling (pushing it down the chute) 20 lbs. too 100 lbs. of mud to the molds then slurp out the air bubbles and smooth the surface. Dispell Magic Hit the area of the molds with area Dispell Magic and poof! It is back to solid rock open the molds and move the blocks to a staging area and chisel a mark on each block so it can never be TRMed again. Suspension is a 4th level levitation spell From Shining South (FR) that lasts days per level and can lift 1,000 lbs. per level. At the staging area after marking them load them on to platforms hitch up some draft animals and haul it off to your building site. An added bonus is you will need very little scaffolding in your construction as the platforms can rise to the necessary height work is progressing at. To sum it up you can make the blocks for 2 ten ft. cubes of wall per level with one TRM, one Dispell Magic, with your pre-Fabricate-d equipment and Servant Horde. An 18th lvl caster should have about 6 5th lvl spells one for SH and 5 for TRM will give you 180 ten ft. cubes or 1800 ft. of wall ten feet thick and high. If she uses all of her higher level slots in this endeavor she would make a total of 756 ten-ft. cubes of wall or 7,560 ft. of wall ten ft. high and thick. All by herself in one day. With other mages to support this in three days you could have the Great Wall of China around your small city
Aryxbez 11-05-06, 08:16 PM	no one in the party is an arcane caster and the length of the village is 20 miles
Legdiwena 11-07-06, 01:02 AM	since there is a height dimension, answer will have to cube not square based on a square village, 20 miles to a side, wall extending out 20 ft and up 30 will require 1,272,000 ftł for the four sides and 48,000 ftł for corners comes to 1,272,000 ftł total
Aryxbez 11-07-06, 04:59 PM	glad to know that, but how much is it going to cost? for i was hoping for someone to set a price for me.