"Fabricate" question

[reveal]

If a person uses Fabricate to create jewelry and then sell the jewelry, do they actually lose money since it's a mineral or could they make a lot of money?

Fabricate

Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: See text
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

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 (or 1 cubic foot) of material to be affected by the spell.

Material Component: The original material, which costs the same amount as the raw materials required to craft the item to be created.

 

[Infiniti2000]

If a person uses Fabricate to create jewelry and then sell the jewelry, do they actually lose money since it's a mineral or could they make a lot of money?

It depends entirely on how you run Craft (jewelry). Fabricate only speeds up the crafting time.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

How could they lose money?

It costs 100gp to get together the raw materials for 300gp worth of gold necklaces. That's less than a cu ft of gold.

 

[reveal]

How could they lose money?

I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

 

[VorpalStare]

Are you, perhaps, thinking that the material component (which is normally "annihilated" in the spell casting) is in addition to the material to be converted into a finished product?

That would mean that twice as much raw materials would be required with the spell than with normal manufacture.

I don't believe this interpretation is correct. The "original material" used as the material component is the same material that "you convert" to the finished product, as described under the first sentence in the spell description. This spell is an exception to the normal rule that material components are totally consumed during spell casting.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

Oh. Good!

I was wondering what *I* was missing!

 

[jgsugden]

No, you have the right of it. The big problem in using this spell is the skill requirement. However, a sorcerer with this spell and a number of ranks in the appropriate craft skills can purge his high level spells to generate funds for adventuring.

You'd be well served to read the craft skill. It states that, in general, the raw material cost for crafting an item is 1/3 of its end value. That means that you can make a 2/3 profit every time you cast this spell to fashion an item.

If you have a 1000 GP ruby and 200 gold worth of platinum, you can convert that into a 3600 piece of jewlery by casting this spell and making the appropriate skill check.

If you have a 50,000 GP large pink diamond and 200 gold worth of platinum, you can convert that into a 150,600 GP piece of jewlery.

This is a *highly* abusable situation - though it does make sense (to an extent). A loose diamond is worth far less than a diamond ring with that diamond set in it. I advise DMs to keep a watch out for abuses ...

Note: In general, I despise the craft skill. It doesn't do the job well, because all expenseive things take a long time to craft, while cheap things are quick to build. This means that crafting a 50,0000 Gold Piece Diamond into an earring will take years fo someone with a craft skill of 10, while crafting a huge and complex, but inexpensive, item would take days at most. In my game, I set a DC for crafting each item individually and I set a time requirement for crafting each item individually. That is the only real way to go ...