Prestidigitation question

[yennico]

I want to look normal stones or copper coins like gold nuggets or coins made out of gold.
Can I use the Prestidigitation spell to duplicate the effects of the Ad&d spell "fools gold" ?

 

[Kurotowa]

I believe not. Even if Fool's Gold is no longer in the book Prestidigitation specifically "lacks the power to duplicate any other spell effects." Maybe you could make the rocks or coins sort of gold colored and pass them off to the ignorant with a good Bluff check. But IMO a DC 10 Appraise check would instantly detect that they had neither the texture or weight of real gold.

 

[yennico]

Perhaps duplicate the effect of the AD&D spell is the wrong word. I am searching for a spell which does the same as the spell fool´s gold in the old edition.

 

[UltimaGabe]

I'd say no. For balance purposes, it would make Prestidigitation too powerful- as all of those 1st-level Wizards would just make every rock they see into "gold" and end up with a ton of money. WAY too powerful for a 0-level spell. And for flavor purposes, making something look like gold isn't exactly within the power of the spell- you could make the rock gold-colored, but it wouldn't look like gold (just like a grey rock doesn't look like silver, even though they're both the same color). The rock would just look yellowish.

Anyway, I'm not familiar with the Fool's Gold spell, but if it allowed you to pass other objects off as gold, something tells me it wasn't a 0-level spell.

 

[AuraSeer]

Polymorph any object would work.

Joking aside, ask your DM if you can research fool's gold as a new spell. (If you are the DM, just declare the spell exists-- that's what Rule Zero is for.)

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

What you're looking at is probably a 2nd-level Illusion (Glamer) spell.

Glamer: A glamer spell changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.

It's beyond the means of most beginning casters, and is slightly more powerful in effect than Silent Image ("the" 1st-level Illusion spell), so it should be higher, but it isn't as powerful as, say, Major Image (a 3rd-level Illusion spell).

 

[Kae'Yoss]

There are several questions to be asked here.

First, there is: "Can prestidigitation change the colour of the coins so they are golden?" The answer is yes. It's quite easy.

But there is another, more important question. "Are gold coins exactly the same shape as silver coins, just made of gold instead of silver" Ultimately, this is up to your DM, but I think that gold, silver and copper pieces look different, and not just due to coloration. They have other designs on them, and maybe even something like "1 gold piece" engraved. The reason for that is two-fold (at least, but that's the two reasons I can think of right now). 1. If you could just change the colour of the coins, you would have more forgeries than coins. Those with magic ability would use prestidigitation, and the others would get gold paint. So we give them different designs, with kings adoring gold pieces, princes on the silver ones, and coppers for barons. Or any other design. 2. Creatures that live in the sunless deeps and rely mostly or solely on darkvision use coins, too. I doubt that drow want to bring a candle to look at their coins, especially if they want to conduct illicit business, and that's one of the most favourite hobbies for drow.

 

[nak9788]

I want to look normal stones or copper coins like gold nuggets or coins made out of gold.
Can I use the Prestidigitation spell to duplicate the effects of the Ad&d spell "fools gold" ?

That's obviously a simple illusion spell. It probably wouldn't take much to research a spell that does that (it would probably be only a level 1 spell unless you have it do more).

 

[kigmatzomat]

But there is another, more important question. "Are gold coins exactly the same shape as silver coins, just made of gold instead of silver" Ultimately, this is up to your DM, but I think that gold, silver and copper pieces look different, and not just due to coloration.

I second this. IMC the coppers have a shiled motif and hole in them so they can be kept tied to a string. Silvers are octagonal and bear the crest of the king's clan, gold coins are round with the symbol of the crown, and platinum are hexagonal with an engraving of the royal castle. A set of scales with cut-outs to make sure the coins are the right size is all most merchants need.

Counterfeiting the currency isn't impossible but it generally isn't worth it. Matching the density, pattern, and design becomes work. The profit is so low as to be generally not worth the time. Which is the main goal of anti-counterfeiting measures. You can't stop it but you can make it sufficiently expensive as to be counterproductive.

 

[nak9788]

I second this. IMC the coppers have a shiled motif and hole in them so they can be kept tied to a string. Silvers are octagonal and bear the crest of the king's clan, gold coins are round with the symbol of the crown, and platinum are hexagonal with an engraving of the royal castle. A set of scales with cut-outs to make sure the coins are the right size is all most merchants need.

Counterfeiting the currency isn't impossible but it generally isn't worth it. Matching the density, pattern, and design becomes work. The profit is so low as to be generally not worth the time. Which is the main goal of anti-counterfeiting measures. You can't stop it but you can make it sufficiently expensive as to be counterproductive.

Of course if you modify copper pieces to look like Platinum pieces instead of gold, you would increase your profits by a factor of ten. Then it just might be worth it.