can a Simulacrum craft for you?

[jefgorbach]

Of course the other thing to keep in mind is the PC must be at least 13th level to cast Simulacrum, by which time it should be far more expedient to simply travel to a sufficiently large metropolis to purchase whatever item he's seeking; likely at a hefty discount as since the much lower-level supplier is eager to please the PC with such a simple request.

ie: Donald Trump walks into your place of business and orders Item-X. Do you charge him full retail or simply give it to him in exchange for a picture with him, recognizing its value in bragging rights and future orders as word spreads that he shops with you??

 

[Greenfield]

As far as the cheese goes, I'd rule like this.

The Greater Restoration will give you back enough Exp to regain the level you lost, minus any that you spent in the meantime. Willingly giving up Exp is different from a drain, and can't be regained through a Restoration spell.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

To get back to the purposes of the original post, my objective with using the Simulacrum spell, or finding any other method to accomplish these 2 objectives:

1- Save myself some TIME in crafting (not worried about saving the exp)
2- Keep the crafting to myself.

Yes, I have in mind the Exceptional Artisan Feat. I'd rather not burn a feat.

Buying a magic item from a merchant would accomplish #1, but not #2.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a way to reduce the time of Building Portals. Create Portal Feat, Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, p. 61. It's 100 days to create a base portal, longer if you're making it more advanced than the standard portal. To design a 2 way portal, by building a second one at the location of the first, tack on another 50 days.

This is my PC's quasi-retirement job when he's done adventuring. It's also hopefully a plot hook for future campaigns. Approaching kings and cities about the idea of constructing portals for the purpose of trade across the continent, thousands of miles away, making the world of exchange and communication a whole lot smaller. my PC would also be constructing a room of secret portals within his own fortress that will be discovered a few generations later as a plot hook for future adventures. at 100 or 150 days a pop, One can only make so many portals in one's retired lifetime.

In my mind, a Simulacrum copy of the crafter/caster, at the other end of the continent, doing the literal work of crafting the stone ring, perhaps binding the magic to the spot, etc, would be useful, if it's possible by RAW. The PC himself can teleport back and forth between the two locations to oversee the construction, but I want to know what other options there are for speeding this very lengthy process along.

 

[Greenfield]

If it was me in the DM's chair, I'd allow it, so long as the original was paying the Exp.

As for Portal networks...

I've seen game worlds with them. Every city that had a Portal had a worry to match. Yeah, you can bring in goods from far away, have easy commerce and communication with friends across the world, but you also have a way for some enemy to bring an army right into your city, with no warning, no way to see them coming.

So most DM's had city leaders get really paranoid about stuff like that.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

If it was me in the DM's chair, I'd allow it, so long as the original was paying the Exp.

As for Portal networks...

I've seen game worlds with them. Every city that had a Portal had a worry to match. Yeah, you can bring in goods from far away, have easy commerce and communication with friends across the world, but you also have a way for some enemy to bring an army right into your city, with no warning, no way to see them coming.

So most DM's had city leaders get really paranoid about stuff like that.

Yes! This is exactly the well-intentioned-turned-chaotic-later goal I had in mind.

My friends and I play most of our campaigns within our own evolving, homebrewed world. Different campaigns take place either within a different continent or distant land, of perhaps another century from a previous campaign. Former PC's become heroes of legend in future times.

What I'm aiming for is developing a PC now who will, through his actions, provide us with a heap of troubles 100 years from now. So the adventures can continue!

 

[Jack Simth]

As far as the cheese goes, I'd rule like this.

The Greater Restoration will give you back enough Exp to regain the level you lost, minus any that you spent in the meantime. Willingly giving up Exp is different from a drain, and can't be regained through a Restoration spell.

That's definitely a good way to house-rule away the obvious exploit, yes.

 

[jefgorbach]

easy ... the various portals all arrive at a well guarded, easily defended underground chamber forming a choke-point location well AWAY from the desired end-point; with an additional single portal from there to the final destination.

Should enemy forces breach the hub-point, defenders provide sufficient time to seal/destroy the single portal - preventing them from reaching the final point and hopefully allowing the various portals to send reinforcements to recapture the hub should it fall.

 

[Greenfield]

That's definitely a good way to house-rule away the obvious exploit, yes.

Well, the spell does have some specific limits on Exp it will restore. It won't help with level loss from death, for example.

It makes sense that it won't replace Exp you spent on things.

 

[Zomg Zombies]

First: an actual answer for rumble (yes, I know he played his game, and by now is roleplaying the repercussions of his Tele-train, but somewheres there is a brand new player, with the exact same question, so they will be by proxy the new rumble), the best honest way is to take a level dip in Maester (complete adventurer), it's a fair shake more than taking a feat, but with cutting your time by half, I'd say it's worth it, then get a Dedicated Wright (Eberron Campaign Setting) he can craft for you, but only one item at a time.

Secondly: for the Mozzarella Madness, instead of being a cleric, use an artificer; not only do you get the half-level of xps, but you'd get tasty craft reserves along with it. It'd cost less for the base cost of the scroll of grater restoration than you'd get in reserve, 91 vs 1200 (and that's assuming you bounce between 14 & 15, technically artificers could create the scroll at 13), plus, all the crap you crank out with all this level whittling, an artificer can reclaim essence it all back into a large lump sum of craft reserves to build something big.

Thirdly: on to Gouda! Third party Sword and Sorcery's Book of Eldritch Might III has an item creation feat 'life to the inanimate' where you pay extra gold/xps and make your magic item intelligent, included are rules on levelling intelligent magical items (and not like legacy items, they specifically don't gain experience with you through adventure, someone has to donate experience, at 25% per level), so for 2940 xp, you could make a dedicated wright that was a 5th level artificer on it's own (that's 2500 for lvl 5, 80 for sight with darkvision, 200 for telepathy by touch, and 160 for the basic Wright). Make multiple of these Super Wrights stick em along in a chain (hence the telepathy by touch) and you can get an assembly line factory of magical items, all powered by craft reserves.

Lastly: for those that don't like cheese, an easy fix is declare when the greater restoration hits, all the little wayward xps are drawn back to the character, so all items created with left-over bits of xp loose their magical properties

.... but, c'mon, who doesn't like Kraft Cheese....