Daerns Instant Fortress

[kreynolds]

Well, considering an ordinary, plain-jane stone tower is 50,000 gp. Having it made of adamantine and buildable where ever you want is a pretty good deal for the extra 5,000 gp.

I don't know. I think it's kinda shafty if you could only use it once. There would be far fewer uses for it then.

 

[Bastoche]

while we're at it. Could someone (friend or foe) "teleport" inside a DIF ?

 

[AuraSeer]

while we're at it. Could someone (friend or foe) "teleport" inside a DIF ?

The item description doesn't mention any protection against teleportation. You could even scry the interior in order to get the required mental picture.

If you're nearby, you could dispense with the scrying and just Dimension Door in.

 

[Christian]

In this case it says nothing about getting smaller again, but for that price it really should.

I'll leave the rules question aside for the moment, and just address this last point. I'd contend that, were it to be able to be closed up & re-used, it is drastically underpriced. For comparison, examine a manually-built tower (50,000 gold pieces) and an item that casts Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion at will without using up a slot (364,000 gold pieces), and a single-use use-activated MMM item (5,500 gold pieces). Now, DIF isn't as good as a MMM, but it is a permanent effect. I'd contend that the potential mobility, increased hardness, and undispellable Wizard Lock on the door make this a superior investment to the standard tower by a huge margin. As a single-use item, DIF is not (or not seriously) overpriced. (The regular tower may be overpriced ...) As an unlimited-use item, it is a ridiculous bargain.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Just to be a bigger dork than usual I gota ask how much money would you get if you melted the fortress down for the adamantite.

 

[kreynolds]

Just to be a bigger dork than usual I gota ask how much money would you get if you melted the fortress down for the adamantite.

A tower that is made up of at least 3 stronghold spaces made of adamantine walls would net you at least 90,000gp.

 

[Christian]

Yeah, but how much does it cost to melt down that much adamantite?

 

[Christian]

Oh, and now that I'm home & have my 1st Edition DMG at hand (my 2nd Edition DMG is making the 'fill' in a landfill somewhere):

Daern's Instant Fortress: This metal cube is of small size, but when activated it grows to form a metal tower 20' square and 30' high, with arrow slits on all sides and a machicolated battlement atop it, the metal extending 10' into the ground. It has a small door which will open only to the command of the owner of the fortress, knock spells not withstanding. The adamantite walls of Daern's Instant Fortress are totally unaffected by normal weapons other than those of the catapult type. The whole can take 200 points of damage [note: that's structural points, a separate mechanic from hit points in 1st Edition] before the tower collapses. Note that damage sustained is cumulative. The fortress cannot be repaired, although a wish will restore 10 points of damage sustained. It requires but 1 round to cause the fortress to spring up, but the person or persons nearby must be careful not to be caught by its sudden growth, or else they will sustain 10-100 hit points of damage. The door will always be facing the owner of the device when it becomes a fortress, and it [note: the door] will open and close instantly at his command.

Nothing there about being able to shrink it back to a cube, either ... This was listed with a 27,500 gold piece value in the 1st Edition DMG. For the record.

 

[kreynolds]

So, anybody else out there besides me startin' to wonder if ol' Daern had an entire "Build Your Own Adamantine Home In Seconds, Just Like The Experts!!" product line? This would include things like "Daern's Instant Master Bedroom", "Daern's Instant Livingroom", "Daern's Instant Dining Hall", "Daern's Instant Throne Room", and maybe even "Daern's Instant Camping Potty"?

Ah well. Maybe it is just me.

 

[Taluron]

"Nothing there about being able to shrink it back to a cube, either ... This was listed with a 27,500 gold piece value in the 1st Edition DMG. For the record."

Not directly but the last line...

"The door will always be facing the owner of the device when it becomes a fortress, and it [note: the door] will open and close instantly at his command."

would be partly meaningless if it could not turn back into a cube. The 'always' implies it can happen more than once.