Gravatational Inhibitor

[Felix]

Brother Shatterstone of these boards was looking for a way to lighten the load of armors in the Rules Forum. My mind drifted to Baron Vladamir Harkonnen; he was a big fat fellow and wore anti-grav thingies so he could move his bulk. I figured that in a world with magic, wouldn't some clever mage figure out how to make money off of a magic item use of Levitate? After all, Boba Fett had something like that when he was parking Han "Coffee table" Solo in the storage of Slave I, and who doesn't want to be cool like Boba? So, this clever for-profit mage will introduce to the general population:

Felix's Gravatational Inhibitor
The observation has been made that weak small people are not as adept at moving masonry stones around as strong big people; thus the dearth of halfling dockworkers. Considerable effort has been made by the clever mages at Felix Laboratories to enable small people to level the playing field in an industry dominated by sizeist employers. Felix's Gravatational Inhibitor is a simple device that may be attached to any container to lighten the load.

It amplifies the centrifugal force put on the load by the spinning of the planet until it exactly equals the gravatational force pulling downward. At this point, the container is in a state of inertia whereupon any force placed upon the item would cause it to move in that direction. No longer will corded muscles be a requirement for off-shore loading. No longer with the sizeist establishment be able to discriminate against the more economically statured races. Felix Laboratoies will provide you with the means to level the playing field in the transportation industry, for the low, low price of 5,000 gp.

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Right. Now I've a few questions for you.

1. How would you price this item, and what would it's required spells be? Feather Fall? Levitate? Anti-gravity field? What would the Caster Level be? And what would the price be before the monopolistic profit seeking meisers at Felix Laboratories raised it to squeeze the wealth out of society?

2. Ok, so the initial product was marketed towards the transportation of goods. It is easy to see that this would have applications in every aspect of life. What would happen next? Flying cars? Floating houses? Artillery platforms at altitude?

3. How could this thing be reigned in so that it isn't so powerful or out of balance?

4. Whaddya think?

 

[MarauderX]

The idea is similar to a floating carpet idea we had a while ago, where we would lay the carpet down, load the heavy stuff on to it's max capacity, then the mage would cast fly on himself and guide the rug around until we found where we wanted to drop the loot.

I am thinking a cheaper version might be available for the application you mentioned. I am thinking Floating Disk:

Floating Disk Evocation [Force]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Effect: 3-ft.-diameter disk of force
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You create a slightly concave, circular plane of force that follows you about and carries loads for you. The disk is 3 feet in diameter and 1 inch deep at its center. It can hold 100 pounds of weight per caster level. (If used to transport a liquid, its capacity is 2 gallons.) The disk floats approximately 3 feet above the ground at all times and remains level. It floats along horizontally within spell range and will accompany you at a rate of no more than your normal speed each round. If not otherwise directed, it maintains a constant interval of 5 feet between itself and you. The disk winks out of existence when the spell duration expires. The disk also winks out if you move beyond range or try to take the disk more than 3 feet away from the surface beneath it. When the disk winks out, whatever it was supporting falls to the surface beneath it.
Material Component: A drop of mercury.

Add it to an object in much the same way you might add Featherfall to a ring, and price it out that way as an object with a 1st level spell or so. I think this is what you are going for, unless you wanted to be able to move what the object was carrying vertically. I suppose it could be worth more than a 1st level spell if the object (let's say a metal tray) can be 'deactivated' somehow, for example by flipping it over. I suppose the force needed to move more objects would be less than even dragging and shouldn't bother your encumberance in the least. Scoop up a bunch of goods and have your halfling dockworker guide it to where it needs to go, flip it over, then rinse & repeat. Everyone would want one or two, and the applications might be boundless - use them to support a wagon instead of wheels that get stuck on muddy roads, carry them with you & dine from them when on the road, & boundless other ideas.
For a Floating Disk version you may have to come up with something special to foil the duration and get the weight carried up to a load that could carry a few people and more.

Going the Levitate route might be more expensive to produce, and might make things a little bit harder to control as moving things vertically might be a bit more difficult. You could go the Fly route and apply the same thing to get a 'Jetsons-esque Space Car' up into the air.