Requirements for creating flesh golems

[azmodean]

I was looking at starting an artificer character who will eventually build golems, and I ran across this when I was figuring out how soon he would be able to start on golems:

CL 8th; Craft Construct, animate dead, bull's strength, geas/quest, limited wish, caster must be at least 8th level; Price 20,000 gp; Cost 10,500 gp + 780 XP

A spell prerequisite may be provided by a character who has prepared the spell (or who knows the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard), or through the use of a spell completion or spell trigger magic item or a spell-like ability that produces the desired spell effect. For each day that passes in the creation process, the creator must expend one spell completion item or one charge from a spell trigger item if either of those objects is used to supply a prerequisite.

This seems to indicate that he must either be lvl 13 (so he can cast limited wish) or he must expend 20 scrolls of limited wish (3,775 gp each)or 20 charges from a wand of limited wish(never mind, wands cannot cast limited wish). Also the same situation exists with geas/quest, which is a lvl 6 spell.

Is this correct? Does an artificer have to be lvl 12 to create the weakest of golems? (the scrolls would just be too expensive, about 75,000 gp. Then there are still the scrolls of geas/quest.)

P.S. I ran into the thread posting glitch the first time I tried to post.

 

[Darkness]

You mean an Eberron artificer, right?

They don't need to meet the spell prereq, they can fake it with Use Magic Device checks. (Eberron, p.32.) They do neet to meet the CL prereq, though (apparently 8th in this case, but they get +2 so he needs to be 6th level).

 

[azmodean]

Er, sorry, I mean a spellcaster who makes magical items. A wizard specifically.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Er, sorry, I mean a spellcaster who makes magical items. A wizard specifically.

Then you'd need access to all of those spells each day of creation.

EDIT:

Note that you can get help with the prerequisites - if you have a Wizard mentor, he or she can provide the limited wish each day.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

They don't need to meet the spell prereq, they can fake it with Use Magic Device checks. (Eberron, p.32.) They do neet to meet the CL prereq, though (apparently 8th in this case, but they get +2 so he needs to be 6th level).

Interestingly, this pokes another hole in dcollins' favorite claim that the initial CL line is a prerequisite. If it were, then the second listing ("caster must be at least 8th level") makes no sense.

 

[Diirk]

Well not entirely, there's various ways of boosting your caster level higher than your level such a line would just indicate that no matter what your caster level is, you need to be at least character level 8 as well.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Question: Limited Wish costs 300xp. Does this cost have to be incurred every day of the crafting process?

 

[azmodean]

As written, you only have to actually cast the spells involved if they are from an item. If you are a sorceror, you just have to know the spell, and if you are a wizard, you just have to memorise the spell. This, of course, requires you to be of sufficient level to cast the spell.

 

[Darkness]

Question: Limited Wish costs 300xp. Does this cost have to be incurred every day of the crafting process?

No.

 

[dcollins]

This seems to indicate that he must either be lvl 13 (so he can cast limited wish) or he must expend 20 scrolls of limited wish (3,775 gp each)or 20 charges from a wand of limited wish(never mind, wands cannot cast limited wish). Also the same situation exists with geas/quest, which is a lvl 6 spell.

Note that this is a 3.5 issue -- in 3.0 (and before) the required level was 14th, and everything was synchronized. Also, golems weren't listed as though they were magic items. In 3.5 they half-revised it with a lower level that is contradicted by the required spells.

Interestingly, this pokes another hole in dcollins' favorite claim that the initial CL line is a prerequisite. If it were, then the second listing ("caster must be at least 8th level") makes no sense.

This issue has also been on my FAQ for few years, since it bolsters the claim in the normal case where the level prerequisite is higher than the item caster level. It's a new 3.5-ism to ever set them the same, and I'm willing to disregard this in the context of an already scrambled-up 3.5 editing job (see above).

http://superdan.net.home.comcast.net/dndfaq2.html