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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 7331942" data-attributes="member: 6677017">If we really want to have a good way to evaluate individual questions that come up about Minor Conjuration, we need a better understanding of how/what it does in the world. There is no official answer. I'll suggest a few possibilities, with benefits and issues. I'd welcome more pros and cons to add to the list:Option 1: FormcraftIn this version you shape magical force of some sort into the form of the object based on your own knowledge. It maintains no inherent properties of the object itself.Benefits:-You know that it doesn't work for anything that requires the actual material. For example, it's not silver, it's not a spell component, etc.Issues:-It is unclear how to determine the object's weight if it doesn't possess the inherent properties of the form. Since the spell specifically gives it a weight limit, it must be intended to have a weight. Do you set the weight arbitrarily when you cast it?-In like manner, without any particular properties included, how do you know when it takes damage (making it vanish)?-It specifies that it must be an "object which you have seen", but that doesn't make sense if you are just forming it from magical force. Shouldn't I be able to work with the sorts of shapes I'm familiar with to mold anything reasonable out of clay? The spell doesn't seem to allow that for some odd reason.Option 2: Smart ConjurationIn this version, the magic itself knows what to do. You have seen a silver dagger, it makes a silver dagger*, which has the properties of a silver dagger.-Benefits:-You only have to worry about whether the usage of the object would damage it* in order to adjudicate issues. For instance, you might rule that consumed spell components don't work because the consumption destroys them (or you might rule that the magic gets its power before the destruction so it still works), but non-consumed components work perfectly fine, just like spellcasting foci.-Issues:-This might allow you to conjure a complex object even if you haven't seen a sufficient amount of it to get the info (such as a book with all of it's pages intact, or a letter that you've only glimpsed the corner of.) This could be seen as more powerful than intended/desired, but there isn't a simple way of disallowing it (it requires creating a more detailed set of rules). Essentially, you are copying information as well as form. I think it would require more complexity than saying, "it can't copy information" to really address this.-In addition, you could conjure something that has been destroyed--such a burned letter or a unique key--as long as you saw it at some point. This might be considered an issue in your campaign. (Could be a feature too, but it's pretty powerful.)Sub-Option 2a: Object ProjectionThis is identical to option 2, except that the spell actually conjures a magical projection (think 3e summoning spells) of the copied object.Benefits:-The potential issue with conjuring a destroyed might go away, since it can be easily ruled that it no longer exists and cannot therefore project, unless you rule that time is not a constraint.Issues:-The DM might have to make judgments about whether a particular object still exists.It's a real pain trying to figure out the best way to handle it. I favor the second option, but I'm not sure how I would handle all the details. For example, I'd rule that a single page of a book is an object (the book being a collection of objects, like a keyring), so if you've seen a page you can conjure that page, but you can't conjure a whole book. But I don't have a really satisfying solution to the issue of conjuring a destroyed object.I recommend assuming a metaphysical constant value for the sorts of things (gems, precious metals, etc) used in magical procedures. The rules refer to this value. It doesn't matter what the local market values them at. A certain mass of diamonds (they don't weigh much, so its unlikely you'll need to actually determine ounces or grams for this) is worth 100 gp worth of magical ju-ju. It doesn't matter if you buy it for that price, get it on sale for 50 gp, get ripped off and pay 200 gp, or steal it for 0 gp. That mass of diamonds is metaphysically worth 100 gp. For simplicity's sake, we say that usually equates to the default market value of an item.* I recognize that the errata specifies that the object can't deal damage. I reject that errata, as it unnecessarily nerfs an ability that is in no way too powerful. Feel free to substitute another object with inherent properties into the statement.</blockquote>

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