The value of a wall of iron

Crothian said:
well, you might have to transport it longer then a single day, it is rather big so it might not fit on the roads especially in the city where streets are smaller. You also need to be able to find 370 people to do this and that in itself might not be that easy.
You could also hire 14 heavy horses (drag 3000 lbs each) to do the same job, if that many trained hirelings are unavailable, although the only figures I have on Heavy Horses are the "purchase them" figures, at 200 gp apiece; 14 would cost 2,800 gp, and not only would you still be making a profit (admittedly, a small one), but the horses are reuseable, so the second time around you are making full profit (need 14 trained Hirelings at 3 sp/day to control the horses, of course, for another 4.2 gp/day, also bits and bridles (2 gp each, 28 gp total, reuseable) - still, a profit of 84.48 gp the first time, and 2,912.48 gp for each additional time - until the sheer amount of iron in the system drops the price, of course). And do bear in mind, that if you have a 12th level PC Wizard/Sorceror cast the spell, you have NO transport costs (conjour it right in front of the buyer: (bluff roll), "Sure, let me teleport it over...."), and NO hire cost for the spell, bringing your profit up to 3,636.68 gp a casting. The reason I was using the "hire it" figures, is that a PC could, in theory, afford to burn a 1,000 gp to get another 3,000 at 3rd or 4th level.
 

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or the caster could just sell his services to people. PHB has it at caster level times spell level times 10. That just seems easier then this.
 

Crothian said:
or the caster could just sell his services to people. PHB has it at caster level times spell level times 10. That just seems easier then this.
True. Your 3rd level cleric would be in hot demand for 'cheap' auguries in a largish city.

Really it comes to play styles. I wouldn't rubbish "Markets and Monopolies" over "Dungeons and Dragons" as it could be a great campaign concept with heaps of hooks spurring the action, but you'd need to double check with the others players and DM. It may strain some character concepts you see.
 
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The easiest thing to do would be to go back and change the price of iron. If it is 2 cp (or less) per pound the spell is no longer a big money maker. Remember to change your game world so there are fewer (or no) active iron mines.
 

That doesn't make sense to me - the less mines there are the MORE iron is going to be worth. The harder something is to get a hold of, the more it is going to cost - without fail.
 

two questions, do parts of the wall thats seperated from the wall itself stay around or do they magicaly vanish? and what happens if the whole wall is melted down? maybe it vanishes?
 

dcollins said:
- The wall of iron is too big to transport/handle at a smelter's.

This is probably one of the larger obstacles to the profit-making use of Wall of Iron, in a world with a realistically medieval tech level. It's already been mined, smelted, and forged (effectively), so it's effectively scrap iron. That's a lot of scrap iron to re-smelt and re-forge.

Of course, you can get it cut apart into pieces for easier processing, and that is painful, but it would probably still be feasible.

Brad
 

I am not in the know with steel production but am I right in thinking that a wall of iron, being the scrap iron as mentioned, is going to require extensive reworking?

If this is turns into a huge labour, the cost might be approaching something comparable to mining ore.
 

hobgoblin said:
two questions, do parts of the wall thats seperated from the wall itself stay around or do they magicaly vanish? and what happens if the whole wall is melted down? maybe it vanishes?
The SRD doesn't specifically specify, but it's a Conjouration(Creation), Instant spell; the magic has done and gone (it's not subject to dispel magic, Anti Magic Field, or the like, for this same reason). It's unlikely to dissapear due to mundane means (such as cutting/melting) (but a Disintigrate or something could get rid of it) beyond the very long-term rusting away (how long does it take three inches of solid iron to rust away in "ideal" (for the rust) natural conditions?).
 

cignus_pfaccari said:
Of course, you can get it cut apart into pieces for easier processing, and that is painful, but it would probably still be feasible.

A labourer with an adamantine axe would handle that in mere rounds.

-Hyp.
 

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