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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BlivetWidget" data-source="post: 7513504" data-attributes="member: 6912801">What can be done with the D&D 5e Transmutation Wizard's 14th level feature, Major Transformation?Perhaps due to the Transmutation school generally coming in at the bottom of the wizard popularity list, there seems to be little discussion of the use of this ability.  To be clear, I am not attempting any funny business here; there is no attempt to twist real-world physics with game mechanics to create peasant railguns.  The following are all, in my opinion, quite reasonable deductions based on available information, not dependent upon loopholes or approximations made in the rules, and no more or less powerful than one should expect of a high-level wizard who is also capable of using the same Master Transmuter feature to restore someone to perfect health, resurrect them, or de-age them.  No material value is being created here, merely exchanged.  If you have thoughts or other ideas, I would love to hear them.#==============================================So, Major Transformation.  The ability states: "You can transmute one nonmagical object—no larger than a 5-foot cube—into another nonmagical object of similar size and mass and of equal or lesser value. You must spend 10 minutes handling the object to transform it."The "similar size and mass" and "one object" parts are the major hitches of this ability that require us to put our thinking [wizard] hats on.  So, what are the uses of this ability?  As I see it: 1) Low-value transformations.  The volume restriction is too low to make much useful (otherwise boats, carts, shacks could all be interchanged).  Fork to knife?  Plate to bowl?  Ottoman to chair?  Yes to all, but for a high-level wizard ability that has to compete with your option to bring someone back from the dead... this seems like an underwhelming option.  If you can think of a good use in this arena, please tell me.  Edit: a few ideas suggested thus far: devaluing items for mischief, turning a post-assassination corpse into dirt, getting past doors or locks made of exotic materials, creating food or water from ambient materials in a survival situation (though by this level I would expect to have the Magnificent Mansion spell).2) Gem-swapping (or other expensive, small material components).  Have a 500 gp ruby but need a 500 gp diamond?  This will do it for you.3) Gem merging.  Have two 250 gp diamonds but need a 500 gp diamond?  Stick them together with a bit of wax, then transmute the object into a single gem.  Anyone telling you two objects stuck together with wax cannot be considered one object is being deliberately obtuse: an "object" can most certainly be made of other objects (candles, swords, barrels, etc. are objects composed of smaller parts, and DMG 247 even lists an entire cart as one object).- Caveat: the final gem must contain a number of imperfections equal to the number of input gems, or have a quality or finish lower than that of the input gems.  See Appendix A.4) Gem production.  The superficial difficulty here is that gems are more value-dense than metal while being less mass-dense.  To overcome this, we need a highly value-dense but easy-to-acquire item (gemstones are ideal, but already covered by option #3, above - if you have any number of gems, just do that).  A mixture of platinum coins and wax can easily give you the correct monetary value and densities to be a diamond of middling quality.  See Appendix B.-Note: since gems change value with size, there also exist crossover points where diamond grains have the exact same value per gram as any of the precious metals.  Do as above, then transmute into a single, horrendous-quality, large diamond with no value beyond the fact that it could be ground into powder.  See Appendix A.You can stop reading here if numbers scare you.  This is merely reference data.#==============================================Appendix A: Gem value vs quality and sizeIf quality and finish are constant, gem value is exponential wrt size unless there are imperfections which require the larger gem to be cut into smaller gems to achieve a desired quality.  The cheapest possible diamond is one of such low quality its only value would be as a powder.  Below are some price points: see how much we can target a specific value by setting the quality (these are all for 1 gram of diamond):- 5 x 1 carat (1 g total) diamonds, extremely high quality: 5 * $18,091 = $90,455 total<a href="https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10810591?click_id=173466947" target="_blank">https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10810591?click_id=173466947</a>- 5 carat (1 g) diamond, extremely high quality: $638,432<a href="https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10065422?click_id=476351953" target="_blank">https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10065422?click_id=476351953</a>- 5 carat (1 g) diamond, low quality: $550<a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/399601501/uncut-rough-diamond-5-carat" target="_blank">https://www.etsy.com/listing/399601501/uncut-rough-diamond-5-carat</a>- 5 carat (1 g) diamond powder: $8.75<a href="https://www.amazon.com/1200-Grit-Diamond-Powder-Vial/dp/B002I9TKH0/" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/1200-Grit-Diamond-Powder-Vial/dp/B002I9TKH0/</a>- 5 carat (1 g) of bulk diamond powder: $0.14(see Alibaba and the like).The Cullinan diamond (621.35 g) sold, uncut and unfinished, for a modern equivalent of $19,342,740.  If it were instead of such poor quality that it could only be turned into powder, selling it in 1 g installments (no bulk pricing) only nets $5436.81, whereas selling in bulk could net a grand total of only $87.  See how far the quality knob can turn?  $87 to $19,342,740 for the exact same quantity of diamond, depending only on  quality.Appendix B: Simple algebra to determine the size of a produced diamond.For the purpose of this exercise, I use platinum coins.  We also need a low mass-density substance, preferably also low in value-density, to balance out the extreme density of platinum.  I'm using beeswax to maintain the candle analogy (coins mixed with sawdust may or may not be an "object", but coins embedded in wax is no different than those candles with glitter or doodads in them).50 coins == 1 lb == 453.592 g.  1 coin == 9.07184 g.Densities (g/cc):beeswax: 0.958platinum: 21.45diamond: 3.511 carat == 0.2 gSo, a 500 gp (50 pp) diamond:platinum coins: 50 coins == 1 lb == 453.592 g in 21.15 cc.(m_x = mass, rho_x = density)We begin with an equation saying the volume of the inputs is equivalent to the volume of the outputsm_platinum / rho_platinum + m_wax / rho_wax = m_diamond / rho_diamondFirst, weight must be constant, so set m_diamond = m_platinum + m_wax:m_platinum / rho_platinum + m_wax / rho_wax = (m_platinum + m_wax) / rho_diamondSecond, solve for m_wax, the only unknown:m_platinum / rho_platinum + m_wax / rho_wax = m_platinum / rho_diamond + m_wax / rho_diamondm_wax / rho_wax - m_wax / rho_diamond = m_platinum / rho_diamond - m_platinum / rho_platinumm_wax (1 / rho_wax - 1 / rho_diamond) = m_platinum / rho_diamond - m_platinum / rho_platinumm_wax = (m_platinum / rho_diamond - m_platinum / rho_platinum) / (1 / rho_wax - 1 / rho_diamond)Or, somewhat prettier:m_wax = rho_wax * m_platinum * (rho_platinum - rho_diamond) / rho_platinum / (rho_diamond - rho_wax)m_wax = 142.41 g in 148.66 ccm_total = m_diamond = 142.41 g + 453.59 g = 596 gvolume_total = volume_diamond = 148.66 cc + 21.15 cc = 169.81 ccSanity check: m_total / volume_total == 3.51 == rho_diamondChecks out!So we have used 500 gp worth of platinum, mixed with beeswax of negligible value, to perfectly match the mass and volume of a 596 g diamond about the size of a tennis ball.  While the game provides us no framework to assign a value to that diamond based on its quality, Appendix A should give you an idea of how much latitude we have in turning the quality knob, so we can find a quality that matches the 500 gp of value.  I cannot deduce the D&D quality-value relationship a priori, but there is guaranteed to exist a quality level appropriate to our value inputs.#==============================================Thoughts?  Again, no material value is being created here, merely exchanged.  I don't think any of these options breaks anything, and none are attempts to.  I simply want to find some good ways to use this top-level Transmuter ability, and I see too many people claiming it's useless.</blockquote>

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