D&D 5E Uses for Minor Alchemy

[Jfdlsjfd]

This twice-raised thread merits however, a question. Is turning a select stone pillar to some common material like balsa enough to collapse a significant part of a build over the duration of the spell? Or would the frailty of the load-bearing element produce effect after a long time?

 

[kigmatzomat]

It only works on 1 cubic foot of material, the material has to be entirely of one type off a short list, it doesn't mention reshaping the item, only changing it from one form of matter to another, like iron into wood. It also only lasts 1 hour and requires concentration, all in all very limiting.

I think it can do larger objects, you just have to spend the time.

"For each 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material. "

This says to me, a wizard could turn a massive stone statue to wood if they spend a couple uninterrupted hours.

Interesting way to take down a castle by weakening a foundation stone. Or by turning a wooden roof beam to iron, possibly collapsing a ceiling.

 

[Tonguez]

Minor Alchemy should be a cantrip not a subclass ability

• one object composed entirely of wood, stone (but not a gemstone), iron, copper, or silver, transforming it into a different one of those materials.
• For each 10 minutes you spend performing the procedure, you can transform up to 1 cubic foot of material.
• After 1 hour, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), the material reverts to its original substance.

so no gold and no sand (silica crystals)
Not really useful for much but a few minor tricks, breaking locks and chopping wood is about it

 

[aco175]

Turn water into ale. When it turns back into water you will hydrate instead of being dehydrated. Also after the hour, you will instantly sober up.

 

[Tonguez]

Turn water into ale. When it turns back into water you will hydrate instead of being dehydrated. Also after the hour, you will instantly sober up.

Doesnt work on water, which is a major oversight really

 

[Mad_Jack]

This twice-raised thread merits however, a question. Is turning a select stone pillar to some common material like balsa enough to collapse a significant part of a build over the duration of the spell? Or would the frailty of the load-bearing element produce effect after a long time?

Not really. Causing serious structural damage to buildings usually requires high-level spells.
Most buildings generally won't collapse if they lose a single load-bearing structure like a pillar, and turning one pillar or a part of a wall to a softer substance for an hour (or even a day) wouldn't really damage it much due to material stress - for things like that to be seriously damaged, you need a lot of stress over a lot of time... Most buildings that collapse do so due to serious material fatigue over the course of decades.
In order to sabotage a stone building, you'd have to repeatedly spend several hours transmuting load-bearing sections of the building materials into a softer substance and damage them with some other method so that they remain damaged/destroyed when they revert back. It would probably take an entire week or more of work to get a sizeable enough area of the building weakened enough that it would have even a chance of eventually failing structurally due to material stress, depending on the construction and materials involved and what method you're using to damage them. Which may or may not be enough to cause any undamaged areas to fail as well.

So there's not much chance of succeeding at dropping the dungeon's ceiling on some goblins while they're sleeping, but if you can spare several weeks of uninterrupted time hanging out in the sewer tunnels under a building, you could theoretically weaken the material above you enough that it would eventually collapse, potentially bringing the building above it down as well. Which is more of a plot device sort of thing rather than a strategic plan for adventurers, but still...

Minor Transmutation is, however, a perfectly feasible way to knock a simple hole through a stone wall if you have the time to do it and sufficient oil/fire, damage cantrips or an axe... Or to get into a locked iron strongbox if you can't pick the lock.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Most buildings generally won't collapse if they lose a single load-bearing structure like a pillar, and turning one pillar or a part of a wall to a softer substance for an hour (or even a day) wouldn't really damage it much due to material stress -

True, and not true. Switching from a rigid material like stone or iron to a flexible material like wood has implications any time you have loads that can cause wood to split (plus, it does burn). And for any tall pillars where the slenderness ratio(kl/r) is a factor. It is entirely plausible for a wood column to flex and split. If the pillar held up an arch, you start to destabilize the structures. With a column & beam you would use the longest side and start deforming a central column, then the adjacent columns that could sag more, then go back to the center to flex it again until the load splits the column work from center to edges.

It is not the fastest approach in the world but it requires no spell components or spell slots.

And of course, survival is very suspect when taking down a ceiling from the inside. I suppose a vampire transmuter would be the ideal practitioner of this form of demolition. Lots of time and can turn to mist.[/quote][/QUOTE]

 

[Storyteller Hero]

Due to the temporary and timing-capable nature of the material change, it may be possible to set up traps for enemies with some careful rigging.

 

[humble minion]

Doesnt work on water, which is a major oversight really

I think it’s deliberate, rather than an oversight. You could destroy almost anything by turning a carefully chosen square foot of it to water.

It you really want to rules-lawyer horribly, you could try to convince your DM that magma is a kind of stone.

Other than that - you could easily weaken objects by turning them to balsa wood, or soft crumbly mudstone/shale or lignite. But it takes 10 minutes, and given that amount of time you could usually achieve the same with an axe or pick.