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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 6870752" data-attributes="member: 53980">That's IF there is someone around to cast Gentle Repose. It's certainly not a guarantee if the one who is supposed to rez you is a transmuter. Also IF the assassin doesn't simply render the organ unrecoverable, by burning the heart to ash or tossing the head into a bag of devouring. Plus, if the caster is sticking around to cast GR every 10 days, he's not chasing after the assassin. A clever assassin might just double-back and dispel GR, then let the caster reacquire the organ just as the 10 day time limit runs out.There are probably hundreds, or more likely thousands, of nobles in that 785,398 sq mile area that you just described. I don't see a high level transmuter wanting to spend that many days creating philosophers stones even if he does have the time. As a high level wizard, he probably already has more money than he knows what to do with. Even then, are they willing to pay what he thinks his time is worth? Can they afford it? Do all these face lifts come at the expense of the common folk, who the nobles now tax to death to afford these treatments? I actually had assumed the government would pay. However, there's a difference between CAN and WILL. In the short term, it's a very significant drain on revenue, even if it is spread over several years and saves money in the long term. Could it be done? Probably. Would it be done? IMO, probably not. After all, in a decade some other noble schlub might be ruling this place; let him deal with it.Additionally, I don't think you'd actually save any money in the long term. You'd need to hire extra guards to make sure that the Continual Flames aren't stolen. Their pay is going to be more than the cost of a few torches. When (not if) some Continual Flames do get stolen (because the Thieves Guild presumably has some degree of competence, and the guards can't be everywhere) they'll expensive to replace. No one cares if someone steals a 1 cp torch.Think about it this way. If someone needs a pencil and is given the choice between a normal 10 cent pencil, and a $500 pencil that will be good for life, which would the typical person choose. IME, the ten cent pencil will be the popular choice. It'll wear out sooner than later, but there's no stress about losing it. Eventually that $500 pencil might pay for itself, but that's a long ways off, especially if that's your rent money (or in the case of a government official, money for throwing lavish parties and building vacation homes). I'm not saying that the local ruler wouldn't have a Continual Flame for his study, or even perhaps several in his dining hall. I just don't think he'd line the streets with them. That would require a very progressive leader at a minimum, IMO.The point is that the wizard shouldn't know when its a good time to waste his most powerful spell. If I were this guy's enemy, I'd do my utmost to find out when he casts the spell and use that as an opening to attack. Sure, his 1st - 8th slots are a threat, but if I'm also a 17+ level wizard, I want both surprise and knowing that my opponent's biggest gun is unusable. He could use Wish to cast Symbol. It's perhaps a bit more practical to just use a 7th level slot to do so though. He can use all the money he made de-wrinkling those nobles to ignore the cost of the mats after all. That way he has his 9th level slot when he actually needs it. As the saying goes, "it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it".EDIT:What I'm saying is that cost isn't necessarily the best way to avoid the outcome of accumulating permanent effects. If the character has easy ways to generate large amounts of income (and most casters do) cost is fairly trivial. Time is a very good limiting factor, since if you're rushing from adventure to adventure you're not pasting Symbol all over your tower. But that's not everyone's style of play and I get that.Barring time, potential threat is another good limiting factor. It's much the same reasoning as not wanting to waste a fireball on three kobolds because you don't know if something more dangerous is in the next room. If the players know that the dungeon is static and they can take a long rest after this fight, then it's not much of a concern. Similarly, the PCs should have some level of wariness even in their downtime. If you give them the equivalent of a 5MW during downtime, don't be surprised if they make the most of it.</blockquote>

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