Worth its weight in gold

[Saxavarius]

The players handbook lists a pound of salt as being worth 5 gold; I see this a way to make ridiculous amounts of gold through the spells Wall of Salt and Flesh to Salt (Mass). A seventh level Druid can create a block of salt 60x60x6 inches which weighs about half a ton (1000 pounds)and is worth 5000 gold. Are there any other low/mid level spells that can be used to generate an income like this?

I know that this is almost made of cheese and any DM would beat me senseless with a book yelling "NO!", but i enjoy finding loopholes that can generate silly amounts of gold.

[TuggyNE]

I've heard wall of iron is very helpful for that.

[wotmaniac]

if you ignore stuff like supply-demand, there's always taking a 10ft ladder, splitting it in half to make 2 10ft poles, for a 800% ROI.
rinse and repeat as necessary.

[oslecamo]

So, since when did your splintered ladders filled with holes are considered market-quality 10ft poles?

Seriously, this is your average ladder:

(click to show/hide)

And this is your average pole

(click to show/hide)

No, breaking the ladder will not result in two poles.

[RobbyPants]

So, since when did your splintered ladders filled with holes are considered market-quality 10ft poles?
No, breaking the ladder will not result in two poles.

Iron pots and iron, then. Iron is valued at 1 sp per pound, and a 10 pound iron pot is valued at 5 sp... but the iron itself is valued at 10 sp. On the off chance that someone refuses to buy the pot for it's iron at 10 sp, just break/deform it so it's no longer a pot! 


Yes, that's obviously a typo/oversight, but it's pretty much the same as the ten-foot pole thing. I agree that a pole with holes isn't the same as a pole, but what I do find stupid is the thought of the identical pole with holes somehow has a lower manufacturing cost, since the material cost would be identical.

[wotmaniac]

@ oslecamo:
yes, that is what a should be the answer for any game that has any sanity to it; but the OP did say "cheese for which the DM will beat you"
Oh, and +1 to what RobbyPants said.

[oslecamo]

So, since when did your splintered ladders filled with holes are considered market-quality 10ft poles?
No, breaking the ladder will not result in two poles.

Iron pots and iron, then. Iron is valued at 1 sp per pound, and a 10 pound iron pot is valued at 5 sp... but the iron itself is valued at 10 sp. On the off chance that someone refuses to buy the pot for it's iron at 10 sp, just break/deform it so it's no longer a pot! 

Fair enough there.

Yes, that's obviously a typo/oversight, but it's pretty much the same as the ten-foot pole thing. I agree that a pole with holes isn't the same as a pole, but what I do find stupid is the thought of the identical pole with holes somehow has a lower manufacturing cost, since the material cost would be identical.

Whoever said that ladders are made with poles? Most ladders I ever saw have their lateral supports done with rectangular structures, while a pole is always a cylinder. And yes, round structures are harder to do in wood than right angle planks.

Your average ladder's side part isn't a pole with holes anymore than a iron mace is a sword. They just happen to have roughly the same lenghts and being done on the same material, but the design is completely diferent and you'll need some extra craftmanship more than "spliting in half" to get them to be the same.

TO have this awful habit of extrapolating left, right and center to this ridiculous degree that they have left RAW behind some millions of miles ago, like in this case, cylinders being the same as rectagular boxes with holes.

If you're gonna talk about loopholes, talk about actual ones, not stuff you made up.

[Kajhera]

It's not a low-level spell...
But Summon Monster 7, for a djinni, is pretty good. Got a threefer of permanent things with Create Food and Water (meh), Create Wine (yay), and Major Creation which is permanent for vegetable matter (!).
Even if it's too easily dispelled to sell, a very useful source of supplies for, say, a binder. (Or anyone else, but they can cast the spells themselves more easily, probably).

[sirpercival]

Shadowcraft True Creation and just make platinum.

[RobbyPants]

Whoever said that ladders are made with poles? Most ladders I ever saw have their lateral supports done with rectangular structures, while a pole is always a cylinder. And yes, round structures are harder to do in wood than right angle planks.

It seems cylindrical ones might be easier to manufacture (just taking existing trees/branches of the right thickness and using those), but all in all I think I have to agree with you. Almost any example of a ladder I can find is indeed rectangular, which wouldn't fit the description of poles.

[wotmaniac]

Wow, I didn't realize that would get so much hate ... especially with this disclaimer:

yes, that is what a should be the answer for any game that has any sanity to it; but the OP did say "cheese for which the DM will beat you"

besides, a hand plane (specifically, a spokeshave) + some sandpaper + about 20 minutes = a pole (albeit with some holes in it).  Done.  We're talking about a friggin' generic, general-utility pole -- it's not like it's necessarily a precision piece of equipment.

[Halinn]

Whoever said that ladders are made with poles? Most ladders I ever saw have their lateral supports done with rectangular structures, while a pole is always a cylinder. And yes, round structures are harder to do in wood than right angle planks.

It seems cylindrical ones might be easier to manufacture (just taking existing trees/branches of the right thickness and using those), but all in all I think I have to agree with you. Almost any example of a ladder I can find is indeed rectangular, which wouldn't fit the description of poles.

Planks will be made for housing as it is. This means you can just go to a sawmill and purchase some quantity of them to turn into ladders. For poles, you would need to refine things a fair amount from there.

[wotmaniac]

I sincerely apologize for that derail -- I seriously didn't think that it would be such a point of contention.
let's just move along.

[linklord231]

Looking at the drawing of both the Ladder and the 10' Pole on pg 130 of the Player's Handbook, I can see the confusion.  It's difficult to tell whether the side posts of the ladder are cylindrical or rectangular in the drawing - personally I think they're rectangular, but I could see it the other way too. 
As an aside, I originally thought of a ladder as 2 10' poles with rungs crudely lashed to it with ropes or something.  You know, something that looks like it was constructed out of stuff you can find in the wilderness or hobble together from parts. 

 
A Chicken Infested Commoner can generate infinite wealth by selling the chickens he pulls out of his spell component pouch for 2cp each.
Has Fabricate been mentioned yet? 

[Endarire]

Wall of sand = sand castles for pun and srofit.  Or something.

[kitep]

D&D get-rich-quick comics

http://stripgenerator.com/gallery/?tags=economicon