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[LeoLeonardoIII]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2340112_extract-iron-from-sand.html

So, in my next D&D game, the players will have nothing but a magnet and a ziploc bag, but will have to provide the beach-faring civilization with iron to craft weapons!

EDIT: LOLZ WRONG FORUMZ

EDIT2: In that case, I'm on the writing team for my uni's next D&D tournament. It isn't until March, but we meet next week to start throwing around setting ideas. What do you guys think, have anything cool to share? I'm thinking of setting it in a Roman Empire-esque fantasy land, and having one of the PCs be a travelling bard with a magic violin that could change the fate of the world. I would call it Strings & Iron. Which is what I searched (making sure I wasn't subconsciously remembering it from somewhere else) when I found this.

Anyway, on-topic. You should look into Egyptian or Mesopotamian culture at their height. Mesopotamia was bronze-age, so was Egypt. Iron existed in small quantities, but not steel, and bronze was slightly better.

Another would be a Lord Dunsay + Poul Anderson-influenced Danish / Scandinavian Viking sort of thing. Dark Ages,  Ironworking.

[Chthonic]

:/

This is why you have a referee.

Player: I read off the scroll of Gate, bring in an Efreet. My first two wishes are for two more Gate scrolls, and my third wish is for a +5 Vorpal Scythe.
DM: I get what you're doing. Do you guys still want to play this game? Because I have things I can do on a Saturday night.
Player: Well can I get away with it just once?
DM: Uh, let's see. Trade a 4,000 GP scroll for three 200,000 GP scythes. All signs point to no.

I thought greedy players of this ilk were actually an opportunity for a "be careful what you wish for" type adventure.  For example, the player could get a +5 Vorpal Scythe that does something else . . . like, maybe it belongs to the God o' Death (and he wants it back!)  Or it could be a +5 Vorpal Scythe at 1:10 scale (letter opener).  Or make the blade rusty and the handle the vorpal part.  Or make it old-fashioned cursed, so that it welds itself to the player's hand the first time it's used in combat, after which the player can be as badass as he wants . . . while having to rely upon his companions to be fed and bathed.

1d4 damage +2 per caster level. This can be cast by a 3rd level Cleric. Ten jars per bag, 12 envelopes per jar. That's 120d4+720, save for half, in a 5' diameter explosion.

I'd make a DM ruling that an explosion of that intensity would spread a bit farther than 5' . . .

[a1s]

You use one of the Efreet's wishes for another Candle of Invocation. Then burn that one for another gate targeted at another Efreet.

let me break this down for you:
a)you get a candle.
b) the candle let's you cast a spell
c)the spell has a kicker cost (or whatever it's called): 1000XP to get a creature to you and temporarily under your command.
d)you sats the spell, losing one candle, and pay the kicker (losing 1kXP) and command an efreet.
e) you get the efreet to give you another candle, and, for ease of accounting, 50,000 gold worth of radium in safe packages.
TOTALS: you have +50K gold -1K EXP
do this enough times and you will be level 1 again.
note: you cannot wish for more XP.
This scam doesn't work infinitely.
also, there's now a clan of efreet out to get you and they're extremely pissed off.

This is why you have a referee.

In a real environment I subscribe to this idea wholeheartedly. Rules in the book should be guidelines more than laws of nature.
However rules-lawyering can be fun too (it's like being on the debate team).

[beorn080]

I thought greedy players of this ilk were actually an opportunity for a "be careful what you wish for" type adventure.  For example, the player could get a +5 Vorpal Scythe that does something else . . . like, maybe it belongs to the God o' Death (and he wants it back!)  Or it could be a +5 Vorpal Scythe at 1:10 scale (letter opener).  Or make the blade rusty and the handle the vorpal part.  Or make it old-fashioned cursed, so that it welds itself to the player's hand the first time it's used in combat, after which the player can be as badass as he wants . . . while having to rely upon his companions to be fed and bathed.

Unfortunately, the wording of the spell wish, as RAW, doesn't let this happen. When using it to craft magic items, you get exactly what you wish for. The balance is supposed to be the cost, 5000 XP, plus twice the cost of actually crafting them. So for a +10 weapon, it would be 21000XP. The abuse comes in the fact that, as a SLA, the Efreet casting the wish doesn't use XP.

As for the kicker, its already paid in the crafting of the Candle. It doesn't effect you. As for the clan of angry Efreet,

1st wish: Candle of Invocation
2nd wish: Scroll of Genisis
3rd wish: +50 enhancement bonus to Use Magic Device, plus constant etherealness, slotless

As a short term use, The player doesn't need to provide anything for the Efreet. Go ethereal, use your massive UMD bonus to cast Genesis, hide in your personal demiplane that no one else has access to. Build yourself up with more Candle cheese, then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Oh a1s that's why the player would ask for Gate scrolls instead of new candles. The XP cost of a spell is a required expenditure for whoever makes the item in the first place. But because Wish is so generously worded, it looks like you could Wish for any magic item.

Asking for a 50-charge Wand of Gate wouldn't be possible because wands are for spells of up to 6th level I believe. Might be wrong.

Asking for a book with 50 pages, each page of which is a Gate scroll, also stretches the Wish description because it says you can get a magic item, not 50.

then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

Like Anakin! Except the Efreet didn't do anything wrong, their only crime was possessing such delicious powers.

[beorn080]

then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

Like Anakin! Except the Efreet didn't do anything wrong, their only crime was possessing such delicious powers.

You could polymorph them into something tasty, then serve them for dinner.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

Like Anakin! Except the Efreet didn't do anything wrong, their only crime was possessing such delicious powers.

You could polymorph them into something tasty, then serve them for dinner.

Wish for them to polymorph themselves into something tasty!

[beorn080]

then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

Like Anakin! Except the Efreet didn't do anything wrong, their only crime was possessing such delicious powers.

You could polymorph them into something tasty, then serve them for dinner.

If you made them polymorph into chocolate golems, and they ate themselves, is that cannibalism?

Wish for them to polymorph themselves into something tasty!

[Pathos]

then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

Like Anakin! Except the Efreet didn't do anything wrong, their only crime was possessing such delicious powers.

You could polymorph them into something tasty, then serve them for dinner.

Wish for them to polymorph themselves into something tasty!

If you made them polymorph into chocolate golems, and they ate themselves, is that cannibalism?

The question is not if it's cannibalism, but whether it's cannibalism or self harm. 

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Yes. I think anyone eating themselves is technically a cannibal.

Actually a chocolate golem makes me wonder what the limits of a Construct are. After all, a Clone spell creates a "construct" of flesh and bone and blood. Yet it evidently still has the same creature type.

I dunno where that goes, or if it goes anywhere.

then slaughter the Efreet's with your new found power.

Like Anakin! Except the Efreet didn't do anything wrong, their only crime was possessing such delicious powers.

You could polymorph them into something tasty, then serve them for dinner.

Wish for them to polymorph themselves into something tasty!

If you made them polymorph into chocolate golems, and they ate themselves, is that cannibalism?

The question is not if it's cannibalism, but whether it's cannibalism or self harm. 

Self-abuse.

[a1s]

alright then, why not cut out the middleman? ring of 3 wishes!.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

alright then, why not cut out the middleman? ring of 3 wishes!.

Why not a Ring of Three Dozen Wishes?!

[beorn080]

You could use that as well. Though it is slightly iffy if a ring wish can be used to create magic items, due to paying to cost up front.

[a1s]

It's not any more absurd than the candle thing. Either XP costs are always paid, or never.

[beorn080]

The XP cost for the candle is paid initially in the creation. The ring has its specific XP costs spelled out. Honestly, it doesn't matter too much. If the candle's XP cost bothers you, wish for scrolls of gate instead. Great thing about a +50 UMD, even as a commoner you can cast any scroll.