[Lyinginbedmon]

At level 5, a character can afford a single scroll of Monstrous Thrall with the XP instilled for a single HD/level creature, assuming he makes the appropriate skill checks required, for 6,325 GP (4,112 GP with Mercantile Background and haggling). Assuming a Cleric with the Domination domain and a 19 Wisdom, he only needs to make one UMD check, and can achieve at least a +13 on UMD checks (5 ranks, Skill Focus (UMD), and an item for +5 competence with the left-over cash)

Dave the Slavedriver
Human Cleric 5
Domains: Domination, X

Human: Mercantile Background
1: Skill Focus (use magic device)
2: Skill Knowledge (use magic device)

I'm sure there's a domain somewhere that nets you UMD as a class skill, that would free up a feat.

Okay, because of Skill Knowledge we get UMD as a class skill, so we plumb 8 ranks into it. UMD is Charisma-based, so for now we won't assume anything over 10 on Charisma because Cleric casting is Wisdom-based.

We need to have at least an 18 Wisdom to start, putting our 4th level bonus on top of that for thr requisite 19 for 9th level spells like Monstrous Thrall.

For 2500 GP we can get a +5 competence item to UMD, and Divine Insight nets us another +10 to our check to use it.

Total: +26 out of 18
So obviously we can afford to cut back a bit, maybe get rid of the competence item for some new armor or a nice sauna somewhere
At most, we can cut the item and Skill Focus.

The scoll's DC to mimic the caster level is 17+1 or 18, we can easily make this, so we can assume we'll always succeed at using the scrolls.


Let's say this character, Dave, uses his scroll to permanently dominate a 1st level Expert, Jim. Dave orders Jim to work himself to the bone at his usual job, as a Fletcher, and send all the money not needed to sustain himself to Dave's bank account (Deliveries to which are sent under assumed names to assumed names, etc. to ensure no-one gets wise to the scheme).

After about 15 years, Dave has enough money to buy another scroll, and dominates another 1st level Expert, Bob. He gives the same commands to Bob as he did to Jim, and after the better part of 8 years he gets another scroll and dominates another worker, and so on and so forth.

Eventually, Dave has managed to place permanently under his control 31 workers, who toil at their jobs day and night living off just enough of their Profession income to survive. With 31 1st level workers each with a +7 to Profession (4 ranks +3 Skill Focus), he can now afford to buy a new scroll twice a year (6325 GP versus ((10+7)/2x31)x52 GP), with a little excess on the side.

This has taken course over 61 years, so we'll assume that either Dave the 1st gave the order to follow his family in successive generations, replacing the workforce as necessary, or he went Necropolitan and took the workers with him.

The end result is that with a minor legion of workers unswervingly following Dave's commands, he's on the receiving end of about 41,612 GP each year (Minus 31 multiples of living costs per annum if the workers are still living), almost 5 times what the ordinary 5th level character starts off with.

Buying up an extra pair or more of workers each year, Dave is getting richer and richer without having to worry about his workers flooding the market as with most other legion workforce ideas.

Ideas? Comments?

[Raven Bloodmoon]

That would make an interesting plot for a very "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" adventure. A lich / vampire / undead dude enslaves a bunch of people in one district of a city like that. I might use that idea, actaully. Hehe. Thanks, Lying.

[Rintaran]

Mmmm. Do I smell sweat-shop capitalism? The invention of the assembly line? Some sort of slave-driven economic revolution? I think I do!

Sounds really evil. I wonder how well it would work out in an actual campaign.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

I don't know how well it'd work if a PC is doing it, but I'd love to give it a shot as an adventure. Should make an interesting mystery with a big showdown at the end.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Rintaran, on Aug 9 2007, 01:37 AM, said:

Mmmm. Do I smell sweat-shop capitalism? The invention of the assembly line? Some sort of slave-driven economic revolution? I think I do!

Sounds really evil. I wonder how well it would work out in an actual campaign.

Because of the time it takes to implement, it's best to do this as a background thing for a long-lived PC, especially if they're starting at level 5 or higher.

[Vaskre]

What if the person dominating the experts is an elf...and for that matter, so are the experts? Feasibly, you could extend this little scheme to over 500 years...

[Lyinginbedmon]

Yes you could indeed do that, in fact it seems like something the more insidious elves of good society would come up with. Although that said, I hear the elven economy really stinks.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Naw. My necromancer has been selling elves on the black market for years. There's still plenty of demand for the little cookie-baking goose-stepping bastards.

[Edit]
Did Mr. Censor turn off? I don't remember what the replacement word for bastard was...

[Lyinginbedmon]

I remember it being something like Beavers/Badgers/Brownies, but it's been ages since I've seen ti in action.

Anyone have any thoughts on cutting the cost down? The further down the cost goes, the earlier the level this can be accomplished and the faster it becomes exponential.

Haggling (Part of the Diplomacy skill from Complete Adventurer) cuts the cost down by 10%
Mercantile Background allows you to, once per month, by an item at 75% of it's offered price (Among other things not useful here).

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Well, if we capture an efreeti, we can make it wish us all the gold we need....

[Lyinginbedmon]

Capturing an Efreeti is a tricky endeavour for a 5th level character

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Hmm...well, I'd mention various illicit acts, such as prostitution and slavetrading, but I don't think you mean that sort of method of getting cash sooner. I'll think on it.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Okay, reaching the summit of the Highest Spire from Complete Scoundrel allows you to receive a 10% discount on goods and services within the same city up to a maximum discount of 1,000 GP. Mercantile Background is from Eberron Campaign Setting and can only be taken at 1st level, allowing you to buy an item for 75% of it's offered price once per month. Haggling is from Complete Adventurer as an alternative use for Diplomacy, altering the target to Helpful status cuts the price by another 10%.

My rules lawyer has reminded me of the stacking nature of percentages, since my drugged status at present looped it from me. Here's the progression of the applications:

Base: 6325 GP
Mercantile Background: 4743.75 (6325*0.75)
Haggling: 4269.375 (4743.75*0.9)
Highest Spire: 3842.438 (4269.375*0.9)

The latter two are fairly interchangeable. At this cost, we can get 2 after 46.78 years total, and reach exponential increase by 51.81 years. Dwarves and Gnomes can handle it now, as can Half-Elves who are approaching Middle Age. However, one could argue by the nature of the applications that Highest Spire comes first followed by Mercantile and then Haggling, which would still be the same price at 60.8% of the base price.