Nice uses for Stone Shape

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5 >>

There are no RAW restrictions on the weapon you can form and weapon, not improvised weapon, is specified.

There is also no statement that you can form any arbitrary weapon: as long as it's possible to create at least one type of weapon the text is valid.

There is an explicit statement that you can form a weapon.

Quote from MaximusArael020 >>

There are some restrictions on the type of weapon, however, as it does comment on "no finer mechanical detail than 2 hinges and a latch."

This requires an understanding of the weapon by the DM/players because there is no explicit restriction on the weapon list itself. Thus, this is a DM's call what is and is not possible.

Quote from MaximusArael020 >>

So a crossbow would be totally out. You could also a make a bow, but it really would be more of a statue of a bow, because the stone still retains the properties of stone after it has been formed, and stone does not behave like wood and string to make a functional bow. The same would be true I would say for something like a flail. The chain, as I would rule as a DM, would be too mechanically complex to form out of stone as per the limit on two hinges and a latch. Same for the whip.

Itacolumite is flexible but probably wouldn't create a functional bow or crossbows. In a fantasy setting there may be particularly flexible stones or metals. I am not aware of any in any standard D&D settings. I want to say that a simple crossbow can be made with just a latch, but suffers from the same problem of bows, slings, and whips in terms of requirements. Flails, three-section staffs, and some other weapons would definitely be difficult to fit within the mechanical restrictions.

Quote from MaximusArael020 >>

But if you want to use a 4th level spell to craft a perfectly useable stone longsword or stone axe or stone halberd, sure. It's non-magical and has no additional properties, so by the time the party is at a level where you can cast this spell it will mostly be not particularly useful to have a stone battleaxe.

Yep, but still, options are options. Also, consider that you may have access to it sooner as a scroll. Make a door in the next wall or arm the barbarian after the party was disarmed?

Quote from MaximusArael020 >>

A question might be could you use one use of Stone Shape to make multiple stone javelins. I would rule no, as the spell states that you can make "a" shape, and all of the examples are of making one thing. However, honestly, if one of my players wanted to use Stone Shape to make 5 stone javelins out of a 5ft section of stone, I probably would let them, as to me this doesn't really seem overpowered. But that's not RAW.

It's not RAW unless you get creative. If you join the javelins with a weak section that can be easily broken, you are making a single shape (and the entire shape is still constrained by size), but you may then be able to break off individual sub-objects. "A weapon" is given as an example, but not as a restriction. It can certainly be taken as RAI that only one weapon is possible per casting.

This, and much of the spell, is definitely "ask y our DM" territory, but there are multiple reasons for it. What does your DM allow? What are the properties of the stone are you dealing with? Will your tool proficiencies affect the result? And so on. Discuss with your DM what is possible.

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5 >>

There is an explicit statement that you can form a weapon.

Yes, you can explicitly create a weapon. That does not require it to be possible to create any weapon, it just requires being able to create at least one weapon. There's no evidence that shape stone can be used to make things that cannot be made out of stone, it just leaves it up to the DM what those things are, and it may vary with the type of stone you started with (pretty much any stone could be shaped into a club).

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5>>

Quote from MaximusArael020>>

There are some restrictions on the type of weapon, however, as it does comment on "no finer mechanical detail than 2 hinges and a latch."

This requires an understanding of the weapon by the DM/players because there is no explicit restriction on the weapon list itself. Thus, this is a DM's call what is and is not possible.

Correct. This is true for anything created by the spell, as the only specific restrictions are "size" and "two hinges and a latch." So everything is going to be up to the DM, unless the player specifically says "I'm making a shape with THREE hinges and TWO latches!!" But we can use those strict limitations from the spell text to extrapolate, which is why I said there are restrictions to the type of weapon you can make, based on the limit of mechanical complexity. If there WASN'T that stated limit, one could argue that you could make a gatling gun out of the stone, seeing as the stone could be as complex as needed to fulfill the mechanical requirements. 

Quote from MaximusArael020>>

So a crossbow would be totally out. You could also a make a bow, but it really would be more of a statue of a bow, because the stone still retains the properties of stone after it has been formed, and stone does not behave like wood and string to make a functional bow. The same would be true I would say for something like a flail. The chain, as I would rule as a DM, would be too mechanically complex to form out of stone as per the limit on two hinges and a latch. Same for the whip.

Itacolumite is flexible but probably wouldn't create a functional bow or crossbows. In a fantasy setting there may be particularly flexible stones or metals. I am not aware of any in any standard D&D settings. I want to say that a simple crossbow can be made with just a latch, but suffers from the same problem of bows, slings, and whips in terms of requirements. Flails, three-section staffs, and some other weapons would definitely be difficult to fit within the mechanical restrictions.

They can only shape the stone they have access to, not change the type of stone that it is. So if you give them access to interesting stone with fantastical properties, then yes you would have to account for the different things they could make with stone with those fantastical properties. Maybe they encounter a stone that, when made into a shape of a small man, comes to life. *shrug* guess that's the case. But for the most part, with 99% of all real-world-like stone they might encounter, something like a bow or a crossbow are not feasible due to how stone actually works. 

Quote from MaximusArael020>>

But if you want to use a 4th level spell to craft a perfectly useable stone longsword or stone axe or stone halberd, sure. It's non-magical and has no additional properties, so by the time the party is at a level where you can cast this spell it will mostly be not particularly useful to have a stone battleaxe.

Yep, but still, options are options. Also, consider that you may have access to it sooner as a scroll. Make a door in the next wall or arm the barbarian after the party was disarmed?

Yes, and if they want to use that option to create a permanent non-magical stone battleaxe to arm the barbarian, then the spell has proved useful. I'm just saying that being able to make a stone "normal" weapon, like a battleaxe, warhammer, halberd, etc with a 4th level spell isn't game-breaking or overpowered at all. 

Quote from Pantagruel666 >>

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5 >>

There is an explicit statement that you can form a weapon.

Yes, you can explicitly create a weapon. That does not require it to be possible to create any weapon, it just requires being able to create at least one weapon. There's no evidence that shape stone can be used to make things that cannot be made out of stone, it just leaves it up to the DM what those things are, and it may vary with the type of stone you started with (pretty much any stone could be shaped into a club).

Yes, a club is possible, but so are a number of other weapons tools that were available during the stone age and beyond. The spell is one big ask your DM what's possible. Clubs most likely are not the only weapon option.

Quote from MaximusArael020>>

Quote from MaximusArael020>>

So a crossbow would be totally out. You could also a make a bow, but it really would be more of a statue of a bow, because the stone still retains the properties of stone after it has been formed, and stone does not behave like wood and string to make a functional bow. The same would be true I would say for something like a flail. The chain, as I would rule as a DM, would be too mechanically complex to form out of stone as per the limit on two hinges and a latch. Same for the whip.

Itacolumite is flexible but probably wouldn't create a functional bow or crossbows. In a fantasy setting there may be particularly flexible stones or metals. I am not aware of any in any standard D&D settings. I want to say that a simple crossbow can be made with just a latch, but suffers from the same problem of bows, slings, and whips in terms of requirements. Flails, three-section staffs, and some other weapons would definitely be difficult to fit within the mechanical restrictions.

They can only shape the stone they have access to, not change the type of stone that it is. So if you give them access to interesting stone with fantastical properties, then yes you would have to account for the different things they could make with stone with those fantastical properties. Maybe they encounter a stone that, when made into a shape of a small man, comes to life. *shrug* guess that's the case. But for the most part, with 99% of all real-world-like stone they might encounter, something like a bow or a crossbow are not feasible due to how stone actually works. 

Yep. It can be an interesting opportunity to toss in a Nature roll to identify special properties. Itacolumite was just an example of a real-world, somewhat flexible stone that might have some interesting nonconventional uses. You could have fantasy stones that have a greater degree of flexibility making stone bows viable (similar to alchemically treated leaf armor used by elves from an old 3.x Dragon Magazine article) or stone that was abnormally lightweight that it could float or be used as armor segments (the 2 hinges and a latch restriction pretty much nixes all forms of stone armor though).

Perhaps you have extremely durable stone that can only be worked by Stone Shape.

It's not just an opportunity to get free tools and weapons that rock ... It's opportunity to interact with the world and any world building that has been laid out (ahead of time or on the spot).

Quote from SmiteMakesRight_3_5 >>

Yes, a club is possible, but so are a number of other weapons tools that were available during the stone age and beyond. The spell is one big ask your DM what's possible. Clubs most likely are not the only weapon option.

 Sure. You can make any weapon that the DM thinks can be made from the stone you have. Common types of stone are pretty cruddy materials for much of anything (to the extent that making hinges is kinda laughable) so the DM should probably be generous, but anything dependent on being flexible or elastic is just not something rock does.