Hello everyone. I'm here to discuss an exploit that i have found in d&d 5e. (its my first exploit and my 5th ever post) it is a way for people to get infinite ink and A LOT OF GOLD from selling said ink. this is my own exploit and please do not copy but i also want feedback on potential flaws in this exploit.
(apologises in advance for incorrect spelling and grammar of all types i wrote this at like 4am)
In the Tomb of Annihilation adventure, in Omu, in the tomb of Annihilation, in the Dungeon of Deception (level 2) there is a corpse in the trap called the gravity ring. It belongs to a man from the company of the yellow banner and it has a very special item on it. "An ink pot that never runs dry" worth 100gp and is a common magic item (doesn’t specify that it is common but it seems rather basic and the base cost for a common magic item is 100gp) the definition of runs dry is “(of a source or supply) be completely used up.”
So the ink pot never runs out of ink. An ink pot holds 1 ounce of ink according to the player’s handbook and costs 10gp. This is vital. Now if we are assuming that gravity hasn’t broken and you can in fact pour 1 ounce per 6 seconds of ink out of this bottle (lets just say that for this purpose it does only pour out 1 ounce per 6 seconds I know it could probably pour a more and you probably should try with your DM but for the purposes of math and to simplify its 1 ounce per 6 seconds.) right so if you do the maths you will get 4 800 ounces of ink in a long rest of 8 hours. Now if each ounce is worth 10gp it would mean 48 000GP IN A LONG REST if you sold it all for the buying of price of 10gp.
EDIT: you would also have to buy the glass bottles that according to the Player's Handbook cost 2gp per bottle decreasing the profit.
But then there is the factor of “oh yeah you can only sell ink at a quarter of its buy price of 10gp so you would only get 2.5gp per ounce of ink” well yes but that is solvable. the only reason this is so is because there are other suppliers on the market so what you got to do is go around and either block the supply chain to the people you are trying to sell the ink too or simply just go and kill all the other ink suppliers. Then you can build a conveyer belt with a horse or something driving it and have empty ink pots going along it and have the ink be funnelled down through tubes into the pots and it would be almost completely automatic.
Keep in mind that this won’t work nearly as well if there is real economical consequences for a rush in supply or your dm might just say it doesn’t work because “stop breaking the game” "Assassins hired by enemy Inkers come to kill you for destroying their business" people start just killing you for destroying the economy" etc etc... also doing this in some random town will probably give you a LOT less money because nobody will be buying ink from the people you are selling it too. it is best in a big and highly academically minded city where people will be using a lot of ink.
(sorry everyone. some people keep writing about how if they were a dm or this might not work because interpretation. I KNOW i am looking for definite this will not work answers please. it doesn't say that the ink is dry it doesn't say that the ink disappears after use. i know many dms would not allow this because it relies on MUNCHKINERY (the art of judging things off what it doesn't say you can't do rather then what you can do.)
I also greatly appreciate everyone comments, i already received 3 in 11 hours.
Please ask if you would like to see my Shield Guardian Infinite Adamanite Exploit. (I am still working on it but almost finished)
You would also need to buy bottles which I estimate (there is no "empty ink bottle" item) to cost 5sp each. Aside from that the only problem you are likely to face is:
Keep in mind that this won’t work nearly aswell if there is real economical consequences for a rush in supply or your dm might just say it doesn’t work because “stop breaking the game”.
Stores/shops also aren’t going to buy ink from you. If no one is buying ink from them.
what is the supply and demand ratio for ink?
...... hrmmm....
and maybe this is just my personal view of it period...
as a DM, I would allow this, I would allow it to persist for... a decent amount of time in-game... and then, the constant assassination attempts and such happen, as people are being hired to take you and your party members all out, to take over this fortuitous franchise of ink.
basically. It would be a player engaging a delayed TPK.
if it was a module, start from beginning like an alternate timeline universe paradox. If it was Homebrew world, we have now time skipped, to where people know better than to do stuff like poor dead “xxxx” the Inker.
Meh, I think killing a PC for trying to optimize their ink bottle is a little harsh. If the player was being annoying about it, as a DM i'd start rolling a check to see if they stow their ink bottle with the cap loose in their haversack and wake up with it full to the brim of ink, or have the magic rub off on them after repeated use where their messy ink fingers are magically wet and smudgy forever leaving their fingerprints on everything, or something like that rather than jumping straight to death... some other sort of goofy penalty.
D&D isn't a computer game where the NPCs are written to buy your junk no matter how useless it is. Your DM has plenty of leeway to tell you that most shops you encounter aren't willing to buy more than 3 or 4 vials per week, or even not to buy your ink at all. Merchants that are moving thousands of gold of commodities probably aren't doing it in random one-off deals with strange smalltown shop keepers they've never met with before, any more than you or I would expect to be able to walk into a Kinkos and sell them a box van full of random printer ink they didn't order or ask for. Of course, I don't see any reason to punish players that are interested in exploring being merchants on the side, but the DMs job is to tune it to the point that prevents the player from seeing it as rewarding enough that they just retire as an ink merchant. I mean, or maybe that character can retire as an ink merchant, but in that event, the player should probably roll a new character who's more interested in doing heroic things.
Yeah, as a fountain pen enthusiast (read: nerd) I have a 3 oz. pot of black ink in my desk drawer. It's about half full, and I've had that bottle for literally YEARS.
So, you can produce a bazillion bottles of ink, but people are going to stop buying them after a point because you're producing it faster than anyone can use it. I'd say the scheme would work for a month or so, but then the market would be saturated and you'd just have a stockpile of ink with no buyers available.
As a DM, I would think about things like this: if it were possible to store ink outside of the magical vessel, don't you think the professional Wizard/adventurer whom owned it would have done it already? Or one of the many people whom probably saw him using it over time?
I'd say any ink spilled directly from the container vanishes immediately, and that the container only works with one writing implement at a time. Fill up an Ink pen, and use it to your heart's content. Draw ink from the container with a different implement, and all the ink in the other pen vanishes.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I guess it would vary from campaign to campaign, but I usually assume most people are illiterate and would have no need for ink. Sure PCs can read, but they are by definition exceptions. Seems like you have half of a business plan here. You’ve got a product, and a supply line, but there’s more to it than that. What is the target market? Why do you assume your world is in such desperate need of an ink supplier? And as others have pointed out, increasing the supply with no increase in demand will simply lower the price.
Now a mug of beer that keeps refilling could put a local brewer out of business. That I could see.
If the ink pot allows you to pour the ink out then you are correct that you could get an unending supply of ink.
However, as DM, I'd probably just say that whenever you dip a pen in the magical ink well it comes out with sufficient ink for writing. Turning it upside down doesn't do anything. This is consistent with both the intended function of the item and its description since the description doesn't specify how the ink is removed from the container, it just specifies it never runs dry. How it actually works can easily be imposed by the DM.
…you can in fact pour 1 ounce per 6 seconds of ink out of this bottle
That certainly is an assumption. As an inkwell, it might only have a small hole on top for dipping quills in it, and not be able to pour at all. The ink might be a solid block, requiring a little water each time you write with it. As a magic item, it might actually have no ink in it at all - magically creating ink only when a pen is dipped in.
Yeah, as a fountain pen enthusiast (read: nerd) I have a 3 oz. pot of black ink in my desk drawer. It's about half full, and I've had that bottle for literally YEARS.
So, you can produce a bazillion bottles of ink, but people are going to stop buying them after a point because you're producing it faster than anyone can use it. I'd say the scheme would work for a month or so, but then the market would be saturated and you'd just have a stockpile of ink with no buyers available.
Of which is where i said it would be best to set up this in an adademic city (which would probably only make it last for another month or so) but even then i do think also that it would not be Infinate Money. just a LOT of money for the average non exploit using player. especially from only 1 common magic item that works for EVERYONE.
…you can in fact pour 1 ounce per 6 seconds of ink out of this bottle
That certainly is an assumption. As an inkwell, it might only have a small hole on top for dipping quills in it, and not be able to pour at all. The ink might be a solid block, requiring a little water each time you write with it. As a magic item, it might actually have no ink in it at all - magically creating ink only when a pen is dipped in.
Those i think would be "GM saying this doesn't work because i don't want you breaking the game" situations. also have you seen an old fashioned ink pot? you can put 2 fingers through the hole fine (yes i am a nerd i've been to medieval meusiums before) but here are some possible arguments against them 1. if it has a small hole the size of an ink pen it can pour ink if tipped completely upside down. 2. ink does not work very well at all if dried. it would be useless its like comparing dried blood to liquid blood. dried blood is waste, relatively useless and unwanted. liquid blood keeps you alive in like 500 different ways. 3. if it only creates ink when a pen is dipped in then just keep the pen there just hold it in or tie it to the pot.
Yeah, as a fountain pen enthusiast (read: nerd) I have a 3 oz. pot of black ink in my desk drawer. It's about half full, and I've had that bottle for literally YEARS.
So, you can produce a bazillion bottles of ink, but people are going to stop buying them after a point because you're producing it faster than anyone can use it. I'd say the scheme would work for a month or so, but then the market would be saturated and you'd just have a stockpile of ink with no buyers available.
Of which is where i said it would be best to set up this in an adademic city (which would probably only make it last for another month or so) but even then i do think also that it would not be Infinate Money. just a LOT of money for the average non exploit using player. especially from only 1 common magic item that works for EVERYONE.
So here's the thing... this is not a common magic item. Technically, this isn't an item at all. It's a uniquely described piece of treasure with a flat value of 100gp--a novelty meant to be sold for cash. This thing only exists within the Tome of Annihilation adventure, and that's only if your DM wants you to have it to begin with. You can't just go to pick one up from your local Bards-R-Us.
I'll never understand why people want to "exploit" D&D.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Yeah, as a fountain pen enthusiast (read: nerd) I have a 3 oz. pot of black ink in my desk drawer. It's about half full, and I've had that bottle for literally YEARS.
So, you can produce a bazillion bottles of ink, but people are going to stop buying them after a point because you're producing it faster than anyone can use it. I'd say the scheme would work for a month or so, but then the market would be saturated and you'd just have a stockpile of ink with no buyers available.
Of which is where i said it would be best to set up this in an adademic city (which would probably only make it last for another month or so) but even then i do think also that it would not be Infinate Money. just a LOT of money for the average non exploit using player. especially from only 1 common magic item that works for EVERYONE.
So here's the thing... this is not a common magic item. Technically, this isn't an item at all. It's a uniquely described piece of treasure with a flat value of 100gp--a novelty meant to be sold for cash. This thing only exists within the Tome of Annihilation adventure, and that's only if your DM wants you to have it to begin with. You can't just go to pick one up from your local Bards-R-Us.
I'll never understand why people want to "exploit" D&D.
And to that is where i say: the dm doesn't need to know what you plan to do with it. i know it isn't technechally a common magic item but that makes no difference for this purpose anyway. and as a also said this is only in the tomb of annihilation adventure which this exploit could be used to completely derail or just help the players significantly along a campaign.
and why is it fun to "exploit" D&D?
i find it fun to gain power in particular. use the money to buy literally every other magic item on the market. then to build literal armies of spellcasters, summoned creatures, familiars, homelcuses, undead and even normal town guards. use a few magics to show off to your troops and demonstrate your "masterful powers that aren't only cantrip spells at all no way" to gain that tiny bit more loyalty. then to totally decimate hundreds of towns and build my own country and THEN send multiple thousands off to fight the BBEG at a time knowing that i have only been able to do this because of a fricking ink pot.
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Hello everyone. I'm here to discuss an exploit that i have found in d&d 5e. (its my first exploit and my 5th ever post) it is a way for people to get infinite ink and A LOT OF GOLD from selling said ink. this is my own exploit and please do not copy but i also want feedback on potential flaws in this exploit.
(apologises in advance for incorrect spelling and grammar of all types i wrote this at like 4am)
In the Tomb of Annihilation adventure, in Omu, in the tomb of Annihilation, in the Dungeon of Deception (level 2) there is a corpse in the trap called the gravity ring. It belongs to a man from the company of the yellow banner and it has a very special item on it. "An ink pot that never runs dry" worth 100gp and is a common magic item (doesn’t specify that it is common but it seems rather basic and the base cost for a common magic item is 100gp) the definition of runs dry is “(of a source or supply) be completely used up.”
So the ink pot never runs out of ink. An ink pot holds 1 ounce of ink according to the player’s handbook and costs 10gp. This is vital. Now if we are assuming that gravity hasn’t broken and you can in fact pour 1 ounce per 6 seconds of ink out of this bottle (lets just say that for this purpose it does only pour out 1 ounce per 6 seconds I know it could probably pour a more and you probably should try with your DM but for the purposes of math and to simplify its 1 ounce per 6 seconds.) right so if you do the maths you will get 4 800 ounces of ink in a long rest of 8 hours. Now if each ounce is worth 10gp it would mean 48 000GP IN A LONG REST if you sold it all for the buying of price of 10gp.
EDIT: you would also have to buy the glass bottles that according to the Player's Handbook cost 2gp per bottle decreasing the profit.
But then there is the factor of “oh yeah you can only sell ink at a quarter of its buy price of 10gp so you would only get 2.5gp per ounce of ink” well yes but that is solvable. the only reason this is so is because there are other suppliers on the market so what you got to do is go around and either block the supply chain to the people you are trying to sell the ink too or simply just go and kill all the other ink suppliers. Then you can build a conveyer belt with a horse or something driving it and have empty ink pots going along it and have the ink be funnelled down through tubes into the pots and it would be almost completely automatic.
Keep in mind that this won’t work nearly as well if there is real economical consequences for a rush in supply or your dm might just say it doesn’t work because “stop breaking the game” "Assassins hired by enemy Inkers come to kill you for destroying their business" people start just killing you for destroying the economy" etc etc... also doing this in some random town will probably give you a LOT less money because nobody will be buying ink from the people you are selling it too. it is best in a big and highly academically minded city where people will be using a lot of ink.
(sorry everyone. some people keep writing about how if they were a dm or this might not work because interpretation. I KNOW i am looking for definite this will not work answers please. it doesn't say that the ink is dry it doesn't say that the ink disappears after use. i know many dms would not allow this because it relies on MUNCHKINERY (the art of judging things off what it doesn't say you can't do rather then what you can do.)
I also greatly appreciate everyone comments, i already received 3 in 11 hours.
Please ask if you would like to see my Shield Guardian Infinite Adamanite Exploit. (I am still working on it but almost finished)
You would also need to buy bottles which I estimate (there is no "empty ink bottle" item) to cost 5sp each. Aside from that the only problem you are likely to face is:
Stores/shops also aren’t going to buy ink from you. If no one is buying ink from them.
what is the supply and demand ratio for ink?
...... hrmmm....
and maybe this is just my personal view of it period...
as a DM, I would allow this, I would allow it to persist for... a decent amount of time in-game... and then, the constant assassination attempts and such happen, as people are being hired to take you and your party members all out, to take over this fortuitous franchise of ink.
basically. It would be a player engaging a delayed TPK.
if it was a module, start from beginning like an alternate timeline universe paradox. If it was Homebrew world, we have now time skipped, to where people know better than to do stuff like poor dead “xxxx” the Inker.
Meh, I think killing a PC for trying to optimize their ink bottle is a little harsh. If the player was being annoying about it, as a DM i'd start rolling a check to see if they stow their ink bottle with the cap loose in their haversack and wake up with it full to the brim of ink, or have the magic rub off on them after repeated use where their messy ink fingers are magically wet and smudgy forever leaving their fingerprints on everything, or something like that rather than jumping straight to death... some other sort of goofy penalty.
D&D isn't a computer game where the NPCs are written to buy your junk no matter how useless it is. Your DM has plenty of leeway to tell you that most shops you encounter aren't willing to buy more than 3 or 4 vials per week, or even not to buy your ink at all. Merchants that are moving thousands of gold of commodities probably aren't doing it in random one-off deals with strange smalltown shop keepers they've never met with before, any more than you or I would expect to be able to walk into a Kinkos and sell them a box van full of random printer ink they didn't order or ask for. Of course, I don't see any reason to punish players that are interested in exploring being merchants on the side, but the DMs job is to tune it to the point that prevents the player from seeing it as rewarding enough that they just retire as an ink merchant. I mean, or maybe that character can retire as an ink merchant, but in that event, the player should probably roll a new character who's more interested in doing heroic things.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Yeah, as a fountain pen enthusiast (read: nerd) I have a 3 oz. pot of black ink in my desk drawer. It's about half full, and I've had that bottle for literally YEARS.
So, you can produce a bazillion bottles of ink, but people are going to stop buying them after a point because you're producing it faster than anyone can use it. I'd say the scheme would work for a month or so, but then the market would be saturated and you'd just have a stockpile of ink with no buyers available.
As a DM, I would think about things like this: if it were possible to store ink outside of the magical vessel, don't you think the professional Wizard/adventurer whom owned it would have done it already? Or one of the many people whom probably saw him using it over time?
I'd say any ink spilled directly from the container vanishes immediately, and that the container only works with one writing implement at a time. Fill up an Ink pen, and use it to your heart's content. Draw ink from the container with a different implement, and all the ink in the other pen vanishes.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I guess it would vary from campaign to campaign, but I usually assume most people are illiterate and would have no need for ink. Sure PCs can read, but they are by definition exceptions. Seems like you have half of a business plan here. You’ve got a product, and a supply line, but there’s more to it than that. What is the target market? Why do you assume your world is in such desperate need of an ink supplier? And as others have pointed out, increasing the supply with no increase in demand will simply lower the price.
Now a mug of beer that keeps refilling could put a local brewer out of business. That I could see.
If the ink pot allows you to pour the ink out then you are correct that you could get an unending supply of ink.
However, as DM, I'd probably just say that whenever you dip a pen in the magical ink well it comes out with sufficient ink for writing. Turning it upside down doesn't do anything. This is consistent with both the intended function of the item and its description since the description doesn't specify how the ink is removed from the container, it just specifies it never runs dry. How it actually works can easily be imposed by the DM.
That certainly is an assumption. As an inkwell, it might only have a small hole on top for dipping quills in it, and not be able to pour at all. The ink might be a solid block, requiring a little water each time you write with it. As a magic item, it might actually have no ink in it at all - magically creating ink only when a pen is dipped in.
Deleted
Of which is where i said it would be best to set up this in an adademic city (which would probably only make it last for another month or so) but even then i do think also that it would not be Infinate Money. just a LOT of money for the average non exploit using player. especially from only 1 common magic item that works for EVERYONE.
Those i think would be "GM saying this doesn't work because i don't want you breaking the game" situations. also have you seen an old fashioned ink pot? you can put 2 fingers through the hole fine (yes i am a nerd i've been to medieval meusiums before) but here are some possible arguments against them 1. if it has a small hole the size of an ink pen it can pour ink if tipped completely upside down. 2. ink does not work very well at all if dried. it would be useless its like comparing dried blood to liquid blood. dried blood is waste, relatively useless and unwanted. liquid blood keeps you alive in like 500 different ways. 3. if it only creates ink when a pen is dipped in then just keep the pen there just hold it in or tie it to the pot.
So here's the thing... this is not a common magic item. Technically, this isn't an item at all. It's a uniquely described piece of treasure with a flat value of 100gp--a novelty meant to be sold for cash. This thing only exists within the Tome of Annihilation adventure, and that's only if your DM wants you to have it to begin with. You can't just go to pick one up from your local Bards-R-Us.
I'll never understand why people want to "exploit" D&D.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
And to that is where i say: the dm doesn't need to know what you plan to do with it. i know it isn't technechally a common magic item but that makes no difference for this purpose anyway. and as a also said this is only in the tomb of annihilation adventure which this exploit could be used to completely derail or just help the players significantly along a campaign.
and why is it fun to "exploit" D&D?
i find it fun to gain power in particular. use the money to buy literally every other magic item on the market. then to build literal armies of spellcasters, summoned creatures, familiars, homelcuses, undead and even normal town guards. use a few magics to show off to your troops and demonstrate your "masterful powers that aren't only cantrip spells at all no way" to gain that tiny bit more loyalty. then to totally decimate hundreds of towns and build my own country and THEN send multiple thousands off to fight the BBEG at a time knowing that i have only been able to do this because of a fricking ink pot.