What constitutes 'Worked Stone'?

So, for purposes of mud to stone, what constitutes 'worked stone'? If someone uses the rock to mud, mud to rock trick for building a castle, what do they need to do with the finished rock to make it 'worked' and therefore immune to having this spell used on it again?

Hm. There's a philosophical argument to be made that the effort of making the forms/etc. and the moving and pouring counts as "working it", from several angles.

Anywhoo:

In the case of natural stone, I'd say the smoothing/fixing/etc. done to the immediate surface would count it as 'worked'; but I'm under the impression that most uses of this spell don't result in natural crags. However, it's likely that mud is going to leave some uneven spots, cracks, holes, etc. that would need to be fixed.

Alternatively, a veneer has to be applied to "hide" the stoned-mud. 

In both cases, if one assumes that a stonemason must assay and fix at least the first foot-depth of the stoned-mud, be that fix, carve, or veneer, we know that a stone wall costs .25 GP per cubic foot - so each square foot of the stoned-mud would cost .25 GP to "work".

At the max sq. footage of 3,000 sq ft, that'd be 750gp; or 1,500gp if one needs to do both sides of a wall or something.

Seems cheap, maybe, not sure. The most balanced answer might be that it costs whatever the time and money was that you saved doing it in the first place...

 

Here's how I intended it. Feel free to rule otherwise if this doesn't make sense to you, of course!

1. The spell relies on elemental forces, and - following the common trope - raw elemental forces are weakened by the trappings of civilization. Stone that's been cut, quarried, shaped, and mortared is harder to effect.

2. As a result, Rock to Mud doesn't work on worked stone. 

3. Mud is easier to effect, so even if you transport it and pour it into forms, it can still be effected by Mud to Rock, because mud is not worked stone. It's mud.

4. Once the mud is converted into rock within the forms, it becomes worked stone, and can no longer be effected by the spell.

 

And that's the philosophical argument I was going to make :)

The elemental (real or magical) nature of the stone isn't changed by the spell - it's not actually transmuted into what we'd consider "mud" - it's just much much softer and malleable, and changing it's shape is "working it", whether it's by hand or chisel.

Probably ought to just rename the spell to "Soften Stone" and call it a day.

 

Our community is remarkably agreeable in finding solutions to matters.

What can we do to create a great schism? I shan't forgive myself if my game never becomes large enough to be torn into factions that thrive on battering their rivals over minor technicalities.

 

 

Would mud to rock really help much at all in the scheme of things?  I would think that by the time you paid the casters, you may very well just have put on more workers to mine and shape the stone.  Though I guess if you dont have the stone close it could be somewhat useful.

[quote="Alex"]

Our community is remarkably agreeable in finding solutions to matters.

What can we do to create a great schism? I shan't forgive myself if my game never becomes large enough to be torn into factions that thrive on battering their rivals over minor technicalities. [/quote]

I guess you would need to make a second edition with controversial but still quite effective/useful rule changes, or just ambigiously worded rules. :)