Fool's Gold

This spell achieves the much sought-after goal of transmuting copper or brass into gold. Regrettably, the effect is temporary, but an amoral caster might seek to shift the consequent feelings of regret onto another person than him- or herself. Whatever motives drive the caster, he or she may use this spell to transmute roughly 2,000 copper coins (about a cubic foot) per caster level into a metal that closely resembles gold. Anyone viewing this metal has a chance to notice that it is not truly gold. If the result of d20 plus the caster’s level is equal to or less than the observer’s intelligence, the fraud is detected (the GM may pick a representative number for creatures whose exact intelligence is not known, or roll a die). By combining expensive material components with the spell, the caster can make it more likely that the gold will seem true—conversely, there are mundane methods that give a chance to detect this very spell, such as striking the “gold” with cold iron (10% chance of changing the metal back). The GM will decide for his or her campaign exactly what can be done to improve and detect this spell.