TOPIC: Transmutation Classes

Marc D wrote:

Dave Autzen wrote:

Marc D wrote:

Helen wrote: I had no idea that there was transmuting at Gen Con! For some reason, I thought GC was too busy for transmuting.

This is good to know!

Gen Con only does transmutes for the final items, not the intermediate trade goods. So you'll need to have all the trade good tokens ready to go in advance.

Isn’t there an exception for international attendees, that they’re allowed to do any transmute? I could be wrong as I live in Illinois so normally just use the mail.

Yes, there is. I forgot about that since I'm also in IL and just use the mail

Wait, what?!? Thanks for mentioning this as I had no idea!

Cassie, Laz's offer to show you how transmutes work is very generous, and I highly encourage you to take him up on it. He routinely works in the transmute room at cons--he's an expert. I agree that sitting with someone as they show you how it works on real tokens will probably be a lot more clear than just reading about it.

If you have any specific questions about transmutes, feel free to ask them. For what it's worth, here's a couple of tips I wish I knew earlier than I did:

1. Rare, Uncommon, and Common tokens turn into trade goods. Ten Monster Bits turn into 1 Golden Fleece. Gold can be transmuted into 1k, 5k, or 25k bars.
2. One type of trade goods takes 25 of a particular type of token to make a trade good. (Aragonite, Dwarven Steel, Elven Bismuth, Minotaur Hide, Oil of Enchantment.) For example, you need 25 rare weapons or armor to make 1 Aragonite.
3. The other type of trade goods take 25 units of the appropriate tokens to make a trade good. (Alchemist's Ink, Alchemist's Parchment, Darkwood Plank, Enchanter's Munition, Mystic Silk, Philosopher's Stone.) A rare is 6 units, uncommon is 3 units, and common is 1 unit. So, you could make a Darkwood Plank by turning in 8 uncommon tokens plus 1 common token that turn into DP, or any other combination that adds up to 25. (I did that a lot when I was starting out. As you gather more tokens, you could wait until you have 25 uncommon tokens that turn into DP, and just turn that in for 3 DPs. You can also turn in 25 rare tokens that turn into DP in order to get 6 DP.)
4. Tokens printed in 2018 or later (mostly) have a two-letter code at the top. It tells you what the token transmutes into. For example, "AG" is Aragonite and "PS" is Philosopher's Stone. For older tokens, you can always check the token database for the "Exchange Program Classification" line to confirm.

Just to expand on BeLinda's sage advice and hopefully help folks to remember what converts to what:

• Armor and/or weapon tokens require exactly 25 physical tokens (not unit equivalents) of the same rarity when converting them to trade goods.
• Monster trophies (aka monster bits) are the only type that require 10 tokens to convert into a trade good--specifically, Golden Fleece.
• If the token is not a weapon, armor, or monster trophy, it requires 25 units (C=1, UC=3, R=6) to convert into trade goods.

I'm not sure if the following tips are going to be useful to a lot of people, but one never knows:

• A stack of 25 tokens is ~3.5 inches (89mm) tall. If you're exchanging for Aragonite , Dwarven Steel , Elven Bismuth , Minotaur Hide , Oil of Enchantment and the stack of tokens you're sending in isn't 3.5" (80mm) tall, you've probably made an error.
• A stack of 10 tokens is ~1⅜ inches (34mm) tall. If you're exchancing for Golden Fleece and the stack of tokens you're sending in isn't 1⅜" (34mm) tall, you've probably made an error.

I forgot one thing:
5. Recent (2019 forward) completion and treasure-box only tokens (greaves, monster trophies, the rare treasure-box only amulets) have small dots on either side of the two letter transmute code at the top of the token. This is a visual reminder that the token is special in some way. Now, if you have plenty of rare greaves and need mystic silk, it's totally fine to transmute the greaves into MS. You just might want to check to see if the completion or treasure-box only item is worth more than an average rare or uncommon. Two recent rare completion tokens, the Belt of the Brave and Ioun Stone Jasper Ellipsoid, for example, are worth more as-is than as 6 units of mystic silk or darkwood plank.

And all of these things are why I think a class on it would be very helpful to a lot of people. There just so many things to remember, what can go into want and if something is worth more or not.