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NowhereMan583
2012-10-28, 01:37 PM
So, in the last session of the 3.5 campaign I run, the PCs unexpectedly decided to conduct a full-out raid of a Hextorian fortress. One of them was searching the commanding officer's quarters for magical items; I figured it would only make sense for there to be something cool in there, but since I hadn't planned for this, I had to improvise, and I told her that the pen-and-inkwell set on the officer's desk lit up when she cast detect magic.

They haven't looked into its properties yet, and none of them can cast identify, which has bought me some time to figure out what this thing does. What I've come up with so far is that it is one of several like it that are linked to a much more powerful version kept in the general's HQ; the general distributes them to her most trusted subordinates, and they are used to coordinate military action & maintain control over the regions that the Hextorians claim as their own. Depending on what kind of ink one puts in the inkwell, it has a variety of different powers, ranging from the relatively-mundane to the terrifying.

However, my creativity is limited, and I've only come up with a few different powers that this inkwell might be able to manifest. To make it more interesting for the players, I'd like to get a wide range of different things that the inkwell can do, so I thought I'd do what I normally do when I need good ideas, and appeal to the Playground.

Here's what I have so far:



Properties of the Inkwell of Authority

With Black Ink:
A copy of any document written with the pen-and-inkwell set appears by the Primary Inkwell (in General Mathilde’s HQ).

With Red Ink:
It is impossible to write a deliberate falsehood in red ink using the pen-and-inkwell set.

With Blue Ink:
To anyone but the addressee, documents written in blue ink appear to be mundane lists of minor expenses, receipts, &c.

With Ink Made From Elderberries:
Casts suggestion (save DC 15) on any creature who reads the text.

With the Blood of an Appropriately-Blessed Child Sacrifice:
Casts implosion (save DC 25) on any creature whose name is written with the inkwell.



Do any of y'all have ideas for things I could add?

Sith_Happens
2012-10-28, 02:07 PM
With the Blood of an Appropriately-Blessed Child Sacrifice:
Casts implosion (save DC 25) on any creature whose name is written with the inkwell.

:smalleek:

...

:amused:

...

http://images.wikia.com/villains/images/2/24/Light_Yagami.jpg

endoperez
2012-10-28, 08:46 PM
There's that item that allows you to paint non-magical items into being. Something like that, but written? Possibly requiring a Knowledge: Arcana check for an item's "true name" or some such.

"True names" stuff could also be used to justify just about anything.

Summon Planar Ally, Dominate Person/Monster, any long-range targeted spell, etc.

MarsRendac
2012-10-28, 09:41 PM
Gold ink + some kind of magical fluff
Writing the name of a type of LE/LN/NE outsider of X or fewer HD in Infernal summons that creature as a planar ally spell.

Grey ink
Any literate creature who reads words written in grey ink understands them as if by a comprehend languages spell.

I like the suggestion of painting objects into existence as well.

Incom
2012-10-29, 09:28 AM
There should be one that works as a written version of Sending, i.e. it causes the message to appear near someone and allow for a response.

Ozfer
2012-10-29, 08:05 PM
I like the colored/ink type idea. However, you should try and think of a power for each ink color, and not all effects should be good (The reasoning being that the paper was not enchanted specifically for all colors). It goes without saying, the players should have to experiment to see what the paper does.

holywhippet
2012-10-29, 09:07 PM
Orange ink - Explosive runes, used when sending messages to people you just don't like.

Green ink - once read the writing vanishes completely.

Molten gold with diamond dust - whatever is written works like a limited wish spell.

MarsRendac
2012-10-29, 11:10 PM
I like the colored/ink type idea. However, you should try and think of a power for each ink color, and not all effects should be good (The reasoning being that the paper was not enchanted specifically for all colors). It goes without saying, the players should have to experiment to see what the paper does.

I like all of this. Perhaps less "evil" colors--white, pink, lavender, yellow--have sepia snake sigil, explosive rune, or similar effects. Or any color not otherwise accounted for is automatically bad.


Orange ink - Explosive runes, used when sending messages to people you just don't like.

Green ink - once read the writing vanishes completely.

Molten gold with diamond dust - whatever is written works like a limited wish spell.

Vanish when read is fluffy as a bunny and very clever. I like the limited wish idea as well, but perhaps an alignment check would be in order?

NowhereMan583
2012-10-30, 12:53 AM
I like the idea of limited wish and the whole writing-things-into-being concept... but they'd need to be tied to materials that aren't only expensive, but difficult or unethical to obtain. The PCs also raided the treasury while they were there, so they have a lot of cash to throw around, and I don't want to make it too easy to access the high-power abilities of the inkwell.

I've added the "vanish when read" and sending abilities -- tied to green ink and walnut-ink, respectively.

I'm also adding the following:

With Pine-Soot Ink:
Paper animates, attempts to carry out whatever instructions are written on it. Effect lasts 15 minutes.

endoperez
2012-10-30, 08:55 AM
A thought crossed my mind - you will have to price the inks against scrolls of similar effect, with a slight discount because the use is limited to those with the writing equipment. The SRD has rules for making items with 10% to 30% discounts if they have skill or class restrictions.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#otherConsiderations

I'd say it's the 10% one, with the relevant skills being something like knowledges, Profession: Scribe, Forgery or something similar.

If consider all the inks as "scrolls" requested by the owner of the writing set, think about how useful it is to be a Fighter and still be able to use "scrolls" without heavy skill investment. Or to be a Cleric, and use Arcane "scrolls".

This means different officers could have invested their own money to get custom "scrolls". This also means that the players can make their custom inks with a slight discount.

I suggest presenting the item to the players as-is, and if they're interested, then investing more work into it. However, it seems like it could become very interesting toy for the players.

PrismCat21
2012-11-01, 12:08 AM
Don't forget to take into account that a good adventurer 'WILL' come up with unique and overpowered ways to use the ink.

My first thought about what they may come up with concerned tattoos :belkar:
What would be the effect I wonder, if someone tattooed a message onto themselves or others. Maybe even a pictures or animals :smallbiggrin:

http://www.deviantart.com/download/14695508/Elektra__Tattoo_by_pbozproduction.jpg
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110218155411/narutofanon/images/a/af/Darui_black_lightning7.png

I think he was underrated in the movie.

MarsRendac
2012-11-01, 12:11 AM
Meh, simple handwave though. The ink is worthless if it's not used on nonmagical paper or parchment. Now if you're willing to argue a lich's skin as parchment... well played.

Sith_Happens
2012-11-01, 01:07 AM
I'll reiterate: You're giving your players a Death Note and asking us to come up with more powers for it.:smallconfused:

endoperez
2012-11-01, 04:19 AM
I'll reiterate: You're giving your players a Death Note and asking us to come up with more powers for it.:smallconfused:

Yes. In a world where magic exists and can be protected against, tracked, and is recognized, and the powers are limited.

D&D powers are more powerful than anime powers, generally speaking.

The "you are already dead" guy from Fist of the North Star is a MONK in D&D...
The way shonen charactrs are beat to a pulp but still stand up, owing to nothing but their willpower? How else do you explain that a Fighter 3 can take out 3 times as much punishment as a Fighter 1?
And as for anime magic users, they often resort to beam spam. Magic Missile, anyone?

some guy
2012-11-01, 06:21 AM
With ink made from Mandrake sap:
The act of writing with this ink will have the same effect of an Hide from Undead spell, but in a 10 ft. radius. (The words or symbols written down don't matter, it's the act that matters)

With ink made from a Mycyonid:
Writing down someone's will make everyone forget that person, someone will remember that person if he/she reads the person's name.

ReaderAt2046
2012-11-01, 10:44 AM
Lemon juice- Turns whatever it's written on invisible until the juice washes/wears off (about 24 hours barring showers/immersion). Also turns the inkwell invisible.

Yellow ink. Absolutely ineradicable (can't be scrubbed off and immune to erase) Glows fairly brightly.

Your Blood: Whatever you write down will come true, but Exact words may be involved.

Sith_Happens
2012-11-01, 11:59 AM
Yes. In a world where magic exists and can be protected against, tracked, and is recognized, and the powers are limited.

Implosion on anyone whose name you know, at any distance and without LoS, is hardly "limited" or easy to protect against. I'll give you the "tracked" and "recognized" bits, though all that really does is change the detective's question from "Who is the killer?" to "Where is the killer?" (if you seriously try to pull a Kira on 3.5-land without Mind Blank then you deserve whatever happens to you).

NowhereMan583
2012-11-01, 01:24 PM
Implosion on anyone whose name you know, at any distance and without LoS, is hardly "limited" or easy to protect against.

Right, but check the material component. Traditional murder-hobo tendencies notwithstanding, that's a hell of an alignment check. And I don't intend to leave any of that stuff lying around... even if they figure out how to use that power, what do you think it would take for a good-aligned party to sacrifice a child to Hextor? It's not exactly going to be their go-to solution.


With ink made from a Mycyonid:
Writing down someone's will make everyone forget that person, someone will remember that person if he/she reads the person's name.

I really like this one.

endoperez
2012-11-02, 12:12 PM
Right, but check the material component.

This is what I meant. The powers only have a limited amount of uses. Sorry for the confusion.

ReaderAt2046
2012-11-02, 03:34 PM
Pink ink: Write two names with pink ink. Whoever names you wrote down will fall instantly and madly in love the next time they become aware of each other. If one or both of the parties is married, the spell still works.

snikrept
2012-11-02, 10:01 PM
* Ink admixed with earth: showing writing in this ink to any animal casts speak with animals, imparting whatever instruction was written.

* Ink admixed with bone dust: reading what is written in the presence of any remains of a sentient being casts speak with dead, asking whatever question was written.

* Ink with a pinch of ruby dust: writing in this ink causes whatever is written, when read aloud, to cast amplify on the reader's voice, and also to trigger a mass remove fear centered on the speaker.

* Ink admixed with glass powder, plus a 500 word description of a specific place (make the player actually write it out): when read aloud grants the reader clairvoyance and clairaudience of that place, at any range.

* Ink of displacer beast blood, plus a 500 word description of a specific place: when read aloud, the page is consumed and expands into a 10' by 10' portal to that location for 30 seconds.

Errors in description have a % chance to fizzle the effects and also attract the attention of a hostile resident of the astral plane.

* Ink of onyx and vampire dust, plus the name and an accurate sketch of any specific person (make the player provide the sketch): When read in the presence of that person, who fails their will save, traps them in a dimensional pocket inside the page. Concentration for a full round on the sketch of the trapped person animates the sketch and allows limited verbal communication with the interior of the dimensional prison. Reading their name from the page a second time releases the person unharmed. Burning the page releases the person and also deals them 20d6 fire damage, fort save for half.

endoperez
2012-11-03, 05:43 AM
Personally I'm against making the players do extra work for the game. Why would you want to encourage players to only play characters who have similar skillsets to the players themselves? Only artists can play characters who can draw, wizard played by a dyslexic can't write a description, etc.

some guy
2012-11-03, 08:44 AM
Personally I'm against making the players do extra work for the game. Why would you want to encourage players to only play characters who have similar skillsets to the players themselves? Only artists can play characters who can draw, wizard played by a dyslexic can't write a description, etc.

Have you ever tried it? I once provided my players with a bit of Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments*, my players used it to try and someone their one designed monsters. It turned the whole battle into pictionary and was the most fun session I ever had.
(players would draw what they'd like to summon, other players would give them points based on that picture, those points were a bonus for their perform (paint) skill.)
Of course, in my example, it was only for one session (well, they still have the item), everyone was equally bad at drawing and it wasn't necessary. If one would make it a main mechanic in one's campaign and there would be one player who would excel in it, it would be a different matter.


*Misspelled magical items: Nolzur's marvelous pigmen

Incom
2012-11-03, 09:10 AM
Harmful/potentially undesirable effects should require the target to fail a save (probably Will in most cases). Seems fair.

snikrept
2012-11-03, 09:46 AM
I figured the added labor of having to actually write or draw would be an interesting limit on the abuse of what would be effectively at-will scrying, teleporting, and administering save-or-die attacks. Also, as pointed out above, careful prep of a sketch or written document might be more fun than just "you have to get a really rare ingredient." Would also encourage the players to ask the DM to provide rich descriptions of everything, and to pay close attention to said descriptions, because it actually helps them power the item.

Heliomance
2012-11-05, 08:35 AM
Blood of the person writing: any contract written in the scribe's own blood is enforced by means of a Geas upon all signatories of the contract. Remove Curse and Limited Wish will not end this effect unless cast directly upon the contract, and the parchment bearing the contract becomes impossible to damage or destroy unless the Geas is first ended (magically or by completion)

Lvl45DM!
2012-11-09, 10:02 AM
Light grey fades after being read once.
Opalescent causes confusion on writer and reader?

Qwertystop
2012-11-09, 06:31 PM
Ink made from a paper-water slurry dissolves the paper locally, leaving slits exactly matching the writing.

You did say some inks shouldn't be any good, after all.

TuggyNE
2012-11-09, 07:35 PM
Ink made from a paper-water slurry dissolves the paper locally, leaving slits exactly matching the writing.

You did say some inks shouldn't be any good, after all.

That's actually awesome if you take the logical next step and use it as a stencil. Especially if this dissolution effect is magical and can work on, say, thin flat pieces of wood or even metal: easy printing for all! :smalltongue:

ReaderAt2046
2012-11-09, 08:09 PM
If you use kiwi juice as ink the paper turns into a kiwi bird?