Magical talisman

[chrisgray86]

Ok got a question for you I am currently in a 3.5 campaign and our current goal is putting together pieces of a talisman we have two pieces of it so far out of either 6 or 8 doesn't really matter. But I was thinking that if we had a forgery made that it might be of some benefit. Here is the problem we have a really old picture of the whole thing and its slightly magical but we don't know what kind of magic. So if we have a copy made it would not hold up to close scrutiny but if your across the room saying to the bad sorcerer well we have the whole talisman it could buy us a little time at the least. so how do you make a forged talisman, magical? Put some sort of magic item inside the forgery?

[Moonwolf727]

Ok got a question for you I am currently in a 3.5 campaign and our current goal is putting together pieces of a talisman we have two pieces of it so far out of either 6 or 8 doesn't really matter. But I was thinking that if we had a forgery made that it might be of some benefit. Here is the problem we have a really old picture of the whole thing and its slightly magical but we don't know what kind of magic. So if we have a copy made it would not hold up to close scrutiny but if your across the room saying to the bad sorcerer well we have the whole talisman it could buy us a little time at the least. so how do you make a forged talisman, magical? Put some sort of magic item inside the forgery?

There is a handy first level spell called Magic Aura (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicAura.htm) that might be just what you're looking for, assuming you can afford to prepare and recast it every X days (X being your caster level).

[CaladanMoonblad]

Do you have competitors for this talisman? That's really the only reason for a forgery.

Otherwise, I agree. Magic Aura is your best bet... does anyone in your group have Detect Magic? If so, the other pieces should have a school associated it provided someone succeeds on their Spellcraft check. Once you have the school, find another spell similar to it (like Light if it is Evocation- which doubly blinds the person looking at it to search for it being a fake).

[Slipperychicken]

how do you make a forged talisman, magical? Put some sort of magic item inside the forgery?

It's assumed that magic item creation involves things like ritually burning obscure monster parts like ogre skulls and displacer fangs, along with expensive nonsense like diamond powder, and drawing funny-looking magic symbols in troll's blood while chanting arcane dweomers.

[Spuddles]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_leoGYAeiH44/S8t_J7kA5mI/AAAAAAAAJco/Z8YjlXka3GI/s1600/Toht.jpg

[chrisgray86]

Do you have competitors for this talisman? That's really the only reason for a forgery.

Otherwise, I agree. Magic Aura is your best bet... does anyone in your group have Detect Magic? If so, the other pieces should have a school associated it provided someone succeeds on their Spellcraft check. Once you have the school, find another spell similar to it (like Light if it is Evocation- which doubly blinds the person looking at it to search for it being a fake).

not that I know of but I have a feeling that this bad sorcerer dude that's been playing kingpin over the city wants it and I was thinking that if we told him we had it and showed it to him we might get the "evil genus speech" of what he is up to before we kill him

[CaladanMoonblad]

not that I know of but I have a feeling that this bad sorcerer dude that's been playing kingpin over the city wants it and I was thinking that if we told him we had it and showed it to him we might get the "evil genus speech" of what he is up to before we kill him

Your GM might be using this fellow as their BBEG. Forcing a showdown too early may prove suicidal to your group : / I'd suggest laying low and hiding the pieces you already have until you know for sure what the fellow is capable of doing (such as Gather Information checks). Make sure if you do your plan, that you go in disguised as someone else; at least keep your own identities a secret. Perhaps send the fellow a note and your willingness to sell the item to him/her.

[chrisgray86]

Your GM might be using this fellow as their BBEG. Forcing a showdown too early may prove suicidal to your group : / I'd suggest laying low and hiding the pieces you already have until you know for sure what the fellow is capable of doing (such as Gather Information checks). Make sure if you do your plan, that you go in disguised as someone else; at least keep your own identities a secret. Perhaps send the fellow a note and your willingness to sell the item to him/her.

Well our rogue is part of a rather large thieves guild so we would probably go through him if we did it. And our GM is not forcing a showdown that I know of he is one of the best Gm's I have had so I think he has told us on several occasions we are outclassed before we do something the rouge wanted to sneak attack this guy and he was warned before that that would be an extremely unwise action. Im Just thinking ahead

[Mutazoia]

Keep in mind that there is a very high probability that this other person will already possess one or more pieces of said talisman himself, so this kind of bluff will most likely fail horribly, especially if the pieces are distinct in appearance.

However if you still want to attempt it, you could, as Moonwolf pointed out, use Magic Aura to give your forgery a temporary....magic aura. For something a bit easier and longer lasting, you could cast Continual Light on a rock and bake it inside a clay replica of said talisman. However, logic dictates that said talisman, once assembled is going to be quite powerful, perhaps on the artifact scale of things, so simply holding up a lightly enchanted copy isn't going to cut the proverbial mustard.

My suggestion would be to skip the forgery all together and simply tell the guy you have all the pieces, and are not stupid enough to bring them with you to a meeting. That way he will either have some pieces and call your bluff, in which case you'll find out he has them, or he'll take the bait and buy you your time. Either way you don't risk your pieces.