Satellite communication

[Melcar]

Is there any sort of thing which permits long range continual two way communications, which could be set up like a satellite communications device the army could take with them when they set up their Forward Operations Bases?

I'm looking for a non spell way of communications with high command from afar!

[Inevitability]

Are magic items allowed? Ring Gates can do what you want quite well.

Alternatively, use infinite loop cheese to get +infinity to Listen, have the other camp whisper messages at set times and use your superhuman ears to hear them.

[King of Nowhere]

If you want a completely nonmagic way before electricity, the best I can give you are clak towers like those in discworld (a line of clockwork towers with mechanical arms that can be moved to make signals, and on every tower a worker that sees the message through a telescope and copies it for the next tower). Very expensive and work-intensive, but I figure a prosperous nation could set one up for important communication.

If you want some small magic, I figure object linked to move together would be the cheapest. In my campaign world they use small paired bells, you ring one, the other rings too, so you can keep them apart and use them to communicate in a sort of morse. A very cool concept are spanreeds from the stormlight archive: basically two pens that can be linked together to move in the same way, so you pick up your pen and a paper, and the other pen writes the same message on a similarly placed piece of paper on the other side of the world. You can also send drawings that way.

[Melcar]

Magic is allowed indeed, but I prefer not just to have a mage cast a spell every time the battlefield commander needs to talk to high command. Preferably something akin to a mirror or crstal ball or something like that, so one could have either communications like with a phone or perhaps via video call...

[Elkad]

I seem to remember seeing magically linked books somewhere.

Write in one, it appears in the other.

But it's possible it was just a fantasy novel, not D&D.

[torrasque666]

I seem to remember seeing magically linked books somewhere.

Write in one, it appears in the other.

But it's possible it was just a fantasy novel, not D&D.
I remember that one too, no idea where though.

[Inevitability]

Cast Rary's Telepathic Bond. Cast Permanency. Now anywhere between two and six creatures are permanently telepathically linked and can communicate with each other at will.

[Khedrac]

I seem to remember seeing magically linked books somewhere.

Write in one, it appears in the other.

But it's possible it was just a fantasy novel, not D&D.

I remember that one too, no idea where though.
I think magically linked books appear in quite a few fantasy novels, but one of the more noticable ones is the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind.

Magically linked scrolls - scrolls of communication - are a magic item in BECMI D&D so you may be thinking of them.

As for 3.5 D&D, a pair of Crystal Balls with Telepathy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#crystalBall) could be used for this function, but it would be a bit of overkill.
More practical would probably be a wand or custom magic item of Sending.

[Inevitability]

As for 3.5 D&D, a pair of Crystal Balls with Telepathy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#crystalBall) could be used for this function, but it would be a bit of overkill.

The Crystal Balls of Detect Thoughts would also work and are quite a bit cheaper. Or hell, just write some notes for this express purpose and have the other guy scry them.

[Celestia]

I seem to remember seeing magically linked books somewhere.

Write in one, it appears in the other.

But it's possible it was just a fantasy novel, not D&D.
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls?

[shaikujin]

The magic videophone company - use Aspect Mirrors from Complete Scoundrel, 4k gp. No range limitation.

Set up a phone company to sell portable videophones at 8k each (you need 1 pair), a monthly subscription charge of 99 gp, plus a per minute charge of 1 gp...

Give 1 of the pair to the customer, keep the other mirror at the phone company.

When customer Joe wants to "call" a friend (who also needs to buy a phone and subscription) have an operator put the paired mirror in front of the paired mirror belonging to Joe's friend.

Improvements:
1) make a sound-proof box to put the mirrors in.
2) make slots to put the mirrors so that they are the right distance from each other
3) for 3-party video conferencing, make more slots to fit 3 mirrors in a triangle so that each can see the others
4) for 4 or more participants, arrange the aspect mirrors to face a large mundane mirror so that everyone can see everyone else
5) use a construct as the operator
6) or to automate it, craft the aspect mirrors as inteligent items capable of moving on their own

[Melcar]

I seem to remember seeing magically linked books somewhere.

Write in one, it appears in the other.

But it's possible it was just a fantasy novel, not D&D.

I want to say Harry Potter, but its probably found in many settings as pointed out...


Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'm going to look into them all and get back to you!

[ExLibrisMortis]

There is such a thing as a heliograph (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliograph). Using reflected sunlight and mirrors, you can non-magically communicate across dozens of miles. If you want literal satellite communication, bounce the light off of a magical orbital amplifier.

[shaikujin]

1 more method - employ lots of Dvati as messengers.

They should take the " Listen to This" skill trick to perfectly replicate what they hear.

1 twin stays at HQ/Base. The other gets attached to the commanders on the field.

While they cannot perceive what the other twin sees or hears, they can speak to each other telepathically without issues.

So
1) General at HQ tells the Dvati at HQ a command to be relayed
2) Dvati telepathically repeats this to his twin on the field using "Listen to this" to replicate exactly what was said (including voice and tone)
3) Dvati on the field uses the same skill trick to repeat the command to his field commander

[lbuttitta]

Sending stones?

[fire_insideout]

Cast Rary's Telepathic Bond. Cast Permanency. Now anywhere between two and six creatures are permanently telepathically linked and can communicate with each other at will.

This, and then lock these people in maximum security rooms so that they cannot reveal the secrets they relay. Welcome to the path to becoming a villain.

[barakaka]

An item of at will Congress of Shadows would work. It's a lvl 2 mystery or in other words a spell that sends 5 words +1 per caster level across a mile per caster level. The words are telepathically sent to a creature you who you know and who's location is known to you.

[Eldariel]

Just have someone Shapechange (or other Polymorph-line stuff with Assume Supernatural Ability/Metamorphic Transfer including Polymorph Any Object for permanent transformation) into Formian Queen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/formian.htm#queen) (50 mile telepathy) or some other creature with massive Telepathy and act as a communications hub for the duration of the ability (all day). You need just one-two to convey all information you might ever want instantaneously. Let alone Spell Weavers [MMII] with their 1000 mile Spell Weaver-telepathy; thus two communications hubs and then some local information delivery service.