Am I reading Glyph Seals right?

[Malphegor]

So, Glyph Seals are a relatively cheap item (1000gp) in Magic Item Compendium, page 161, which allow the user to store a Glyph of Warding-esque version of a 2nd level or lower spell of either divine or arcane source, deployable by pressing the Seal into the object

(which, presumably means that the wizard could key his seals, hand them to his familiar, then during combat the familiar, unseen, starts pressing these cubes around the battlefield)

(The more pricey version does it from a spell level of 5 or higher which is strange as there's a gap in the levels these cover... Is there anything special in the spell levels 3-4 that WOTC were avoiding with these? Maybe the attribute buff spells like bull's strength? That can presumably be bypassed with metamagic bumping up the spell level, but it is a weirdly random pair of spell levels to avoid.)

It specifically does not have the Glyph of Warding limitation mentioned of only harmful spells (though I suspect that would be a perfectly reasonable assumption on RAI, as it reads like it was intended to be 'oh yeah that cleric spell you normally cannot move well here's a item to carry it around'... except it's worded as its own thing that resembles GoW but is not the same thing.) , so presumably buffs can be used with these things too.

[BowStreetRunner]

Interesting. I'd always read these items as duplicating Glyph of Warding/Greater Glyph of Warding but with a spell level limit one level lower than the actual spell. So the Glyph Seal (2nd or lower) is a weaker version of the Glyph of Warding (3rd or lower) while the Greater Glyph Seal (5th or lower) is a weaker version of the Greater Glyph of Warding (6th or lower).

However, it says '5th or higher'. While I believe this is probably a typo, it's not listed in the Errata.

EDIT: Note also that Glyph Seal states that it functions 'similar to a glyph of warding' while Greater Glyph Seal states that 'it functions as the greater glyph of warding spell', which is a significant difference. This would imply that the Greater Glyph Seal inherits the rules for harmful spells from the Greater Glyph of Warding.

Poor wording choices. :smallannoyed:

[ezekielraiden]

It seems to me both spells have that text, so either they both do or both don't. "An activated glyph seal functions as the spell glyph function of a glyph of warding and can be detected and disabled as a magic trap (DC 30)." (Italics in original, underline mine.)

I have a different question: regardless of whether it is for damage spells only or for any spell, what characteristics does the spell retain? E.g. I'm an Archmage, I have Master of Elements so I can turn fire damage into sonic damage. Does that mean I can put (say) a sonic cone of cold into it?

And when you have prepared a glyph seal in this way, does it lock down the slot you used to cast it? Can you make a sort of reverse pearl of power, by storing into a glyph seal a spell you'd like to save for later, sort of like a reusable scroll?

[Deophaun]

It seems to me both spells have that text, so either they both do or both don't. "An activated glyph seal functions as the spell glyph function of a glyph of warding and can be detected and disabled as a magic trap (DC 30)." (Italics in original, underline mine.)
Bolded a very important part. A glyph seal that doesn't have a spell in it is not activated (it needs to be keyed with the spell first, then it can be activated be affixing it to an object later), so storing a spell functions only as described by the item, not as described by the spell.

The greater glyph seal, meanwhile, says it functions as the spell without any regard to its activation status.