Sending Letters to difficult to reach recipients

[Jowgen]

Lets say you want to send a letter over a long distance, through a hard to navitage enviornment, to someone in a restricted area within an enemy nation replete with magical protections.

Sure, there are plenty of spells to convey spoken/telepathic messages, or even have full on conversations, but there is something to be said about the personal feel of a handwritten letter.

Animal Messenger is limited by the abilities of a regular tiny animal. The Stamp of the Messenger from Waterdeep is better by creating an animated construct to deliver for you, but is limited to two miles.

So what is your go to?

Is there an obscure spell somewhere that does the "burn parchment and it rematerializes near target" trope?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jowgen
Animal Messenger is limited by the abilities of a regular tiny animal.

Blackpoll warblers can fly two thousand miles nonstop over open ocean, with no food or water, in three days at most. Don’t give up on Animal Messenger.

[Afghanistan]

Blackpoll warblers can fly two thousand miles nonstop over open ocean, with no food or water, in three days at most. Don’t give up on Animal Messenger.

That is actually really damned near impressive, and as barbaric as this question might sound (I'm asking for a friend), how do they taste?

[hewhosaysfish]

Is there an obscure spell somewhere that does the "burn parchment and it rematerializes near target" trope?

Teleport Object?

[Jowgen]

Blackpoll warblers can fly two thousand miles nonstop over open ocean, with no food or water, in three days at most. Don’t give up on Animal Messenger.

Okay, so for certain deliveries there might be suitable animals, but lets say you wanted to deliver to a wholly different ecosystem than what they're native to?

Like, you're on the surface and want to deliver to an Underdark City. Or the you're in the underdark and want to deliver to an aquatic city?


Teleport Object?

Pretty sure using a 7th level spell slot to send a letter falls into the pointless flex category.


Someone please tell me I'm not alone in feeling like there has to be a simple way to get a piece of normal parchment from planet side A to B, at least as easy as all the verbal/visual communication options out there. :smallfrown:

[MisterKaws]

Okay, so for certain deliveries there might be suitable animals, but lets say you wanted to deliver to a wholly different ecosystem than what they're native to?

Like, you're on the surface and want to deliver to an Underdark City. Or the you're in the underdark and want to deliver to an aquatic city?



Pretty sure using a 7th level spell slot to send a letter falls into the pointless flex category.


Someone please tell me I'm not alone in feeling like there has to be a simple way to get a piece of normal parchment from planet side A to B, at least as easy as all the verbal/visual communication options out there. :smallfrown:

I mean, if you can get a letter to someplace, you can get an impact-activated stone of Apocalypse From the Sky there as well. I know that's flexing it even harder, but you get the idea.

Portal rings are a thing, and you could also just teleport yourself. Or flex your inner goody two-shoes and cast Create Lantern Archon.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jowgen
Okay, so for certain deliveries there might be suitable animals, but lets say you wanted to deliver to a wholly different ecosystem than what they're native to?

It feels a little like you're moving the goalposts here, since this wasn’t specified in the OP.

But in fact the blackpoll warbler satisfies the "wholly different ecosystem" requirement, since it summers in taiga (boreal forest) and winters in equatorial rainforest, which are two of the most disparate forest types on the surface of the planet.


Originally Posted by Jowgen
Like, you're on the surface and want to deliver to an Underdark City.

Bats, obviously.


Originally Posted by Jowgen
Or the you're in the underdark and want to deliver to an aquatic city?

Relay station: bats to the surface, then handoff to a stingray.


Originally Posted by Jowgen
Someone please tell me I'm not alone in feeling like there has to be a simple way to get a piece of normal parchment from planet side A to B, at least as easy as all the verbal/visual communication options out there.

Keep in mind that until the 1920s and the advent of regular airmail, there wasn’t a “simple” way to do this in our world—and airmail isn’t necessarily simple, either.

If you absolutely, positively want it to be a physical piece of parchment—as opposed to just reading the letter through a series of Sendings or whatnot—and if you have a paralytic phobia of small animals, then teleporting starts to look like a reasonable option.

For more creative (but less simple) approaches, I vaguely recall that unseenmage came up with an extradimensional filing system involving a multitude of crawling claws. That was a couple years ago and I can't remember the details, but if you check with him I'm sure he can tell you all about it. As with all of his inventions (e.g. clockwork spacewhale) it was madly inventive and entirely rules-legal.

Also, at the risk of being slightly too silly, you could take a page from the interdepartmental memos from Order of the Phoenix. If you want a simple, effective spell to deliver a physical piece of parchment, why not fold it into a paper airplane and send it on its way?

.

[TheCount]

You could go to a tavern, sit in a shadowy corner and wait untill some young idi- *ahem* adventurers come to you....

there is also the option to bargain with an outsider or fey to do it..... maybe an elemental?



For more creative (but less simple) approaches, I vaguely recall that unseenmage came up with an extradimensional filing system involving a multitude of crawling claws. That was a couple years ago and I can't remember the details, but if you check with him I'm sure he can tell you all about it. As with all of his inventions (e.g. clockwork spacewhale) it was madly inventive and entirely rules-legal.
you mean the one with the extradimensional spaces connected by ring gates? that a really clever idea btw......now, im imagining someone setting up a postal service with that all around the world.... does take out some of the exitment from "adventuring" in death worlds.... oh well, what some more safety and reliability in the name and sake of progress?

Also, that clockwork whale sounds VERY interesting:o gotta check that out....

[Jack_Simth]

Ring Gates (requires having given one to the target beforehand, has a range limit)
Lesser Planar Ally/Binding for something with at-will Greater Teleport (lots of outsiders have it)
Improved Familiar for something with at-will Greater Teleport (Lantern Archon, perhaps)
Summon Monster IV (Lantern Archon) for it's at-will Greater Teleport (also of note is that this is a 4th level spell vs. a 5th for Sending for a Cleric)

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jack_Simth
Summon Monster IV (Lantern Archon) for it's at-will Greater Teleport….

I hadn’t realized that lantern archons have this. Short of a custom Transpose Parchment spell, this seems like the simplest and most economical option. Lantern archons have a 50-pound weight limit for teleporting, but unless you’re sending cuneiform written on a slab this should answer all your parchment-bamfing needs.

[NNescio]

Summon Monster IV (Lantern Archon) for it's at-will Greater Teleport (also of note is that this is a 4th level spell vs. a 5th for Sending for a Cleric)

I hadn’t realized that lantern archons have this. Short of a custom Transpose Parchment spell, this seems like the simplest and most economical option. Lantern archons have a 50-pound weight limit for teleporting, but unless you’re sending cuneiform written on a slab this should answer all your parchment-bamfing needs.

Create Lantern Archon can let you have the Archon at one spell level lower. It's more annoying to cast though (1 hour casting time + 1d2 Con drain). The Con drain usually needs a L4 spell (Restoration) to fix, though there are a few ways to get around that.

Speaking of the spell... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?473413-Abusing-quot-Create-Lantern-Archon-quot-spell-(for-world-domination-))

(Note the thread OP.)

[Fizban]

Call up a trustworthy outsider, get their name, and arrange for some non-standard service. Your recipient casts a calling spell, bringing in the same outsider you handed the mail to, and then receives their mail. Also good for storage and shopping- the base properties of binding/ally are way more interesting than finding the perfect outsider to ability spam. Extraplanar banks, shops, and post offices can be accessed anytime, anywhere, by calling your account manager directly into your presence (possibly at a specific assigned time of day to avoid conflicts).

[Psyren]

Sure, there are plenty of spells to convey spoken/telepathic messages, or even have full on conversations, but there is something to be said about the personal feel of a handwritten letter.

Maybe, but when the recipient is behind restrictions like this...


Lets say you want to send a letter over a long distance, through a hard to navitage enviornment, to someone in a restricted area within an enemy nation replete with magical protections.


Okay, so for certain deliveries there might be suitable animals, but lets say you wanted to deliver to a wholly different ecosystem than what they're native to?

Like, you're on the surface and want to deliver to an Underdark City. Or the you're in the underdark and want to deliver to an aquatic city?

...then they can suck it up and get the message however I can give it to them :smallconfused: if the recipient resides in a completely different biome than the sender AND there are magical obstacles, they should consider themselves lucky if I can get them a message at all, never mind the medium I choose to do so.

[NNescio]

Maybe, but when the recipient is behind restrictions like this...


...then they can suck it up and get the message however I can give it to them :smallconfused: if the recipient resides in a completely different biome than the sender AND there are magical obstacles, they should consider themselves lucky if I can get them a message at all, never mind the medium I choose to do so.

OP's use case might be pertinent if someone wants to send a CV or product advertisements to a prospective employer or customer, I suppose?

(Or something that needs written documentation like applications.)

[Jack_Simth]

Create Lantern Archon can let you have the Archon at one spell level lower. It's more annoying to cast though (1 hour casting time + 1d2 Con drain). The Con drain usually needs a L4 spell (Restoration) to fix, though there are a few ways to get around that.Yes, but you need to go through some serious hoops or some expense to use it for such regularly. It's also a Sanctified spell, which makes it difficult for anyone south of neutral to get.

Meanwhile: Summon Monster IV for a Lantern Archon is Core, can be done by a Wizard or Cleric (or even a Sorcerer or Bard if they take the right spell known), and has no alignment dependency for non-Divine casters.

[RatElemental]

1. Use craft(origami) to turn the letter into a humanoid shape preferably with wings.
2. Cast animate objects on it.
3. Cast permanency on it.
4. Awaken it.
5. Send it on its way.

Bonus, it can ferry a response (memorized), and be used multiple times using an erase spell.

[MisterKaws]

1. Use craft(origami) to turn the letter into a humanoid shape preferably with wings.
2. Cast animate objects on it.
3. Cast permanency on it.
4. Awaken it.
5. Send it on its way.

Bonus, it can ferry a response (memorized), and be used multiple times using an erase spell.

Now you have to start thinking of the moral ramifications of writing on a sentient being.

[NNescio]

Now you have to start thinking of the moral ramifications of writing on a sentient being.

Int Ø, Wis 1, Cha 1.

It's a mindless automaton. Definitely non-sapient (what most people including D&D authors think about when they say "sentient"), and barely sentient (insects are more sentient*, really).

(*Using the philosophical definition, AKA "capable of perceiving/feeling" [has a Wis score in D&D terms]. Animal intelligence/rights definitions would be stricter.)

[Malphegor]

Maybe it's just me but I'd just hire a guy to walk with the letter to take it to the place and have the letter be cursed to explode in the event of someone other than the intended recipient opened it.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Malphegor
...I'd just hire a guy to walk with the letter to take it to the place....

The OP did specify that the destination was difficult to reach and magically protected. Pretty strong chance your letter would explode about the time your guy hit the first border checkpoint.

Also, reaching the Underdark or a deep-sea city could likewise be challenging.

.

[Telonius]

I wonder if you could hire out a member of the Bloodhound prestige class for something like this. The guy got tired of hunting bounties and became a mailman.

EDIT: Give him some ranks in Autohypnosis and Perform, and he could be the world's most powerful singing telegram.

[MisterKaws]

Int Ø, Wis 1, Cha 1.

It's a mindless automaton. Definitely non-sapient (what most people including D&D authors think about when they say "sentient"), and barely sentient (insects are more sentient*, really).

(*Using the philosophical definition, AKA "capable of perceiving/feeling" [has a Wis score in D&D terms]. Animal intelligence/rights definitions would be stricter.)

I think you missed the part that said "Awaken it".

[Psyren]

[I]

The OP did specify that the destination was difficult to reach and magically protected. Pretty strong chance your letter would explode about the time your guy hit the first border checkpoint.

Also, reaching the Underdark or a deep-sea city could likewise be challenging.

.

I think Malphegor is onto something though. I can't think of many detection spells at a checkpoint could find a mundane letter without knowing it's there in advance (and even if they do, lead-lined envelope baby), and having a capable operative infiltrate such a regime probablyis going to be much easier than trying to drill through several layers of magical protections from afar.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Psyren
…and having a capable operative infiltrate such a regime probably is going to be much easier than trying to drill through several layers of magical protections from afar.

This part, definitely agreed.


Originally Posted by Psyren
I can't think of many detection spells at a checkpoint could find a mundane letter without knowing it's there in advance….

Easier to presume that everyone is carrying contraband and search them manually, no spells required.

This depends a lot on the setup, and I’m extrapolating from the OP’s initial statement; but a brute-force, unsubtle approach is how border guards usually work.

[Psyren]

Easier to presume that everyone is carrying contraband and search them manually, no spells required.

This depends a lot on the setup, and I’m extrapolating from the OP’s initial statement; but a brute-force, unsubtle approach is how border guards usually work.

A letter is still very easy to hide even if they do that; it's a tiny, almost two-dimensional object after all. You can write it in code so it looks like something innocuous, like a shopping list, directions, or even a picture. You can also store it in, uh, a hard to reach place without any magic at all - such as shoving it all the way into... the bottom of your horse's feedbag or a loose panel in your wagon. Wait, what did you think I was going to say?

[denthor]

There are these things called adventures that do that sort of thing. We are talking about D&D after all. This a typical quest type situation.