Unguent of Timelessness + Call Item = Full Spellbook?

[Zombulian]

Hey all, maybe you can tell me why this doesn’t work, otherwise it’s definitely going to feature on my next Wiz 1/Archivist 1/Ardent 1/Mystic Theurge X.
Call Item (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827e) allows you to call a generic non-magical item of up to 1000gp (if you spend 5pp) for 10min/level. Last I checked, spellbooks and their pages aren’t magical, so you should be able to call pages from a spellbook containing the spell that you want to transcribe. If you don’t think that you can call more than 1 page, and thus can’t call a spell of higher than 1st level, you could always call a spell page from a Geometer’s Spellbook, or a Spell Token big enough to count as several pages.
Coat whatever you call in Unguent of Timelessness and you have plenty of time to understand and transcribe any spell you call, and you’ve got yourself a much more cost-effective way to scribe spells than buying scrolls - and you can even do it on the road!

[Tvtyrant]

Hey all, maybe you can tell me why this doesn’t work, otherwise it’s definitely going to feature on my next Wiz 1/Archivist 1/Ardent 1/Mystic Theurge X.
Call Item (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827e) allows you to call a generic non-magical item of up to 1000gp (if you spend 5pp) for 10min/level. Last I checked, spellbooks and their pages aren’t magical, so you should be able to call pages from a spellbook containing the spell that you want to transcribe. If you don’t think that you can call more than 1 page, and thus can’t call a spell of higher than 1st level, you could always call a spell page from a Geometer’s Spellbook, or a Spell Token big enough to count as several pages.
Coat whatever you call in Unguent of Timelessness and you have plenty of time to understand and transcribe any spell you call, and you’ve got yourself a much more cost-effective way to scribe spells than buying scrolls - and you can even do it on the road!

Pages are not individual items, they are part of a spell book that will go over the cost requirement. This would be like using disintegrate and insisting that it removes a 10x10ft chunk of a dragon, because while the dragon as a whole is alive the individual molecules are not. Or calling for 1 inch square chunks of a crown until you have the entire crown.

[Seto]

Yeah, I'd never let this work as a DM.

How much would a full spellbook we worth on the market? How much could you buy it for? Figure out the price (which will amount to much more than 1000 PO), and you have its value. And yeah, pages are not separate items.

[Zombulian]

Ok, but what about Spell Tokens? They’re not parts of spellbooks at all. They’re specific items.

[Tvtyrant]

Ok, but what about Spell Tokens? They’re not parts of spellbooks at all. They’re specific items.

I don't know where to find Spell Tokens.

[Zombulian]

I don't know where to find Spell Tokens.

Complete Arcane page 187. I didn’t know about them until last night but I think it may work.

[Tvtyrant]

Complete Arcane page 187. I didn’t know about them until last night but I think it may work.

That is one of the alternate systems right? Probably requires DM approval, but it might work.

The question is what the cost of a spell token of a spell is. If I was the DM I would make the cost equal to writing the spell down in your spellbook, so this would only work for low level spells but your mileage may vary.

[Allanimal]

The question is what the cost of a spell token of a spell is. If I was the DM I would make the cost equal to writing the spell down in your spellbook, so this would only work for low level spells but your mileage may vary.

That is exactly the case.


Scribing spells onto tokens requires the same expense in materials as for a standard spellbook.

[rel]

Call item should work. You call a spellbook worth 15gp with whatever spells you want in it priced at scribing cost of 100gp per page up to the price limit of the power.
The 1000gp version nets you 9 pages of spells conveniently enough for a single 9th level spell.
However, I think it is reasonable for a GM to rule that the restriction on spell components also applies to spell books.

Ungent of Timelessness is more of a stretch. It is restricted to things that were once alive and grants the object the ability to 'resist the passage of time'.
Whether a spellbook is even a valid target and whether resisting the passage of time includes extending the duration of applied powers and spells is dubious.
I would personally rule against this reading of the Ungent of Timelessness.

[Zombulian]

That is one of the alternate systems right? Probably requires DM approval, but it might work.


I think since it has specific crafting requirements to make the tokens, and thus isn’t just a variant system to replace books, it has a good chance of being allowed. As always though, everything is DM dependent.


Call item should work. You call a spellbook worth 15gp with whatever spells you want in it priced at scribing cost of 100gp per page up to the price limit of the power.
The 1000gp version nets you 9 pages of spells conveniently enough for a single 9th level spell.
However, I think it is reasonable for a GM to rule that the restriction on spell components also applies to spell books.

Ungent of Timelessness is more of a stretch. It is restricted to things that were once alive and grants the object the ability to 'resist the passage of time'.
Whether a spellbook is even a valid target and whether resisting the passage of time includes extending the duration of applied powers and spells is dubious.
I would personally rule against this reading of the Ungent of Timelessness.

Spell Tokens can be made of bone 😎

[Hellpyre]

Spell Tokens can be made of bone 😎

Fair, but if you can get a DM to rule that Unguent of Timelessness extends durations by 365x, you have better things to do. Like be a Necropolitan.

[Zombulian]

Fair, but if you can get a DM to rule that Unguent of Timelessness extends durations by 365x, you have better things to do. Like be a Necropolitan.

I mean, sure, but I think it’s certainly possible that a DM may accept one and not the other. The called item is the effect of the power, while the necropolitan would be an “object” that has effects on it.

[Tvtyrant]

Quintessence almost certainly does, as it literally time locks objects. One of the Quori might be able to manifest it, at which point you just bind the quori and have it help you get spells.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I hate to say it but if you use quintessence instead of the unguent and spell tokens, yeah, it looks like this does, indeed, work.

[rel]

But how do you study your called spellbook or token while it's submerged in quintessence?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

But how do you study your called spellbook or token while it's submerged in quintessence?Slide it into a clear container open to the relevant page you want to study, time-lock the container via quintessence, study and copy the page. Once that page is copied, break the seal, flip the page, re-seal, then repeat until finished.

[Zombulian]

I hate to say it but if you use quintessence instead of the unguent and spell tokens, yeah, it looks like this does, indeed, work.

Oh boy. Green light from Kelb bodes well indeed.


But how do you study your called spellbook or token while it's submerged in quintessence?


This substance shimmers like a silver mirror when viewed from some angles but is transparent from other viewpoints.

[RatElemental]

Am I the only one excited to learn that structure spells and spell tokens can be used as fun ways to give the wizard/archivist new spells via loot/exploration?

[Kelb_Panthera]

Am I the only one excited to learn that structure spells and spell tokens can be used as fun ways to give the wizard/archivist new spells via loot/exploration?

I was when it was a new idea to me. Been a good long while now. I still like to use the tattoo option for making sure I've got a few spells that are nearly impossible to take away from my wizards.