[Fluff] Scribing Spells +[Item] Feedback Inhibitor

[Legoman]

*Knock at the door*

Arhemidus: Come in. You're late, apprentice:
Darmia: "Sorry, master. I got tied up one the airship. You know how ornery those bound elementals can be."
A: "Be that as it may, you're still late. Sit down. We'll have to work quickly, before you're sent off for your appointment. I expect this will be the beginning of your adventuring career?"
D: "Yes master. I'm grateful for all of your teaching, during my time her at the academy."
A: "Yes, Yes. Hand me your spell-book. You haven't trapped it yet, have you?"
D: "No, Master, I only have a couple of cantrips scribed. I will be upon it, as soon as I have enough worth protecting."
A: "Fair Enough. Tuteliatargraph." *The master's spellbook glows, and then opens on the table.* "You'd better hurry. Start copying down these first couple spells. No, not that ink, use the catalyst."
D: "Catalyst?"
A: "Your instructors really weren't all they were cracked up to be, were they? You need a catalyst to make the AEther-Dust stick to the page."
D: "Right, I've used AEther-Dust to enchant items before, you use it to etch runes. But... how does it work with a spellbook?"
A: "Just as the runes on a weapon or item all code for a certain magical effect, so do the runes on a page all code for a certain aspect of the spell. The more complex the spell, the more components. Usually, about a page per teir. When you invoke it, you're basically reading off the spell in it's entirety, you simply give the release action, which lets the rest of the spell fly."
D: "Very good master... I just finished the first spell... Isn't that all I can transcribe for the day?"
A: "Out in the field, it would be. Luckily, I have a feedback inhibitor in my office. The limit is imposed because too much AEther-Dust expended in too short a time causes feedback, which corrupts the spells."
D: "I understand. What is a feedback inhibitor?"
A: "It stabilizes the bonding of the AEther-Dust to the page, through the catalyst. That way, you can bond as much as you need, and scribe as many spells in a day into your spellbook as necessary. Now finish up, you need to go."

Feedback Inhibitor.
A large plaque with golden runes, too big to be carried, but easily built into a desk, It's a solid sheet of Adamantine, weighing in at 400 lbs, forged with AEther-Dust-infused buffer to prevent oxidation and long-term loss of magical properties. As spells are scribed, cast, or magical energy is otherwise expended, the runes on the surface change in color until they are all filled - after which, any scribing attempted on it's surface is immediately ceased by a Disjunction spell, which erases the contents of the new attempt, to avoid resonance feedback.

This device allows the scribing of 20 spell-levels of spells per day into a spell-book, so long as the scribing takes place on top of the plaque. A scroll, or other book to copy it from is still required.
CL 17. Craft Wondrous Item. Mage's Disjunction, Spell Turning, Mnemonic Enhancer, 100,000 gp.

[mikeejimbo]

Oh come on now? Still no replies? I find that sad.

See, I read this a while ago, but didn't feel I had enough time to make a post that would do justice to your creation.

As it stands, I love the fluff. I didn't know it worked like that, but it might as well. I also think that it's a good idea for an item: If the PCs are in a major town they might have access to one they can rent, and maybe scribe a few spells while there. I particularly like how it's not portable.

[Lord Iames Osari]

I like it. The item just needs a weight.

I love the concept.

[Legoman]

Thanks for the replies: I was daydreaming in anthro about certain codons 'coding' for a certain ammino acid in a protein sequence, and figured hey, might as well do something productive with it. :D

The AEther-Dust is a large part of my campaign setting's explanation of magic - it's basically a material version of the weave. When you make magical things, you obtain it, either through spending XP, harvesting it, or buying it, and you use it to etch it into things. This way, magical weapons are easily identifiable in their power by the number of runes on it. A +3 flaming sword will have three runes of one type, and one of another. However, just as in Chinese writing, different artists do things different ways, so a divination spell or extensive testing will still be required to figure out exactly what non-standard bonuses do.

Still, it helps the PC's not accidentally pawn off a +7 sword...

Also, I'll edit the OP and add a weight to the Feedback Inhibitor, with maybe some more description.

[mikeejimbo]

At 400 pounds, I could imagine my party carrying it around, but it's a weird party. We have two Ogres, one with strength in the 40's. Between them, they'd only be lightly encumbered, I think.

Still, by the time parties get that powerful, letting them copy more spells probably won't be that much of an effect.

Oh, and this is a bit off-topic, but I like the AEther-Dust idea for your campaign.

[Legoman]

Actually, at high-levels is where it really shines - You can basically copy a 'spare' spellbook, with some good bread and butter spells in it. One from each level will take you maybe 4-5 days with the aid of the Inhibitor though, which is really a fair amount of time to spend in town... as you go about crafting and spell research in the meanwhile.

Edit: Also, thanks for the comments about the Dust - I've been tempted to draft up a His Dark Materials setting for a while... and while it always made sense to have some sort of substance that was a catch-all for all the GP cost of magic items, it would also tie into that world nicely.

[Deus Mortus]

Hmmm, get a nice mages tower and a teleportation in and out, need that anyway, get one of those in and spellcasting just got more versatile ;)