[FR] Long Distance Communication

[Murrdox]

I thought I remembered a thread on this topic, but I couldn't seem to find it.

The situation that arose in our group is thus: I'm playing a Shade fighter who is hunting rare magical items for the Shadovar back in the City of Shade. I recently found a very nice artifact, and I want to get it to them, but I'm very far away.

I couldn't seem to figure out a way of sending a message to my master in the City of Shade though! How do you do long-distance communication?

I looked at Sending, but that is only usable by the Caster, and he needs to be familiar with who he's sending the message to, so unless he's met the person I want to talk to, that's out. I'm a fighter, so I can't buy a scroll and use it myself, and for similar familiarity reasons, teleportation was out as well.

In the end, I hired the services of a trained Great Owl to carry a message to my master there, with instructions to scry my position and teleport to me to pick up the item.

So basically, I had to resort to "Carrier Pigeon" technology.

There has GOT to be a better alternative, I'm thinking. But I don't know what.

 

[Zenon]

Quaal's Feather Token (bird) - 200gp wonderous item - "Bird: A token that can be used to deliver a small written message unerringly to a designated target as would a carrier pigeon. The token lasts as long as it takes to carry the message."

Braclet of Friends is good for having someone in a safe place to have to be able to get you out of somewhere (even if they don't know where you are).

Bracelet of Friends
This charm bracelet has seven charms upon it. The owner may designate one person known to him or her to be keyed to one charm. (This designation takes a standard action, but once done it lasts forever or until changed.) When a charm is grasped and the name of the keyed individual is spoken, that person is called to the spot (another standard action) along with his or her gear. Unwilling characters are allowed a Will saving throw (DC 19). Once a charm is activated, it disappears, so such bracelets discovered as treasure may have fewer than a full complement of charms when found.
Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, refuge; Market Price: 4,550 gp; Weight: -.

 

[AuraSeer]

One way to do this is for your master to contact you. At planned intervals, he casts a sending to ask you if you've found anything interesting. The spell lets you answer immediately. If you indicate that you've got something useful, a minion can teleport in and pick it up.

 

[bret]

At low levels, you have Animal Messenger and ClairAudience/ClairSentience for long distance communication.

A ClairSentience with a chalk board can communicate a fair amount of information.

At higher levels, you have the Sending and Dream spells. You could also have a pair of rings made with Rary's Telepathic Bond (see spell description). If the distance is realtively short, Ring Gates also work well.

For longer distance communication, the best option is Summon Monster a creature capable of Teleport w/o Error and have them teleport with the message.


If you can get to any safe haven of your organization, they should be able to do either Animal Messenger or ClairSentience. There should be a regular exchange of information already in place using these spells, you just have to convince someone that your message is important enough.

None of these communications channels would be advertised. There would be slight differences in how they were handled, and differences in how each organization handled it. Still, there should be something like this in place.

 

[Murrdox]

I don't have my books in front of me right now, and I checked the SRD...

What is ClairSentience and what book is that in? I've never heard of it.

To everyone else, thanks very much for the suggestions! I wasn't aware of feather tokens either... that is extremely helpful. Animal Messenger could also be helpful.

 

[AuraSeer]

What is ClairSentience and what book is that in? I've never heard of it.

It's shorthand for clairvoyance/clairaudience.

 

[Staffan]

It's shorthand for clairvoyance/clairaudience.

It's also the name for the psionic "know stuff" discipline, which also allows some "manipulating the fabric of reality" stuff at higher levels.

 

[bret]

What is ClairSentience and what book is that in? I've never heard of it.

Sorry, I had intended Clairvoyance. The spell that allows you to view stuff a long ways away.

I'm used to thinking of it as Clairsentience because of other game systems. Didn't have my books with me and the SRD is no longer in HTML making it a pain to reference.

 

[Noumenon]

Just bumping this thread to say that Clairaudience won't work any more, it's just Long range now. But I wanted this thread to be accurate so I can submit it to the DMing Advice thread. Any other tips for long distance communication? What is the lowest level monster you can summon that has teleport, anyway?

 

[NewJeffCT]

I thought I remembered a thread on this topic, but I couldn't seem to find it.

The situation that arose in our group is thus: I'm playing a Shade fighter who is hunting rare magical items for the Shadovar back in the City of Shade. I recently found a very nice artifact, and I want to get it to them, but I'm very far away.

The psionic power Correspond is far more powerful than the equivalent level spell of Sending - Correspond has no chance of error between planes, while Sending does. Sending is limited to one 25 word message, while Correspond is 25 words/round and will last for a minimum of 7 rounds.