Magical Communication Item?

[RUMBLETiGER]

In a nutshell, I want to make magical email.

The following is Explanatory fluff. Feel free to skip.

I'm still designing This Wizard to keep in my pocket for a future game.

RP backstory, he's a Classical Wizard, originally trained as Wizards should, very academically. He aspires to eventually arrive at Mathghamnha and study with the Mages of the Arcane Order, but I don't think he'll start there, so I'll take @Tomn's suggestion Here and have my fledgling Wizard originally educated by an experienced Wizard, probably a Guild Wizard of The Arcane Order out in the world, training this student up to eventually send him to the University.

And so, my Wizard will be separated from his professor as he goes out to the world to practice and develop his skills.

I'd like to make a pair of magical items- A Book and a sheet of paper.
The single sheet of paper can be written upon by the student and that writing would appear on a page in the teacher's book regardless of the distance between them. After being written, the words can be erased and the teacher can reply back, appearing on the student's page.

Essentially, I want a paper/writing version of an Aspect Mirror, Complete Scoundrel, p.113.

What spells might be involved in crafting such an item set? What's a reasonable price for such an item?

 

[Sekhmet]

I'd probably make Amanuensis (Magic of Faerun) or Illusory Script part of the requirements, which sets a nice caster level of about 5. Craft Wondrous is an obvious one. Considering the limited usage (must have one book, only one other connected book, you still have to write out any message, etc), I wouldn't put the price over about 1,000GP, probably even less.

Make it so the book's pages can only be Erased (as the spell), and this seems to be a pretty effective method of communication (of nonmagical text).

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

...this seems to be a pretty effective method of communication (of nonmagical text).

Yes, I do want to emphasize the nonmagical text part. Words and diagrams can be communicated, no Wizard spellbook pages, scrolls or spell glyphs would be passed along by this method. Possibly only words, not diagrams.

Amanuensis seems a fine spell for the base. If I build Erase into the magical item so it would Erase itself rather than require the spell to be cast each time, would that change the price? Is there a mechanical adjustment to the price of crafting a magical item if more than one spell is added?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

First Draft:

Cobb's Teaching Correspondence
Aura/Caster Level: Faint Divination; CL 5th
Construction: Craft Wondrous Item, Amanuensis, Erase, 11,813gp*, 945 XP*, 24 days*.
Weight: 2 lb (Book), - (Page)
Price: 23,625gp* (Book and 5 pages)

Cobb's Teaching Correspondence is a set of a book and five sheets of enchanted paper. A mentor possesses the book, while students carry the single sheet of paper attuned to the book. Any writing upon the single sheet or the page within the book the page is attuned to appears in both pages. A command word spoken by either side erases the writing upon the page. The connection between the book and pages spans any distance, as long as both are on the same plane.

*Figuring Cost:
-Amanuensis is a 3rd level spell in a command word item... 3 x 5 x 1800 = 27,000gp. Second ability is Erasing, so (1 x 5 x 1800) at 75% = 6,750. 27,000 + 6,750 = 33,750.
-Since there are 5 sheets, and if I want to make each correspondence usable once per day, I'll count it as a 5 charge item. Full price, 33,750. Does this mean it would cost just as much if there were unlimited uses per day for each page?
-Item requires specific Class to use: Usable by Wizard only, reduce by 30%.
that makes 23,625gp.

First Question- ok, am I doing the math right? This seems crazy expensive, especially since the Aspect Mirror costs 4,000gp per mirror (so 8,000gp for 2, 20,000gp for 5) and that's a command, usable as many times as you want item based off of level 3 spell.

Second Question- Should there be an added complication and cost for 5 separate pages attuned to the same book? The objective is for the teacher to have multiple students corresponding.

Third Question- Is there anything else I'm not considering here that I should be?

 

[Sekhmet]

I think you're doing the right thing in comparing it to a similar magical item. I'd reduce the price of your book to about half of the Mirror, because you can't see/scry/direct enchantments through the book, although the Mirror would allow you to (as noted in it's description). The Mirror's infinite duration is also a consideration for a further price reduction if you so chose. Each book only has five sheets, so any message would have to be copied otherwise in order to keep.

I'm going to stand by my "about 1,000GP" statement from earlier.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I think you're doing the right thing in comparing it to a similar magical item. I'd reduce the price of your book to about half of the Mirror, because you can't see/scry/direct enchantments through the book, although the Mirror would allow you to (as noted in it's description). The Mirror's infinite duration is also a consideration for a further price reduction if you so chose. Each book only has five sheets, so any message would have to be copied otherwise in order to keep.

I'm going to stand by my "about 1,000GP" statement from earlier.

I would agree that starting with the Aspect Mirror and pairing down makes sense in comparison to the Aspect Mirror.

Using the actual DMG Magic Item Creation rules, the Aspect Mirror makes no sense.

I've also heard that supplemental books after the DMG created a kind of 3.75 rules for magic item pricing.

Has there become a method for figuring Magic Item pricing since the Magic Item Compendium?

 

[Samloyal23]

You could also have a pair of books that are linked to each other. Imagine you own a business with a partner. Each of you has a ledger for daily transactions. Every time one of you adds something to the ledger, your partner's ledger is updated...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

You could also have a pair of books that are linked to each other. Imagine you own a business with a partner. Each of you has a ledger for daily transactions. Every time one of you adds something to the ledger, your partner's ledger is updated...

Most definitely. While I have a specific purpose for this enchantment, the applications beyond my purpose are incredible. Libraries could share works, correspondence would be revolutionized, etc. etc.

Since discovering the info on Mathghamnha and the Mages of the Arcane Order, I've been brainstorming what sorts of things I'd imagine a University of Wizards would make use of. This Book + Parchment communication has the flavor of what I'd expect the University to have on hand.

Additionally, this sounds very Eberron to me. I'll check my books, but does anyone know if a magical item like this might already exist?

 

[Samloyal23]

Wasn't there a spell in the BOEF that allowed communication through mirrors? A set of large enough mirror would be like a window on two entire rooms, allowing the equivalent of videoconferencing between two groups. Multiple mirrors could be placed within view of each other to allow multiple locations to communicate with each other in a sort of network...

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Wasn't there a spell in the BOEF that allowed communication through mirrors? A set of large enough mirror would be like a window on two entire rooms, allowing the equivalent of videoconferencing between two groups. Multiple mirrors could be placed within view of each other to allow multiple locations to communicate with each other in a sort of network...

I Don't Know About BOEF But Check The Aspect Mirror, Already Mentioned, From Complete Scoundrel.