• NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.

Artificer Scrolls - Can they be arcane or divine?

Timeboxer

Explorer
I still can't figure this out; apologies if it's been brought up before.

Now, as far as I can tell, there are two types of scrolls, arcane or divine, and the artificer can emulate any spell to create any magic item (given the appropriate feats), so she should be able to make arcane and divine scrolls.

However, the Eberron Campaign Setting suggests that the artificer has no access to any actual arcane or divine magicks, and so any spell she emulates is, I suppose, untyped. And I remember someone mentioning somewhere that Keith Baker is of the opinion that artificer scrolls are in fact untyped raw magic, but then this brings in the problem of whether wizards and clerics can cast from them at all...

Tied up with all this is the entire "Can wizards scribe artificer scrolls?" question, which this problem is probably reducible to. Apparently some people have a problem with the idea of artificers making arcane/divine scrolls, because it means that the wizard can have access to any spell he wants just by asking the artificer for it -- thus, presumably, allowing the GMs to limit spell access to wizards.

Personally I think this makes perfect sense to me, though, because it's not like the artificer is working with some "third" type of magic, for which we thus need a new variety of scroll. It seems like they understand magic in different ways but that ultimately the artificer can interact with it however she likes:

Wizard: "Say, is there any chance that you could scribe me a scroll of the fireball dweomer?"
Artificer: "Oh, you mean the iconic instantiation, propulsion, and detonation of a quantum of elemental fire in a conflagration radiating twenty feet?"
Wizard: "...uh, right."
So, anyway. Are artificer scrolls arcane or divine, and if not, can they be arcane or divine?
 
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad

Actually, the Artificer description only says that their infusions and their interests have no "type" when it comes to magic. Their Infusions act as magic spells, they are vulnerable to Dispel Magic, and an Antimagic Field, and so on, but they themselves have no type.

However, when it comes to magic items, the "type" is generally part of the item- as much as the spell inside it. Thus, if an artificer makes a scroll of of Fireball, he's not just making a scroll of Fireball- he's making an arcane scroll of Fireball. When he makes a scroll of Mass Heal, he's making a Divine scroll of Mass Heal.

Basically, for all intents and purposes, the Artificer is not tied to one particular type of magic. He can, however, use any type of magic necessary to make magic items, and when so crafted, such an item is of the appropriate type. And thus, a Wizard COULD scribe an Artificer's scroll.
 

Into the Woods

Remove ads

Top