Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 8344224" data-attributes="member: 19270">Non-magical spy stuff from real-world influences as, unless you're playing in a magic-rich world, that's just not an option to have all these magical items and spells at hand. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Envelopes folded in such an intricate way that only those trained in that artform know how to undo them. Tampering easy to detect.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ciphers. Probably the best way to overcome magic. Only those with the code book on the other end can translate. Use a middleman courier who has no idea what they're carrying so they can't be interrogated successfully.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Codes, riddles, rotating passwords.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Invisible ink that can only be revealed by a particular chemical.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chemicals period. It's probably costly, but it's not magic and bypasses typical detection. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Paid beggars, inn staff, brothels, etc., to pass on names and so forth of new magic users in town, whether at a dead drop, on the interior of a label attached to a bottle of wine, etc.</li> </ul>Basically, all the magic in the world won't do you any good unless you know what you're looking for. On the flipside, if you're a VIP and you want to counter magic espionage, you can bet you've sat down with the best minds in your kingdom and gone through the PHB list of spells to see what could breach your defenses and how, and how to counter them. That in and of itself would create a market need, even if the PHB doesn't specifically list it as equipment. For example, in an AD&D castle supplement, one could pay for exotic ingredients to be mixed into the construction to block teleportation, scrying, etc. This explains why some high level enemy doesn't just pop in and assassinate every king beyond capacity to be raised.</blockquote>

Verification