Magic "xerox" spell?

[vic20]

Can anybody help me think of a spell that could be used to copy information between scrolls, parchments, and books? I'm not talking about moving spells between scrolls or anything abusive; I am thinking more like being able to copy maps and text quickly.

If there isn't anything that is published that covers this sort of thing, I may take a crack at designing a spell.

Thanks for any insight,
Vic20

 

[Crothian]

Spells and Spellcraft has a bunch of low level utility spells like that, and many that deal with libraries.

 

[Chun-tzu]

There's a 3rd level Cleric/Wizard/Sorcerer spell in Magic of Faerun called "Amanuensis." It photocopies 250 words per minute (perfect duplicate), only nonmagical text.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Indeed. But how many words can you write on one page? How many Amanuesis spells would you need to copy a Fireball ? Just curious....

 

[mmu1]

It's only non-magical text.

 

[dkilgo]

Yeah, Amanuensis only copies non-magical text, but maybe you could create a higher level variant of this spell.

 

[mmu1]

Yeah, Amanuensis only copies non-magical text, but maybe you could create a higher level variant of this spell.

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You could create a higher-level spell that'd allow you to quickly scribe or copy magical scrolls, but you'd have to give it an expensive material component or an xp cost to keep it balanced - if you could just cast a spell during down-time and copy magical scrolls instantly, you'd be completely circumventing the magical item creation rules.

 

[Mahali]

Doesn't Prestidigitation do this?

 

[vic20]

Doesn't Prestidigitation do this?

PHB 238 "Prestidigitation can create small objects, but they look crude and artificial."

I don't think you'd get legible results, neither textually nor cartographically.

Played the game tonight, and ended up allowing a Craft (cartography) check DC 15 to copy a map in one day. The player copied two maps in two days, and actually got to make a Craft (cartography) check.

Thanks for the spell-refs Crothian and Chun-tzu. I don't own those texts. I have both Relics & Rituals books, but I certainly haven't read either in depth.

 

[Dark Dragon]

It's only non-magical text.

Yep, right. But if a wizard wants to copy a spell from a different book into his own with that xerox spell, it will work. Spells in books are not magical texts AFAIK. Scrolls...ummmh, heck, not sure for them...I'd say they are magical, because a wizard needs XP and materials to create them (so it's a magic item).

Please correct me if I'm wrong on this matter.