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<blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 7359486" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Okay, but that isn't a straightforward gloss on the word cipher then, is it? A cipher is a code, or at the very least a secret way of writing, the meaning of which is known only to those who possess the key. Compare, for example, the use of the word in the Linguist feat, where it's interchangeable with the word code. Also, I think it's clear from the passage from the DMG I posted in the OP that the barrier to comprehending the scroll is the cipher itself, not a lack of familiarity with the subject matter of the words written in the cipher. If the spell is on your class's spell list, you can break the code and only then do you get at the subject matter.Now I like the idea you bring up of certain spells falling into areas of knowledge that overlap between classes. I think grouping those spells under a mystic cipher points toward the idea that only certain ciphers are capable of recording specific types of magic. Clerics, druids, and sorcerers, for example, have access as a group to a type of &quot;natural disaster&quot; magic that allows then to cast insect plague, fire storm, and earthquake. Clerics, druids, and wizards, on the other hand, have access as a group to a different type of magic that gives them control over natural forces when they cast control water, stone shape, and control weather.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hriston, post: 7359486, member: 6787503"] Okay, but that isn't a straightforward gloss on the word [I]cipher[/I] then, is it? A cipher [I]is[/I] a code, or at the very least a secret way of writing, the meaning of which is known only to those who possess the key. Compare, for example, the use of the word in the Linguist feat, where it's interchangeable with the word [I]code.[/I] Also, I think it's clear from the passage from the DMG I posted in the OP that the barrier to comprehending the scroll is the cipher itself, not a lack of familiarity with the subject matter of the words written in the cipher. If the spell is on your class's spell list, you can break the code and only then do you get at the subject matter. Now I like the idea you bring up of certain spells falling into areas of knowledge that overlap between classes. I think grouping those spells under a mystic cipher points toward the idea that only certain ciphers are capable of recording specific types of magic. Clerics, druids, and sorcerers, for example, have access as a group to a type of "natural disaster" magic that allows then to cast [I]insect plague, fire storm,[/I] and [I]earthquake.[/I] Clerics, druids, and wizards, on the other hand, have access as a group to a different type of magic that gives them control over natural forces when they cast [I]control water, stone shape,[/I] and [I]control weather.[/I] [/QUOTE]

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