Unique Scroll Ideas

[Tinker Gnome]

I want to come up with some cool ideas for magic scrolls to make them seem more interesting. So, I am asking my fellow ENWorlders for some ideas, and what they think of the ones I have come up with.

Bards: For bardic scrolls I was thinking of having them be in the form of sheet music.

Clerics: For Clerics I am tahinking of prayers written down on the scroll that is a teaching of the diety. The only problem with this is that it owuld be odd for a CG cleric to use some scrolls he got off of a LE Cleric.

Wizards and Sorcerers: I am having a hard time coming up with any good ideas on how to describe these.

 

[Enkhidu]

I'm fond of using different form/identical mechanics scrolls (and magic items in general, really).

Example: a dwarven wizard might be more likely to engrave semi-precious stones with runes than to simply put quill to parchment. Or a cleric might laquer the inside of her shield with divine symbols.

You could even get a little farther out by having a hermit adept create spell scrolls in the form of dreamcatchers that need only to be unwound in a specific way to release the magic trapped within.

As long as the mechics are identical, why bother obsessing over form?

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I'm fond of using different form/identical mechanics scrolls (and magic items in general, really).

Example: a dwarven wizard might be more likely to engrave semi-precious stones with runes than to simply put quill to parchment. Or a cleric might laquer the inside of her shield with divine symbols.

You could even get a little farther out by having a hermit adept create spell scrolls in the form of dreamcatchers that need only to be unwound in a specific way to release the magic trapped within.

As long as the mechics are identical, why bother obsessing over form?

Those are cool ideas.

I obsess over form cause I want to immerse the players int he world. Runes that are carved on precoous stone are more interesting than a scroll of Mage Armor.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

For wizard/sorcerer scroll, the scrolls can be prepared through paper folding. The paper is folded into a specific shape (maybe related to the spell effects, maybe not) and the arcane formula is then inscribed onto it. When the caster activates the scroll, the words are read and the scroll is unfolded, releasing the magic.

For your issue with the cleric scrolls with prayers from deities opposed to the PCs own, you could have the same spell (or an opposite spell) granted by the PCs deity spontaneously as the PC destroys the "offeensive" scroll. Of course this only works if opposing Deities actively work against each other.

 

[Aeolius]

You find a scroll of weathered parchment that, when unfurled, begins to sing:

"I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map...."

 

[Draethen Vontrair]

heehee

You find a skull with some odd engravings inside the cranium, you hold it in your hand and are suddenly reciting Shakespeare. XD



A bit of paper flies by in the wind, as it blows by the wizard manages to read a small part of the scroll and explodes...


XD

 

[blargney the second]

Different materials for different creatures: asbestos for fiery, rubber for water, etc.

 

[Kragar00]

I think it all depends upon how magic works in your game.... Some books show magic as being composed of symbols or some form of geometry... others show it as some form of mathmatical equation....
The question you should ask yourself is how does the magic take effect? For the clerics, you have prayers, so that is simple enough.... instead of prayers, you could always have non-denominational sermons that the priest uses.... Or maybe some kind of secret of the Gods.... It could just be that the scroll was particularly blessed during creation and there are no words, or superficial words.... the scroll itself is the magical part (like a religious relic)....
For Bards, the sheet music, or possibly the words to the song, are the 'how' you've selected, so this makes perfect sense....
That leaves Wizards and sorcerors... how does their magic work? Do they use magical words? Are the words themselves magical, or do they allow the wizard to achieve a 'trance-like state'.... they could be mantras, or alchemical symbols, or magical words, or even diagrams that the wizard may have to follow (like dance steps or magical postures).... or they wizard could just trace the symbols with their finger.... It's up to you...

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

...or do they allow the wizard to achieve a 'trance-like state'....

Anybody remember those "Magic-Eye 3D" drawings that were so popular years ago? Scrolls could have one of those on it. The caster has to stare at the picture for a few moments before the spell, the "hidden image" becomes apparent. A Read Magic spell allows the caster to see the image with no difficulty.