[3.5] How does one make generic magical writing?

[sjTaylor]

What I was it essentially Arcane Mark, but not limited to just a six character personal rune. I am mostly just looking for a replacement for an ink + quill that can potentially be invisible which arcane mark would certainly be if it didn't have its restrictions.

I did some searching and the best I found spell-wise is Illusory Script, but that does way more than I need it to and is a 3rd level spell.

Other than that there is the magical writing from spellbooks and scrolls referenced, but that again is not really what I'm looking for.

Is there something I'm missing?

[altpersona]

if i didnt think you wanted an inherently long duration, id says the basic set of illusions.

[phaedrusxy]

Prestidigitation?

[sjTaylor]

if i didnt think you wanted an inherently long duration, id says the basic set of illusions.

Yea, I'm looking for something with duration instantaneous or permanent.

Prestidigitation?

It wouldn't be able to make invisible writing, and would disappear after the duration expired.

[phaedrusxy]

What about Secret Page?

[sjTaylor]

What about Secret Page?

That's certainly much closer. Especially since it's permanent.


After remembering that magic tattoos are a thing I came across the tattoo magic feat which may be somewhat close to plain magical writing.
Though it can probably only be applied to creatures, and must be for a spell which limits things quite a bit.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

hmm you probably just have to make stuff up, and you have to do that anyways at some point.

Knowledge Arcane has some pretty much out-of-reach ideas
and concepts, that Commoners have no chance of understanding.
Even something with a DC of 11, is completely off limits to most Townspeople.

Wizard says Expelion-potato-gnosis, and the people just go 
aDMg says Expelion-potato-gnosis and the people go:  Ooohhhh that's what he was talking about.
 

Comprehend Languages has some tangential info to this.
Un-Comprehend Languages, is a game historic idea,
either as a named Counterspell, or even useful itself.

"Spellcraft + Read Magic" combos are listed in Spellcraft.
This implies things not just above  normal usage, but also below.

Somatic components can be tracing symbols as part of a casting.
Real Life example are Chinese who speak too divergent dialects
tracing out shapes of Chinese writing in the air, to communicate.
It works.  Sigils can be the same idea + usage.

Complete Arcane + Mage books , have piles of fluff in them too.
You might find something in them, not exactly hard coded rules.

[sjTaylor]

@awaken_D_M_golem

Yea, I was thinking rule for it would probably need to be made up, but figured I'd ask around a little bit before bringing it up with the DM just to make sure there weren't already rules for it.

I'll poke around the Complete Arcane/Mage books at some point though.

[Eldritch_Lord]

The Eberron Campaign Setting allows you to use Forgery to change the appearance of your arcane mark:

A character who can cast arcane mark can attempt to forge someone else’s mark using the Forgery skill while casting the spell. This special use of both spell and skill stretches the casting time of the arcane mark spell to 10 minutes. The character makes a Forgery check as normal, taking a –10 penalty on the check.

So I'd say it's reasonable to rule that you could use arcane mark to write any six characters you want at the cost of the extended casting time; combine it with Rapid Spell and it basically becomes a poor man's illusory script.

[sjTaylor]

The Eberron Campaign Setting allows you to use Forgery to change the appearance of your arcane mark:

A character who can cast arcane mark can attempt to forge someone else’s mark using the Forgery skill while casting the spell. This special use of both spell and skill stretches the casting time of the arcane mark spell to 10 minutes. The character makes a Forgery check as normal, taking a –10 penalty on the check.

So I'd say it's reasonable to rule that you could use arcane mark to write any six characters you want at the cost of the extended casting time; combine it with Rapid Spell and it basically becomes a poor man's illusory script.

That's a really good find.

[altpersona]

if you invent your own writing system, 6 hieroglyphs could convey a ton of information like a qr code.

[sjTaylor]

if you invent your own writing system, 6 hieroglyphs could convey a ton of information like a qr code.

Yup. There'd be |C|⁶ possible combinations where C is the set of characters I choose from which would be 308915776 with just the standard alphabet (no mixed case).