{"id":75,"date":"2016-08-18T19:11:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T19:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpgpunk.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/18\/spell-scrolls-and-useability\/"},"modified":"2016-08-18T19:11:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T19:11:00","slug":"spell-scrolls-and-useability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpgpunk.com\/index.php\/2016\/08\/18\/spell-scrolls-and-useability\/","title":{"rendered":"Spell scrolls and useability"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hi there!<\/p>\n

Today I was thinking about Clerics and how their spells are actually prayers and then I thought about spell scrolls, and how they are actually prayer scrolls.<\/p>\n

And prayer scrolls don’t disappear after you read them.<\/p>\n

Scrolls are fragile, and can be affected by heat, moisture, tearing, cutting, age, smudgy ink, and on and on. There is also the language barrier; a reader must be able to read the language, pronounce words, have a basic understanding of context, etc<\/p>\n

If you’re trying to read a scroll in combat, then good luck! Arrows can go right through it, swords and axes can slice it, fire can burn it, water will make the ink run… a battlefield is no place for a scroll. Nor are mildew-filled humid caverns or dry tombs sealed for centuries. If it isn’t a moldy mess, it will turn to dust when it is handled.<\/p>\n

They get wet when you ford a river or get caught in a downpour. They burn up when you’re running from the fire breathing dragon. They disintegrate when you get splashed with acid. They become illegible when you’re chest deep in the muck of an otyugh’s den.  <\/p>\n

Scrolls, while powerful and useful tools, are far from awe-inspiring magic items.<\/p>\n

The only mythology I know of that has one-use magic scrolls is Dungeons and Dragons and the various spin-offs.<\/p>\n

I assume it has something to do with game balance, or Gygax being a dick, or some other reason born out of a basement 50 years ago. I don’t really care. <\/p>\n

I don’t like it, so I’m changing it.<\/p>\n