Dictation
Name
Dictation
Type of Magic
Mage
Spell Level
1st
School
Invocation and Evocation (House Appius), Geometry
Sphere
Reversible?
No
Range
10 ft. radius
Components
Material, Verbal
The material component for this spell is the blank page, scroll, or paper that the dictation will appear on. This must be prepared with a special wash of vinegar, which brings the cost to 10 gold pieces per page so readied.
Duration
1 turn/level
Casting Time
1
Area of Effect
Special
Saving Throw
None
Effects
This spell causes any words spoken by the wizard or anyone within 10 feet of him to appear on a piece of paper or the blank page of a book.
It is useful for recording conversations, verbal agreements, interrogations, or even notes or observations if the wizard doesn’t want to take the time to write them down himself. Generally, a person reading aloud takes about one to five minutes to read a page, depending on how many words are on a page.
Foreign languages are not translated, although foreign words are given the correct alphabetic spelling in the wizard’s native tongue; for example, the phrase c’est la vie would appear as it does here, with no English translation, but a phrase or name in Arabic or Chinese would not be transcribed in those alphabets. Magical spells and invocations are not recorded, so this spell can’t be used to create a backup copy of a scroll even as it’s read by the wizard, but a clever wizard may be able to record a magical item’s command word if an enemy within range uses it while the spell is in effect.
