Illusory Script: Don’t Believe Everything You Read
Usable By: Bard, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 1
School: Illusion
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Duration: 10 days
Components: S, M (a lead-based ink worth at least 10 gp, which the spell consumes)
You write on parchment, paper, or some other suitable writing material and imbue it with a potent illusion that lasts for the duration.
To you and any creatures you designate when you cast the spell, the writing appears normal, written in your hand, and conveys whatever meaning you intended when you wrote the text. To all others, the writing appears as if it were written in an unknown or magical script that is unintelligible. Alternatively, you can cause the writing to appear to be an entirely different message, written in a different hand and language, though the language must be one you know.
Should the spell be dispelled, the original script and the illusion both disappear.
A creature with truesight can read the hidden message.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
With a sly nod, the robed figure slides a piece of parchment to you as they stand, turning to leave. “Thanks for the drink; here, I noticed you dropped this.” Basic inspection of the parchment makes it appear to be a mundane flier for the local florist to most. You give it a minute to avoid suspicion, finishing your own drink before pocketing the parchment and stepping up to your room. You pull out the parchment and flip it to the backside, where in bold black letters the words “THE SHIPMENT ARRIVES AT MIDNIGHT; MEET AT THE CATHEDRAL. COME ALONE” manifest before. The deal has been struck; time to get rich.
I could list off for you dozens of characters I’ve played over the years that were rogues, wizards, warlocks, or bards who fit within a fantasy that’d want to use Illusory Script. The fantasy of sending secret messages to people appeals to me. It has the super-spy aesthetic, the fantasy of being a scoundrel skirting around the law, working from the shadows and making deals with less than reputable sources. Practically, D&D just doesn’t need this. Despite it even being a ritual spell, I just have never been able to justify sticking this in my spellbook.
In a roleplaying game, there are as many ways as you can think of means of sharing information. Rogues even have a pseudo-language with Theive’s Cant whose entire purpose is offering up a means of sharing hidden meanings and information. Yet adventures don’t tend to ask for a large amount of discretion. Magic makes communication over paper almost impossible to justify; why leave any evidence at all of something when a simple Message cantrip can silently and directly get information to your target? Why not use a familiar to carry whatever information you need to your recipient? Why not use actual invisible ink and revealing agents that mundanely exist?
Illusory Script doesn’t really need to exist. You have to really stretch to find meaningful ways to use this, and almost always there will be mundane means of getting the same results or magical ways of doing it easier, faster, and better. In all my years playing and DMing, I think I have seen a single document use Illusory Script, and literally no other NPCs came in contact with the paper. It was just the writer and the party, meaning it really didn’t need to be Illusory Scripted in the first place. It doesn’t help that it costs ten gold per use. Save your money. Don’t fall for the trap. You don’t need Illusory Script to live your spy fantasies out.
Thank you for visiting!
If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.
The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
