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Old 10-27-2019, 08:24 AM   #1
Yssa
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Default Revealing the Unseen

So, the party slayed the fabled demon and among it's possessions they found a blank scroll. Now, for some odd reason, they suspect there might be something written invisibly on said scroll (I dunno, is that the sort of thing that happens in DFRPG?), and want to know what it might be. I wanted to give them as comprehensive a list as possible of things that might help them find any potentially hidden information without revealing to them how any such hypothetical information could hypothetically be hidden:
  • Detect Magic or Mage Sight: These spells could tell you if it is magical (being evil doesn't necessarily mean it is enchanted)
  • Analyze Magic: If it is magical, Analyze Magic can give you details of the enchantment(s).
  • See secrets: If there are markings hidden on the scroll through mundane (non-magical) means, this would reveal them.
  • Dispel magic: You noted that dispel magic doesn't work on enchanted items (this is so your wizard ally doesn't turn the armor of deflection you just spent $10,000 to enchant back into generic armor as he tries to dispel the mystic mist the evil druid cast all around you). So, if this is an enchanted scroll that will hide the contents of whatever is written on it, dispel magic is useless; however, if the scroll is mundane and there is an enchantment on the contents itself that makes it impossible for you to see, then this would remove that spell and reveal the contents. (Counterspell works the same way, it's just targeted rather than area.)
  • See invisible: similarly, if the obscuring spell is invisibility, this could help.
  • Dispel illusion: If this is actually illusion of a blank scroll concealing something else (say, a not blank scroll), this spell would reveal whatever the illusion is hiding.
  • Remove Curse: If the scroll is cursed, this would help you out.

Did I miss anythign?
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Old 10-27-2019, 09:50 AM   #2
Imbicatus
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Default Re: Revealing the Unseen

If the obscurement is non-magical invisible ink, alchemy would be the way to reveal it. I’m not sure see secrets should work RAW, as it reveals hidden objects, and the scroll(the object) isn’t hidden.
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Old 10-27-2019, 08:15 PM   #3
LokRobster
 
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Join Date: Mar 2005
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Default Re: Revealing the Unseen

What if something is written small? Like so small it’d be like an ultra tech microdot. If magic were used to enable writing at microscopic levels, you could use magic to read that tiny... but while just written, it wouldn’t need to be Magical or have any active magic component. It wouldn’t technically be secret or hidden, since the words would be there... you could see it if you just looked close enough and in the right place.

Or perhaps the “trick” of being so small would classify it as Hidden/Secret. Otherwise It would be basically impossible to find unless you knew already where it was.
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Old 10-27-2019, 09:11 PM   #4
evileeyore
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Default Re: Revealing the Unseen

Quote:
Originally Posted by Imbicatus View Post
If the obscurement is non-magical invisible ink, alchemy would be the way to reveal it. I’m not sure see secrets should work RAW, as it reveals hidden objects, and the scroll(the object) isn’t hidden.
Unless it's two sheets 'glued' together and the hidden writing is betwixt them, then See Secrets would reveal the deception.
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Old 10-28-2019, 03:31 AM   #5
ArchonShiva
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Default Re: Revealing the Unseen

There is a remote chance that Gift of Letters could help if the message is visible but in a non-obvious written language, such as scratches on the parchment or along its edges that look like wear and tear.
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