Ughbash's page

Cool, so now I can craft major artifacts by reducing their caster level to 1!

I agree with those who say you should have warned (or had the witch warn) the player that the belt was too difficult.

Yes you can!!!!

You can build an Artifact powered item at level 3 when you first get Craft Wondrous item.

If you wanted to lower it to caster level 1 though you would have to make the item one that can at will cast any first level spell. Assuming the GM gave you the resources to make that item you could. However if you had MUCH more resources... probably about 8 times as many, you could up it to caster level 3 and make theitem cast all first and second level spells at will.

Just ball parking it lets say 60 first level spells at an average cost of 5k a spell is 300k for artifact one.

Lets also assume 60 second level spells at an avg cost of 30k so 1.8 mil + 60 first level spells at a cost of 15k each so another 900k for a toal of 2.7 MIL.

That item would IMHO defintely qualify as an artifact and only cost your 3rd level caster 2.7 million and 2700 days (reduced to 1350 days if he uses fast enchanting).

Can do it, but that does not mean artifacts are cheap :)

This should be a fairly simple straightforward answer but a friend and I disagree on how far one can move with no penalty to stealth.

Person 1 Looks at the rules and says up to half move at no penalty. So a standard human can move 15' in a round since his move is 30'.

Person 2 looks at the rules and says up to half move at no penalty. So a standard human can move 30' in a round (2 move actions of 15').

Both people are sure that theirs is OBVIOUSLY right so talk around each other. I thought I would get the general opinion of the boards.

Druid level 6 Human swapping out Bonus feat for Eye for Talent.
Badger Animal Companion

Feats of Spell Focus Conjuration and Augment Summoning and Fast learner. With your first free feast take toughness.

10 point buy without dumping stats....
Str 10
Dex 10
Con 14+2 Human bonus for 16.
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 10

As someone stated, minimum caster level that coud be crafted at was 3, the higehr level is an example of somethign found what it will USUALLY be at.

Target numer is CL 3 (min to cast the prerequisite spells), +5 (standard enchanting rules) +15 does not have any of the spells so 23.

I'd be pissed to since the witch could have just taken 10 for a guaranteed success and as a "very inteligent crafter" would know that.

Best solution, tell the player you screwed up on the crafting rules and she made the belt.

Torres Let me introduce you to

A Trickster Rogue
Level 8 Rogue Tier 2 Mythic Character

At tier 2 you get a +20 to your Init
Now with this amazing bonus comes a second effect if you use a Mythic Point you can take a Second Turn at the point where you would been in the Order as if you did not have the + 20

This gave me 2 Swift Actions and 2 Full Round Actions So I received 2 Full Rounds of Attack and 2 Move Actions with 3 Attacks for each turn Creating 6 Normal attacks that received Sneak Attack and 2 Addition strikes that did not.

You also gain a Path Ability

The ability I used in that example is Fleet Charge

As a Swift Action you can Move 30ft and anytime during that Move you can make melee or a Ranged Attack... This attack bypasses all Damage Reduction.

I am starting the Mythic AP and have been looking over the rules in depth it is a great system and very simple to use.

Now for your question to how it would work... Since I used the Swift Action at the end... I can attack with my 3rd attack then use my Move action Stealth (as per Sniper Rule) Or I can roll Bluff then Run for cover and Concealment at a -10 to Stealth.

Then on your Second Turn (which is still in the Same round you have Scenerios)

1. You beat him... Unload he is still suffering from your SA option
2. You go after him... In this case you would of had to stealth out with your swift action break link of Sight and disappear.

So many Options!!!! BWAHAHA

Except the second actions is one of the first things they changed in Playtest.

Pricing is not correct there.

It uses 1 charge, you want to change it to 4 charges look at hwo charges work.

Away from book so goign by memory... if 1 charge is 500 the defaut of 5 charges woudl be 2500 so four charges would be 2k.

As for sorceror not ebing ablt to activate at level 20 (on a roll of 40) while a rogeu could....

Sorceror would just UMD it as a WIZARD rather than rogue (which is another class).

Again I would say cheesy and defintely not RAI but perhaps RAW.

Darth,

Away from book but you forgot to divide by 5 on the Daily spell ( to get it only once a day) so instead of 180k you are talking 36,200.

Enchantment after first is *1.5 not all.

If memory serves maul of titans just gives size but is a +3 weapon so 25k - 18k = 7k (really not sure on this part but as I said away from book).

A more reasonable price would be 98K + 7k + (36.2 * 1.5) or 160k (rounding).

No it is not too powerful but again I would not really expect it before level 15.

Sorcereor Spell casting.

Beast Shape does not allow you to add templates.

What he is asking (without saying it) is lets say he gets a staff of whatever which has say Chain Lighting on it.

As a 15th level sorceror he can do 15d6 using the staff as it is.

If he rolls a 45 on his UMD emulating a level 25 sorceror can eh do 25d6 (cap for chain lighting) with the staff.

At least that is what I assume he is asking. My general response would be No because it is OMG BROKEN.... but by RAW it might be legal. If not legal, why not?

BTW this is much worse or at least was much worse with Holy/Unholy word in 3.5 before that spell was nerfed in pathfinder.

Again that is a perfect example of why it is the spell not that it is personal that makes it more pwoerful.

Another example is the Mage armor spell. They even called out in UC that you could not just enchant a always on mage armor for 2k you should look at the cost of bracers of mage armor. Shield spell (a personal spell) doing the same thing costs twice as much but adds a little more functionality. Continuous shield is unbalanced but on a pure power level vs cost it is no worse then the continuous Mage Armor... Both are wrong.

I will not say that personal spells should not be looked at, I am just saying EVERY spell should be looked at if you single out only personal then a lot of other things will get by.

As for my item, at 24000 I am not sure if it really even needs to have rerolls limited.

I have seen it said (and not done the math to verify) that a reroll is equivalent to +6 on a roll. Especially on skills which do not automatically fail on a 1 it would cost 25k to have one one item a +10 perception and a +10 Disable device (always on). I would GUESSTIMATE the +5 skill on limited situations plus rerolls is of similar value. Honestly if it was my character I would rather have the +10 on all situtations and no reroll.

With that said YES some spells can give screwy results (ring of unlimited wishes WOO HOO) everything should be looked at by the DM and then determined what is a good price and a good FIT for your game.

I personally prefer a higher magic game so I am likely more lenient then others, but that is what makes a good fit for me :)

Trapfinder’s Focusn is a personal range spell. My personal opinion is that is generally a bad idea to create a magical item, in particular a wondrous item, that mimic a personal use spell as those spells are balanced around the idea that the spellcaster is casting it for himself (or that someone is using UMD on a wand9scroll to get it).

Making it available to everyone through a constant/use day magic item can create problems.

I will disagree with you that a personal spell is the problem. One of the most common magic items (at least at our table) boots of striding is based off the personal spell longstrider. There probably ARE some spells that would give an unbalancing effect but those are a factor of the spell not wether or not it is personal.

In the case of Trapfinders Focus the cost is more then it would be for an item that gave those bonuses and gave a reroll (basing reroll costs off a few items in ARG).

For cost just ignore then 1 min reduction on a reroll. Continuous cost eth same as unlimited charges or per use. So basically it would let him cast the spell every 3 min at the same price.

IF you wanted to (and I probably would) I would limit the reroll to once every 5 min (or 10 min or whatever again this is not raw but if yo uwant to balance the reroll).

Cost is 2000 x2(spell level)x3 (Min caster level)x2 (Spell is in rounds per min) = 24000.

As people mentioned combing 2 +5 competency bonuses in a single item would be 6250.

I don't see it as being problematic to give him a reroll for the additional cost it would be for the spell.

Str 15, dex 17, con 17, int 17, wis 13 char 14 looks better to me.

When I play a cleric, I usually have a calm emotions memorized for such occasions.

As a cleric I almost never have it memorized for that reason.... I have it memorized in case we are attacked by a barbarian.

I really do not see the need for the house rule feats.

Monkey Style from Ultimate combat.

Monkey Style (Combat, Style)

Your unarmed fighting style is nimble and unpredictable, full of ground rolls and short leaps. Prerequisites: Wis 13, Improved Unarmed Strike,
Acrobatics 5 ranks, Climb 5 ranks.

Benefit: You add your Wisdom bonus on Acrobatics checks. While using this style, you take no penalty on melee attack rolls or to AC while prone. Further, you can crawl and stand up from lying prone without provoking attacks of opportunity, and you can stand up as a swift action if you succeed at a DC 20 Acrobatics check. Normal: You take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and AC against melee attacks while prone. Standing up is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

It takes one prerequisite feat, a minimum stat and some skill ranks.

It is really no differnt then a Ninja being able to do a running jump from a stand still as long as they have Ki (Only without having to have Ki).

The Stags leap is free, the movement covered by the jump still counts as normal movement, so if they jump 30' they have used 30' of move (which depending on race gear and buffs may put them into double move teritory).

OK, say you have a dwarven druid or a DOOAD for short...

You buy the feat Deepsight and now as a Dwarf you have 120' Darkvision.

If you change into an animal obviously you loose your darkvision :(

What if you change into an Elemental?

I see two posibilities.

1) You change into an air elemental, you now have 60' Darkvision.

2) You change into an air elemental, you now have 120' darkvision (because you are in a form that meets the prerequisites for your feat and you do not loose the feat when transforming).

What do most people believe?

Well let's see about that.

The Monk gets a +5 to hit against heavy armored fighter with a moderate DEX bonus, so let's estimate AC 20.

He hits on 15+, using Stunning Blow. It might take a couple of passes to land the blow, but he takes no DAM while he attempts to land his blow, because the Fighter can't catch him.

When he does land the blow, depending on the Monk's personal preference, he can either Stun the Fighter, causing him to drop his weapon(s) and lose his turn, or he can Fatigue the Fighter to reduce his mobility and any potential to chase or charge the Monk. The Fighter with gets a Fort save at about +5 against a DC of around 17 to resist the effect, so it might take a couple of hits before he succumbs.

Once the Fighter has been disarmed and slowed, the Monk can close for Flurry of Blows against an unarmed opponent who probably didn't take Improved Unarmed Fighting.

So the Monk can make a bit better than one attack per round, and do between 1d8 and 2d8 DAM per round, while the Fighter can't even touch the Monk. Average DAM of between 5 and 10 HP per round against the Fighter's typical 42 HP (I am assuming the Fighter is level 7 as well). The Monk has a fair chance of beating the Fighter in about 6 rounds, maybe 10.

I'm not really looking at the Fighter's side of this, and it could very well be that he might get one or two really good shots in, at which point the Monk can, and probably should, cut and run, leaving the slow ass fighter in the dust. A quick shot of Cure Light Wounds, and the Monk circles back to repeat the performance. Death by a thousand pinpricks is still DEATH, and one-shot wonders can't cut you if they can't reach you.

Don't go crazy on doing the math here. Too many assumptions and variables to make the math accurate. But if you think the Monk is under-powered, then you ain't playing him right.

"When you can take the pebble from my hand, you will be ready."

Ok.

First Fighter assuming standard core fighter is goign to have at worst a 20 move (dwarf or small race). Since at 7th level they get full move in heavy armor. The only way they would be 15 even before level 7 would be a halfling or gnome that was in heavy armor.

Second With his +1 magical full plate and a dex of 10 (to get the 20 ac you suggest) it appears he is using a 2 handed weapon.

Fighter readys an action for when the monk comes in and swings his sowrd. Spring attack stops attacks of opportunity not readied actions.

Basically unless you are playing a level 7 monk againt a level 1 fighter your spring attack strategy doesn't work.

Btw assuming a 12 dex, +1 full plate, +1 shield, dodge (fighters get lots of feats) +1 scimitar. The fighter has an AC of 25.

Monks don't beat fighters in a fight unless you make a LOT of assumptions or are playing shrodeingirs monk.

When discussing pure damage, the benefits an archery fighter gets are objectively lower than those that an archery ranger gets against their first favoured enemy.

Are they? I am not so sure about that especialy at level 20 but quite possibly at any level.

20th level ranger who selects X as a favored enemy every level +10 Hit and Damagevs that favored enemy.

20th Level Fighter +4 hit and damage (weapon Mastery) +2 hit and damage (Gauntlets of dueling which woudl not work for a ranger) for +6 hit and damage. Fighter also qualifies for Weapon specialization and greater weapon specialization brining him up to +6 to hit adn +10 damage. Greater weapon focus (fighter only brings him to +7 to hit +10 damage)

Now figure in the fact fighter will be doing x4 damage on crits and he probably pulls ahead (depending on ac of mob). Add in Penetraitng strike and Greater penetrating strike (again fighter only) and the Fighter is the clear winner whenever Damage Resitance is invovled.

Artificer.

View 1 is correct.

Normally if you are untrained in a knowledge skill you can not get any DC higher then 10.

So lets say you are a 4th level cloistered cleric with an Int of 12.

You would have a roll of d20 +1 (int) +2 (BoK) -2(met) or d20 +1. Also since you can make knowledge checks untrained you could answer things that were above a DC10.

base Speed 50 it will follow you up to 50.

Base Speed 50 yo double move it is not 50' behind you, if you are less then level 10 it exceeded range adn winks out of existince.

I will accomnay you does not mean you can make it carry you and move. You sit on it it stays stationary. It is not a low level flight spell or a means of safely bypassing pressure plate traps or rough terrain or caltrops.

I read it a little more restrictively.

Since monk is your favored class you can take either 1hp or 1SP or 1/4 Ki when you level as a monk. Everyone agrees with this so far.

If yoru eclectic class is druid it allows you to take +1 Hp or +1 SP when you level as a druid. Eclectic does NOT say you can take one of the other benefits, only a HP or a SP.

Just another point, your cohort can not use wand of shield on you as shield is a personal spell.

And I really do not MEAN to come across as crass here.... but a level 20 commoner can be useful to a party if his cohort is a level 17 wizard or cleric. The commoner can just stay out of the way and let the cohort do everything.

Enlarged monk at 20 wiht monk robes does 4d8 not 4d10. Damage does not go up over 20 so monks robe does not increase damage of a level 20 monk.

Guided is a wonderful enchantment for a monk, but it is also a 3.5 enchantment so not all GM's will allow it.

Without Improved Critical you are only threatening a crit on a natural 20. IMHO while you have a decent AC you are not putting out the damage a front line fighter does even with you buddy doing enlarge person.

Yeah, 3.5 has PunPun but seriously how many DM's let you play a Kobold :(

Makes it rougher to do PunPun.

Yes I KNOW that person looks like GEORGE he has my body. I am not sure how but I have been with you through all of those troulbes we had as a kid I was always there. I know its hard to belive heck even I would have trouble beliveing but somehow something switched me out of Georges body and into this one. You've got to believe me after everything we have been through..... And I am scared for you, don't trust that thing in my body.

With a high enough bluff almost anything can be made beliveable. Remember tell it with conviction and lie big.

Artificer/ANYTHING......

Archivist(3.5)/Wizard prestiging to Incnatrix

None of that will work because in order to use the ring, you have to have the appropriate mystery for the revelation in the ring. In order to get "cloak of darkness" you have to have to "Dark Tapestry" mystery. If you have the "Dark Tapestry" mystery then you can only use the "ring of revelations" with Dark Tapestry revelations.

"Sidestep Secret" comes from the "Lore" mystery. Lore doesn't offer any armor type revelations.

UMD

Suppose they were Ghouls that were chained up. Would he be justified in killing them then? (IMHO YES).

Not every killing needs to be an honorable fight. Sometimes you execute a prisoner. I view this as he performed an execution.

To those who believe that only anime has large weapons.

From wikipedia:
Staff of the Monkey King

It is an iron rod whose size changes ruyi 如意 "as-one-wishes," which Sun Wukong obtains from the undersea palace of Ao Guang, the Dragon King of the East Sea. It is immensely heavy (weighing "13,500 jīn")(8,100 kg/17,820 lbs); in modern measurements, it is slightly heavier than 8.5 metric tons.

Since in Pathfinder you need the spell to make a wand, scroll, or staff Mystic Thurge works rather well. If yoru GM allows esoeric traing you can get up to 9th level spells in both divine and arcane allowing you to have access to almost all spells.

Another option (which I am looking forward to playing) is to make a half elven Oracle. Go with Eldritch heritage arcane and use the 3rd level spell "paragon surge" to temporarily add 1 of 2 feats to give you a new spell known (for any cleric spell), or Inproved Arcane Heritage to get Sorceror spells. Since you can not get Improved Arcane Heritage twice you need to be sure NOT to buy it with a regular feat.

You MAY want to consider spell focus Spellcraft and/or Magical Aptitude.

Also notice it is NOT a material component but a FOCUS. So you can not get around it with Eschew Materials.

We have generally said that it takes some material from that plane to attune it and a simple (dc 15) Spellcraft check to make it.

Now you could perhaps BUY a fork for a plane that you have not been to, I would suggest Knowledge Planes to make sure it is attuned properly adn you are not being scammed. But unless you buy a tuning fork, you can not planeshift to a plane unless you have been there or hav somematerial from it.

Though rereading the text I can see an arguetn tht a Knowledge planes should allow you to attune any forked metal rod to that plane. We ahve just assumed that each rod was attuned to a single plane sort of like a key.

Assuming the 2 is a base 4 with a -2 racial.....

Ratfolk wizard
Str 8 (10 -2)
Dex 13
Con 12

Int 18
Wis 11
Cha 4

A rule of thumb that I've heard is to multiply the Intelligence score by 10, the example giving you an IQ of 70. According to the Wikipedia article, an IQ of 70 is is the bottom limit of "normal" mental faculties. It is within two standard deviations of the mean of 100. Your character may have some trouble with the finer points of philosophy or what have you, but will speak and function just as well as 95% of the population, according to real-world statistics.

Not quite right.

You are 2 standard deviatiosn down at 70. What it means is that 95 percent of people are between 70 and 130... That does NOT mean you are as good as 95 percent of the people.

With an IQ of 70 there are only 2.5% of the people who are dumber then you.

So in a grup of 40 people you are the second dumbest, which means you need to decide if you are Jim Carrey or Jeff Daniels.

IF your GM will let you take feats from 3.5 ask about the Regional Feat Militia. This is page 36 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting. It gives you proficency with ALL martial weapons.

Then you can take Sorceror 6/Eldritch Knight 10/Dragin Disciple 4. You will end at 20 with a bab of 16 (4 attacks a round) and 9th level spells.

Failing that it depends if you want to be more of a caster or more of a Fighter.

If yo want to focus on Caster go either Sorceror 20 or Sorceror 12/Dragon Disciple 8. Going to DD 10 will cost you 9th level spells.

If you want to be more of a fighter I would say Paladin 2/sorceror 4/Dargon disciple 4/eldritch knight 10. A slightly differnt variant of that would be Paladin 2/Sorceror 4/Dragon Disciple 8/Eldritch knight 6.

Well I'm thinking of going wizard. The theme is a guy w/a lot of scrolls; considering taking the scrollmaster archetype. Anyway, I thought for a little extra coin he would build wands and scrolls with metamagiced spells. For this reason I thought a wand of Extended Mage Armor would come in handy (pay the extra cash, put it in at 7th level of casting with the metamagic on it and get 14 hrs of armor every morning...)

YEs, it is useful but tht suefulness comes with a cost.

Regular wand of Mage armor costs (level 1 spell x Level 1 caster X 750)= 750 and you can make it for 375.

Your want of Mage armor costs (level 2 spell x Level 7 caster X 750) = 10500 and you can make it for 5250.

Instead I would suggest either use a second level slot for mage armor and extend it, or use a first level slot and a rod of extend. Which slot to use depends on what you see as your standard daily load of spells. Another option would be to cast mage armor twice using 2 first level spells.

Free in the sense that if you confine the magic into an item then it takes away from the magic in the universe.

The idea of unenchanting an item is to return the magic to the universe. The Unenchanting is necesary to retun the magic, simply destroying the item would also destroy the magic bound within it.

Ahh the issues of fitting a concept to the rules.

So lets say you have a character who believes that magic should be free. That Magic like all resources is a finite resource and thus when a magic item si permanently bound into an item it takes away a little of the magic of the world.

This character wants to disenchant (ideally all magic items). What feats would you require?

I was thinking it might require you to be able to create an item to understand how to uncreate it. I realize the rules do not specify how to go about this but I thought I would ask the boards and see what they thought?

Character thought is Scrolls and potions fine, wands are a grey area but somewhat acceptable, other things are bad.. Artifacts are HORRIBLE AND MUST ALL BE DESTROYED!!!!

Additionally, per the OP, a Mask of Charisma should probably cost extra since it is an off-slot item (i.e. mental stats go on headbands not head slot). I would say a 20% increase in price should be appropriate, since to get a +2 Cha and +2 Wis would usually require you to buy a headband of mental prowess at 10k gp instead of the Mask and Headband for 8k gp. This would up the cost to 8800gp, less then the 10k for the one headband, but the reduced price is offset by using 2 slots.

However pathfinder specifically and purposly did away with off slot costs.

A belt,a headband or a pair of gloves that gives +6 str is 36,000.

When I first signed up for the comic, I had it delay til my next order and ship with that. Shipping costs as much or more then the Comic.

Is there a way I can make all issues of the comic wait until my next role playing game subscription ships? I know this means I would sometimes get the comics 2 or 3 months later but it burns me to pay more in shipping then I do for the comic.

Well it is OBVIOUS that the Planetar is doing everything for the purposes fo good. He is not Fallen he is misudnerstood....

The lower planes have been increasing their power because of the actions of Humans and Drow and other races summoning them to the Prime Material. The only way to cut off this power base is to destroy the Prime Material. You have to take away their resources to win the war and the Prime Material has become a resource for them. Once this extended holding is taken out it should be easier to lay siege to Hell itself.

So the destruction of Humanity, dwarves, elves, and every living creature on the prime material is for the greater good... Isn't that obvious?

The corrolary of this is that Arcane sight lets you know someone is invisible and what hex they are in... Unless they are mind blanked.

I woudl say only 24d6.....

Now if this was a standard act yes. But the Druid has used 2 of his actiosn before teh attack can even be done cating a fourth adn a fifth level spell....

Scenario 1 Big MOb

Druid : Ok guys Woo Hoo I rolled a 20 for iniit I am gogin first... Buff Companion.
Wizard: Debuffs Mob.
Cleric: Buffs Party
Fighter: Charges Mob
Rogue: Moves to position and hits mob.

Druid Ok round 2 of buffing here My pet is almsot ready.
Wizard Damages mob
Cleric Damges mob
Fighter almost Slaughters mob
Rogue finishes off mob

Druid Ok CHARGE!!!! Crap you guys killed it already :(

Scenario 2 Lots of little mobs

Druid: Cool I rocked the initiative again Buffing Chargeasaurus
Wizard Looks at all the littel mobs adn fries a bunch of them.
Cleric Buffs party adn wishes he had a BIG AE like the damge spells eh usually mocks the wizard for.
Fighter Picks off 4 mobs with his bow.
Rogue moves adn kills 1 mob.

Druid: Ok roudn two Buffing Chargie is almost ready
Wizard slaughters more mobs with generally useless evocation spell
Cleric drops a flame strike just because he wanted to roll dice.
Fighter kills 3 more mobs with hsi bow (while b@~*!ign about the 1 he rolled)
Rogue Kills off two mobs.

Druid: Woo hoo CHARGE!!!!!! Dude I just did 140 points to that kobold I slaughtered them.

Rest of the party: Yep you rocked you took out one of those 40 Kobolds.

Druid Smiles oblivious to reality.

As someoen pointed out a Double Musket has a 10' range.

Assuming you do not start 10' from someone an archer will slaughter him before he can get close enough to kill him.

Oracle, possibly of Lore and if you go that way and archetypes are allowed make your bard an Archivist.

Gives you Charisma Synergy as well as Arcane and Divine spells.

Also shield is not a legal spell for a potion. It is a personal spell.

Spell books are not magical and the writing inside is also not magical. The fact that you need read magic to decipher a spell from a book does not change that, nor the fact you are using spell craft. The best real world example I can think of is computer programming.

Below is a snippet of code from a program I wrote for a class.

mov cur_speed, 0800h
mov c_comp_x, 225
mov n_comp_x, 226
mov c_player_x, 225
mov n_player_x, 226
mov c_ball_y, 8
mov n_ball_y, 9
mov x_direction, 1
mov y_direction, 1

mov si, c_comp_x
mov dx, 05h
mov al, 0fh
call dpaddle

mov si, c_comp_x
mov dx, c_ball_y
mov al, 0fh
call dball

mov si, c_player_x
mov dx, 475
mov al, 0fh
call dpaddle

Can anyone tell me what this does? Unless you are a programmer familiar with the language it is written in it is gibberish. Even a programmer familiar with the language is going to have trouble seeing exactly what is does.

Spells in a book are like uncompiled programs. They allow a wizard to save the spell in format that is more easily understood and that can be shared with other people who want to use it. It is not the spell it is the code for the spell.

Read magic acts like a compiler that allows you to step through the program without actually compiling it. A spell needs to be memorized just like a program needs to be compiled.

Well off hand I would guess part of the code for a pong style game.

Assembly?