Our party refused to use it. We felt it was evil.
There is a time limit for the whole adventure, so it should be easy for you to put pressure on your party if they take a lot of time off. And you could make the wisdom drain permanent since the archive is an artifact. That'll stop them using it!
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Anathema Archive
Slot none; Aura strong (all schools); CL 20th; Weight 2 lbs.
When using the anathema archive to cast spells, the user can either simply open it or the user can attempt to force the anathema archive to open to a specific spell from that list or to any arcane spell she knows how to cast. Doing so requires a Spellcraft check (DC = 20 + double spell level)—failure indicates the archive opens to a random spell from this chapter's seven earlier options. Whatever spell the anathema archive is opened to, the user may cast that spell from the scroll as if she were casting a spell from a normal scroll, save that the spell is not consumed from the anathema archive upon being cast.By making a DC 38 spellcraft check you can open it to the wish spell. the wizard in the party currently has a +28 to his spellcraft check (13 ranks, +8 int, +3 class skill, +5 magical item). Each day he can now cast wish. His will save is only +11 so he is going to fail some of the saves, but the cleric in the party can easily cast restoration to remove the Wisdom drain.
That means if the PCs take a month off, everyone gets a +1 inherent bonus to each stat....----
Even the rogue can make a DC 40 UMD check to use the scroll (so long as the wizard calls the wish spell up). (13 ranks, +3 class skill, +5 magic item, +4 from Artifact Hunter, take 15 from Artifact hunter)
The archive is there for the players to use. It's an avenue for them to get pieces of background/story information that they missed or otherwise couldnt learn. I would shy away from making it overly difficult or dangerous to use.
If you're worried about unlimited wishes (honestly, I haven't seen anyone complain about this item being a problem in their game), make the following change: remove "or to any arcane spell she knows how to cast" from the descriptuion.
-Skeld
IIRC, the wizard actually has to be able to cast Wish before he can use it from the Archive. The Archive doesn't open to any spell on your list; it opens to spells you actually know how to cast, which is a huge limiting factor.
Which means he'll probably won't get the capability to get a wish per day from the Archive until he's in Xin-Shalast, probably right before fighting Karzoug.
Now, if the party's on the brink of fighting Karzoug and then leaves for a month to wish up all of their stats by a point, I'd just have Karzoug wake up with all of the ramifications that brings. Because that definitely a GMly "Are you sure you want do that?"
Sorry to reply to a month-old thread, but our group just started thinking about the possibilities of using this artifact in our game.
Whether or not you are prepared for Wisdom Drain, the Wizard might be confused. Maybe on a day he doesn't prepare any offensive spells, this might be an acceptable risk, but do you want a confused guy who can cast Power Word: Kill using his bound item?
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"When using the anathema archive to cast spells, the user can either simply open it..."
-This sounds like a random spell chosen by the DM and does not require a spellcraft check to demand for a specific spell.
"... or the user can attempt to force the anathema archive to open to a specific spell from that list..."
-This one is a tad bit confusing as it states "open to a specific spell from THAT list." Does 'THAT' entail the whole arcane spells list? Or does it entail the new spells chapter 7 presented from the failure of a spellcraft check? DM discretion I suppose. I personally may just allow it for my players and for reasons mentioned below.
"... or to any arcane spell she knows how to cast."
-And lastly this being a spell from their current spells known.
Also, on a different note, regarding the 'normal scrolls' conversation, I do believe that this is also DM discretion. I'm running this game presently for my group and I wholeheartedly believe that because it's a once per day thing WITH a chance to harm the players if they don't roll high enough, this could be used as an "OH S***!" button that may or may not save their lives in a scenario. My group alone have all remade characters at least twice due to party deaths and nearly TPK's, merely from me running the AP as it states to be played; bad rolls on their part and I don't like to fudge dice rolls >:P
So DM's, use this book with caution as it could either be a panic button for the group, a game changer completely, OR simply just a silly lvl 20 item that conjures lame scrolls for them to use at low caster levels (you know where I stand haha). Don't forget, it IS an Artifact. Treat it as such. I'm even going as far as to having them not be able to use spellcraft or spells to figure out it's properties, but maybe hints that lead to it's abilities (also refusing to give it's name out as the players will most likely just metagame and read up on it; not meant to be known until they've tried a few things first).
Sorry for the late response, but hope this helps future DM's reading through this article.
Love,
Karzoug
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And worms, please stop pronouncing my name as "Kar-Zog" ... it's pitiful.
It's "Kar-Zoog".
Thank you...
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Here's an excerpt from the Anathema Archive description in the RotRL-AE
When using the anathema archive to cast spells, the user can either simply open it (in which case it randomly opens to one of the new Thassilonian spells presented earlier in this chapter) or the user can attempt to force the anathema archive to open to a specific spell from that list or to any arcane spell she knows how to cast. Doing so requires a Spellcraft check (DC = 20 + double spell level)—failure indicates the archive opens to a random spell from this chapter’s seven earlier options.
"That list" refers to the list of campaign-specific Thassilonian spells provided in Appendix 7 of the AE. The parenthetical has been removed from some sources, such as d20pfsrd.com. If you read the description on page#420 of the AE, it's much more clear that it's referring to the Thassilonian spells.
If the user fails the check to open to a specific spell that the user knows (which I take to mean a specific spell from their spellbook or spells known list), then it opens to a random spell taken from the list of Thassilonian spells.
-Skeld
What Skeld said.
While they are useful, this underscores the point that unofficial rules sites like d20pfsrd are secondary sources of the rules.
D20pfsrd in particular has to strip out campaign-specific information and direct references to Paizo's IP, which can add to this kind of confusion.
If it's confusing, or seemingly too good to be true, always check with the original source first.
I would have loved my players to mess with the Sinister evil artifact, I could have had lots of fun. Sadly they knew me to well.
Also IIRC Wish is not on the list of spells it provides which makes it even less attractive
By the time they could do this in the campaign, they likely don't have a month to take off safely without Karzoug's plan being finished (and probably also Mhar being released due to the Leng Device tampering); they won't be 17th level (the earliest this could happen) until they're a fair ways into Xin-Shalast, and by then it should be fairly clear to them that they can't afford to sit around for a month just to get some trivial extra inherent bonuses.
Keep in mind that a 17th level caster getting confused could also cause some serious problems as well.
My party used the Archive for a Wish spell once, so they could resurrect their Cleric of Pharasma. They've been otherwise adverse to use it, especially as the Wizard is LG and has a Hound Archon Paladin for a cohort. The LE Magus has been dying to get his hands on it, but even he's scared of its power.
I never made it clear to my party what the saves that the Wizard were making were for, he just knows he's tracking how many times he's had to roll and he knows he rolls a Will save every time he uses it. That alone keeps him nervous about consulting the book TOO much.
Eh, our GM (and we all as players) took it that the archive could only be used for spells you are actually capable of casting. So Wish wasn't a factor for us (we had a Sorcerer instead of a Wizard as our primary arcane caster).