I've used it in the past to augment illusion spells, coloring copper pieces golden or stones into gems, ofcourse some of that is gm desgression
If you are either an arcane caster or have reasonable levels of UMD, combining good forgeries with Illusory Script is lots of fun. I usually end up rogue/wizard, so I have all the pieces included in my classes. Everything from 'this document is genuine' to 'the next guy in line has forged papers' implanted as the suggestion can be dead useful/loads of fun. YMMV
And on the other hand, being a successful forger DOES require that your GM is willing to support forgery as a skill; that is, there have to be enough bureaucratic elements in play to make forging documents worthwhile. I've been in some campaigns where I never had to get out my inks, because there just weren't any licenses, passports, lading lists, etc., to justify the ranks I spent in linguistics...
In an old game, my friend and I played a fighter and rogue. I had carpentry, he had forgery. We would find abandoned buildings in the towns we came to and start squatting. I would fix the place up, he would forge a deed. After we were done, we'd sell the newly renovated place for profit.
Biggest problem: You have no ideas how many villains like to use old abandoned buildings as part of their diabolical schemes. We both leaned to the chaotic neutral side of alignment but became default good guys because we kept stumbling into the plots of powers much more nefarious then ourselves.Edit: One more thing. We once got caught with the fake deed by one town bureaucrat. The solution: the rogue bluffed that we had been sold the fake deed by some shysters to make us look the victims. It was brilliant. [/QUOTE
I so have to try this out sometime
I played in an Eberron campaign once in which I was playing a changeling spellthief. This particularly campaign was not suited for what I was hoping to do (we played through two modules, both of which had us on the road for the better part of them, so I didn't have the time), but I had intended to take all the id papers from fallen enemies and forge my own in order to further any ends I needed. While papers like these are not really common in most worlds, it is a good use of the skill - impersonating people. Depending on how far you are willing to go with it, you can do a lot.
You might write up a document claiming that you're a high ranking official in the region's military. You come across a relatively large but outlying city. You show the local guard the document and request access to their armory for outfitting. You take whatever they have you want, and you leave. The average city might have mostly basic stuff, with several masterwork, but even if they have that one +1 sword they happened to keep an extra of in case the captain loses his, that's still 2k gold that you simply acted for, from people that might not even miss it.
That's the light side. A bit darker might be something like this:
Simply alter a merchant's books and forge a customer receipt for an item you haven't paid for. When you go to pick it up and he refuses, contact the local guard and show them the evidence. It's risky, but a good face, combined with the papers, ought to be able to get this done.
Probably definitely one of the darkest things would be cliche but possibly very effective: forging suicide notes. Kill a dude in a way that could be suicide, take his stuff, make the note, walk away.
In an old game, my friend and I played a fighter and rogue. I had carpentry, he had forgery. We would find abandoned buildings in the towns we came to and start squatting. I would fix the place up, he would forge a deed. After we were done, we'd sell the newly renovated place for profit.
Biggest problem: You have no ideas how many villains like to use old abandoned buildings as part of their diabolical schemes. We both leaned to the chaotic neutral side of alignment but became default good guys because we kept stumbling into the plots of powers much more nefarious then ourselves.Edit: One more thing. We once got caught with the fake deed by one town bureaucrat. The solution: the rogue bluffed that we had been sold the fake deed by some shysters to make us look the victims. It was brilliant.
That is the greatest forgery story that I've ever had to rip off because it's so awesome!
I've always wanted to use this skill, but never get too.
I use it as a DM on occasion, but that's hardly really using it.