Concerning the standard communications, e.g. between Sandpoint and Magnimar, do we have any official information in the sourcebooks?
For the teleportation I remember James said the following (and I definitely like this level of magic for the world).
The communication is also a crucial aspect we have to define for the world in order to keep a realistic feeling.
Could we suppose the use of crows or something similar?
The elves have a network of fixed-location portals called elfgates that they can use to quickly move from location to location, but that's not the same as teleportation from the 5th level spell.
While Golarion's "level cap" (if indeed it has one, which it doesn't really) is more or less at 20th level, it's actually relatively rare to see characters of 9th level or higher. They certainly exist, but don't confuse the fact that for adventures and supplements things skew toward higher level stuff that that means they're super commonplace.
In Golarion, teleporting is not common. Even at its lowest level, getting a teleport spell from a wizard will cost you 450 gp... one way. Most wizards, i suspect, will try to charge you 900 gp since they'll probably need to cast the spell at least twice, since they have to go back where they came from. And that only gets a couple of people teleported. Shipping a huge number of people or goods via teleportation probably needs the more powerful teleportation circle spell, which runs 2,530 gp to cast.
Compare those prices to, say, the price of a ship's passage for 100 miles—ten gold pieces.
Teleporation in Golarion is for the very rich and powerful, and as such is not all that common at all. Which is by design, because having ships and long shipping routes they sail on supports a LOT of really cool plotlines, after all!
Also: Teleportation is a crazy impressive magical stunt. If it were common, it would become dull and ordinary, and that's not the type of world we want Golarion to be.
Could we suppose that the standard way of sending messages is the carrier pigeons? Is there a more exotic kind of homing bird?
I can't find something written in the sourcebooks.
Ok. A good option too.
I think that the sourcebook writers should mention something about it in the future. Just to mention that such a service exists (we could assume that the cost isn't high).
I also saw a message in an old thread
http://paizo.com/campaigns/BurntOfferingsBeingPart1OfReptiliansRotRLCampaig nICThread/gameplay&page=36#1773
where the GM says that the carrier pigeon service costs 1 gp.
And another one
http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz3oog?Homing-pigeons-and-magical-spells#2
Carrier pigeons (or some other bird) were the communication method of preference in the ancient world. Fast and relatively secure. Having a chain of signal fires was for emergencies, but that was typically one message (aka: we're under attack). Past that a single rider swapping horses at waystations is almost as fast as the pigeon. Mostly due to the fact that the pigeons don't always fly in a straight line.
History channel. ;-)
The Core Rulebook has basic rules for horse/runner messengers, prices included. Ultimate Equipment expands them a bit. Also, this is a magical world, so you can assume that things like animal messenger and sending spells or bird feather token magic items are available.
The figurine of wondrous power Silver Raven is probably well used by any kingdom that can afford it. It's the benefit of a raven messanger with the added bonus that it doesn't get tired or lost.
Messaging between regions varies by region. For Sandpoint and Magnimar, though, messages are generally delivered by hand, whether via messengers traveling on foot, horseback, or carriage. There's daily traffic between the two towns, in any event.
Wouldn't boat be the fastest method about half of the time (depending on wind conditions)?
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Messaging between regions varies by region. For Sandpoint and Magnimar, though, messages are generally delivered by hand, whether via messengers traveling on foot, horseback, or carriage. There's daily traffic between the two towns, in any event.Wouldn't boat be the fastest method about half of the time (depending on wind conditions)?
Probably... but boats are expensive. Not everyone can afford a boat. Not everyone can PILOT a boat for that matter.
Messaging between regions varies by region. For Sandpoint and Magnimar, though, messages are generally delivered by hand, whether via messengers traveling on foot, horseback, or carriage. There's daily traffic between the two towns, in any event.
Thank you very much James and all who responded to my question.
I'm going to resurrect this thread with a much more far-reaching question: How do major cities that are great distances from each other communicate?
For example, since both Absalom and Magnimar have high-level casting available, I'd think that maybe once a month they'd use Greater Scrying and Message to provide detailed summaries of urgent matters, check on trade status, and so forth, and the rest of the time they'd use good old pen-and-paper via ship.
But is even that too optimistic? Even though magic exists so two cities *could* have a one-hour 'meeting of the minds' every month, would they?
I'm just trying to work through the built-in 12-week delay between sending a message from Magnimar to Absalom and getting a reply. Seems like many people would pay a lot of money to get responses sooner, so I'm trying to figure out the 'cheapest' way merchants could find out what's selling in Absalom NOW to maximize their profits.
Thanks!
P.S. The 12 weeks is a very rough estimate. I eyeballed the distance, looked up how long it took 17th-century vessels to cross the Atlantic, and figured the speeds would be reasonably close, making Absalom - Magnimar a 6-week trip by water.