Glyph as Trigger Items

[Emmit Svenson]

I’ve been wondering if Greater Glyph of Warding could be used for the same purposes as certain scrolls, more economically and to greater effect.

How useful a glyph can be depends on the interpretation of “a harmful spell”. Positive energy spells like Heal can harm undead--can they therefore be placed in a glyph? If they can, that opens up possibilities.

For example, a level 11 cleric could have taken the Scribe Scroll feat, and spend a day and 825 gold to scribe a Scroll of Heal. Or she could spend ten minutes and 400 gold to place a Greater Glyph of Warding on a scroll case that will cast Heal on the first creature to opens it. The higher the cleric’s level, the better a Greater Glyph looks, because scribing a scroll with a higher caster level costs extra, but the cost of the glyph is fixed.

A scroll has situational advantages over a glyph. When you use a scroll, you pick targets and choose effects as if you cast the spell. With a glyph, the target is the opener, and the effects are set. But a glyph can be used by anyone, much like a potion, only without the spell level limit of potions. Alternately, you can create glyphs that only trigger for someone who shares your race or alignment or religion.

Whether or not positive energy spells can be put into a glyph, surely negative energy spells like Harm can. Such glyphs could be triggered by undead creatures to heal themselves. Dhampirs could gain the same benefit.

Other uses worth considering are a glyph that surrounds the opener with a Blade Barrier, or targets the opener’s immediate area with an effect one expects the opener to be immune to, such as Undeath to Death or an alignment-selective spell like Holy Smite.

Does this seem reasonable to everyone?

[Thanael]

I've seen it in an old Polyhedron article for 2e I think. So there's precedent. Though 2e did not have the limitation of harmful in the text iirc.

[Dave Justus]

My advice is that if you think you have come up with a cool way to cheat the system, then don't do that thing.

[Cyrus Lanthier]

Unless I am severely mistaken, the 2e Glyph of Warding did set damage dictated by the spell description (Basically, the "Blast Glyph" from Pathfinder), so the "harmful spell" was already part of the Glyph.

I think it's a pretty big stretch to call a healing spell "harmful." At minimum, I would say that you have to specify the "intruder" to be undead or something else subject to taking damage from healing for this to work (then again, polymorph and maybe even Disguise Self fool it...). Really, Dave Justus is right, in essence; this really would be pretty game breaking, especially if taken to it's logical extreme...

[Thanael]

Check out the Holy Water Assault (Combat) feat from paizo's undead slayers handbook.

I checked my 2e phb, and it has the same clause about harmful spells.

Off to search for that old polyhedron article...

[Emmit Svenson]

Thanael wrote:

Check out the Holy Water Assault (Combat) feat from paizo's undead slayers handbook.

Good find, Thanael.

Quote:

Healing Glyph

Prerequisite(s): Ability to cast glyph of warding

Benefit(s): You can replace the diamond material component in a glyph of warding spell with a vial of holy water. When you do so, you must place a spell glyph containing a conjuration (healing) spell of 3rd level or lower, which can be designed to benefit allies or harm undead.

So a cleric with that feat can make little vials with Glyph of Wardings that cast Cure Serious Wounds on whoever opens them, for no more than the cost of a vial holy water (25g). That's about 1/15th the cost of brewing a potion of Cure Serious Wounds, and the caster can scale the spell up to CL 15 with no increase in price.

At CL 15, such a CSW glyph costs an average of .877 gold per point of stored healing. By comparison, a CL 1 wand of Cure Light Wounds you craft yourself costs an average of 1.36 gold per point of stored healing--very close to the cost/point stored healing of a CL 5 CSW glyph (1.35).

Also possible: glyphs of Remove Disease, Remove Blindness/Deafness, and Lesser Restoration, far cheaper than potions/scrolls of the same.

[Emmit Svenson]

Emmit Svenson wrote:

Thanael wrote:

Check out the Holy Water Assault (Combat) feat from paizo's undead slayers handbook.

Good find, Thanael.

Quote:

Healing Glyph

Prerequisite(s): Ability to cast glyph of warding

Benefit(s): You can replace the diamond material component in a glyph of warding spell with a vial of holy water. When you do so, you must place a spell glyph containing a conjuration (healing) spell of 3rd level or lower, which can be designed to benefit allies or harm undead.

So a cleric with that feat can make little vials with Glyph of Wardings that cast Cure Serious Wounds on whoever opens them, for no more than the cost of a vial holy water (25g). That's about 1/15th the cost of brewing a potion of Cure Serious Wounds, and the caster can scale the spell up to CL 15 with no increase in price.

At CL 15, such a CSW glyph costs an average of .877 gold per point of stored healing. By comparison, a CL 1 wand of Cure Light Wounds you craft yourself costs an average of 1.36 gold per point of stored healing--very close to the cost/point stored healing of a CL 5 CSW glyph (1.35).

Also possible: glyphs of Remove Disease, Remove Blindness/Deafness, and Lesser Restoration, far cheaper than potions/scrolls of the same. THis is particularly good for Remove Disease, which requires a CL check.