Once per day as a standard action, the holder of this ordinarylooking leather-bound book can erase the writing contained within it. However, the holder cannot erase any writing that required a material component cost, such as a symbol spell or a sepia snake sigil, with this standard action. An erasing book can be used as a spellbook or a formula book—spells written in the book have a material component cost and are immune to the book’s erasing effect. Erasing the book also removes smudges, stains, and minor water damage, but it doesn’t recover text lost to serious damage.
I'm having trouble figuring out a use for this item. I guess you could use it as a dossier of sensitive info, or something? The fact that you can also use it as a spellbook is also kind of head scratching. I guess it could just be a really expensive, reusable notebook? Anyone have any other ideas?
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Pretty much for espionage I guess, or for when your spellbook gets full and rather than carry a bunch with you you copy the spells into something else and then codify the ones you want into a single book. Unless something was left out...
Erasing the book also removes smudges, stains, and minor water damage, but it doesn’t recover text lost to serious damage.
Nowhere else in the item is being able to recover text stated as an ability, so why was this added on at the end?
Pretty much for espionage I guess, or for when your spellbook gets full and rather than carry a bunch with you you copy the spells into something else and then codify the ones you want into a single book. Unless something was left out...
Erasing the book also removes smudges, stains, and minor water damage, but it doesn’t recover text lost to serious damage.Nowhere else in the item is being able to recover text stated as an ability, so why was this added on at the end?
I think it's there because while normal writing is erased, spells added are not, and the act of erasing all mundane writing also removes stains, smudges, and water damage (including those possibly degrading the pages with spells added, thus keeping the state of your spells immaculate), it cannot undo legitimate damage, so spells lost because of that can't be patched up in the same way as if the spell text got smudged or something.
I mean I guess you could use this book's pages to disguise a spellbook as a different kind of book, by covering them with scribbles or mundane diagrams?
Or you could make an awesome reusable coloring book with the right spell cipher I'm sure ;)
Well I think the first thing to remember is that this item is situated in a section for an NPC group of corrupt guardsmen. It's definitely a corner case item meant more for NPCs than PCs.
It's function seems pretty clear. In a setting that lacks digital media, all records are written. Ledgers, lists, itineraries, personal notes, all of it. And if you're keeping a list of people to kill, or debts owed to you by businesses who are paying you off (as a corrupt guardsman), and you get busted, the book is handy because you can clear the records in a standard action.
Any movie you've ever seen where they're desperately shredding documents as the feds bust in to arrest them? This book exists specifically for that situation. Or one like it.
I think you could also probably get creative with it by writing information in it, maybe a forgery or something, and then handing it over to an NPC you've duped to take it to the proper authorities, and of course they get there to find the pages empty and themselves shouting like a mad man throwing around false accusations and the like.
I also think the fact you can use it as a spellbook makes it even better. Because you can keep a bunch of secrets in the back of it and again, if it comes down to it, you can clear the pages and shrug and say "Nah, guy. This is just my spellbook."
Just my thoughts as a DM. I can think of plenty of uses for it. It's located on the same page as the Quill of Verification which essentially verifies signatures. Which again, not a PC handy thing. But awfully valuable for a clandestine organization passing notes among themselves who want to make sure someone isn't forging documents to mislead them or pit them against one another.