Topic: Rune Paper Longevity

[providence13]

Although rune paper can be reused, how many times is average for your campaigns?

Rune paper requires magic to create and can be reused, but IMHO, it's not regenerating.
One of my Mages gets so excited each time I hand out scrolls.. It's like they're printed on money...

[rdanhenry]

I see rune paper as very long lasting. Even without any preservative effects of the magic, it is on high-quality paper or parchment, and what wears through a document with too much reuse is the erasure of the previous writing - which need not be done in the case of rune paper because it disappears when the spell is cast.

[yammahoper]

Rune paper should resist wear, tear and destruction at the level of spell needed to make it.  Thus is a 10th level mage shoots the scroll it would have to resist a 10th level attack (assuming the rune paper is vellum/paper, I would say at -30 PLUS and additioanl negative 1 per hit delevered by the attack).

Every year the enchanted paper exist you may demand a rr.  The attack is level is equal to one per year of existence.  Time wears on everything.

A torch would be a level one attack.  A small fire a level 3 attack.  Rubbing the paper in oil/tar should result in a -20 to -50 to rr.  A bonfire would be level 10.  A forge level 25.  A volcano level 60.  Whatever.

The scrolls could also be written to devour the rune paper after use.

Lots of options

[rdanhenry]

There are documents hundreds of years old. Admittedly, most of those are currently protected, but the high-quality materials required for rune paper do not fall to time alone. Heck, I have plenty of *cheap* paper that is old enough to vote and perfectly usable.

Of course, it can be destroyed by fire, magic, or being eaten by a troll. This is no more relevant to the reusability of rune paper than pointing out that a wand can be broken over one's knee is relevant to the question of how many times a wand may be recharged.

"papyrus books and documents had in ancient and medieval times a usable life of hundreds of years." -- taken from a longer quotation at http://www.historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/index.php?id=3121

If you use vellum, well, "Lasting in excess of 1,000 years—Gregory the Great, Pastoral Care (Troyes, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 504), for example dates from about 600 and is in excellent condition—animal vellum can be far more durable than paper." according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vellum.

In short, barring accident, the lifespan of a written document is expected to be longer than that of a professional adventurer.

[Old Man]

I have that a sheet of rune paper can be inscribed with up to 10 cumulative levels of spells before it becomes ordinary paper (or brittle/useless, your choice).

Regards,
Old Man

[rdanhenry]

If rune paper is not reusable, then runes become strictly inferior to potions and few alchemists will bother making the paper, and the Read Runes skill will become less worth developing, making runes even less in demand, leading to less rune paper being made and so on in a spiral that ends in the end of rune use altogether. The whole value of putting a one-use spell into a rune that requires a skill to use rather than a potion that can be drunk by anyone is that you are left with the rune paper which can be used for a new rune with far less investment than creating a new single-use item.

[Old Man]

If rune paper is not reusable, then runes become strictly inferior to potions and few alchemists will bother making the paper, and the Read Runes skill will become less worth developing, making runes even less in demand, leading to less rune paper being made and so on in a spiral that ends in the end of rune use altogether. The whole value of putting a one-use spell into a rune that requires a skill to use rather than a potion that can be drunk by anyone is that you are left with the rune paper which can be used for a new rune with far less investment than creating a new single-use item.

But on the flip-side - Scrolls can be made with Rune Mastery in seconds (aye the paper takes weeks, but Alchemists can do reams). Potions and Runes take weeks and more Alchemists. So the paper expiring after a bit is just some balance. (I found my players over 20 years have rarely used either anyway oddly enough.)

[providence13]

While I agree that certain conditions help paper to last ages, PC's don't live in those conditions.

I'm going to have to introduce a RM ver of silverfish.

[PhillipAEllis]

I can imagine the following:

GM: "Waddling down the corridor you see... a rust monster for paper!"

Magician: "Eeeek!" *faints*