A Technical Treatise on ink: Taking Your First SIP

A Technical Treatise on Ink : Taking Your First SIP

By: Magus K. Firehart and Selia

This treatise covers the use of Ink in scribing of scrolls. Most novice artificers first dip into the art of artifice starts with a quill, then a hasty scribbling towards wand craft. Those who linger with the tedium that is scroll scribing find an art that both has intricacies and rewards. By the end of this treatise dear reader you will understand those intricacies and will be on your way to a well deserved reward.

The First SIP

Before one can start talking about ink the ink needs to be poured out and measured for all ink is not created equal. In order to carefully classify this inequality Initiate Selia developed the Selia Ink Power Scale or SIPs for short. The three most common inks available in southern Negria have been rigorously tested and classified. Octopus Ink is one SIPs, Behir Ink is five SIPs, and finally the expensive and potent Phoenix Tears Ink is a staggering ten SIPs.

By Book or Blood

Now that we have ink classified there is one more slight oddity that must be addressed that stems from the inherently different nature of mages; specifically sorcerers and wizards. When a wizards scribers a first circle spell without specialized ink it has a base FPS rank of 0.025. Each spell circle increases that base FPS rank by 0.05 up to 0.425 for a spell of ninth circle. When a sorcerer scribes a first circle spell without specialized ink it has a base FPS rank of 0.05. Each spell circle increases that base FPS rank by 0.05 up to 0.45 for a spell of ninth circle. A slight difference but one that was repeatedly noticed during testing and bears mentioning. It also bears mentioning that it is totally not fair that sorcerer’s scrolls are a little bit stronger than wizard’s scrolls before adding ink. If you are unfamiliar with this information I recommend you pick up a copy of A Technical Treatise on Wands, it covers this basic information.

SIPPING Right Along

Moving from the peculiar differences between sorcerers and wizards it is now time to discuss the potency of ink with various spell circles. This part will be incredibly dense and rote repetition but pay special attention dear reader. For first circle spells each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.25. A total of FOUR SIPs is necessary to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For a second circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.125. A total of EIGHT SIPs is necessary to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For a third circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.0833. A total of ELEVEN SIPs is necessary to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For a fourth circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.0625. A total of THIRTEEN SIPs is necessary for a sorcerer to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0 and FOURTEEN SIPs for a wizard to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. A fifth circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.05. A total of FIFTEEN SIPs is necessary for a sorcerer to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0 and SIXTEEN SIPs for a wizard to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For a sixth circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.0416. A total of SEVENTEEN SIPs is necessary for a sorcerer to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0 and EIGHTEEN SIPs for a wizard to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For a seventh circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.0357. A total of NINETEEN SIPs is necessary to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For an eighth circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.03125. A total of TWENTY SIPs is necessary to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. For a ninth circle spell each SIPs will increase your FPS ranking by 0.0277. A total of TWENTY SIPs is necessary for a sorcerer to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0 and TWENTY ONE SIPs for a wizard to reach a FPS ranking of 1.0. A cautionary note, the Vortex is vast so there might be discrepancies with this tome and the results you expect.

Sneaky Merchants

When deciding how many SIPs you need for the desired FPS of your scroll, you can mix and match inks however you like to get the exact number of SIPs required. The merchants totally know how many SIPs each ink contains and their prices reflect this exactly. If you need 20 SIPs you won’t save anything for buying octopus ink in bulk! Go ahead and save yourself the extra ink application time by buying a couple of Phoenix Tear Inks. If you’re rich and your time is more valuable than your money and you need 18 SIPs you’ll probably want to buy two Phoenix Tear Inks. If, on the other hand, you’re, say, an extremely promising initiate stretching out your sponsor’s advance as much as you can, you should buy one Phoenix Tear Ink, one Behir Scale Ink, and three Octopus Inks instead.

Afterword

This treatise was supposed to have pictures at each of the chapter headings so it would be more colorful and less boring. Apparently someone named “Very Important Mages” would consider that “Unprofessional” for published research. If you desire, Dear Reader, seek out Initiate Selia and she will happily model what the pictures would have looked like.