Ink, Magnetic

Ultimate Equipment Guide II

Author Greg Lynch, J. C. Alvarez
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

Magnetic ink is the invention of Tathiela herself, and is one of her most recent additions to her shop. As the true value of this ink lies in how completely unknown it is, she will only speak of it or sell it to her most loyal and longstanding customers.

Tathiela got the idea for this ink while thinking about the problems inherent in invisible ink. Specifically, she was considering the problem of how well-known the means of revealing words written in invisible ink is becoming. After several months of selling far more powder to reveal invisible ink than she sold of the ink itself, she set her mind to working on the problem, and magnetic ink was the result. Magnetic ink appears normal in all respects, but it is actually a form of invisible ink that has been alchemically altered even further.

Magnetic ink performs much like invisible ink, in that after half an hour of continuous exposure to air it becomes invisible. As the ink is not magically invisible, it cannot even be seen with a see invisibility spell, though true seeing will certainly reveal it. Once the ink has become invisible, it will forever remain that way, as magnetic ink does not react to the revealing powder used for ordinary invisible ink. Rather, it has a very faint magnetic charge, too faint to be noticed under normal circumstances. However, if the magnetic ink is dusted with extremely fine shavings of iron or steel (or any other ferrous metal), the magnetic charge in the ink is enough to attract those shavings to it. The shavings cluster atop the otherwise invisible letters, spelling out the message contained there. The magnetic charge of the ink is so faint that after one minute (ten rounds) of holding the shavings in place, the charge is forever exhausted, rendering the message permanently invisible.

Ink, Magnetic (1 oz. phial): 30 gp