User:DAID/Sandbox
Welcome to my playground!
Right now, I am working on a draft of a page on magically opening boxes. Although most of the information already exists, it is scattered around, and most guides elsewhere on opening boxes focus primarily on manually disarming traps and picking locks. If I can present enough consolidated information here, it might be worthy of a page.
Magically Opening Treasure Boxes
Accessing treasure inside boxes is possible by purely magical means without any skill in Picking Locks or Disarming Traps. One may wish to do this for profit, entertainment, and/or small amounts of experience, and if done properly it can be perfectly safe. It is also one means to access the contents of a treasure box with a fused lock in which an acid vial trap was set off. When Unlock (407) is employed, this activity is colloquially known as popping boxes.
Exclusion List
Boxes that are enruned, mithril, or with a glyph trap will be impervious to this approach. While the former two will be readily apparent, the latter will require more consideration.
Relevant Spells
As the basic prerequisite for this work is only knowing spells in either the Minor Spiritual Circle and/or Minor Elemental Circle, at least one of which is accessible by every profession (pending the release of Savants), it may be accomplished by anyone so inclined. Pures will tend to learn the relevant spells incidentally as part of their normal training path, and as such this activity tends to be more of a hobby than something to which characters are dedicated.
The primary spells:
- Call Lightning (125): Vaporize boxes -- trap, lock, box and all.
- Unlock (407): Pop the box open
- Disarm (408): Disarm traps
- Piercing Gaze (416): Check for traps
- Phase (704): Directly remove the contents from a closed box or indirectly detect glyph traps
Subsidiary spells:
- Presence (402): Helps with Piercing Gaze (?) -- need to check with a trapped box and many casts for statistics w/ and w/o 402
- Lock Pick Enhancement (403): Helps with Unlock
- Disarm Enhancement (404): Helps with Piercing Gaze and Disarm
- Rapid Fire (515): Do everything faster
- Self Control (613): Helps with detecting traps
Some of these help with detecting traps I've heard...not sure (also must consider scope of article...do they help with traps we'd care about magically?!)
Relevant Skills
We presume here explicitly not to use Picking Locks or Disarming Traps (maybe we should include Disarming Traps for detection?)
- Perception: Helps with Piercing Gaze and DETECTing traps
- Arcane Symbols: Helps to spotting magical traps (scarabs, glyphs) with DETECT
- Spiritual Lore, Summoning: Decrease the build up time for Call Lightning and allow the possibility to cast indoors
MnE ranks should be listed?
Vaporizing Boxes with Call Lightning
If the box is not impervious to magic, casting Call Lightning at it will, after the build up time, vaporize the box, spilling its contents. This is perfectly safe as long as the box does not resist magic and is on the ground; otherwise it may be fatal. NEED TO TEST THE RESULTS OF THE FOLLOWING: To ensure the safety of other curious by-standers, the caster may wish to place an object on top of the box to hinder anyone attempting to pick it up. The rose illusion is particularly effective for this purpose, as it can be covered to be turned invisible, making it entirely impossible for anyone else to remove.
None of the items inside the box will be harmed, except for any scrolls, which will be 'burned' (making them worthless in the eyes of pawnbrokers and unable to be infused), and silver coins, which will be melted into 'a rough slab of silver' which can be sold, for roughly half the value of the original silver coins, at any gemshop. The silver slab's value can be increased using the first tier of Holy Receptacle (325), Silver to Gold. However, it should be noted that because the box, and later its former contents, are on the ground, they are potentially subject to removal by the janitor.
Phasing Boxes
The best use of Phase (704) is to attempt to phase a box for weightlessness. Regardless of the box's weight and the caster's lore training, if the box 'resists the magic' then the caster knows the box cannot be opened magically. For anyone with access to the spell, this is typically the easiest and safest way to find glyph traps.
Alternatively, one may attempt to phase through a box in order to retrieve its contents directly, by channeling Phase (704). No more than one item can be removed on each successful attempt, and typically a diminishing number of coins are pulled on each attempt.
You channel at a dented iron box.
Suddenly you notice the box's form dim slightly as it becomes less substantial. You quickly stick your hand inside it and fish around for something to grab.
You grab hold of something and pull it out!
You found some neat thrak hide shoes!
Roundtime: 5 sec.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
However, phasing into boxes has a good chance of setting off any traps, and extreme failures can sever the caster's hand, leaving it inside the box.