Alarm item

[Pinjata]

Hey guys,

I'd like to make an item that is en-masse issued to lvl 1 - 3 city Guards to instantly summon caster support if something Really bad happens. Casters summoned are lvl 10 and teleport in. I imagine casters sacrificing some of their time to be "on guard" say, once a month for the benefit of the city in an invisible, floating tower near the city.

Now. In order to get casters to respond fast, I'd like some sort of Sattelite phone in 3.5. It can be pretty crude. Nothing more then panic button, city guards are carrying.

How should I shape it? What spells should I use?

thanks

[Segev]

A one-shot Word of Recall item would cost 50x60x11=3300 gp, and could be triggered to bring the user to this floating tower. Make the command word a secret phrase known only to the Guard, and have the Guard travel in pairs. If an emergency situation calls for it, one of the two can activate his item, and immediately report the situation.

If you need to make sure that the individuals can be scryed out, have the guards infected with a Necrotic Cyst and the wizards who do the teleporting have Mother Cyst; now Necrotic Scrying is a 2nd level spell for them.

This would also be useful for ensuring that guards don't mount some sort of attack by abusing their word of recall items; if they do, the wizards on call can just Necrotic Dominate them.

[Elkad]

Magic mouth (or several) on the tower. Guards carry flares of some kind.

Shoot flare into air, magic mouth sees it and alerts the wizard napping on the couch.


Alarm has a range of 1 mile (if you use the mental alert version).
A custom item that connects a bunch of trinkets to a bell in the tower (or a special hat the wizards hand around) is not a big stretch. Guards activate (or break) trinket within 1 mile of tower, bell rings.

[Segev]

Sadly, Magic Mouth can only "see" and "hear" within 15 feet per caster level.

[Valwyn]

There's a spell that works similarly in Races of Destiny. Insignia of Alarm lets you alert all wearers of a focus (ring/badge/necklace/etc) with a mental *ping*, like the Alarm spell. Sadly, it only has a range of 400+40/CL ft, so it won't be much use in a big city, but it shouldn't be too hard to create a greater version of the spell that uses miles (maybe 4th or 5th level) and make an item based on that spell. As a bonus, if you don't want to add a "the people alerted know where to go" clause, the insignias should be good enough to let the wizards scry on the soldiers (especially if they are the ones crafting the items).

[Aergoth]

You want a spell (version unclear here) called Whispering Wind. The spell is keyed to go to a place, unlike sending. Also unlike sending it's a standard action to cast. 25 words go to a specific place and deliver the message. Assuming a central "switchboard" tower, that's pretty easy to just designate the location the spell sends to when you make the item. Also an option: Use Dancing Lights as a flare (as goblins might). We've managed to create "languages" with things like flags and smoke, coloured lights that you can shape into a specific pattern? That's dead easy to communicate with. The item in question would be dirt cheap to produce and would provide a quick way to mark where to go as well. Flares are nifty!