Schematic Scroll (Patreon)

Scroll, uncommon

This scroll comes in a leather tube, and its rich blue surface is covered with thin gridlines. Any mark you make on the surface becomes magically white.

You can tap the scroll twice to cause it to project an illusory three-dimensional projection of whatever's drawn on the scroll. The illusion appears a foot above the scroll's surface and shows any of the illustration's separate components as glowing outlines. The projection can be enlarged or reduced to be as large as 3 feet across in any dimension or as small as 4 inches using a series of intuitive gestures with the illusion. You can also take apart any of the illusion's components to mold or reshape them using these gestures. Similarly, you can interact with the components of the projection as if they were physical objects, and they behave in a reasonable facsimile of reality. You can speak the scroll's command word to record any changes made to the projection in this way, causing them to be reflected in what's drawn on the scroll. The projection remains until you tap the scroll twice again or until it's folded, rolled up, or otherwise put away.

You can make the illustration or schematic drawn on the scroll permanent and unalterable as an action by stamping it anywhere with a signed wax seal. An illustration sealed in this way can't be updated by magic or mundane means, although its illusory components can still be interacted with while the projection persists. A creature using the scroll as a reference has advantage on any ability check made to repair or build an object patterned after an illustration on this scroll.

The queen, still displeased, rapped her fingers on the table scroll. A new design, a great weapon of war, drew itself in the air. She examined the model, pulling and pushing pieces around in the air to investigate. She snapped her fingers to summon the engineer.

"This. This right here will cause it to fail!" she jabbed at a joint on the design.

He examined it, took the illusory joint in his fingers, and inspected it with a furrowed brow. With a flick to the side, the joint turned to illusory dust and vanished. He made a scribble of notes on the page, then a new illustration. An updated joint appeared in the previous one's place, resolving the issue.

"Excellent catch, Your Majesty. Better you than them," he said. He went back to the build, reaching into his robes to bring new tools to hand.