# Talk:Magic marker
Contents

1 Elbereth
2 FOOBIE BLETCH?
3 Best time to charge?
4 B/U/C
5 uses for near-empty marker
6 speed
7 Writing scrolls only known by (randomized) label

Elbereth
shouldn't there be a note here about the ability of the magic marker to inscribe elbereth?

There is, in the introduction. Maybe it shouldn't be in the introduction, but I'm not sure where to move it. It hardly seems worth its own section, EkiM 11:45, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
FOOBIE BLETCH?
Does one write the name of the spell or the name of the scroll with the magic marker? I.e., 'identify' versus 'FOOBIE BLETCH' in any given game. 71.255.29.120 20:46, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Either works, but you must have seen one of the 'FOOBIE BLETCH' type before writing it, whereas you may attempt to   write an 'identify' with some chance of success, even if you have not seen/id'd it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.88.232.180 (talk • contribs) 25 July 2007
This is interesting - it brings up another question I had: If one has encountered a type of scroll and used it, without it being formally identified, does one then have a 100 percent chance of writing it? For example, if I use a scroll of remove curse it doesn't auto-identify. Will I still suffer a writing penalty? This could actually make writing a scroll by it's un-id'd name advantageous, assuming the un-id'd penalty still exists - if you know FOOBIE BLETCH is remove curse, then you could attempt at a no failure rate. Floatingeye 03:05, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
Best time to charge?
Is there a general idea on what the best time to recharge a Magic Marker is? It seems like if someone were to take a risk in the 30 range, the potential for a larger rounding bonus would improve. Additionally, if one aims for zero, there is always the pain of having &lt;7 charges, which can risk being completely wasted, and also leaves fewer writing options. Floatingeye 03:20, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Assuming blessed recharging, of course, it seems like if you're aiming to charge up to 75 you'd get the best average payoff by charging at around 30 or 35.  If you do get up to 75 you've gained 30-35 charges.  However, if you get all the way to 0 and then charge you're bumped all the way up to 50, for a gain of 50.  In the worst case of wasting your last several charges, you still gain, at worst, 43 charges total.  Even though it's a little counter-intuitive, it seems that running your marker down to 0 before charging is the optimal strategy.  I'll change the article to reflect this.  --Andronikus 21:52, 6 November 2008 (UTC)
B/U/C
what differance does B/U/C status make? 60.242.66.41 09:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I'll just quote from Magic marker#BUC: "When you write a scroll or spellbook, the BUC of the resulting item is the sum of the BUCs of the marker and the blank scroll/spellbook. A blessed marker will uncurse cursed scrolls, and bless uncursed ones. A cursed marker will unbless blessed scrolls, and curse uncursed ones. This means that uncursed markers are the most useful, because they can be used to write both cursed and blessed scrolls, depending on the paper used." —Shijun 18:55, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
uses for near-empty marker
If a magic marker is nearly empty, e.g. (1:5), I can think of only two uses for it:

charge-test unkown scrolls. If you definitively do not have enough ink to write FOOBIE BLETCH, you will be told so and consume nothing. Source:Write.c#line169
polymorph it, hoping to get a new margic marker
Elbereth
This is so obscure I'm not adding it to the article.
-Tjr 09:07, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

Also, (1:5) still has a 50/50 chance of writing gold detection or mapping (or one of the less-useful 8-ink scrolls). I usually just try for one there, since as you say the other uses are really obscure. Scorchgeek (talk) 17:22, 6 February 2014 (UTC)
speed
How many turns / actions does it take to write a scroll or spellbook? --Tjr 23:11, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Should just be one. Experience and the source show nothing about this being a multi turn action. -- Qazmlpok 00:24, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
Writing scrolls only known by (randomized) label
Under Effects: 'This means that if you want to write a scroll of remove curse, and you have informally identified ZELGO MER as remove curse, you should write, in all capitals, "ZELGO MER". If you have only informally identified "remove curse", your attempt will be subject to the normal failure chance from trying to write an unidentified scroll.'
Under 'Writing success chance': "However, you can use the discoveries list to see the label or color, then enter that at the prompt instead, which also guarantees success."
These would appear to be contradictory. -Actual-nh (talk) 01:24, 22 April 2021 (UTC)