UO Inscription Skill Guide

Inscription is the scroll-scribing skill in Ultima Online. A scribe uses a scribe's pen and blank scrolls to copy spells out of a spellbook and onto scrolls that can be sold, traded or cast directly. The same skill also crafts spellbooks, runebooks and other magical stationery, and it copies the contents of books. Because scrolls let even low-level mages cast high-circle spells, Inscription is valuable both as a money-maker and as support for a caster template.

Grandmaster Inscription grants meaningful combat and defensive bonuses to a spellcaster:

• Adds 10% bonus damage at Grandmaster to Magic Arrow, Harm, Fireball, Lightning, Energy Bolt, Explosion, Chain Lightning, Flamestrike and Meteor Swarm.
• Adds Casting Focus equal to 1% per 10 points of skill, up to 5% at Grandmaster, reducing the chance of being interrupted.
• Strengthens defensive spells that scale with the skill: Reactive Armor raises Physical resist by (Inscription / 20) + 15; Magic Reflection and Protection also scale their effects with your Inscription.

Scribing scrolls. To scribe, keep a scribe's pen and a blank scroll in your backpack, then double-click the pen to open the crafting menu. The spell you want to write must already be in your spellbook, the book must be in your hands or pack, and you must be carrying the required reagents. Your success rate depends on your Inscription skill and can be improved with a talisman bonus.

Casting from scrolls. When a spell is cast from a scroll, the game treats it as if it were two circles lower for the purpose of the failure check. For example, casting 8th-circle Resurrection from a scroll only requires the ability to cast 6th-circle spells, and uses the mana cost of the scroll's own circle when it succeeds.

Copying books. Inscription can also duplicate books. This is done through the skill gump rather than the pen: target the full book first, then the empty book you want to fill. Copying books is an efficient way for newer scribes to raise their skill into the 40 to 50 range.

Inscription scrolls — mana, required skill, and success chance (data from Stratics).