NPC wizard spellbooks

Kheti sa-Menik · Jul 9, 2006

Let's say you've built a 15th level NPC wizard.

How do you folks go about building his spellbook?
The wizard's initial spellbook contains all cantrips plus 3 1st level spells plus one 1st level per point of Int bonus.
Every level the wizard gains, he gets two additional spells of any level he can cast.
So, all cantrips and (assuming a 15 Int at level 1), 5 1st level spells at 1st wizard level plus 28 additional spells (2 per each of 14 levels).
Which is fine.

We must assume that he has aquired additional spells during his career from scrolls, other wizards, captured and lent spellbooks, etc.
How do you account for this?

Is there a rule of thumb for deciding how many spells an NPC wizard has in his spellbook?

Jack Simth · Jul 9, 2006

Kheti sa-Menik said:
Let's say you've built a 15th level NPC wizard.

How do you folks go about building his spellbook?
The wizard's initial spellbook contains all cantrips plus 3 1st level spells plus one 1st level per point of Int bonus.
Every level the wizard gains, he gets two additional spells of any level he can cast.
So, all cantrips and (assuming a 15 Int at level 1), 5 1st level spells at 1st wizard level plus 28 additional spells (2 per each of 14 levels).
Which is fine.

We must assume that he has aquired additional spells during his career from scrolls, other wizards, captured and lent spellbooks, etc.
How do you account for this?

Is there a rule of thumb for deciding how many spells an NPC wizard has in his spellbook?

Oh... just double what he'd be getting from levels (other than cantrips, of course) so with a starting Int of 15, he'd have 14 first level spells (base 5 at 1st level, 5 from scribing at 1st, 2 from leveling at 2nd, 2 from scribing at 2nd), eight 2nd level spells (two from level 3, two from level 4, 4 from scribing), eight 3rd level spells, and so on, up to 7th level spells, switching out for four 8th level spells (2 from leveling to 15th, 2 from scribing).

A Wizard's main power is in his spellbook - treat it that way.

Do remember to count the extra spells above and beyond those gained from leveling against his wealth, however.....

Felix · Jul 9, 2006

Jack Smith said:
Do remember to count the extra spells above and beyond those gained from leveling against his wealth, however.....

I'd peg it at all the spells he can afford to purchase using ~25% of his total wealth.

physics_ninja · Jul 9, 2006

Back just before the switch to 3.5, I had the same question. So I grabbed my pile of Dungeon magazine and made a list of all the the spellbooks in those pages. After doing some math I found this rough formula:

number of spell levels = class level squared.

It works pretty well. If a spell comes from a third party book or is otherwise considered rare then those spell levels can count double or triple.

It's up to you if you want to make the pc pay for those spells with cash. (I don't; no other class has to pay for their class abilities on such a scale.)

Animal · Jul 9, 2006

that many spells won't fit in one spellbook. do you give him a second spellbook or what?

Felix · Jul 9, 2006

Animal said:
do you give him a second spellbook or what?

A mid to high level wizard will need at least two spellbooks for all the spells he should be scribing.

Granted the OP is talking about an NPC, but my Diviner with a penchant for Necromancy had three spellbooks: one Divination spellbook, one Necromancy spellbook, and one "everything else". It works well that way.

smootrk · Jul 9, 2006

I would suggest that your 15th level (npc?) character would keep only a book of bare essentials with him (following the normal 2 spells per level rule). Elsewhere tucked away and secure, he might have other tomes detailing other spells.

For me, this keeps encounters with mages reasonable, as far as treasure gained from defeating a mage. I don't have pc's who suddenly have vast libraries of spells after defeating one decent mage.

A smart mage would keep tomes of spells scattered throughout the countryside in secret locations and vaults so that he would not be deprived of his source of power for long - even if his current book is stolen or is otherwise separated from his book.

Felix · Jul 9, 2006

smootrk said:
A smart mage would...

Not that I disagree, but this tactic is very expensive. The more redundant spellbooks you have your costs go through the roof. And the more you're spending on redundancy, the less you have to spend on spells, the less that redundancy is actually helpful to you.

I'm more of the opinion that you keep your eggs in one basket and watch that basket!

Kheti sa-Menik · Jul 10, 2006

Wow, I leave for a few hours to go to company picnic at a waterpark and when I get back there are 6 responses to my question from various helpful folk.
Thanks everyone.
I love the internet *tearing up*

smootrk · Jul 10, 2006

Felix said:
Not that I disagree, but this tactic is very expensive. The more redundant spellbooks you have your costs go through the roof. And the more you're spending on redundancy, the less you have to spend on spells, the less that redundancy is actually helpful to you.

You are correct as well, it will be quite expensive and time consuming. But these wizard guys will be thinking long-term and also thinking of contingency plans. After all, these guys are 'geniuses' (or most of the higher level ones anyway). Additionally, as NPC's, money can be distributed by the DM's whim. This guy might be rich, or even the ruler of a region with as much funding as he needs for his personal research or other contingency needs. Who knows without more info on the setting??

NPC wizard spellbooks

Kheti sa-Menik

First Post

Jack Simth

First Post

Felix

Explorer

physics_ninja

First Post

Animal

First Post

Felix

Explorer

smootrk

First Post

Felix

Explorer

Kheti sa-Menik

First Post

smootrk

First Post

Similar Threads