How do people handle finding enemy spellbooks?

[Munktar]

I still think it is strange to sell a spellbook, especially if you are a wizard. Wizards are notorius for acquiring enemies ane nemesis. That means that when you sell a book to someone you dont know, or do know, important information about you spell arsenal will be available to your enemies, and they might find a weakness that they can exploit. And are these few gold pieces worth such a big risk...

Also enemy spellbook might contain hidden secrets that you do not yet have enough power for to unravel... There can be more then 1 secret page in a book.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Also enemy spellbook might contain hidden secrets that you do not yet have enough power for to unravel... There can be more then 1 secret page in a book.

hmmmm.... secret page. good idea

 

[Samurai]

The characters in my game just killed a man-eating hill giantess and found her spellbook... it is written in Giant, and the pages are tanned human skin, not paper! Needless to say, the resale value might be hurt by these facts, assuming they can find anyone willing to buy it!

 

[Sigurd]

The characters in my game just killed a man-eating hill giantess and found her spellbook... it is written in Giant, and the pages are tanned human skin, not paper! Needless to say, the resale value might be hurt by these facts, assuming they can find anyone willing to buy it!

Are you kidding? They won't have to work hard to convince their buyer that its different and might have something very very strange\powerful. Assuming they can lug the thing around and don't have to bury the human skin, a lot of collectors would want such a book.

sigurd

 

[Samurai]

Are you kidding? They won't have to work hard to convince their buyer that its different and might have something very very strangepowerful. Assuming they can lug the thing around and don't have to bury the human skin, a lot of collectors would want such a book.

sigurd

Any buyer is going to want to read the book, or else how can they a) tell it's a spellbook instead of insane ramblings, and b) what value it has according to the levels of the spells within it. Would you pay a year's wages for a book the seller assures you contains magic spells, but that you were unable to read, despite being a wizard? And also take his word for what spells of what levels are within it? Heck no! So I'd say right off the bat that a buyer would pay only a very small fraction of the real value if he can't read it himself.

Second, any Wizard caught with a book of human skin is going to raise some eyebrows, IMO. There is already a lot of suspicion among commoners about magic and what wizards dabble in, and a book like that would confirm all their worst suspicions. That night the torches and pitchforks would come out...

 

[Sigurd]

Any buyer is going to want to read the book, or else how can they a) tell it's a spellbook instead of insane ramblings, and b) what value it has according to the levels of the spells within it. Would you pay a year's wages for a book the seller assures you contains magic spells, but that you were unable to read, despite being a wizard? And also take his word for what spells of what levels are within it? Heck no! So I'd say right off the bat that a buyer would pay only a very small fraction of the real value if he can't read it himself.

That's no different from the most vanilla spell book out there. Chances are a discerning purchaser with money to spend will have seen dozens of standard books. Even a standard book though, is going to have to prove its a functioning spellbook.

Second, any Wizard caught with a book of human skin is going to raise some eyebrows, IMO. There is already a lot of suspicion among commoners about magic and what wizards dabble in, and a book like that would confirm all their worst suspicions. That night the torches and pitchforks would come out...

If you say so. I think a huge number of wizards will look the other way for an object of power and rarity. After all there's a whole school of wizards devoted to necromancy and using grizzly bits of of people for magic. They won't bat an eye at a human skin so long as its not their own. Where's your best chance of finding unique and powerful magic? Of course it depends on whats in the book, but potentially this giantess might have had access to powerful magic and advisers. She wouldn't have freely given this information in life - here's a chance to take it after her death.

Nobody is going to make magic items too public anyway - thats an invitation to theft or assault. Think of the dark magic shop in harry potter. It's gruesome but there are customers for it.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Speaking of dark magic... If your players are anything like mine, they end up with all sorts of unsavory magic items during the course of their adventures, anyway. After wiping out a temple to Orcus, the group was running around with a sack full of +2 unholy maces.

I ended up allowing them to learn of a way to consecrate the weapons, so that they became holy maces, instead of unholy ones, but they were planning to try to foist them off on some githyanki that they had a not entirely hostile run-in with previously, otherwise.

What do you (players) do with evil magic items that you come across?

How do you (DMs) deal with players who want to get rid of (or make use of) evil magic items in the games that you run?

 

[Arnwolf666]

Magic marts. I will never understand this generation lol

 

[ccs]

Magic marts. I will never understand this generation lol

Another %^* necromancer.

You do realize in order to make a single inane comment you dug up a thread that was 8 years dead, right?

 

[Arnwolf666]

It was on the first page of forum for me lol