D&D 5E Selling a spellbook

[cbwjm]

I think RAW it says that each wizard uses an arcane notation original to him or herself. I think all spells must be copied into a wizard's book, partially because each wizard casts spells differently and must scribe it into their own personal notation.

It is. I ignore it because I don't agree with it. I think of it as a weak form of balancing and instead allow wizards to learn the book and use it as one of their own.

Sent from my SM-G925I using EN World mobile app

 

[Caliban]

It is. I ignore it because I don't agree with it. I think of it as a weak form of balancing and instead allow wizards to learn the book and use it as one of their own.

If the wizard can use a found spellbook as if it was their own book, then it's value would be much higher. A minimum would be 50 gp + the scribing value of all the spells in the book, plus a premium for any spells you consider to be especially rare or high value.

 

[marcelvdpol]

I don't see why you would have a "debt" when a Wizard acquires a spell book. In the theoretical case that a Wizard copies spells out of the book, the spells themselves don't disappear from the book, so its free to be resold once the Wizard is done with it. Next, the Wizard already has to spend money on the actual copying of spells, unlike other classes, so charging the Wizard even more money will set him back compared to the financial resources of other members of the party.

However, if you really want to set a "debt" value, I would look at the value of the scroll equivalent of the spells, then discount this down to 50% (since you cannot cast spells from the spell book directly, thus the book is less valuable compared to the equivalent scrolls) or even 25% (since you don't destroy the spell book in the process and you can still sell the spell book once you are done copying).

 

[Beleriphon]

On the note of selling a spell book, the buyer only needs to pay a moderate fee, and rent the book to wizards. The owner is essentially paying for access to the spells. Maybe they'll even peruse the book to make sure it has spells they don't already own.

In a way, as silly as this sounds, you want the buyer of a spell book to Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars.

 

[Horwath]

Putting the value on a spellbook is hard.

Especially because relative value depend on what spells are in and how "exotic" are they.

If the book is full of "vanilla" spells like; magic missile, shield, invisibility, fly, fireball, etc... then it won't be worth much because 90% of wizards have it. But if it's full of "ritual" spells then it will be worth more because of wizards way of ritual casting.


Also givving just access to a wizards spellbook for copying is reducing the value of the original book as now there are two sources that that spell can be purchased not one. It is inflation problem.

So, many wizards would only give access to their spells as part of a trade(spell for spell) or for a favor.

 

[marcelvdpol]

Putting the value on a spellbook is hard.

Especially because relative value depend on what spells are in and how "exotic" are they.

If the book is full of "vanilla" spells like; magic missile, shield, invisibility, fly, fireball, etc... then it won't be worth much because 90% of wizards have it. But if it's full of "ritual" spells then it will be worth more because of wizards way of ritual casting.


Also givving just access to a wizards spellbook for copying is reducing the value of the original book as now there are two sources that that spell can be purchased not one. It is inflation problem.

So, many wizards would only give access to their spells as part of a trade(spell for spell) or for a favor.

You could charge for the spells the Wizard doesnt already have. Spells which he already has will be free as they will be useless (unlike the scroll version which still has the ability to cast the spell without using spell slots).

Id chargr double for Wish though.