D&D General Is this use of a wizard's spellbook accurate?

[James Gasik]

Technically RAW this is true in 2024 rules. You can prepare a spell as you have slots for it and you can copy it into your book as long as you can prepare it. Here is the relevant text:

Prepared Spells of Level 1+. You prepare the list of level 1+ spells that are available for you to cast with this feature. To do so, choose four spells from your spellbook. The chosen spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a level 1+ Wizard spell, you can copy it into your spellbook if it’s of a level you can prepare and if you have time to copy it. For each level of the spell, the transcription takes 2 hours and costs 50 GP. Afterward you can prepare the spell like the other spells in your spellbook.

So for example a Wizard 1/Cleric 19 has a 9th level spell slot. So she can prepare a 9th level spell if it is in her book. Since she can prepare a 9th level spell, if she finds or buys a scroll of Wish she can copy it into her book.

This is not RAI, but it is RAW.

Read that part about Copying a spell again. "If it's of a level you can prepare" is the key.

Now, in the multiclassing section, you find:

Spells Prepared. You determine what spells you can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class. If you are a level 4 Ranger / level 3 Sorcerer, for example, you can prepare five level 1 Ranger spells, and you can prepare six Sorcerer spells of level 1 or 2 (as well as four Sorcerer cantrips).

So, if you were a Wizard 4/Druid 1, for example, you would have 3rd level spell slots, but you can only prepare spells as a Wiz 4 (1st or 2nd) or a Druid 1 (1st). Since you can't prepare 3rd level Wizard spells, you can't copy them into your book.

 

[FrogReaver]

Read that part about Copying a spell again. "If it's of a level you can prepare" is the key.

Now, in the multiclassing section, you find:

Spells Prepared. You determine what spells you can prepare for each class individually, as if you were a single-classed member of that class. If you are a level 4 Ranger / level 3 Sorcerer, for example, you can prepare five level 1 Ranger spells, and you can prepare six Sorcerer spells of level 1 or 2 (as well as four Sorcerer cantrips).

So, if you were a Wizard 4/Druid 1, for example, you would have 3rd level spell slots, but you can only prepare spells as a Wiz 4 (1st or 2nd) or a Druid 1 (1st). Since you can't prepare 3rd level Wizard spells, you can't copy them into your book.

I agree with you, I’d just note there’s just a smidge of ambiguity there as to whether the spell book feature refers to spells you can prepare as a wizard or spells you can prepare as a character. It’s obviously intended to be Wizard, but it’s just ambiguous enough IMO.

 

[James Gasik]

I agree with you, I’d just note there’s just a smidge of ambiguity there as to whether the spell book feature refers to spells you can prepare as a wizard or spells you can prepare as a character. It’s obviously intended to be Wizard, but it’s just ambiguous enough IMO.

Sure but aren't those the same? You can't prepare 3rd level spells as a multiclassed Wiz 4/Druid 1. That means you can't prepare 3rd level spells. If you can't prepare 3rd level spells, how could you copy them into your book?

 

[FrogReaver]

Sure but aren't those the same? You can't prepare 3rd level spells as a multiclassed Wiz 4/Druid 1. That means you can't prepare 3rd level spells. If you can't prepare 3rd level spells, how could you copy them into your book?

Right, but you can prepare them as a Wizard 4/Druid 5

 

[James Gasik]

Right, but you can prepare them as a Wizard 4/Druid 5

I see what you're getting at. But while you could prepare 3rd level Druid spells in this case, you couldn't actually prepare 3rd level Wizard spells.

So while the text does have ambiguity about your ability to scribe 3rd level Wizard spells into your book, you still can't select to prepare a 3rd level Wizard spell in a spell slot because of the Multiclassing restriction. Nor could you prepare a Wizard spell using your Druid preparations. So you'd be in this odd scenario where the spell is scribed, but not castable.

 

[FrogReaver]

I see what you're getting at. But while you could prepare 3rd level Druid spells in this case, you couldn't actually prepare 3rd level Wizard spells.

So while the text does have ambiguity about your ability to scribe 3rd level Wizard spells into your book, you still can't select to prepare a 3rd level Wizard spell in a spell slot because of the Multiclassing restriction. Nor could you prepare a Wizard spell using your Druid preparations. So you'd be in this odd scenario where the spell is scribed, but not castable.

Agreed. Though maybe useful for rituals?

 

[TheSword]

Technically RAW this is true in 2024 rules. You can prepare a spell as you have slots for it and you can copy it into your book as long as you can prepare it. Here is the relevant text:

Prepared Spells of Level 1+. You prepare the list of level 1+ spells that are available for you to cast with this feature. To do so, choose four spells from your spellbook. The chosen spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a level 1+ Wizard spell, you can copy it into your spellbook if it’s of a level you can prepare and if you have time to copy it. For each level of the spell, the transcription takes 2 hours and costs 50 GP. Afterward you can prepare the spell like the other spells in your spellbook.

So for example a Wizard 1/Cleric 19 has a 9th level spell slot. So she can prepare a 9th level spell if it is in her book. Since she can prepare a 9th level spell, if she finds or buys a scroll of Wish she can copy it into her book.

This is not RAI, but it is RAW.

Not technically true either. You can’t prepare a spell just because you have slots for it.

 

[James Gasik]

H

Not technically true either. You can’t prepare a spell just because you have slots for it.

See what they're talking about is that the fact the text says "if the spell is of a level you can prepare". It doesn't specify that you have to be able to prepare Wizard spells of that level, just a spell of a level you can prepare.

So our hypothetical Wizard 3/Druid 5 can indeed prepare level 3 spells. Yes, I know, it's a fairly obvious inference, but it could be technically read that way. Not that I think this gives anyone any real advantages that I can see if it were allowed. Maybe making scrolls?

 

[TheSword]

See what they're talking about is that the fact the text says "if the spell is of a level you can prepare". It doesn't specify that you have to be able to prepare Wizard spells of that level, just a spell of a level you can prepare.

So our hypothetical Wizard 3/Druid 5 can indeed prepare level 3 spells. Yes, I know, it's a fairly obvious inference, but it could be technically read that way. Not that I think this gives anyone any real advantages that I can see if it were allowed. Maybe making scrolls?

The section in copying a spells into the wizards spell book doesn’t specify wizard because it’s in the wizard section and only wizards have spellbooks. It doesn’t need to specific anything else because it’s a description of a rule for wizards.

When it comes to multi-classing you might have a point. Were it not for the fact that the multi-classing rules make it very clear that spells are prepared individually for classes. You don’t get to carry over abilities from other classes when it comes to what is prepared as a wizard. It’s pretty explicit.

Not sure why anyone would think or want it to be otherwise.

 

[TiQuinn]

I’ve always allowed Wizards to copy spells of higher levels into their spellbooks probably as a holdover from earlier editions even if they can’t prepare them yet. But the rules for each class in 2014 also say that the spell slots pertain to the class and level in that class. So a 3rd level Druid/1st level Wizard can only prepare 2nd level Druid spells.

“The Wizard table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your wizard spells of 1st level and higher.”

“The Druid table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these druid spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher.”

So yeah, the article is full of it.