Any guidelines on allowing spells from non-official sources?

[johnsemlak]

I am playing a wizard now; I currenlt have a whole slew (sp?) of sources of arcane spells--Relics and Rituals I & II, Arcane Strife, Book of Eldritch Might, Magic of Faerun, T&B, Player's GUide to Wizards/Bards/Sorcerors, and a bunch of PDFs.

I'm just wondering if people have guidelines on acquiring spells outside either the PHB, or outside 'official' sources. DO you require a wizard to research such a spell? Require a penalty for finding it, etc?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'll generally allow a wizard to take a spell outside the PHB as one of their two free spells at each level -- but only if I've approved the spell for the campaign (which I do on a spell-by-spell basis).

Beyond that, the wizard pays to research the spell.

 

[francisca]

I reserve the right to approve/disapprove spells, equipment, prestige classes, etc, from outside the core books on a case-by-case basis.

I am now ducking down into a bunker, should a discussion of what is "official" should break out.

 

[Nifft]

I use the same criteria as the DMG recommends for creating new spells: is it balanced with the core spells?

As to how & when, I require that a Wizard have access to a spellbook, scroll or ancient manuscript which details the spell to take it "free" when he gains a level. (He can also "save" his "free" spell until he gets back to a city with a decent library, where he'll have access to all the spells in the Core PHB list.)

Non-PHB spells can be found in ancient ruins, in extra-planar libraries, or in the spellbooks of hermits and researchers. They are "treats" which I reserve for special occasions.

-- N

 

[Storm Raven]

I'm just wondering if people have guidelines on acquiring spells outside either the PHB, or outside 'official' sources. DO you require a wizard to research such a spell? Require a penalty for finding it, etc?

I generally (with a few notable exceptions like Miasma and a couple of campaign specific limitations) allow all spells from the PHB, T&B, DotF, S&S, and MotW. Spells from other sources are either faith-specific (for clerics and paladins), path-specific (for sorcerers, all sorcerers in my campaign must choose an arcane path to follow) or must be researched or acquired by wizards (through finding tomes of knowledge or forgotten scrolls).

 

[Umbran]

As many others - for me spells from outside the core books need to be examined. If I allow it (either straight or after a bit of modification) the spell may be acquired in any of the usual ways.

 

[Arnwyn]

I'm just wondering if people have guidelines on acquiring spells outside either the PHB, or outside 'official' sources. DO you require a wizard to research such a spell? Require a penalty for finding it, etc?

While I allow in the campaign spells from books outside the PHB, the wizard or sorcerer characters may never choose them as their spells. They must find it, research it, or trade for it.

For clerics IMC, they must be "taught" those spells outside the PHB by their church - this often happens as a reward for some service, or for gaining ranks in the church hierarchy.

 

[SteelDraco]

At starting level, we require most non-standard spells to be bought as scrolls, with starting treasure. This is the same for divine casters; we explain this as a ritual needed to learn the spell.

Learning non-standard spells for arcanists after character creation involves finding them or researching them. For divine casters, you've got to do a ritual in a sacred place, appropriate to the spell you're casting. For example, when my druid wanted to learn a few cold spells, he spent the winter in high mountains, living off the land and doing rituals. We find it works pretty well - keeps too many new spells from getting in, while making them available for people who want to put the effort into it.

 

[Silveras]

I regard the PHB list as the "Commonly Known" spells -- the ones everyone has heard of (including the citizenry, to some extent). Everything else is some sort of obscure lore that must be researched or otherwise found with effort.

 

[Gundark]

I am playing a wizard now; I currenlt have a whole slew (sp?) of sources of arcane spells--Relics and Rituals I & II, Arcane Strife, Book of Eldritch Might, Magic of Faerun, T&B, Player's GUide to Wizards/Bards/Sorcerors, and a bunch of PDFs.

I'm just wondering if people have guidelines on acquiring spells outside either the PHB, or outside 'official' sources. DO you require a wizard to research such a spell? Require a penalty for finding it, etc?

Well it depends what your DM says. But in my game nothing off the internet...bad...