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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9272076" data-attributes="member: 20323">I think I understand what I'm a Banana is saying. And I think your question "why is this spell different?" is the perfect question to ask. Here's my take using two examples...Our 3rd level party reaches the wizard school where we find there is an uprising led by Sinister Mage who've taken over the north wing. The wizard PC knows about this school, as their mentor was a graduate. Before venturing into the north wing they're warned that Sinister Mage has lured several apprentices to his cause, and they may be masquerading as allies of the good wizards using disguise self......Soon enough the PCs get into a fight with some apprentice wizards. After a couple exchanges, the wizard PC inquires "Can I identify the spell they're using when they were shooting at me then used it in melee against the fighter?" The GM can concoct whatever answer they want, including that it's not a spell, but in the heat of the moment the GM says "It appears to be a spell unique to this wizard school.".....After the fight, the party searches a ransacked library for details on the ritual that Sinister Mage is plotting. Naturally, wizard PC asks, "There are spellbooks, right? I want to look up that spell unique to this wizard school." Now, through no fault of their own and otherwise running a great adventure, the GM is in a spot. "You don't find the spell," is the easiest answer but also a let down, and what if the wizard PC drops divination spells trying to find a copy of this spell?Turning it on its head, let's use another example where the 7th level PCs are searching for a missing archmage Pontiferous and manage to rescue one of his low-ranking half-elven apprentices Shenisal. Realizing their objectives align, the party recruits Shenisal to join them on the quest, so the GM grabs the apprentice wizard stats to represent Shenisal. While descending a shaft, the party is swarmed by hundreds of stirges drawn to their magical light sources. Shenisal uses arcane blast to shoot a few at range, but soon the party is in close quarters with stirges, and Shenisal uses the arcane blast to knock one out of their hair......After the trap, the wizard PC inquires, "What spell did you use Shenisal? That packed a wallop! I'd be interested in learning it if you'd be willing to trade?" The GM could answer "eldritch blast", but is concerned that (a) this might make false implications in the players' minds about the apprentice wizard having a pact with an extraplanar entity (which is not the case), and (b) that the astute wizard PC may have noticed that Shenisal's arcane blast worked equally well at range and at melee, unlike eldritch blast. Concerned with the implications of (a), the GM instead opts for, "Oh, it was a spell Pontiferous researched and taught me! I don't have enough tutelage to be able to teach it to you though. I'm only an apprentice still.".....At the end of the adventure, the PCs liberate Pontiferous from temporal stasis! As a reward, the wizard PC asks, "Pontiferous, could you teach me the spell you taught to Shenisal?" Now, despite playing the apprentice interestingly and using their combat powers effectively, and doing their best to defer the wizard player's questions, the GM is in a spot.</blockquote>

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