Can anyone explain the purpose of this wonderous item?

[Zhure]

Well, really it boils down to (a) an interpretation offered by the individual who wrote the section in the DMG on magic items and (b) a bunch of people advocating a house rule.

If you ban everything in 3e D&D that has been the subject of a house rule, you aren't going to have much of a game left.

I know, but that leap of illogic does us all injustice. While I acknowledge Monte as being the primary author of this edition of the rules, that magic item description is virtually unchanged from earlier editions when there weren't any other kinds of arcane casters (bards used the same scribing rules as magic-users pre-3e).

Banning this particular item was based on the premise that sorcerers and wizards are balanced. If the BBB does reduce the cost of scribing, there should be a way for sorcerers to learn new spells or a similar mechanic, because that's one of the balancing points between the two classes. Since no such item exists, I banned the BBB.

I can find no satisfactory explanation for being able to "freely" scribe spells in Boccob's Blessed Book. On the one hand, if freely means "without cost" it's too nice. If freely means "without restriction save what's listed in the item description" it's too expensive.

From the SRD:
"Blessed Book
This well-made tome is always of small size, typically no more than 12 inches tall, 8 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. All such books are durable, waterproof, bound with iron overlaid with silver, and locked.
The pages of a Blessed Book freely accept spells scribed upon them, and any such book can contain up to forty-five spells of any level. This book is never found as randomly generated treasure with spells already inscribed in it.
Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, secret page; Market Price: 9,500 gp; Weight: 1 lb."

"Spellbook, Wizard’s (Blank): A large, leatherbound book that serves as a wizard’s reference. A spellbook has 100 pages of parchment, and each spell takes up two pages per level (one page for 0-level spells). Market Price: 15 gp; Weight 3 lb."

Facts:
-A BBB weighs 1/3rd a normal spellbook
-A BBB at the same page count holds 45 spells. Conceivably up to 45 9th level spells, though that's extreme. A normal spellbook holds 50 levels of spells. Five 9th level spells and a 5th level spell and a normal spellbook is full. A BBB would still be able to hold another 39 spells beyond that.
-A BBB is waterproof.
-As a magic item, an unattended BBB gets a save to avoid area damage

These tidbits alone to do not IMO warrant the 9500 gp price tag. The simplest solution for my campaign was to eliminate the item completely and end all the problems associated with it.

Greg

 

[Zhure]

Another benefit for your 9k gp that I think others are overlooking is the fact that the B^3 has a higher Save bonus than a regular old spellbook (+5 vs. [+0 or +2]?) for the cases when an unfortunate "accident" might occur.

+5 vs +0. It applies both when a '1' is rolled and when the spellbook is unattended. Both very rare occurences.

Greg

 

[hong]

These tidbits alone to do not IMO warrant the 9500 gp price tag. The simplest solution for my campaign was to eliminate the item completely and end all the problems associated with it.

The simplest solution for my campaign was to ban wizards.

 

[Zhure]

The problem is that isn't what was said. What was said was "there are two possible interpetations of this item, one of which is essentially a house rule, and on that basis I will ban it from my game". Rather than saying "I will pick an interpretation that fits my home game" he said "there is mroe than one way to think about this, so I'm banning it", which makes no sense.

What I said was:

Since the BBB has so many interpretations (two), I figured I'd cut to the chase and just disallow them IMC. Works so far.

No link was made between there being two interpretations as being the reason for the banning. The item was banned because one of the two common interpretations is far too powerful and the other is far too weak for 9,500 gp. Thus - many explanations later which all of us would've rather avoided - I banned it.

Similarly, I banned the Absorbing Shields and the Boots of Standard Cheese, even with the errataed price. All for similar reasons.

Greg
-edit- stupid typonese

 

[Zhure]

The simplest solution for my campaign was to ban wizards.

I would, but the players whine too much. I'm still looking forward to a sorcerer vs wizard campaign, to get a really good feel of which class is "better" (highly subjective opinion, please no one go there) I can't get two arcane casters in one group. Same for when I play. But I shall keep trying.

Greg

 

[Zhure]

Ok, got bored.

If "freely" means "without cost" then a BBB can have a "value" ranging from... 81,135 gp to 4,515 gp.

Maximum {45 spells x9th level x2 pages per level x100 gp per page = 81,000 gp

At 810 pages, that's 9 spell books, 27 pounds, and another 135 gp.}

Minimum {45 spells x 0th level x 1 page per spell x 100 gp per page = 4500

At 45 pages, that's 1 spell book, 3 pounds, and another 15 gp}

The "breakeven" point would be to somehow finagle a BBB to cost about 9500 gp...

At 100 gp per page, a normal spell book has 100 pages and once "filled" is worth 10,015 gp, assuming the wizard fills it with only researched spells, not the free ones he gets each level. The rules for scribing spells mentions a spellbook, not a BBB, so one presumes the wizard only scribes his free spells into his spellbook and we only need to compare spells he pays to scribe.

This shows a BBB is always cheaper to scribe into than a regular spellbook for non-cantrips (and, let's face it, wizards already have all cantrips scribed for free anyway, unless they pay cash to research new ones, which is quite rare). If one assumes freely means "without cost" then no wizard will be without a BBB other than in the short term for financial reasons (he's saving up to get one).

That shows why "without cost" is an unbalanced interpretation.
Greg

 

[Spatzimaus]

The simplest solution for my campaign was to ban wizards.

Amazingly, we did exactly the same thing IMC. Remove Wizards altogether and there isn't much of a problem.

Make Sorcerer the favored class of Gnomes (it'll be Bard in 3.5, which means we've already made the biggest part of the adjustment) and Psion the favored class of Elves (which allows them to do magic in armor just fine, and it's all poofy mental stuff anyway).

 

[Storm Raven]

No link was made between there being two interpretations as being the reason for the banning.

Um, exactly what does "since the item has so many interpretations (two) I decided to cut to the chase and ban it from my game" mean if not that the many intepretations caused you to decide to get rid of it? I think you may not have meant to say what you actually said.

The item was banned because one of the two common interpretations is far too powerful and the other is far too weak for 9,500 gp. Thus - many explanations later which all of us would've rather avoided - I banned it.

So, you didn't come up with an alternative you could live with, but just nixed it? That seems to be quite a limited view.

 

[Bauglir]

'freely accept' =

 

[melkoriii]

I'm just going to break in here to say "Bah!".

-Hyp.

("Nothing! I got them freely!")

I will second that "Bah!"

Join S-Mart's Prefered Club and get a $10 gift freely.