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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9364560" data-attributes="member: 907">Thing is, in 2e a spellbook costs 5,000 gp which buys you either a 100-page traditional tome or a 50-page "traveling" spellbook (the 2e rules, at least, are silent on the actual benefits of a traveling spellbook). You're probably going to need multiple spellbooks – a 10th level wizard with Int 16 who has maxed out his spells known (11) for levels 1-3, half max (6) for level 4, and an additional 3 5th-level spells would have a spellbook taking up 42d6+63 pages, for an average of 210 pages. If you have one set of (5) traveling spellbooks and one backup normal set (of 3) at home, that's 40,000 gp in spellbooks. Should you need to replace your traveling set, that's 25,000 gp, and for every backup set you have that's an additional 15,000 gp. You can probably save 5,000, maybe 10,000 by curating your traveling set, but that's still an awful chunk of money. And that's in general class-based expenses, before you get into the high-level tower/lab/library shenanigans.It also assumes that there is a safe space where you can store your spellbook. Traditionally, low-level characters tend to be itinerant (so-called murderhobos).But the main limitation of the spellbook mechanic is on the DM. Because the spellbook is so crucial to the wizard, and because it is so expensive, it limits the possible plotlines. For example, the Dark Sun classic Freedom! starts with the PCs, one way or another, being captured and enslaved, and stripped of all their gear. The adventure mentions that the captors will miss the significance of any spellbook, but you still lose it. So long, entire reason for the class's existence. Might as well roll up a new character.</blockquote>

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