Found Spellbooks

[Mordakker]

When I find a spell book that belonged to a fallen foe, can I learn his spells and add them to my available list of spells?

I know it won't increase my daily casting limits.

 

[Tale]

When I find a spell book that belonged to a fallen foe, can I learn his spells and add them to my available list of spells?

I know it won't increase my daily casting limits.

No.

 

[JasonZZ]

Under 4E rules, his daily and utility spells aren't available to you, although any rituals recorded in his spellbook are certainly fair game (if you're high enough level). I would certainly consider an acquired spellbook justification to reassign your daily and/or utility spells (perhaps even mid-level).

 

[MrMyth]

By the rules, you cannot learn spells from a defeated enemies spellbook, just as a fighter can't learn new abilities from seeing enemies using them in battle, or a cleric can't learn new prayers by conversing with other priests of his faith.

Now, I do believe you can learn Rituals found in an enemy Ritual book, and add them to your own.

And, of course, a DM could certainly allow otherwise, and let you scribe new spells into your book from a defeated foe's spellbook, relying on the limitation of power use to mitigate the extra options you have when choosing prepared spells. I would recommend sticking with only letting Utility Powers and Daily Powers be learned from enemies, since those are already the ones the spellbook revolves around. While not entirely balanced to allow this, I suspect enemy spellbooks are rare enough that it will not be a major game changer, and is perfectly fine as a house rule.

 

[BendBars/LiftGates]

No. But, since spellbooks aren't emphasized in 4e like they were in 3e, the game doesn't expect that you find new spells this way. So, enemy mages won't really tote their spellbooks around with them all the time, and thus found spellbooks aren't really a part of "normal" treasure troves. So, you probably won't find them on NPC mages, even if they're built according to the "class-based NPC" rules.

However, if I were your DM and I wanted to include a major NPC wizard according to those rules, I might let you recover his spellbook. You won't be able to copy his spells into your own overnight, but when you level up you still get to retrain your powers. I'd include some exotic spells (from Dragon or somesuch) and let you retrain for those, explaining it as learning new magic from the enemy wizard's book.

 

[Mistwell]

I would think of them more as ritual books with some pages devoted to person magical notes. The rituals are useful, and sellable.

 

[Mordakker]

That's what I thought

Thanks Folks,

I thought that was the way of it. I will talk to my DM about adding their powers to my own. Take care,

John

 

[Tale]

I thought that was the way of it. I will talk to my DM about adding their powers to my own. Take care,

Wait wait wait. You thought you couldn't, but you're going to talk to your DM about getting it to happen anyway?

 

[Mordakker]

Yeah, Why not

Yeah, Why not. The 4th ed rules are so new that there's so much room the rules don't exactly cover. Besides, they're just guidelines. If my DM and I can figure out how to make it work, then more power to us.

 

[Tale]

Yeah, Why not. The 4th ed rules are so new that there's so much room the rules don't exactly cover. Besides, they're just guidelines. If my DM and I can figure out how to make it work, then more power to us.

Well, it just seems odd. You ask us already knowing the answer, but end up disregarding it anyway.

As someone who answered your question, I feel used and tossed aside.