Cheiromancer
Adventurer
Yeah, I nerf it too. Big bulky spellbooks are one of the things that comes with being a wizard IMC.
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good rules for Boccob's Book?
- Thread starter Dark Dragon
- Start date
I think Boccob's Book is fine. My reasons:
1) Wizards get the shaft anyway. 200 GP per spell level is extremely expensive. For example, my wizard has NOT entered spells into his books except for the ones he gets for leveling and has been saving ALL of his money for Boccob's Book. Even so, he will still be a thousand GP short when he makes 9th level and can take Craft Wondrous Items to make it.
2) It costs a feat to get this at 4750 GP. Otherwise, it costs 9500 GP.
3) To put a spell into Boccob's Book still requires that you either a) find/buy a scroll and use it up, b) find/buy a wizard's spellbook, c) research a spell (for money). Anyway you cut it, it typically costs you MORE than 200 GP per spell level to acquire spells outside your normal two per level and will still typically cost you money to get extra spells even with the book.
4) Boccob's Book costs 105 GP per spell with the feat, 211 GP per spell without it. Normally it costs 200 GP per spell level. Since your average spell level is typically 3rd or lower, this means that at best, you drop the average cost from 600 GP on average to 105 GP. This is fair considering the extremely high price of acquiring spells in the first place.
5) Say you want your Wizard to be a little versatile. So, you decide over time to purchase him 5 extra spells at each spell level. For a 10th level Wizard, that means 5 1st, 5 2nd, ..., 5 5th level spells. The cost to do this (and we are only talking 5 spells per spell level here, a boatload less than the number of spells Clerics or Druids get for free) would be 15,000 GP. 15,000! And that's only for 5 spells at each spell level.
I really do not understand the rationale that 200 GP per spell level is fine in the first place when other classes do not have such sucking black holes on their money. To me, this is ludicrous.
25 GP per spell level, yes, fine. 200 GP per spell level, that's just a BAD rule and it practically forces high level Wizards to buy or create a Boccobs Book, just so that most of their acquired treasure does not get put into acquiring spells.
This is one of the worse and least thought out rules in the game IMO and Boccob's Book is just one semi-reasonable way to work around this stupid rule that probably should not exist at all.
1) Wizards get the shaft anyway. 200 GP per spell level is extremely expensive. For example, my wizard has NOT entered spells into his books except for the ones he gets for leveling and has been saving ALL of his money for Boccob's Book. Even so, he will still be a thousand GP short when he makes 9th level and can take Craft Wondrous Items to make it.
2) It costs a feat to get this at 4750 GP. Otherwise, it costs 9500 GP.
3) To put a spell into Boccob's Book still requires that you either a) find/buy a scroll and use it up, b) find/buy a wizard's spellbook, c) research a spell (for money). Anyway you cut it, it typically costs you MORE than 200 GP per spell level to acquire spells outside your normal two per level and will still typically cost you money to get extra spells even with the book.
4) Boccob's Book costs 105 GP per spell with the feat, 211 GP per spell without it. Normally it costs 200 GP per spell level. Since your average spell level is typically 3rd or lower, this means that at best, you drop the average cost from 600 GP on average to 105 GP. This is fair considering the extremely high price of acquiring spells in the first place.
5) Say you want your Wizard to be a little versatile. So, you decide over time to purchase him 5 extra spells at each spell level. For a 10th level Wizard, that means 5 1st, 5 2nd, ..., 5 5th level spells. The cost to do this (and we are only talking 5 spells per spell level here, a boatload less than the number of spells Clerics or Druids get for free) would be 15,000 GP. 15,000! And that's only for 5 spells at each spell level.
I really do not understand the rationale that 200 GP per spell level is fine in the first place when other classes do not have such sucking black holes on their money. To me, this is ludicrous.
25 GP per spell level, yes, fine. 200 GP per spell level, that's just a BAD rule and it practically forces high level Wizards to buy or create a Boccobs Book, just so that most of their acquired treasure does not get put into acquiring spells.
This is one of the worse and least thought out rules in the game IMO and Boccob's Book is just one semi-reasonable way to work around this stupid rule that probably should not exist at all.
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Dimwhit
Explorer
Isn't the purpose of a magic item to give you an awesome ability/benefit you wouldn't normally have? I think this is far from unbalanced. All it does is make life easier on a Wizard, allowing him to more effectively do the only thing he can do: use spells! And it doesn't even help him cast them. He can just store more in the book and save the ridiculously high cost of scribing them. I still don't understand those costs, anyway. Hundreds of gold to buy some ink? I mean, I understand that ink for spells would cost more than pencil lead, but come on... Anyway, enough of the rant. I think it's a great item. No more unbalanced than some other items around the same price. (Like a +3 cloak of resistance ... +3 on all saves! That's tough!)
