How do you make a spell pool?

[Cheiromancer]

I was looking at the Mage of the Arcane Order prestige class in Tome and Blood, and I started to wonder how one went about creating a spell pool.

Actually, I was wondering how much energy a given mage could deposit into it, but that's when I realized that I didn't know how you make one.

Anyone tackle this problem? A new chapter of the wizard's guild starts up- how do they get the spell pool going?

 

[haiiro]

I don't think I've ever seen a write-up of the process used to create a spell pool. Neat question.

 

[las]

I would say something like you would need a magic item of some sort that when it reaches a number of spell levels explods and the magic starts to fill a room. Its just an idea on this.

 

[Khorod]

Spell Pools are one of the neat things that makes Mercedes Lackey fun.

In her world's magic system, a spell pool would basically be created when one or more Archmage ranked (titularly Adepts) wizards got together, and basically created an artificial nexus for the surrounding leylines.

Alternately, you might simply place a battery at a naturally occurring leyline nexus, and that gets things rolling.

That's Leyline Spell Pools 101..

***

For general D&D, I think it would be a Wondrous Item that is created, and then initialized by having 100 levels worth of spells pumped into it within 24 hours. It can then be used as per the rules.

The wondrous item might be a gem, a statue, the tip of a mountain, or whatever.

 

[Kweezil]

The Arcane Order's spellpool is more thoroughly detailed in the 2nd Ed. supplement College of Wizardry. On a tangent, the book is excellent if you're using the Arcane Order or something similar, as it details the entire order, people, places, secrets, the lot.
The spellpool works through an artifact called the Spellcrux, and each guild wizard uses an arcane token to tap into the spellpool to either draw from it or donate to it.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Thanks! I just downloaded it from RPG Now. It seems more limited than the one in the FRCS, which in turn is more limited than the TaB one. I guess research into the Language Primeval must be proceeding nicely!

Although it doesn't say how to make it, Liwendyll is only 14th level with an 18 intelligence.... Hmmm. Why doesn't she have spells of higher than 5th level?

One thing I like about the College of Wizardry description is that it says that the maximum "credit" you can have with the spell-pool is equal to the maximum "debit." I was worried that a wizard with a few months down time could pay up a life-time of adventuring!

Thanks for the tip.

[edit]
The spells required to make the Spell Pool should include spell turning, permanency, secret page and contingency. Probably wish as well. You would need Craft Wondrous Item and Cooperative Spell to make it. It should be expandable- judging from the initiation fee, around 750 gp per person.

And cost? I don't know how to even begin to calculate it, but it would be around the price of a fortress (and how much is that?). Some kind of spell-pool (maybe not as good as the one at Mathghamhna) should be buildable for around 500 000 gp.

What do you all think?
[/edit]