I think my wizard is going to be poor

[Hammerhead]

Sorcerers rule. I know, I played one.

My advice to any wizard is to scrounge, beg, or steal the 4750 gp needed for a Boccob's Blessed Book, and start scribing 3rd level spells or higher in it as soon as possible. It isn't practical to scribe 1st and 2nd level spells into it: it actually wastes money.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Sorcerers rule. I know, I played one.

My advice to any wizard is to scrounge, beg, or steal the 4750 gp needed for a Boccob's Blessed Book, and start scribing 3rd level spells or higher in it as soon as possible. It isn't practical to scribe 1st and 2nd level spells into it: it actually wastes money.

No you stil make money just not as much, it can hold 45 spells of any level. 1st level spells normally cost 200gp(assuming no scroll cost) 200*45=9,000gp or market price so you still make money if you made it your self. If filled with a spell level 45 spells normally costs 9,000gpxspell level so if the BBB is made your self you save 9,000xspell level-4750. Or 4250 for 1st level spells and 13250 for 2nd.

 

[Saeviomagy]

The rules on scribing were not introduced with 3rd edition. They existed in 2nd edition, with some minor differences. I think they were just transferred across (and cleaned up considerably).

My suggestion to any wizard who's DM insists upon the scribing costs is to abuse all the wizard's infinite money abilities. Sell teleports to far off places. Use a craft skill and fabrication to turn a hunk of iron into masterwork full plate in a day.

PS. item crafting has a permanent cost - XP and feats. I don't think that making a wizard spend more money was aimed to stop him from doing that.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

The rules on scribing were not introduced with 3rd edition. They existed in 2nd edition, with some minor differences. I think they were just transferred across (and cleaned up considerably).

Point being: the notion that scribing costs were introduced to balance wizards against sorcerers is a total myth.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

I just want to say that there's even better than BBB for a spellcaster. If you have Magic of Faerûn, look at the Kiira, or "spellbook in a gem".

But yes, writing in a BBB (or in a Kiira) is free. You just have to move your quill on the page, don't even need ink. It wouldn't be magic otherwise, would it be ?

"Furthermore a Kiira acts as a spellbook, allowing a wizard to record spells into and prepare spells from a Kiira as if it were a spellbook, requiring the normal amount of time and expense." (emphasis mine)

Nowhere does it say scribing into a Kiira costs nothing.

 

[candidus_cogitens]

If BBB requires no cost (I'll trust you guys who say that it has been officially clarified), what about time?? Does "freely accepts" mean that you don't need to spend the huge amount of time that you would if you were writing in a normal spellbook?

 

[Arcanus]

First of all I never play wizards only sorcerers.
Second of all this is kinda a bump to have someone check out my post on magic item creation help. PLEASE read and post with opinions.

Third and finally I was at a convention last weekend and was talking to some of my gamers on the wizard class.
We came up with a plan to make a Manual of Mimic Magic. (exact name of book is similar to that with mimic actually being the word in question but I know that it started with a M) This was just talk
to pass the time and none of us have a wizard to begin with.
I was just telling them why I never play one (mainly the costs involved) and I never seem to memorize the right spells anyway.

This item supposedly allows a wizard to open it up and if a blank page is available you point the blank page at a spellcaster who is casting a spell and the book records everything that the caster does and says.

Out of game this is like take a Camcorder and videotaping a seminar or something.

Anyway THERE is some kind of spellcraft roll you have to make in order to get the book to operate correctly. It might very well be a Knowledge Arcana roll instead. This roll is to see if you get the book open in time. Something to do with the pages have a kind of arcane ink covering the page that will dry in 10 minutes unless it is recording a spell. Even after it successfully records the spell you still have to make your roll to see if you can learn or cast it.
This really would lessen the expense of scribing spells in your spell books.

Also there is a major side effect that prevents you from holding it open in front of enemy spellcasters that are casting spells at you.
The arcane ink is very explosive and flammable while unused.
If hit while open by electricity or fire not only does the holder and book take that damage but also a maximized Explosive Runes goes off at the same time.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention above in the items decription on how it works. In order to keep the spell permanent in the book you have to place 1 of the spell components needed to cast it in the page you started recording it in. This is kinda like pressing flowers in a book but the book absorbs it. If you don't have it on your person you have I think (going from memory on most of this) 24 hours to place it in. Otherwise the pages of that spell go blank and you can't re-use the pages for anything other than hand scribing stuff with some ink and a quill.

This might kinda limit the wizard from walking around and getting free spells very easily. Anyway it was just a coffee talk thing to pass the time.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

If BBB requires no cost (I'll trust you guys who say that it has been officially clarified), what about time?? Does "freely accepts" mean that you don't need to spend the huge amount of time that you would if you were writing in a normal spellbook?

No, it still takes the normal amount of time. The clarification was that "freely" means "at no cost."

 

[Marshall]

No, it still takes the normal amount of time. The clarification was that "freely" means "at no cost."

But, the book reduces the spell to one page so that reduces the scribing time accordingly.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

But, the book reduces the spell to one page so that reduces the scribing time accordingly.

Scribing time is not based on the number of pages, only spell level (one day + one day per spell level). The clarification in the FAQ only addressed the the cost in gold, not the time. The pages of the BBB accept the spells without the high cost in gold, but it still takes 10 days to scribe that ninth level spell, even if it only takes one page in the book.