is this "Tome of ..." stats bonuses stack?

[devrimk]

If character reads 2 "Tome of Clear Thought +5" his intelligence scores goes up 10 or 5?

 

[the Jester]

The magic books give you an inherent bonus. Since each one gives a +5 inherent bonus, and bonuses of the same name don't stack, the character's total bonus remains +5.

 

[Thanee]

Nope, no stacking.

Bye
Thanee

 

[LordSloth]

Is this also if the inherent bonusses com from a different source? say a tome of clear thought +5 and 5 consecutive wish spells? Would this then also not stack?

 

[Ferret]

Nope. Although the wish could be spent granting an item that gave a +5 insight (or other) bonus. I don't know whether that breraks the spells 'safe cash limit' though.

 

[Azrael]

That's right, no stacking. I'm not sure where I've read it, but somewhere it says that there is a limit to inherent bonuses of +5 per stat.

 

[Infiniti2000]

It's in the wish spell. "Grant a creature a +1 inherent bonus to an ability score. Two to five wish spells cast in immediate succession can grant a creature a +2 to +5 inherent bonus to an ability score (two wishes for a +2 inherent bonus, three for a +3 inherent bonus, and so on). Inherent bonuses are instantaneous, so they cannot be dispelled. Note: An inherent bonus may not exceed +5 for a single ability score, and inherent bonuses to a particular ability score do not stack, so only the best one applies."

House Rule:
I personally use the house rule that Tomes of this sort function like the wish spell. If you have two Tomes of Understanding +1 and read them in sequence, I treat it like a +2. But, you must read them in sequence and in my house rule they stack with wish spells. This has yet to actually occur in my game (party level 15th), so use with caution as I have not yet playtested it, but I do not see a big problem.

Edit: they stack up to a total of +5, not more

 

[apesamongus]

Honestly, I've never understood why wishes/tomes don't just increase inherent bonuses by +1 up to +5 total (it's not like there is an escalating price increase - 5 +1 tomes cost the same as 1 +5 tome). 5000xp a pop seems a really steep price to pay for not waiting a few levels until you can afford a full 5 wishes. Create 5 wish scrolls and wait to read them all at once = +5, Create 5 scrolls over time and read them as you get them = 20000XP flushed down the toilet. It just seems really stupid to me. You can increase the enchantment bonus on an item by later paying the difference, so I don't see the reason to treat inherent bonuses differently.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Honestly, I've never understood why wishes/tomes don't just increase inherent bonuses by +1 up to +5 total (it's not like there is an escalating price increase - 5 +1 tomes cost the same as 1 +5 tome). 5000xp a pop seems a really steep price to pay for not waiting a few levels until you can afford a full 5 wishes. Create 5 wish scrolls and wait to read them all at once = +5, Create 5 scrolls over time and read them as you get them = 20000XP flushed down the toilet. It just seems really stupid to me. You can increase the enchantment bonus on an item by later paying the difference, so I don't see the reason to treat inherent bonuses differently.

Exactly. If there were some way to sell your old ones- that is, if you read a Tome +1 last year, and found a tome +2 this year, if you could somehow get your money back for the +1, I'd understand, but the way it is, someone would have to be an idiot to toss out some money or XP on anything less than a +5. I mean, why spend all that money if, in order to make it better, you had to pay it all again? The Tomes don't follow the same formula as other magic items, and so I don't think they should be subject to the same stacking rules. (I even think the +5 cap is stupid, but that's a different story.)

 

[Nail]

The point of the rule is simple: limit the numbers of PCs with inherent bonuses.

As you have all amply demonstrated, the system works perfectly.