Making A 8th Level Wizard - Cost of Spells

[Olaf the Stout]

Yeah, especially if you plan on learning lots of spells. It's merely 125 spell levels to break even, which is not as much as it might sound.

Bye
Thanee

125 spell levels, not including the 2 spells that you get for free at each level of course.

And Thanee, despite how rude and inappropriate this question may be, I have to ask it as it has been bugging me for years now. Are you a guy or a girl?

Olaf the Stout

 

[TYPO5478]

I just checked out Boccob's Blessed Book. That's great value. It takes a fairly big chunk of my starting wealth of 27,000gp but it certainly is a great deal in the long term.

It's an even better deal if you craft it yourself. Of course, you have to take secret page as one of your spells, but you save 6,250 gp. Not to mention there are plenty of other uses for Craft Wondrous Item...

 

[Quartz]

How many spells does the other 8th level wizard have in his book? And can I suggest you make a 7th level wizard with 8th level XP and money and use the XP on scrolls, potions, and wands?

 

[wildstarsreach]

I'm creating an 8th level Wizard PC. I normally DM but I have swapped places with one of my players for a couple of sessions just to give me a break. Having never created a PC Wizard before I am a little unsure as to how many spells he can have.

I know that he gets all cantrips for free at 1st level as well as 3 + Int Bonus 1st level spells. I also know that he gets 2 free spells per level. Assuming that I takes these as the highest level spell that I can cast I get the following spells for free:

All - Cantrips
7 - 1st Level
4 - 2nd Level
4 - 3rd Level
4 - 4th Level

That's all well and good but obviously I want to have a wider range of spells than that. I know that I don't get them for free but how much do they cost? Do I just assume that I paid another wizard to copy them from his spell book and that each spell beyond the number listed above costs me 50GP x Spell Level?

Sorry if these seem like very basic questions (they are!) but I couldn't seem to find the answer in the PHB.

Olaf the Stout

If you don't mind using a feat, collegiate wizard from page 181 of complete arcane will give you double the spells earned.

You would then have:

Cantrips - all
1st - 11
2nd - 8
3rd - 8
4th - 8

You will get twice the spells at each level saving you gold for the simple cost of a feat. You can only take it at 1st level but since you are starting this character at 8th you can assume that he did take it at 1st. My group doesn't think that it is worth it but I do.

 

[Pyrex]

Standard is 150gp per spell level (50gp to get a copy and 100gp for fancy inks).

Since you can also buy scrolls, you can save 25gp per spell level on 1st-level spells.

If you have the money, it's wise to invest in a Boccob's blessed book as soon as possible.

The last couple games I've been in we've waived the 50gp copy-fee / 25gp scroll fee.

When you're creating an 8th level character, you don't charge the Ftr for every potion he ever drank, and you don't charge the Wizard for scrolls he used when he was 7th.

Either by casting the scroll or scribing it, it's still expended, and adding spells to your spellbook already *has* a cost (either 100gp/page or the Blessed Book). Billing the wizard for used scrolls is just mean.

 

[Thanee]

But where do you draw the line then?

When spells are effectively free with the BBB, you could simply learn all of them...

Bye
Thanee

 

[Pyrex]

But where do you draw the line then?

When spells are effectively free with the BBB, you could simply learn all of them...

Bye
Thanee

They aren't free, just cheaper.

And at the level where characters can afford more than one BBB they're typically going to want a duplicate set of spellbooks anyway.

To "learn them all", and have a duplicate set of spellbooks you're going to need *at least* 6 BBB's, which is a pretty significant investment; and while each additional spell in the spellbook makes the wizard more powerful, it's not linear. Having 2 9th level spells and learning a 3rd is pretty big. Having 10 and learning an 11th is not so big.

And with the larger spellbooks, the Wizard's decisions become that much harder.

 

[Gerion of Mercadia]

At Most - you charge for a scroll and scribe it off yourself.

If the wizard is part of an academy or a church (has an organization backing him up) You might charge him a "copy access fee" equivalent to that of a spellcaster casting the spell for Him once, 10 x spell level x min caster level. You still have the scribing cost.

Honestly, your figure should be somewhere between these numbers.

 

[shilsen]

But where do you draw the line then?

When spells are effectively free with the BBB, you could simply learn all of them...

Bye
Thanee

You know, I don't think that would be a problem. The wizard is still going to be restricted by his spell slots, just as the cleric or druid (who know every spell on their spell list) are. In my Eberron game, I gave the wizard automatic access to every PHB spell of a level he could cast (and four non-PHB spells per level) and it never caused a problem.