Opps! Did I just snatch your spell book?

[werk]

^^^

<House rules for flavor>
I generally run it so that a 'wizard' needs some sort of lab or home base. I require it for item creation or learning spells. Be it his master's/mentor's workshop, his parents' root cellar, a rented space, a couple large chests on a wagon. I also play it like a wizard is like a Harvard MBA, if you don't have any resources after all that training, there is a problem.

Sure, you can get by with just a travelling spellbook, obviously, but you are leaving yourself very vulnerable IMO. I also still use the # of pages = level of spell, so a high level wizard usually can't carry his full repetoire in one travelling book...spellbook of holding?

IMC wizards are rare because of the level of training required (not everyone gets accepted to wizard school), and they get special treatment, both good and bad. The Red Wizards of Thay are especially menacing IMC because of this.

Of course there are 'village boy trained by crazy wizard hermit' people out there, but that's like getting a mail-order medical degree.

</flavor>

 

[Jack Simth]

<House rules for flavor>
I also still use the # of pages = level of spell, so a high level wizard usually can't carry his full repetoire in one travelling book...spellbook of holding?

Sort of - it's called the Blessed Book: SRD

Blessed Book: This well-made tome is always of small size, typically no more than 12 inches tall, 8 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. All such books are durable, waterproof, bound with iron overlaid with silver, and locked.

A wizard can fill the 1,000 pages of a blessed book with spells without paying the 25 gp per page material cost. This book is never found as randomly generated treasure with spells already inscribed in it.

Moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, secret page; Price 12,500 gp;Weight 1 lb.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I can see the sense in what your saying for a mid to high level wizard. But a beginning wizard doesn't have much of a lifes work yet. Granted he probably has a mentor, but usually will have most his possessions with him unless he has a specific base of operations. What you said would mostly apply to an NPC wizard witha base of ops rather than an adventuring pc. At least thts how things just tend to work out in my groups games.

This is true. But even a 1st-level wizard's spellbook is likely to be in his backpack, not in his hand and readily stealable. The only time a wizard need actually handle is spellbook is when he's studying from it, either to prepare his spells in the morning, or working on those 2 new spells he manages to figure out between levels. In a standard combat, his spellbook is going to be tucked under his other clothes and knickknacks at the bottom of his pack, safely protected from attack by full cover and concealment.

A better way of disabling wizards in the short term is to steal or sunder their component pouch. It won't affect all their spells, but likely a significant amount of them.

Only if the wizard is particularly naive. If you look at the illustration for some of the wizards in the PH and elsewhere, you'll notice that many of them have outfits that are covered with pockets. The smart wizard has at least a dozen different spell component pouches readily accessible on his person. Let the rogue steal one. He'll get a Disintegrate in the face for his trouble. Assuming he does steal a spell component pouch and not the bag where the wizard keeps his Kleenex (tm)!