Quick Spellbook question...

[Dr Midnight]

When leveling a wizard up (this is my first spellcaster, so be kind), you get two new spells in your spellbook. Is this two spells for each level (2 1st, 2 2nd, 2 3rd, etc...) or only two of whatever level is the highest you can cast at?

 

[Lord Ben]

Two of any level you can cast. Typically people pick their highest level, but it's not a rule. For instance my Wizard, Brandor the Magnificent Abjuror, made third level and he took the Sculpt Spell feat because I wanted sculptable burning hands. I didn't have burning hands in my spellbook yet so for my two spells I took Resist Elements (2nd level) and Burning hands (1st). Normally though, just pick two of your highest level if you're allowed frequent opportunities to copy spells into the book.

PS: When can we expect more stoies on your site? My Friday afternoon lunch hours are missing the stories!!

 

[Dr Midnight]

Read the main page for an explanation on why no more stories... Thanks for the answer!

 

[Davelozzi]

Speaking of wizards getting their new spells as they level up, I'm wondering about gaining new spells mid-adventure. It's clear that 3e assumes mid-adventure leveling is acceptable. My player's wizard has just recieved enough XP to level up in Sunless Citadel, and is currently resting in a safe area of the dungeon. I have every intent of letting him level in most ways (skills, hps, etc.) but it seems a little silly to me that he would find two new spells while sitting in an empty dungeon room.

What do you guys do in this kind of situation?

 

[Voadam]

One hand-waving reason for getting spells mid adventure is that the research he has done in his down-time prior to the adventure has now simply fully gelled and the research notes in his spellbook constitute a useable spell now. This breaks down when you look at how many blank pages the book had before and after the mid adventure levelling but it provides a similar explanation to how they get the spells for levels anyway (nothing to do with how much time they actually spend researching, no bonuses for doing so in-game, etc.,)

Edit addition: "Honest, I've been researching levitate for a long time now in-between adventures " Player to DM while levelling up trapped in an underground pit.

 

[Lord Ben]

I look at Wizards as learning the science of magic. When I was in College taking my physics classes or whatever and driving down the street trying to figure out just why you'd multiply x by y it might suddenly come to my while driving downt he road. That is the way I picture it. Now just figure the Wiz has always wanted to learn invis, and had a moment of insight while reading his research book around the fire.

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

I second the posts about new Wizard's spells as a result of ongoing research.

Of course, my Wiz is trapped in a dungeon right now where he's found lots of spellbooks that he can't use since he doesn't have the "special" inks and quills to scribe the spells. But somehow, when he levels, he has enough ink to scribe his two new spells.

Some things just need to be taken on faith.. otherwise, he doesn't get any new spells!

 

[howlingwolf]

When playing my wizard, our group views it this way. When you level, you get your HP, better attack bonuses, saves, etc right off. Skills must be learned during downtime, unless you are merely adding ranks to a skill you already know. We assume you are just getting better at it. If you want a new skill or a language, we force a couple of weeks of downtime for learning. Same goes for feats that no one in the party already knows. If the feat is know, we take it that you have been working with that character and have now finally learned it. The same could be said if you were working with someone in town, and practicing on your own. As for spells, we require guild membership to get the two new spells (or some type of apprentice relationship). You would only get them when at your guild because you are being given the new spells after proving yourself worthy of their power. You don't just automatically know them once you are experienced enough to wield them. Now if you already had a higher level spell in your book, that would be fine to use, just as it would be fine to allow any additional spells per day of levels you already know. Just one way to think about it, hope it helps.

 

[The Sigil]

This...

When playing my wizard, our group views it this way. When you level, you get your HP, better attack bonuses, saves, etc right off. Skills must be learned during downtime, unless you are merely adding ranks to a skill you already know. We assume you are just getting better at it. If you want a new skill or a language, we force a couple of weeks of downtime for learning. Same goes for feats that no one in the party already knows. If the feat is know, we take it that you have been working with that character and have now finally learned it. The same could be said if you were working with someone in town, and practicing on your own. As for spells, we require guild membership to get the two new spells (or some type of apprentice relationship). You would only get them when at your guild because you are being given the new spells after proving yourself worthy of their power. You don't just automatically know them once you are experienced enough to wield them. Now if you already had a higher level spell in your book, that would be fine to use, just as it would be fine to allow any additional spells per day of levels you already know. Just one way to think about it, hope it helps.

This is *precisely* the way I handled it from the beginning IMC... XP is awarded "on the fly" (i.e., at the end of each encounter) and when you level, you received Hp, Save, BAB, and spell slot increases (NOT spells known or spells in spellbook). Skills, Feats, Spells Known/in book, and all other stuff was done at the end of the adventure in "off-camera" time (unless, of course, there was an in-game explanation... one wizard bought a fireball scroll at 4th level and packed it around with him so he could scribe it into his spellbook mid-adventure when he hit level 5 - he had the relevant spell on-hand, so it was okay). I figured that skills and Feats and such take longer to learn (so even if a party member could teach you, you couldn't up it unless enough off-camera time elapsed), but "innate" class qualities (BAB, Spell Slots, hp) etc. simply manifest when the character becomes experienced enough. It also gave justification for training costs to relieve the PCs of some of their money... ;-)

--The Sigil

 

[Bronn Spellforger]

Re: This...

This is *precisely* the way I handled it from the beginning IMC... XP is awarded "on the fly" (i.e., at the end of each encounter) and when you level, you received Hp, Save, BAB, and spell slot increases (NOT spells known or spells in spellbook). Skills, Feats, Spells Known/in book, and all other stuff was done at the end of the adventure in "off-camera" time (unless, of course, there was an in-game explanation... one wizard bought a fireball scroll at 4th level and packed it around with him so he could scribe it into his spellbook mid-adventure when he hit level 5 - he had the relevant spell on-hand, so it was okay). I figured that skills and Feats and such take longer to learn (so even if a party member could teach you, you couldn't up it unless enough off-camera time elapsed), but "innate" class qualities (BAB, Spell Slots, hp) etc. simply manifest when the character becomes experienced enough. It also gave justification for training costs to relieve the PCs of some of their money... ;-)

These house rules are very logical in terms of making sense of the game, but IMO you're basically penalizing wizards, who already have to spend time and money to scribe any new spells. To let Wizards level without getting any new spells, while fighters, clerics, and sorcerers all get new abilities and spells, well, I think it might be unbalanced. I'm pretty sure hours of play testing went into deciding that Wizards should get their two spells each level.