researching existing spells

[kramis]

How do you guys handle a wizard wanting to do research to add an existing spell to his spell book? The rules are bit ambiguous to me on this front.

There is some implication that this would be same as researching a brand new spell, but the costs for this seem a bit too high especially when compared with scroll costs. It would cost 1000 gp and a week to maybe add a 1st level spell that you could buy on a scroll for 25 gp.

The other method seems to be implied with a rule variant for requiring wizards adding the two "free" spells to their books each level. This seems much more reasonable ... double price for paying an NPC to cast the spell. This is a bit cheaper than scroll prices, though close so it seems a bit more reasonable. It also takes a lot less time.

I guess a lot could dependon on how common magic was in your campaign, and what sort of library you had access to. However, it seems to me that the only real advantage a Wizard has over a Sorcerer is the ability to have near infinite spells in his spellbook to choose from each morning. If it is so hard to be nearly impossible to add too many new spells then you've basically eliminated Wizard as a class worth taking.

I was wondering how others handled this.

As a second part of this how do you handle the two free spells when characters go up a level in the middle of an adventure and aren't near a town?

Thanks.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I'd handle advancing as an instant thing (unless they're in a middle of a fight. But right after the fight, you get XP, you go up a level). The levels are only an abstraction: your abilities improve gradually, not at once, but since we don't want to implement percentage for skill points, we get one big boost in-game (it's just like your age: at your birthday, you are just a day older than yesterday, but your age goes up a whole year. It yould be to winding to tell everyone that you're "20 years, 10 months and 14 days"). And all the benefits you get from the level-up you get immediately. So you gain the two spells immediately (but the character has really studied for some time and has maybe even learned them a couple of days ago, but due to the classes system you get them now.)

I don't like the concept of training for your new level (unless, you gain a new class, and even then you can make that training after you advanced the last time, so your Ftr4 would start right away training if he wants to become a Ftr4/Rog1, but that could be built in): The power you gain comes from the countless battles, puzzles and trials you have gone through, not that one-day training in a fancy gym (if that were so, all the guards would be 20th-level at least!)


So, the crux of my post: if you advance, you get the two spells, no matter where you are at the moment. (Doing otherwise would mean weakening the wizard class)