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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 410318" data-attributes="member: 99">My house rules also include the reduction of scribing costs to 10% (10gp per page).  When I saw how much it cost for a Wizard to scribe spells, I realized that I would be forced to give out a given level of GP treasure or else the Wizard would be screwed.  I don't like for the amount of treasure I must give out to be dictated by such an arbitrary rule, so I dropped the cost.But I also took away the free spells that a Wizard gets for going up a level.  It made no sense to me that a 5th level Wizard who has never seen a scroll of Fireball or seen it in somebody else's spellbook can suddenly (for no cost in terms of time or money) have it in his spellbook just because he gained a level.So Wizards in my campaign must find every single spell they want to be able to cast somewhere.  Of course I listen to the player's requests as to the spells they would like to have and a surprising number (but not necessarily all) of those spells can be found one way or another.This creates a further benefit to my campaigns:  There are such things as "rare" spells.  See, in a normal game, if a spell is allowed as a Wizard spell, a player doesn't have to seek it out.  He can just pick it at his next level.  But without those free spells at each level, suddenly certain spells (and the spellbooks they are scribed in) become very valuable.  If Haste is found in only a handful of spellbooks across the continent, you can bet that the PC's will pay a large chunk of change to acquire it.  And if they find it, they will get a good price if they want to sell it.Also, I never need worry that a spell the Wizard picked up for free from leveling will render part of my adventure useless.  If I know that descending into a chasm and climbing the other side is going to be a big chunk of the adventure, I don't have to worry that the Wizard took Fly for free as one of his spells for gaining a level.Please understand that I don't use this as a straitjacket for my players.  I'm not saying, "You can't have the Fly spell because it would mess up my adventure."  Instead, it serves as an adventure hook for the wizard.  He'll say, "Look gang, we're going to have to descend into the Chasm Of Doom if we don't find some other way across.  I heard of this Wizard who lives in the Black Marsh (Knowledge: Arcane Check) and people say he can fly like a bird.  Let's see if we can get him to teach me that secret."One other offsetting factor I've included to compensate for the reduced scribing costs is that I've made Scribing Ink a purchasable commodity.  It is available in most towns of average size but you must have it in order to scribe spells into your spellbook or to create scrolls.  You can't just say, "I've got gold in my pouch, so I think I'll scribe a scroll."  This means that the Wizard must stock up on however much ink he thinks he needs (or can afford) before he leaves town and if he runs out, he runs out.Of course, the ink can be created by using the Alchemy skill if you have the proper ingredients.  And if you have a high enough Wilderness Lore skill (or know somebody who does), you can find the ingredients yourself and create your ink for free.  The only problem is that this all takes a good deal of time.  And time is frequently the most precious commodity of all.Sorry for the long chunk of what is essentially house rules.  But it has given me a system that fits well with the other rules in the game and has removed the internal inconsistencies that (again IMHO) plague the Wizard Spellbook rules.</blockquote>

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