Spell Mastery Feat to avoid copying spells?

[Cor Azer]

Once again I was reading (all those years of grade school are finally paying off! ) my PHB, and noticed that the Spell Mastery feat only requires the wizard know the spell, not have it in his spellbook.

I realize there's currently another thread about copying spells, but this is only tangentially related, so I thought I'd ask seperately.

Is there anything besides common sense to keep wizards from using this feat to allow them to prepare spells without copying them into their spellbook?

For example, a sun elf (FRCS) wizard with 20 Int and noteworthy skill of Spellcraft +14, so he can take 10 to learn spells). He has spent 1875gp to buy 5 third level spell scrolls which he has learned, but not copied into his spellbook. When he gains 6th level, he gains his two free spells, plus he can take the Spell Mastery feat, letting him choose 5 spells he can prepare without his spellbook. What stops him from choosing the 5 spells on his scrolls? It neatly avoids using up 30 pages and an extra 3000gp.

Or, is this even a problem, since it uses up a feat every time (albeit, a feat the wizard can take every five wizard levels as well as every three character levels)?

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Is there anything besides common sense to keep wizards from using this feat to allow them to prepare spells without copying them into their spellbook?

I think this is the real issue. So I'll comment on it.

By the core rules, it is not possible for a wizard to know a spell that he has not copied down. So the core rules prevent a wizard from doing what you have described. The problem is the book does not define what spells a wizard "knows", but most people will say any spell the wizard has taken the time and money to learn/copy into his book he "knows". Thus, any spell the wizard has written himself qualifies for the Spell Mastery feat.

I really dislike this aspect, and I have a house rule for learning spells from a spellbook without copying, and Magic of Faerun has a similar rule for an entire foreign spellbook.

Hope that helps!

 

[Cor Azer]

By the core rules, it is not possible for a wizard to know a spell that he has not copied down. So the core rules prevent a wizard from doing what you have described. The problem is the book does not define what spells a wizard "knows", but most people will say any spell the wizard has taken the time and money to learn/copy into his book he "knows". Thus, any spell the wizard has written himself qualifies for the Spell Mastery feat.

Umm... Can I ask where you're getting the wizard can't know a spell he doesn't have written down? Or at least explain it better, because it's failing to click with me.

Spellcraft can be used (at DC 15 + spell level) to learn a spell, which has to be done before it can be copied into a spellbook. First, by definition in English (which, I concede, doesn't mean it applies to D&D), a person knows something they've learned. Second, by your reasoning (as I understand it), if a wizard loses his spellbook, he no longer knows any spells, so would have to relearn all his spells as he replaces his spellbook.

For the record, I'm sort of playing devil's advocate here. I don't plan on allowing Spell Mastery to avoid spell copying costs in my games; I'm moreso just looking for established rules to nix it rather than house ruling it (I dislike houseruling stuff without fully understanding all the rules involved).

 

[Mark]

PH pg 54 Spell Mastery: A wizard (and only a wizard) can take the special feat Spell Mastery. Each time the wiard takes the feat, choose a number of spells equal to the wizard's Intellegnce modifier (they must be spells the wizard already knows). From that point on, the wizard can prepare the spells without refering to a spellbook. The wizard is so intimately familiar with these spells that she doesn't need a spellbook to prepare them anymore.

It is a matter of preparation, not a matter of being able to cast them. Spell Mastery avoids the need to prepare a spell from a spellbook. You do not prepare a spell from a scroll, you cast it directly off of the scroll. Therefore a spell from a scroll is not a "known" spell, it is simply one that you have cast, if you have cast one from a scroll previously.

Spell Mastery doesn't say anything about removing the need for components (please correct me if I've missed this somewhere), yet scrolls have the components consumed when writing them (DMG pg 245). Are we also saying that casting a Spell Mastery spell, learned from a scroll, is twice as powerful because you use the components twice?

I'd have to say "no" to your plan.

 

[gamecat]

I am sure you could do so, as a dm I would let you. If your feats are worth 3000 gp a pop, go ahead!