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<blockquote data-quote="Pax" data-source="post: 1574832" data-attributes="member: 6875"><p>Um, no - <strong>one</strong> page per level of the spell. Welcome to 3.5e D&D. ^_^</p><p></p><p></p><p> Half that many - only 182.</p><p></p><p> And all of them <strong>handwritten</strong>, on pages that do <strong>not</strong> have lines pre-printed on them - which generally means a far lower wordcount than your typical modern textbook or reference manual.</p><p></p><p> Then consider, that a lot of the formulaic expression of a spell is traditionally assumed to include <strong>diagrams</strong>, and in D&D, a Wizard's spellbook also contains <strong>notes</strong> and <em>musings</em> regarding each spell. Stuff like, "Must remember not to use Chain Lightning on a group of possible Flesh Golems; the results would be horrendously bad". Notes on a few variations on the spell (i.e., for Cone of Cold ... perhaps "Ferend of the city of Halgeth was reputed to have been able to strike foes at much greater ranges thanthe formulas suggest; I have been unable to duplicate this even using the not inconsiderable metamagic skills at my disposal. Would that Ferend, or his apprentices or even journals, had survived Halgeth's destruction ...").</p><p></p><p> IOW, not all of it needs to be directly related to the actual <strong>casting</strong> of the spell.</p><p></p><p></p><p> You play wizards who <strong>don't</strong> always know which spells s/he wants to prepare each day, <em>long</em> before actually peparing them ...?!?</p><p></p><p></p><p> The Wizard need not memorise the exact contents of every page. IT is spell <strong>preparation</strong>,not spell <strong>memorisation</strong> anymore. All the spellbook is, is a <em>cookbook</em> that directs the wizard as to how to build the needed energy matrices within herself (or however you want to describe preparing spells for later casting).</p><p></p><p> Further ... modern type size and wordcount-per-page ... focussed solely on reading to the exclusion of even <strong>noticing</strong> the outside world ... yeah, I can read - with comprehension and reasonable retention - about one page every ten to fifteen seconds. <strong>Without</strong> speed-reading.</p><p></p><p> The sort of text size and wordcount-per-page I'd expect from a handwritten wizard's grimoire? Probably five or six seconds, tops. Eight or nine, say, if I want to <em>really</em> pay attention to what I'm reading.</p><p></p><p> Which fits rather nicely, in fact, with the time estimate you gave.</p><p></p><p></p><p> Yeah. Like the fact that you (based on your initial comment regarding "10 minutes per spell level") apparently consider it appropriate for that Wizard, intead, to spend 1,820 minutes preparing spells for a single day, <strong>after</strong> spending 480 minutes sleeping/resting, for a total of 2,300 minutes - when a single day contains <strong>only 1,440 minutes!!!</strong> And that's taking your <em>exact</em> own example wizard, mind.</p><p></p><p> That's ludicrous - patently <em>absurd</em>, even. <strong>Why</strong> should it take MORE than a single day, to prepare the number of spells that a spellcaster is supposed to be able to cast <strong>every</strong> single day ...? <em>Where</em>, exactly, is the logic in that ...?!?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pax, post: 1574832, member: 6875"] Um, no - [b]one[/b] page per level of the spell. Welcome to 3.5e D&D. ^_^ Half that many - only 182. And all of them [b]handwritten[/b], on pages that do [b]not[/b] have lines pre-printed on them - which generally means a far lower wordcount than your typical modern textbook or reference manual. Then consider, that a lot of the formulaic expression of a spell is traditionally assumed to include [b]diagrams[/b], and in D&D, a Wizard's spellbook also contains [b]notes[/b] and [i]musings[/i] regarding each spell. Stuff like, "Must remember not to use Chain Lightning on a group of possible Flesh Golems; the results would be horrendously bad". Notes on a few variations on the spell (i.e., for Cone of Cold ... perhaps "Ferend of the city of Halgeth was reputed to have been able to strike foes at much greater ranges thanthe formulas suggest; I have been unable to duplicate this even using the not inconsiderable metamagic skills at my disposal. Would that Ferend, or his apprentices or even journals, had survived Halgeth's destruction ..."). IOW, not all of it needs to be directly related to the actual [b]casting[/b] of the spell. You play wizards who [b]don't[/b] always know which spells s/he wants to prepare each day, [i]long[/i] before actually peparing them ...?!? The Wizard need not memorise the exact contents of every page. IT is spell [b]preparation[/b],not spell [b]memorisation[/b] anymore. All the spellbook is, is a [i]cookbook[/i] that directs the wizard as to how to build the needed energy matrices within herself (or however you want to describe preparing spells for later casting). Further ... modern type size and wordcount-per-page ... focussed solely on reading to the exclusion of even [b]noticing[/b] the outside world ... yeah, I can read - with comprehension and reasonable retention - about one page every ten to fifteen seconds. [b]Without[/b] speed-reading. The sort of text size and wordcount-per-page I'd expect from a handwritten wizard's grimoire? Probably five or six seconds, tops. Eight or nine, say, if I want to [i]really[/i] pay attention to what I'm reading. Which fits rather nicely, in fact, with the time estimate you gave. Yeah. Like the fact that you (based on your initial comment regarding "10 minutes per spell level") apparently consider it appropriate for that Wizard, intead, to spend 1,820 minutes preparing spells for a single day, [b]after[/b] spending 480 minutes sleeping/resting, for a total of 2,300 minutes - when a single day contains [b]only 1,440 minutes!!![/b] And that's taking your [i]exact[/i] own example wizard, mind. That's ludicrous - patently [i]absurd[/i], even. [b]Why[/b] should it take MORE than a single day, to prepare the number of spells that a spellcaster is supposed to be able to cast [b]every[/b] single day ...? [i]Where[/i], exactly, is the logic in that ...?!? [/QUOTE]
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