Spellbooks as treasure - value?

[Lasher Dragon]

OK, a party I am in ran into a snag last night. We vanquished 2 evil wizards, one 9th level and one 5th level, and got their spellbooks as part of the treasure. What would those spellbooks be worth? (I don't recall EXACTLY how many spells of each level were in each, if that matters - the last I recall I think the 9th level Wiz had 4 or 5 5th level spells, and more of all the lower spell levels) Currently the DM gives us half price on treasure (except of course gems, art, etc.).

Used to be you could cast spells out of a book like scrolls, right? Consuming the written spell in the process. Now AFAIK you can't, so I don't see how you can figure the price as though it were a book of scrolls. However, I would think to a wizard - especially one that is looking to expand their own list - these books would be worth more than their value in scrolls, seeing as how they are not consumed in the process of copying them.

Anyone been through this already?

 

[Dimwhit]

Not sure there is a hard and fast rule, but you might try figuring out the cost for a Wizard to scribe all those spells into a spellbook and go from there. (Assume, of course, that they're not the free spells given at every level.)

 

[Khayman]

Don't forget the base value of the spellbook and any customizations.

 

[Khayman]

From the SRD:

Selling a Spellbook
Captured spellbooks can be sold for a gp amount equal to one-half the cost of purchasing and inscribing the spells within (that is, one-half of 100 gp per page of spells). A spellbook entirely filled with spells (that is, with one hundred pages of spells inscribed in it) is worth 5,000 gp.

This assumes no wacky traps or unusual materials used in construction, as per Complete Arcane.

 

[Darmanicus]

OK, a party I am in ran into a snag last night. We vanquished 2 evil wizards, one 9th level and one 5th level, and got their spellbooks as part of the treasure. What would those spellbooks be worth? (I don't recall EXACTLY how many spells of each level were in each, if that matters - the last I recall I think the 9th level Wiz had 4 or 5 5th level spells, and more of all the lower spell levels) Currently the DM gives us half price on treasure (except of course gems, art, etc.).

Used to be you could cast spells out of a book like scrolls, right? Consuming the written spell in the process. Now AFAIK you can't, so I don't see how you can figure the price as though it were a book of scrolls. However, I would think to a wizard - especially one that is looking to expand their own list - these books would be worth more than their value in scrolls, seeing as how they are not consumed in the process of copying them.

Anyone been through this already?

As far as I can remember a full spellbook is worth 5k assuming it has 50 pages therefore I'd cost it at 100gp/pg used.

 

[Khayman]

Our party (a bunch of Philistines) once sold a captured spellbook to a fellow mercenary for use as toilet paper. Something in the range of a couple of gold.

Guess it depends on the local market conditions, right?