Spellbooks & Sorcerers -- any use?

[Lucius Foxhound]

I was a huge fan of the 2E rule of being able to read scrolls from your spellbook. I believe there was also a % chance that your entire spellbook would go up in flame (1% per spell level of spell being cast, I believe).

But sadly, the rules of 3E make this impossible and a really bad idea for your game.

First of all, if you allow this rule, players no longer have to spend any XP to scribe scrolls. You just scribe a "backup" spellbook to use as a scrolls.

Second: the cost. Scribing a 5th level spell to a scroll costs 5 X Caster level (9) X 25 gp =1125 (plus 45 XP). Scribing a 5th level spell into a spellbook costs 1000 GP. Why scribe scrolls?

Sorry, but it just doesn't work according to 3E rules... which is a shame because I loved in 3E when a Wizard would run out of spells and still be facing a big baddie who wiped out the party. He would sigh, and then start turning to his spellbook to cast each for maybe the last time ...

 

[IceBear]

I think this must be a house rule. I just can't remember it.

IceBear

 

[evildmguy]

okay

Greetings!

I had it be a full round action, one to find and one to cast. That's me.

Lucius:

From the PH:

Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook
Once a wizard understands a new spell, she can record it into her
spellbook.
Time: The process requires 1 day plus 1 additional day per spell level.
Zero-level spells require 1 day.
Space in the Spellbook: A spell takes up 2 pages of the spellbook per
spell level (so a 2nd-level spell takes 4 pages, a 5th-level spell takes 10
pages, and so forth). A 0-level spell (cantrip) takes but a single page. A
spellbook has 100 pages.
Materials and Costs: Materials for writing the spell (special quills, inks,
and other supplies) cost 100 gp per page.
Note that a wizard does not have to pay these costs in time or gold for
the spells she gains for free at each new level. The wizard adds these to
her spellbook as part of her ongoing research.

So, to answer your question as to why use scrolls, scrolls take a heck of a lot less time to create! Also, if you use the partial xp rules (<1000 takes an hour per 150 XP), scrolls are even that much faster! Scribing a 5th level spell into a spellbook takes 6 days and 1000 gp.

IIRC, 2E was better for the wizards but worse for the other party members, for both of these. Learn time for a spell was measured in hours, which meant that 9th level spells could be learned in a day. That gives the 2E wizard a lot of spells.

This is also why the rules exist to use another's spell book to learn a spell but it must be rolled every time they use it. (Also, this was never used and I did remind players of it. They wanted the spells in their own spell books.) I think I would up the DCs to do this, though, to 20 + spell level to learn and 25 + spell level to use another's. If you doubt this, try reading someone else's notes before studying for a test or making modifications to their code!

If you want to use this, perhaps you can say that the spell book helps the caster remember the spell and if it is out of the spell book, they have to relearn it as well as copy it back into their spell books.

Again, maybe I just had good players who patrolled themselves about this because I found this was not only not abused but also rarely used.

edg

 

[MerakSpielman]

The spellbook or the Sorceror?

Well, I left that vague, now didn't I?

 

[Wendell]

Arcane preparation

If the sorcerer has the arcane preparation feat then they would need a spell book to prepare spells. This can be a good feat for sorcerers because it allows them to use pearls of power and it would allow a sorcerer to become a Mage of the Arcane Order.

 

[rhammer2]

This was not in 2nd edition, it was an optional rule introduced in Unearthed Arcana, the last core expansion for AD&D 1st edition.

I remember in 2E, a wizard could cast a spell from a spellbook as a scroll. Does a wizards spellbooks have any use for a sorcerer?

 

[Ran]

Re: Re: Spellbooks & Sorcerers -- any use?

This was not in 2nd edition, it was an optional rule introduced in Unearthed Arcana, the last core expansion for AD&D 1st edition.

And how did it work, anyway?