Stacking Tomes and Manuals

[phillipjp]

I'm sure this has been asked before, but Searching is disabled.

Can you stack reads of Tomes and Manuals? For example, if I read a Tome of Clear Thought +2, and a Tome of Clear Thought +3, is the net result +3 Int or +5 Int? They're both inherent bonuses, so they shouldn't stack, but the cost is linear (27500 per bonus for each Tome), instead of exponentional, which kind of leads you believe stacking is assumed.

 

[CRGreathouse]

You'd think they'd stack from their cost, but they don't.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

No, they don't stack. One grants you a +3 bonus to your stat, the other grants a +2 bonus to your stat, so you get +3.

--Simplistic Spikey

 

[Wyckedemus]

No stacking

In my opinion, it would not stack. If a PC who has benefitted from reading a Tome of Clear Thought +3, reads another Tome of Clear Thought, but THIS one is only +2, then he would not benefit in any way shape or form.

I would rule, however, that if the PC read a lesser book, then he did not learn anything new, and therefore does not use up the magic of the book. The book would continue to be magical until someone actually learned something from it and activated it's powers.

...wannabe strict but not tyrranical, and helpful but not cheesy.

 

[Crothian]

They don't stack, but unless your group comes across dozens of these books it really shouldn't make a difference. In four campaigns I think we've seen 2 books that raise attributes. It's real easy for the DM to keep a handle on this, so we've never had a problem.

 

[Glyfair]

They don't stack. All the Tomes, Books, etc. grant an "inherent" bonus to the stat. Since they have the same sort of bonus (and it's not unnamed) they don't stack.

Also note that the bonus you get from a wish is also an "inherent" bonus. So, if you had somehow gotten 5 wishes and wished for a +5 to your Int, and found a Tome of Clear Thought of +1 to +5, it would be of no use to you.

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[Sinjin the Rogue]

The question that I have that just came up is what happens when you lose 2 permanent inherant ability points?

According to the DMG, the maximum cumulative inherant bonus is +5, but if you lose 2 points, does that mean you now can gain back that 2 plus an additional 5 points?

And, what is the maximum penalty? Is it possible that you can lose a maximum of 5 inherent ability points?

 

[CRGreathouse]

How did you lose an inherent bonus? you can be permanantly drained, but that's not inherent - it's a decrease to the base value.

 

[Crothian]

I have no idea on the actually rules, but here's the way I'd rule it. You can lose as many points as possible. I see no reason why this couldn't take you all the way to zero. Not that I'd do that to a PC. That's just mean. As for the regaining, it'd still be the same limit of x+5 where X is the non modified attribute. So, if you lose 2 inherit points, you can only replace them. And I have no idea how you lose an inherit bonus. A negative Wish?

 

[phillipjp]

I don't think he means "loose an inherent bonus", I think he means "gained a negative bonus".