D&D 5E What If Everyone Could Use Scrolls? (House rule)

[Clint_L]

By RAW/XtGE, 1st level spell scrolls are cheap, at least in adventurer terms. 1st level are 25gp of materials and 1 day effort, so guesstimating a 50gp price is worth it for "just in case" spells.

50 gp is a lot of money at tier 1, though, which is where my current campaign is, and then they'd have to find someone selling them. They do have access to a magic shop if they travel back to their starting city, and most are saving furiously for a coveted item. To put in context, most characters have 1 or at most 2 uncommon magic items at level 5.

Anyway, I really like OP's concept in a campaign where scrolls are more plentiful - the idea of a barbarian being so desperate that they actually decide to try to read a magic scroll (I would roleplay the heck out of that - sounding out words, and so on), the player makes a clutch roll, and it actually works at a key moment - that could be very memorable!

 

[GreatestHonor]

At my own table any class can use spell scrolls. Scrolls themselves tend to be rare to find as they are used quite quickly in the world, and the more powerful scrolls are tightly guarded.

 

[CleverNickName]

Regarding the selling of magic items: I'm going to tweak the game economy a bit, to more closely match some of the CRPGs I'm playing.

In my next campaign, characters will be able to buy magic items at certain shops in the world, for the prices listed in the popular "Sane Prices for Magic Items" PDF. However, you can sell magic items for only one-tenth of that amount at most...not half, like we have done in the past. A scroll of fireball might cost 200gp, but you would only be able to sell it for 20gp at the very most.

I think that will discourage hoarding, and it will be a good sink for money at mid-to-high levels.

 

[cbwjm]

I did once consider making each scroll being created in a specific language. Dragonborn tend to write theirs in draconic, if your elf wizard can't read draconic then they can't use the scroll but the dragonborn barbarian might be able to.

 

[GrimCo]

So, like UMD from 3.x? Cool idea. I would just use different DC.

Instead of 10+spell level, i would set DC at 10+caster level. It gives minimum DC ranges of 11-27. Max bonus is what, +11 (+6 prof, +5 int). Realistically, very few non casters will invest points in INT anyway. If i'm out to cap what level of scrolls people can use, i would also add min stat ( 10+1 for every spell level). So unless you have INT 19, no casting of that Wish scroll.

 

[CleverNickName]

So, like UMD from 3.x? Cool idea. I would just use different DC.

Instead of 10+spell level, i would set DC at 10+caster level. It gives minimum DC ranges of 11-27. Max bonus is what, +11 (+6 prof, +5 int). Realistically, very few non casters will invest points in INT anyway. If i'm out to cap what level of scrolls people can use, i would also add min stat ( 10+1 for every spell level). So unless you have INT 19, no casting of that Wish scroll.

My spouse said something similar. They suggested making the DC equal to (10 + double the spell level), because of the way that upcasting works in 5E. That way, a scroll containing a 1st level magic missile would be DC 12, and a scroll containing a 9th level magic missile would be DC 28. Cantrips, since they don't have a spell level, would always be DC 10.

I kinda like that approach.

I can see the logic of adding an Intelligence restriction, but I worry that if I do that, I'm pretty much guaranteeing that only the high-Int character in the party will ever use them. "Another scroll! Give it to the wizard, he's the only one who can use it." I'd rather impose Disadvantage or something rather than just saying Nope, so that low-Int characters have a shot (however unlikely).

 

[Sulicius]

I just let everyone use all scrolls. Works great.

 

[GrimCo]

I can see the logic of adding an Intelligence restriction, but I worry that if I do that, I'm pretty much guaranteeing that only the high-Int character in the party will ever use them. "Another scroll! Give it to the wizard, he's the only one who can use it." I'd rather impose Disadvantage or something rather than just saying Nope, so that low-Int characters have a shot (however unlikely).

Sure, that is one possibility. But i'm using it more like an incentive for non casters to invest in Int stat ( i like more rounded characters stat wise) and in the same time, capping on who can use very powerful scrolls. Fighter (even non EK one) investing 14 into INT isn't impossible, and it gives him access to scrolls of spell levels 1-4.

I'm not fan of cantrips as scrolls, but i'm fan of custom magic trinkets that give you ability to cast cantrips.

 

[cbwjm]

I'm not fan of cantrips as scrolls, but i'm fan of custom magic trinkets that give you ability to cast cantrips.

I created some wands that did that. They had a 1st level spell and a cantrip. Can't remember if I limited them to spellcasters or not though, but I remember a bard had a wand of storm that they'd use as an offensive boost.

 

[Yaarel]

Regarding the selling of magic items: I'm going to tweak the game economy a bit, to more closely match some of the CRPGs I'm playing.

In my next campaign, characters will be able to buy magic items at certain shops in the world, for the prices listed in the popular "Sane Prices for Magic Items" PDF. However, you can sell magic items for only one-tenth of that amount at most...not half, like we have done in the past. A scroll of fireball might cost 200gp, but you would only be able to sell it for 20gp at the very most.

I think that will discourage hoarding, and it will be a good sink for money at mid-to-high levels.

For my settings, I treat all magic items as sapient, possessing whatever intention the creator had when creating them. Attunement is essentially telepathy, to make sure the characters intention and the items intention are compatible. For this reason, magic items cannot be bought and sold, just like people cannot be bought and sold. The items dont necessarily cooperate.

I encourage players to create their own magic items, that thus have their own intentions.

Items from a bastion are essentially crafted by the owner of the bastion and have the intentions that the owner intends.

Sometimes low-tier industrial magic items are intended to be usable casually by anyone, a kind of "city magic".

One cant really sell magic items as a commodity, but one can trade favors and negotiate. Perhaps some items are specific to a certain faction, in which other faction members might be able to benefit from the item. And so on.