Wizard's Spell Book Question

[drnuncheon]

They could have come from thin air, from a treasure hoard, from trading with other wizards - it doesn't really matter.

The point is, he doesn't have the scrolls now, so he doesn't pay for them - the same as he doesn't pay for any other scroll he's used, familiar feed from levels 1 through the present, or anything else that he doesn't have anymore.

If you do make him pay for scrolls, what do you do when wizard B says 'Oh, I met with other wizards and we traded spells'. Or wizard C, who says he researched them on his own - does he need to pay research costs?

If he says he found an item, do you make him pay for an identify spell that he wouldn't have needed if he had just purchased it?

J

 

[Storm Raven]

I would assume he took them from captured spellbooks. You know, there are enemy wizards from time to time, and they do have books.

So, how do you account for those spells? Do you think it makes sense to just give the wizard several thousand gold pieces worth of extra equipment like this?

 

[melkoriii]

Re: Re: Re: Wizard's Spell Book Question

Writing spells in the Blessed Book is free. A great investment, IMHO.

Andargor

Wrong.

From SRD

All such books are durable, waterproof, bound with iron overlaid with silver, and locked.
The pages of a Blessed Book freely accept spells scribed upon them

The "Freely" referse to that its waterproof but you can still write in it.

NOT that it costs nothing to scrib a spell into it.

If it was ment to be at no cost it would say "Spells can be scribed at no cost"

3.5 should fix this and we can get back to playing a ballenced game.

 

[Storm Raven]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Wizard's Spell Book Question

The "Freely" referse to that its waterproof but you can still write in it.

NOT that it costs nothing to scrib a spell into it.

Umm, no. Ask Monte Cook (who wrote the magic items section in the DMG, including the text you cited, among other things). His position is that he intended '"freely" to mean "for free". perhaps you should go to www.montecook.com and ask him directly.

(Also, you don't need a magical ability to write on an item that it waterproof. Oil based pigments would bond easily to most waterproof materials).

 

[bret]

Re: Re: Re: Re: right....

If I'm an NPC and you want to scribe from my book, I'll charge you almost the same price as a scroll. Consider that once you learn the spell, you won't have to pay me to cast it. If I'm going to give up that potential market, I won't do it for cheap.

I'd also require a hefty deposit, to make sure you don't just teleport away with my spellbook. But that's jus tme.

If the difference is too small, I'll force you to scribe the scroll (costing you XP) instead.

There is a big difference between copying a spell from another spellbook and from a scroll. It takes money and XP to make a one-shot scroll, but the spellbook only cost money and still has the spell in it after the copy is made.

As a merchant-wizard (someone who regularly sells their magical services), I would allow someone to copy a spell from my backup spellbook. Helps defray the cost of the backup spellbook, and is likely to bring the customer back. If the customer is capable of casting a spell, it is just a matter of time before they find a copy. Refusing to sell it at a reasonable cost is just going to make them look for a different merchant.

As a PC, I would consider allowing someone to copy from my spellbook. I would definately allow someone to copy from a backup or captured spellbook. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't take precautions, it is just that as a wizard I'm always looking for a few more gold so I can get more spells.


As for BBB, don't we already have enough arguements about that going in other threads? Please, no need to put in in this thread as well.