Wizards: Unsuitable Adventurers?

[AuraSeer]

IMO, the main weakness of wizards isn't their spellbook, it isn't their crappy hp. It is the cost to scribe spells into the spellbook. Haven't glanced at how 3.5 solved this issue[...]

3.5 contains a contradiction on this point.
A spell takes up one spellbook page per level. In the magic section of the SRD, it says that adding a spell to a book costs 100 gp per page.

Yet in the description of the BBB, it says the owner can fill it "without paying the 25 gp per page material cost." Incidentally the item now costs 12,500 gp and has 1000 pages, which works out to 12.5 gp per page. If 25 gp is the correct standard cost, it looks like the BBB is intended to cut the wizard's scribing cost in half.

 

[green slime]

3.5 contains a contradiction on this point.
A spell takes up one spellbook page per level. In the magic section of the SRD, it says that adding a spell to a book costs 100 gp per page.

Yet in the description of the BBB, it says the owner can fill it "without paying the 25 gp per page material cost." Incidentally the item now costs 12,500 gp and has 1000 pages, which works out to 12.5 gp per page. If 25 gp is the correct standard cost, it looks like the BBB is intended to cut the wizard's scribing cost in half.

Thanks for that info, AuraSeer! (1000 pages! that is one hefty notepad!)

 

[Zhure]

Yet in the description of the BBB, it says the owner can fill it "without paying the 25 gp per page material cost." Incidentally the item now costs 12,500 gp and has 1000 pages, which works out to 12.5 gp per page. If 25 gp is the correct standard cost, it looks like the BBB is intended to cut the wizard's scribing cost in half.

I recall reading that this was a leftover from an earlier draft of 3.5 and 100 gp per page was the correct standard price.
Greg

 

[green slime]

I recall reading that this was a leftover from an earlier draft of 3.5 and 100 gp per page was the correct standard price.
Greg

I seem to recall that the number of pages per spell level was reduced in 3.5e? from 2 pages per spell level to 1? So at least some reduction in price. Is this correct?

Still, it makes me wonder; what is this talk about the wizards having this wonderful "flexibility" when they can't afford to exercise it?

375 gp (scroll price) + 300 gp (scribing costs) and three days to scribe a third level spell into a spell book is a significant part of a character's wealth, even at 8th level.

 

[Zhure]

A standard spell book takes 1 page per spell level (minimum 1, for cantrips). Materials are 100 gp per page. Maximum size is 100 pages.

 

[AuraSeer]

I seem to recall that the number of pages per spell level was reduced in 3.5e? from 2 pages per spell level to 1? So at least some reduction in price. Is this correct?

Yes, it's now one page per level.

Remember that you don't always need to buy a scroll to scribe the spell. If you kill an enemy wizard, you may be able to loot his spellbook. Or, you may just copy the spell from a book that you borrow or rent; the Magic chapter says the usual fee for copying is 50gp per spell level. This is especially useful for spells that have XP cost or expensive material components. You could copy wish for a fee of 450 gp, instead of paying 28,825 for a scroll.

 

[Darklone]

Spell Mastery.

And I would love to know how much 3.0 time your wizards spend on writing spare spellbooks, our wizard still lacks the time to put all scrolls into his first spellbook, let alone the money.

And he uses at least 33% of the groups cash

In my games, I've seen more holy symbols sundered than spellbooks burnt.

 

[AuraSeer]

3.5 has also reduced the time requirement. Adding a new spell now takes just one day regardless of level.

 

[Tywyll]

This hugely glaring vulnerability would seem to render a wizard largely unsuitable for an adventuring career in anything remotely resembling an adverse environment.

Any comments on this?

We found ourselves bothered by this to a great degree. Mostly our issue was that spell books are 99% non-issues, 1% tragedies. By that I mean with the rules written the way they are, 99% of the time the issue is moot, but 1% of the time, its catastrophic. No other class is penalized that way. Comparing them to a cleric's holy symbol (of which wooden one's are cheap and can be given to other PC's to carry) or an alignment restriciton on a class is really not an equal comparison at all.

We opted to move toward's AU system of spells for Wizards, that they could 'know' a certain amount per level, similar to spell mastery, but needed their books to switch them out. We also adopted a system for casting straight from books at a hefty xp cost but no slot expenditure to make the idea of carrying a spare book around tempting.

I found playing with all the time and gold restrictions on a Wizard makes their vaunted versatility almost negligible until high level.

 

[Henry]

Spell Mastery. Those three or four spells you get from this feat will one day pay for themselves, even if the DM never pulls something nasty with your spellbook. Keep in mind with the right choices, you can fill your entire repertoire with spells whose purpose is to get you out of trouble and BACK to safety where you can work on replacing them.