I found a scroll for a spell that is higher level than I can cast. According to rules, you can attempt to copy the spell into your spellbook with an Arcana check DC 10 + spell level. But under "Add Spells," it won't find spells with a higher level than what you can cast.
Anyway this will ever get updated? Or should I just hold onto this scroll and copy it when I'm high enough to cast it?
I'm assuming that you are a wizard since they are the only class with a spell book normally. The rules state that you cannot copy a spell into your spell book if it is a higher level than you can prepare. As such, I would recommend holding onto the scroll.
The spells that you add to your spellbook as you gain levels reflect the arcane research you conduct on your own, as well as intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the nature of the multiverse. You might find other spells during your adventures. You could discover a spell recorded on a scroll in an evil wizard’s chest, for example, or in a dusty tome in an ancient library.
Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.
I see. I was looking at the DMG and even misread it. On page 200 it talks about casting from a scroll with a higher level than you can prepare. The next paragraph talks about copying. I guess I merged these in my head when I read it.
How do you reconcile this with the statement regarding the usage of spell scrolls?
"If the spell is on your class’s spell list but of a higher level than you can normally cast, you must make an ability check using your Spellcasting ability to determine whether you cast it successfully. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level."
This denotes to me that a wizard can read a spell that is of a higher level than they have spell slots for. Whereas the verbage of the copying of spells to spellbooks leads me to believe that the rules there state that wizards straight up can't read spells that are of a higher level than they can cast.
To cast a spell from a prepared scroll you simply need to be capable of reading the trigger, which you may or may not be able to decipher for higher level spells, thus requiring the ability check.
To copy a spell from a scroll, you need to be able to read and comprehend the entirety of the spell, not simply the trigger.
that reasoning also is in line with what i've been mulling over in my head in regards to reconciling this situation.
the way I see it, now that i've been able to chew on it for a bit, is that the heavy lifting of the "calling the spell into being" for the spell on a scroll, has already been done - the material components have been spent, the learning of the intricacies of the nuances of casting the spell etc ... all that has been done. The enchanting of the spell onto the scroll has been done. So you're right, if it's a spell from that caster's list, then they would be able to simply identify the "trigger", and hope the scroll casting works (if it's of a higher spell sloth level than they can normally cast).
None of that heavy lifting has been done when looking at a spell in another wizard's book.
Thanks!
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I found a scroll for a spell that is higher level than I can cast. According to rules, you can attempt to copy the spell into your spellbook with an Arcana check DC 10 + spell level. But under "Add Spells," it won't find spells with a higher level than what you can cast.
Anyway this will ever get updated? Or should I just hold onto this scroll and copy it when I'm high enough to cast it?
I'm assuming that you are a wizard since they are the only class with a spell book normally. The rules state that you cannot copy a spell into your spell book if it is a higher level than you can prepare. As such, I would recommend holding onto the scroll.
From the Wizards section in the Basic Rules
When I've run into that, I write a note in the Other Possessions portion of Equipment.
I see. I was looking at the DMG and even misread it. On page 200 it talks about casting from a scroll with a higher level than you can prepare. The next paragraph talks about copying. I guess I merged these in my head when I read it.
Thank you for the quick reply.
How do you reconcile this with the statement regarding the usage of spell scrolls?
"If the spell is on your class’s spell list but of a higher level than you can normally cast, you must make an ability check using your Spellcasting ability to determine whether you cast it successfully. The DC equals 10 + the spell’s level."
This denotes to me that a wizard can read a spell that is of a higher level than they have spell slots for. Whereas the verbage of the copying of spells to spellbooks leads me to believe that the rules there state that wizards straight up can't read spells that are of a higher level than they can cast.
Or am I missing something entirely here?
I would consider it this way:
To cast a spell from a prepared scroll you simply need to be capable of reading the trigger, which you may or may not be able to decipher for higher level spells, thus requiring the ability check.
To copy a spell from a scroll, you need to be able to read and comprehend the entirety of the spell, not simply the trigger.
works for me! =)
that reasoning also is in line with what i've been mulling over in my head in regards to reconciling this situation.
the way I see it, now that i've been able to chew on it for a bit, is that the heavy lifting of the "calling the spell into being" for the spell on a scroll, has already been done - the material components have been spent, the learning of the intricacies of the nuances of casting the spell etc ... all that has been done. The enchanting of the spell onto the scroll has been done. So you're right, if it's a spell from that caster's list, then they would be able to simply identify the "trigger", and hope the scroll casting works (if it's of a higher spell sloth level than they can normally cast).
None of that heavy lifting has been done when looking at a spell in another wizard's book.
Thanks!