The wizards already have a money sink in the cost to copy spells into their spellbook. There's no need to add another money sink in forcing them to buy more spellbooks - also adding the tedious book-keeping of recording which spells are in which book.
The wizards already have a money sink in the cost to copy spells into their spellbook. There's no need to add another money sink in forcing them to buy more spellbooks - also adding the tedious book-keeping of recording which spells are in which book.
honestly the "tedious book-keeping" is negligible and which spells are in what book is often given the "blind eye" (not a big issue/concern unless it is specifically story related... And that would/should be an out of game discussion between Player and DM prior to implementation) treatment. As to the cost of an additional spell book? Its another 50gp (the cost of a first level spell) per book hardly breaking the bank there.
Every Wizard I have ever run (since back in BECMI forward to 5e) has had at minimum 5 spell books. 3 full "prime" books of all spells learned (in level order by alphabetical) these are kept in a secure location such as a home base or guild vault; 1 "adventuring" travel book (filled with the most commonly used spells); and a back up copy of the travel book (usually stored with the primes. And with 5Es inclusion of ritual spells my Wizard characters would have 2 travel books 1 for rituals and 1 for non-rituals as well as appropriate back ups. And even with that level of expenditures I would still not be exceeding my intake of GP even in a "Magic~mart" (easily found magic shops in every town/village/city) setting where I can simply purchase rather than craft/quest for big ticket magic items.
Common house rule is 1 page per level of spell (carry over from 2&3.x Edition rules). Spell Books contain 100 pages per RAW.
Spellbooks you can purchase are listed as having 100 pages
The "spellbook" a wizard PC starts with is deliberately not described as a 100-page book
The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.
fair enough... Though the cost of and number of pages found in a blank being listed in the equipment section does imply a limit as the designers intent. That said though nothing says a DM cannot rule that a spellbook contains more pages than 100.
Common house rule is 1 page per level of spell (carry over from 2&3.x Edition rules). Spell Books contain 100 pages per RAW.
Spellbooks you can purchase are listed as having 100 pages
The "spellbook" a wizard PC starts with is deliberately not described as a 100-page book
The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.
fair enough... Though the cost of and number of pages found in a blank being listed in the equipment section does imply a limit as the designers intent. That said though nothing says a DM cannot rule that a spellbook contains more pages than 100.
It is more that the specific description of 100 pages is a hang-over from previous editions, rather than anything particularly relevant to the 5e rules.
Common house rule is 1 page per level of spell (carry over from 2&3.x Edition rules). Spell Books contain 100 pages per RAW.
Spellbooks you can purchase are listed as having 100 pages
The "spellbook" a wizard PC starts with is deliberately not described as a 100-page book
The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.
fair enough... Though the cost of and number of pages found in a blank being listed in the equipment section does imply a limit as the designers intent. That said though nothing says a DM cannot rule that a spellbook contains more pages than 100.
It is more that the specific description of 100 pages is a hang-over from previous editions, rather than anything particularly relevant to the 5e rules.
And yet it (like the Treasure tables) has not seen the errata treatment yet. After nearly eight years of non "correction"; I think we need to stop calling aspects we dislike/disagree with hang-overs and acknowledge them as the indicators they appear to be.
Common house rule is 1 page per level of spell (carry over from 2&3.x Edition rules). Spell Books contain 100 pages per RAW.
Spellbooks you can purchase are listed as having 100 pages
The "spellbook" a wizard PC starts with is deliberately not described as a 100-page book
The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.
fair enough... Though the cost of and number of pages found in a blank being listed in the equipment section does imply a limit as the designers intent. That said though nothing says a DM cannot rule that a spellbook contains more pages than 100.
It is more that the specific description of 100 pages is a hang-over from previous editions, rather than anything particularly relevant to the 5e rules.
And yet it (like the Treasure tables) has not seen the errata treatment yet. After nearly eight years of non "correction"; I think we need to stop calling aspects we dislike/disagree with hang-overs and acknowledge them as the indicators they appear to be.
So the rules have said that a spellbook has 100 pages for 8 years.
In those same 8 years the rules have never been revised to say that a spell takes up any particular amount of space in a spellbook.
Common house rule is 1 page per level of spell (carry over from 2&3.x Edition rules). Spell Books contain 100 pages per RAW.
Spellbooks you can purchase are listed as having 100 pages
The "spellbook" a wizard PC starts with is deliberately not described as a 100-page book
The Book’s Appearance. Your spellbook is a unique compilation of spells, with its own decorative flourishes and margin notes. It might be a plain, functional leather volume that you received as a gift from your master, a finely bound gilt-edged tome you found in an ancient library, or even a loose collection of notes scrounged together after you lost your previous spellbook in a mishap.
fair enough... Though the cost of and number of pages found in a blank being listed in the equipment section does imply a limit as the designers intent. That said though nothing says a DM cannot rule that a spellbook contains more pages than 100.
It is more that the specific description of 100 pages is a hang-over from previous editions, rather than anything particularly relevant to the 5e rules.
And yet it (like the Treasure tables) has not seen the errata treatment yet. After nearly eight years of non "correction"; I think we need to stop calling aspects we dislike/disagree with hang-overs and acknowledge them as the indicators they appear to be.
So the rules have said that a spellbook has 100 pages for 8 years.
In those same 8 years the rules have never been revised to say that a spell takes up any particular amount of space in a spellbook.
True. But which one better fits the trope of a wizard? All wizard spells fitting into one to three volumes or all wizard spells found across nine or more volumes?
And while I enjoy a good debate over the logic of house rules; I think we are ignoring an important aspect of the RAW rule that Wizards can learn new spells at any time. Specifically that how often and how quickly this happens is controlled by the DM.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The wizards already have a money sink in the cost to copy spells into their spellbook. There's no need to add another money sink in forcing them to buy more spellbooks - also adding the tedious book-keeping of recording which spells are in which book.
honestly the "tedious book-keeping" is negligible and which spells are in what book is often given the "blind eye" (not a big issue/concern unless it is specifically story related... And that would/should be an out of game discussion between Player and DM prior to implementation) treatment. As to the cost of an additional spell book? Its another 50gp (the cost of a first level spell) per book hardly breaking the bank there.
Every Wizard I have ever run (since back in BECMI forward to 5e) has had at minimum 5 spell books. 3 full "prime" books of all spells learned (in level order by alphabetical) these are kept in a secure location such as a home base or guild vault; 1 "adventuring" travel book (filled with the most commonly used spells); and a back up copy of the travel book (usually stored with the primes. And with 5Es inclusion of ritual spells my Wizard characters would have 2 travel books 1 for rituals and 1 for non-rituals as well as appropriate back ups. And even with that level of expenditures I would still not be exceeding my intake of GP even in a "Magic~mart" (easily found magic shops in every town/village/city) setting where I can simply purchase rather than craft/quest for big ticket magic items.
fair enough... Though the cost of and number of pages found in a blank being listed in the equipment section does imply a limit as the designers intent. That said though nothing says a DM cannot rule that a spellbook contains more pages than 100.
It is more that the specific description of 100 pages is a hang-over from previous editions, rather than anything particularly relevant to the 5e rules.
And yet it (like the Treasure tables) has not seen the errata treatment yet. After nearly eight years of non "correction"; I think we need to stop calling aspects we dislike/disagree with hang-overs and acknowledge them as the indicators they appear to be.
We call this the Wizard Mini-game they're always playing.
It encourages Wizards to delve into dangerous areas.
"What if there's a library in there?", is a common refrain from our group's wizards.
he/him, Lucky man, Leftist, Trans Rights, Pro-Union, VOTE!
levimote.com
So the rules have said that a spellbook has 100 pages for 8 years.
In those same 8 years the rules have never been revised to say that a spell takes up any particular amount of space in a spellbook.
True. But which one better fits the trope of a wizard? All wizard spells fitting into one to three volumes or all wizard spells found across nine or more volumes?
And while I enjoy a good debate over the logic of house rules; I think we are ignoring an important aspect of the RAW rule that Wizards can learn new spells at any time. Specifically that how often and how quickly this happens is controlled by the DM.