Hey all. My players are making new characters, and one is thinking of going for a wizard. They're starting at level 9, with the idea that their characters are pre-established adventurers. Obviously, wizards can learn spells outside of what they gain in a level-up. Is there any rules/common methods of deciding how many extra spells a wizard would have learned? I know there's rules for deciding things like treasure, gold, magic items, etc., for high-level character gen, but I've not seen anything concerning this.
Greetings! I had run into the same problem. I started a player with a new character after his stayed in the faewild and became the consort to the Faequeen. Anyway, What i had my player do is roll 4 arcana checks and 4 intelligence checks. I then based on his school of wizardry presented him with a bunch of spells and he chose the rest. I basically assigned values to 10, 15, 20 and above checks. For example for a dc 10 arcana check and a 15 intel check i provided him with 10 spells he could pick from and ramped it up from there. You can also have him learn spells from a book of spells he finds as a backstory item and he chose these spells based on where the book came from. That's what i did and we are now at level 14 heading all the way to 20!.
We often start at higher levels and just stick with the spells the wizard gets natively. It's more than enough to be functional and it helps them to define their character by ensuring they pick the spells most important to them. I have found that adding more spells just steepens the learning curve when someone is trying to remember everything their new 12th level character can do. I might throw more spells into the loot over the next couple adventures to backfill the book a bit, but I don't really think extras are necessary to start with.
In the great D&D tradition, you could roll for it. Maybe a d6 each for level 1 and 2 spells, and a d4 each for 3 and 4 spells. At level 9, they just got 5th level spells, so they don’t need extras there.
Hey all. My players are making new characters, and one is thinking of going for a wizard. They're starting at level 9, with the idea that their characters are pre-established adventurers. Obviously, wizards can learn spells outside of what they gain in a level-up. Is there any rules/common methods of deciding how many extra spells a wizard would have learned? I know there's rules for deciding things like treasure, gold, magic items, etc., for high-level character gen, but I've not seen anything concerning this.
| D100 Non-combat Random Encounter Table | Enchantments Galore |
| Pulsing Brazier Magic Trap | Gnome Capsule Machine | Language - A Primer |
Greetings! I had run into the same problem. I started a player with a new character after his stayed in the faewild and became the consort to the Faequeen. Anyway, What i had my player do is roll 4 arcana checks and 4 intelligence checks. I then based on his school of wizardry presented him with a bunch of spells and he chose the rest. I basically assigned values to 10, 15, 20 and above checks. For example for a dc 10 arcana check and a 15 intel check i provided him with 10 spells he could pick from and ramped it up from there. You can also have him learn spells from a book of spells he finds as a backstory item and he chose these spells based on where the book came from. That's what i did and we are now at level 14 heading all the way to 20!.
When I do one-shots and someone plays a wizard, I'll allow them an additional 200gp per level for the cost of scribing additional spells.
EDIT: But I'm not as generous as newer/younger/modern DMs.
...cryptographic randomness!
We often start at higher levels and just stick with the spells the wizard gets natively. It's more than enough to be functional and it helps them to define their character by ensuring they pick the spells most important to them. I have found that adding more spells just steepens the learning curve when someone is trying to remember everything their new 12th level character can do. I might throw more spells into the loot over the next couple adventures to backfill the book a bit, but I don't really think extras are necessary to start with.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
In the great D&D tradition, you could roll for it. Maybe a d6 each for level 1 and 2 spells, and a d4 each for 3 and 4 spells. At level 9, they just got 5th level spells, so they don’t need extras there.
I quite like this method, so I think I'll go with this, thanks!
| D100 Non-combat Random Encounter Table | Enchantments Galore |
| Pulsing Brazier Magic Trap | Gnome Capsule Machine | Language - A Primer |