The players found a spellbook containing a bunch of spells during a season 4 AL adventure. One player wants to keep the spellbook and bring it to another adventure, so that another player can copy the spells out of it to their own spellbook.
What do we do with this item? Does only 1 person get to keep the item, since it is not a magic item? Can you copy spells out of found spellbooks?
Not a magic item, but extremely valuable. One way to price it is as follows. It should at least be worth the amount of money spent to create it. Total levels of spells x 50. If it holds 8 first level spells and 2 second level spells (minimum spells a 3rd level wizard knows), that is 8 +4 = 12 x 50 = 600 gp was spent creating it.
In my opinion, that makes for a good 'resale' value, to say a shop. Obviously you would have to offer a shop more than that to buy it. Good rule of thumb is x2 = 1,200 gp.
Not a magic item, but extremely valuable. One way to price it is as follows. It should at least be worth the amount of money spent to create it. Total levels of spells x 50. If it holds 8 first level spells and 2 second level spells (minimum spells a 3rd level wizard knows), that is 8 +4 = 12 x 50 = 600 gp was spent creating it.
In my opinion, that makes for a good 'resale' value, to say a shop. Obviously you would have to offer a shop more than that to buy it. Good rule of thumb is x2 = 1,200 gp.
This is not possible in Adventurers League. If you were to sell a spell book in AL, it would be at half its base price in the PHB.
In AL, a spellbook has no gp value and is not tradeable or sellable. There is only one spellbook awarded from the adventure and it may be taken by any interested player. If more than one is interested, have them roll for it. Normal politeness has the spellbook go to a character that can use it but not everyone will follow that. However, the only use for a spellbook in AL is to provide a source to copy spells. You still have to pay the spell copying costs including downtime to copy the spells even if you are at the same table.
"Copying Spells.If you can copy spells, you may use therules presented in the “Your Spellbook” sidebar in thePlayer’s Handbookto copy spells found in adventures, exceptit costs 1 downtime day for each spell up to 4th level and 2downtime days for each spell 5th level and above. If you arecopying spells from another character’s spellbook, you may do so immediately after an adventure in which bothcharacters were present. You are always successful atcopying spells from scrolls."
So, yes only one player receives the book and yes they can take it to another game where any characters present that are interested in copying spells may do so assuming they pay the copying costs from the PHB and required downtime.
In AL, a spellbook has no gp value and is not tradeable or sellable.
This is not correct. Read in that same link you provided about buying and selling. The spell book is a mundane item worth 50gp. You can sell it for 25gp
In AL, a spellbook has no gp value and is not tradeable or sellable.
This is not correct. Read in that same link you provided about buying and selling. The spell book is a mundane item worth 50gp. You can sell it for 25gp
Agreed ... but you can't sell or trade a book full of spells. You get the price of an empty spellbook. Currently, you can also split up any mundane equipment however you like and can sell all of it for 1/2 PHB prices.
The real value in a spellbook is the spells which you can copy if a wizard or which others can copy if you are at the same table - but that is all that you can do with the spells in a spellbook.
Complete tangent here, but this got me thinking, what keeps two players or more from simply dividing the spellbook? Does it state somewhere in the PHB that you cannot remove pages from a spell book and simply give them away (or share them in the case of AL)? If a spellbook has five spells in it that no one can use, what keeps the players from simply ripping up the book so that they each leave with a spell (AL or otherwise)?
Complete tangent here, but this got me thinking, what keeps two players or more from simply dividing the spellbook? Does it state somewhere in the PHB that you cannot remove pages from a spell book and simply give them away (or share them in the case of AL)? If a spellbook has five spells in it that no one can use, what keeps the players from simply ripping up the book so that they each leave with a spell (AL or otherwise)?
It doesn't say you can but I'd be fine with it (with giant caveat below)....although unless they put those loose pages in a scroll case i'd say there's a decent chance they'd get trashed.
I would also point out that until a character has studied it (and are of the level to be able to study that specific spell - you said no one case use them), how do they really know where 1 spell ends and another begins? Spellbooks are handwritten shorthand of the author...its not a novel with chapter headings or a binder with tabs. I'd say they can't even tell where one spell ends and another beings - its just page after page of jibberish (although maybe some high DC Arcana check could give them enough info to figure out the individual spells though). So Ed might get 1 spell and a useless half of another...but poor Charlie only gets a useless half.
Complete tangent here, but this got me thinking, what keeps two players or more from simply dividing the spellbook? Does it state somewhere in the PHB that you cannot remove pages from a spell book and simply give them away (or share them in the case of AL)? If a spellbook has five spells in it that no one can use, what keeps the players from simply ripping up the book so that they each leave with a spell (AL or otherwise)?
It doesn't say you can but I'd be fine with it (with giant caveat below)....although unless they put those loose pages in a scroll case i'd say there's a decent chance they'd get trashed.
I would also point out that until a character has studied it (and are of the level to be able to study that specific spell - you said no one case use them), how do they really know where 1 spell ends and another begins? Spellbooks are handwritten shorthand of the author...its not a novel with chapter headings or a binder with tabs. I'd say they can't even tell where one spell ends and another beings - its just page after page of jibberish (although maybe some high DC Arcana check could give them enough info to figure out the individual spells though). So Ed might get 1 spell and a useless half of another...but poor Charlie only gets a useless half.
While that may be the way one may run a game RAI (Rules as Intended), I don't think it states anywhere in the PHB that you don't know what the spells in a looted spellbook are unless you can cast them. Think if the crazy number of scrolls one can find that cannot be used (I am looking at you Scroll of Tarrasque summoning) that a player (and a DM) would have to track until one could find someone to tell you what they are. Also, the Read Magic spell no longer exists. Page 139 of the DMG states that scrolls are readable by anyone that can understand written language. Stands to reason that the spells in a spellbook are written in such a manner that they can be read/identified by anyone, but the method to cast such remains unintelligible.
Heck, with a short rest effectively being an Identify spell, the days of not being able to know what spells in a spellbook are long gone.
This is especially true for AL where there is no way to adjudicate a player not knowing all the spells in their looted spellbook after they leave the table.
While that may be the way one may run a game RAI (Rules as Intended), I don't think it states anywhere in the PHB that you don't know what the spells in a looted spellbook are unless you can cast them. Think if the crazy number of scrolls one can find that cannot be used (I am looking at you Scroll of Tarrasque summoning) that a player (and a DM) would have to track until one could find someone to tell you what they are. Also, the Read Magic spell no longer exists. Page 139 of the DMG states that scrolls are readable by anyone that can understand written language. Stands to reason that the spells in a spellbook are written in such a manner that they can be read/identified by anyone, but the method to cast such remains unintelligible.
Heck, with a short rest effectively being an Identify spell, the days of not being able to know what spells in a spellbook are long gone.
This is especially true for AL where there is no way to adjudicate a player not knowing all the spells in their looted spellbook after they leave the table.
Pure AL I would say you just can't do it..but we're not talking about pure AL since you're breaking a a mundane item and homebrewing rules for the pieces. 'pages of a spell book' is not an item at all...and there are no rules saying you can copy a spell from pieces of a spellbook. And I don't think its reasonable to assume pages ripped out of a mundane spell book can be understood like spell scrolls (as in knowing what kind of spell it is) - which are a whole, functioning, magic item.
RAW = you can copy spells out of a spell book. it does not say you can copy spells out of a piece of a spell book, nor out of a stack of parchment with spells on them. Its just not a spellbook. AL RAW (imo) = the pages have no value....which takes me back to my original opinion.
Yep - there aren't any rules for sub-dividing a spellbook so in AL you can't. If you find yourself coming up with rules to describe how something could work then you can't do it in AL. AL is the lowest common denominator of RAW. DMs can freely interpret rules that are ambiguous (eg vision/lighting/obscurement and a number of others) but they can't create their own rules. Taking a spellbook apart into individual pages and somehow obtaining multiple spell books that could each be used for copying the subset of spells in them, may sound logical, but it is entirely homebrew and so not AL legal.
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The players found a spellbook containing a bunch of spells during a season 4 AL adventure. One player wants to keep the spellbook and bring it to another adventure, so that another player can copy the spells out of it to their own spellbook.
What do we do with this item? Does only 1 person get to keep the item, since it is not a magic item? Can you copy spells out of found spellbooks?
i believe the answer to your last two questions is yes.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Not a magic item, but extremely valuable. One way to price it is as follows. It should at least be worth the amount of money spent to create it. Total levels of spells x 50. If it holds 8 first level spells and 2 second level spells (minimum spells a 3rd level wizard knows), that is 8 +4 = 12 x 50 = 600 gp was spent creating it.
In my opinion, that makes for a good 'resale' value, to say a shop. Obviously you would have to offer a shop more than that to buy it. Good rule of thumb is x2 = 1,200 gp.
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ModeratorThis is not possible in Adventurers League. If you were to sell a spell book in AL, it would be at half its base price in the PHB.
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In AL, a spellbook has no gp value and is not tradeable or sellable. There is only one spellbook awarded from the adventure and it may be taken by any interested player. If more than one is interested, have them roll for it. Normal politeness has the spellbook go to a character that can use it but not everyone will follow that. However, the only use for a spellbook in AL is to provide a source to copy spells. You still have to pay the spell copying costs including downtime to copy the spells even if you are at the same table.
"Copying Spells. If you can copy spells, you may use the rules presented in the “Your Spellbook” sidebar in the Player’s Handbook to copy spells found in adventures, except it costs 1 downtime day for each spell up to 4th level and 2 downtime days for each spell 5th level and above. If you are copying spells from another character’s spellbook, you may do so immediately after an adventure in which both characters were present. You are always successful at copying spells from scrolls."
So, yes only one player receives the book and yes they can take it to another game where any characters present that are interested in copying spells may do so assuming they pay the copying costs from the PHB and required downtime.
https://media.wizards.com/2021/dnd/downloads/DDAL_PlayersGuidev11_0.pdf
This is not correct. Read in that same link you provided about buying and selling. The spell book is a mundane item worth 50gp. You can sell it for 25gp
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Agreed ... but you can't sell or trade a book full of spells. You get the price of an empty spellbook. Currently, you can also split up any mundane equipment however you like and can sell all of it for 1/2 PHB prices.
The real value in a spellbook is the spells which you can copy if a wizard or which others can copy if you are at the same table - but that is all that you can do with the spells in a spellbook.
Also agree. If it were me, I’d copy it as I have the money, then scrap it for the 25gp
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Thanks for the information everyone!
Complete tangent here, but this got me thinking, what keeps two players or more from simply dividing the spellbook? Does it state somewhere in the PHB that you cannot remove pages from a spell book and simply give them away (or share them in the case of AL)? If a spellbook has five spells in it that no one can use, what keeps the players from simply ripping up the book so that they each leave with a spell (AL or otherwise)?
It doesn't say you can but I'd be fine with it (with giant caveat below)....although unless they put those loose pages in a scroll case i'd say there's a decent chance they'd get trashed.
I would also point out that until a character has studied it (and are of the level to be able to study that specific spell - you said no one case use them), how do they really know where 1 spell ends and another begins? Spellbooks are handwritten shorthand of the author...its not a novel with chapter headings or a binder with tabs. I'd say they can't even tell where one spell ends and another beings - its just page after page of jibberish (although maybe some high DC Arcana check could give them enough info to figure out the individual spells though). So Ed might get 1 spell and a useless half of another...but poor Charlie only gets a useless half.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
While that may be the way one may run a game RAI (Rules as Intended), I don't think it states anywhere in the PHB that you don't know what the spells in a looted spellbook are unless you can cast them. Think if the crazy number of scrolls one can find that cannot be used (I am looking at you Scroll of Tarrasque summoning) that a player (and a DM) would have to track until one could find someone to tell you what they are. Also, the Read Magic spell no longer exists. Page 139 of the DMG states that scrolls are readable by anyone that can understand written language. Stands to reason that the spells in a spellbook are written in such a manner that they can be read/identified by anyone, but the method to cast such remains unintelligible.
Heck, with a short rest effectively being an Identify spell, the days of not being able to know what spells in a spellbook are long gone.
This is especially true for AL where there is no way to adjudicate a player not knowing all the spells in their looted spellbook after they leave the table.
Pure AL I would say you just can't do it..but we're not talking about pure AL since you're breaking a a mundane item and homebrewing rules for the pieces. 'pages of a spell book' is not an item at all...and there are no rules saying you can copy a spell from pieces of a spellbook. And I don't think its reasonable to assume pages ripped out of a mundane spell book can be understood like spell scrolls (as in knowing what kind of spell it is) - which are a whole, functioning, magic item.
RAW = you can copy spells out of a spell book. it does not say you can copy spells out of a piece of a spell book, nor out of a stack of parchment with spells on them. Its just not a spellbook. AL RAW (imo) = the pages have no value....which takes me back to my original opinion.
imo
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Yep - there aren't any rules for sub-dividing a spellbook so in AL you can't. If you find yourself coming up with rules to describe how something could work then you can't do it in AL. AL is the lowest common denominator of RAW. DMs can freely interpret rules that are ambiguous (eg vision/lighting/obscurement and a number of others) but they can't create their own rules. Taking a spellbook apart into individual pages and somehow obtaining multiple spell books that could each be used for copying the subset of spells in them, may sound logical, but it is entirely homebrew and so not AL legal.