I am a pretty new DM and I became confused as I was preparing an adventure for my players. In the adventure, there are two spellbooks available as loot; one book has four 1st level spells and five 2nd level spells, the other has six 1st level spells and two 2nd level spells. None of my players are wizards (there is a barbarian, artificer, sorcerer, paladin, and rogue) so the books seem to have very little utilitarian value.
If my players were to sell or exchange these books, how would they be valued?
Doing a little research, I learned it costs 2 hours and 50 gp per spell level to copy a spell from a looted book to a player's spellbook. Given that information, it would seem that being in possession of a spellbook with many spells should have a high value in-universe. I would like to know a reasonable sum of gp for a sale, the value of a favor that can be curried, or the magnitude of generosity of a donation of said books would be.
If anyone has experience or input on this, I would love to hear it.
Are any of the spells ritual spells, and are any of your players thinking about taking the ritual caster feat in the future? If yes (or yes to the second and there aren't specific spells assigned to the books) then they may have reason to hold onto the books for a bit. Also if any of them might want to multiclass. But otherwise the deciding factor may be 'how many wizards are there in your world, who might want this spellbook?' Again, you've got people who may find the ritual spells useful (including Pact of the Tome warlocks) as well as other wizards. Favors may be the way to go, though -- if it costs someone 200 gp to get the spells in the spellbook that they don't know into their own spellbook, are they going to want to pay another 200 to get the book in the first place? Perhaps some of these spells are spells they might want cast for them -- having someone in a town they can get back to frequently on the hook for a couple castings of Identify for suspicious magical items or the like could be useful.
Spellbooks can also have other information in them, such as research notes on how to craft magic items (like this one), or lore on various creatures or creatures, or even maps or hooks to side quests. Think about putting something interesting into the books besides spells that your players will actually appreciate having.
Another option is renting the books out. In one of the Waterdeep adventures there is a “retired mage” in the neighborhood that the PCs can become friendly with who allows visiting mages to copy specific spells from his spellbooks for a price. A character of mine made a deal to share spellbooks he found with them for a share of the earnings.
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Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
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I am a pretty new DM and I became confused as I was preparing an adventure for my players. In the adventure, there are two spellbooks available as loot; one book has four 1st level spells and five 2nd level spells, the other has six 1st level spells and two 2nd level spells. None of my players are wizards (there is a barbarian, artificer, sorcerer, paladin, and rogue) so the books seem to have very little utilitarian value.
If my players were to sell or exchange these books, how would they be valued?
Doing a little research, I learned it costs 2 hours and 50 gp per spell level to copy a spell from a looted book to a player's spellbook. Given that information, it would seem that being in possession of a spellbook with many spells should have a high value in-universe. I would like to know a reasonable sum of gp for a sale, the value of a favor that can be curried, or the magnitude of generosity of a donation of said books would be.
If anyone has experience or input on this, I would love to hear it.
Thanks!
Are any of the spells ritual spells, and are any of your players thinking about taking the ritual caster feat in the future? If yes (or yes to the second and there aren't specific spells assigned to the books) then they may have reason to hold onto the books for a bit. Also if any of them might want to multiclass. But otherwise the deciding factor may be 'how many wizards are there in your world, who might want this spellbook?' Again, you've got people who may find the ritual spells useful (including Pact of the Tome warlocks) as well as other wizards. Favors may be the way to go, though -- if it costs someone 200 gp to get the spells in the spellbook that they don't know into their own spellbook, are they going to want to pay another 200 to get the book in the first place? Perhaps some of these spells are spells they might want cast for them -- having someone in a town they can get back to frequently on the hook for a couple castings of Identify for suspicious magical items or the like could be useful.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
Spellbooks can also have other information in them, such as research notes on how to craft magic items (like this one), or lore on various creatures or creatures, or even maps or hooks to side quests. Think about putting something interesting into the books besides spells that your players will actually appreciate having.
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Another option is renting the books out. In one of the Waterdeep adventures there is a “retired mage” in the neighborhood that the PCs can become friendly with who allows visiting mages to copy specific spells from his spellbooks for a price. A character of mine made a deal to share spellbooks he found with them for a share of the earnings.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.