This is more of a question mixed with some ideas that I'd like to bounce around. As far as I understand it, Wizards can only learn new spells when they level up and when they find scrolls or spell books while adventuring and transcribe those spells into their own book. Does anyone have any homebrew rules that would allow a Wizard to learn a new spell by being taught by another Wizard, or through research and experimentation? I'm thinking the rules would be similar to transcribing a spell from a scroll into their spell book; there's a time cost and a resource/component cost that increases with the level of the spell and they can't 'learn' a new spell if they don't have the equivalent spell slot to cast it. I'd also think that some spells would either be off limits (Wish) or would take an unbelievable amount of time and resources to figure out on their own.
I simply find it interesting that Wizards, who are renown for their research and experimentation, can only learn spells when they level (I believe the PHB text says they learn these spells through studying and experimenting) or they have to find the spell out there in the world. Why can't they learn from a teacher? Why can't they do what the text says when leveling but allow it to happen outside of leveling. At least through leveling they aren't restricted with a monetary cost on learning new spells. Balancing this homebrew rule is the real problem; figuring out how much time and money it would cost so a player can't simply learn all the spells would force them to be somewhat frugal, unless the campaign lasts long enough. I'd also think, on top of the monetary and time cost, that a DC roll is applied each time a player attempts to progress their research, either for each hour or simply each session.
Any thoughts? Anyone know of a homebrew rule-set that already covers this topic?
i don't think the level of detail you're getting into matters from a rules perspective. can one wizard teach another wizard a spell? sure...or that wizard just hands the other wizard his spell book and says 'read'. the difference between those two methods doesn't matter (one has story, one doesn't)....your wizard is still going to have to spend the time to write down the spell into its own spellbook at some point, which is where the cost comes in.
the spells you get when you level already represent research and experimentation. you don't just wake up one day and say 'oh yeah, i figured out to 2 more spells'...that's sorcerer voodoo...but from a mechanics perspective, a trigger is needed to represent the successful research and experimentation of new spells...the trigger is leveling.
you're wanting to put story into your character, that's great...but the end result is the same (except that you have a character with more story).
but if you're wanting to find a way to just give yourself more spells every level, that's a different issue...i'd say no - but its your world, justify it however you want.
I was aiming more for whether or not anyone already had a rule set concerning a means for a wizard to have an additional way to add spells to their repituore. I don't want my wizard to break the game and become op, but for immersion sake it would be nice if there was a balanced mechanic that allowed wizards to learn more spells outside of leveling or discovering scrolls/books.
I like the idea of combing the mechanics of copying spells (time+gold per spell level) and the research they do that explains how they learn two new spells when they level up. So to learn a 1st level spell on their own, it could look something like this: 4 hours of uninterrupted studying a day for maybe ten days. You could do 1 hour a day but it would take you 40 days. It could cost 10-20 gold an hour in components, and a DC of 10 plus the level of the spell (a failed roll could possibly mean only half the time you spent was successful so if you spent four hours only 2 were productive and you have to add 2 hours back to your total study time left). The higher level the spell your attempting to learn the longer, costlier, and higher DC you'll have to deal with. You can add your intelligence modifier to the roll. Having a teacher would lessen the tone and DC but not the cost.
Has anyone come across a system like this or designed their own? I'm not looking for a means to learn every spell out there; this is just an idea of creating a method for wizards to learn a few more spells of their choosing rather than hope to find a spell book or scroll or else wait until they level up but still retaining the time it takes to study and research and the monetary costs.
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This is more of a question mixed with some ideas that I'd like to bounce around. As far as I understand it, Wizards can only learn new spells when they level up and when they find scrolls or spell books while adventuring and transcribe those spells into their own book. Does anyone have any homebrew rules that would allow a Wizard to learn a new spell by being taught by another Wizard, or through research and experimentation? I'm thinking the rules would be similar to transcribing a spell from a scroll into their spell book; there's a time cost and a resource/component cost that increases with the level of the spell and they can't 'learn' a new spell if they don't have the equivalent spell slot to cast it. I'd also think that some spells would either be off limits (Wish) or would take an unbelievable amount of time and resources to figure out on their own.
I simply find it interesting that Wizards, who are renown for their research and experimentation, can only learn spells when they level (I believe the PHB text says they learn these spells through studying and experimenting) or they have to find the spell out there in the world. Why can't they learn from a teacher? Why can't they do what the text says when leveling but allow it to happen outside of leveling. At least through leveling they aren't restricted with a monetary cost on learning new spells. Balancing this homebrew rule is the real problem; figuring out how much time and money it would cost so a player can't simply learn all the spells would force them to be somewhat frugal, unless the campaign lasts long enough. I'd also think, on top of the monetary and time cost, that a DC roll is applied each time a player attempts to progress their research, either for each hour or simply each session.
Any thoughts? Anyone know of a homebrew rule-set that already covers this topic?
i don't think the level of detail you're getting into matters from a rules perspective. can one wizard teach another wizard a spell? sure...or that wizard just hands the other wizard his spell book and says 'read'. the difference between those two methods doesn't matter (one has story, one doesn't)....your wizard is still going to have to spend the time to write down the spell into its own spellbook at some point, which is where the cost comes in.
the spells you get when you level already represent research and experimentation. you don't just wake up one day and say 'oh yeah, i figured out to 2 more spells'...that's sorcerer voodoo...but from a mechanics perspective, a trigger is needed to represent the successful research and experimentation of new spells...the trigger is leveling.
you're wanting to put story into your character, that's great...but the end result is the same (except that you have a character with more story).
but if you're wanting to find a way to just give yourself more spells every level, that's a different issue...i'd say no - but its your world, justify it however you want.
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I was aiming more for whether or not anyone already had a rule set concerning a means for a wizard to have an additional way to add spells to their repituore. I don't want my wizard to break the game and become op, but for immersion sake it would be nice if there was a balanced mechanic that allowed wizards to learn more spells outside of leveling or discovering scrolls/books.
I like the idea of combing the mechanics of copying spells (time+gold per spell level) and the research they do that explains how they learn two new spells when they level up. So to learn a 1st level spell on their own, it could look something like this: 4 hours of uninterrupted studying a day for maybe ten days. You could do 1 hour a day but it would take you 40 days. It could cost 10-20 gold an hour in components, and a DC of 10 plus the level of the spell (a failed roll could possibly mean only half the time you spent was successful so if you spent four hours only 2 were productive and you have to add 2 hours back to your total study time left). The higher level the spell your attempting to learn the longer, costlier, and higher DC you'll have to deal with. You can add your intelligence modifier to the roll. Having a teacher would lessen the tone and DC but not the cost.
Has anyone come across a system like this or designed their own? I'm not looking for a means to learn every spell out there; this is just an idea of creating a method for wizards to learn a few more spells of their choosing rather than hope to find a spell book or scroll or else wait until they level up but still retaining the time it takes to study and research and the monetary costs.