What to do with a found spellbook? THE ORIGINAL QUESTION On Wed, 29 Nov 1995, One-Eyed Willie wrote: oky doky... i got a question for all of you GMer's out there: in a hypothetical situation: a mage finds a book with ALL of the spells written down in it. because by the book, all it takes to learn a spell that is written down, is just recite it over and over until you got it verbatem, what would you do to slow down the mage so not to upset game play and balance? > throw any answers at me... ,) > > One-Eyed Willie .) THE RESPONSES #1 Hm...say the pages were written in another language. Magic varies from user to user, the incantations are slightly different (he was trained in a slightly alien magic? Was the original mageof a different race or dimension?), thus they don't always work, or they do work, but with a differnt effect (AD&D Wild Surge Tables are fun), or... Have the book get stolen (if you get DESPERATE). Hm....this IS a sticky wicket. ------------- #2 On Thu, 30 Nov 1995, Aults, Jason G. wrote: Well, I think it would be kinda fun if the mage that wrote the spellbook originally was like DaVinci. He wrote things as if they were in a mirror... completely backward... it would take someone a good long time to "decode" everything. Give bonuses for I.Q. and such, but... Or, what if the original mage were crazy, or senile. Everything he wrote would be very, very close to correct, but just wrong enough that the spells would have some unknown or random effect. Or, again, what if the original mage were diabolic evil, and was able to twist the spells so as to effect the caster in a bad (random or not) way... Have fun :-) This is good..Most mages probably have their own shorthand for notating spells. Decoding it could take a long time, and improper decoding could cause dangerous effects. I have a nice Wild Surge table from Fido-AD&D, but I'm not sure if its copyrighted or not..I can't remember whoposted it.. -------------- #3 okie willie...here goes... If a player found a spell or many spells written in a book or somehting, then i would say that, yes that player could learn that spell without gaining levels, however I would also say that the player need not merely have to write it out, but go into heavy study sessions ( 1 week per one or two spells? ) without distractions before learning it... On the other hand, I think that might be TOO easy... I used to do it that way but in reflection I would allow the person to know it (learn it whichever) in theory, but the spells could not actually work without the proper experience level... "your spell seems to be working...all of sudden, the magical energy just fissles out! It doesn't work..." You know...that kind of thing... Steve Rennie ------------- #4 The book would have a nasty accident. It would screw up game balance. Also just because you can recite a spell doesn't mean you know exactly what the effect will be. Maryann Palladium ------------- #5 You could burn the book You could also dictate that it takes one day to "learn" the spell per spell level, or how about this 1 day to learn a level 1 spell 2 for level 2 4 for level 3 8 for level 4 It's basically 2 to L-1 days to learn the spell. If he/she has the spell on paper, he/she must obviously learn the spell before it can be cast. It's kind of like AD&D mages learning their spells the first time it's put into their spell book. Scott Hayden. hayden@gaul.csd.uwo.ca ------------- #6 On Thu, 30 Nov 1995, Aults, Jason G. wrote: Well, I think it would be kinda fun if the mage that wrote the spellbook originally was like DaVinci. He wrote things as if they were in a mirror... completely backward... it would take someone a good long time to "decode" everything. Give bonuses for I.Q. and such, but... And Scott Hayden said in return: Maybe the previous owner was Dyslexic (sp?). ------------- #7 The idea came to me while i was out. Why not put in a house rule that says all level spells have a code of some kind that prevents any moron from picking up said book and ruling the world. Furthermore with the increase in level of a mage comes the knowledge to decode the spell and use. This would explain why in D&D why low spell casters go mad when they look at higher level spells. Their mind just can not decode the spell and in the process they Go mad. I would like if possible some input about this idea from other Gm's if possible. Timothy Garbarini tg23@rutgers.eden.edu ------------- #8 I think the one thing everyone is forgetting is that if a low level Line Walker, Techno-Wizard, or Shifter found a book such as this, is that they may be able to learn the spells, but they sure as heck couldn't USE many of the spells without being at a Ley Line Nexus when it's brimming over with energy. The P.P.E. cost of many of the higher spells would mean that they're up there in the magic-users cranium, but he doesn't have the energy to use them. The only way he might be able to get energy to use the spells without being at some flaring Nexus is to wear a WHOLE LOTTA talismans. Mark Roy Mark Roy, master of Cur Le Mo Ancient martial art of face slapping, head bonking, ear pulling, and eye poking -------------