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I just got my copy of ultimate magic and was reading throught it, and came upon the spell books section, but it dose not seem to actually state what these are for.
When a caster gains levels she can pick new spells, and memorize so many each day. So what are these books for if she can pick her spells every level? Are the spells in the book in addition to the ones she picks when she levels?
All that it says is that here are spell books, they contain spells.
Unless I am not very observant . . .
IIRC it is possible to buy them as well isnt it?
Hi there.
This seems to me a bit of a hold over from "the old days" (tm).
Back in the day, Wizards did not get to choose two spells everytime they went up a level - instead, the only spells they got were those they found on scrolls (and copied to their spell books, thus destroying the scroll), they researched themselves or they found in captured spell books.
As this last route was the easily the best (for the wizard character), spells books from enemy casters had a big value. I suspect that this list of spell books is a kind of reminder to all the GMs and players out there that players do NOT have to rely on just the "2 spells per level", and that captured spell books are a great way of the GM introducing new spells into the game.
Interestingly, again in "the old days", a GM could keep spells he did not like out of the hands of players, as he would simply make sure that the player never found that scroll of Polymorph Other, or if he did, make it so expensive/hard to get, that it became a mini-quest in its own right...
Cheers
Aiddar
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Some of the spellbooks in UM also have custom magical effects... essentially making them minor magic items in their own right.
They reminded me of the old 'Pages from the Mages' series in Dragon Magazine... those also introduced new spells, but otherwise were the same sort of 'spell collection' and general flavor with the occasional special feature thrown in.
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Hi there.
This seems to me a bit of a hold over from "the old days" (tm).
Back in the day, Wizards did not get to choose two spells everytime they went up a level - instead, the only spells they got were those they found on scrolls (and copied to their spell books, thus destroying the scroll), they researched themselves or they found in captured spell books.
As this last route was the easily the best (for the wizard character), spells books from enemy casters had a big value. I suspect that this list of spell books is a kind of reminder to all the GMs and players out there that players do NOT have to rely on just the "2 spells per level", and that captured spell books are a great way of the GM introducing new spells into the game.
Interestingly, again in "the old days", a GM could keep spells he did not like out of the hands of players, as he would simply make sure that the player never found that scroll of Polymorph Other, or if he did, make it so expensive/hard to get, that it became a mini-quest in its own right...
Cheers
Aiddar
Aiddar is absoultely right---times have changed since the old days. One way I use these, and other spell books, is to present spells from Ultimate Magic to the players. Another way spellbooks is significant in my campaign... is I don't make Level 5 spells readily available... usually levels 1-4 are relatively easy to come by, perhaps through downtime research, scribing scrolls, libraries, etc. But around L5, I make them quite scarce--this depends upon your own campaign world of course. They make for great treasure on scrolls, and in spellbooks.
To fully understand "the old days", just consider for a moment that back then if you had any kind of "magic shoppe" where players could load up on magic, it was considered tacky.
And yet, these fantasy tropes are still relevant today. Arguably a more elegant campaign world is one where the GM has thought about and decided just where the scarcity threshold is for more powerful magic in the kindom or lands.
Hope that helps, but Aiddar pretty much covered it.
Talking about the spellbooks in Ultimate Magic...
Did anyone else notice the little bit they did with the series of spellbooks by one Rul Thaven, suggestiing the diviner's career and seemingly years-long quest for that woman he finally found when he hit 17th level? I thought it made for a nice reminder that NPCs have lives too, and that you can use spellbooks for more than just new spells, but as campaign and adventure hooks.
1) They're handy for NPC wizards that the PCs fight--the GM can pick a spellbook and that's what spells the wizard knows. And when the PCs kill the wizard, they can look forward to learning or selling those spells.
2) They're handy for quickly rolling up a higher-level wizard character. Instead of getting bogged down selecting 30 spells, you can just say "I pick this spellbook and know these spells."
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They're also great for a colorful morsel of setting development, going back to what Eric Hinkle said above about NPCs having lives too.
They could be heirlooms, treasure that spawns other adventures, musty dangerous tomes in a forsaken library, or as a set of notes passed down from student to student in an arcane college (how I came to realize the potential of the UC spellbook when I saw a game designer use one that way).
Spellbooks are more than the sum of their individual spells, they tell a story of the person or persons who put them together.
The spellbooks in Ultimate Magic are what spellbooks everywhere are for, So wizards can store their spells
Oh the benefits of having a Tower of High Sorcery access.
To fully understand "the old days", just consider for a moment that back then if you had any kind of "magic shoppe" where players could load up on magic, it was considered tacky.
They are still 'tacky', I absolutely detest magic shops. You want a magic item, go on an adventure, that's mostly what 'treasure' is - spellbooks, magic items and gold pieces.