How Often Do Your PCs Buy Spellcasting Services?


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Pretty much never. PCs have enough magic to not have to do this.

Wizards especially can just buy scrolls, and clerics can get any non-domain spell that's not directly opposed to their alignment in a day. It's probably a bit more common than it used to, since lots of weaker classes (eg oracle compared to the cleric) are popular. (The oracle is weaker because, unlike the cleric, it can't just have any spell. If you need a spell on the oracle's list but the oracle doesn't know it, then you need to find someone who can cast it.)

PCs only buy spells in an emergency. If you don't have a cleric and someone needs a Remove Blindness by tomorrow, this is the best solution. Or if you did have a cleric, but they got perma-level-drained and can't fix themselves.

In my 4e campaign the PCs are a level short of performing Raise Dead rituals, when their cleric PC died. They had to turn to a cleric NPC to do it.


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Very rare, yet pivotal when they do so.

PCs generally buy raise dead / reincarnate / resurrection, or they buy permanent spells that can be cast upon them (resistance) or an animal companion (magic fang).

Once the PC party has a caster capable of providing the service, the days of travelling to a paid NPC caster are over.


Mark Hoover wrote:
Players are all about independence. The game reinforces this giving most builds some way to both attack and defend. This mentality translates to making purchases as well. Who wants to seek out a magic source for hire every time they need spells cast on them? Better to get wands, potions, and other magic items to do the work for you. Better still to have 2 of the 4 people in the party be spell-slingers and the other 2 to have UMD pumped up.

I think you're on to something here. I start to wonder if this doesn't tie into the new design direction as well. That is, the more hybridized/do everything etc.


I see it happen rarely. Raise Dead, Reincarnate, Remove Curse, Restoration and Remove Blindness are the only ones I've ever seen people pay for. When it does happen it happens for one of 3 reasons: There is no cleric, the cleric is the one who needs the condition removed or the problem is lower level than the solution (Blindess/Deafness is level 2 Remove Blindness/Deafness is level 3.)

I once got my cleric hit with a wisdom draining curse and had my wisdom hit 12 before I could make a caster level check with Remove Curse. That was a very expensive encounter.


My group has had to buy three Raise Dead and a Reincarnate (with the assorted restorations for the negative levels) so far. Lacking any character able to cast those (well, the Alchemist has recently adquired Restoration) is putting a dent in their pockets.

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