...How is he sleight of handing a huge ass book he can't see out of a bag while simultaneously disarming any trapsA 10th level Barbarian can lift several tons of weight. A high level Ranger can hide in shadows from you while you're face to face with him. A Rogue above 6th level shouldn't be bound to our world's limitations.Since when does Sleight of hand allows to reach inside of a backpack without anyone knowing? Not only would you have to reach inside the backpack you would have to fidget around and pick the spellbook out.You can use Sleight of Hand on a light weapon. A spellbook isn't bigger than that.But how do the thief even know that your spellbook is in your backpack? I'm trying to imagine the situation if the thief is a PC:
PC: I steal his spellbook. I roll a 30, roll for Perception.
DM: Huh, you don't see any spellbook.
PC: He wears robes and a pouch, he has a spellbook. I rolled a 30.
DM: Maybe he has one, but you don't see any.
PC: I don't have to see it, I just steal it. I rolled a 30, roll for perception already.
DM: But how do you do that?
PC: Well, I suppose I open his backpack, search for the spellbook, then I open his pouch and look if there's a spellbook, and then I search in his underpants...
DM: Wait. What?
PC: Nothing in the skill states I have to see his spellbook to roll for sleight of hand. I don't know how my character does, but obviously, he knows how to steal a spellbook, that's what ranks in sleight of hand are for. And I rolled a 30.
DM: OK, you find a book...
PC: I didn't intend to steal "a book", but "his spellbook". Obviously, ranks in sleight of hand allow me to differentiate "a book" from "his spellbook". I rolled a 30, did I steal his spellbook?It doesn't make any sense. The spellbook isn't a weakness, it has never been and it will never be, since it's easier to kill the character than to steal a spellbook.
It is not just about reaching inside the backpack blindly and unfelt by the victim, but picking out the right item while doing it. A crossbow at least has a distinct feel to it, not than I would allow "blind grabbing" in my game anyway. If the wizard has several books "auto detecting" the right one seems kind of odd.
If I played with a GM that allowed that I would just put a lock on the backpack.
Heavily-armored fighters are prime targets for a Sunder, especially when the baddie is whiffing against AC. When you're missing against AC, Sundering against CMD is a solid second choice to lower that AC when provided (seemingly) by armor, a shield, bracers and/or an amulet.
It is a valid tactic for PCs too for precisely the same reason. Loot has no value when you are deceased.
A hasted fighter-type swings solidly (10 or 11) on his best attack and the blow harmlessly bounces off the baddy's full plate. With the extra best-BAB attack, why not hack that armor off? Broken armor is a pain in the butt. Destroyed armor - such as the aforementioned full plate - drops the AC for subsequent attacks by 9+. I'll trade the Sunders for making my entire party's job of killing this critter 50% easier!
In-game reasoning? Perhaps the thieves don't want to kill. Not everyone is as homocidal as PCs. Besides that, if they get way with loot they win. Fighting isn't necessary for profit, and this scenario is best when the wizard is busy with distractions and has limitations on his response (like being in a crowded city).That is, however, an option. Sunder the backpack and then either take it (assuming the straps were cut) or grab up something that falls to the ground (if the bag itself is cut). Works best in-game with two cutpurses working together, and isn't really stealthy - more of a bum rush and run away with the goods.This strategy make no sense from an in-game perspective.
Destroying/stealing/whatever the spellbook doesn't do anything to the wizard at the moment; it has an effect only the next morning.
Therefore, destroying/stealing/whatever the spellbook during fight makes no sense: you are using action to do nothing while the wizard is using action to kill you.
and that's assuming the spellbook is in the backpack, and there's no backup, and... So what? The first cutpurse is sacrificing his life to allow the second to maybe weaken the wizard the next morning - if he doesn't have backup?
The point he is making is that it is basically a suicide mission. Adventurers are not to be played with. There is no good reason to accept that mission.
Why is the wizard's response limited? Hold person and charm person work well. It is not like he needs an AoE. Most groups dont split up so you still have to deal with the other party members. There may also be city guards. I figure the GM would say there are city guards if the PC's unleash a fireball, so there should be guards when people rob the NPC's.
As for "adventurers are not to be played with" you're suggesting that extreme (possibly lethal) responses for pickpockets is a common thing in your games. In mine, it would be considered overkill.
Pick pockets don't have their hands cut off? Barbarism.
I did think of one situation where stealing the players gear is more viable than killing them. Extortion. Think of a thieves guild that wants the players to do a little job for them. They don't really want the players dead, but they need some leverage.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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I don't think anyone is saying there are no times when it makes sense, just that it's pretty damned rare. Mainly because it's pretty difficult, and it requires a specific sort of enemy. Also, the conversation is usually pretty transparent.
GM: Where is your spellbook?
Player: What?
GM: Your spellbook, where do you keep it?
Player: Umm... looks through what spells he has.
"It's in my haversack, I keep it in there with 3 other identical looking books copies all of which I keep [i]magic aura on so they appear identical. Whenever I have magic mouth case on each of them so if someone grabs them without whispering "sweet dragons breasts" it shouts "HELP THIEF" for the full duration allowed by the spell. Every time I prepare my spells I pull out all four books and I shuffle them and put them in different pouches each time... why?[/i]"
GM: Oh, nothing, just curious
Player: Ummm, Hmmm.
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Ever hear the word cutpurse? It only takes a tiny blade to sunder a pouch, belt, or backpack strap
Purse strings, yes. Backpacks normally have two straps, both of which are much thicker than purse strings, and a belt is far thicker still.
Funny thing about turning a thief into a pile of ash or an ocelot: your side of things are the only side the constables ever hear
Protip: a wizard can incapacitate anything with a standard action.
AM DIRTY LIE.
From a in-game perspective, sunder-boy attacks wizard-man with a weapon (he can't sunder without any weapon, can he? Object are immune to non-lethal damages, aren't they? Can the wizard really differentiate a sunder attempt from an attack?) in order to steal one of his most valuable possession. Now the wizard is 5 feet away of sunder-boy and can react at full power. Protip: a wizard can incapacitate anything with a standard action.
Actually if a thief spends a standard to sunder a backpack, he still has a move action. If his friends spends a move to pick up a spilled item, he too still has a move action. If they are smart there move action is to move to a place that breaks line of sight from the wizard.
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They call them "cutpurses" because they cut the strap and ran off with the purse.
Put your bag down in the inn and don't make your perception check when it is grabbed.
Fail your perception vs sleight of hand.
Etc...
Now an intelligent player will take precautions to protect both the coin purse and the contents.
But Spellbooks are valuable things, just as gems and magic weapons are valuable things. And thieves like to steal valuable things. It is kind of what they do.
Should a GM always target them. No.
If a player doesn't have the common sense to take basic precautions and have a back up, should they be surprised if something bad happens to said spellbook.
Nope.
Of the obvious ways you can lose your spellbook.
1. You die and it is taken from you prior to you being brought back to life.
2. It is stolen by another wizard who wants the spells (you would do it to them...)
3. It is destroyed or damaged. (It is just a book, after all)
4. You are captured and it is taken from you. You escape, but...
All of these are things that can reasonably occur. Many could be an interesting adventure to recover said lost items...if that isn't your only spellbook.
I've played in adventures where a "special" spellbook was the Macguffin everyone was looking for. It worked great.
Actually if a thief spends a standard to sunder a backpack, he still has a move action.
Nope, that's the surprise round, Roll initiative and pray.
At 5th level, one backup is probably sufficient as the NPCs have the same kind of resources you do. They have to find that spellbook. Fifth level characters don't have a lot of resources to do that.
Like you admitted, 217gp isn't a lot.
But, like I said, if the player is a fool and mismanages his risk wrt his spellbook, it'll cost more.
The fact that a player is a fool doesn't make the GM a jerkass.
He has the same resources I do? That's 10k gold to spend on someone to destroy my traveling spellbook and find my main spellbook! Better have two of each!
Never mind that you will have to start duplicating them just from spell spillover.
I don't really find spell-spillover to be an issue since we have secret page at 3rd level. It even specifically allows you to write spells over other spells in your spellbook. Honestly, every wizard I have has this spell, and often at 5th level when you first are able to learn it. It can save you some weight carrying additional spellbooks, and it can help you hide any of your more personal spells. Combined with Magic Aura, it can be used to make your spellbook appear to be a normal cookbook or something equally mundane; and you cannot easily dispel the effects since they are on the pages themselves (merely closing the book prevents LoS/Effect, keeping it in a bag, case, or other container removes the risk entirely).
In fact, I once played a conjurer/malconvoker alongside an abjurerer/abjurant champion and we shared a main spellbook (a blessed spellbook in fact), and kept a couple of traveling books on us, which we both shared. It worked out very nicely.
I really only have an issue with the spellbook thing if the GM's being stupid about it (sneaking into camp and stealing the book but leaving everything else and a living party, etc). However, I am perfectly aware that we could be captured and our gear confiscated as loot by our enemies. At this point, it just pays to be prepared (but isn't that what being a wizard is about anyway?).
Also, my group has recently started using a new house rule which makes it even easier to not be completely worthless if you lose your spellbook and don't have a spare with you. Basically you can memorize a small number of spell levels (for example, a 20 Int in our group can memorize 6 levels worth of spells). It's not much, and you're probably more limited than the sorcerer in this case, but you still have access to some magic, and can still get milage out of metamagic feats.
For example, my 5th level wizard with a +6 Int modifier can memorize 9 spell levels worth of spells. I might choose 4 cantrips (detect magic, detect poison, prestidigitation, dancing lights) for 2 levels (cantrips are .5 levels), snapdragon fireworks, silent image, and charm person (3 levels), glitterdust and mirror image (4 levels).
So my spells prepared each day without my book might be...
3rd - Dazing Snapdragon Fireworks (-1 due to PF trait or 3.5 feat) x 3
2nd - Glitterdust x 2, mirror image x2
1st - Charm person x3, silent image x 1, snapdragon fireworks x1
Cantrips - Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Prestidigitation, Dancing Lights
It's a cute house rule. :)
Actually if a thief spends a standard to sunder a backpack, he still has a move action.Nope, that's the surprise round, Roll initiative and pray.
Why would they act in the surprise round?
Also, my group has recently started using a new house rule which makes it even easier to not be completely worthless if you lose your spellbook and don't have a spare with you. Basically you can memorize a small number of spell levels (for example, a 20 Int in our group can memorize 6 levels worth of spells). It's not much, and you're probably more limited than the sorcerer in this case, but you still have access to some magic, and can still get milage out of metamagic feats.
Isn't that just giving the wizard spell mastery for free?
Prerequisite: 1st-level wizard
Benefit: Each time you take this feat, choose a number of spells that you already know equal to your Intelligence modifier. From that point on, you can prepare these spells without referring to a spellbook.
Normal: Without this feat, you must use a spellbook to prepare all your spells, except read magic.
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1. That's what I said: someone who has an opportunity to steal it has also an opportunity to kill you.
2. Someone may want to steal it! My question was "how does he manage to steal your spellbook?", and the response is "because he wants!"... Can my wizard automatically gain new spêllbooks because he wants?
3. cf 2.
4. cf 1.
1. Not every thief is trying to kill you. Not every thief can kill you. Not being able to kill something doesn't mean you can't rob them. Read the Hobbit, specifically the part involving Bilbo and the dragon.
2. It could be sleight of hand vs perception (a skill Wizard's aren't exactly known for). It could be and opposed strength check on the bag followed by a chase (in an urban area the thief can get around a corner pretty quick, and who says he doesn't have help knocking you prone first)
You act as if Wizards are invulnerable.
3. You act as if paper doesn't have 0-hardness and 2 hit points per inch of thickness.
4. If you have never played in a campaign where you have been either captured or separated from your equipment in one way or another, you either have not played very much or you have a very uncreative DM. I can't count how many times our party has been framed and taken in by local authorities, or had a party member captured.
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Also, my group has recently started using a new house rule which makes it even easier to not be completely worthless if you lose your spellbook and don't have a spare with you. Basically you can memorize a small number of spell levels (for example, a 20 Int in our group can memorize 6 levels worth of spells). It's not much, and you're probably more limited than the sorcerer in this case, but you still have access to some magic, and can still get milage out of metamagic feats.Isn't that just giving the wizard spell mastery for free?
** spoiler omitted **
Yup.
But hey, why make the game challenging.
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Why would anyone bother about stealing a spellbook?
AM SIMPLE. SPELLBOOKS AM MOST PROTECTED THING ON PLANET. SQUISHY CASTYS MAKE IMMUNE TO FIRE, IMMUNE TO WATER, IMMUNE TO DAMAGE, GIVE SEVERAL LAYERS OF SUPER PROTECTION BESIDES, AND THEY AM PLENTIIFUL.
CLEARLY, SOLUTION AM TO MAKE ARMOR OUT OF SPELLBOOKS. GRAB ENOUGH, TAKE TO LOCAL ARMOR-MAKER AND HAVE THEM SEW ALL TOGETHER, NOW MAGICAL PROTECTION AM ON CLOAK! OR SHIELD! OR EVEN ARMOR!
AM LIKE DRAGONHIDE, ONLY INSTEAD OF SLAUGHTERING COUNTLESS DRAGONS AM SLAUGHTERING COUNTLESS SQUISHY CASTYS. SPELLBOOK AM LIKE WIZARD SKIN, RIGHT?
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1. Not every thief is trying to kill you. Not every thief can kill you. Not being able to kill something doesn't mean you can't rob them. Read the Hobbit, specifically the part involving Bilbo and the dragon.Moving goalpost, heh?
Me: How do you steal the spellbook without killing the wizard?
You: You steal the spellbook when the wizard is dead, and when he's raised, he doesn't have his spellbook.
Me: So you agree that it's easier to kill the wizard than to steal the spellbook?
You: Not everything want to kill the wizard.Your argument doesn't make any sense.
I'm sorry. I didn't realize you suffered from "I am only able to read and reply to part of the post"itis.
Symptoms include receiving a reply that omits the key portion of the previous post that negates the argument of the current post. For example that you omitted my referencing the incident in "The Hobbit" (pretty much the quintessential book the whole DnD world was built on) where functionally a Halfling Rogue robs a dragon he can't possibly kill.
An example of exactly what I was talking about that completely counters your point, conveniently omitted from your reply.
It is a common condition on here, perhaps contagious. So moving on from continuing this discussion with you before I catch it...
Seriously, if you are going to troll effectively, you need to be a lot less obvious about it.
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In pathfinder, the spellbook isn't even very valuable: the most expansive spellbook costs 8 920 gp and contains 11 level 9 spells. Steal it, and now there's an angry wizard who knows 11 level 9 spells and who wants to kill you. And if you survive and sell the book, you gain the value of a +2 dagger. You should actually steal the dagger of the wizard: it's easier to steal, it's probably more valuable (he's level 17, right?), and the wizard doesn't care about his dagger: stealing the spellbook for money doesn't make any sense.
You can run the number: it's the same at any level. The spellbook of a level 5 wizard worst less than his headband of intelligence, and probably less than his cloak of resistance.
Stealing the spellbook for money doesn't make any sense: it's easier to steal a more valuable object. Stealing the spellbook to weaken the wizard doesn't make any sense: it's easier to kill the wizard (and it doesn't even weaken the wizard until next morning).
Why would anyone bother about stealing a spellbook?
Really, the most expensive is 8,920 you say
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/a-b/book- blessed
Huh
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/spellbooks
Very odd...
Symptoms include receiving a reply that omits the key portion of the previous post that negates the argument of the current post. For example that you omitted my referencing the incident in "The Hobbit" (pretty much the quintessential book the whole DnD world was built on) where functionally a Halfling Rogue robs a dragon he can't possibly kill.
I don't even know what we're talking about now. Are we talking about Pathfinder, or about what can happens in Narnia? And does Harry Potter even have a spellbook?
Schtroumpf.
1. Not every thief is trying to kill you. Not every thief can kill you. Not being able to kill something doesn't mean you can't rob them. Read the Hobbit, specifically the part involving Bilbo and the dragon.
1. That's what I said: someone who has an opportunity to steal it has also an opportunity to kill you.
2. Someone may want to steal it! My question was "how does he manage to steal your spellbook?", and the response is "because he wants!"... Can my wizard automatically gain new spêllbooks because he wants?
3. cf 2.
4. cf 1.
Is this the part where he uses an artifact and the dragon's ego to steal exactly one item from his horde? And nearly gets fried for his own hubris? Yeah, great example.
2. It could be sleight of hand vs perception (a skill Wizard's aren't exactly known for).
Someone please tell me how anyone is slight of handing a spellbook out of a closed pack when retrieving it normally would be a move action due to rummaging around in the pack.
3. You act as if paper doesn't have 0-hardness and 2 hit points per inch of thickness.
That's why books are usually bound in leather. And in packs.
4. If you have never played in a campaign where you have been either captured or separated from your equipment in one way or another, you either have not played very much or you have a very uncreative DM. I can't count how many times our party has been framed and taken in by local authorities, or had a party member captured.
Seriously? You can't count how many times your party has been framed? I would think after the third time, the authorities would just let you go.
Dear god, has this spread to like three threads on three different boards?
I have a serious, non-rhetorical question, and I would be over the moon if anyone actually answers it seriously:
Who has actually had their character's spellbook stolen/sundered/otherwise destroyed in a game of Pathfinder or any edition of D&D?
Would you please describe the circumstances in which this happened?
Is this the part where he uses an artifact and the dragon's ego to steal exactly one item from his horde? And nearly gets fried for his own hubris? Yeah, great example.
1. Not every thief is trying to kill you. Not every thief can kill you. Not being able to kill something doesn't mean you can't rob them. Read the Hobbit, specifically the part involving Bilbo and the dragon.
I'd probably want to steal an item from a dragon like that more than a high level wizard. Then again, dragons in D&D come with built in spellcasting, so maybe not. :P
Someone please tell me how anyone is slight of handing a spellbook out of a closed pack when retrieving it normally would be a move action due to rummaging around in the pack.
That's why books are usually bound in leather. And in packs.
Quoted for truth.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Personally I find the 'How does he get the book out of my trapped/magically warded/etc bookbag'? argument kind of funny since it comes from the person who asks 'who would have ever invest gold in a backup spell book?'
Two wizards fall into a lake.
Wizard one: Crap! I lost my book! It's ruined! Not even all the traps I set for someone stealing it saved it! All that gold for Nothing!
Wizard two: Dude, chill. I've a spare back home. Up for a walk?
Personally I find the 'How does he get the book out of my trapped/magically warded/etc bookbag'? argument kind of funny since it comes from the person who asks 'who would have ever invest gold in a backup spell book?'
It doesn't even have to be trapped magically warded. It just has to be a pack. Retrieving an item you want takes notable time and effort but a snatch and grab can pick our your spellbook with minimal sneaky effort?
Two wizards fall into a lake.
Wizard one: Crap! I lost my book! It's ruined! Not even all the traps I set for someone stealing it saved it! All that gold for Nothing!
Wizard two: Dude, chill. I've a spare back home. Up for a walk?
Awaken Goal Post does nothing to address the questions at hand.
Though that does give me an idea - epic dick move: Lava.
A simple energy resist fire allows you to move freely in lava, but does resist energy extend to all your stuff? You enter fully armed, armored, and packed and come out naked but otherwise unharmed.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Who has actually had their character's spellbook stolen/sundered/otherwise destroyed in a game of Pathfinder or any edition of D&D?
Hey there, DQ.
Over the decades, my PCs have had three spellbooks destroyed: two when they failed their fireball saving throws, and one when the my archivist went through an anti-magic field and her Heward's handy haversack's dwoemer was destroyed, casting everything therein into the cracks between the planes. Happily, in two of those cases, I had easy-to-recover copies of most of the contents.
I also have had a Pathfinder witch lose his familiar, along with almost all his gold.
I don't think that is how Haversacks or Anti-magic Fields work.
I can't say anything about fireball because maybe it worked differently pre-3.5.
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Personally I find the 'How does he get the book out of my trapped/magically warded/etc bookbag'? argument kind of funny since it comes from the person who asks 'who would have ever invest gold in a backup spell book?'It doesn't even have to be trapped magically warded. It just has to be a pack. Retrieving an item you want takes notable time and effort but a snatch and grab can pick our your spellbook with minimal sneaky effort?
This makes obvious sense. Next time the party is in a jam and you need something at the bottom of your closed and filled pack right away, have the rogue sleight of hand it out for you.
I have a serious, non-rhetorical question, and I would be over the moon if anyone actually answers it seriously:
Who has actually had their character's spellbook stolen/sundered/otherwise destroyed in a game of Pathfinder or any edition of D&D?
Would you please describe the circumstances in which this happened?
Wizard meets engulfing ooze that dissolves equipment. Wizard might survive while the gear does not.
Wizard submerged in water without a waterproofed spell book for more than a round or two is self-explanatory.
Wizard dies by incineration / acid bath / what have you generally does his gear in too. Such as by green slime immersion (Age of Worms as a prime example, others pre-3e).
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I can't say anything about fireball because maybe it worked differently pre-3.5.
The only doubt is whether or not the fireball needs to be aimed at the backpack. It seems like perhaps it does, and if it is...
The only doubt is whether or not the fireball needs to be aimed at the backpack. It seems like perhaps it does, and if it is...
I can't say anything about fireball because maybe it worked differently pre-3.5.
If you are going to pretend you are a RAW lawyer, at least first define the difference between an "attended" and "unattended" object.
A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage.
Unless you are a creature or unattended object, you are not damaged by a fireball blast.
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The only doubt is whether or not the fireball needs to be aimed at the backpack. It seems like perhaps it does, and if it is...
I can't say anything about fireball because maybe it worked differently pre-3.5.
If you are going to pretend you are a RAW lawyer, at least first define the difference between an "attended" and "unattended" object.
A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage.Unless you are a creature or unattended object, you are not damaged by a fireball blast.
Your logic is poor. I already quoted the relevant rules for damaging attended objects with energy, and I already pointed out that you may have to target said object directly with a spell, rather than indirectly.
You're saying that flammable things are immune to fireballs unless they're laying on the floor.
If you don't find that absurd, please do not bother to reply.
Further I apologize. For a moment there I pretended you were capable of having a conversation. My bad.
A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage.Unless you are a creature or unattended object, you are not damaged by a fireball blast.
Isn't there something in the CRB about items potentially taking damage if their owner/holder fails their saving throw? I don't have my book in front of me and I could be thinking about old 2ed.
Though that does give me an idea - epic dick move: Lava.
A simple energy resist fire allows you to move freely in lava, but does resist energy extend to all your stuff? You enter fully armed, armored, and packed and come out naked but otherwise unharmed.
Yes. Energy resistances protect your goodies as well, since you have to be killed prior to your goodies taking damage.
Your logic is poor. I already quoted the relevant rules for damaging attended objects with energy, and I already pointed out that you may have to target said object directly with a spell, rather than indirectly.
Really? That's your argument? You quoted the end of the spell saying what the spell does to objects and cite that in response to my critique that the spell specifically says it only damages unattended objects.
Your kung fu is weak.
PS. You can't target an object directly with the spell. Its target type is "area." You can aim the thing that turns into the fireball, but the fireball itself is an explosion. There is no targeting.
You're saying that flammable things are immune to fireballs unless they're laying on the floor.
That is exactly what I am saying because that is what the spell says.
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I have a serious, non-rhetorical question, and I would be over the moon if anyone actually answers it seriously:
Who has actually had their character's spellbook stolen/sundered/otherwise destroyed in a game of Pathfinder or any edition of D&D?
Would you please describe the circumstances in which this happened?
I've seen it happen several times.
Once the wizard was studying his book during what was supposed to be his watch. This was specifically described by him as what the character was doing for an hour of his 4 hour watch (he got 8 hours of rest then had 4 hours in the morning, the rest of us took 4 hour shifts on either end.
The rest of us shook our heads, but you don't tell people how to play their characters and the rest of us were asleep during his watch so we wouldn't know what he was doing in game.
And so he so didn't notice the ambush coming, and that ambush included fire attacks on him while reading his open, unprotected spellbook. It was his "travel" spell book, and he always had a "main" book at home, so it was no biggie. And as he admitted it was his own fault, he was just taking his chances since he knew the GM was rolling randomly what shift enemies would attack and thought the Alarm spell would be enough.
Once the party had the group bag of holding stolen (I don't remember the circumstances, but we were careless, it wasn't just GM fiat), and the wizard had decided that was where he was keeping his book while we were moving around because it was heavy.
A couple of times we were told to give up our items before entering a place, or they were taken when we were forced to surrender after getting pwnd, and among the items taken included the wizards spellbook.
As a party we always take a captured Wizard's spellbook when we take the wizard prisoner.
That is about it, as the people I play with take reasonable precautions, and all our GMs ask what precautions you are taking before they do something like that, and as long as you are doing something reasonable, they don't mess with you.
As to a couple other points about backpacks, finding a book in a backpack isn't hard, particularly when you consider these aren't zippered backpacks and most adventurers don't carry a lot of reading material in medieval times. Put a three pound book in a backpack with other things that aren't books and see if you can't pick it out fairly quickly.
Now as I said, a fair GM isn't going to do this randomly, but every good GM I've ever played with asks questions like "Where is your spellbook" or "Where are you keeping your gold/gems" which a smart player will follow with an answer that includes how they are keeping them safe from thieves.
But I suppose no one has ever been robbed in DnD either...Not like a Thief class was in the game at one point...
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The only doubt is whether or not the fireball needs to be aimed at the backpack. It seems like perhaps it does, and if it is...
I can't say anything about fireball because maybe it worked differently pre-3.5.
If you are going to pretend you are a RAW lawyer, at least first define the difference between an "attended" and "unattended" object.
A fireball spell is an explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to every creature within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage.Unless you are a creature or unattended object, you are not damaged by a fireball blast.
The closest thing to a definition of attended I've found is.
"An item attended by a character (being grasped, touched, or worn)"
So unless you are holding it (or I guess wearing it) it is unattended. And if it is attended, it gets your wonderful wizard reflex save to take half damage...
Paper is 0 hardness with 2 hit points per inch.