When scribing a scroll with a material component (MC) is the cost of the MC added to the base price before or after the purchase?
4th level spell Symbol of Slowing
700 (Scroll BP) + 1000 (MC) = 1700/2 - Total cost 850
or
700 (Scroll BP)/2 = 350 + 1000 (MC) - Total cost 1350
Which one is correct the former or the latter?
Then....when do you calculate in the 5% for Hedge Mage Trait?
Oy!
Your second pricing is correct. The 5% should be calculated without the Material component and then add the component in.
Example: 700/2 = 350*0.95 +1000 = 1332.5gp
- Gauss
So then if you dont add the material component into the base price it would still only take me one day to scribe the scroll, right?
Also, about scrolls...
Can a Symbol of Death Scroll be used in combat? The RAW say 'A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The preparation is done for the caster, so no preparation time is needed beforehand as with normal spellcasting.'
That would lead one to believe that the 10 minute casting time is unneccessary, right?
But two sentences later it says, 'Activating a spell completion item (scroll) is a standard action (or the spell's casting time, whichever is longer) and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does.
So which is it...a standard action or the spell's casting time (10 minutes)?
Symbol of Death has a casting time of 10minutes and therefore it takes 10minutes to cast from a scroll. The first part is fluff, the second part is the actual rules on activation time. This is often a problem when fluff does not agree with rules but the rules portion trumps fluff. However, in this case it could be interpreted that the 'fluff' is actually referring to the daily spell preparation spellcasters have to go through. Such as memorization.
Regarding time to create the key phrase is '1 day per 1,000 gp of the base price.' Material components are not part of the base price.
On page 549 you find:
In addition, some items cast or replicate spells with costly material components. For these items, the market price equals the base price plus an extra price for the spell component costs.
Thus, the time to create does NOT include the material components. Only the magic cost of spell level*caster level*25 is used to calculate the base price of scrolls. Then determine time to create.
So:
Step 1: Determine base price of scroll (scroll level*caster level*25)
Step 2: If the base price is 250gp or less the scroll take 2 hours to create. If the base price is 250-1000gp it takes 1 day. Anything over 1000gp is an extra day per 1000gp or fraction thereof.
Step 3: Divide base price by 2 and add the material component cost to find out what is the price to craft the scroll.
Hope this helps.
- Gauss
Symbol of Death has a casting time of 10minutes and therefore it takes 10minutes to cast from a scroll.
Ooof! All the Symbol spells went from cool effects that could be used in combat to something PCs just walk into. I was under the impression that spells with long casting times can be completed and cast from a scroll in combat. If that is not the case, what does the following bolded sentence mean: 'A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The preparation is done for the caster, so no preparation time is needed beforehand as with normal spellcasting. All that's left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on).' From Spell Completion Items, same page.
I assume that in this case preparation = memorization type preparation. It is fluff. Unfortunately sometimes the interpretation of fluff conflicts with the mechanics.
- Gauss