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Hi all. Short and simple, I'm curious if there are any online tools or useful tricks when trying to "build" a character's spellbook.
Very quickly, adding spells to a Wizard's spellbook can become a chore. I love part of it, but at the same time it can be incredibly tedious and time-consuming. It can also be a small project just making sure you're keeping up with the cost.
I normally use Hero Lab, but I've found it especially lacking in that department- there's just the add-spell option, no way to track money spent. My fastest way to to make a big list on an Excel sheet, keep track of level/price, then add it all up and take it off in a Journal Entry.
I'm not primarily here to whine/ask for help on HL though, that was just to give some context.
So, if nothing else, I'm curious: how do YOU keep up with it? Just the good-old fashioned way of adding/summing the cost from scratch every time? Or do you have a potentially better system?
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You should try Perram's Spellbook at this link. It's what I use to assemble the lists, and print them, not to mention that Jeff (The author) is one hell of a good guy.
Every high level game I have played in where we started at higher level we only got the spells in our spell book that you get for free. All other items had to be purchased as a spell then scribed in game and paid for on a case by case basis after the roll to learn the spell.
You could also go HERE to get an idea of cost from some premade spell books. I think most of these are from Ultimate Magic. That may make it easier.
I am not aware of any custom software that tracks at that level. The main issue is some spells are added to your spell book from free... some you only pay for the cost to scribe it as you found the spell in some form... and others will require the cost of renting access to spells books or the purchase cost of a scroll plus the cost of ink and paper. not to mention the pages and extra books actually needed to hold more then a couple dozen spells.
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Yeah, it gets complicated quickly. Generally the high level characters I build are theoretical, so there's not in-game setup time for me to do something like that, it's all me sitting at my desk.
Your first point is important too, it's not just money, it's rolling to scribe. And then you ask, what level did you add them? Are you trying to run with a character who never once added anything to their spellbook outside of the free leveling ones? That's unlikely.
Thanks, I had forgotten about the pre-mades. Those would be useful. I may start making "template" spellbooks, because I suspect a lot of my spellbooks very similar, only varying in specific spells or when Schools come into play.
Thanks!
If you want to figure the price of the spellbook(s) for the NPCs just use the prices of the premade spellbooks in UM (i know that not all the prices are 100% correct and that sometimes they factor other things like locks etc. but it's sure beats calculating from scratch).
Also in addition to Perram's spellbook i like to use this site, it seems to run quicker than Perram's, although it has a smaller collection.