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I'm going over a section of an AP for my session tonight, and when I come to the (CR 11) villain's spellbook, I see that (as usual) I have to add up the value of it myself. A time-consuming task, to say the least. (I wish Paizo had time to add this up so we DMs don't have to.) Now I'm all done, and a little alarmed at the value of the thing. Please tell me I did this wrong... or right... maybe it won't matter.
I had to split it into two books, as the page count went well over the 100 pages a Spellbook holds. In the rulebook it says a spellbook has a value of 1/2 the cost to buy and scribe all the spells in the book. Is this the cost to buy the scrolls (cost of the scroll plus the scribing cost divided by two), or simply the fee to borrow from another Wizard's spellbook (1/2 the scribing cost plus the scribing cost divided by two)?
If it's the former:
Book 1: Level 0-3. (15 L0, 11 L1, 9 L2, 7 L3) A total cost of 5612gp for a sell value of 2806gp
Book 2: Level 4-6. (11 L4, 7 L5, 3 L6) A total cost of... 25115gp... for a sell value of 12557gp.
That's 15363gp for JUST THE SPELLBOOKS. This value will change depending on what you roll on the +1d6 spells of random levels 1-5... wait, is that 1d6 spells total, or 1d6 spells per level? I calculated this with the latter.
Now this is about three times the expected wealth gain for an encounter of its CR (11) for a APL 8 party, not counting his other gear. I haven't added up what the rest of the adventure gives, so it may be intentional to make up for deficiencies in other areas. We don't have a Wizard or Alchemist in our party either, so it will not get scribed. Of course, where are they going to sell it? There is a large city later in the AP and that seems like the only place, so maybe it won't matter until later, if ever - finding a Wizard who will pay 15000gp for two spellbooks is probably unlikely.
Aaaaaaaanyway... wacky. Am I doing this right? How do others handle this issue?
It becomes more art than science to think about it this way, but what wizard is going to have the resources to by a filled-up book, but not already have at least some of the spells included in it? They won't be willing to pay for those. So however you set the value, the selling cost would need to be adjusted to less than the normal half value.
It becomes more art than science to think about it this way, but what wizard is going to have the resources to by a filled-up book, but not already have at least some of the spells included in it? They won't be willing to pay for those. So however you set the value, the selling cost would need to be adjusted to less than the normal half value.
Depends on how much they want the other spells. Plenty of people will read the first book in a series, then buy the boxed set. Even though it includes a book they already own, it may end up being cheaper overall than buying all of the remaining books individually. Or maybe the books just aren't sold separately anymore. At worst, they could always sell the extra copy to a used bookstore to make some of the money back.
As it stands, you're selling a spellbook for half of market price. Even if they already know half of the spells (in terms of value), they're still getting it for a decent price.
I'll go and read the section again, but I'm pretty sure it's just the cost of the ink, not of the cost of buying a scroll or paying a wizard to borrow their book. So those books would be 1,175 gp for the first, and 4,590 gp for the second.
Edit, after coming back from re-reading: Hmm, was wrong, yes it includes purchase. I completely disagree with that. That's pretty crazy.
Edit2: Myself, I'm going to house rule it for just the ink cost, now that I went back and checked it. But this is because I'm running ROTRL now, and it is quite generous as it is, in terms of loot. If the campaign were kinda light on wealth, it would be a simple matter of multiplying the market value by 1.5, and the PCs get half for selling it -- based on the cost of copying from a wizard. And if I decided to consider scroll cost, I would do so without the material component, if for no other reason than to save time by cutting out the step where you have to find that cost.
Just say only the spells he had prepared were in the book and have done with it.
I would say that it's 1/2 the cost of writing in to the spellbook. Also don't count the value of the cantrips. Every wizard starts with all the cantrips in their book (except opposed schools) so they should be so common as to not be worth the paper they are written on. Also 1d6 more spells per spell level is completely reasonable. Maybe 1d3 for the highest 2 levels they can cast, but otherwise yeah 1d6.
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oh wait. "Selling a Spellbook
Captured spellbooks can be sold for an amount equal to half the cost of purchasing and inscribing the spells within."
Really? that's stupid.
My wizard is now going to spend all of his downtime writing spellbooks for the cost of ink and selling them for a massive profit.
How much profit? Well, spending 8 hours a day means you can copy 11 9th level spells in a week and sell it for 18810gp more than you paid for the ink to do it. 2700 gp per day? Yes please. Why bother adventuring?
Because no matter how he gains wealth, the WBL fairies will haul away the excess while he sleeps.
The first page of the spellbook should be an ordinary page containing 'Explosive Runes' :).
SKR has said before that they use the price of copying scrolls from other wizards spellbook, not the price of scrolls when determining the price of a spellbook.
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Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook
Once a wizard understands a new spell, he can record it into his spellbook.Time: The process takes 1 hour per spell level. Cantrips (0 levels spells) take 30 minutes to record.
Space in the Spellbook: A spell takes up one page of the spellbook per spell level. Even a 0-level spell (cantrip) takes one page. A spellbook has 100 pages.
Materials and Costs: The cost for writing a new spell into a spellbook depends on the level of the spell, as noted on the following table. Note that a wizard does not have to pay these costs in time or gold for spells he gains for free at each new level.
Spell Level Writing Cost
0 5 gp
1 10 gp
2 40 gp
3 90 gp
4 160 gp
5 250 gp
6 360 gp
7 490 gp
8 640 gp
9 810 gp
These are the costs for writing spells in a spellbook. In addition a blank spellbook costs 15gp.
This comprises the costs for creating the spellbook. The general rules for selling a crafted item is usually 2x cost. However selling loot is half that amount so basically selling it for cost.
So for your first spellbook (a total of 65 pages) I get a cost to create it as 1,190gp. Sell/Buy it new on the market for 2,380gp or sell a found one as loot for 1,190gp.
For the second spellbook I get (97 pages) for a cost of 4,605gp to create. Sell/Buy it new for 9,210gp or sell it as loot for 4,605gp.
All told I would allow the party to sell the book as loot for a total of 5,795gp.
And BTW I would have included a grand total of 1d6 randomly added spells. Otherwise it should have read 1d6 spells per level 1-5. So I think there are probably way too many randomly added spells to the book.
*EDIT* Oh yeah then they make it more complicated... just found this line a little lower...
Selling a Spellbook
Captured spellbooks can be sold for an amount equal to half the cost of purchasing and inscribing the spells within.
okay that seriously complicates matters. The reason is, that PURCHASING a spell costs Caster level x Spell Level x 3gp. So a 6th level spell is worth 1/2( 198 + 360)= 279gp
If we use that system... we get
Spell Level Writing & Purchasing Cost
0 8 gp
1 13 gp
2 58 gp
3 135 gp
4 244 gp
5 385 gp
6 558 gp
7 763 gp
8 1000 gp
9 1269 gp
That seems unnecessarily complicated. Now we get sell prices for the books as: Book 1 872.5gp and Book 2 is 3526.5gp. Total sale price is now 4,399gp. That is a grand total of 1,396gp less than the earlier amount.
the cost of the spellbook itself is not added into the amounts... interesting.
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So upon reflecting on that chart I came to some interesting realizations.
A level 0 spell costs 5gp per page to write.
A level 1 spell costs 10gp per page to write.
A level 2 spell costs 20gp per page to write.
A level 3 spell costs 30gp per page to write.
A level 4 spell costs 40gp per page to write.
A level 5 spell costs 50gp per page to write.
A level 6 spell costs 60gp per page to write.
A level 7 spell costs 70gp per page to write.
A level 8 spell costs 80gp per page to write.
A level 9 spell costs 90gp per page to write.
interesting
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This seems way high. Have a look at these: Preconstructed Spellbooks
None of those are that expensive, right through level 20.
interesting...
Comparing those books to the costs of books listed in the Core Rules, they are very much a;; over the place.
Defensive Primer 1st level Abjurer spellbook has 7 1st level spells. At most I can calculate it as 170gp where they charge 185gp
Book of the Grave 6th level Necromancer spellbook has 10 1st level spells, 6 2nd level spells, 4 3rd level spells. Highest cost I can manage is 1430 and official loot sell price is 509 and they charge 815.
I think for their spellbooks they just pulled the prices out of thin air.
It seems odd to me that someone with this many spells would not have invested in buying an blessed book. Blessed books by description never have spells in them when found as treasure. There problem solved.
Does nobody know if it is 1/2 the cost of buying a scroll + the cost of scribing? It seems by the example spellbooks it is the other method of the cost of borrowing a spellbook + the cost of scribing.
You only use the cost of the blank spellbooks (15gp ea, unless it's a different type), plus the costs listed in the "Magic" Section of the CRB ("Writing A New Spell Into A Spellbook"). Resale is half that.
The spellbooks usually contain all CRB cantrips except those that belong to their opposition schools (This is how you price the spellbooks from UM).
The "Unnamed Journal" from UM is 275gp.
5gp x 20 cantrips = 100
10gp x 8 1st level = 80
40gp x 2 2nd level = 80
15gp for a blank spellbook = 15
Total = 275gp. Resale = 137.5gp.
The "Defensive Primer" from UM is 185gp.
5gp x 18 cantrips = 90 (the spellbook entry lists the opposition schools)
10gp x 7 1st level = 70
15gp for a blank spellbook = 15
Total = 175gp. Resale = 87.5gp.
Your Spellbooks without extra spells.
Book 1:
5gp x 15 cantrips = 75
10gp x 11 1st level = 110
40gp x 9 2nd level = 360
90gp x 7 3rd level = 630
15gp for a blank spellbook = 15
Total = 1,190gp. Resale = 595gp.
Book 2:
160gp x 11 = 1,760
250gp x 7 = 1,750
360gp x 3 = 1,080
15gp for a blank spellbook = 15
Total = 4,605gp. Resale = 2,302.5gp.
Total of both books = 5,795gp. Resale = 2,897.5gp.
I hope that helps!
I would use half the price of what it costs to inscribe the spells into the book (and 7.5 gp for half the price of the book itself), and not pay any attention to how much it costs to acquire the spells. That just seems silly and too much value/cost, and way too much work to figure out.
Under my suggestion, note that a blessed book always sells for the same price regardless of how many spells it has, since writing spells into it costs no money. Of course, I don't know why a wizard would ever not just keep an extra blessed book, unless the party finds them frequently.
It seems odd to me that someone with this many spells would not have invested in buying an blessed book. Blessed books by description never have spells in them when found as treasure. There problem solved.
When found as randomly-generated treasure. If it's found as fixed treasure from an enemy spellcaster, it can have spells in it.