RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I know a lot of people probably haven't seen the contents yet, but I had a more general question that was brought up by the feat "Versatile Spontaneity". Essentially, it lets a Sorcerer or other spontaneous casting class prepare a single spell per day that they don't normally know, of a level 1 lower than their highest available spell level. However, to prepare it you have to use a spellbook or a scroll, and if you use a scroll to prepare it, it expends the scroll.
So, the question is, can a Sorcerer make a spellbook? Is there anything in the rules that keeps you from writing spells down in a spellbook, or do you have to be a Wizard or Magus or other prepared arcane caster to do that?
Alternatively, if he was to find or buy another Wizard's spellbook, can he use it for this purpose?
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Spells Copied from Another's Spellbook or a Scroll: A wizard can also add a spell to his book whenever he encounters one on a magic scroll or in another wizard's spellbook. No matter what the spell's source, the wizard must first decipher the magical writing (see Arcane Magical Writings). Next, he must spend 1 hour studying the spell. At the end of the hour, he must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level). A wizard who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from his specialty school. If the check succeeds, the wizard understands the spell and can copy it into his spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.
If the check fails, the wizard cannot understand or copy the spell. He cannot attempt to learn or copy that spell again until one week has passed. If the spell was from a scroll, a failed Spellcraft check does not cause the spell to vanish.
In most cases, wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to half the cost to write the spell into a spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). Rare and unique spells might cost significantly more.
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.
CRB P. 219.
Cost is spell level squared times 10.
0 level spells cost 5gp
Level 1 spells cost 10
Level 2 spells cost 40
Level 3 spells cost 90
Level 4 spells cost 160
Level 5 spells cost 250
Level 6 spells cost 360 and so on. . .
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Spells Copied from Another's Spellbook or a Scroll: A wizard can also add a spell to his book whenever he encounters one on a magic scroll or in another wizard's spellbook. No matter what the spell's source, the wizard must first decipher the magical writing (see Arcane Magical Writings). Next, he must spend 1 hour studying the spell. At the end of the hour, he must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level). A wizard who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from his specialty school. If the check succeeds, the wizard understands the spell and can copy it into his spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.
If the check fails, the wizard cannot understand or copy the spell. He cannot attempt to learn or copy that spell again until one week has passed. If the spell was from a scroll, a failed Spellcraft check does not cause the spell to vanish.
In most cases, wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to half the cost to write the spell into a spellbook (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook). Rare and unique spells might cost significantly more.
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.CRB P. 219.
Cost is spell level squared times 10.
0 level spells cost 5gp
Level 1 spells cost 10
Level 2 spells cost 40
Level 3 spells cost 90
Level 4 spells cost 160
Level 5 spells cost 250
Level 6 spells cost 360 and so on. . .
... None of that answers my question... the question is, is there anything saying that a SORCERER can't have a spellbook? I know how Wizards can add spells to their spellbook, but can a SORCERER have one?
So, the question is, can a Sorcerer make a spellbook?I don't think so, no. Logically, if they could they already could do so without this feat (although only for their already known spells).
Is there anything in the rules that keeps you from writing spells down in a spellbook, or do you have to be a Wizard or Magus or other prepared arcane caster to do that?There is no explicit rule barring classes other than the Wizard from creating a spellbook.
Alternatively, if he was to find or buy another Wizard's spellbook, can he use it for this purpose?
If indeed spontaneous casters can't create their own spellbook, and this feat can be used with a spellbook, then that spellbook would by definition be another wizard's (multiclassing aside).
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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So, the question is, can a Sorcerer make a spellbook?I don't think so, no. Logically, if they could they already could do so without this feat (although only for their already known spells).Is there anything in the rules that keeps you from writing spells down in a spellbook, or do you have to be a Wizard or Magus or other prepared arcane caster to do that?There is no explicit rule barring classes other than the Wizard from creating a spellbook.Alternatively, if he was to find or buy another Wizard's spellbook, can he use it for this purpose?If indeed spontaneous casters can't create their own spellbook, and this feat can be used with a spellbook, then that spellbook would by definition be another wizard's (multiclassing aside).
Thanks, VRMH.
Here's part of the text of the feat, for context:
"...When you regain spell slots at the start of the day, you may opt to prepare one spell you don't know in place of a daily spell slot 1 level higher than the prepared spell's level. To do so, you must have access to the selected spell on a scroll or in a spellbook, and the spell must be on your spell list (even if it is not one of your spells known). This process takes 10 minutes per spell level of the selected spell. You can cast the selected spell a single time, expending the spell slot as though it were a known spell being cast by you. Preparing a spell in this manner expends a scroll but not a spellbook...."
I agree that there seems to be no reason that a Sorcerer couldn't make a spellbook, and copy scrolls into it in a similar manner (and cost) to how a Wizard does it, in order to use this feat. If a Sorcerer can't make a spellbook, then this would be an incentive for characters to be searching spellcasters for their spellbooks after defeating them, which could also be cool.
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edit: The Magic chapter refers to a character deciphering arcane writing but a wizard adding a spell to his spellbook. Other classes who can add arcane spells to their spell records each have a defined class ability to do so.
Some game abilities, such as feats, give a character the ability to prepare spells from a spellbook, but lack the space to define how he creates a spellbook. To me it seems fair and reasonable that such a character also gains the ability to study and understand a spell such that he can copy it into his own spellbook - it is, in fact, a magical operation (which is why it triggers a scroll) closely related to preparing a spell.
Other characters trained in Spellcraft can't use the skill to learn a spell from a spellbook or scroll, any more than they can use Spellcraft to prepare a spell from a borrowed spellbook, which is also an option for the sorcerer in question.