Wizards: Copying Spells without the Additional Resources?

[Sparky Spain]

Had this situation come up in my last game - Alice the wizard lends Bob (also a wizard) her spellbook, which contains "Summon Cacodaemon", a spell found only in the "Horsemen of the Apocalypse" source book. While the spell is listed as available in Additional Resources, Bob hasn't bought that source book yet. Similarly, Bob has a spell you can only have access to through a chronicle, a chronicle that Alice doesn't have.

Can Alice and Bob copy these spells into each other spellbooks? They'd obviously be unable to memorize them (cast them through an arcane bond, etc.) until they acquired the sources, but do they need the sources to add them to their spellbooks?

(I'm kinda hoping they can, since otherwise we'd be forcing Bob to buy the source book on the spot.)

[RainyDayNinja]

They should be able to scribe them, just not use them (depending on the text of the spell on that chronicle, which I'm not familiar with).

[Sarta]

• Scribing Summon Cacodaemon is not a problem. He'll want to pick up Horsemen if he wants to use it.

• I don't know of any spell only available via chronicle. I'd go with the wording of the chronicle, but if it doesn't specify that the spell can be transferred, I'd be inclined to not allow teaching it.

If Additional Resources does not allow the spell, a player would need to be able to show a chronicle that specifically grants access. You signing off that they learned it from another player is simply not good enough to grant access to a normally disallowed spell.

[Mistwalker]

As long as the pay the scribing costs, I don't see why not.

[Jeff Merola]

Will Johnson wrote:

• Scribing Summon Cacodaemon is not a problem. He'll want to pick up Horsemen if he wants to use it.

• I don't know of any spell only available via chronicle. I'd go with the wording of the chronicle, but if it doesn't specify that the spell can be transferred, I'd be inclined to not allow teaching it.

If Additional Resources does not allow the spell, a player would need to be able to show a chronicle that specifically grants access. You signing off that they learned it from another player is simply not good enough to grant access to a normally disallowed spell.

There are a couple of them. The wording involved is "So long as you possess this boon, all of your Pathfinder Society Organized Play characters have access to the following spells from [REDACTED] as if they appeared on the Additional Resources page:"

[Nefreet]

^ ninja'd

[Bbauzh ap Aghauzh]

Remember, just because its in your spellbook, you need the resource to be able to use it. That includes the chronicle, if that's what gives access.

Not being able to use the spell, includes not being able to access it with your arcane bond.

[Sparky Spain]

Thanks for the quick responses! "Bob" wasn't sure they could copy the spells, so I figured I'd ask.

In case you're wondering, the "chronicle only" spell was...

Chronicle Only Spell:

Steal Book

...which doesn't even show up in HeroLab. At this point I'm likely to hunt the spell description down just to see what it does.

[nosig]

I do kind of wonder if someone who doesn't have access copies a spell to his book - can he then pass it on to someone else who doesn't have access?

[GM Lamplighter]

I don't think we need to limit scribing - the spells can't be used without the appropriate additional resource, so if the player wants to spend the money, I say go for it. Wizards have a hard enough time in some areas ever finding anyone to scribe spells from in the first place.

[Jeff Merola]

Sparky Spain wrote:

Thanks for the quick responses! "Bob" wasn't sure they could copy the spells, so I figured I'd ask.

In case you're wondering, the "chronicle only" spell was...

** spoiler omitted **

...which doesn't even show up in HeroLab. At this point I'm likely to hunt the spell description down just to see what it does.

Um, I'm pretty sure that spell shows up in exactly one scenario and is not granted on the Chronicle sheet. You can't use it outside of the scenario it shows up in.

Spoiler:

Steal Book is from Kobold Quarterly #14 (and reprinted in the scenario that uses it), which isn't a legal rules source, and the chronicle doesn't grant access to it.

[Sparky Spain]

After tonight's game, yet more questions...

If Alice the wizard is in a scenario with Bob the wizard, and Bob is replaying the scenario for no credit, can Alice copy spells from Bob's spellbook?

Can Bob copy from Alice? Can Bob copy spells from a dead enemy's spellbook?

[Mistwalker]

I would say yes, they can copy spells.

Bob is still expending resources and taking chances on getting killed, diseased, cursed, etc..

[andreww]

Will Johnson wrote:

• I don't know of any spell only available via chronicle. I'd go with the wording of the chronicle, but if it doesn't specify that the spell can be transferred, I'd be inclined to not allow teaching it.

Spoiler:

I believe that Port Godless offers some, I didn't recognise where the hell they were from when I saw them so couldn't say if they were normally available but I assumed not given they were specifically mentioned on the chronicle.

[Avatar-1]

Jeff Merola wrote:

The wording involved is "So long as you possess this boon, all of your Pathfinder Society Organized Play characters have access to the following spells from [REDACTED] as if they appeared on the Additional Resources page:"

To be more specific here, keep in mind that "as if they appeared on the Additional Resources page" means you can use it if you have the book.

Without this boon, it means you can't use that spell even if you have the book.

The reason scribing whether you have the book or not should be okay is because you have no way to use it (even if you're trying to fish up a loophole, which you shouldn't be doing anyway), and it's still an incentive to get the book at your earliest opportunity.