High level wizard's spellbooks

[kirowan]

When creating from scratch a high-level PC Wizard (say, level 10 or so), how many spells is she expected to have in her spellbook? (I think it be a high number, and not the minimum of 2 spells per level). Any idea?

[Buri Reborn]

You only get the spells from leveling for free. You can throw in some FCB spells depending on your race but that's it. Everything else is purchased.

[Trimalchio]

I would also recommend using the purchase price of scrolls to estimate the cost of a spellbook. It is cheaper to 'copy' spells from other spellbooks but this depends somewhat on your setting and your attitude of how trusting wizards are of one another.

[Eltacolibre]

It depends, usually when I make high level prepared casters with spellbooks and the likes, I add the free spells + I reserve at least a little less than 10% of my wealth by level for scrolls/material components and focus costs.

[Buri Reborn]

Funny enough, Trimalchio, that's exactly what you're supposed to do.

Selling a Spellbook wrote:

Captured spellbooks can be sold for an amount equal to half the cost of purchasing and inscribing the spells within.

That translates to scroll and writing cost.

[Blakmane]

The wizard can have as many as he or she wants to over the minimum 2 per level. Simply build the number of spells into the wizard's expected wealth by level.

In order to calculate how much a spell costs, you add the material cost and the cost to either buy a scroll or hire access to a wizard's spellbook. As you can see, paying for access is always the cheaper option. For example, a 3rd level spell costs 45+90 = 135 gold instead of 375+90 = 465 gold.

SpLvl.Scroll.Access.Material
1.....25.....5......10......
2.....150....20.....40......
3.....375....45.....90......
4.....700....80.....160.....
5.....1125...125....250.....
6.....1650...180....360.....
7.....2275...245....490.....
8.....3000...320....640.....
9.....3825...405....810.....

Hope that all helps!

[Blakmane]

Trimalchio wrote:

I would also recommend using the purchase price of scrolls to estimate the cost of a spellbook. It is cheaper to 'copy' spells from other spellbooks but this depends somewhat on your setting and your attitude of how trusting wizards are of one another.

This doesn't follow. The scrolls still have to come from a wizard's spellbook - they don't just magically appear as a separate commercial item. If wizards are extremely rare in your setting, there isn't going to be scrolls to buy either and you may as well go for a non-spellbook caster.

I can imagine there are some corner cases where you can buy scrolls but not spellbook access: in hamlets, for example (although realistically this makes little sense: what need does a hamlet have for arcane scrolls if it has noone who can use them?). A 10th level wizard has access to teleport so this isn't really a consideration anyway.

*edit*

Here is a really interesting link talking about the best way to fill out your wizard spellbook and the reason why so many people are still stuck in scroll land.

[Narquelion]

I "buy" spells using the cheaper of the two options (that is, paying a fee to copy spells from somebody else's spellbook).

I do so because consuming scrolls and paying copying fees are not the only ways a wizard can acquire new spells (beyond the usal 2 free ones per level): taking the spellbooks of other mages that happened to die in your general vicinity for whatever reason during some kind of quest is a time-honored tradition. This is, of course, pretty financially convenient.
Since the PNG wizard has probably used all three methods in his career, I default to the "middle" one to make my life easier.

[LazarX]

kirowan wrote:

When creating from scratch a high-level PC Wizard (say, level 10 or so), how many spells is she expected to have in her spellbook? (I think it be a high number, and not the minimum of 2 spells per level). Any idea?

You put in what you're willing to have wind up in the PC's hands. Keep in mind that for a variety of reasons a wizard might not have his spellbook on him when your PC's gank him, especially if he's near his home base.