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The 2 free spells the Magus receives each level is normal through "daily studying of magics during his travels" and automatically learned (no scribing needed), though those spells must be within his normal casting ability. Thus a new 4th level Magus can add two 2nd level, two 1st level, or one of each, but not any higher level spells.
Since a Magus uses a spellbook, it's acceptible for the character to purchase scrolls to later scribe into his spellbook. And it can be of any spell known to the player. What's "known" is entirely up to you. *evil grin* But remember that characters can know spells through knowledge (arcana) and spellcraft skills, and they've been raised around spells, so IMO anything from CRB should be fair game. Anything from another source you could make a GM-judgement call. There is also limiting factors such as available funds to spend and whether certain spell levels are available in the city. Every city has a Max Spell Level description, so a small town like Ravengro has a max spell level of 4th (no one in town sells spellcasting or scrolls with spells above 4th level), or a large city as Caliphas has max spell level of 7th.
Hope this helps.
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Hey guys,
First time DM and my party are all first timers. we're finishing the first book for Carrion Crown next meeting, and my party has a magus that asked me to buy scrolls for spells so he can study them (or borrow/view a spellbook and copy spells from that) and add them to his spellbook.However, since a Magus is limited to 2 new spells per level i don't want to break the game and let him buy scrolls for every spell (assuming he has the money) and learn all of them.
is there any sort of calculation for spell availability when taking into account the city they are in, their level, the spell's level etc etc?
if not, how do you handle these things?
thank you!
It costs money to Write a spell into his books too. Add in cost of a teacher or a Scroll and things add up in price quickly.
It will not break the game to let him add a few spells here and there as 2 per level is not enough for a caster.
Playing a wizard most of the early game money is poured into the spellbook. If this Magus is pouring money into his book that means he will fall behind on money to buy gear, expendables, and such.
The best Value I've found is buying pre-constructed spell books and then selling them back. Once you have a Blessed book and negate the inscribing cost you can literally buy a book for Dirty cheap and recover 50% of the price selling it back.
Also do not be afraid to let scrolls and books drop from time to time. Not all the time but 1 book per AP book is a good pace.
Also as the DM you can say that is not available in this town...if I remember correct CC has some pretty remote backwater locations that might not have a full magic shop.
Every city has a Max Spell Level description, so a small town like Ravengro has a max spell level of 4th (no one in town sells spellcasting or scrolls with spells above 4th level), or a large city as Caliphas has max spell level of 7th.
That limit is for buying spells from spellcasters, not for scrolls.
Scrolls should be limited only by the price of the scroll itself.
Read what you just quoted. It specifically says scrolls as well.
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However, since a Magus is limited to 2 new spells per level i don't want to break the game and let him buy scrolls for every spell (assuming he has the money) and learn all of them.
The two new spells per level isn't their upper limit, it's the baseline that they get automatically and absolutely free. The ability to scribe additional spells into their spellbook has no limit other than price, time, and availability.
They have rules for spells, getting new spells has cost but not an expensive cost. It requires a couple spell craft skill checks as well as hour per spell level.
So one 1st level spell would take 1 hour, cost 15 GP, and require DC 21 Spell Craft to read the spell and DC 16 to write the spell in your spell book. That spell will use up 1 page, a spell book as 100 pages. The cost is 10 GP to write and 5 GP get it from another wizard. A rare spell can be 2 or 3 times that price or more.
So as GM you can control. Buying scrolls is expensive and risky as you might fail the check and not get the spell. Either way the scroll is used up. You can use other wizards as plot devices to get access to their spells. Allow the capturing of enemy spell books. That's part of the fun in playing wizard or magus in my opinion.
For spell availability that's up to you based on guidelines in the Game Mastery Guide under settlements. You can use the Ultimate Equipment book to generate random scrolls.
So take a Hamlet of 25 people. It could have 1D6 minor items, mostly potions and scrolls on the minor magic treasure chart in the Core Rule Book at 68%. There might be 1 arcane caster with 2nd level spells who at best would indifferent to the PCs so Diplomacy or Intimate involved her. Maybe you could use Ultimate Intrigue here for more of social encounter.
Read what you just quoted. It specifically says scrolls as well.Every city has a Max Spell Level description, so a small town like Ravengro has a max spell level of 4th (no one in town sells spellcasting or scrolls with spells above 4th level), or a large city as Caliphas has max spell level of 7th.
That limit is for buying spells from spellcasters, not for scrolls.
Scrolls should be limited only by the price of the scroll itself.Nope. If you follow the link, it says:
Spellcasting Unlike magic items, spellcasting for hire is listed separately from the town's base value, since spellcasting is limited by the level of the available spellcasters in town. This line lists the highest-level spell available for purchase from spellcasters in town. A town's base spellcasting level depends on its type.It says the limit is for spellcasting, not for scrolls.
That is correct, scrolls are determined by magic items. A 1D6 magic item could scrolls. As well is 75% chance that scroll you are looking for may be available if the price is under the Base Value of the settlement.
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Realistically speaking, the limit on a character's spellcasting power is his spells per day, not how many spells he has written in his book. Plus, players will generally pick good spells for their two "free" ones anyway. This means that allowing spellbook-based casters to buy extra spells in town is really not a big deal.
That said, if a particular spell bothers you, you might consider nerfing or banning that one spell. But tweaking the spell acquisition methods isn't going to help against that.
That said, I don't believe the Magus has any specific overpowered spells on his list.
Hey guys,
First time DM and my party are all first timers. we're finishing the first book for Carrion Crown next meeting, and my party has a magus that asked me to buy scrolls for spells so he can study them (or borrow/view a spellbook and copy spells from that) and add them to his spellbook.However, since a Magus is limited to 2 new spells per level i don't want to break the game and let him buy scrolls for every spell (assuming he has the money) and learn all of them.
is there any sort of calculation for spell availability when taking into account the city they are in, their level, the spell's level etc etc?
if not, how do you handle these things?
thank you!
Note the bolded part here. Money and treasure are what you bestow on the party. You ultimately have the hand on that spigot... and the Magus is also going to want to spend money on other things as well.
OK
First of all, everyone - Huge thanks! DMing is hard alone (start CC i forgot about a few monsters DR and that my party has panelties from cursed items... sheesh there is a lot to remember!)So how does this sound:
limit the "what's available" using the settlements page, scrolls are "buy whatever you want" but a wizard with a spellbook, there will only be one, i can make him a 4th level magus as well and random his spells or something so my magus can learn from him.@voska66, you said:
So one 1st level spell would take 1 hour, cost 15 GP, and require DC 21 Spell Craft to read the spell and DC 16 to write the spell in your spell book. That spell will use up 1 page, a spell book as 100 pages. The cost is 10 GP to write and 5 GP get it from another wizard. A rare spell can be 2 or 3 times that price or more.What is the calculation here? can you please dumb it down for me? trying to understand it alone from all the info (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm) but i am lost
also - "can't take 20", can they take 10?
One probably huge source of your confusion, is that the site your using is for 3.5 and not Pathfinder. Try The PRD..
Free access to a spell book can be a great boon for a NPC to award the character too
Scribing extra spells is the main advantage of prepared casters, they're meant to be able to go buy some more spells.
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Deciphering the sroll should be negligible. Anyone with a spellbook can prepare Read Magic without having it scribed into his spellbook--meaning he has access to it any day he wants to. And really you shouldn't have to decipher it if you buy "a scroll of _specific_spell_". It only makes sense to have to decipher a scroll you find while out adventuring.
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
Found HERE
Those are the costs to scribe the spell when you have free access to the spell (so you already have a scroll of it, or are copying it from a found spell book). If you have to pay an NPC to access their spell book, then you pay the NPC half again what it costs you to scribe it into your book. (so you have to pay an NPC 5g to copy a 1st level spell that also costs you 10g in ink/magic to scribe) I don't remember where that part is about paying npcs because it doesn't appear to be in the quoted text, but that's what I've always understood it to be.
For the OP: Limiting particular spells you don't feel are balanced or appropriate for the campaign is important. Providing some randomness to the availability (typically the 75% chance of a scroll) is helpful to realism. Other than that, the cost of scribing makes it self-limiting, you really needn't worry about that.
Ozy: No.