Redrum the Wizard has lost his spellbook

[Carnil Amlach]

Hello all
my wizard Redrum has lost his spellbook. Probably it was destroyed.
Then he need another spellbook and spells. The question is: how he can create a new spellbook? And what spells can be inscribed?

According to me: He can write on the new spellbook all spells he knows, making a Spellcraft check (in the same way you copy a spell). If he has prepared spells, he can write them without check (but count as used).
I think there is a difference between spells that he don't know, spells that he knows and spells that he prepared.

Accordin to my friend: He lost forever his previous spells that were not prepared. If he has prepared spells, he can write them (dunno if with or without check).

Who can enlight us on this issue?

Thanks

[reference is on pag. 219-220 of the Corebook.]

[Redelia]

Remember that a wizard only 'knows' spells by them being in his spellbook. Thus, when his spellbook is lost or destroyed, the only spells he could be considered to know are those that he has prepared (and not yet used since last preparation).

[Jeraa]

Quote:

A wizard can use the procedure for learning a spell to reconstruct a lost spellbook. If he already has a particular spell prepared, he can write it directly into a new book at the same cost required to write a spell into a spellbook. The process wipes the prepared spell from his mind, just as casting it would. If he does not have the spell prepared, he can prepare it from a borrowed spellbook and then write it into a new book.

Duplicating an existing spellbook uses the same procedure as replacing it, but the task is much easier. The time requirement and cost per page are halved.

Any spells you have memorized but have not cast you can write into spellbook. Any other spell must be found first in the normal way (for example, by borrowing another wizards spellbook or by finding a scroll of it).

You can't just add any spell you previously had in your spell book. In order to write a spell into a spellbook, you must have some source on hand to do so. You either need to have that spell already memorized, or find another source for it.

[James Risner]

This is why wizards have backup spell books.

A wizard's spells known is the spells in spell books they possesses. If they loses possession, they lose those spells known.

Ask your GM to allow you to have "ret-con" and made copies before you lost the book (and pay the appropriate costs for copying the spells to a new book) and move on.

[Carnil Amlach]

Ok, thanks.

But how "spell mastery" feat works? If I have Spell Mastery I do not need spellbook for some spell I know, but if I lose my spellbook I can't use spell mastery anymore? Because in the description of feat there is "number of spells that you already know".

I think that spell I know are spell that i wrote in the past on a spellbook, and I need spellbook for prepare them to cast. To use a similitude, is as an equation. I maybe may not remember the formula for a binomial, but i can start from (a+b)^2 and make passages to reach a^2+2ab+b^2. And i need spellbook to "refresh" every day my memories on passages.

"This is why wizards have backup spell books."
Yes, I know. But i lost the backup book too! I was on a ship during an hurricane. REally, not a great experience to stay in a sinking ship... :) Luckly we were not to far from the land, so we reached land swimming, otherwise...TPK! :)

[Jeraa]

Carnil Amlach wrote:

Ok, thanks.

But how "spell mastery" feat works? If I have Spell Mastery I do not need spellbook for some spell I know, but if I lose my spellbook I can't use spell mastery anymore? Because in the description of feat there is "number of spells that you already know".

That is for when you choose the feat. When you select the feat, you must choose spells that you already have in your spellbook - you can't choose spells you haven't found yet. Once chosen, it doesn't matter if you lose the book or not - the spell has already been chosen and you can prepare it without a spellbook that contains it.

[Tinalles]

Quote:

"This is why wizards have backup spell books."

Yes, I know. But i lost the backup book too! I was on a ship during an hurricane. REally, not a great experience to stay in a sinking ship... :)

Step 1) Get a Blessed Book. This will be your primary spellbook.

Step 2) Make a backup copy. A second blessed book would be nice, if you can afford it. Otherwise use a standard spellbook.

Step 3) Cast Retrieve Item on your backup spellbook, and then leave it hidden in a secure place.

Step 4) Use the spell Secluded Grimoire on your Blessed Book. Each morning you can summon it, prep your spells, and then send it back to the Ethereal Plane.

If something happens to your Blessed Book (heaven forfend!) you can use Retrieve Item on your backup copy. Of course, you can't easily send your backup copy back to its hiding place at that point, but you can start using Secluded Grimoire on it and make another backup copy.

Yes, this does require sacrificing a first-level spell slot to permanently prepping Secluded Grimoire. But you will never have your spellbooks on your person, and you will always have access to them. Not only will this help keep them safe, it also means you can get them back even if you are taken prisoner or similar.

[Slithy]

If you want to have access to hundreds of spells written in dozens of volumes of spellbooks, play a wizard. However, be aware that the limitation is that you have to have access to the spellbooks. If your spellbooks are lost, stolen, or destroyed, or if you are blinded and can't read your books, or if you wake up tied to a chair, then reading the spellbooks will be a problem. (And yes, that's spellbooks plural: a spellbook is 100 pages and each spell takes one page per level. A wizard needs to carry a library for the way most players play wizards.)

So one thing to consider here is how many pages Redrum's spells add up to. Would this end up being multiple volumes at 100 pages each? And if so, were all of the volumes lost or destroyed? There may be an opportunity to work with your DM to come to a compromise where one volume (and its included spells) was lost but the other volumes were still in your bag.

Finally, this is really the key advantage of playing a sorcerer: you always have your spells. Thrown in prison? Not a problem. Washed ashore after a shipwreck? No big deal.

[Belafon]

Tinalles wrote:

Step 2) Make a backup copy. A second blessed book would be nice, if you can afford it. Otherwise use a standard spellbook.

Step 3) Cast Retrieve Item on your backup spellbook, and then leave it hidden in a secure place.

If you plan to use retrieve item remember two things:

1. It has a weight limit of one pound (so a blessed, compact, or traveling spellbook will work but not a standard one).
2. It has a range limit of long. Which means you have to be within 400+40'/level (so less than 1/4 mile even at level 20). Great for "hiding" your spellbook when you aren't traveling.

I do recommend secluded grimoire. I use that every day and carry a traveling spellbook with a selection of "what spells would I really need if I'm trapped in a forbiddance or other area that bars dimensional travel (like retrieving my grimoire)?"

[Cantriped]

Loss of spellbooks is pretty-much a death sentence for a wizard, unless your GM is kind to you.

RAW, unless you have a spellbook to copy spells you knew* from, you can only transcribe spells you still have memorized, and spells you don't need a spellbook to memorize (such as Read Magic) into a new spellbook.
*It isn't true that you only "know" spells currently copied in your spellbooks. You still "know" spells you've lost your only copies of, but "knowing" the spell doesn't let you copy it into a new spellbook without a physical copy of it to copy from. "Knowing" the spell just allows you to copy it without making checks. If a borrowed spellbook contains some spells you knew, and other you didn't, you could copy the whole book, but you'd have to make checks for any spells you didn't already know(and if you fail said checks, you'd fail to copy them.

You can also copy a few of your most important spells onto individual sheets of parchment (not as scrolls, but as spellbook entries) and keep them in a Darkwood Waterproof Box strapped to your person in case of Watery Doom. That is what I did when I planned a Magus for a pirate campaign.

Later on you'd replace that system with a pathfinder pouch for said individual spell pages, or a Bag of Holding specifically for your traveling spellbook(s). Either of which you'd likewise strap to your person.

Also, it never hurts to buy a few Bookplates of Recall for either your traveling or primary spellbook(s).

[Ravingdork]

The posters above me are mostly right.

A wizard's known spells, and those in his spellbook are not the same thing (though 99% of the time, the distinction is meaningless).

You can read more on the subject here.