NPC / monster spellbooks

[Yqatuba]

Do NPC or monster wizards (or other casters that use spellbooks), have them on their person usually? If so, I would imagine any wizards in the PC group would look through them in case there were any spells they didn't have (likely). So how do you decide how many spells and which ones?

[J. A.]

The PCs in my campaign currently have several spellbooks (and one formula book) that they've harvested from various opponents, who were either spellcasters themselves or who had taken out other spellcasters and had taken those spellbooks.

There are a number of good spellbook generators floating around online; sometimes I use those, sometimes I work up a custom list, depending on the NPC.

Also, I've been known to browse the character sheets on Myth-Weavers from time to time, and sometimes I'll use a spell list if it's from a character of the right level and persuasion. I actually prefer those created by other players, since they have a more authentic feel, as opposed to the completely random selection that the online spellbook generators will give you.

[Thedmstrikes]

In my experience, this has largely been left to DM fiat. However, considering that the arcane classes get spells for spellbooks when they have them for each level, there should be a minimum number based on this calculation. In addition, any spell the arcane caster has memorized should very well be in the book (otherwise, how did it get memorized?). This is a good way to introduce any new spells or limited resources spells (i.e. Deep Magic by Kobold Press) to the campaign.

Exception, travel spell books probably only have the memorized spells on it plus any others you feel you want introduced. It costs money to make these spell books afterall and that is amplified by every spell added.

[Meirril]

Spellbooks are treasure. The book itself has a value, and each spell has a value shown in the Magic rules section on Spellbooks.

For the purposes of determining treasure, I'd count the spellbook at half market value. While any wizard will be happy to see a spellbook, they shouldn't want to use a book they found. Each time they try to prepare spells using someone else's book they have to make a spellcraft roll. If they fail, they can't use it today. Most wizard will pay to copy the spells they want and sell the book so they don't have to go through all of the hassle.

So whether you put the book on them or not is the same as any other treasure you assign this NPC. You're not the type of GM that has enemy NPCs wandering around the woods with 5 coppers in his pocket while he leaves his vast wealth hidden in a cave where the PCs have no chance of ever recovering it, are you?

[Mark Hoover 330]

Do PCs who use spellbooks/formulae books have them on them when they're adventuring? If the answer is yes then the NPCs likely have them too. I am the default GM in my groups so I usually take the time to detail out the books ahead of time, all the way down to aesthetic design.

This isn't the enemy's only book though.

Many book-using PCs in my groups get paranoid, around level 2-3, with the players seeing that their characters 1. are starting to get some walking around money and 2. run into area affect damage that, if they miss their save, can eat through their only source of spells/formulae.

Usually at that point, these PCs begin making copies of their books and stashing them around. Sometimes they carry their own copies, or they hand them off to folks with better saves, or even have copies filed away at home for future study.

If the PCs do it, NPCs can do it too.

I'm not saying every GM needs to do this but I reward diligent, investigative players who think to look for these backup spellbooks with a couple extra spells not contained in the enemy's "traveling" book found on their person. These aren't going to be the really powerful, dangerous spells but more likely the utility spells an NPC wouldn't need on them all the time.

[Tim Emrick]

Unless you're encountering the spellcaster in their home base, they will most likely have their spellbook on them. The NPC needs to be able to prep their favored spells away from home, too, just like the PCs. (And if you meet them in their home base, obviously it will be somewhere near at hand.)

When choosing spells for a spellbook, I always start with that minimum number that Thedmstrikes referred to (typically X+Int at 1st level, +Y at each new level), then add in any additional spells they need to complete their usual tactics for combat (buffs, attack spells, other stuff that plays to their specialty). I have frequently built NPC wizards specifically to introduce new spells--first by hurling them at the party in combat, then by letting the PCs get their greedy paws on the spellbook.

For any wizard that can afford to, you'll want to think about measures taken to protect the spellbook. One of the most obvious is to keep it in a handy haversack or the like--it also helps reduce the encumbrance from carrying around a weighty tome. Higher level casters--and definitely the paranoid ones!--will have warding spells and other protective measures (secret page, sepia snake sigil, various preservative abjurations, etc.).

Pathfinder Society stat blocks are usually pretty good about noting what arcane spellcasters have in their spellbooks (usually in the form of "spellbook [prepared spells plus...]"). They have to be, because that's the most cost-effective way for arcane PCs to learn new spells beyond their "free" ones. Being able to ignore that "half the cost to scribe" access fee is music to a wizard's (or alchemist's or investigator's) ears!