Costly but variable material components in scrolls


Rules Discussion

Liberty's Edge

So, regarding scrolls, the CRB says the following:

Quote:
Any physical material components and costs are provided when a scroll is created, so you don’t need to provide them when Casting a Spell from a scroll.

Very clear and straightforward, but it did make me wonder about spells like raise dead, where the cost of the components changes depending on the level of the target. How much does a standard scroll of raise dead cost? Do you have to buy it with a specific value of diamonds included (meaning costs can range from 500 to 75,200 gp)? What about one you find or are given, how do you determine how many diamonds are embedded in it?


I've read it as yes, you do need to find a scroll of Raise Dead with the appropriate amount of cost worked into the scroll, or work it in yourself. It means you've really got to use it or lose it as far as the scroll is concerned, otherwise you may level out of it being viable for the party.

I'd also just add the appropriate amount of diamonds to the cost of the scroll, and assume that said amount of diamonds is enough to return the highest possible level of creature to life with that spell. I guess it's possible to create a higher level scroll with a lower amount of diamonds, but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that and it seems like extra fiddly book keeping to me.


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I don't think there's any hard guidance on this. Perpdepog's reading makes the most sense from an in-world finance standpoint. It does mean that purchasing a scroll of Raise Dead is more expensive than just casting it yourself, so if the party has a PC with access to the spell, they'll probably just buy the necessary diamonds and cast it themselves.

For a simpler direction, you could just have a scroll cost the same as any other scroll of the same level, but because raise dead is an Uncommon spell, make it harder to find for purchase, requiring a check of some kind. This option has the advantage of the party not deciding to sell a scroll they found for a huge wealth spike because they don't need it right now, and they might be too high level when they do need it. I don't know how many parties would do that, but I figure there are probably some out there.


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It looks to me like there's no advantage to using a level 7 or higher raise dead spell on a level 1-13 character. The only difference seems to be that it increases the cost of raising the deader by a factor of between 2 (7th lvl spell) and 16 (10th level spell).

This means that if you're going to raise a deader whose level is higher than 13 you only have to worry about two steps to the cost — and two steps to the cost of the scroll. For example, if the deader is level 14, you use a 7th level spell, and it costs 5600 GP worth of diamonds in addition to the cost, if any, of the spell (or scroll, or wand). If he's level 15, it's 6000 GP worth of diamonds. If she's level 16, it's 12,800 worth of diamonds plus the cost of the scroll.

I suppose if you happen to find a Scroll of Raise Dead 7th Level (14 or 15 level target) and your buddy who just died is level 13, well, use the scroll.

The way I read the scroll crafting rules you have to pay the diamonds when you make the scroll. You can't add them in later. I suppose you could house rule it, but I wouldn't.

If you're a spontaneous caster you might want to make Raise Dead a signature spell.


I would just assume the level mentioned as a limit in the spell. I'd add that to the price of the scroll.


Are there any other spells this is even a problem for? The only one that comes to mind is Raise Dead, oh and Continual Flame, I suppose. I'm curious now to see how widespread variable material costs are for spells. If there are only a tiny handful of spells that use variable costs then it's probably safe to ignore the rule and treat scrolls more like wands.

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