When you cast from a scroll, what effective casting level is it at?

Oxford_Guy

When you cast an arcane spell from a scroll, is it at a fixed level or at the caster's casting level? Thanks

Jace

It's a fixed caster level 5th.

Oxford_Guy

Thanks @Jace - that's just what I need to know, quite powerful early on then for spells like Magic Missile and Chromatic Orb, but weaker later. Useful to know (and something that should perhaps be mentioned in the manual).

Flashburn

I think there's a component in the BG2Tweaks mod that lets you cast scrolls at your character level.

atcDave

Per PNP its supposed to be the lowest level at which the spell can be cast (or 5th at least). Not sure about BG implementation.

Jalily

Jace said:

It's a fixed caster level 5th.

Not true. Most are cast at level 6 or 7. Some are cast at level 1, 5, 9, or 10. There's not much of a pattern.

ZanathKariashi

Yeah, they're all over the place in NI. Though 6 seems the most consistent.

Madhax

atcDave said:

Per PNP its supposed to be the lowest level at which the spell can be cast (or 5th at least). Not sure about BG implementation.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that it was cast at the level of the mage who originally scribed the scroll? Could be wrong. Either way, that isn't implemented in BG for obvious reasons.

[Deleted User]

Madhax said:

atcDave said:

Per PNP its supposed to be the lowest level at which the spell can be cast (or 5th at least). Not sure about BG implementation.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that it was cast at the level of the mage who originally scribed the scroll? Could be wrong. Either way, that isn't implemented in BG for obvious reasons.

I can't remember how it was done in 2nd edition, though I remember the magic item creation rules in general being pretty ad hoc. In 3rd edition, the mage could set the caster level of the scroll at any level from the minimum needed to cast it to the highest he could manage, though the cost of making the scroll was adjusted accordingly. It was assumed that any randomly generated scrolls were made at the minimum caster level.

ZanathKariashi

It works basically word for word the same as in 3rd edition. Unless the DM decides otherwise, a spell scroll that's found is assumed to be the minimum caster level for the spell (Detect magic can give a rough idea of the approximate caster level of a scroll). Scrolls you make yourself or hire someone to make for you can be set up to the maximum caster level of the creator and what you're willing to pay for.

Jace

I guess I was totally misinformed because I had seen someone say level 5th on the interwebs somewhere and I only tested it with Magic Missile scrolls. 3 missiles were thrown, so yeah... caster level 5th or 6th for that spell in particular.

the_spyder

Madhax said:

atcDave said:

Per PNP its supposed to be the lowest level at which the spell can be cast (or 5th at least). Not sure about BG implementation.

I could have sworn I read somewhere that it was cast at the level of the mage who originally scribed the scroll? Could be wrong. Either way, that isn't implemented in BG for obvious reasons.

I am sure that was the "Intent", but I'd bet that somewhere along the line someone said "How can we tell what level the scriber was? Let's just make it minimum and assume that they were poor surfs.

ZanathKariashi

Ya don't even have to guess, NI allows you to see exactly what the level is. Most of the attack spells are 6, though a of the defensive spells are 10.

In BG2, all scrolls cast at level 10. Except the 2 Bigby spells which cast at lvl 8 and level 9 instead.