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The All Mighty Spelbook

DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,979
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)
So I've been wondering something for a whilw, especially when it comes to the D&D multiverse. Now I've never had the pleasure of playing the table top rpg, hell the closest u got was an online rp using 3rd edition rules and an online dice roller. Moving on... I have a question about spellbooks. I originally thought that they were just that, spell books with spells and incantations written in them. A spell book to a mage is what a sketchbook is to a artist. A collection of notes, thoughts, experimentations, and successful spells. But recently I've been wondering is the Spelbook an actual conduit for a mage to castba spell without divine/demonic assistance? Unlike sorcerers who are naturally born with affinity for magic and casting spells, a mage has to study and train.

So I find it hard to believe for example Dradee couldn't use dimension door to escape Ilse of Balduran because he didn't have his spellbooks, unless a mages spell book work as s magical conduit for spellcasting. Only reason he's been alive for 300 yeas is thanks to his god/goddess granting him little wards for survival, or so he says. Now, I wouldn't expect a mage to know EVERY spell or incantation by memory, but I would expect them to have at least a favorite spell or a super important spell, say one that can teleport them across matter and space known by heart.

If spell books are conduits, how are they chosen? I'm assuming I can't be a five year old, and just start teaching myself spellcasting from a scroll, grabbing random sheets of paper and building myself a journal as I practice. Something gas to turn them into conduits.

Comments

  • GallowglassGallowglass Member Posts: 3,356
    Over-analysis, methinks. I reckon a spellbook is just a mundane book with the incantations (or whatever) written in it, and that the reason Mages can't permanently memorise a spell is meant to be either because the nature of magic makes memorisation inherently temporary or because the gods have decreed that memorisation is always temporary (which may be two ways of saying the same thing), except for Sorcerers (who are born with a special ability).
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I recall reading a DnD book that explained that mages don't actually "memorize" the spells they cast. Rather, they cast the majority of a spell before they rest, then finish casting the spell the next day at a time of their choice. Sufficient study of a spell, however, and full knowledge of it, allows them to cast it at will, hence a mage's ability to use a Read Magic spell to scribe a scroll, without memorizing Read Magic the night before.

    A rough example, which would justify the system:

    Say a Magic Missile spell has 100 tiny components, each of which is necessary for the spell to be cast. Five of those components are somatic (a five-motion gesture with your hand, to cast the spell), five are verbal (a five-syllable incantation), and 90 are mental (and are done while "memorizing" the spell). A 2nd-level mage, who can cast two level 1 spells per day, and wants to cast Magic Missile the next day, will spend 90 minutes examining the 90 components to make sure he or she has got it right, and another 90 minutes studying another level 1 spell. After spending 3 hours studying, he or she can't study any more and has to rest. The next day, with the studying being done, that mage can perform the remaining 10 components for each spell, and cast two level 1 spells before running out. Why does he or she run out? Because the mage needs to spend another 90 minutes studying the spell to begin casting it.

    A level 20 mage, by contrast, is much more familiar with magic and understands it much better. He or she could study and therefore cast a component in a few seconds, instead of a whole minute, and therefore get a lot more studying done in the 3 hours he or she spends going over his or her spell book before resting. As a result, the level 20 mage can cast many more spells each, because he or she could do the pre-cast studying much faster, before eventually getting burned out and having to rest. You can only spend 3 hours (or however much time) before you get tired, so the number of spells you can "memorize" is dictated by your processing speed, which would be a combination of your experience and your intelligence. Likewise, if you want to cast a given spell more than once, you have to study it more than once before you rest. Study is 90% of the casting, hence the need for the book.

    For a Read Magic spell, however, the mage has studied it over and over for years, and already understand every piece of it perfectly. Hence, no need to memorize it, and the ability to cast it at will.

    Sorcerers, druids, and clerics, by contrast, simply have a finite supply of magic power at their command, and have to pray for, or mentally prepare in advance, which spells they want to have access to the next day. The limit on their spellcasting is the energy at their command, and the higher-level spells require more energy. They don't have spellbooks, because the source of their magic is a little different.

    One might ask why spells are divided up into levels. A 10th-level mage can memorize only two level 5 spells, but lots of level 1 spells. Couldn't that mage just forgo studying level 1 spells, to make time to study a third level 5 spell? Or a sorcerer channel some of his or her power into preparing a smaller number of higher-level spells? Well, that's what the DM is for. If the DM's conception of the magic system is like the above justification, he or she could permit some flexibility in spell levels.

    So a mage needs a spellbook because it's a reference text, not because it's a conduit. You can't cook a dish unless you already know the recipe by heart. You use a cookbook for the same reason a mage uses a spellbook: not because the book itself is anything special, but because there's information in it that you don't already have in your head.
  • SethDavisSethDavis Member Posts: 1,812
    edited June 2015
    In some systems, casting a spell also erases the mages detailed knowledge of the spell, meaning that they have to actually relearn it before they can cast it
  • DragonKingDragonKing Member Posts: 1,979
    elminster said:

    DragonKing said:


    So I find it hard to believe for example Dradee couldn't use dimension door to escape Ilse of Balduran because he didn't have his spellbooks

    I can. This is the description for Dimension Door


    Dimension Door

    (Alteration)
    Range: 0
    Components: V
    Duration: Instantaneous Casting Time: 1
    Area of Effect: The caster
    Saving Throw: None

    By means of a dimension door spell, the wizard instantly transfers himself up to 30
    yards distance per level of experience    . This special form of teleportation allows for no
    error, and the wizard always arrives at exactly the spot desired--whether by simply
    visualizing the area (within spell transfer distance, of course) or by stating direction such
    as, "300 yards straight downward," or, "upward to the northwest, 45 degree angle, 420
    yards." If the wizard arrives in a place that is already occupied by a solid body, he
    remains trapped in the Astral Plane. If distances are stated and the spellcaster arrives with
    no support below his feet (i.e., in mid-air), falling and damage result unless further
    magical means are employed. All that the wizard wears or carries, subject to a maximum
    weight equal to 500 pounds of nonliving matter, or half that amount of living matter, is
    transferred with the spellcaster. Recovery from use of a dimension door spell requires one
    round.

    So if Dradeel is a level 20 mage that means at most it can do is move him 600 yards. Not nearly enough to cross an ocean :)
    I was using dimension door as a example since I don't know the actual spell he used to teleport out of the hut, into the village and then to who knows where. I assumed he left the island some charname pretty much takes the only boat.
    semiticgod said:

    I recall reading a DnD book that explained that mages don't actually "memorize" the spells they cast. Rather, they cast the majority of a spell before they rest, then finish casting the spell the next day at a time of their choice. Sufficient study of a spell, however, and full knowledge of it, allows them to cast it at will, hence a mage's ability to use a Read Magic spell to scribe a scroll, without memorizing Read Magic the night before.

    A rough example, which would justify the

    Point taken.
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