Spellcasting Characters Making Spellscrolls in BG; Too Radical?

RomulanPaladin

We find them everywhere. On bookshelves, in stores, pickpocketed off of nobles, on xvart corpses, in ankeg gullets, etc. Question is: where the heck are all these spell scrolls coming from?

The idea that ultimately comes to mind is that maybe, just maybe, wizards (and possibly other classes) should be able to scribe scrolls of spells that they know. Of course, that idea opens a Pandora's Box of questions and implications.

Possible Benefits:
1.) Could share spells from spellbooks with party members by writing scrolls.
2.) Makes solo mage (or other spellcaster) much more plausible (have a pile of scroll backups if you run out of spells).
3.) Possible use for gold in late game.
4.) Lots of others, no doubt...

Possible Problems / Complaints:
-I have a few ideas but I'd rather see what the community comes up with this time around.

Brude

I voted no, mostly because I'm conservative when it comes to game mechanics.

Two issues:

- This adds a form of crafting to the game. Ugh.

- This removes or mitigates the ONE limitation spellcasters have. No longer would you have to decide between memorizing buffs versus damage. Now you can have both on the same toon. That would seem to lend itself toward being overpowered, especially in the fights that matter.

Edit PS: There's an existing mod that implements this (might be aTweaks?). I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who's completed a playthrough with it.

Mortianna

Combined with all the scrolls, wands, and potions you pick up throughout the game, I'm not sure there really is a need to have a slew of scribed scrolls with you. IWD, on the other hand, was very well-balanced in terms of the availability of scrolls, potions, and magic items. I never felt I had too much in IWD, whereas in BG, it got to the point where I didn't need to use many of my memorized spells since I had so many other magic items. In fact, I would purposely try to use up the expendable ones so I could thin out my inventory and make some room. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of scribing scrolls. I just think it's unnecessary and would further disrupt the game balance in BG.

HaHaCharade

Mortianna said:

...IWD, on the other hand, was very well-balanced in terms of the availability of scrolls, potions, and magic items. I never felt I had too much in IWD, whereas in BG, it got to the point where I didn't need to use many of my memorized spells since I had so many other magic items.

Sorry but Icewind Dale sucks in terms of spell scroll availability. You only get one fireball scroll the whole game if I recall... The best shops don't even sell it end-game. Some programmer was drunk off Red Bulls when they hashed that out. I usually play with a pure spell caster and a multi-classed spellcaster and there's never enough to go around.

Mortianna

@HaHaCharade That was the appeal of IWD for me. It made it more challenging and more realistic. Monsters/enemies that didn't cast spells didn't drop scrolls.

Grammarsalad

there is a mod for that. Atweaks.

fighter_mage_thief

Forget radical, it would be totally gnarly! ^^

Also, for the record, in the 2nd ed PHB, I think it states that mages can create potions and copy spells to scrolls at level 9. That being said, if you recall the events of the Planar Sphere, where getting your apprentices to craft scrolls can get them killed, then it might not be the best idea. Or else a great idea, but only for comic relief. Also, obviously, if you can copy spells to scrolls, or say craft magical wands for that matter, there should be some sort of level requirement for success that scales appropriately to the challenge of the spell. A 1st lvl spell should be much easier to create than a 9th lvl spell, just like creating a wand of fireballs should be easier than crafting a staff of power.