Magic within the Realms...
TethorilofLathander
Member Posts: 427
How does magic actually work in the realms? I understand about the weave and divine magic, but I have some questions about it:
- How do scrolls/spellbooks actually work?
- When the spells are read out, what language is being used?
- How does one learn greater spells without divine intervention?
- Is there magical energy tied to scrolls etc that allows only one use per day/per resting period?
- How do scrolls/spellbooks actually work?
- When the spells are read out, what language is being used?
- How does one learn greater spells without divine intervention?
- Is there magical energy tied to scrolls etc that allows only one use per day/per resting period?
Post edited by TethorilofLathander on
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If BG had crafted implemented, any mage or bard could make scrolls of any spells they knew, but it costs 50% of the scroll's base market value in materials (+1% per caster level over the minimum needed to cast that spell, if the spell is scribed at a higher level). Takes 1 hour per spell level and expends the spell slot used to memorize the spell you intend to make a scroll of. If successful, you gain 1/25th of it's adjusted market value as personal xp.
Wands are similar, but they have a set effect, and mage must be at least lvl 10 to craft a wand (Bard's can't craft wands until 27).
OR their magic can be attempted to be inscribed into a spellbook. This consumes the scroll, but if you inscribed it properly, you can now memorize that spell as often as you like, as long as you have your spellbook on hand.
If BG was correctly implemented you'd need to cast read magic on every scroll into order to make it read-able to you at all, due to every mage writing spells in their own form of short-hand and read magic deciphers it into your style magic writing.
Spellbooks are just books that the forumla for the spells are kept in. They're non-magical and simply serve as a reference the mage must use when memorizing spells, since they're much too complex for anyone to realistically memorize them, aside from Read magic, which every mage learns by rote as part of their apprentice training. Memorizing is a bit of a misnomer (preparation is a better term for it). You aren't actually memorizing the spell, you're using your spellbook's formula to add a near completed copy into your mind that simply requires a few more elements to cast. Spells can be copied from another spellbook without harm to the book. Or if you find the book as part of loot, you can simply cast read magic on each inscribed spell and use it as your own.
2. The language doesn't matter at all. Typically Draconic or Elven, but can it can anything really..it mostly depends on who created the spell you're using. If you made it, it uses whatever language you felt like using for it (knowing the language is irrelevant to the casting as you're just learning the words, knowing their meaning isn't required). And there is no actual requirement that a spell HAVE a verbal component, it just makes the spell easier to use if it has one (but also makes it vulnerable to Silence) (the Simbul for instance has made modified versions of most of her spells so that they have no verbal or somatic components, but are 2 levels higher then normal as a result)
3. Not sure about that 3rd questions? If you mean discovering new spells, you research them, by experimenting with various elements of magic until something works or you immolate into an explosion of raw magical energy, or some other annoyance to that effect. You can also modify existing spells, as mentioned above, to give them different effects, but makes them harder to use or require more magical power or you can weaken them to make them available at lower levels.
A mage can technically attempt research at any level, but it's really expensive and time consuming and requires a well stocked magical laboratory, so it's generally only done by mages who have their own stronghold or are sponsored by a noble or some such. Successfully creating a new spell gives 500 xp per spell level, while successfully modifying an existing spell gives 100 xp per spell level.
Also True Dweomer spells (10th level) cannot be learned, they have to be created by each individual mage who wants them, requiring massive amounts of time and resources. You can hear of a particular 10th level spell and try to replicate it, but there is no fast track to learning it as no one can teach it to you, they're just too complex for that.
Divine spells can also be created, which is similar to the process a mage goes through, but by default does need divine intervention. The cleric basically prays for a particular type of spell over a period of time, and if it is within the spheres they're allowed and the deity approves it's level of power they'll be granted it as a personal spell that they can request from now on. But it generally requires them to demonstrate a need for such a spell to further their deities cause.
Unlike Mages however, Quest spells are only given to lesser clerics in situations of great importance to the deity, and they typically can only grant Quest spells related to their portfolios, they also have a lot of downsides to the caster if they lack Quest slots. Truly powerful clerics though, who have earned actual Quest slots can pray for Quest Spells like normal spells, but each Deity generally only has 1 kind of Quest spell to offer per Divine rank. (Demi-gods have 1, Lesser have 2, Intermediate have 3, and Greater have 4)
To date, I've yet to see any DnD based game with the ability to research and make your own spells in-game. That was one of the things I loved most about Morrowind, you literally took various effects and crafted your own spells in game, though if you added too much stuff, they'd be beyond the mortal ability to ever cast (Oblivion started adding arbitrary caps on what you could create and removed a bunch of effects and Skyrim removed it completely).
4. Scrolls have no limits, but each instance cannot be used more then once since the magic is fully consumed by the casting or scribing attempt.
Wands and most Staves are limited by charges and cannot be recharged, except for rare items like a Staff of the Magi which can use absorbed spells to refill it's personal charges (but explodes violently if it goes over 50 charges, likely killing everything within 100ft of the where the caster was standing (50d6 magical damage) and instantly disintegrates the staff's wielder with no save).
2nd and 3rd are pretty much identical for how the basic rules work (even creation of 10th/Epic spells is basically the same). They just have differing terminology in a few cases. Core rules, mind. Supplements change things.