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A problem I often have is *spell books*. What spells are in those books? Which spells has the magic user memorized? What about his apprentices and friends?
Here’s my solution to this dilemma:
1. No caster has memorized a spell twice.
2. I create a master spell book and related casters just use subsets of these.
This works with my conservative interpretation of spell books (but does not depend on it) and it gives every group of magic users a distinct flavor.
my conservative interpretation of spell books
Recently I was wondering how to write it down, however. I used to just write down the master spell book. That slows me down when figuring out which spells lower level casters know. Here’s how I wrote it down for my neogi deathspider spelljamming mages (these have a level of 1d8). The important part is the second column. I also like to include alternative spell names in order to add flavor.
+-------------+--------------+--------------------------------+--------------------+ | Spell Level | Caster Level | Spell Name | Traditional Name | +-------------+--------------+--------------------------------+--------------------+ | 1 | 1 | Power over lesser minds | *charm person* | | 1 | 2 | Power of a merchant’s greed | *detect magic* | | 1 | 7 | Mind blasting cattle brains | *sleep* | | 2 | 3 | Listening to the chatter of | *ESP* | | | | idle brains | | | 2 | 4 | Bending perception | *phantasmal force* | | 2 | 8 | Unity with our arachnid | *web* | | | | ancestors | | | 3 | 5 | Blasting of rebellious cattle | *lightning bolt* | | 3 | 6 | All seeing eye of the overlord | *clairvoyance* | | 4 | 7 | Bending the will of all | *charm monster* | | | | creatures | | | 4 | 8 | Blessing of chaos eternal | *confusion* | +-------------+--------------+--------------------------------+--------------------+
(I’m not sure, perhaps it would make more sense to sort this table by the second column?)
#RPG
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Is sleep at caster level seven correct?
– Harald 2013-02-17 02:07 UTC
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Sure, that’s when they get their third first level spell.
+-------+-------+---+---+---+ | Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | +-------+-------+---+---+---+ | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | | 4 | 2 | 2 | – | – | | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | – | | 7 | **3** | 2 | 2 | 1 | | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | +-------+-------+---+---+---+
Perhaps your wondered whether adding *sleep* at level seven is appropriate? Why pick *charm person* and *detect magic* instead? I think that’s just a question of flavor.
– Alex Schroeder 2013-02-17 08:13 UTC
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i get it now 🙃
– Harald 2013-02-17 15:08 UTC
