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View Full Version : [3.5] Boccob's Blessed Book = Free Gold?



Wonton
2010-08-25, 05:24 PM
So a Wizard has two full spellbooks (200 pages). He buys a Boccob's Blessed Book (12,500), and copies all his spells into it for free. Now the BBB's value is 12,500 + 20,000 = 32,500, so he sells it for 16,250, making a profit. Aside from obvious logistical concerns (time, finding buyers, where are you getting all these BBBs?), does this work?

Sir_Elderberry
2010-08-25, 05:29 PM
If a highly skilled and learned wizard spends considerable time and effort scribing his personal discoveries into a book, then it increases in value. This seems like pretty standard economics to me.

Jack_Simth
2010-08-25, 05:43 PM
So a Wizard has two full spellbooks (200 pages). He buys a Boccob's Blessed Book (12,500), and copies all his spells into it for free. Now the BBB's value is 12,500 + 20,000 = 32,500, so he sells it for 16,250, making a profit. Aside from obvious logistical concerns (time, finding buyers, where are you getting all these BBBs?), does this work?
He spent 200 days to gain 3,750 gp, or 18.75 gp/day. There's much, much more profitable things he could be spending his time on.

Take, say, Continual Flame (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/continualFlame.htm), accessible for a Wizard-3. 50 gp materials. If he makes Everburning Torches (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#everburningTorch):
This otherwise normal torch has a continual flame spell cast upon it. An everburning torch clearly illuminates a 20-foot radius and provides shadowy illumination out to a 40-foot radius. , and sells them for half (55 gp each), he's making 5 gp per casting (well, slightly less than that, as a regular torch costs 1 cp). A 3rd level specialist Wizard likely has at least 3 2nd level spell slots. So 15 gp/day. At level 3. The Wizard gets at least one more spell slot per level... so a level 4 Wizard can beat the output from your book-copying scheme. If you put both your spellbooks into the Blessed Book, and then Copy out of that blessed book (save 50% on the time), then you need about a 5th or 6th level wizard doing Continual Flame to beat the copying.

When Fabricate becomes available, and the Wizard can abuse the Crafting rules... well....

Wonton
2010-08-25, 05:46 PM
Well, actually, scribing time is 1 day/spell, not 1 day/page...

But I wasn't trying to make an infinite-money scheme at all, I realize those already exist and are far better. I was just wondering whether I'd maybe missed some rule that said a BBB's value didn't increase as you added spells to it.

FMArthur
2010-08-25, 07:47 PM
Isn't ink disconcertingly expensive for copying spells?

Greenish
2010-08-25, 07:50 PM
Isn't ink disconcertingly expensive for copying spells?100 gp per page, except if you've a Boccob's Blessed Book, which removes the costs.

erikun
2010-08-25, 08:24 PM
How many NPC merchants would really have large numbers of BBBs lying around for easy purchase, though? Especially if this trick is well known in the adventuring community?

Boci
2010-08-25, 08:26 PM
How many NPC merchants would really have large numbers of BBBs lying around for easy purchase, though? Especially if this trick is well known in the adventuring community?

Its not a trick that harms the merchants business though. Like me buying a canvas and then selling a painting. Well, apart from the fact that I will sooner become a sorceror than be competant at any form of art that does not involve writing...

erikun
2010-08-25, 08:33 PM
Its not a trick that harms the merchants business though. Like me buying a canvas and then selling a painting. Well, apart from the fact that I will sooner become a sorceror than be competant at any form of art that does not involve writing...
It's more of a question of how many merchants can produce (or find someone to make) large quantities of Blessed Books.

BobVosh
2010-08-26, 12:15 AM
Large quantities? You need one every 200 days. Hardly that large.

WinWin
2010-08-26, 12:28 AM
Arcane academies and guilds might pay for one, so that they could on-sell the spells to their members.

Other high level casters might be interested...That would be a case by case thing though. It would certainly improve your chances of sale if you had a few unique or uncommon spells.

Defiant
2010-08-26, 12:34 AM
Sure, why not... but be prepared for the world to become massively more powerful and bursting at the seams with magic.

J.Gellert
2010-08-26, 02:14 AM
Can't you just sell normal spellbooks? I've always thought that's what wizards do, buy knowledge. Anyone serious about it will easily cover your expenses (100gp per page, ridiculous, since we're on it) and pay more for the privilege of gaining access to new spells.

Or you can just teach people spells on a case-by-case basis, because serious wizards won't care about 75% of cantrips and level 1's they already know or can duplicate.

Connington
2010-08-26, 02:21 AM
If a highly skilled and learned wizard spends considerable time and effort scribing his personal discoveries into a book, then it increases in value. This seems like pretty standard economics to me.

The thread could have been closed after the first reply.

From the DM's perspective, this should be fine (although obviously it's not intended for the table). If a player really wants to make some easy money over a long period of time without risking life and limb, let him. If it slows down the plot, give the wizard a plot-induced reason to require a lot of money, fast. He should return to high risk, high reward adventuring in short order. If a DM can't press a player into needing money fast, or keep stringing him along once he's adventuring, the DM should retire.

Randel
2010-08-26, 02:23 AM
Well you could also cut down the cost and increase profit if you craft the books yourself (or get an artificer to craft them using some of the feats that decrease the gp and xp cost of crafting). If you're going to dedicate enough time to fill out all its pages then you might as well get the book for cheap. Have an artificer buddy craft it for 50% or 37.5% of its regular cost.

Your Blessed Books would probably be the arcane equivalent of one of those super expensive medical textbooks that universities keep in their library or really rich wizards get to show that they are learned.

So writing it on a Blessed Book you bought at a yard sale isn't going to cut it. Have them custom made and set up a system for the spells you write in it (with a table of contents and an index and everything), maybe organize them by spell level and in alphabetical order (at least in the table of contents and with page numbers and so on).

Also, don't half-arse it and just use the spells you know now. Label your first book as Volume I with the date on it so when you learn new spells you can include them in Volume II. If you have more spells than fit in one book then put A-N on the spine and finish the rest of the alphabet on the next book. Sell them as a set (if you have pages left over in the last book of the set then just mark the end and let the wizards use the rest as they see fit.).

Maybe invest in some kind of magic item that can print it for you... like a medieval printing press.

If you're going to be taking super-powerful arcane spells and putting them into blessed books to sell to whoever for money then do it with style. Start a brand name, invent the printing press, and put up a system to collect all magic spells and distribute them to the masses.

Prepare for magic to become more popular once you start this though.

Subotei
2010-08-26, 05:47 AM
my nagging doubt about the scheme - your customers are going to be other wizards that can afford to buy the book. However if they can afford your book, they can afford a blank blank and do the scheme themselves...

Tyger
2010-08-26, 08:04 AM
my nagging doubt about the scheme - your customers are going to be other wizards that can afford to buy the book. However if they can afford your book, they can afford a blank blank and do the scheme themselves...

Except those pesky adventuring wizards (i.e. the ones with lots of disposable income) that don't want to sit around for three or more months doing nothing but scribing spells into books.

As noted above, this is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But its a) not even remotely close to an optimal way for a wizard to earn money, and b) a huge time investment, which a lot of PCs simply can't make. Not unbalancing in the slightest, and should a PC wizard choose to do something like this with their downtime, all the power to them.

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 08:20 AM
He spent 200 days to gain 3,750 gp, or 18.75 gp/day. There's much, much more profitable things he could be spending his time on.

Like adventuring.

1. Get hired.
2. Adventure
3. ???
4. PROFIT!

Malbordeus
2010-08-26, 08:21 AM
could ofcourse put all your spells in to a bocobs blessed book, and then rent it out to other wizards or universities for profit while your away adventuring with your normal spell books. or keep it as a back up in a safe incase somone steals your book and throws it in a fire (pesky barbarians! its not a firelighter!)

Erom
2010-08-26, 08:24 AM
Sounds like a great idea for an NPC wizard, actually. Give your PC the opportunity to buy a filled spellbook for 16,250 but he doesn't get to look at what spells are in it before hand.

Tyndmyr
2010-08-26, 08:34 AM
my nagging doubt about the scheme - your customers are going to be other wizards that can afford to buy the book. However if they can afford your book, they can afford a blank blank and do the scheme themselves...

Or they can craft something more profitable, and use the excess cash to buy your books. High level wizards can easily get giant piles of gold, and have better things to do with the next few months.

dsmiles
2010-08-26, 08:36 AM
Sounds like a great idea for an NPC wizard, actually. Give your PC the opportunity to buy a filled spellbook for 16,250 but he doesn't get to look at what spells are in it before hand.

*YOINK!*

That's mine, now, sucka!

:smallbiggrin:

2xMachina
2010-08-26, 08:39 AM
They could be, you know, like book writers in real life.

Magic for Dummies!

dextercorvia
2010-08-26, 11:12 AM
Sounds like a great idea for an NPC wizard, actually. Give your PC the opportunity to buy a filled spellbook for 16,250 but he doesn't get to look at what spells are in it before hand.

That sounds like a great idea (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0049.html), but I think I've heard it somewhere before.