Venger
2011-12-09, 02:00 AM
Okay, so, I'm playing a chameleon in my current game (factotum5/chameleon3) and have only recently had sufficient funds to put some spells in his spellbook.
these spells were all copied out of the party wizard's spellbook and a number of them are available to my guy at a lower level since a chameleon's spells "may be chosen from the spell list of any arcane spellcasting class"
due to the level one can enter chameleon, new spell levels are accessed a level or two behind a pure caster (like a wizard) so at the moment, she's casting 5ths and I'm still on 3rds. as a result, I only copied a few of the spells in her book into mine (obviously ones that I can't just get from divine focus)
the point of "any arcane spellcasting class" is to let chameleons get some spells at lower levels than wizards to make up for the fact that they only get 6th lvl spells. he's already let me do this for my divine focus, since they too "may be chosen from the spell list of any divine spellcasting class"
however, when I mentioned that I can cast dispel magic (one of the spells in my book from the wizard) as a 1st lvl spell (from the trapsmith list) he said I couldn't do this. (note: I have not cast dispel magic a single time in this game)
I asked him why and he said that since I pulled the spells from a wizard spellbook, that they stay as their own spell level, so I'm from his interpretation supposed to cast it as a 3rd lvl spell.
I am almost 100% sure that is not how chameleon works. you scribe a spell into your book from a wizard's spellbook (or a scroll, but really, who takes scribe scroll? wizards get it free) and then cast it as a (whatever class) instead in order to once in a while be able to cast it using a slightly lower level slot.
using his interpretation... what's the point of playing chameleon?
most spells exist on the wizard list and also on other ones (like haste) and it was understood that if I wanted sonorous hum or fire shuriken or whatever, I'd have to find a scroll of it especially from an oddball bard or assassin-crafted scroll to add to my book.
my reasoning in cribbing from the wizard was to help the party double up on combat spells (scorching ray, fireball,etc, that's the kind of stuff she puts in her book) and since I have fewer spell slots and at lower level, I wouldn't be upstaging her.
the DM also rolls randomly for scrolls, so it's not like I give him a list of stuff that I want to find, just if there is something that the party finds that's on the wizard list (which it always is since we have a wizard) I want my chameleon to be able to use the spell too as a bard or trapsmith or whatever so he can keep up, otherwise, I'm just playing a wizard that's not very good at his job.
note: he has already banned the chameleon extra spell trick, as most DMs do, which is fair enough, so I can't just get more spells this way.
is my interpretation correct? if not, where did I go wrong? if so, how can I explain it to my DM so he can let me play chameleon like a chameleon?
these spells were all copied out of the party wizard's spellbook and a number of them are available to my guy at a lower level since a chameleon's spells "may be chosen from the spell list of any arcane spellcasting class"
due to the level one can enter chameleon, new spell levels are accessed a level or two behind a pure caster (like a wizard) so at the moment, she's casting 5ths and I'm still on 3rds. as a result, I only copied a few of the spells in her book into mine (obviously ones that I can't just get from divine focus)
the point of "any arcane spellcasting class" is to let chameleons get some spells at lower levels than wizards to make up for the fact that they only get 6th lvl spells. he's already let me do this for my divine focus, since they too "may be chosen from the spell list of any divine spellcasting class"
however, when I mentioned that I can cast dispel magic (one of the spells in my book from the wizard) as a 1st lvl spell (from the trapsmith list) he said I couldn't do this. (note: I have not cast dispel magic a single time in this game)
I asked him why and he said that since I pulled the spells from a wizard spellbook, that they stay as their own spell level, so I'm from his interpretation supposed to cast it as a 3rd lvl spell.
I am almost 100% sure that is not how chameleon works. you scribe a spell into your book from a wizard's spellbook (or a scroll, but really, who takes scribe scroll? wizards get it free) and then cast it as a (whatever class) instead in order to once in a while be able to cast it using a slightly lower level slot.
using his interpretation... what's the point of playing chameleon?
most spells exist on the wizard list and also on other ones (like haste) and it was understood that if I wanted sonorous hum or fire shuriken or whatever, I'd have to find a scroll of it especially from an oddball bard or assassin-crafted scroll to add to my book.
my reasoning in cribbing from the wizard was to help the party double up on combat spells (scorching ray, fireball,etc, that's the kind of stuff she puts in her book) and since I have fewer spell slots and at lower level, I wouldn't be upstaging her.
the DM also rolls randomly for scrolls, so it's not like I give him a list of stuff that I want to find, just if there is something that the party finds that's on the wizard list (which it always is since we have a wizard) I want my chameleon to be able to use the spell too as a bard or trapsmith or whatever so he can keep up, otherwise, I'm just playing a wizard that's not very good at his job.
note: he has already banned the chameleon extra spell trick, as most DMs do, which is fair enough, so I can't just get more spells this way.
is my interpretation correct? if not, where did I go wrong? if so, how can I explain it to my DM so he can let me play chameleon like a chameleon?