Tome of Ancient Lore Mechanics

[AWiz_Abroad]

Hey all,

I worked with my DM, took the feat, and just hit the 9HD necessary to use the Tome of Ancient Lore (MIC version, not the CD version).

Has anyone ever played or seen played a character with this item? I'm wondering how mechanically to play it. For those unfamiliar with the item, it's a relic of Boccob, with every spell ever in it. However, it's a 50% chance you can find the spell in the ever shifting pages (Complete Divine was 90% as I recall). Prereqs are not further than 1 step from Boccob, and for non divine casters, 9HD and the True Believer feat.

Now that everyone's on the same page.

For each spell I want to pull from it as opposed to my personal spell book from what I can determine I roll a 50/50 check. However, as a full casting Lvl 9 wizard with 22 INT, that's a fair amount of dice rolling EVERY day.

How did you handle it, how have you seen it handled, how would you handle it so as to not bog down the gameplay?

[00dlez]

I mean, the obvious way would be to just be able to find half of the spells you want.

If you want 6 spells out of the book, you find 3 of them. If you want 7, you find 3 and roll d100 for the 'odd' spell.

[docnessuno]

#1 Try to find the spell you want.
- Failure: try another spell, back to step 1.
- Success: copy the spell in your spellbook so you have it from now on.
#2 End.

[qwertyu63]

Get a coin, and get to flipping.

Seriously, flip a punch of coins, and let them fall as they may.

[IncoherentEssay]

"The book functions in this manner once per day."

Near the end of the Relic Power section. Also, you have 50/50 for the highest level of spells you can cast, all lower levels get 100% chance. I suppose you could spam them at higher levels (as hilariously inappropriate as it would be to spam relics :smalltongue:), but otherwise i don't see it bogging down anything.

[AWiz_Abroad]

#1 Try to find the spell you want.
- Failure: try another spell, back to step 1.
- Success: copy the spell in your spellbook so you have it from now on.
#2 End.

Clever. . . if the world wasn't going to end by the time I copied enough awesome spells to make a difference. Not a whole ton of downtime in this campaign.

[AWiz_Abroad]

"The book functions in this manner once per day."

See, I read that, but I read it as you can prep spells out of the book 1/day and it takes an hour, just like it takes an hour to use a conventional spellbook to prep spells

Though, it certainly is a lot less worthwhile of a relic under that interpretation. Particurally as I picked a pretty lousy feat to be able to use it.

[IncoherentEssay]

Checking the rules again, a more relevant line would be
"However, if you have established the proper divine connection, you can use a tome of ancient lore while preparing arcane spells to prepare a single spell that isn't in your spellbook."
Around the middle of the Relic Power part, easy to miss like i did.
So only 1 spell/day. It's still a worthwhile item since you can just hold on to the prepped spell to write it down normally as docnessuno pointed out.

[hex0]

Though, it certainly is a lot less worthwhile of a relic under that interpretation. Particurally as I picked a pretty lousy feat to be able to use it.

I'd rather dip a level of Cloistered Cleric than take the True Believer feat.

[docnessuno]

Having access to every wizard spell in the game to copy into your spellbook, regardless of avaiability IS quite worthwile imho.
Also, remember copying a spell from a spellbook halves the time and cost.


Duplicating an existing spellbook uses the same procedure as replacing it, but the task is much easier. The time requirement and cost per page are halved

[St Fan]

Having access to every wizard spell in the game to copy into your spellbook, regardless of avaiability IS quite worthwile imho.
Also, remember copying a spell from a spellbook halves the time and cost.

It halves the time and cost because it's a spell you've already researched; it's from a spellbook the character has already written, not any spellbook.

[Thurbane]

It's almost like a toned down version of the Book of Infinite Spells (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/artifacts.htm#bookofInfiniteSpells). Well, sorta kinda.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Meh. It's got a curse on it. Cast remove curse and enjoy your shiny new curselessness.

[Troacctid]

I'd rather dip a level of Cloistered Cleric than take the True Believer feat.
If you're getting use out of both relics, True Believer is a perfectly good feat. Anyway, a dip isn't going to give you 5th level divine spells no matter how you slice it.

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Some lore is too ancient.