3.5 Trouble in a Low Magic Campaign

[Mercy 0f Spades]

Howdy guys!

I just joined up in a low magic campaign as one of the world's only wizards. I'm playing a Gnome Illusionist and I've been pretty happy with how I've built the character thus far. However, I'm kinda stuck on which feat to choose.

Normally, I'd take something to boost the DC of my spells but there's the very real threat of losing my Spell Book and never being able to obtain a replacement. It's made me consider taking Spell Mastery to always have something to fall back; especially if the worst-case scenario happens.

What are y'all's thoughts?

[ryu]

Uh why you no eidetic wizard? You could've obviated spellbooks entirely by trading away your scroll scribbling.

[Mercy 0f Spades]

Uh why you no eidetic wizard? You could've obviated spellbooks entirely by trading away your scroll scribbling.

Just really wanted to go hardcore Gnome Illusionist. Took the first racial substitution level and even got so nutty as to give up Evocation.

[jedipotter]

What books are allowed?

Spell Mastery is good.

[Tvtyrant]

Tattoo your spells to yourself (complete arcane.) Now you cannot have your spellbook stolen!

[Gemini476]

You do know that spell books aren't all that special, right? Just buy a book, some special ink, and pow! You've got a replacement.
Or if your GM says it IS special, grab the necessary crafting skill to be able to make one.

Oh, and get Spell Mastery later just so that you're not in as much trouble if you do lose the spellbook.

Also Eidetic Wizard is from Dragon magazine and is probably banned at a bunch of tables due to that, but yeah.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Tattoo your spells to yourself (complete arcane.) Now you cannot have your spellbook stolen!
This. It's twice as expensive as adding a spell to your spellbook, but a feat is probably worth more than a few hundred-thousand gold.

Also, look into ways of protecting your book, if you're feeling paranoid. Hoard Gullet is a good one-- a first level spell that, for one hour/level, turns your stomach into a bag of holding.


You do know that spell books aren't all that special, right? Just buy a book, some special ink, and pow! You've got a replacement.
The issue isn't losing the book itself, it's losing all the spells you have scribed in it. You can buy another book no problem, but you still have to find all those spells and pay to scribe them again.

[Mercy 0f Spades]

What books are allowed?

Spell Mastery is good.

All 3.5 core and supplements. All Eberron material. Dragon Magazine.

I think the only things forbidden are Forgotten Realms, Faerun, Unearthed Arcana, and almost all variant rules.

[Bronk]

The issue isn't losing the book itself, it's losing all the spells you have scribed in it. You can buy another book no problem, but you still have to find all those spells and pay to scribe them again.

You'd still have to pay twice, but you could always scribe your replacement book before losing the original and hide it away somewhere. Maybe in a bank, with a friendly NPC, or a 'secret chest' spell.

[Mercy 0f Spades]

You'd still have to pay twice, but you could always scribe your replacement book before losing the original and hide it away somewhere. Maybe in a bank, with a friendly NPC, or a 'secret chest' spell.

That's certainly what I'll do but as of the beginning of the campaign I'm a broke level 1 gnome.

I've also had others tell me today to throw caution to the wind and take Heighten Spell. What are y'all's thoughts on that?

[Psyren]

There's no real need for metamagic at level 1.

As you earn money definitely go for the spellbook tattoos (note that you'll need your familiar or a mirror to scribe/read those hard-to-reach places.)

[Sith_Happens]

As a fallback, once you get to 3rd level, start loading your spellbook with Dragoneye Runes (Dragon Magic). That way, if it does get stolen, you have GPS tracking on it.

[killem2]

The issue isn't losing the book itself, it's losing all the spells you have scribed in it. You can buy another book no problem, but you still have to find all those spells and pay to scribe them again.

then he should start making a few back ups now and burring them lol :smallbiggrin:

[Epsilon Rose]

Out of curiosity, how do you know there is a real possibility of your book getting destroyed and the gm not giving you a decent replacement? In my experience, there's usually a gentleman's agreement against that, because it's a very cheap way to kill the class and, even if there's a quest to get it back, your character would basically get sidelined for the entire thing.
Invalidating a character for a significant amount of time (without making it their faul) is generally bad game design.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

If you're one of the few wizards in existence, I'd be more worried about never being able to scribe extra spells into the book. Therefore I'd take Collegiate Wizard, which in this case you would fluff as being obsessively studious about the craft, examining every facet in your spare time. This essentially doubles the spells you can put in that spellbook for free.

After that I'd simply take basic precautions defending your spellbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-198209.html). Mostly you can't do it at level 1, but you also can't defend against an ax to the head very well. C'est la vie.