Question about a Spellbook

[TabletopGamer]

Ok so if I start with a spellbook with All Cantrips + 17 first level spells how much is that to sell it?

I am curious because of a get rich quick idea I had using the Easy Bake idea
Well using the Collegiate Wizard, Elven Generalist ACF, Greyhawk method and of course Domain Wizard.

So since Eidetic Spellcaster says you do not need a spellbook but doesnt say you do not start with one.

[Eonir]

25 gold a page. 0 and 1st level spells are a page long. So just add 17 to however many cantrips there are, and then multiply by 25.

I'm not really sure what your second question was. Can you clarify?

[Kelb_Panthera]

I wouldn't seriously count on this flying at most tables.

That said I count 36 cantrips, total, on the sorc/wiz list. 36+17=53 pages at 50gp each makes 2650gp for the book.

And it is 50gp per page; one half of the normal 100gp per page to scribe.

[TabletopGamer]

There is really nothing to stop it from working exactly

On the SRD I only counted like 19. Where did you get the others?

[Kelb_Panthera]

There is really nothing to stop it from working exactly

On the SRD I only counted like 19. Where did you get the others?

Filtered search on dndtools.eu and then manually counting so I could skip the repeats.

It not flying at most tables has nothing to do with RAW. The reason a normal wizard having such a valuable item at character creation is acceptable is because he can't part with it. He can sell access to his first level spells to other wizards at the usual rate of 50gp for two days but that's two days he's not adventuring.

There's also the issue of there being no market for such a book. All wizards have all cantrips so those pages are worthless. Only the 17 first level spells have any actual value. If you'd be willing to sell it for 17*50=850gp it would be much more reasonable but even then it runs into the problem of being substantially wealthier than the rest of the party.

[TabletopGamer]

Oh just did that, I see what you mean.

And yeah I know that its iffy, but there is a feat that replicates the Domain Wizard domain spells.

And the stacking of CW and Greyhawk doesn't actually say they replace the normal 2 or not stack with one another. It just says they add more spells known each level.

[Eonir]

And it is 50gp per page; one half of the normal 100gp per page to scribe.

I thought it was 50gp a page, my bad.


There's also the issue of there being no market for such a book. All wizards have all cantrips so those pages are worthless. Only the 17 first level spells have any actual value. If you'd be willing to sell it for 17*50=850gp it would be much more reasonable but even then it runs into the problem of being substantially wealthier than the rest of the party.

Sword of the Arcane Order Mystic Rangers maybe? It's a niche, but it's there.

[Hamste]

I got 37 but yeah, from a role-playing prospective the market for the books are very limited. A lot more people can cast zeroth level spells than first so more of them exsist and only new spells casters really need them and they are probably scribing it themselves for practice. The only person who would be buying one is either lazy, rich or too busy to do it themselves. Of course this is just from an rping prospective. From a meta prospective it is a nice way to make a good amount of starting money, very few people actually use even a fraction of those spells so you might as well liquidate the assets and put them into learning spells or buying things you will actually use.

[Captnq]

Here's your problem, if you wanna go by RAW.

You are limited by your WBL no matter what you do. Technically, you can get 50,000 gp for your book, but you can't have more then 300 gp at first level. (yeah, I know, your spellbook breaks the WBL. Funny that.) So if you want to trade in your spellbook for something else at 1st level, you can only have 300 gp of equipment.

So liquidate away, but you'll have "thieves" steal all of it except for 300 gp of equipment. (That's actually in the DMG, BTW. Your DM is supposed to have thieves or tax collectors take the excess.)

[TabletopGamer]

I was gonna fluff it as a family trust and he can only get out so much at each level because the family has to see him grow up to trust him with money.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Here's your problem, if you wanna go by RAW.

You are limited by your WBL no matter what you do. Technically, you can get 50,000 gp for your book, but you can't have more then 300 gp at first level. (yeah, I know, your spellbook breaks the WBL. Funny that.) So if you want to trade in your spellbook for something else at 1st level, you can only have 300 gp of equipment.

So liquidate away, but you'll have "thieves" steal all of it except for 300 gp of equipment. (That's actually in the DMG, BTW. Your DM is supposed to have thieves or tax collectors take the excess.)

That's not actually true. WBL is a guideline, not a hard limit. The fact that a spellbook is worth several times that isn't usually a problem because it can't normally be liquidated without crippling the wizard and the level up and chargen freebies arguably don't count anyway since they're as much class features as material wealth. It's bypassing this normal limitation that creates a balance issue, not the actual material value of the book.

To take another tack, though, there's a question of whether or not an eidetic wizard even gets a material book at chargen. His "spellbook" is his own mind and he certainly doesn't need a material book to function. If I could look at the actual text for eidetic spellcaster I could be more certain but I don't actually have a copy of that issue of dragon.

[TabletopGamer]

It says you do not need a spellbook not that you do not start with a spellbook.

[Kelb_Panthera]

It says you do not need a spellbook not that you do not start with a spellbook.

I found it. I still foresee most DM's overruling RAW on this one.

[Mithril Leaf]

If you allow Second Party Material (basically anything with a WotC seal on it) then there are 68 Wizard Cantrips. Since you are already using Dragon, this might be a better number for you.

EDIT: Which is enough for a handy 5 Last Breathes and 3 level 1 spells.

EDIT2: Alternatively take mercantile background and get an Aureon's Spellshard and a single last breath with your 5100 just from cantrips.