Some Scroll Questions

[Bubzors]

So I have a player who is a wizard and wants to spend his downtime crafting some scrolls. Nothing game breaking, just something extra to have in case. No crafting actual items or anything. However he got kind of dismayed when he read through the DMG and found that it costs the same to make a wand of Web as it does to make a scroll of web.

I also thought this was super dumb and was tring to come up with ways to make crafting scrolls more viable without them being too easy to craft. Any of you have good ideas/house rules that work well for you?

Also another thing that irks me is the complete inconsistency sometimes. On page 139 of the DMG it states that "Any creature that can understand a written language can read the arcane script on a scroll and attempt to activate it," while page 200 under spell scrolls says, "if the spell is on your class's spell list, you can use an action to read the scroll and cast it's spell without havingo provide any of the spells components. Otherwise the scroll is unintelligible." Wtf wotc? Which is it? Or am I just missing something...

[lianightdemon]

My suggestions

Scrolls are consumables that cast a spell. I say that if the scroll's spell is on your class list it allows you to use the scroll without a problem. However if it's not then your out of luck, use wands or command word activates, or potions. Rogues with use magic device can use scrolls too.

Lower the cost of scrolls to 50 gold per level.

Note while crafting unless you change how magic items are sold and the value increase it's impossible to make a profit selling magic items unless you find shady buyers.

[Fralex]

I didn't really like the way scrolls were priced, either, so I came up with a more gradual, exponential evaluation based on spell level. The DMG does recommend you adjust the costs when you don't agree with them. It goes like this:



Spell Level

Base Price in gp

Days to Craft

Years, Months, Days

Rarity


0
16
1
–
Common


1
50
2
–
Common


2
160
7
–
Uncommon


3
500
20
–
Uncommon


4
1600
64
2 months, 2 days
Rare


5
5000
200
6 months, 14 days
Rare


6
16,000
640
1 year, 8 months, 27 days
Very Rare


7
50,000
2000
5 years, 5 months, 22 days
Very Rare


8
160,000
64,000
17 years, 5 months, 22 days
Very Rare


9
500,000
20,000
54 years, 9 months, 3 days
Legendary



I also made one that doesn't try to keep up with the RAW values based on rarity:




Spell Level

Base Price in gp

Days to Craft

Years, Months, Days

Rarity


0
25
1
–
Common


1
50
2
–
Common


2
100
5
–
Uncommon


3
250
10
–
Uncommon


4
500
20
–
Rare


5
1000
43
1 month, 12 days
Rare


6
2500
92
3 months, 1 day
Very Rare


7
5000
200
6 months, 14 days
Very Rare


8
10,000
428
1 year, 2 months, 1 day
Very Rare


9
25, 000
915
2 years, 6 months, 3 days
Legendary


(In this one, a Common magic item that can't be priced based on the spell it generates would be 50gp, Uncommon would be 250, Rare would be 1000, Very Rare would be 5000, and Legendary would be 25,000)

[Jeraa]

Also another thing that irks me is the complete inconsistency sometimes. On page 139 of the DMG it states that "Any creature that can understand a written language can read the arcane script on a scroll and attempt to activate it," while page 200 under spell scrolls says, "if the spell is on your class's spell list, you can use an action to read the scroll and cast it's spell without havingo provide any of the spells components. Otherwise the scroll is unintelligible." Wtf wotc? Which is it? Or am I just missing something...

Actually, that is not inconsistent. There are more than just spell scrolls in 5e. For example, a Scroll of Protection can be used by anyone.

[Fralex]

Also another thing that irks me is the complete inconsistency sometimes. On page 139 of the DMG it states that "Any creature that can understand a written language can read the arcane script on a scroll and attempt to activate it," while page 200 under spell scrolls says, "if the spell is on your class's spell list, you can use an action to read the scroll and cast it's spell without havingo provide any of the spells components. Otherwise the scroll is unintelligible." Wtf wotc? Which is it? Or am I just missing something...

Spell scrolls are a specific kind of scroll now (there are also scrolls that don't mimic spells). Specific beats general!