Scribing Scrolls without a Book

[Chilxius]

I've been advising a former player turned DM, and he asked about a wizard who had lost her spell book. I was going to advise that she scribe scrolls for money, but can you do that without a book? The rules state "You can create a scroll of any spell that you know", but does that mean 'know' as in the spellcraft check to add it to a spell book? If so, can you write scrolls when your book is lost and you've expended your spells, and are essentially a dry well magically?

[JoranShadeslayr]

You don't need a spellbook to create scrolls, but in order for a wizard to create a scroll of a spell he must have that spell currently prepared, so no, a wizard can't create a spell if he's out of prepared spells and has no way to prepare more.


This is why wizards keep backup spellbooks stashed in various places. Otherwise they would need to buy scrolls and/or pay another wizard to let them copy a few spells into a new spellbook.

[Jeraa]

You must have the spell available to cast to scribe a scroll of it. Scribing a scroll expends the spell just as if you had cast it.


The creator must have prepared the spell to be scribed (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any material component or focus the spell requires. If casting the spell would reduce the caster’s XP total, she pays the cost upon beginning the scroll in addition to the XP cost for making the scroll itself. Likewise, a material component is consumed when she begins writing, but a focus is not. (A focus used in scribing a scroll can be reused.) The act of writing triggers the prepared spell, making it unavailable for casting until the character has rested and regained spells. (That is, that spell slot is expended from her currently prepared spells, just as if it had been cast.)

[Crake]

It's worth noting that if the scroll takes more than a single day to make (is more than 1000gp before material components and xp costs are calculated) then you would not be able to make a scroll with a single day of the spell being prepared, since you would normally need to re-prepare it the next day to continue crafting it. This means that any spell of 5th level or above could not be scribed into a scroll by this means, since they take more than a single day to craft.

Edit: However, if this is about losing your spellbook and trying to recover the spells you have prepared into a spellbook, you CAN scribe those spells into a new, empty spellbook (not a scroll) one by one, expending them, taking 24 hours each, and costing 100gp/level in scribing costs, but it would let you recover them

Edit2: Worst case scenario, you scribe scrolls of read magic for profit, since a wizard can prepare that without a spellbook. Although I think a good check on a profession skill will get you more money per day on average

[Bullet06320]

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20070326a
there is always the autoscribe

[Crake]

http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cw/20070326a
there is always the autoscribe

I feel like, if a wizard just lost their spellbook and is resorting to scribing scrolls to make money, they don't exactly have 55,000gp lying around to buy one of those

[Bullet06320]

I feel like, if a wizard just lost their spellbook and is resorting to scribing scrolls to make money, they don't exactly have 55,000gp lying around to buy one of those

well....you would have to have that already to make it easier, or borrow someone elses?

[Chilxius]

Thanks. I assumed that the wizard would have to be able to cast a spell to scribe it, but couldn't find that written anywhere.

This is a strange situation because the wizard was a boss that the party 'left for dead'. The DM rolled stabilization later and the wizard lucked out at -9 hp. So, he's going to have her come back to try to steal her spell book back. So, since it was an NPC, a lot of this could have been glossed over with 'she comes back one day', but we like knowing all the rules.

Plus, if she succeeds, then the party wizard will need to know these rules for when she takes his book.