[house rule] Casting from spell books

[Altair_the_Vexed]

In many a fantasy fiction story, wizards, witches, sorcerers, whatever they call them, cast spells by reading them out of a book at the time of casting. They stand there with a great dusty tome on a pulpit and intone the words of power...

I like this idea, so I'm posting the seed of my house rule here, so that we Playgrounders can discuss it.

House rule: (draft)
Arcane casters can cast spells directly from spell books. Rather than memorising the spell, the caster must be able to Read Magic, and must make a Spellcraft check DC 20+spell level (checked at the end of the casting time). Casting time is as listed for the spell, plus ten minutes per spell level.
Casting spells in this manner uses up a spell slot of the same level as the spell cast.
If the Spellcraft check fails, no spell is cast, and the caster takes one point of damage per spell level to their caster's Ability score and 1d4 subdual damage per spell level.

[Lord Iames Osari]

10 minutes per spell level? Nuh-uh.

[Zeta Kai]

That does seem like a long time. I'd say 1 minute per spell level would be both sufficient & realistic. No one's going to be able to use wish or disjunction in any but the most prolonged conflicts, but the wizard doesn't have to stand there for an hour & a half just to accomplish something, either.

Nobody is going to be able to cast a spell uninterupted if it takes more than 10 minutes, anyway, so nobody could use your system, as written, to cast anything but 1st or 2nd level spells, at most. Good idea, but it needs to be done faster.

I mean seriously, you have the book open in front of you. How long does it take to read out loud?

[Fax Celestis]

Yeah. People can read remarkably quickly.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

You think it ought to be less time? I was thinking maybe ten minutes per level was too short! And yes, I know that 9th level stuff will take an hour and a half - why shouldn't it? Spell books are not scrolls.
My idea for this is that the caster drops a spell previously readied that day, and prepares the new spell. Spell prep takes one hour, no matter what level you are. So in effect, casting ANY spell takes an hour of preparartion in the morning, plus your casting time when you come to cast the spell.

I didn't intend for this technique to get used for casting spells in any kind of combat, it's for casting when there's no threat. This isn't for regular use, it's for when you've got a utility spell that'll totally deal with the situation you're facing, but you didn't prepare it today.

Most importantly, we can't make the time too short, or we'll end up with wizards being nearly unrestricted sorcerers, casting anything directly from their spell books as they see fit.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

What about 10 minutes +1 minute per spell level + normal casting time?

(That reflects the time it takes a 1st level wizard to prepare four spells. Yes, I know higher level casters get more spells in their hour's prep, but 1st level is the base from which it all grows.)

You're still looking at almost twenty minutes to cast high level stuff, and it still takes a satisfactorily prohibitive length of time for low level spells, which avoids the wizards-become-super-sorcerers trap.

[triforcel]

From the 3.5 PHB


Spell Preparation Time: After resting, a wizard must study her spellbook to prepare any spells that day. If she wants to prepare all her spells, the process takes 1 hour. Preparing some smaller portion of her daily capacity takes a proportionally smaller amount of time, but always at least 15 minutes, the minimum time required to achiever the proper mental state.

I think that a better house rule would be to allow wizards and other spell casters who prepare spells to be able to reprepare any unused spells given say an hour of meditation time followed by the necessary amount of time to prepare those spells in the first place.

[Scribbler]

Right. By the rules, a wizard already can effectively cast from a book by leaving at least one slot open and "preparing" it right when he's about to cast it. Takes 15 minutes + casting time to do it, and it doesn't have the skill check requirement or drawbacks you have listed.

[levi]

I agree with the other posters on this one. The little used, but valid technique of leaving open some slots and preping non-combat utility spells as needed only takes 15 minuets, plus the time to cast the spell. Sure, it has the drawback of having one less spell prepared, in combat, but it sure beats droning on for an hour and then failing one's skill check just to get no effect and some nonlethal damage.

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Okay, so how about I house rule that one doesn't need to leave a slot open, one can simply discard an uncast spell in exchange for prepping on the go, using the 15 mins + casting time rule?

I still reckon this unorthodox method needs a little more drama to it, in terms of a Spellcraft check and little damage...

[Pink]

I don't see how damage figures into it. It's memorising the spell. However, perhaps if the skillcheck is failed they lose the spellslot entirely for the day, as if it had been used up, from the effort of trying to switch one memorisation for another, but being unable to do it. Maybe even a -1 or -2 int penalty for the day from the mental strain. You then have a risk and reward but not so much that a person with a good spellcraft check (though i'm not entirely sure spellcraft is right, concentration maybe) decides that it's just much more easier to not use up a spell slot for the rare occasion.

[Roderick_BR]

I like 10 minutes/level. It makes the spells more like rituals than normal casting. Remember that in 2nd edition, you needed hours to memorize your whole spell book. That's more about casting a spell you didn't prepare in advance, but you have the time to cast it without need to memorize.
"Oops, I ran out of flight spells. Just give me 30 minutes, guys, and I'll have it ready."

[Laesin]

I'ld be tempted to keep it as you wrote it but not take up a spell slot. The long casting time would then be for drawing ambient magic from around you rather than using your personal reserves. I would put in a similar mechanic for other casters as well.