Getting a spellbook onto classes that don't usually get one

[Herbert West]

Isn't there a way to get a class spellbook for casters that don't normally get one? I'm making a sha'ir (Dragon Compendium 51) and was wondering if I could get one so that I have more than three spells known at first level, or at least the ability to get more. And with the spellbook, I could write both arcane and divine spells into it, right, since Sha'ir casts both?

[JDL]

Magical Training feat, Player's Guide to Faerun. You gain 3 level 0 arcane spells per day as a Wizard or Sorcerer. If you choose Wizard, you get a Spellbook with all level 0 spells in it as per a Wizard.

[Darrin]

Archivist (Heroes of Horror) get a prayerbook that works like a wizard's spellbook for divine spells. A Chameleon (Races of Destiny) get's a spellbook that works exactly like a wizard's spellbook.

I'm not sure you could write arcane and divine spells into the same spellbook, but the RAW on how spellbooks work is pretty vague. This sounds more like something you'd have to work out with the DM.

[Urpriest]

Anything that would solve this would be mega-cheese. The whole concept of spontaneous spellcasters is that they know a limited number of spells, in exchange for not needing to choose which ones they're going to cast at the beginning of each day. That may not be a fair trade in general, but it's a pretty fundamental feature of how the game treats each type of caster, and anything that gets around it is going to involve bending the rules to the breaking point.

Plus, you don't really need this on a Sha'ir anyway, because you can retrieve spells beyond your spells known as a basic class feature of your class!

It's not that there aren't ways to do what you're asking: there are, depending on how you interpret the spellbook rules and the various things that give you limited access to them. It's that you should think pretty hard about whether the game you're in is actually high-optimization enough for it to be reasonable to break in to that sort of thing.

[Sagetim]

Spellbooks cost, what, 3? 15? gold...something like that. Now, this doesn't get you a class feature to properly use one, but anyone can buy a book/spellbook and write bullcrap in it. As a Sha'ir, it's been stated you don't Need a spellbook, and that's true. You've already got some spells known and the ability to retrieve others beyond that little list of spells known, even grabbing divine spells. That's a powerful amount of versatility for an arcane caster base class. What you might want to use a spellbook for, then, is to record a journal of spells usage. Write down what kinds of spells you've retrieved, why you retrieved them, what you actually used them for, and how things turned out. It would not only serve as a set of notes for yourself as a player, but as an in character journal that the character might publish in their later years to further the knowledge of magic and it's uses in the world.

[Herbert West]

Magical Training feat, Player's Guide to Faerun. You gain 3 level 0 arcane spells per day as a Wizard or Sorcerer. If you choose Wizard, you get a Spellbook with all level 0 spells in it as per a Wizard.
That looks like it works, thank you. I wonder if there's another way, though? If I have to be a human or elf I think it's going to cost me an extra feat and all my WBL to stick to my build.


Archivist (Heroes of Horror) get a prayerbook that works like a wizard's spellbook for divine spells. A Chameleon (Races of Destiny) get's a spellbook that works exactly like a wizard's spellbook.

I'm not sure you could write arcane and divine spells into the same spellbook, but the RAW on how spellbooks work is pretty vague. This sounds more like something you'd have to work out with the DM.

Archivist looks pretty good, and it means I could get some of the good druid spells. Chamaeleon is so close to being the perfect class -- it's a PrC and it grants a spellbook. But if I took it after sha'ir, then it would still use entirely different attributes - int and wis - and would have a different spell progression. It does make a different build possible, so if my current one gets nixed by the GM, I'll definitely go with that.


Anything that would solve this would be mega-cheese. The whole concept of spontaneous spellcasters is that they know a limited number of spells, in exchange for not needing to choose which ones they're going to cast at the beginning of each day. That may not be a fair trade in general, but it's a pretty fundamental feature of how the game treats each type of caster, and anything that gets around it is going to involve bending the rules to the breaking point.

Plus, you don't really need this on a Sha'ir anyway, because you can retrieve spells beyond your spells known as a basic class feature of your class!

It's not that there aren't ways to do what you're asking: there are, depending on how you interpret the spellbook rules and the various things that give you limited access to them. It's that you should think pretty hard about whether the game you're in is actually high-optimization enough for it to be reasonable to break in to that sort of thing.

I played a spontaneous prepared caster last game with the same GM, and it was fine. I even had full caster levels that game! This time I'm capping myself at caster level 5 or so, so I won't have anything better than 3rds.

You might be right that the spellbook isn't as useful, but it would make my spells known choices easier and make me less dependent on knowstones. I'm planning to be mostly a party buffer, so not clogging up all of my spells known with buff spells and being able to get some utility spells seemed important, especially since it sounds like the rest of the party are all mundanes (hence why I'm playing a buffer caster).


Spellbooks cost, what, 3? 15? gold...something like that. Now, this doesn't get you a class feature to properly use one, but anyone can buy a book/spellbook and write bullcrap in it. As a Sha'ir, it's been stated you don't Need a spellbook, and that's true. You've already got some spells known and the ability to retrieve others beyond that little list of spells known, even grabbing divine spells. That's a powerful amount of versatility for an arcane caster base class. What you might want to use a spellbook for, then, is to record a journal of spells usage. Write down what kinds of spells you've retrieved, why you retrieved them, what you actually used them for, and how things turned out. It would not only serve as a set of notes for yourself as a player, but as an in character journal that the character might publish in their later years to further the knowledge of magic and it's uses in the world.

If I'm unable to get a proper spellbook, I'll do that. I planned to be the note-taker anyway, so the flavour fits even more perfectly.




Here's a rough draft of my build in case you all had any other suggestions:

Race: any Outsider [evil] with LA+1 or lower
Class: Sha'ir 5/War Weaver 1/Fiend of Possession 1/Paragnostic Initiate 1/FoP 5/WW 4/Exemplar 2 (FoP focus).
Feats: Extra Familiar, Ability Enhancer, Item Familiar, Spellfire Wielder, Goad, Spell Focus: Transmutation, Metamagic Spell Focus: Transmutation, any +1 MM feat

I also wanted to get Divine Ward and Divine Shield, but that requires a turning PrC. I think I'm starting around level 8, so there may or may not be enough time to dip and have it in the build before I enter the game.

The goal is to be able to buff up anyone I'm possessing - I can get at least a +10 to one of their attributes, and possibly +6 or +8 to the rest, and give their weapon a +8 enhancement and their shield a +cha (hopefully +8 or better) by level 20.


Edit: both evil and dragon magazine are off the table, so I'm going to have to change things a bit. I found a race that should work, Star Elf.

[Troacctid]

You're a Sha'ir. You can already cast any spell on your class spell list that you can identify, without needing to have it as a spell known.

[Chronos]

If you're using long-duration buffs (which are usually the only ones worth bothering with), then that works just fine with Sha'ir. The only drawback to a Sha'ir not knowing a spell is that it takes longer to prepare it, but when you're doing all your casting when you get up in the morning, that's not a problem.

[Psyren]

I'm confused at what you're trying to accomplish here. No matter how you get a spellbook onto a Sha'ir, that's not how they learn spells, so it won't remove any of the limitations you're trying to remove. Dragon Compenium:


Arcane Spell Known: To retrieve an arcane spell that the sha'ir can normally cast (that is, one within his Spells Known repertoire), the gen must search for a number of rounds equal to 1d4 + the spell level."

Note the capitalization of "Spells Known" in that passage - it's specifically referring to Table 2-12:, "Sha'ir Spells Known", which tells you how many you get of each level. And what you get is what you get.

[Herbert West]

I'm confused at what you're trying to accomplish here. No matter how you get a spellbook onto a Sha'ir, that's not how they learn spells, so it won't remove any of the limitations you're trying to remove. Dragon Compenium:



Note the capitalization of "Spells Known" in that passage - it's specifically referring to Table 2-12:, "Sha'ir Spells Known", which tells you how many you get of each level. And what you get is what you get.

Oh, okay. Thank you for telling me, I wasn't really sure how it worked!