DM problem... NPC/Mob Wizards

[Skyserpent]

I've always had hell with using Wizards as enemies... I mean, at first it seems a little easier since there's less spells per day to lay out and what they can cast is limited to what they've prepared. It's so direct in what they can or cannot do. But then, after they die, the party wants a gander at his Spellbook, and that's just a hassle. Picking new spells for every frickin' Wizard I want to let the party fight. Is there any good random generator or something that can help with the process of making NPC Wizards? I kind of want to set our next setting at a dark wizards college but this thing has me stuck... I'm lazy as hell and am not sure I am up to the task of laying out all these spellbooks...

[Starsinger]

Use Sorcerers? Or better yet, don't have them take their spell books, have them leave them at home! IIRC a wizard without his spell book, can prepare the exact same spells as yesterday, until he gets his book back, plus any spells for which he has Spell Mastery.

[The J Pizzel]

Heroforge/Spellforge my good man. It solves all your problems (well, almost all).

And here's the linky: (download the 5.x version)

http://www.nzcomputers.net/heroforge/

[Skyserpent]

Use Sorcerers? Or better yet, don't have them take their spell books, have them leave them at home! IIRC a wizard without his spell book, can prepare the exact same spells as yesterday, until he gets his book back, plus any spells for which he has Spell Mastery.

Wizards can DO that!?!?!? Can you point out this ruling?

[Toliudar]

Wizards can DO that!?!?!? Can you point out this ruling?

Yeah, I've never heard of that either.

I'm a big fan of sorcerers as BBEG's for exactly the reason you pointed out - plus, they get to be all charismatic and gloat-y. It rewards players who pay attention - they have a shot at getting to know a sorcerer's tricks and spells, and begin to plan for them. With a wizard, that's much harder to predict. Plus, if you NEED a sorcerer to have a spell...he has scrolls.

[Skyserpent]

Sorcerer's are the standard alternative and it's true that they are quite useful, but we have a Wizard in our group who gripes about never getting to add all that many spells. I kind of agree too that it's exciting to open someone else's spellbook to find spells that you never would have encountered before. Far moreso than Scrolls. A Scroll it's like: Ooh! New Spell! Maybe?" A Spellbook it's like "JACKPOT! Lots of spells, I may know most of them but it's a frikkin' BOOK there's gotta be one new little morsel!" It's all thematic. But I guess it's the same reason that Barbarians are easier to cook up than Fighters... Ah well...

And Heroforge is nice but the interface isn't all that intuitive... I'm currently sitting on a pile of confused and huh.

[Dausuul]

Sorcerer's are the standard alternative and it's true that they are quite useful, but we have a Wizard in our group who gripes about never getting to add all that many spells. I kind of agree too that it's exciting to open someone else's spellbook to find spells that you never would have encountered before. Far moreso than Scrolls. A Scroll it's like: Ooh! New Spell! Maybe?" A Spellbook it's like "JACKPOT! Lots of spells, I may know most of them but it's a frikkin' BOOK there's gotta be one new little morsel!" It's all thematic. But I guess it's the same reason that Barbarians are easier to cook up than Fighters... Ah well...

Indeed. Looting an enemy wizard's spellbook was always one of the high points of playing a wizard, back when I played wizards. (I have since abandoned wizards for sorcerors, which I consider to be a far better-designed, better-balanced, and more fun class.)

[Skyserpent]

Indeed. Looting an enemy wizard's spellbook was always one of the high points of playing a wizard, back when I played wizards. (I have since abandoned wizards for sorcerors, which I consider to be a far better-designed, better-balanced, and more fun class.)

You and me both, Brother. I mean, sure, we can still win D&D, why overburden ourselves with excess calculations?

[Keld Denar]

What I've done, and this mostly works well for low level wizards (ie, up to 3rd level spells) is their book contains all of the spells they have memorized (you should have a list of these already, unless you are totally winging the encounter) + roll a d6 (or d4 or d8) for 1st - 3rd level. Then roll a quick percent a number of times looking at the scroll list in the back of the DMG. Wiz boy has those extra spells in his book. If you roll a repeat, either reroll, or just drop it. For example:

1st level d6 = 3
%45 - the dudes painful blisters
%21 - cool stuff
%64 - another annoying 1st level spell

2nd level d6 = 1
%54 - delayed blast flatulence

3rd level d6 = 2
%74 - nifty spell of doing stuff
%73 - nifty spell of doing stuff (redundant, so reroll or just omit)

Of course, doesn't work with splat books, but from hero forge of some other compilation of spells, it wouldn't be hard to assign a number to each one, and then roll. A little DM homework saves a lot of DM headache.

[martianjones]

I've always had hell with using Wizards as enemies... I mean, at first it seems a little easier since there's less spells per day to lay out and what they can cast is limited to what they've prepared. It's so direct in what they can or cannot do. But then, after they die, the party wants a gander at his Spellbook, and that's just a hassle. Picking new spells for every frickin' Wizard I want to let the party fight. Is there any good random generator or something that can help with the process of making NPC Wizards? I kind of want to set our next setting at a dark wizards college but this thing has me stuck... I'm lazy as hell and am not sure I am up to the task of laying out all these spellbooks...

Well if they're from the same college I'm sure they get taught the same stuff so they can have mostly the same spells... I saw somebody mention a wizards guide in another thread, so maybe you can take some of the spells from that, and make, like, three different lists, and have each of the NPCs use one of the three...

[Attilargh]

The Annoying Way:

Have the College enforce the Rule of the Rune, which obligates each member to write the following on the title page of their spellbook:

"I prepared Explosive Runes this morning."

This will definitely cut down the number of spell lists you must prepare.


The Easy Way:

Crack open your Player's Handbook II on page 221 and just copy the appropriate suggestions for Wizard spells.


The Stupid Way:

:elan: Browse, browse, browse the spells from your three favourite splatbooks!


The Completely, Utterly Feebleminded Way:

Open a Spell Compendium.

[factotum]

If this is just about letting the party wizard get a few extra spells, couldn't you just basically copy HIS spellbook (with any modifications made for differences in barred and favoured school between him and the bad guy) and then add a few random ones you like the look of?

[tarbrush]

That or explain that his spellbook suffered a similar fate to its owner what he got blown up/splatted/transported to the nether dimensions?

[prufock]

If I were a wizard...

1. My spellbook would be trapped. Explosive runes on p.1, scattered symbols, and maybe a few nice-n-nasty contingency spells for good measure.
2. My spellbook is locked, double-locked, and triple-locked, as well as magically locked.
3. My spellbook and key are kept in similarly-protected separate chests.
4. The chests are hidden in different places, possibly extradimensional.
5. The chests are protected by the most powerful creatures I can afford.

Maybe I'm just paranoid.

If I remember correctly, some editions of the PHB came with character creation software, which may make things easier. I don't know of any link to it, though.

[Ditto]

Yeah, I don't know that your party should necessarily find the wizard's book... that's the easy solution if you don't want to deal with it. For mid to upper levels, it should definitely be trapped. Explosive Runes, Arcane Lock, Sepia Snake Sigil, some sort of contingent Teleport ('If someone other than me opens you, teleport back to my secret lair') or (for evil fun) a Geas/Quest. "Return this book to its rightful owner, undisturbed."

[Jasdoif]

Yeah, I've never heard of that either.Nor have I. In fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist; since the rules state a wizard needs a spellbook to prepare spells (unless you have an ability that says otherwise, like Spell Mastery).

A wizard does, however, retain prepared spells until they're cast or abandoned. So even if the wizard sleeps and doesn't prepare additional spells in the morning, any previously prepared spells remain prepared and ready for casting. Also, a wizard doesn't have to prepare all their spells for the day at once; you can leave spell slots open and fill them later in the day.

So a wizard doesn't strictly need to carry spellbooks with them everywhere, they can leave it at home or some other safe place they can return to when they need more spells.

Alternatively, a suitably wealthy wizard might maintain small "working" spellbooks for different kinds of tasks, with only the few spells they feel they need to prepare that day in them. And only carry one of those around, leaving their expensive and power-laden primary grimoires behind at a safe location, protected by traps, illusions and secret entrances. I think Complete Arcane talks more about this.


Either way, don't feel required to give your players a full spellbook every time they defeat a non-adventurer wizard.

[Damionte]

I usually have them leave thier spell book behind. Maybe a small travel spellbook. Unless ofcourse the PC's are taking it to him in his home. In which case his book is there.

I just roll up a bunch of random spells. Plus what I had him use. usually only takes a couple of minutes.

[Last_resort_33]

Apart from at really low level, Spellbooks should explode/burn/planeshift to the inner circles of hell/whatever if anyone other then them lays hands on it. It's only common sense.