High level wizard with 0gp! How to make a recovery?

[RoboEmperor]

My level 13 wizard was imprisoned for 1 year, and escaped via a massive prison break. He literally has nothing, no backups, no tattoos, no prepared spells, etc.

How does he restart his career?

edit:Dragon magazine is not allowed. My DM hates it too much.

[noob]

Wizards are very very skilled.
You might be employed for your incredible talents in art of magic and for your incredible knowledges.
Once you have enough money you can buy a spellbook and buy some spells then you sell services as a caster and you will quickly have a huge spellbook and be ready to go back to adventuring.

[Bronk]

My level 13 wizard was imprisoned for 1 year, and escaped via a massive prison break. He literally has nothing, no backups, no tattoos, no prepared spells, etc.

How does he restart his career?

No friends either? Fellow adventurers? Hire yourself out to some NPCs in return for looking over a few spell books? Mentor less experienced wizards while secretly copying their spell books?

You could always hire yourself out as a first level fighter and see if you could get any advantageous loot, and work your way up from there.

[RoboEmperor]

No friends either? Fellow adventurers?

Yup, none whatsoever. He was a criminal and all his fellow mates either betrayed him or is dead. Well actually he was deceiving his party members as a good guy and was ousted.

[Tiri]

You still have all your skills. Read scrolls for the magically-uneducated or offer to teach people about magic or weird monsters. Some people might pay for that. In fact, if you are teaching them, get them to pay you fees in advance and go out and buy a spellbook and scribe in some spells.

[GrayDeath]

Realize that THIS is what the Sorcerers you kept looking down upon always talked about.
Being reliant on one possession and Time to prepare WAS your downfall.

Now hate Sorcerers (instead of looking down on them) and do everything, yes even stealing Scrolls and such, to get your ppowers back and kill them all!




What, you`re not a murderously angry Wizard atm?
Then just do the other things suggested here, and keep wishing you were a Sorcerer. ^^

[AvatarVecna]

Unfortunately (and ironically), most of the quick solutions I can think of to this (activating an unused Contingency to take you to your backup spellbook safe on your private Demiplane, or summoning up a genie to wish you had an exact duplicate of your spellbook back, etc etc) are either things that can't be accomplished by a 13th lvl wizard, or are things that could be accomplished by a Wizard 13, but not the kind of Wizard 13 that gets captured and imprisoned for a year.

Hrm...

Find some level 1 wizard and beat him up for his textbooks (you've got good enough BAB/HP/Saves that they should be helpless against you). Use your super-high Spellcraft skill to figure out his personal spell code system, and you'll be able to use his spellbook; at this point, start selling Spellcasting Services until you can afford more spells (beating up other low-level Wizards as necessary); eventually, you should have quite a collection of spellbooks and money.

[Mr Adventurer]

What is your character build, ability scores, and skills?

[Tiri]

Find some level 1 wizard and beat him up for his textbooks (you've got good enough BAB/HP/Saves that they should be helpless against you). Use your super-high Spellcraft skill to figure out his personal spell code system, and you'll be able to use his spellbook; at this point, start selling Spellcasting Services until you can afford more spells (beating up other low-level Wizards as necessary); eventually, you should have quite a collection of spellbooks and money.

What if he gets arrested for beating people up and only has 1st-level spells to defend himself with?

[AvatarVecna]

What if he gets arrested for beating people up and only has 1st-level spells to defend himself with?

Sounds like a problem that can be solved by either "Mount" or (if not available), "Expeditious Retreat". :smallamused: Not a perfect solution of course, but then, that's why a good wizard puts contingency plans into action in case he gets separated from his main spellbook.

[johnbragg]

What if he gets arrested for beating people up and only has 1st-level spells to defend himself with?

1st level spells, PLUS +6 BAB, and 30-35 (13d4) hp.

Alternate approach: Instead of beating up the 1st level wizard, partner up with him. He can tell people you're a monk who prefers the quarterstaff to fists. A 1st level wizard with a 3rd level fighter-equivalent bodyguard rocking +20 Spellcraft and Knowledge: Arcana who can cast 1st level spells 20+ times a day if necessary.

Hang out with him until he levels up a few times. Then buy some scrolls and rebuild your spell book, one level at at time.

[Inevitability]

What skill ranks do you have? Any craft or profession skill will allow you to earn the money you need to get your spells back. Even if you don't have any ranks, your high intelligence should make you a decent crafter.

Alternatively, use your reasonably high BaB and HP to beat up some travelers and steal their stuff. These stats might suck compared to other adventurers, but a commoner goes down easily to two hits with a staff.

Once you have a bit of money, buy a scroll of Mount, some ink, and a new spellbook. Learn Mount. Now cast Mount with all of your spell slots to summon 34 horses. Each of them is equipped with a bit and bridle, and a riding saddle. Summoned items don't disappear after the summoning spell ends.

See where I'm going? Each casting of Mount nets you 12 GP of riding equipment. That's 408 GP a day: enough to let you scribe most spells you have access to after at most a few days of work.

From there on, start using more cost-efficient magic, like Wall of Salt or Water to Acid. Within a month, you should have regained a reasonable repertoire of spells. Within a year, you'll be richer than you ever were.

[johnbragg]

Step 1. Learn charm person.
Step 2. Spam charm person.
Step 3. Profit.

[Strigon]

Even with no resources, you're still tougher than most people. Pretend you're a low-level adventurer, find some low-level gear (or take out a loan if you can't), clear out a nest of kobolds, get enough money to start your spell collection over again.

Or you could find some low-level adventurers alone on the road, sneak up on them, and rob them.

If you're paranoid, as wizards often are, you could offer your services to someone else. You still have lots of skill points, you're bound to be able to make a living somehow.

However you slice it, you just need enough money for a spellbook and some first level spells. From there, your growth will be exponential until you get back to where you should have been all along. At which point you might look into figuring out what, exactly, went wrong, how you could've stopped it (you could have, you're a high level wizard), how to prevent it in the future, and maybe even exacting a bit of revenge.

But those are long-term goals, just focus on your first couple hundred GP for now.

[Troacctid]

Make Craft checks for a few weeks to earn money. You have good Intelligence, so you should have a decent check, and you get gp equal to half your check result each week.

[Zanos]

Depending on the setting, a 13th level wizard is considered an expert in magic. Hit up your local mage's guild and become a teacher on magical theory, and avail yourself of their spell library.

[Gildedragon]

Going to second the use your skills to gain money and lay low. Craft alchemy is something you should have had. Start making beer or spirits. There is always a market for that.
Also no spells in memory at all? Oof harsh.
Research spells independently. Cantrips first. Amanuensis and Prestidigitation are great first options as they are salable.

Also you are not buying a spellbook. You're carving your spells. You're also going to use the time it is taking you to relearn your spell arsenal to retrain your first level into Eidetic Spellcaster. Or you will join the Spell pool and start tattooing your most useful spells on you.

[Jack_Simth]

What skill ranks do you have? Any craft or profession skill will allow you to earn the money you need to get your spells back. Even if you don't have any ranks, your high intelligence should make you a decent crafter.Especially as it's usable untrained, yes. A "basic" Wiz-13 with 0 equipment will likely have a Craft modifier in the range of +4 to +8 (Option Low: base 15 Int, +3 level up; Option high: base 18 Int, +2 Race, +3 Level up, +3 age) without ranks.

But yeah: Hire yourself out, rob people, or slum it up pretending to be a very low level adventurer of a different class. That's how you get your "seed money" in general in a situation like this.

[RoboEmperor]

His ability scores are all 8 except...
14 CON
21 INT
11 WIS

He's a wanted criminal, remember that, so setting up shop somewhere might not be viable without getting arrested.

Also how do you make money with craft? Like what's the exact formula? If you're selling you're selling at 1/2 market price right? So I guess you spend 1/3 to buy raw materials, sell it at 1/2 to make a profit of 1/6.

Anyways he has a plethora of craft skills
Weaponsmithing
Metalworking
Sculpting
Tattoo

My DM has kindly let me reassign my skill points, so I can get a profession, but even if I max out one and take 10, it'd be (10 + (3 + 13))/2 = 13gp a week.

I need 2,825gp (scrolls) + 1,100gp (scribing cost) to pull off a wall of iron + fabricate combo for masterwork weapons, which is probably impossible to make in a year or two from profession or crafting, unless someone knows of a better way to make money. Sandstorm is not allowed so no flesh to salt.

[Mr Adventurer]

Also, you can prepare Read Magic without a spellbook.

[Gildedragon]

Craft: you earn half your check in gp per week Or you can make items and sell them at market cost.
Also you're not gunning for the scroll but to learn the spell yourself. Research it.
Also no alchemy? Damn it is one of the best effort to cash spells (and one that can help hide you by winning you the trust of your community (alchemical remedies and the like))

As to better way to make money: adventuring. But you need to have had time to research your spells. (You want Alter Self ASAP 2000gp and 2 weeks to research...)

You need 500gp* and a week to research a cantrip, which you then sell the services of at 5xCLgp a slot... Which will have you researching your first level spell soon which you sell at twice that.

But that is a tedious process... Has your DM have a plot or plan or just wants to see you grind gps

*it is odd that independent spell research costs more than scrolls; as your DM about lowering the cost to something less than 1000gp per spell level

[RoboEmperor]

Craft: you earn half your check in gp per week Or you can make items and sell them at market cost.
Also you're not gunning for the scroll but to learn the spell yourself. Research it.
Also no alchemy? Damn it is one of the best effort to cash spells (and one that can help hide you by winning you the trust of your community (alchemical remedies and the like))

As to better way to make money: adventuring. But you need to have had time to research your spells.

You need 500gp and a week to research a cantrip, which you then sell the services of at 5xCLgp a slot... Which will have you researching your first level spell soon which you sell at twice that.

But that is a tedious process... Has your DM have a plot or plan or just wants to see you grind gps

Researching spells requires 1000gp a week so that is not viable. You also need a complete arcane library, which is a place with lots of guards.

How does craft alchemy net me money? I can reassign my skillpoints to get it.

I guess I could buy a spellbook with the spells I want. That would be 15gp (book) + 500gp (fabricate) + 600gp (wall of iron, to a grand total of 1115gp.



But that is a tedious process... Has your DM have a plot or plan or just wants to see you grind gps

He wants to see me how I get out of it XD. If I have a solid plan he will fast forward a few years.

[Jack_Simth]

Also how do you make money with craft? Like what's the exact formula? If you're selling you're selling at 1/2 market price right? So I guess you spend 1/3 to buy raw materials, sell it at 1/2 to make a profit of 1/6.Nope. Per the Craft Skill (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/craft.htm): "You can practice your trade and make a decent living, earning about half your check result in gold pieces per week of dedicated work." (Emphasis added)

Let's assume you go the "honest crafter" route.

If you're 13th, and have 16 ranks in Craft (Weaponsmithing) (or 13 ranks and +3 class skill, if Pathfinder - same result) to go with that +5 Intelligence modifier, then your "take ten" check result is 31, for 15 gp/week net ... before living expenses. If you can satisfy yourself with "Poor" meals and inn stays, you're burning 3 sp/day that way. Over that week, you lose 2.1 gp, so your net after living expenses is thus 12.9 gp/week.

You need a spellbook + a few saleable spells.
A blank spellbook costs 15 gp (or 5 gp materials and a craft check, but given the crafting timeframe, it'll be better to buy unless you've got applicable ranks).
Adding to a mundane spellbook costs costs 100 gp per spell level in 3.5 (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#writingaNewSpellintoaSpellbook) (cantrips count as 1 for this purpose).
Per Adding Spells (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#addingSpellstoaWizardsSpellbook), "wizards charge a fee for the privilege of copying spells from their spellbooks. This fee is usually equal to the spell’s level × 50 gp."
So you need 150 gp/spell level, generally. For low level spells (0th and 1st), it's cheaper to buy a scroll than it is to go with the copying fee (12.5 gp to buy a scroll of a 0th level spell, 25 gp to buy a scroll of a 1st level spell, vs. 25 gp and 50 gp respectively to copy... in either case, you still need to have the 100 gp for the scribing materials).
Ignoring 1st and 0th level spells, on average, you're looking at 11.627... weeks of honest labor for each level of spell you want to copy, plus a little over a week to get the spellbook in the first place.

So yeah, it'll be a bit before you can kick off one of the neigh-infinite wealth chains to get yourself back up to specs.

[Gildedragon]

Researching spells requires 1000gp a week so that is not viable. You also need a complete arcane library, which is a place with lots of guards.

How does craft alchemy net me money? I can reassign my skillpoints to get it.

I guess I could buy a spellbook with the spells I want. That would be 15gp (book) + 500gp (fabricate) + 600gp (wall of iron, to a grand total of 1115gp.



He wants to see me how I get out of it XD. If I have a solid plan he will fast forward a few years.
Researching new spells is insane expensive because it is meant for spells that don't exist. Ask if it can be made cheaper to research spells that already exist. If not: scrolls (which is weird, that scrolls are cheaper than figuring out the spell)

Alchemy nets you money the same way other craft skills do; but being in a community providing them meds is a sure way to have people protect you. You're Doc W. Izard.
Scroll of alter self (150gp) asap

Also don't buy a spellbook. Work the spellbook into tokens and bricabrac. Into a dagger, stitched into bracelets etc.

[Troacctid]

Joining an organization could also help. Many organizations will loan out spellbooks or magic items to their members.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Use PHB2 retraining to nab yourself eidetic spellcaster and the rest of the easy bake wizard hooey, so you'll automatically have your basic allotment of spells in your repertoire from the retraining (which can no longer be negated), and use those to start on some WBL-mancy. A wall of salt is literally worth its weight in silver, after all.

[RoboEmperor]

DM officially gave the NO to dragon magazine.

[johnbragg]

Researching new spells is insane expensive because it is meant for spells that don't exist. Ask if it can be made cheaper to research spells that already exist. If not: scrolls (which is weird, that scrolls are cheaper than figuring out the spell)

That's not weird. A scroll is the equivalent of an off-the-rack suit. It makes all the sense in the world that an off-the-rack suit costs less than buying the materials and putting your own suit together by experimental trial and error.

I still think that with the BAB and skill points a 13th level wizard has, and the spells per day a 13th level wizard has, you can make a deal with a low-level wizard that helps you both out to copy his or her low-level spellbook to start off.

[ericgrau]

If you can't get an NPC to hire you, not even on the black market, go kill some CR 3 monsters for some gold. With your bare hands or a free quarterstaff if need be. Spend on a spellbook, NPC spells and/or scrolls, repeat at higher difficulty until done.

[gogogome]

Retrain spells. It takes 1day + 5gp per spell level to retrain a spell, so retrain one of your spells you took as a wizard. If you want wall of Iron and fabricate, it will cost you 2 days and 55gp. Since they are of 2 different levels you can't change both of them at once (PHBII says you can change upto 2 spells at once). Well within craft range.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

DM officially gave the NO to dragon magazine.Retrain and take the spontaneous divination ACF to make some money via playing seer, and go into the mage of the arcane order PrC in order to trade your empty spell slots for spells you can then write into a spellbook?

[Troacctid]

Retrain and take the spontaneous divination ACF to make some money via playing seer, and go into the mage of the arcane order PrC in order to trade your empty spell slots for spells you can then write into a spellbook?
Spontaneous Divination won't help you if you don't know any divination spells.

[Jack_Simth]

Retrain and take the spontaneous divination ACF to make some money via playing seer, and go into the mage of the arcane order PrC in order to trade your empty spell slots for spells you can then write into a spellbook?
Spells called from the Spellpool explicitly do not last long enough to scribe. Oh yes, and you have to return actual spells to the spellpool, not just blank slots.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Spontaneous Divination won't help you if you don't know any divination spells.Would that include the spells you can access from the MotAO's spell pool?

[eggynack]

Well, the main problem is that you need cash for spells and spells for cash. What I'd suggest is taking on a job that would require your magic, but you’re paid half up front in the form of a spell book containing needed spells. The utility you'd be selling is the underlying capability to use such a spell book at all, and you can sell it at a discount if ya want.

[Jack_Simth]

Would that include the spells you can access from the MotAO's spell pool?

You don't actually know them, so no. Plus, there's that pesky entry fee....

[Darth Ultron]

1) Casting spells for others. Even with no spellbook, you can still use scrolls, staffs and wands. There are people that have those items, form loot for example, but can't use them. Adventurers would be a good target as they are likely to get a ''used scroll or wand''. Criminals are another good choice. Of course, getting a spellbook makes this much easier...

2)Get a spellbook. You can straight up steal one, of course. Even a 1st level wizards will do. You could also get one on credit, or some other trade....like casting a spell.

3)Using skills for others. Same as above. You might want to stick to criminals.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Make enough money to enter the MotAO, use the MotAO to cast secret page on some empty pages to create a spellbook from scratch, then use those pages to scribe an actual spellbook (and some backups) once you have enough money?

And this time, make absolutely certain you're protected in case something like this happens again.

[RoboEmperor]

Retrain spells. It takes 1day + 5gp per spell level to retrain a spell, so retrain one of your spells you took as a wizard. If you want wall of Iron and fabricate, it will cost you 2 days and 55gp. Since they are of 2 different levels you can't change both of them at once (PHBII says you can change upto 2 spells at once). Well within craft range.

Can someone confirm this?

[Jack_Simth]

Can someone confirm this?
PHB II Page 194. Examples are all for spontaneous casters. Technically it works on prepared ones, but, umm, it's all about exchanging currently known spells, which the character in question doesn't really have at the moment.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Wizards are reliant upon the wizarding community to expand their collective knowledge, every wizard knows this to an extent. Go to the nearest large-ish settlement that has an arcane university and offer to perform some service for anyone willing to lend you an old spellbook for a couple weeks so you can get started again. Expect to get spells on a level below your current capability and make do with what you get until you have a chance to repay the fellow and clear an adventure or two for the gold to straight up rent access to some other spellbooks or purchase scrolls and expand your repetoire.

Get some basic, necessary spells tattooed on you body so that this doesn't happen again.

[RoboEmperor]

Get some basic, necessary spells tattooed on you body so that this doesn't happen again.

He had tattoos. They erased them all upon capture. No prison is gonna let a wizard prepare spells while imprisoned.

[Kelb_Panthera]

He had tattoos. They erased them all upon capture. No prison is gonna let a wizard prepare spells while imprisoned.

That sucks. What crime did he commit?

[RoboEmperor]

That sucks. What crime did he commit?

He was practically the BBEG of the last campaign. He was the real bbeg's son and he almost succeeded in usurping his father through adventurers. He almost TPK'd his party at the climax. It was only because of the party's paladin that he was shown mercy and sent to prison.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

He had tattoos. They erased them all upon capture. No prison is gonna let a wizard prepare spells while imprisoned.Print additional tattoos with invisible ink made so with sequester? Then just acquire a "device" of see invisibility to prep some emergency spells, as I doubt the prison will check you over with said devices.

Also, a thought bottle with a day's complement of spells so you can quickly prep in an emergency. Keep it in a secret chest whose figurine is in a permanency'd shrink item'd spellbook that you keep in a false tooth that is also sequester'd.

[nedz]

PHB II Page 194. Examples are all for spontaneous casters. Technically it works on prepared ones, but, umm, it's all about exchanging currently known spells, which the character in question doesn't really have at the moment.

So I could play a fixed list caster and just change my spell list for a bit of downtime and a pittance in gold ?
This exploit would raise them a couple of tiers.

[Kelb_Panthera]

He was practically the BBEG of the last campaign. He was the real bbeg's son and he almost succeeded in usurping his father through adventurers. He almost TPK'd his party at the climax. It was only because of the party's paladin that he was shown mercy and sent to prison.

Oh......... wow........

It might be time to seriously consider retiring to somewhere distant and unallied with the place you escaped from. I can't imagine you're going to be welcomed anywhere nearby for the forseeable future.

[Jack_Simth]

So I could play a fixed list caster and just change my spell list for a bit of downtime and a pittance in gold ?
This exploit would raise them a couple of tiers.
... I was summarizing the relevant bits of why it wouldn't work in the OP's specific situation, not giving a summary of the mechanic. The writers already thought of the specific exploit you bring up. "Each new spell or power must be usable by the and of the same spell level or power level as the spell or power it replaces" - makes it useless for fixed-list casters.

[Gildedragon]

With that backstory: independent research.
Also spells: scarification next time, and hide a cache of spells carved on cave walls.

[Jack_Simth]

He was practically the BBEG of the last campaign. He was the real bbeg's son and he almost succeeded in usurping his father through adventurers. He almost TPK'd his party at the climax. It was only because of the party's paladin that he was shown mercy and sent to prison.

Hmm... well, you said your DM is letting you re-spec skills?

Profession(Sailor). Get a job on a ship going as far away as possible. Lower wages than Craft (because Int vs. Wis), but usually comes with room & board, and gets you well out of dodge as a bonus.

[Andezzar]

Spontaneous Divination won't help you if you don't know any divination spells.On top of that, if you do not have any spell prepared, you cannot swap a spell out for a divination spell.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

On top of that, if you do not have any spell prepared, you cannot swap a spell out for a divination spell.That's easy enough. Every wizard knows read magic without needing a spellbook, so prep it in every slot. Heighten it if need be.

[Andezzar]

That's easy enough. Every wizard knows read magic without needing a spellbook, so prep it in every slot. Heighten it if need be.You are right, I forgot about that. But still you can only spontaneously convert read magic to a divination spell you know. Without access to a spellbook you do not know any spells (except read magic).

[Harmelyo]

I would go with poison crafting (using alchemy if you don't mind the minus 4 to your roll )if I were you unlike other craft it is based on gp not silver. This should quickly get you enough money and friends in a fringe of the society where your recent escape won't be a crippling issue.
One all time great poison is the drow sleep poison. It is actually made of mushroom so once located or bought some, you can set up a really nice shop for all kind of unsavory characters without getting into too much trouble for being selling arsenic. "it is to help people to go to sleep..."is a valid excuse if you meet guards.
Spell wise I would make alterself and disguise person big on my list then all the big contingency and gtfo ones

[Telonius]

Is "Ambush a 1st-level Wizard and steal his spellbook" not on the table? You'd probably win even without spells, with your +6 BAB and 13 levels worth of hitpoints.

[Segev]

The simplest self-sufficient approach would be to take advantage of retraining and claim you did it over the lengthy time you were in prison. You want to trade out a feat for Spell Mastery (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#spellMasterySpecial), selecting spells you once had as your mastered ones. You can even justify this as having painstakingly memorized and re-memorized the spells you still had prepared, or spells you barely remembered, until you had them back.

If that doesn't work for some reason ("He wouldn't have been stuck in prison if he could do that" being a valid one from a meta-perspective), then the question arises: has he seen the error of his ways? Has he repented? Does he wish to turn over a new leaf? Or is he a dirty scoundrel who'll do anything to get his power back?

If the former, he might, maybe, be able to seek out the paladin who showed him mercy in the first place, and plead for a second chance. Turn the paladin into a quest-giving NPC Patron who uses him to "get things done." Under the paladin's supervision, of course.

I wouldn't chance that as a deception if he's still evil in his heart, though. Especially when "pretend to be a 1st level rogue with a good UMD skill" will let him infiltrate a party, legitimately take a share of loot, get the party wizard to scribe scrolls for him to "UMD" (which he'll put in his own, hidden spellbook), and possibly killing them all and looting the corpses could net him a whole spellbook as well as a cache of magic items and wealth after 1-2 dungeon crawls.

Does he really have no old hide-aways with backup spellbooks? The "carve a backup spellbook in a cave somewhere" idea has merit; he should look into that for the future, at least.

[dspeyer]

Offer a deal to some thieves and/or adventurers that you will identify any arcane scroll in return for a chance to transcribe it into your spellbook.

[Inevitability]

Offer a deal to some thieves and/or adventurers that you will identify any arcane scroll in return for a chance to transcribe it into your spellbook.

Problem: if you transcribe a scroll, the magic fades from it.

Of course, you could copy the scroll then let someone transcribe it from your spellbook.

[Bucky]

That's easy to fix. Transcribe the scroll, prepare the spell it contained with Still Spell and cast it while holding the ex-scroll.

[Segev]

Or transcribe the scroll into your spellbook, then scribe a new scroll of that spell. You're a wizard; you have the relevant item creation feat. The customer won't care if it's the same piece of magical parchment, only that they get the same boom for their buck.

If you're a dishonest jerk, you could even lie and say scrolls are of a 0th or 1st level spell no matter what they're level, if you think you can get away with the deception. Far cheaper and faster than legitimate high-level scrolls. But probably not worth it; scrolls are cheap enough that a reputation for honesty will profit you more.

edit to add anecdote: One of the weirder intra-party arguments I ever got into was in a game where I was a wizard and another player was stubbornly insistant on playing a fighter/mage who went one level wizard/one level fighter/one level wizard/one level fighter all the way up, and on wearing heavy armor all the time. She preferentially used scrolls to avoid the ACF.

Her player didn't seem to grasp that I could scribe scrolls, nor what that meant. She would consistently tell me not to "hog the scrolls" when we got them as loot. All I ever did with them was scribe them into my spellbook, and offer to let her copy them to hers. Any she got she would save for use, and never copy into her book. Which probably means she didn't realize SHE could scribe scrolls, either. I'd feel badly if I hadn't tried to explain it to her, but she refused to listen. It was...weird. (She also refused any advice on how to build her character more effectively. Her concept apparently wasn't just "warrior-trained mage" or "mage-trained warrior," representable by anything that would let her do both, but literally "wizard/fighter/wizard/fighter/wizard/fighter" all the way up all 20 levels, so she'd wind up with 10 of each. She insisted that was her "concept" and that anything else violated it.)