Prices outside PHB

[Rukelnikov]

I haven recently been made aware of a list of prices for copying spells which appears in Waterdeep Dragon Heist (pg 34). I'd like to know if there are prices for anything else outside the PHB, I'm interested in compiling them.

Copying spells from a spellbook (specific list, but being a bookstore in Waterdeep I assume these should be somewhere around the normal market price):


1st level - 25 gp
2nd level - 75 gp
3rd level - 150 gp
4th level - 300 gp
5th level - 750 gp

[Tanarii]

Those are crazily low.

Scribing a spell scroll costs are in XTGE. Just double that amount to account for time (normal procedure).

Although really it should account for the cost of the Wizard to scribe the spell into their book in the first place too. So add 50gp/level to XTGE, then double it. But that starts to become a rounding error by the time you get to 5th level spells, so maybe skip it. Anyway:

1 - 130gp
2 - 700gp
3 - 1,300gp
4 - 5,400gp
5 - 10,500gp
6 - 30,600gp
7 - 50,600gp
8 - 100,800gp
9 - 500,900gp

[Rukelnikov]

Those are crazily low.

Scribing a spell scroll costs are in XTGE. Just double that amount to account for time (normal procedure).

Although really it should account for the cost of the Wizard to scribe the spell into their book in the first place too. So add 50gp/level to XTGE, then double it. But that starts to become a rounding error by the time you get to 5th level spells, so maybe skip it. Anyway:

1 - 130gp
2 - 700gp
3 - 1,300gp
4 - 5,400gp
5 - 10,500gp
6 - 30,600gp
7 - 50,600gp
8 - 100,800gp
9 - 500,900gp

Well, the ones I posted come from Waterdeep Dragon Heist, so they are official, and as we know specific trump general, the XGTE ones were more general prices IIRC, had roll involved to see if you ended up paying more or less than the avg, and likely include the cost of tracking the item and such.

EDIT: Btw the prices I posted are the fee charged by the Bookstore's mage, you still have to pay normal price for copying a spell, the price listed is what the mage charges for leting you borrow the spell in question to copy.

[Zhorn]

What bothered me about the XGtE prices were there being two price listings for scrolls that seemed backwards to eachother.

There's the cost of scribing a scroll as Tanarii used in their formula (original costs on p133)

cantrip - 15 gp
1st - 25 gp
2nd - 250 gp
3rd - 500 gp
4th - 2,500 gp
5th - 5,000 gp
6th - 15,000 gp
7th - 25,000 gp
8th - 50,000 gp
9th - 250,000 gp

and then there's the buying price for ready made scrolls on p174

cantrip - 25 gp
1st - 75 gp
2nd - 150 gp
3rd - 300 gp
4th - 500 gp
5th - 1,000 gp

from 2nd level on it's cheaper to buy a scroll rather than scribe it yourself :smallconfused:
My guess is the folks who wrote each section did not talk to each other over this.

[Unoriginal]

(specific list, but being a bookstore in Waterdeep I assume these should be somewhere around the normal market price):


That kind of magic services is cheaper in Waterdeep due to the high number of wizards living there.

[stoutstien]

What bothered me about the XGtE prices were there being two price listings for scrolls that seemed backwards to eachother.

There's the cost of scribing a scroll as Tanarii used in their formula (original costs on p133)

cantrip - 15 gp
1st - 25 gp
2nd - 250 gp
3rd - 500 gp
4th - 2,500 gp
5th - 5,000 gp
6th - 15,000 gp
7th - 25,000 gp
8th - 50,000 gp
9th - 250,000 gp

and then there's the buying price for ready made scrolls on p174

cantrip - 25 gp
1st - 75 gp
2nd - 150 gp
3rd - 300 gp
4th - 500 gp
5th - 1,000 gp

from 2nd level on it's cheaper to buy a scroll rather than scribe it yourself :smallconfused:
My guess is the folks who wrote each section did not talk to each other over this.

I think it was somewhat on purpose to prevent clear cut rules for circumventing spell per day limits. Scribe wizards and artificers needed some cut off point for logical limits on making libraries of war.

OTOH, Not like the rarity categories or other crafting costs make any sense.

[Tanarii]

Well, the ones I posted come from Waterdeep Dragon Heist, so they are official, and as we know specific trump general, the XGTE ones were more general prices IIRC, had roll involved to see if you ended up paying more or less than the avg, and likely include the cost of tracking the item and such.And I'm saying that the specific rules for that module are crazily low. As are the adventurers league season whatever it was ones per XTGe page 174 that Zhorn found,


EDIT: Btw the prices I posted are the fee charged by the Bookstore's mage, you still have to pay normal price for copying a spell, the price listed is what the mage charges for leting you borrow the spell in question to copy.Access to a spell means they're either selling you a scroll, or a Wizard is loaning you access to their personal spell book for 2 hours per spell level. There's no way they're doing the latter in a bookstore. Even convincing a Wizard to do that normally is pretty crazy to conceive of, they'd have to owe you a huge favor. So scroll prices are the relevant benchmark.


What bothered me about the XGtE prices were there being two price listings for scrolls that seemed backwards to eachother.The latter are a Adventurer's League specific Season rule that they for some reason decided to put in Xanathars as a "variant rule". Generally they keep it separate from their non-adventure line products. Adding rules from a specific season that'll eventually time out is a particularly odd choice.

Edit: Actually looking at the price of Magic items in XGtE buying a consumable item rules, I agree something is out of whack with scribing costs.

1 - (C) - 5-25gp
2-3 - (U) - 50-300gp
4-5 - (R) - 1k-10k go
6-8 - (VR) - 10k-25k gp
9 - (L) - 25k-150k

(Plus cost to find)

[quindraco]

What bothered me about the XGtE prices were there being two price listings for scrolls that seemed backwards to eachother.

There's the cost of scribing a scroll as Tanarii used in their formula (original costs on p133)

cantrip - 15 gp
1st - 25 gp
2nd - 250 gp
3rd - 500 gp
4th - 2,500 gp
5th - 5,000 gp
6th - 15,000 gp
7th - 25,000 gp
8th - 50,000 gp
9th - 250,000 gp

and then there's the buying price for ready made scrolls on p174

cantrip - 25 gp
1st - 75 gp
2nd - 150 gp
3rd - 300 gp
4th - 500 gp
5th - 1,000 gp

from 2nd level on it's cheaper to buy a scroll rather than scribe it yourself :smallconfused:
My guess is the folks who wrote each section did not talk to each other over this.

That second price list is explicitly house rules and not RAW, despite being in a rulebook. The Xanathar's raw for buying scrolls is on page 126. For example, the real base buying cost of an L2 spell scroll from Xanathar's is 275 (the scroll costs 175 on average at the market, but it costs you 100 gp and a week to find the merchant) and a DC 15 Persuasion check, not 150. That's still completely insane, since the merchant doesn't get 100 of those gp, meaning the merchant is still selling the scrolls for less than they cost to make.

If you want to fix it, set the crafting cost of scrolls to half the buying price based on rarity, same as done with healing potions. This will cause a rules paradox at these spell levels: 0, 2, 4, 6, and 7. Fix as follows: set the crafting cost of an L0 scroll to 15 gp, not 25. Set the crafting cost of an L2 scroll to 80, not 100. Set the crafting cost of an L4 scroll to 800, not 1,000. Set the crafting cost of an L6 scroll to 6,000 and the crafting cost of an L7 scroll to 8,000, not 10,000. I believe that should render your crafting rules consistent, although I make no guarantees about matching the Xanathar's rules for buying and selling them at the market.

Note: I fixed the rules paradoxes by multiplying the crafting cost by 4/5 for each reduction in spell level, 3/5 for cantrips (since they should be extra cheap, seeing as cantrips don't consume slots). You can use 3/5 across the board if you want cheaper crafting costs.

[Rukelnikov]

Access to a spell means they're either selling you a scroll, or a Wizard is loaning you access to their personal spell book for 2 hours per spell level. There's no way they're doing the latter in a bookstore. Even convincing a Wizard to do that normally is pretty crazy to conceive of, they'd have to owe you a huge favor. So scroll prices are the relevant benchmark.

The bookstore owner is a mage, and yeah, he's letting you borrow one of his spellbooks to copy, and that's the price he charges. Btw, the book says he's capable of making scrolls of said spells too, but he charges double the copying price.


Edit: Actually looking at the price of Magic items in XGtE buying a consumable item rules, I agree something is out of whack with scribing costs.

5e has a pretty much nonexistant economy, and the price suggestions and item rarities in the DMG are hilariously misplaced, that's one of the reasons I find it so interesting that they gave definite prices for copying a couple spells, and why I wanted to know if there were specific prices for maybe a couple magic items or something elsewhere.

[Tanarii]

The bookstore owner is a mage, and yeah, he's letting you borrow one of his spellbooks to copy, and that's the price he charges. Btw, the book says he's capable of making scrolls of said spells too, but he charges double the copying price.
So the mage is insane. Got it.

[Rukelnikov]

That kind of magic services is cheaper in Waterdeep due to the high number of wizards living there.

This does make sense, case in point, a CR 6 mage capable of casting 5th lvl spells, sells books and access to spellbooks for a living.

[Unoriginal]

That second price list is explicitly house rules and not RAW, despite being in a rulebook. The Xanathar's raw for buying scrolls is on page 126. For example, the real base buying cost of an L2 spell scroll from Xanathar's is 275 (the scroll costs 175 on average at the market, but it costs you 100 gp and a week to find the merchant) and a DC 15 Persuasion check, not 150. That's still completely insane, since the merchant doesn't get 100 of those gp, meaning the merchant is still selling the scrolls for less than they cost to make.

The 2nd lvl spell scroll costs between 50 and 300 gps.

It's entirely possible for a merchant to sell a scroll for less than what it cost to make simply due to the spell on it not being considered very valuable, or the merchant basing the price on how much they paid to acquire it.

As per the rules on p. 133, a mage trying to sell a 2nd lvl spell scroll they scribed themselves can get between 100 and 300 gps for it.

All in all the 2nd level spell scroll business is not very worthwhile.

[Sigreid]

And I'm saying that the specific rules for that module are crazily low. As are the adventurers league season whatever it was ones per XTGe page 174 that Zhorn found,

Access to a spell means they're either selling you a scroll, or a Wizard is loaning you access to their personal spell book for 2 hours per spell level. There's no way they're doing the latter in a bookstore. Even convincing a Wizard to do that normally is pretty crazy to conceive of, they'd have to owe you a huge favor. So scroll prices are the relevant benchmark.

The latter are a Adventurer's League specific Season rule that they for some reason decided to put in Xanathars as a "variant rule". Generally they keep it separate from their non-adventure line products. Adding rules from a specific season that'll eventually time out is a particularly odd choice.

Edit: Actually looking at the price of Magic items in XGtE buying a consumable item rules, I agree something is out of whack with scribing costs.

1 - (C) - 5-25gp
2-3 - (U) - 50-300gp
4-5 - (R) - 1k-10k go
6-8 - (VR) - 10k-25k gp
9 - (L) - 25k-150k

(Plus cost to find)

I could easily see a bookstore mage having his spells parsed out into multiple books, each containing only one spell that he is willing to sell the rights to copy in addition to his personal book(s) containing all his spells to include ones he won't sell.

[Tanarii]

This does make sense, case in point, a CR 6 mage capable of casting 5th lvl spells, sells books and access to spellbooks for a living.Technically a Mage or any other NPC caster without the spell book feature doesn't use spell books. Although I agree it's clearly the intent.


I could easily see a bookstore mage having his spells parsed out into multiple books, each containing only one spell that he is willing to sell the rights to copy in addition to his personal book(s) containing all his spells to include ones he won't sell.Does that even work?

*rereads spell book feature*

Yeah okay, I guess that's possible under the Replacing the Book clause. Egad the rules for Scrolls and Spellbooks are an incoherent mess. There doesn't seem to actually be a purpose to copying them from Scrolls, given that a Wizard can crank out a one-shot spell-for-sale for 50gp+50gp/level, at a time cost of 2 hours/spell level.

So there's your "by the book" bare minimum cost for buying a spell. It's right in the PHB spellbook section. Its utterly and ludicrously low, but hey, if you want God-Wizards, go for it. :smallyuk:

[Asisreo1]

There's actually quite a bit.

There's a table in the DMG about the prices to build and maintain Strongholds on pages 127 & 128.

The cost of explosives and "Alien Technology" is found in the DMG on page 268.

The cost of Poisons are found on page 257 of the DMG.

The cost of gemstones and Art Objects can be found on pages 134 & 135.

The cost of Airborne and Waterborne vehicles are found on page 119 of the DMG.

It may also be useful to check all spells with Material Components in XGtE and TCoE.

[Sigreid]

Technically a Mage or any other NPC caster without the spell book feature doesn't use spell books. Although I agree it's clearly the intent.

Does that even work?

*rereads spell book feature*

Yeah okay, I guess that's possible under the Replacing the Book clause. Egad the rules for Scrolls and Spellbooks are an incoherent mess. There doesn't seem to actually be a purpose to copying them from Scrolls, given that a Wizard can crank out a one-shot spell-for-sale for 50gp+50gp/level, at a time cost of 2 hours/spell level.

So there's your "by the book" bare minimum cost for buying a spell. It's right in the PHB spellbook section. Its utterly and ludicrously low, but hey, if you want God-Wizards, go for it. :smallyuk:

My wizards always start creating a spare copy of their book to put somewhere safe once they can afford it. Seems legit by RAW to me, but if it's a hose ruling, so be it.

Edit: Even in a town like Waterdeep it's up to the DM what spells are available for purchase. Some may be so rare or prized they just aren't sold.

[Rukelnikov]

My wizards always start creating a spare copy of their book to put somewhere safe once they can afford it. Seems legit by RAW to me, but if it's a hose ruling, so be it.

Edit: Even in a town like Waterdeep it's up to the DM what spells are available for purchase. Some may be so rare or prized they just aren't sold.

I generalized the levels so as not to type each spell by name, there were between 4-8 of each level (less higher level ones).

[KorvinStarmast]

How I do it:

You want someone to cast a spell for you and you have no previous relationship with them, the cost is Level of spell squared, x 100, divided by two, and you provide material components

level 1: 50 GP
level 2: 200 GP
level 3: 450 GP
and so on.
If you have a previous relationship, you may get a disount. And you may get a 'sticker plus' price if you've been a {censored}.

And

Any spell higher than level 6 that you want cast is not for sale. You need to work out a case by case deal.

You wanna resurrect the party Paladin? How bad do you want it? :smallcool:

This is a role playing game, not Amazawn dawt cawm.

[JackPhoenix]

The merchant is still selling the scrolls for less than they cost to make.

Only if the merchant is a PC. NPCs don't have to follow PC rules. The merchant is selling the scrolls for less than it takes *an adventurer to write in his spare time*. He's not necessarily selling a scroll for less than it takes a *professional magical scribe to write as a full-time job*.


How I do it:

You want someone to cast a spell for you and you have no previous relationship with them, the cost is Level of spell squared, x 100, divided by two, and you provide material components

Wouldn't it be simpler to just say the cost is spell level squared x 50?

[KorvinStarmast]

Only if the merchant is a PC. NPCs don't have to follow PC rules. The merchant is selling the scrolls for less than it takes *an adventurer to write in his spare time*. He's not necessarily selling a scroll for less than it takes a *professional magical scribe to write as a full-time job*.



Wouldn't it be simpler to just say the cost is spell level squared x 50? Not for me, since for years I didn't divide it by two (in previous editions), and, it's also (squared times 100) the basis for how I arrive at various discounts (or lack there of). In other words, I don't divide by two if the PC is a known {censored} or has a significant negative reaction from the NPC when they are discussing the sale.

Thanks for asking. :smallsmile:

[Kurt Kurageous]

That kind of magic services is cheaper in Waterdeep due to the high number of wizards living there.

Careful. You are on the edge of insanity to suggest DnD might actually have an economy, and that prices respond to market pressures.

[Kurt Kurageous]

This is a role playing game, not Amazawn dawt cawm.

In the trades, they are referred to as "The River." Just to help broaden your knowing by a micron.

[Zhorn]

Careful. You are on the edge of insanity to suggest DnD might actually have an economy, and that prices respond to market pressures.
People talk about making party builds to mess with their DMs. Forget that. Make backstories that justify your character wanting to know the economic balance points, market demands, and potential growth sectors in every town you visit. Use the funds you get from adventuring to make shrewd business investments to gain powerful financial footholds across the campaign. Demonstrates to the DM you have a deep interest into the workings of their world, but drives them insane workings out all the import/export values of all the commodities you are trading in...
Not that I'd ever do such a thing... :smallwink:

[jjordan]

People talk about making party builds to mess with their DMs. Forget that. Make backstories that justify your character wanting to know the economic balance points, market demands, and potential growth sectors in every town you visit. Use the funds you get from adventuring to make shrewd business investments to gain powerful financial footholds across the campaign. Demonstrates to the DM you have a deep interest into the workings of their world, but drives them insane workings out all the import/export values of all the commodities you are trading in...
Not that I'd ever do such a thing... :smallwink:I would eat that up. But I'd have to deviate heavily from published pricing and the other players would murder you or me or both.

[Unoriginal]

In the trades, they are referred to as "The River." Just to help broaden your knowing by a micron.

Ah, yes, the Great Material Continuum


https://youtu.be/BxHhCh9zA3I

[Zhorn]

I would eat that up. But I'd have to deviate heavily from published pricing and the other players would murder you or me or both.
Last campaign my character was quartermaster for a ship, and each town we sailed to I was doing the whole "resupply", making full itemized lists of things I'd be taking the crew out to get while the murder hobos of the party got drunk, picked fights, and got railroaded to the next quest.

Only did it on sessions when the DM was bringing in a new list of houserules or homebrew (most of which we brought in to intentionally screw over the party for thinking outside of the box on the previous session)... so pretty much every session :smalltongue:

I loved that character and will likely bring him back for a future game (though I'll dial down the stuff quartermaster stuff to be more reasonable).
But the constant changing houserules and the on-the-fly rulings to punish players... so glad to be gone from that game. My first instance of "no d&d is better than bad d&d"

[Merudo]

I haven recently been made aware of a list of prices for copying spells which appears in Waterdeep Dragon Heist (pg 34). I'd like to know if there are prices for anything else outside the PHB, I'm interested in compiling them.

Copying spells from a spellbook (specific list, but being a bookstore in Waterdeep I assume these should be somewhere around the normal market price):


1st level - 25 gp
2nd level - 75 gp
3rd level - 150 gp
4th level - 300 gp
5th level - 750 gp


In Tomb of Annihilation, the merchant prince Wakanga O'tamu sells the following scrolls:


1st level - 100 gp
2nd level - 550 gp

[Rukelnikov]

In Tomb of Annihilation, the merchant prince Wakanga O'tamu sells the following scrolls:


1st level - 100 gp
2nd level - 550 gp


Thx! Does he have a small list of them?

[MaxWilson]

People talk about making party builds to mess with their DMs. Forget that. Make backstories that justify your character wanting to know the economic balance points, market demands, and potential growth sectors in every town you visit. Use the funds you get from adventuring to make shrewd business investments to gain powerful financial footholds across the campaign. Demonstrates to the DM you have a deep interest into the workings of their world, but drives them insane workings out all the import/export values of all the commodities you are trading in...
Not that I'd ever do such a thing... :smallwink:

Or, ask the name of every single NPC you meet, no matter how minor, write them down along with details about them, and expect the DM to know who you mean when you say "I am going to go find Gabby and Ferdinand."

[Zhorn]

Or, ask the name of every single NPC you meet, no matter how minor, write them down along with details about them, and expect the DM to know who you mean when you say "I am going to go find Gabby and Ferdinand."

Sure, but I'd temper it with just aiming for the throw away NPC's that the DM is using to force the railroad.

There some willing buy-in of the DM has prepped a module about this session around <dungeon> involving <BBEG> and us players are willingly going to play towards. But if the NPC is introducing NPCs who interact with the party in only so far as to force the party to go down a very specific path with no room for agency, then yeah that NPC is going to end up with an entire chapter of the notebook dedicated to exhausting every possible detail about their life and their involvement with plot threads long past their intended relevance to the campaign.
Town leaders, guard captains, military officers, council members, etc. All the types which are treated as "too powerful to disobey, and cannot be reasoned with in any way" the some DMs pull out to do things that the party cannot alter, are immune to everything, and automatically thwart any counter measures.

You don't do it to the good DMs out there just trying their best. Name drop the tavern keeper or the stable master from several sessions ago to keep them on their toes, but nothing that will cause them to run Majora's Mask style timelines for who is where doing what and when. But for that other type of DM, go nuts. Then use that information to find out what economic powers are supporting them, and double up on the price game from before (had to link all this back somehow).

[jjordan]

Careful. You are on the edge of insanity to suggest DnD might actually have an economy, and that prices respond to market pressures.Because gold isn't money in D&D, its primary purpose is to serve as a means of balancing the availability of magic. Which is why there's discrepancy in prices between sources, because scenario creators felt players needed more, or less, access to magic in order to balance their specific scenario.

It's possible to create generally correct economies for D&D settings but they ultimately end up running counter to designer intent and modern expectations of what an economy should be (or end up being modern economies superimposed on a society which doesn't support them and, thus, ultimately more glaringly out of place).

[Tanarii]

Because gold isn't money in D&D, its primary purpose is to serve as a means of balancing the availability of magic.
D&D went from Magic isn't available to make or to buy/sell, Magic can be made for GP and XP, but not bought or sold, to price to buy (and sell for 50%) in the core rules, then back to 5e's whether or not Magic can be bought or sold is up to the DM.

And it's worth noting that in 5e, gp isn't about balancing availability of Magic. It may or may not be available for any amount of gold. Gold might only be usable for living like a noble, buying buildings and ships, and hiring armies. YMMV per your DM.

[KorvinStarmast]

(or end up being modern economies superimposed on a society which doesn't support them and, thus, ultimately more glaringly out of place). Yeah, it sure stands out like a wart on a baby's face. :smallmad:

D&D went from Magic isn't available to make or to buy/sell, While I prefer "magic isn't available to buy or sell or even make" (I like magic items to be placed ...) strictly speaking, Original D&D, in Men and Magic, included 'you can make magic items" (if you are a wizard, and some items at lower levels) but there was a chance of failure.
(Excerpted from Men and Magic, page 6)

Examples of costs are:
Item---------------------------------Cost
Potion of Healing-----------------250 Gold Pieces + 1 week
Potion of Giant Strength--------1,000 Gold Pieces + 4 weeks
Enchanting Armor to +1--------2,000 Gold Pieces + 2 months
Wand of Cold --------------------10,000 Gold Pieces + 6 months
X-Ray Vision Ring ----------------50,000 Gold Pieces + 1 year

You could also research new spells. (Men and Magic, p. 34)

I suspect that you are referring to B/X or BECMI D&D?

[Man_Over_Game]

It might be outdated, but the expected cost of a spell cast as a service is: Square of the spell level, then multiplied by 10, add double of the consumed material cost, add 10% of nonconsumed material cost.

This was reverse-engineered by the known costs from Tyranny of Dragons and Storm King's Thunder, and the formula is accurate with the spells in those books outside of the Resurrection spell (which is priced at ~500g more than the formula would have).

As an interesting aside, Zealot Barbarians pay the same amount as anyone else to get revived (despite not consuming the item), unless they happen to be an Acolyte, which then allows them to be revived at no cost :

"A character possessing the acolyte background requesting spellcasting services at a temple of their faith can request one spell per day from the Spellcasting Services table for free. The only cost paid for the spell is the base price for the consumed material component, if any is required." (https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/AL_DMG_YP.pdf)

[SharkForce]

Yeah okay, I guess that's possible under the Replacing the Book clause. Egad the rules for Scrolls and Spellbooks are an incoherent mess. There doesn't seem to actually be a purpose to copying them from Scrolls, given that a Wizard can crank out a one-shot spell-for-sale for 50gp+50gp/level, at a time cost of 2 hours/spell level.

So there's your "by the book" bare minimum cost for buying a spell. It's right in the PHB spellbook section. Its utterly and ludicrously low, but hey, if you want God-Wizards, go for it. :smallyuk:

less than that. 50 gp/spell level and 2 hours/level is to scribe a spell you don't know.

10 gp/spell level and 1 hour/level is the cost for spells you do know.

seriously, I've been mentioning this off and on for years. dunno why anyone ever talked about scrolls as if they matter from a perspective of selling spell knowledge. that would be silly. they're single-use, they're expensive, and they're useful for more than just copying into your spellbook. anyone selling spell knowledge should just be using spellbooks. I don't know if I would go *quite* so far as to suggest 1 spell per book, but it doesn't make any sense at all to go to the substantial effort to create a scroll for scribing when a spare copy of a spellbook does the job cheaper, better, and faster. especially if there is a variety of spellbook with far less space in it that costs significantly less (which there really should be, but I can certainly understand that people aren't generally interested in tracking specifically what spells are in what books and how much room is left in each book...)

scribing scrolls is for when you find a scroll of a spell that you *can't* just buy.