What do binders know?

[Dragonmuncher]

I (finally) got a copy of Tome of Magic, and have just finished the Pact Magic section.

Cool stuff. I've thought binders were cool just from word of mouth, and actually reading their crunch (and all the vestige fluff) just makes them cooler.

I have one question, though: Do Binders know of every Vestige, and immediately have access to them as soon as they reach the appropriate level?

I ask because it seems like a lot of the Binder fluff involves "searching for ancient vestige lore" and the like. I don't recall anything mentioning how many vestiges a Binder knows of, so I assume he automatically knows them all. It just seems a little odd, that's all.

[Ghal Marak]

I was about to ask the same thing myself! Weird.

[Inyssius Tor]

I should think that he would know about any vestiges that his player wants, and would have to make a... Knowledge (some weird ToM skill, or possibly Arcana) check to know about any others.

[Dragonmuncher]

I was about to ask the same thing myself! Weird.

[lukelightning]

I'd say a binder knows of all the standard vestiges (the ones in Tome of Magic), just as a cleric knows of all the spells on the cleric list, a rogue knows all the rogue abilities, etc.

For non-standard vestiges I'd make that a knowledge check, possibly history or arcana.

[Ramza00]

Make sure to learn about the new vestiges that have been in different sources such as online web enhancements (there has been several), dragon magic, some dragon magazines etc

I believe it is listed in one of the Binder handbooks. You can locate them here

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=482636

[Bill Lumberg]

I asked this same question on the WoTC thread about custom vestiges. Most people felt that binders should know all the first and second level vestiges in the Tome of Magic. After that the DM should decide which ones are available just as he should decide what spells a wizard comes across in the campaign.

[lukelightning]

I asked this same question on the WoTC thread about custom vestiges. Most people felt that binders should know all the first and second level vestiges in the Tome of Magic. After that the DM should decide which ones are available just as he should decide what spells a wizard comes across in the campaign.

But the default game assumes wizards have access to all the spells in the PhB (not all in their book, of course, but potentially learn any of them). Similarly a binder should have access to all the vestiges in the ToM; if the DM decides otherwise he should tell the player right away. No sense playing a binder and planning on becoming a Scion of Dantalion if the DM decides Dantalion isn't available.