So while I was outside rototilling (before and after) I was working out some spells and some spell books. I snuck inside to check some of my databases, files, folders and materials on my cloud drive and I figure a conservative estimate is I have about 12,000 different spells spread out over all the editions of D&D. A good 800 or so are ones I wrote myself (I know I wrote close to 400 for Buffy and Ghosts of Albion and another 380 for the various witch books).
In CineUnisystem rules (Buffy, Ghosts of Albion, Angel) there is a quality called "Occult Library" which relates how many tomes of magic you can start with and thus how many spells. This works because there is no real formal training for would be spell casters for the most part and often spells are found in old libraries and collections. Much like Call of Cthulhu.
Occult Library is a variable quality. Without giving away too much here is a breakdown.
| Name | Points | # of Spells | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor | 1 | 4-13 | A spotty collection of Time-Life books |
| Fine | 2 | 7-16 | Access to the internet |
| Outstanding | 3 | 11-20 | Some really rare books |
| Amazing | 5 | 21-30 | Some unique tomes that no one else has |
How would this translate into terms a D&D player could use? Well, there is no economy to "buy" features in older versions of *D&D, but there is in newer versions. D&D 3rd, 4th, and 5th all have feats. Now keep in mind one of the reasons that wizards (and witch and warlocks and other spellcasters) go on adventures is to find new (or more likely "old") spells. I do not want to lose that. So given the feat economy in 4th and 5th edition, I would use this only for "starting" spells. The character spends a feat to gain access to a number of spells. I would also say that this feat is a Character Creation feat only. So you can only take it at 1st level.
New Feat
Arcane Library
You have access to a large library of arcane tomes where you can study at your leisure.
Prerequisites: Level 1 only; Ability to cast Arcane spells.
Benefit: You have access to a library of arcane and occult tomes. This library will give 3-18 (3d6) spells of up to 9th level (2d4 +1) (GM's can work with the player to determine what spells are found).
These spells must still be learned, but they are here for when you can learn them.
For older editions of the game, I would suggest adding an extra 100xp to spellcaster's Experience to the 2nd level to cover this boon. I would allow this for Witches, Magic-Users (Elf as a class), Illusionists and Bards, but not Clerics or Druids.
I am sneaking this one in under the wire, but this is my contribution to the RPG Blog Carnival, hosted this month by Hereticwerks. The topic this month was Journals, Grimoires and Spell-Books.
2 comments:
For 3.x-based games, you could have a feat to allow prepared arcane casters (wizards) to learn three spells for free each level instead of two, as long as one of them comes from the library.
You,could take this feat multiple times to have a much larger library. But you must now defend said library from various types of thieves.
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