Spells and Trade Outs

[Mike]

Hi folks,

I wonder if I could request a little help on two fronts?

1. Magic-user spells books - how many spells does a first-level MU begin with?

2. I'm not sure I understand how 'trading out' a treasure really works. Would some kind soul offer an example please? If I was to place a treasure of 6,723 GP, how would I 'trade out' to generate gems and magic items?

Many thanks in advance.

[Mike]

Hey, people keep reading but no one's responding...sob...

[Ynas Midgard]

1. MU Spellbook
As far as I know the starting number of known spells is not specified. In my former WB campaign I gave MUs Detect Magic plus one random 1st level spell (and an extra one if he had an Intelligence bonus).

2. Trade Out example
First I roll for a 5k trade out - I roll 24 which means there are no major gems and magic items.

Next I roll five times on 1k trade out: 52, 82, 9, 15 and 6 - 9 and 6 are actual trade outs. Say one is a gem, the other is a magic item. First, I determine the value of the gem: I roll 2 on d4 and 674 on d1000: the result is a gem worth 924 gp.

Now, we roll for the magic item: 4 on the Medium Magic Items table, and a 12 on the Medium Misc. Magic Items table, resulting in a Bronze Horn of Valhalla.

We have traded out 2,000 gp so far - 3,000 still remains. We check 30 times if we get a 100 trade out, determine their results independently (guided by the book). What remains untraded is treasure found in coins.

I really hope I interpreted the guidelines right.

[tombowings]

In OD&D, the game off of which the white box was based, a magic user began play with all 1st level spells in his spell book, although at first level he could still only memorize and cast one each day.

[foxroe]

For the trade outs, another possible way to do it is to make fewer rolls based on the accumulated chances for the trade out. So using ynasmidgard's example above, instead of rolling 5 times for the 1000gp trade outs at a 10% chance for each, you could roll once at 50%, or twice at 30% and 20%, etc.

[Mike]

Thanks for the Trade Out examples folks - that now makes perfect sense. Much appreciated.

As for the MU spells, the only comment in the rules is that the MU starts with a spell book that 'may not' contain all of the listed spells (or something similar).

In Simon's excellent Woodland Warriors, MUs make a Lore roll for each first level spell to see if it's in the book... I might do similar with a Saving Throw for each spell?

[foxroe]

Apr 22, 2011 20:18:58 GMT -6 Mike said:

In Simon's excellent Woodland Warriors, MUs make a Lore roll for each first level spell to see if it's in the book... I might do similar with a Saving Throw for each spell?

This is fine for 1st level spells, but as the Magic-User increases in level and the ST decreases, said M-U's spell books will be top-heavy with powerful high-level spells...

It was never specifically spelled out (no pun intended) in the original game, which is why it's intentionally not perfectly clear in WB.

Some other ideas:
- only start with 1 spell
- only start with 1 spell + Read Magic
- start with 1d4 spells
- roll less than Intelligence on 1d20 or 3d6 to know each spell
- roll less than Intelligence on 2d6 for 1st level spells, 3d6 for 2nd level spells, 4d6 for 3rd, etc. (this will make it tough to get high level spells)
- purchase spells at 100gp (or more) per spell level
- quest for tomes and librams that contain the desired spells
- etc.

[Mike]

Thanks Fox. The idea was just to go with the ST for first level spells and the MU would have to find more powerful spells themselves.

I think I'm going to go with 4 random spells at first level with the proviso that one must be Read Magic. If that spell doesn't come up in the random 4, the player gets to choose which one to swap for Read Magic.

[mythmere]

I give the MU all the first level available spells, then one player selected spell per level as the character advances. That's just me, though.