Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 raleel Nov 02, 2014 4:58:33	those of you with wizards players, how many scrolls suitable for writing in the spellbook are you distributing? Do you have a target Number per level?
#2 AaronOfBarbaria Nov 02, 2014 5:20:02	I don't like to use any kind of target number of items of any type to be found - I favor item placement by thinking of the reason why the item is being encountered from a story point of view (i.e. you are more likely to find spell scrolls if you are exploring some ancient library or a wizard's tower than you would find if you were exploring ankheg tunnels).   Scrolls, I tend to hand out in groups of 1-6, with a higher likelihood of the lower numbers than the higher numbers.   I also pay zero attention to whether they are suitable for writing into a spellbook or not - the scrolls found are their because someone else wanted them and this is where they ended up, not because they are what the current party of adventurers passing through want.
#3 Timmee Nov 02, 2014 6:24:00	I agree. Especially in this edition where too many scrolls (or magic items in general) can easily tip the balance of power. Any item should be placed with great care and story involvement. That said, eventually they will introduce a way for characters to create scrolls for themselves. I'm very curious how that will play out.   Now, I'm running a converted 3.5e adventure path called Savage Tide, so I've had to moderate any treasure the players come across and tone it down to just the necessary story elements and occasionally throw in a funzee item for flavor. The party to date has come across 4 scrolls over the last 3 levels (5 - 7). Of course, the wonderful thing about 5e is that advancement doesn't require magic item scaling.  No PC has to have a +? anything to be effective at higher levels.   With all that to consider, it's still your game and if you like high fantasy, magic-slinging adventure, do whatever makes you happy.
#4 DateOfLies Nov 02, 2014 6:53:55	I don't see how giving away too many scrolls would be overpowering. There's many cool non-aggressive spells out there, and the wizard can only prepare a few of them at a time. My logic is that more spells = more cool and interesting ways to solve different problems. I love encouraging that behaviour to approach situations non-linearly, and the wizard is very well possitionned for that if he isn't limited to the 2 spells he gets every level. Having more early level spells does not break the game (unlike a +3 armor and weapon early on).   I think the 5e DMing community is too cheap when it comes to giving players magic items.
#5 raleel Nov 02, 2014 7:19:35	I suppose the real question is is there a basic assumption about how many scrolls are to be given out, and I suppose we won't really have an answer until Dec 9. I am also quite curious about scroll creation and spell research. The latter I missed quite a bit from 4e and that I enjoyed greatly back in 1e.   I'm not thinking quite as much about relative power of the game, but rather the wizard's spellbook and how it is somewhat DM depedent as a class feature - more so than most other ones, as the DM actually has to do something for it to work. I can't think of another class feature that is quite so tied to the DM actually performing an action (distributing scrolls) rather than, say, NOT performing an action (like making things immune to sneak attack, as a perhaps poor example) and as central to the character - in this case, flexibility, the wizard's primary schtick.   It seems to me that placing few or no scrolls is sort of tantamount to removing the ability entirely, leaving the wizard without one of his primary features. I do realize that wizard's get 2 spells a level for free, but that still leaves them pretty short of a full selection many times. The spellbook, in effect, represents the wizard's spell list, and my feeling is that it should be more robust than other classes at some point. It is not as much about having scrolls on every goblin pack or running a high fantasy game in that fashion.   For those of you who do not have a metric built in, do you tailor the adventures so that the party might run into scrolls if your wizard is shy spells (in whatever opinion you might have)? For example, your wizard hasn't had a new scroll in 2 levels, the trail of the bad guys naturally leads to a wizard's enclave.
#6 DateOfLies Nov 02, 2014 8:08:04	One thing I do is that I let the wizard buy scrolls.   Level 1 costs 100gp Level 2 costs 300gp
(Reply to #4) AaronOfBarbaria	DateOfLies wrote:
#8 DateOfLies Nov 02, 2014 14:35:12	AaronOfBarbaria wrote:
#9 AaronOfBarbaria Nov 02, 2014 17:36:05	No, it isn't necessarily a problem if magic items don't feel special. There is only a problem if you want them to and they don't.   It sounds from the rest of your post that you have conflated limited magical items with various other unenjoyable DM traits... and I'm not going to touch that or argue any more than to say that you are barking up the wrong tree if you think I was advocating using magic items as "bait" or as some kind of distraction from the weakness of the campaign's hooks.
#10 BRJN Nov 04, 2014 14:28:52	It should be easy to find scrolls with cantrips and the Very Common (dare I say stereotyped) L1 spells on them.  Finding other scrolls should be a treasure, a treat, and rewarding to your Wizard's player. You also need to think about how Wizards create new spells and record the fruits of their labors, in your world.   Talk it over with your Wizard and see what HE has in mind.  My "buggy wizard" would be fascinated with access to certain spells (4e Astral Wasp) but not care less about others (Classic Magic Missile), for instance. Maybe give him duplicate Scrolls of Common Spell X and a way to sell them for cash if he sees the need.  (It'll be easier than hauling a heavy chest full of jewels ... and draw less attention.)