I devised an alternative to spell books, and that is to just use scrolls, the ones found in treasure, the Spellcaster can use a spell from a scroll to either memorise, as they would from a spell book, with the spell level limits as normal, or to cast regardless of spell level, as they would normally for a scroll, but in the latter case the spell disappears as per normal rules.
Scrolls would usually be accumulated from treasure, with maybe an increased chance, and also from any enemy Spellcasters defeated, if the big bad boss launches a fireball at the party, then it's a sure bet they'll have a fireball scroll somewhere.
This could create a number of interesting conundrums, should the Spellcaster use a scroll with a higher level spell and lose it, or save it until they are a level where they can memorise it, or when the Spellcaster is out of spells and needs to cast in a hurry and lose it forever.
In cases where a Read Magic spell is needed before a scroll can be read, every Spellcaster will have a scroll with this spell on they got at level one, and they'd better not lose it!
As possession of scrolls is riskier than spell books, the usual limits on the number of spells a Spellcaster may know is ignored, they are only limited by the spells they have on scrolls they own and can read, this is particularly important if the Spellcaster intends to take the scrolls on an adventure and risk losing them.
It may be possible for several Spellcasters to use the same scroll to memorise from, as long as each had previously cast Read Magic on it, or you could rule the Read Magic negates any previous casting so the scroll can only be used by one Spellcaster at a time.
The copying of scroll may be allowed, but this could be restricted by having rare materials, like the ink is from ancient dragon blood and the vellum is from the underbelly of a unicorn.
I devised an alternative to spell books, and that is to just use scrolls, the ones found in treasure, the Spellcaster can use a spell from a scroll to either memorise, as they would from a spell book, with the spell level limits as normal, or to cast regardless of spell level, as they would normally for a scroll, but in the latter case the spell disappears as per normal rules.
Scrolls would usually be accumulated from treasure, with maybe an increased chance, and also from any enemy Spellcasters defeated, if the big bad boss launches a fireball at the party, then it's a sure bet they'll have a fireball scroll somewhere.
This could create a number of interesting conundrums, should the Spellcaster use a scroll with a higher level spell and lose it, or save it until they are a level where they can memorise it, or when the Spellcaster is out of spells and needs to cast in a hurry and lose it forever.
In cases where a Read Magic spell is needed before a scroll can be read, every Spellcaster will have a scroll with this spell on they got at level one, and they'd better not lose it!
As possession of scrolls is riskier than spell books, the usual limits on the number of spells a Spellcaster may know is ignored, they are only limited by the spells they have on scrolls they own and can read, this is particularly important if the Spellcaster intends to take the scrolls on an adventure and risk losing them.
It may be possible for several Spellcasters to use the same scroll to memorise from, as long as each had previously cast Read Magic on it, or you could rule the Read Magic negates any previous casting so the scroll can only be used by one Spellcaster at a time.
The copying of scroll may be allowed, but this could be restricted by having rare materials, like the ink is from ancient dragon blood and the vellum is from the underbelly of a unicorn.
How does that sound?
interesting take on it. I am intrigued by more then one magic user using the same scroll to memorize the spell, using read magic. That's kind of cool.