Wizard losing his spellbook

[Nikosandros]

What happens to a wizard that loses his spellbook? Obviously any rituals contained in it are inaccessible, but what about daily and utility spells? The rules state:

Daily and Utility Spells: Your spellbook also holds your daily and utility spells. You begin knowing two daily spells, one of which you can use on any given day. Each time you gain a level that lets you select a daily spell or a utility spell, choose two different daily spells or utility spells of that level to add to your book. After an extended rest, you can prepare a number of daily and utility spells according to what you can cast per day for your level. You can’t prepare the same spell twice.

It's clear that the book is somehow instrumental in allowing a wizard access to his extra spells, but what happens without it?

I might be inclined to rule that the character retains his current choice of daily and utility spells and can't change it until he acquires a new spellbook in which he can write down the details of his "known" spells, but by a strict reading of the rules it might seem that the wizard can't "prepare" utility and daily spells at all without his book.

 

[Mentat55]

I would also rule as you would -- that the wizard must retain his current choice of spells.

 

[timbannock]

Agreed, with the caveat that it should be "easy" (in some relative sense of the word) to get their spells back. Even if it's not from their spellbook, it should be fairly easy to nab another wizard's spellbook and replace their spell-switching ability.

Why? Because other classes don't have this weakness. It's a feature of the wizard class, and features shouldn't be screwed with much or often.

Now, doing so every great once in a while is perfectly fine. Players should feel like their choices are worthwhile, but they should also understand that the DM is their god ;-)

 

[Caliber]

I might be inclined to rule that the character retains his current choice of daily and utility spells and can't change it until he acquires a new spellbook in which he can write down the details of his "known" spells, ...

I'd rule precisely this. They're stuck with whatever they had been preparing when it was lost, until they can either find their book or buy a new one. At that point, I'd let them re-record all their spells into it. I wouldn't want to let them change the spells they had recorded though; that just seems to open up the whole "let me buy another spellbook and record another whole suite of spells in there!", which goes pretty hard against the grain (plus, changing out spells like that should be using up their one free retrain per level ...)

 

[Nikosandros]

Agreed, with the caveat that it should be "easy" (in some relative sense of the word) to get their spells back. Even if it's not from their spellbook, it should be fairly easy to nab another wizard's spellbook and replace their spell-switching ability.

Agreed. I was thinking of requiring 8 hours of work, plus of course a new spellbook.

 

[Ryujin]

Agreed. I was thinking of requiring 8 hours of work, plus of course a new spellbook.

I would think treating them as if they were rituals of a level equal to the powers that the book represented would make sense; 8 Hrs for Heroic, 16 Hrs for Paragon, and 24 Hrs for Epic. I would also allow the character to recreate any lost rituals in the new book(s) without needing to hunt the sources down, because having to pay for copying them all over again is punishment enough for losing the book. Hell, it would take my character a couple of months to recopy all of the rituals he has.

 

[Regicide]

Losing a spell book is a lot harder than having armour destroyed or lost, and how often does that happen? Next time they're in town they just have to stop at the local level-appropriate magic shop with infinite selection and pay the 1 gold restocking fee for a new book with all their spells already in it.

If you want to hand-wave it another way, they have cunningly stored backup copies of their spell book all over the place since they're wizards and they're smart so they roll like that.

 

[Caliber]

Losing a spell book is a lot harder than having armour destroyed or lost, and how often does that happen? Next time they're in town they just have to stop at the local level-appropriate magic shop with infinite selection and pay the 1 gold restocking fee for a new book with all their spells already in it.

If you want to hand-wave it another way, they have cunningly stored backup copies of their spell book all over the place since they're wizards and they're smart so they roll like that.

Actually, check out the non-magical gear table in the PHB. Spellbooks show up on there in plain black-and-white, for 50gp. I'm almost 100% that Wizards start with one for free, but additionals are definitely more than 1gp.

 

[Mort_Q]

If I was going to go the way of removing a PC's spell book, it would be because it made for an interesting story... and getting the book back should also be fun... challenging... but fun.

Same would go for removing a PC's magic weapon, or whatever.

 

[Falling Icicle]

I was hoping that Arcane Power would have rules for this. It has been brought up since 4e was released and we still have no official rules on how to deal with it.