Spell Books and Copying Spells

Spell Books contain the esoteric knowledge that allows an arcane caster to use their
magic. The mere act of recording a spell is a costly and time consuming affair.
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th

100gp
200gp
400gp
800gp
1600gp
3200gp

Recording a spell takes a week, no matter what level it is, if you have access to a
spellbook with the spell in it, you are making a duplicate from your own spellbook,
or your mentor is teaching you.
Spells are not recipies organized in easily digested chapters. They are bizarre, living
works of art. Each relies on information contained in other places within the tome
for understanding, such as oaths to various spirits, astrological signs, equations, etc.
While a spell takes up 1 page per level in a spell book, these are not contiguous
pages. This is partially why Read Magic is necessary to understand anothers
writing so that the ties that link a spell together can be understood. As such, while
a spellbook can be dissected, doing so is unwise. If portions of a spellbook are torn
out (or separated for easy selling), then other spells will be destroyed in the
process.
Tearing out a:
1st
will destroy 1d2 random spells
2nd
1d4 random spells
rd
3
1d6 random spells
4th
1d8 random spells
5th
1d10 random spells
6th
2d6 random spells
Learning new spells
Spells are taught as in ACKS upon leveling up. Purchasing spells beyond that, even
from a guild, is difficult (unless a found spellbook comes up on the market). The
guild protocol is for an 8th level or less wizard to only learn spells from their mentor.
This does not stop some opportunists from seeking alternative teachers, but it is
frowned upon and both teacher and pupil are often censured if discovered.
When a teacher is available, they must maintain care when teaching a spell. If a
student is merely given access to your loaned spell book, then they learn the nature
of your magic and gain a +2 to all saves versus spells you cast, so long as one of
your spells is in their repertoire. Your master, who knows your magic intimately,
always receives this bonus versus your spells and can teach you spells in a week
without fear of you learning their secrets. To avoid you learning their secrets,
anyone else must teach you slowly. This process takes 1 week per spell level. They
charge the usual portion of a retainers monthly fee to do so. So a 6 th level mage

teaching a 3rd level spell would need to take 3 weeks and would charge 600gp to do
so. During this teaching process, neither the teacher nor student can before other
activity (beyond eating, sleeping, and light rest).
Found Spellbooks
If a caster gains a spellbook and it contains a spell already in their repertoire,
assuming they have cast read magic on it, they can use it in place of their own spell
book for their weekly study. More than one caster can share such a spellbook so
long as their weekly study periods fall on separate days. This does not endanger
either of their secrets, and they can make a copy of the spell for their own book in
their own style. In this manner, found spell books often serve as backups in case a
casters spell book is lost or destroyed. However, due to the above limitation, a
wizard will go to great lengths to retrieve their spell book if it is stolen.
If a caster loses all of the spell books that they have personally recorded spells in
and falls back to using nothing but found spell books, their magic weakens as it is
not properly attuned to themselves. All targets get a +1 to save versus their spells,
and they are considered one level lower for purpose of dispel magic.
Relearning Magic
If an enemy gains one of your spell books, there are only two ways to remove their
power over your magic. One is to retrieve your spell book. If they cannot study it at
least once a month, they lose their advantage over you. Two is to purge your
repertoire and start over. This is so costly that few mages are willing to do it (using
the standard ACKS rules for time and costs to swap out a spell). Most, if their spell
books are stolen, will often submit to the demands of the one who holds their book,
performing some task or tasks in order to reclaim them.
True Names
Supernatural and powerful beings possess true names. Supernatural entities
automatically know their own true name, while beings that earn a true name rarely
know their own (mortals who achieve 8th level or higher gain a true name). It is
impossible to force a true name from a creature with anything less than a 7 th level
ritual, though some entities will provide their true names in exchange for freedom
or mercy.
Knowledge of a creatures true name causes it to save versus any of your magic at
a -4 and to allow you to ignore 20% of their magic resistance, as well as cast spells
against them regardless of line of sight or distance. Further, there is a 7 th level
Ritual called True Name that will allow you to make even greater use of a targets
true name. Needless to say, beings are loathe to surrender their true names and
will go to great lengths to silence those casters who make light of such potent
knowledge. Even normal enemies among the outsiders may band together to act
against a mage who flaunts such knowledge.