Scribing an Arcane Foci

Mage Spells and Tomes

A mage can choose to embody his spell knowledge into a variety of foci and when a mage either passes on or meets an untimely end his body of knowledge of spells is lost with him. In Ilysador most mages are members of Cabals. Like Mage universities and fraternities, not only for teaching future mages but to further the research and use of magic. A Cabals libraries are ripe with dissertation’s on magic and spells; variations, formulations and design. Most Cabal alumni are encouraged to share their knowledge with other alumni and students and so many scrolls and tomes are housed in the  cabals vast libraries. Student, member or alumni mages may access these to scribe from.

A mage can use tomes or scrolls to scribe a spell, but preparation success is not assured. First, the mage must decipher the writing in the book using Read Magic. Once a spell from Tome or scroll is deciphered, the reader must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level) to scribe the spell. If the check succeeds, the mage can scribe the spell. If the check fails, he cannot try to scribe the spell from the same source again until the next day. However, as explained above, he does not need to repeat a check to decipher the writing.

Adding Spells to a foci

Mages can add new spells to their foci through several methods. A mage can only learn new spells that belong to the mage spell lists.

Spells Gained at a New Level: Mages perform a certain amount of spell research between adventures. Each time a character attains a new mage level, he gains two spells of his choice to add to his foci. The two free spells must be of spell levels he can cast. If he has chosen to specialize in a school of magic, one of the two free spells must be from his specialty school.

Spells scribed from Another's Tome or a Scroll: A mage can also add a spell to his foci whenever he encounters one on a magic scroll or in a magic tome. He must spend 1 hour x the spell level studying the spell. At the end of the study period, he must make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell's level). A mage who has specialized in a school of spells gains a +2 bonus on the Spellcraft check if the new spell is from his specialty school. If the check succeeds, the mage understands the spell and can scribe it into his foci. The process leaves a magic tome that was scribed from unharmed, but a spell successfully scribed from a magic scroll disappears from the parchment.

If the check fails, the mage cannot understand or scribe the spell. He cannot attempt to learn or scribe that spell again for 24 hours. If the spell was from a scroll, a failed Spellcraft check does not cause the spell to vanish.

In most cases, mages charge a fee for the privilege of scribing their spells from their magic tomes. This fee is usually equal to half the cost to scribe the spell into a foci Rare and unique spells might cost significantly more. The Mage usually is part of a Cabal and has access to their spell tome library.  The Mage must still pay for the opportunity to scribe spells at each level. 

Independent Research: A mage can also research a spell independently, duplicating an existing spell or creating an entirely new one. The cost to research a new spell, and the time required, are left up to GM discretion, but it should probably take at least 1 week and cost at least 1,000 gp per level of the spell to be researched. This should also require a number of Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) checks.

Writing New Spells into a foci

Each time a Mage gains access to a new spell casting level they must scribe the new spell matrixes into their foci.  In order to do this they must have access to a Mage Cabal Library.

Time: The process takes 1 hour per spell per spell level. Cantrips (0 levels spells) take 30 minutes to scribe.

Space in a foci: A spell matrix takes up space in a foci based on spell level. Even a 0-level spell (cantrip) takes up some. A foci can usually hold about 100 spell matrixes of various levels. That is why a mage must continue to add materials to the foci. 

Materials and Costs: The cost for scribing a new level of spells (20)  into a foci depends on the level of the spell, as noted on the following table. Note that a mage does not have to pay these costs in time or gold for spells he gains for free at each new level.

Spellcraft & Knowledge Arcana: The Mage must be able to manifest the energy for the new spells and also have the understanding to craft the spell matrixes.  This process is represented by two rolls the castor makes.  A Spellcraft Roll and a Knowledge Arcana Roll.  If the Mage fails either roll it adds an additional week to their study time.  The Mage must reroll until they succeed on both rolls consecutively.