Introduction
At times we find ourselves wondering, "What is contained in that there spellbook", without actually opening it. Even at times we wonder what is in a spellbook that we cannot open.
We may be shopping at a vendor for a full spellbook only to find that the shopkeeper will not allow us to open the book and view its contents. We may find ourselves in a situation with a stranger carrying his or her spellbook and would like to size them up, one factor of their abilities could be indicated by the completeness of their spellbook.
No matter what the reason of needed to know, this study will show some relative values of spellbooks to certain degrees of completeness.
The Study
Reagents and blank spellbooks were acquired and the spellbooks were filled with scribed scrolls as follows :
- Each individual circle was scribed in its own spellbook
- The following ranges were scribed and added to a spellbook each:
- Empty book
- Circles 1 to 2
- Circles 1 to 3
- Circles 1 to 4
- Circles 1 to 5
- Circles 1 to 6
- Circles 1 to 7
- Circles 1 to 8
The spellbooks were then appraised and the values noted. After all the appraisals were finished, the average of each appraisal was calculated and results were recorded.
The Results
| Circle 1 Only |
| Skill |
57.6 |
24.3 |
| Average |
73.6 |
74.5 |
|
| Circle 2 Only |
| Skill |
58.5 |
28.6 |
| Average |
126.7 |
117.0 |
|
| Circle 3 Only |
| Skill |
75.5 |
35.0 |
| Average |
207.5 |
191.4 |
|
| Circle 4 Only |
| Skill |
58.4 |
27.7 |
| Average |
270.3 |
254.3 |
|
| Circle 5 Only |
| Skill |
58.8 |
30.2 |
| Average |
334.9 |
370.0 |
|
| Circle 6 Only |
| Skill |
59.2 |
31.6 |
| Average |
443.6 |
418.1 |
|
| Circle 7 Only |
| Skill |
75.5 |
36.6 |
| Average |
427.4 |
469.5 |
|
| Circle 8 Only |
| Skill |
49.5 |
|
| Average |
522.3 |
- |
|
| Empty Book |
| Skill |
57.2 |
22.8 |
| Average |
15.0 |
14.8 |
|
| Circles 1 to 2 |
| Skill |
58.0 |
26.6 |
| Average |
197.5 |
193.6 |
|
| Circles 1 to 3 |
| Skill |
75.9 |
38.7 |
| Average |
389.0 |
386.4 |
|
| Circles 1 to 4 |
| Skill |
75.9 |
39.1 |
| Average |
627.8 |
674.9 |
|
| Circles 1 to 5 |
| Skill |
76.0 |
40.2 |
| Average |
982.1 |
975.4 |
|
| Circles 1 to 6 |
| Skill |
76.1 |
40.6 |
| Average |
1343.0 |
1345.7 |
|
| Circles 1 to 7 |
| Skill |
75.5 |
37.5 |
| Average |
1891.9 |
1768.7 |
|
| Circles 1 to 8 |
| Skill |
59.3 |
32.9 |
| Average |
2377.4 |
2386.7 |
|
Discussion
From the results above we can use the individual circle values to construct the possible value of the range results. As an example, adding circle 8 to the circle 1-7 range should yield the 1-8 (full book) results.
One tester had relatively low Item Identification scores. This study is focused on the purchaser of spellbooks, purchasing books from an unknown vendor (Buyer and seller do not know each other). Thus a lot of the data was taken using the low Item ID scores. One who acquires training from a merchant should be able to use the data items from this study to adequately ID a spellbook and determine its contents.
If a target spellbook has incomplete circles, one can use the spell circle range values as a yardstick for estimating the possible range of spells.
We did not have access to a Grand Master Merchant for this study, but took a large enough sample size to get some degree of accuracy. It is hypothesized that the higher the skill of the Merchant Identifying an item, the smaller the standard deviation from the actual value. Less skilled merchants will get a larger standard deviation from the normal, but taking a large enough sample size will compensate.
Conclusion
We cannot conclude to any high accuracy what we are getting when we do purchase a spellbook. This study was intended to be an aid to a potential buyer of a spellbook. It is recommended for the buyer to take a range of ID values from the target spellbook before committing to the sale from a vendor in the wilderness or a merchant in the streets.
Elowyn of Moonglow
Professor of Alchemical Sciences
The Forxia Foundation (Catskills)
Sir Tuck
Tower Scribe
The Mage Tower (Baja)
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