Transcribing scrolls

Transcribing scrolls is game mechanic which allows Wizard characters to add spells to their spellbook by using scrolls.

Overview

Wizards who find a scroll for a spell may permanently transcribe (copy) it into their spellbook at the cost of consuming the scroll plus  50 gp per level of the spell. Wizards get a discount of 50% when transcribing spells of their own subclass / school of magic. They must have at least one spell slot of the same level as the spell to be able to copy it, meaning it is not possible to transcribe a level 3 spell scroll without first unlocking a level 3 spell slot.

Game mechanic

Spell transcribing may be done in one of two ways:

1. By right-clicking a Scroll in a Wizard's inventory and selecting "Learn spell." If the spell is already known, the option is greyed out and a message is displayed which says "Spell already known."
2. By going into the Wizard's Spellbook (part of the character screen), and clicking the button "Learn more spells." This opens a window titled "Transcribe scrolls to spellbook." In it, all scrolls available for transcribing are displayed. After marking the scrolls the character wants to add have the "Learn" button must be clicked. The total cost of learning is then shown at the bottom.

Scrolls not in the Wizard's main-level inventory are not included in the "Transcribe scrolls to spellbook" window. This means scrolls in another character's inventory, or those in a container in the Wizard's inventory (like a backpack or sack), do not show up in this list.

Multiclassing

• A multiclassed character can use any inscribed Wizard spell with their own spell slots. However, inscribed spells can only be prepared if enough Wizard spell preparation slots are available. The quantity of these slots is dependent on the Wizard level and Intelligence modifier of the character.
  • If a party member tries to transcribe a wizard spell scroll of which level is too high, a text message says the wizard level is not high enough. This is not necessarily true. Instead, in order to transcribe a higher-level scroll, the combined caster levels of that character's spellcasting classes must be high enough to cast that spell, yet a character only needs one level of wizard to transcribe any wizard spell contained on a scroll. For example, a character with wizard 1/bard 2 has 2nd-level spell slots, and thus can transcribe the 2nd-level wizard spell  Detect Thoughts; although in this case they would not be able to learn 2nd level spells from either class during the level-up process.
  • When considering combined caster levels and wizard spells to transcribe from scrolls, it may be helpful to bear in mind which spellcaster classes are full, half, and one-third casters.
• In the event of a class change, if the character is no longer a wizard but becomes one again later, spells learned with scrolls can still be memorized. At least one wizard level is required to access them.

Wizard spells without scrolls

Additionally, the following Wizard spells and cantrips do not have scrolls, and thus cannot be learned by transcribing a scroll; they can only be learned while leveling:

Cantrips

 Acid Splash

 Blade Ward

 Booming Blade

 Bursting Sinew

 Dancing Lights

 Friends

 Light

 Mage Hand

 Minor Illusion

 Poison Spray

 Toll the Dead

 True Strike

First Level

 Enhance Leap

 Find Familiar

 Longstrider

 Shield

Second Level

 Phantasmal Force

 Shadow Blade

Third Level

 Counterspell

Fourth Level

 Otiluke's Resilient Sphere

Sixth Level

 Arcane Gate

 Create Undead

Scrolls that cannot be transcribed

Wizards cannot transcribe scrolls containing spells not native to their class, such as Druid, Cleric, Paladin or Ranger. In unusual cases where the party finds scrolls containing spells native to other classes, Wizards may cast them, but cannot transcribe them to their spell-book for future use. Below is a known (though not necessarily complete) list of scrolls not native to the Wizard class:

•  Scroll of Aid
•  Scroll of Animal Friendship
•  Scroll of Flame Blade
•  Scroll of Goodberry
•  Scroll of Speak with Dead

Unavailable scrolls

The following scrolls do not exist in the unmodified version of the game; they can only be transcribed if spawned using 3rd party tools.

•  Scroll of Arcane Eye
•  Scroll of Counterspell
•  Scroll of Dispel Magic
•  Scroll of Find Familiar
•  Scroll of Fire Shield: Chill
•  Scroll of Jump
•  Scroll of Longstrider
•  Scroll of Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
•  Scroll of Phantasmal Force

See Also

• Spells without scrolls
• List of Wizard spells