Sorcery spells for a beginning character

[Zaron]

Can a character who has grimoire and manipulation start with spells from that grimoire? All I could find was that a spell took 1 week and 2 improvement rolls to memorize. Can one not use the free skill points to learn spells? if so, how many?

 

[daddystabz]

I think generally it is assumed you can simply choose spells from the spell list and just give your Grimoire a name and say those spells are found within that Grimoire.

At the top of pg 27 under the heading "Magic Using Characters" it states that if you need to develop a grimoire from scratch you simply choose 4 spells to be contained in that grimoire that are appropriate to what you feel this made up cult's teachings and nature are. Remember though that a Sorcerer has to memorize spells from his grimoire(s) if he wants to have these spells on hand to cast in the game. A sorcerer can memorize a number of spells from his grimoire(s) up to his INT score, with each spell taking essentially one point of INT. Thus, a sorcerer with 16 INT can memorize up to 16 spells from his grimoire(s) to have on hand. This part is explained on pg 127 under the Sorcery (Grimoire) skill description.

 

[Richard]

Posted this on another thread on the same topic but think it might help. Daddystabz's is right enough although I feel a bit of flavour and style could be added. My solution was to limit the number of spells available in a Grimoire to 5. This helped to avoid overpowering the mage (In fact my Grimoires also function as research and training treatises. So if read for a week they can grant a number of improvement rolls in related lores).

Potential discrepancies which could arise through the acquiring of useless Grimoires for some and huge Grimoires stuffed with piles of top class spells for others were also avoided. My preference was that players could not just pick the most powerful spells and stick them in their book. My setting has sorcerous traditions which guard their secrets jealously to attract members. As sorcerous research tends to be into particular natural or mystic realms tomes tend to include related spells. e.g. This is a selection from the grimoires available to a sorceror joining the officially approved Imperial sorcery guild 'The Codex':

Grimoire (The Codex of the Dutiful Ward – Neutralise Magic, Protective Ward, Damage Resistance, Spell Resistance, Spirit Resistance.)
Improvement Rolls: Lore(Sorcery), Perception, Manipulation, Insight, Persistence.


Grimoire (Codex of the Diligent Artesan – Holdfast, Form/Set Metal, Form/Set Stone, Animate Metal, Animate Stone.)
Improvement Rolls: Craft Stone Craft Metal, Mechanisms, Engineering, Alchemy.

Grimoire (Codex of the Physician of the Heart and Soul – Abjure Pain, Enhance CON, Regenerate, Restoration, Treat Wounds.)
Improvement Rolls: First Aid, Resilience, Healing, Meditation, Survival.

Grimoire (Codex of the Warlock - Attract (Missiles), Attract (Magic), Damage Enhancement, Hinder, Wrack.)
Improvement Rolls: Close Combat Style, Ranged Combat Style, Manipulation, Lore (Battle), Evade.

Grimoire (Codex of the Questing Scholar – Fly, Haste, Glow, Mystic Vision, Teleport.)
Improvement Rolls: Ride, Swim, Drive, Boating, Shiphandling.

...and so on. Note that summoning, monster creating and life draining spells are all unavailable and prohibited by this tradition so getting hold of such forbidden knowledge would mean looking elsewhere and breaking guild rules! Players may have to go out looking for particular spells.

Our young sorceror hummed and hawed for some time before deciding to divide his skill points between the 'Physician' and 'Questing' grimoires.

As part of becoming a ranking mage in the distant future he may create his own named Grimoire containing his favourite spells or discover/create a new spell or spells to add to the guild's exclusive library thus enhancing its power and prestige. I played Ars Magica for many years which has the best magic sytem I've ever seen so, in the unlikely event that time allows it, I might try to come up with rules for discovering and creating new spells as well as scribing and copying tomes.

 

[Zaron]

Actually, it took a while of searching through this sight, but I did finally find (before I read your reply) Lesser Striped Mongooses's post that the 4 spells in the grimoire's were assumed to be memorized already.

I'm creating a True Malkioni sorceror and LSM's errata was helpful.