Conducting Research

Now that the spell has been described and approved by the player and the DM, the character can begin his research effort. Spell research is time-consuming and expensive. First of all, a wizard must have access to a well-equipped research laboratory and library, as described in Chapter 5 . In fact, if his library isn’t good enough for the research, he may need to spend time and money improving his scholarly resources before beginning the research at all!

Priests can get by without purchasing these expensive facilities, but they must have access to the holy writings and texts available at a specific temple of their deity selected by the DM. In many cases, a priest will have to embark on a pilgrimage to a remote monastery or a theological university to find the research materials he will need.

Secondly, the character must refrain from adventuring and concentrate solely on his research, to the exclusion of all other activities. Spell research consumes at least two weeks per spell level, so researching a 3rd-level spell would require at least six weeks of game time. The character may take breaks from his research to attend to other matters, but if the break is longer than a day, he suffers a setback of some kind and loses one week’s worth of research. For example, if a wizard finishes four weeks of research and then finds that he must travel out of town for three days, he must repeat one week of his studies. If the break turns out to be longer than the time he’s already invested, all the research is lost and he must start over.

Basic Time of Research = 2 weeks per spell level

Money is also an issue in spell research. Expending the supplies, reagents, tomes, and books required by the research consume 100 to 1,000 gp per spell level, above and beyond the normal maintenance cost of any laboratory used by the character. Priests must invest in special incenses, candles, and other religious items of similar cost. The DM can set the price to a level he deems appropriate, but it should always represent a bit of a stretch for the character.

Basic Cost of Research = 100–1,000 gp per spell level

Success or Failure: If the character meets all the expenses and puts in his time with the books, he may attempt a success roll after the minimum research time (two weeks per spell level) has passed. The chance of success is 10% and is modified by the researcher’s Intelligence score (for wizards) or Wisdom score (for priests) and experience level, less twice the level of the spell being researched. (See below.)

Basic Success Chance = 10% + 1% per point of relevant ability score + 1% per experience level – (2 x spell level).

For example, a 7th-level wizard with an Intelligence of 17 researching a 3rd-level spell has a success chance of 10% (base) + 17% (Intelligence) + 7% (experience level), minus 6% (3rd-level spell), for a total of 28%.

If the character does not succeed in his first attempt (unless he’s very high level, he probably won’t), he may continue his research. At the end of each additional week, he may attempt a check with a +10% cumulative bonus. However, if the character ever rolls a result of 99 or 100 on his success check, the DM may rule that the spell proves unworkable and must be abandoned.

Note that the success check replaces the normal learn spells mechanic—if the character can successfully research the spell, he can add it to his book automatically.

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