Draft:Scroll of spells

Omega 0.90.4

Scroll of spells?TypeScrollBase value (Au)250Item level1Weight5Unidentified appearanceRandom inscriptionCursed nameScroll of spell loss

A scroll of spells offers a chance to learn a random spell, or reduce the mana cost of a spell already known. It is a portable research opportunity, not a scroll that casts a preselected spell.

Generation

In addition to the item-level-1 random-scroll pool, pawn-shop stock and acquirement, necromancers start with a scroll of spells. Their other loot is separate from this specified starting item.

Description

Eating the remains of a manaburst invokes the same random research attempt as an ordinary noncursed scroll. Those remains require a normal kill and a successful corpse-drop roll; its contact explosion does not make that roll.

An uncursed or blessed reading selects a random spell at use time. Let D be that spell's current mana cost and let T = 4 × Intelligence + 8 × experience level. Research succeeds when a uniformly chosen integer from D through 5D − 1 is less than T. Thus it always fails at T ≤ D, always succeeds at T ≥ 5D, and otherwise succeeds with probability (T − D) / (4D).

Success teaches an unknown spell and grants 10D experience. If it is already known, its mana cost becomes half the old cost, rounded up. Failure still consumes the scroll. Blessing does not improve the research check, and the scroll's enchantment does not choose the spell or increase the chance.

A cursed reading forgets the known spell encountered first while scanning the spell list backward. It is not a random spell loss. The scroll type becomes known after a noncursed reading, and also after a cursed reading that actually finds a known spell to remove.

Strategy

Use these to broaden a repertoire or make repeated casting cheaper. Higher Intelligence and experience level improve difficult research, so keeping a scroll until after a nearby level gain or Intelligence improvement can be sensible. The selected spell is still random: delaying cannot guarantee the particular spell you need.

Once a spell is already cheap, another successful reduction can have little or no benefit. Compare the uncertain portable attempt with research at the Collegium Magii or the Circle of Sorcerors, according to your membership and the service available. Spend a blessing to remove a known curse if necessary, not to seek a nonexistent blessed research bonus.