Using Spells as Treasure

[Rosisha]

Hello Everyone!

I was wondering how many of you use spells as treasure? In AA1, Shepherds of Pineford, I did do that - providing two tapestries with level 1 spells on them. In my latest adventure I'm writing, "Shadow over Pineford", I'm thinking of doing something similar.

Background: Shadow over Pineford involves the players in a battle against an elf who, rejected by his own people, has attempted to discover the power of the Storm Heralds. The Storm Heralds were an ancient order of warrior-mages who would use powerful weather based spells to weaken a people before riding in to conquer the land. An ancient keep of theirs is near Pineford and the elf is desperately searching for spells to help him win back his power. In the meantime, he has charmed a band of bandits and is using them to raid for supplies. He has set up his search in the keeps library, but the spells were actually written on copper plates mounted on a large pole in the center of the keep. During storms, the pole could be raised to harness the storms power and refuel their magical artifacts.

The elf hasn't realized this and it was such common knowledge to the old Heralds, that they never bothered writing it down. So after the party defeats the elf and his bandits, I'll give them a chance to find the collapsed pole in the keep - and there will be a handful of spells (Wall of Fog, Shocking Grasp, Wind, and Feather Fall - all spells based on 2nd Ed spells - though Wind might be completely new). Anyway, I have been reading through a lot of adventures and it seems most treasure is focused on gold coins, gems, and magic items.

Anyway, do people like spells being rewards? Don't like it? Thoughts?

[Seven]

Scrolls are a common treasure. Magic books are less common.
When the enemy is a Magic User, I put his spell books in a secure place somewhere.

I mostly get Magic Users to pay instructors in exchange for teaching them spells.
In my campaign some local lords allow a college of magic to operate on their lands.
They teach a limited number of spells and keep a record of their students.
For example, charm person is not taught in those colleges, but magic missiles is.
In time of war, students are conscribed.
There are, of course, independent magic users, but they only teach spells to their apprentices.

[Rosisha]

I like the idea of "lost knowledge" though. Only a handful of spells surviving the ages to the current era. Ancient spells hidden throughout the world - not just in books, but in a stain glass window in an ancient manor home ruled by a vampire; or carved into the stone columns of an ancient Pharaoh's tomb; or ancient tapestries hanging in a long forgotten fortress.

[Seven]

Well, there's always magic research.
If you find a spell on a scroll--which you can't learn--you know enough about it to research it.
Carrying tapestries and stone columns is too much of a drag.

[Dimirag]

Spell are more than acceptable an expected treasures. As said above, books are less common than scrolls, that's because a book contains several spells.

Unless houseruled BF does not allows for spells to be learned via scrolls, if you don't want to houserule it you can add something like spellfascicle, that contains the full info of just one spell.

Another spell related good treasure is magical ink or some other material that reduces (or negate) the cost of some magical procedures (writing spells or scrolls, researching).

And for magical research you can use some consumables that increase the research chances (or even allows for a successful roll) or some non-consumable that also increase the research chances.

[Rosisha]

Those are great ideas. One of my most memorable quests ended when my wizard figured out a riddle and used a cantrip to activate this ancient spell cache. The spells were engraved into the wall - everything you'd need, but in order to make the engravings visible, you had to use a cantrip to prove your worth. It was awesome!

[Tazer_The_Yoot]

I've definitely used the promise of high level spell books as a quest hook before. Last summer one of the objectives my family group had was to find out what happened to a fellow named Barsi the Warlock who disappeared after going down into a crevice in the canyon looking for a treasure trove. His bones, tattered belongings and still relatively intact spellbook were down there in the dark - in a nest of mutated cave fishers. Talk about risk vs reward! (The players succeeded. Not their original characters, but the players were persistent.)