Learning Spells

[Bubba_OH]

How long does it take to actually learn a new spell. Level of Magery reduces the time, but what is the base time it takes? An hour, a day, a week, a month? Is this actually in the books?
Specifically looking for 4th edition.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Bubba_OH

How long does it take to actually learn a new spell.

Spells are treated pretty much like other skills, so for learning spells during down-time between adventures you can use the Improvement Through Study rules on p. B292.

[whswhs]

I worked out a more detailed treatment for GURPS Locations: Worminghall, which is set in a university where people are, in fact, learning spells. But it starts out with the basic 200 hours per spell.

Bill Stoddard

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Bubba_OH

How long does it take to actually learn a new spell. Level of Magery reduces the time, but what is the base time it takes? An hour, a day, a week, a month? Is this actually in the books?
Specifically looking for 4th edition.

Same as any other skill - 200 or 400 hours per character point.

If you allow buying new spells or skills with earned points, then no, that's not defined in the rules. It's normally instant, which makes sense for improving something you used on the adventure and learned something from how it works, but not so much for learning something entirely new.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Same as any other skill - 200 or 400 hours per character point.

If you allow buying new spells or skills with earned points, then no, that's not defined in the rules. It's normally instant, which makes sense for improving something you used on the adventure and learned something from how it works, but not so much for learning something entirely new.

One could introduce Spell Books, as items that spellcaster characters can bring along on their adventures, as justification for buying new spells with earned CPs due to studying in the downtime. Reading an hour here, an hour there. The time doesn't matter, as long as the character suffers the encumbrance of the book, and can afford the CP cost to buy or improve the spells.

A good choice could be to make those books College-specific, so that you have a Fire College book, a Metamagic book, and so forth, each one fairly expensive (but can be re-sold with little loss, when you're done with it, provided your adventuring lifestyle hasn't caused unseemly damage or wear to it) and heavy (so that a weedy mage would usually only want to carry one or two of them).

[simply Nathan]

I recall D&D spellbooks weighin 30 lbs.

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

I recall D&D spellbooks weighin 30 lbs.

Were those books for a single spell, or an entire college of spells?

[BaHalus]

Wow. 30lbs for a single spell is quite a lot. But as it would be the weight of books of other hard skills (usually a lot of heavy books), maybe it is about right.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

Were those books for a single spell, or an entire college of spells?

Neither. That was the standard stat for a book large enough to hold every spell the character would learn.

[Bubba_OH]

I have not pulled out my D&D stuff in a LONG time, but IIRC, things were measured in encumbrance, not actual weight. Thus, something that needed additional care/padding/etc. had more encumbrance which did not directly relate to weight. While the book itself would not weigh 30lbs, in order to take proper care of it, you had to take additional precautions and those are what bumped things up.