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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

How many spells do I get?

This is something I've known about for a while, but if I've blogged about it before, I've forgotten. And I didn't tag it with my MU tag if I did. 

So, Magic-Users. How many spells per day can they cast? Apparently, as you level up, there are quite a few discrepancies depending on what book you're using. 

My print version of the Mentzer Expert Set has this table:

However, the PDF version (the really old Paizo.com PDF, back before the Pathfinder schism) has this:

Up to 5th level, they're identical. But at 6th level, you get an extra 1st level spell in my print book than in the PDF version. 

7th and 8th level are the same. So far, slight advantage to the print book.

At 9th level, though, the PDF version gets an extra 3rd level spell compared to the print book. Now the tables have turned!

At 10th level, the print MU gets an extra 1st level spell, but the PDF MU gets an extra 4th level spell! 

But at 11th level, the PDF MU finally gets that fourth 1st level spell, and their first 6th level spell. But the print MU gets extra 2nd and 3rd level spells (fourth for each) and finally gets that third 4th level spell. 

12th level finally sees the two versions the same again. 

But at 13th level, the print MU again gets a 1st level spell that the PDF MU doesn't, which remains the case at 14th level, as well. 

I don't know if the PDF was edited to match the later RC progression, or if there were multiple versions of the Expert Set put out. Here's the RC: 

And for completeness, here's the BX version: 

This is almost the same as what's in the PDF and RC, until 12th level. Then the BX MU gets a boost in their higher level spells per day. Since the BECMI line was planned from the beginning for a level 1 to 36 spread, that's not surprising. 

AD&D, of course, also has a different spread of spells per level: 

Not gonna analyze all the differences between AD&D and Classic, as I'm mainly just interested in the two very different versions of BECMI Expert today. Oh, and just the BECMI MU. The Elf is also different, with a progression matching the MU in the PDF version 100%, but in the print version getting 10th level spells 5/4/3/2/1 in the print version!

Either way, the spell progression of both print and PDF Expert sets match up with the progression in the Companion Set (which matches the RC, at least at 15th level):

The PDF MU is gaining 1st and a 7th level spells at 15th level, while the print MU is only getting that 7th level spell.

The print version gets a bit more versatility over all, with more lower level spells sooner. But the PDF version gets better higher level spells, so more power.

Just for fun, I may go through my spell tables and see what it would look like to give the most generous spell progression for each spell level, mixing the two (three with BX) Expert Sets. Or maybe even bringing in the 1E progression, too! Just to see what it's like.



5 comments:

  1. How peculiar! It's almost as if they were pulling the numbers of spells out of a hat :) If you're interested in finding out which printings you have, then have a look here for some clues.
    https://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/expert.html

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  2. Looks like, based on the Thieves Skills tables, the PDF is of what the Acaeum lists as the Fifth Printing (first printing of the Mentzer Expert), while my print book is a later printing with thief skills and saving throws brought in line with progressions to 36th level in Companion and Masters sets.

    Funny then that the spell progressions were altered, then more or less put back to what they had been in the RC...

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  3. Wayne's Books has a pretty detailed breakdown of the differences in the first and later printings of Expert:
    https://waynesbooks.games/2019/10/28/which-becmi-dd-rulebook-do-you-have/

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  5. It's pretty well-known that (for whatever reason) the elf and magic-user spell progressions that made their way into the Rules Cyclopedia are based on the earlier, pre-Companion printing of Mentzer Expert, even though the thief skill numbers come from the later printings.

    I suspect that it has something to do with the elf and magic-user sharing the same spell progression (3/3/3/3/2 at 10th level) in the earlier version, and the editors of the RC choosing that uniformity over the quirkiness of Mentzer's later revisions that gave MUs 4/3/3/2/2 at 10th and elves the 5/4/3/2/1 spread that they would also have in GAZ5 (which, of course, has its own continuation of that spell progression for elf MUs of 11th to 20th levels that parallels and can even be mixed with their attack ranks).

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