Read Magic House Rules

To continue with my investigation of the Read Magic spell, here are my current thoughts on how it works.

It's a shortcut.

Spell research can be used to decipher any magical writing, but that takes time and money. Read Magic lets you read magic right now.

It applies to both spells and words of command.

... And almost all magic items have words of command. Potions and other magical substances don't. Magical enhancements of natural functions (improved protection from magical armor, improved attack ability for magical weapons) don't have command words, either, but other special powers (flaming, for example,) do. All rings, amulets, wands, staves, magic cloaks, etc. have magic words of command.

It doesn't apply to spells you know.

... Unless it's a different version of the spell. Find a scroll of Read Magic? You recognize that's what it is immediately. No need to cast the Read Magic spell to use a Read Magic scroll. This is easier to keep track of than keeping a list of scrolls that have been skimmed with Read Magic.

If you find a new spell and use Read Magic, you now know it.

That's the flipside of the "It's a shortcut" rule that I hadn't considered until now. It's probably my most controversial ruling, but it now makes Read Magic extremely valuable. You can add spells to your repetoire without spending as much money!

It isn't limited to a single scroll.

The spell description is vague, but implies it's not limited to one scroll or inscription. I'd rule that it applies to 1d6 spell levels. Each word of command counts as 1 spell level. Scrolls count as whatever their actual spell level is. Side effect: if I decide to toss in a 7th level spell scroll, it can't be read with Read Magic. The M-U must use spell research.

Read Magic Investigation

I've seen some debate again about Read Magic, which I've looked at before, but I'd like to really delve into again. The problem some people seem to have is that, to make use of Read Magic, you have to define what kinds of magic can be read, and how many magical inscription types are covered by the spell. Some people haven't done that, or have defined Readable Magic in ways that are punish spellcasters too much or make the spell nearly useless.

Readable Magic always includes magic scrolls found in dungeons. If that's all it's meant to cover, and if magic scrolls can't be used unless Read Magic is cast immediately before the scroll is used, then it's just a "tax" on Magic-Users and doesn't have much utility. An M-U under these conditions gains two benefits:

1. Can postpone spell selection until the moment a spell is needed. Example: 2nd level M-U memorizes Read Magic twice and has one scroll for each 1st level spell; the M-U doesn't have to decide in advance whether Sleep will be the most useful, or Charm Person, or Detect Magic, or Protection from Evil.
2. Can effectively turn 1st level spell slots into higher-level spell slots. Example: 4th level M-U memorizes Read Magic four times and carries a mix of 1st and 2nd level spell scrolls; instead of being limited to two 2nd level spells on an adventure, the M-U can go as high as six 2nd level spells.

If you follow the rule that a scroll can be skimmed once without casting and remains readable thereafter, it becomes less useful in some ways, more useful in others. Benefits #1 and #2 effectively disappear, because the M-U is no longer limited to using a Read Magic spell before using a scroll they've made themselves. On the other hand, you can now add found scrolls to your arsenal immediately, especially if you can skim more than one scroll with a single casting.

Readable Magic in later editions includes spellbooks. Effectively, it is impossible to decipher a scroll or spellbook unless it's been skimmed using Read Magic. The side effect of this restriction is that, if a Magic-User ever loses all their spellbooks for a given spell level, they can never, ever use spells of that level again. That just seems too restrictive, to me.

A third kind of magical inscription has fallen by the wayside: magical words of command. There are vague hints that some magic items, if not almost all of them, require knowing a magic word. Whether the spellcaster must speak the word every time the item is used or only speak it once to attune the item to their will is not made clear, so it's open to tweaking. Potions would seem to be the only items that definitely don't need a magic word to use, but perhaps magic weapons and armor should also fall into that category. Perhaps only items restricted to M-Us have command words.

I have some more thoughts on this, but I'll reserve those for another post.

Chekhov's Gun Syndrome

In my explanation of crossing a slimy rope bridge, I only required a roll if the characters move too fast or do something else while on the bridge. Other people, I know, would always call for a roll. I think the reason for this is what I referred to elsewhere as "Chekhov's Gun Syndrome".Chekhov's Gun, of course, is the dramatic principle that you shouldn't include something (like a gun) unless it's going to be used (by shooting someone with it.) It's not ironclad: you could have a tense moment in a story where someone threatens to grab the gun and shoot it, but doesn't; that still counts as "using the gun". The point is really that including a gun causes readers or audience members to expect the gun to somehow be part of the story.

In RPGs, there's a similar idea that there's no reason to include something in a situation unless it's going to matter in some way. You don't include a rope bridge unless someone can fall off that bridge. This encourages GMs to call for rolls to avoid slipping and falling. And on a meta level, having dice at the table, or skills listed on a character sheet, encourages people to roll the dice or make skill checks.

But we don't need to be rigid about it. A rope bridge can simply be there for the potential of having someone fall, for example in the middle of a fight. Or it can be there for the potential to set fire to it after crossing, to cut off pursuit. Likewise, boulders on a ledge don't mean someone is going to roll them down on you, but do mean that someone could choose to do so, or choose to hide behind them, or choose to roll them into a position to block the path. Unlike drama, RPGs focus on potential interaction with the environment.