Weighted Deck Picks

I would like to make a table for a spell books that works similar to a deck pick but where it weighted so that some spells come up more often than others.

For example for memorized spells (which can have duplicates) I do this

Table:spells_arcane_1
Roll:1d20
1-3:Charm Person
4:Detect Magic
5-6:Hold Portal
7-9:Magic Missile
10:Protection from Evil
11-12:Shield
13-19:Sleep
20:[@spells_arcane_1b]
EndTable:

Table:spells_arcane_1b
Roll:1d20
1-10:Light
11-15:Read Languages
16-20:Read Magic
EndTable:

I would like to the same for spell books but spell books don't have duplicates. Hope this makes sense.

Comments

  • I believe you can do that by weighting the entries on a deck pick. So, remove the Roll: line and the ranges and weight the individual lines.

    Run this and you'll see that Spell 1 and Spell 2 are almost always on the list.
    Table: Test
    [!5 spells >> Implode]
    EndTable:

    Table:spells
    10:[Spell 1 >> Bold]
    5:[Spell 2 >> Bold]
    Spell 3
    Spell 4
    Spell 5
    Spell 6
    Spell 7
    Spell 8
    Spell 9
    Spell 10
    Spell 11
    Spell 12
    EndTable:

  • That worked thanks! I will post the results when I get done. In the mean time I made this table for MEMORIZED spells for OD&D.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx9oLF40m-b8MkhCU0N4VUlDZkE/view?usp=sharing

    I created it using my experience in refereeing classic D&D (been playing since 78) to figure out the popular choices and assigning odds.

    Now I am working on random generation of equipment lists including spellbooks and their contents. I realized I needed to use a deck pick that was weighted. Your tip helped.

  • Nice, I hadn't even thought of using weighted tables like that. Which gives the ideas that if a person were so inclined, they could even make separate lists for different spell casters of a campaign world so that certain spells were more likely.

    For instance, The Flame Wizards of Firge - fire spells are heavily weighted, but the Storm Lords of Perz - Lightning Bolt is a certainty. This way, your players could start to expect certain spells based on organizations in the world, but there would be some randomness with the other spells.

  • I know it been a while but here is the promised Spellbook generator. Again it is weighted to what I think would be most likely picked. And it is written for OD&D in the form of Swords & Wizardry.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx9oLF40m-b8dXBEelZIUXFCTkU/view?usp=sharing

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