Neverwinter Nights spells

A scroll is a piece of parchment upon which a spell is stored. These are implemented in Neverwinter Nights as one-square inventory items, up to 10 stacked together, with the icon of the spell superimposed on the scroll icon. These items can be used to cast a single spell and are consumed upon use. Their usage is often restricted to members of particular classes.

Scrolls are primarily used to allow a character to cast a spell without consuming spell slots and without needing components. They can also be used to cast spells the character does not normally have access to due to low ability score or caster level (and sometimes due to lacking certain classes), but they do not allow a specialist wizard to cast spells of an opposition spell school. Using a scroll is done as for any non-equipable item — either dragging it to a quickslot that is then used or right-clicking the scroll and selecting the "Use: spell name" option in the resulting radial menu. One drawback of using scrolls is that the difficulty class for saving throws is no longer tied to the caster's abilities. Instead, it is fixed at 13 plus the spell's innate level.

The secondary use of scrolls is to allow wizards to learn spells in addition to those chosen while gaining a level. This is accomplished by right-clicking the scroll and choosing the "Learn" option. In this way, a wizard can learn any spell that is a wizard spell, is not in an opposition spell school, and for which the wizard has spell slots. For most wizards, this means any spell that could have been learned when taking the most recent wizard level can be learned from a scroll. However, higher-level spells might be obtainable from scrolls if the wizard increased in base intelligence since the last wizard level (thus raising the spell level limit of intelligence - 10) or if the wizard had gained pale master levels.

Obtaining scrolls

Many (perhaps most) scrolls are obtained from stores or as loot. Since these scrolls were specified when the module was created, they will not include spells not available when the module was created. That is, a module that does not require either expansion pack (such as the original campaign) will not contain scrolls with spells introduced by the expansion packs. Other than this restriction, almost every spell is likely available in scroll form as BioWare defined standard scrolls for all spells except war cry.

Hordes of the Underdark introduced the ability for players to create scrolls with the scribe scroll feat. In modules created after this expansion, players may find blank scrolls to use with this feat. Casting a spell on a blank scroll will create a scroll of that spell for a small cost of gold pieces and experience points.

Use magic device

As with most items with use restrictions, scrolls with class restrictions can be used by characters with sufficient skill levels in use magic device (UMD). However, under the "Hardcore" (or higher) difficulty setting, there is an additional check if the module was made after Hordes of the Underdark was released.

The standard UMD check is used to determine whether or not the scroll gets highlighted in red. If given a red highlight, the scroll simply cannot be used. As a general guideline, it takes a UMD score of 1 to use a (class-restricted) scroll with a spell of innate level 0 to 4, UMD 5 to use levels 5 to 8, and UMD 10 for level 9. The requirement for an individual scroll may vary, especially if the caster level is much higher than the minimum for the spell in question.

The additional check is performed after the scroll is used, but before the spell is cast. This check is a standard skill check (d20 + skill level) against a DC of 25 + spell innate level. If this check is passed, the spell is cast normally. If the check is failed, the spell has no effect (but the scroll is still consumed). This check is not rolled (automatic success) if the scroll has no class limitations, the character has at least one bard, sorcerer, or wizard level, or if the character has the spell in question prepared (ready to cast). It does apply to all other characters who have at least one level in rogue, shadowdancer, or assassin, even if that character has a class that is allowed to use the scroll normally.