Ruleset Types and What They Mean

Spell Book ships with two rule sets that define class-specific defaults for spell swapping, cantrip swapping, and ritual casting. The active rule set is selected globally and can be overridden per actor through Spell Book Settings.

Spell Book does not block spell preparation. Players always retain full control over what they prepare. The Notify GM on Spell Changes setting controls whether the GM is alerted when a player exceeds their cantrip or spell preparation limit.

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Rule Sets

The global rule set is controlled by the Default Spellcasting Rules setting (spellcastingRuleSet).

Value	Label
legacy	Legacy Rules
modern	Modern Rules

The effective rule set determines which class defaults _getClassDefaults applies (_applyLegacyDefaults or _applyModernDefaults) when a new spellcasting class is first initialized on an actor. Existing per-class overrides stored on the actor are preserved — changing the setting does not rewrite them.

Legacy (2014)

Traditional D&D 5e rules. Key characteristics:

• No cantrip swapping for any class (cantripSwapping = none)
• Paladins and Rangers do not display cantrips (showCantrips = false)
• Wizard retains ritual casting from spellbook (ritualCasting = always)
• Cleric, Druid, and Bard have prepared-only ritual casting
• Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Ranger swap spells on level up

Modern (2024)

Updated rules. Key characteristics:

• Cantrip swapping enabled for most classes on level up (cantripSwapping = levelUp)
• Wizard can swap cantrips on long rest (cantripSwapping = longRest)
• Paladin and Ranger still do not display cantrips and cannot swap cantrips
• Ritual casting is removed by default for Cleric, Druid, and Bard (ritualCasting = none)
• Wizard retains ritual casting from spellbook (ritualCasting = always)
• Ranger switches to long-rest spell swapping

Class Defaults by Rule Set

Class	Rule Set	Spell Swap	Cantrip Swap	Ritual Casting	Show Cantrips
Wizard	Legacy	Long Rest	None	Always	Yes
Wizard	Modern	Long Rest	Long Rest	Always	Yes
Cleric	Legacy	Long Rest	None	Prepared	Yes
Cleric	Modern	Long Rest	Level Up	None	Yes
Druid	Legacy	Long Rest	None	Prepared	Yes
Druid	Modern	Long Rest	Level Up	None	Yes
Paladin	Legacy	Long Rest	None	None	No
Paladin	Modern	Long Rest	None	None	No
Ranger	Legacy	Level Up	None	None	No
Ranger	Modern	Long Rest	None	None	No
Bard	Legacy	Level Up	None	Prepared	Yes
Bard	Modern	Level Up	Level Up	None	Yes
Sorcerer	Legacy	Level Up	None	None	Yes
Sorcerer	Modern	Level Up	Level Up	None	Yes
Warlock	Legacy	Level Up	None	None	Yes
Warlock	Modern	Level Up	Level Up	None	Yes
Artificer	Legacy	Long Rest	None	None	Yes
Artificer	Modern	Long Rest	Level Up	None	Yes

Per-Actor Rule Set Override

Each character can override the global rule set through Spell Book Settings using the Rule Set Override dropdown:

Value	Effect
Use Global	Follow the world-level spellcastingRuleSet value
Legacy	Apply Legacy defaults for this actor’s class initialization
Modern	Apply Modern defaults for this actor’s class initialization

The override is stored as the ruleSetOverride actor flag (null, "legacy", or "modern"). Individual per-class rule fields saved in Spell Book Settings still take precedence over the rule set defaults.

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Notify GM on Spell Changes

The world setting notifyGmOnSpellChanges (default on) controls whether GMs receive a whispered chat report when a player exceeds their cantrip or spell preparation maximum.

• When on: exceeding a max sends a GM notification. Preparation is not blocked.
• When off: no notification is sent. Preparation is still not blocked.

Per-Actor Override

The Notify on Spell Changes checkbox in Spell Book Settings is a plain boolean. It defaults to the current value of the world setting, and saving always writes an explicit true or false to the notifyGm actor flag — there is no “Use Global” third state.

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Swap Modes

Spell swapping and cantrip swapping are configured independently per class. Both use the same three modes:

Mode	Value	When Swapping Is Allowed
None	none	Cannot swap
Level Up	levelUp	Only when the class gains a level
Long Rest	longRest	After completing a long rest

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Ritual Casting Modes

Per-class setting controlling how rituals work:

Mode	Value	Behavior
None	none	No ritual casting support
Prepared	prepared	Can ritual-cast only currently prepared ritual spells
Always	always	Can ritual-cast any ritual spell available to the class

Wizard-Specific Ritual Behavior

When a wizard class has ritualCasting = always, ritual spells in the wizard’s spellbook are castable as rituals without being prepared, matching standard wizard ritual rules. The wizard ritual pool is tracked on the wizardRitualCasting actor flag.

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Wizard Defaults

Wizard-specific values are seeded from WIZARD_DEFAULTS:

Field	Default	Meaning
startingSpells	6	Free spells added to the spellbook at character creation
spellsPerLevel	2	Free spells added to the spellbook on level up
spellLearningCostMultiplier	50	GP per spell level to copy a spell into the spellbook
spellLearningTimeMultiplier	120	Minutes per spell level to copy a spell into the spellbook
ritualCasting	Always	Wizards can ritual-cast from their spellbook

All five values can be customized per-wizard-class through Spell Book Settings.

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Preparation Bonuses

GMs can grant extra preparation slots per class through Spell Book Settings:

• spellPreparationBonus — Extra leveled spell preparation slots
• cantripPreparationBonus — Extra cantrip preparation slots

Both default to 0 and stack additively on top of the class’s calculated maximum. Both clamp to the range -20..20.

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Configuration Summary

Setting	Scope	Where
Default Spellcasting Rules	World	Module settings
Notify GM on Spell Changes	World	Module settings
Rule Set Override	Actor	Spell Book Settings
Notify on Spell Changes	Actor	Spell Book Settings
Cantrip Swapping	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Spell Swapping	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Ritual Casting	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Show Cantrips	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Force Wizard Mode	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Class Spell List	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Subclass Spell List	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Preparation Bonuses	Per-class	Spell Book Settings
Wizard Defaults	Per-class	Spell Book Settings