# Magiclysm Question: Do Spellbooks count as books?
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190
**Category:** The Bunker
**Created:** [November 8, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190 "2020-11-08T04:29:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wollwoll](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wollwoll)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/1 "2020-11-08T04:29:19Z")
Hi everyone,
So I was wondering, are spellbooks treated as regular books? I’m not sure, since they seem to work a bit differently. What I mean is, are study times affected by focus, int, traits like fast reader, etc. or not? I really hope they are, but I just want to make sure.
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### Author:  [@Wollwoll](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wollwoll)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/2 "2020-11-08T04:30:54Z")
Also, more to the point, I’m asking because I’m wondering whether it’s worth it to learn Fox’s Cunning before other spells for the int boost.
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### Author:  [@GiggleGrassGatherer](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/GiggleGrassGatherer)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 4:32am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/3 "2020-11-08T04:32:55Z")
It won’t help much because its duration isn’t that high. 3 minutes at lv2, for example. Most books take way much longer to raise a skill, magic books double so.
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### Author:  [@Ragno](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Ragno)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 4:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/4 "2020-11-08T16:50:20Z")
havent played in a while, but iirc, it doesnt matter much, since when you “study” a spell book you choose the time (or until you reach a new level) but the exp gained for the spell is hard coded (dependent of the spell difficult level), so you could have a lot of focus/int but still get the same exp, thats why the most efficient way is to cast it to level it. Again havent played in a while, so maybe they changed that
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### Author:  [@KorGgenT](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KorGgenT)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 4:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/5 "2020-11-08T16:56:04Z")
this is false - the xp you gain is definitely based on focus and intelligence. in addition, your spellcraft skill affects it. you can check this by setting your intelligence or spellcraft to 500 and studying (or casting) a spell for the least amount of time.
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### Author:  [@Wollwoll](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wollwoll)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/6 "2020-11-08T18:42:49Z")
Ahh yeah makes sense, so I’m guessing Fox’s Cunning is pretty useless in most cases? I’m guessing Ogre’s Strength and whatever the dexterity boosting spell is called would be pretty useful before combat though.
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### Author:  [@Wollwoll](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wollwoll)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/7 "2020-11-08T18:47:05Z")
Great, thanks! Wanted to make sure. Also, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you responding in person- you know it’s got to be true when you’re talking to the person who coded it. On that topic, I’m guessing it would be pretty idiotic to have a low intelligence mage, right?
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### Author:  [@Wollwoll](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Wollwoll)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/magiclysm-question-do-spellbooks-count-as-books/25190/8 "2020-11-08T18:51:15Z")
Also, I know this is kind of off-topic, but I’m really enjoying playing a Pyromaniac Kelvinist, since Finger Firelighter gives unlimited charges within a minute or so of time for a fairly small amount of mana. On a normal character with the Pyromaniac trait, I’d have to worry about using up my matches/lighter fluid, but as a Kelvinist, I can basically just burn the closest forest down for a gigantic morale boost and then go study my spells. Bonus if any zombies go investigate the sound and burn to death.