So how exactly do tomes get used up?

[Flee Fleet!]

Tomes have uses, but how exactly do they lose their uses? Is there a confirmed answer or any theories, do tell.

[lloebet]

Every time it's used the power rips the pages up a little!...maybe.

[Magical Glace]

Each tome contains a certain amount of magic, and casting a spell uses up some of it.  

This is represented in the old OVA by ink coming off the pages and becoming the spell iirc.

[Interdimensional Observer]

I don't believe we have a confirmed answer to this question, but there are two basic ideas fans have come up with as to what it could be:

One, tomes are batteries. Instead of the magic user sacrificing their HP to cast a spell (as Gaiden/SoV), when using a tome (or staff) they draw on power stored inside the tome. When the power is gone, the tome is completely used up.

Two, tomes are catalysts. Tomes channel energy from the user and or surrounding environment, and make it easier to turn it into a spell than it would be without a tome. The catalyst wears away with every reaction (spell) it facilitates.

Note these ideas are not mutually exclusive.

 

Also, in the Pent-Erk support, it is said, in Elibe at least, there is some non-HP life force sacrifice when using magic even with tomes. One of Nino's supports also proves that in Elibe, it is possible to use magic without tomes, even though we don't see it.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, I say their magic just gradually runs out.

[Thinks Their Own Way]

I remember seeing a short fan-made comic of Miriel (Awakening) ripping pages out of a tomb as an explanation to tomb uses.

[Night Zap]

According to Brawl in the Family, Fire tomes are used by setting the book on fire, hurling it into the enemy's face, and stomping out the fire afterwards.

But yeah, tomes being magic batteries seems the most likely to me.

[MadJak91]

I would like to know how some tomes can be so freaking heavy! Heavier than a huge steel axe!!

I agree with what was already said. In Thracia 776, the icon for a destroyed tome is a book with torn pages and faded. So I guess the spell is sealed inside the tome and the book gets damaged every time the mage chants the spell.

You know... Like highschool textbooks! At the end of the year, you find some of them falling apart due to use! :D

[DisobeyedCargo]

Maybe it's because you are, I don't know, wielding dangerous bolts of lightning, giant balls of Fire, and howling winds right next to regular book of what appears to be of regular make, and that damages it, like any other normal book. 

[Flee Fleet!]

2 hours ago, Glaceon Sage said:

This is represented in the old OVA by ink coming off the pages and becoming the spell iirc.

 

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

One, tomes are batteries. Instead of the magic user sacrificing their HP to cast a spell (as Gaiden/SoV), when using a tome (or staff) they draw on power stored inside the tome. When the power is gone, the tome is completely used up.

These two points seem to make the most sense to me. Tomes are like batteries, and those batteries are sealed inside it's text. Each time a spell is cast, the ink comes off the pages, and thus, power is lost.

[The Baroness of Blainswal]

10 hours ago, MadJak91 said:

I would like to know how some tomes can be so freaking heavy! Heavier than a huge steel axe!!

Perhaps when creating tomes the more powerful ones are mystically imbued with weight so that they're less likely to be used by the unqualified.  Then again, I suppose you could just be strong and pick it up anyways so maybe that's not the case,

[MadJak91]

Maybe with tomes the weight is actually the time it takes to chant/perform the spell which in turn may slow you down. I know, I know... How does that relate to CON... Eh.

[Jotari]

Obviously the mage eats the pages. Better question is how Blacksmiths can repair them in Holy War.

[Magical Glace]

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

Obviously the mage eats the pages. Better question is how Blacksmiths can repair them in Holy War.

Maybe practicing magic is required of Jugdrali blacksmiths, so the blacksmiths can renew the magic in them.  

[DisobeyedCargo]

I still stand by my statement of the books just being damaged due to lightning, infernos, and howling winds being near them. Seriously, that would damage any book.

[Nym]

When I wrote my story, I had an idea that in order to use a tome, you need to read the pages and that every time that you use a spell, a page gets destroyed.

[Clarine]

If I am to say, the magical properties of these tomes are used with each spell. Of course, such is naught but a "gameplay mechanic" and as such, one's imagination for how such a thing could function can be most amusing.

Spoiler

Source: http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic/468-magictomes/

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

Obviously the mage eats the pages. Better question is how Blacksmiths can repair them in Holy War.

Whilst this isn't the most Occam Razor-ish of answers, what makes most sense for myself is that the Blacksmiths have friends in the magical department: mages, book preservationists, scribes etc.. The Blacksmith just sends your tome repair requests to them and they do the work and get paid. Repairing staffs is probably a group effort between mage and Blacksmith.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Whilst this isn't the most Occam Razor-ish of answers, what makes most sense for myself is that the Blacksmiths have friends in the magical department: mages, book preservationists, scribes etc.. The Blacksmith just sends your tome repair requests to them and they do the work and get paid. Repairing staffs is probably a group effort between mage and Blacksmith.

That means if we cut out the middle man we could be getting cheaper rates!

[Zapp Branniglenn]

You know how you read a good book but re-reading it just won't ever have the same impact? There's nothing wrong with the tome, the mages just lack inspiration!

[Tetragrammaton]

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

That means if we cut out the middle man we could be getting cheaper rates!

Makes sense, it explains why A rank Tome is more expensive than Silver Blade, which is already 2x the cost of a Silver Sword.

Edited June 17, 2017 by hanhnn

[YingofDarkness]

Echoing some others here, tomes are probably enchanted so that the spellcaster can cast that specific spell and it just fades away with each use until you touch it up again. The way I see it, everybody has the potential to cast magic but some people just have more a knack for it then others. As you cast more and more magic however you get better at it like as if you were training a muscle. The tomes enchantment is created to help those that have a knack for magic do the spells faster then if they just use their life force while allowing those that don't find it so simple to do it easier.