Scrolls&Wands, Simple question Options

[Salk]

Hello!

I am at the moment unable to verify directly but I wonder if I remember well.

Is it true that both in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 a magic user (both divine and arcane) can use wands or read scrolls with spells that are of much higher level than he/she could actually master ?

In short, is it true that I can, example, read and start the effects of a Lightning Bolt scroll having a second level Mage read it ?

If this is true, I think it would be definitely something that I'd like to see corrected. I don't know what the AD&D 2ed. says about this but I'd think it shouldn't be at all allowed.

If instead I am just misremembering then sorry for the stupid question!

[Baronius]

What I find ridiculous is this 'amount of magic in the scroll'. I agreed that it's okay that spellcasters can use higher-level spell scrolls than their own level, but this doesn't mean that I like these 'magic-storing scrolls'. In this interpretation, the scroll is an enchanted object and that's idiocy. In this way it is not solved well enough. Just like tomes: books don't disappear if someone reads them -- some 'hardcore' players would now say: 'but then you could use it more times in the game...' which is also ridiculous because the whole system should be better then. I think I can accept the simplified use of these books though (i.e. the instant reading of more than thousand pages).

/I like AD&D but it has many stupid things (such as the aforementioned 'Magic-Storing' books & scrolls), I don't know it too much, but I am only interested in it as long as affects any of the Infinity Engine games. I use my own concept in my mods, naturally./

Well the scroll is magical only if a spell is written on it. A blank spell scroll is just a piece of paper.

This is what I never agree with: dogmatically accepting something because 'rules say so'. A scroll is magical only if a spell is written on it? Why is it magical? Is it enchanted? Then why isn't it a wand with charges? Why does it disappear if someone reads it? Someone familiar with AD&D will probably explain this, I'd be interested in a logical explanation of these 'magic-container scrolls'. In classic forms of mythology and tales, spells are written into scrolls and anyone who can read the letters can cast a spell -- a scroll is a piece of paper with text on it and nothing more. Easy and logical.