Related Article: Spell Casting
Obtaining spells and tomes (also called disciplines) in modern EverQuest is substantially easier than it was, and all casters now receive new spells every level, not every 4th or 5th as back in the day. Pure melee classes also have an array of abilities they are akin to spells, to compliment their innate combat abilities.
1 Spells and Melee Tomes (Disciplines)
2 Spell Ranks
3 Spell Sources
4 Spell Research
The icons for a spell scroll and two types of tomes.
Spells and Tomes are bought, quested for, or obtained as loot. A spell scroll is scribed in your spellbook, after which it can be memorized and cast. A tome is essentially a spell for melee and hybrid classes, and is right-clicked to add to their list of combat skills. Pure melee classes (Berserker, Monk, Rogue and Warrior) only get tomes and no spell scrolls, while hybrids get a mix of both.
As of the March 16, 2012 patch, all spells up to a few expansions ago can be bought from merchants in the PoK library (center building). This lifted a previously major void in the game for new players, where most spells above level 60 were very time-consuming to obtain, requiring faction, travel or random drops from tough zones.
To easily find your spell merchants, go to PoK, open the Find Window, sort by Category and look for your class name in the list - for example "Shadow Knight Spells (1-25)". Follow the path and you'll find all Shadow Knight spells from level 1 to 25 on the merchant. Melee classes and hybrids find their tomes on tome merchants; search for "Monk Tomes" for example.
Get an overview of your class' spells on ZAM.
As of level 71, spells come in three ranks: I (unnumbered), II and III. For example, the Shadow Knight spell Bond of the Blacktalon comes in these versions:
The merchants in PoK only sell the first rank, which are generally regarded as obtainable solo, and were for the most part just purchased for platinum in previous expansions. Rank II spells are group obtainable (not technically required to be in an actual group to obtain), and Rank III are obtained via raids.
A small outlier are the "Ancient" spells, which are raid drops from old expansions, between level 60 to 70. These cannot be purchased anywhere. Example: Ancient Bite of Chaos.
Inside the library in The Plane of Knowledge, where most spells and tomes can be bought.
As mentioned, almost all spells and tomes up to a few expansions ago can be bought from PoK. If you want to obtain spells the hard / old school way, or want to pursue higher ranks of level 71+ spells, Ancient spells, or obtain modern spells from the latest couple of expansions (which are not sold in PoK), here are roughly the areas to look in:
- 1-50: In ancient times, bought mostly from local class guilds in the classic cities, and some only available through obscure quests or merchants scattered across the world. When Planes of Power launched with Plane of Knowledge, the majority of these spells were available for direct purchase in the library. Spells 1-10 can also be bought in the Tutorial.
- 51-60: Random drops from Kunark monsters, with level 60 spells mostly being from bosses such as dragons. A handful of spells are from Velious and Luclin.
- 61-65: Obtained by turning in Ethereal Parchment, Spectral Parchment and Glyphed Rune Word to NPCs in PoK. The items drop in PoP zones.
- 66-70: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under the Gates of Discord and primarily Omens of War expansions.
- 71-75: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under The Serpent's Spine and The Buried Sea expansions.
- 76-80: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under the Secrets of Faydwer expansion.
- 81-85: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under the Seeds of Destruction and Underfoot expansions.
- 86-90: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under the House of Thule expansion.
- 91-95: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under the Veil of Alaris expansion.
- 96-100: Bought or obtained via drops or quests under the Rain of Fear expansion.
Spell Research (or just Research) is a trade skill that was originally exclusive to INT-based casters, but can now be performed by everyone. By combining certain ingredients, you craft your spell scrolls. In old times, certain spells were available exclusively through Research, but it is far from a necessary tradeskills these days.
The Spell Research tradeskill has received massive overhauls over the years, making it more streamlined, and for the most part, easier. Take note of this if you run into old guides online.
The get started with Research, look at some of these guides: