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This is a "new to 8th ed" kinda question (two-parter).

From what I know (and I don't know much!), you can't dup spells in an army, so let's say I have a lvl 4, a lvl 2, and a lvl 2, they can't all have the same lores because that's 8 spells and only 6 available (if I am correct).

Now the question: When do you have to choose the lore? Let's say my lvl 4 goes first in choosing Lore X, and I get 4 spells, but I didn't get that one spell I really wanted. Can I then take one of my lvl 2 mages, get that spell and the other the lvl 4 missed, and have the lvl 2 pick up another Lore? Taken from the other side of the coin, let's say the lvl 4 gets that one spell I really wanted, so I don't need my lvl 2's to pick from the same lore anymore. Can they then pick from other lores since I don't need them to grab from Lore X anymore?

I figure this question might vary as tourney's usually make you pick the lores before you start (is this true?), but for regular games how does it work?

You have to choose everyone's lore before you start rolling for spells. Technically, when you make the list.

To your second part: wizards have to choose their Lore during list creation, with a few exceptions like Teclis and Skaven Grey Seers and Vermin Lords, who are explicitly allowed to choose when they roll for spells.

To your first part, you could indeed have a level 4 and 2 level 2s all with the same lore. You roll spells up for one wizard at a time, and each Lore (assuming the main book magic lores) has a signature spell that is allowed to be duplicated.

Additionally, if you roll up a spell for a wizard that another wizard already has, you get to choose a spell for that caster.

Let's use Lore of Beasts as an example:

S: Wyssan's Wildform
1. Flock of Doom
2. Pann's Pelt
3. Amber Spear
4. Curse of Anraheir
5. Savage Beast
6. Kadon

For whatever reason, you chose all Beasts for your 3 casters.

You choose to roll up your level 4 first getting (by my sample roll) 1,2,5,6

You can now opt to swap one of those spells for the signature spell. Kadon seems like a spell for a level 2, so you swap it for Wyssan's. He now has S,1,2,5.

Now, you pick another wizard and roll his spells. You roll up a 1,3. He gets Amber Spear and because spell 1 is already taken, he gets to pick his other spell from the remaining choices: S, 4 or 6. Well, Transformation for a level 2 so we'll take that and keep Amber Spear.

You now roll up your last wizard: 3,4. Again, 3 is taken, so he gets choice of remaining spells: OOPS! all the other spells are taken! 1,2,5 are taken by your level 4, spells 3 and 6 are taken by your previous level 2 and this guy just rolled up spell #4! Oh noes! You don't get to swap for the signature spell until after accounting for duplicates, so sadly this last guy loses a spell. He's still a level 2 caster, but only knows 1 spell.

So you have three wizards:
Level 4: S, 1, 2, 5
Level 2: 4, 6
Level 2: 3

You could have opted to take the signature spell on your first level 2, which would have opened up one of the other spells for your second level 2 to take. They can also all have the signature spell, which is actually very popular among Fire and Shadow users to duplicate Fire Ball and Miasma respectively.


Edit: Corrected the last wizard. I was under the impression you could select the Signature spell when you roll a duplicate, but according to page 162 in the rule book, that's not the case. In this particular instance, it would have been better to swap one of Level 2 wizard #1's spells for the Signature, just to make sure you had enough slots for Level 2 Wizard #2.

How does loremaster play into spell selection? Example: if you were to have Teclis, and take the lore of life, and you have a Lvl 2 mage who also has life, does the Lvl 2 effectively get no spells at all since Teclis already knows them all? Or is the Lvl 2 allowed to roll for his spells normally (or, in the case of high elves with a seerstaff, pick them)?

Casters with Loremaster are effectively ignored for spell selection. (page 162, first bullet)

yeah, you don't count Loremasters when figuring out if you have duplicated anything.

So you could have a Loremaster(or 5 billion of them, doesn't matter), a lvl4, and 2 Lvl2s. 2 of the non-loremaster wizards would have to have the Signiture spell, but thats the only restriction. You could also have an infinite number of Lvl1s with the Sig spellif you wished.


I'm not entirely sure why GW restricted duplicate spells. I think a more limited restriction like "the 6th spell in a lore may never be duplicated, except in the case of Lore Master" would have made more sense.

So Teclis and a Lvl 2 with Seerstaff are taken, and I take life on both. Teclis knows all the spells, Seerstaff lets me cherry pick my spells instead of rolling. I can have two life mages with regrowth and dwellers?

Life is just an example, pick any lore you wish.

yes, in face the Seerstaff mage wouldn't count for Duplicate Spells either as you don't roll for them, you simply pick them(If I read the rules correctly)

As above. Seerstaff lets you pick your spells, so they do not count for duplication. Ditto for Loremaster