diff --git a/src/kernel/magic.c b/src/kernel/magic.c
index 8d80846d5..69166f220 100644
--- a/src/kernel/magic.c
+++ b/src/kernel/magic.c
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ void pick_random_spells(faction * f, int level, spellbook * book, int num_spells
           commonspells[spellno] = commonspells[maxspell];
           commonspells[maxspell--] = sp;
           sp = 0;
-        } else if (spellbook_get(f->spellbook, sp)) {
+        } else if (f->spellbook && spellbook_get(f->spellbook, sp)) {
           commonspells[spellno] = commonspells[numspells--];
           if (maxspell>numspells) {
             maxspell = numspells;
@@ -490,6 +490,9 @@ void pick_random_spells(faction * f, int level, spellbook * book, int num_spells
       }
 
       if (spellno<maxspell) {
+        if (!f->spellbook) {
+          f->spellbook = create_spellbook(0);
+        }
         spellbook_add(f->spellbook, sp, f->max_spelllevel);
         commonspells[spellno] = commonspells[numspells--];
       }
diff --git a/src/kernel/magic_test.c b/src/kernel/magic_test.c
index 49960933d..ed6f1e684 100644
--- a/src/kernel/magic_test.c
+++ b/src/kernel/magic_test.c
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ void test_updatespells(CuTest * tc)
   CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, book);
   spellbook_add(book, sp, 1);
 
-  CuAssertIntEquals(tc, 0, ql_length(f->spellbook->spells));
+  CuAssertPtrEquals(tc, 0, f->spellbook);
   pick_random_spells(f, 1, book, 1);
   CuAssertPtrNotNull(tc, f->spellbook);
   CuAssertIntEquals(tc, 1, ql_length(f->spellbook->spells));
diff --git a/src/kernel/spellbook.c b/src/kernel/spellbook.c
index 568096896..5002c14d1 100644
--- a/src/kernel/spellbook.c
+++ b/src/kernel/spellbook.c
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ spellbook_entry * spellbook_get(spellbook *sb, struct spell * sp)
   quicklist *ql;
   int qi;
 
+  assert(sb);
   for (qi = 0, ql = sb->spells; ql; ql_advance(&ql, &qi, 1)) {
     spellbook_entry *sbe = (spellbook_entry *) ql_get(ql, qi);
     if (sp==sbe->sp) {