Book feats

[Someone]

I don´t know if the idea of feats to improve the spellbook have been around before, if they did I´m sorry. Well, here they are for your comment:

Awaken book
You stir the latent energies contained in a spellbook, awakening it into a state of semi-sentience
Prerrequisites: Must have an spellbook and be able to cast spells from it.
Benefit:You are now able to perform a ritual that costs 1000 gold coins in materials, takes an entire day to perform and drains 40 XP from you. This ritual changes one of your spellbooks so now it has the following properties:
-It turns into a magic item, with a caster level in all moments equal to your own. If the book is disenchanted, it becomes a normal spellbook and spell in excess are lost (see below)
-It can now contain an unlimited number of spells, regardless of the number of pages. The desired spells magically appear each time you want to study them. The scribing cost and time remains the same, however.
-Its pages turn blank each time an unauthorized spellcaster tries to copy or prepare spells from it. This trait often follows the personality and alingment of its owner: instead of showing a blank page, insults, jokes, false spells or good advices against stealing appear on them.
-You can sense the direction where the spellbook is at any moment if it is in the same plane as you.

You can have more that one awakened book at a time.

Hungry book
You can feed your book with blood to power the spells contained in it.
Prerrequisites: Awaken book.
Benefit: You perform another ritual in your awakened spellbook so it becomes hungry of blood. Once per day, while preparing a spell, you can feed it with your blood or the blood of a magical creature (any one able to cast arcane spells, or have spell-like or supernatural abilities), an amount equal to 1 point of Constitution temporal damage per spell level. The blood dissapears in the pages without staining them. If you do that, your book helps you with the casting of the spell, lowering the level needed to cast it by one (but no less than 0). Thus, you could prepare a Dispel Magic spell on a 2nd level slot, or a Maximized fireball in a 5th level slot. You still can´t prepare spell you´re normally not able to prepare, and only can have one such lowered spell prepared at a time. These spell still count as their original level for purposes of creating magic items, saving throw DC, and other.
Normally only evil wizards take this feat.

Soul feeding book
Your book can feed on the souls of deceased beings
Prerrequisites: Awaken book, Hungry book, spellcaster level 15
Benefit: Your book can feed on the souls of sentient creatures before they depart. The following contitions must be meet: The creature had to be a living being (no outsiders, constructs, undead) and sentient (had to be a Int score greater than 2), you must place the book next to the deceased creature, not more than 5 feet away, and no more than 2d4 rounds must have passed since the creature died.
The soul immediately receive a number of negative levels equal to double of the spell with the highest level contained in the spellbook, (but not more than the number of the creature´s Hit Die) while the book absorbs the soul as a white mist. A soul with a number of negative levels equal to it´s hit die is destroyed forever.
The book can contain a number of stolen levels equal to doble of the spell with the highest level contained in it (but being full doesn´t stop it for devouring more soulstuff, even if it can´t benefit from it) You can prepare spell more easily using that energy: if you spend a number of inflicted negative levels equal to double the spell you want to prepare, you can decrease the slot needed to prepare the spell by two. This is otherwise similar to the Hungry book feat.
If the affected soul is not destroyed and comes back, the save DC to avoid losing a level (for each negative level) have a DC of 20.
Allowing your book to feed on souls is a terrible and evil act. Sometimes, the devoured essences can be seen within the book´s pages.

Outsider binding
You can make an outsider live within the pages of your spellbook
Prerrequisites: Awaken book
Benefit: You can increase the sentience of your awakened book by making a spirit live within it. First, you must summon and bind it using one of the various Planar Binding spells, and bargain with it to make the spirit live in your book forever. This is a difficult task, and the outsider have a +2 bonus in it´s opposed Charisma check (See the Planar binding spell)
The bound spirit must have and Int score greater than 10 and must be able to cast spells or have spell-like abilities.
This have several benefits. First, the spirit helps you in your research, adding to the number of spells you are allowed to scribe for free each time you increase your level by an amount equal to the spirit´s Int modifier. Second, you can communicate with the spirit if it´s in the same plane, and it can give you advice at the DM´s discretion –or try to tempt or trick you-. And third, because you can communicate with the spirit, you can prepare spell without needing to have the spellbook with you.
If your book is destroyed, the outsider is freed and able to do what it pleases.

Self casting book
Your book can cast spells on it´s own
Prerrequisites: Awaken book
Benefit: You can make your book cast one of the spells contained within it. Doing so takes a standard action, spend an unfilled spell slot of a level equal or higher than of the spell to be cast, and provide the needed material components. The book makes the spell then appear and starts casting, without needing somatic or verbal components. Doing so takes the book 1 minute or the spell´s casting time if it´s higher.
The book doesn´t have to be with you to cast spells.

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

Holy .......!


I've been working on a specialized class that deals in 'life force' powered magic... These feats fit so well it's not even funny. Mind if I use?

I think they could use some minor tweaking here and there though.



You can have more that one awakened book at a time.
to
You can have a number of awakened books equal to your intelligence modifier.

Hungry book note:
For each Blood Point (1 pt of temp con drain), you can reduce any metamagic spell level increase by 1 to a minimum of the spell's original level.

Soul Feeding - too complex, I'm not entirely willing to use it as is. See any way to simplify it?

Outsider binding - LOVE it. Adore it - will definitely use it .

Spell casting book:
Prereqs: Awaken Book, Outsider Binding
Benefit (due to the high feat requirement, outsider and all)
changes to:
The Awakened Book, having a spellcasting outsider indwelling, can cast spells out of it's pages without the need for somatic or verbal components. Material components must still be supplied. The Awakened Book can cast any spell up 1/2 your maximum spell level a number of times per day up to your intelligence modifier. The awakened book can cast higher level spells than this, although doing so counts against it's limit per day as well as removing the spell from the pages of the spellbook.


This may be too complicated. I'll toy with it some more.

But I love this concept

 

[Someone]

Holy .......!


I've been working on a specialized class that deals in 'life force' powered magic... These feats fit so well it's not even funny. Mind if I use?

Of course not.

I think they could use some minor tweaking here and there though.


You can have more that one awakened book at a time.
to
You can have a number of awakened books equal to your intelligence modifier.

I don´t quite see the need; you´re not going to have a lot of them anyway, and don´t see how having dozens of books could be unbalanced.

Hungry book note:
For each Blood Point (1 pt of temp con drain), you can reduce any metamagic spell level increase by 1 to a minimum of the spell's original level.

I agree there could be a balance problem there, and considered that option before.

Soul Feeding - too complex, I'm not entirely willing to use it as is. See any way to simplify it?

I agree it´s complicated. Let´s see this way: the deceased soul must save or be utterly destroyed, and the book gains a number of "Blood points" equal to the soul´s hit die.

Outsider binding - LOVE it. Adore it - will definitely use it .

Thanks. Though I think it could be better. Maybe a set of benefits from where you could choose? and I don´t know if the feat is well balanced. I´d like more comments.

[/quote]Spell casting book:
Prereqs: Awaken Book, Outsider Binding
Benefit (due to the high feat requirement, outsider and all)
changes to:
The Awakened Book, having a spellcasting outsider indwelling, can cast spells out of it's pages without the need for somatic or verbal components. Material components must still be supplied. The Awakened Book can cast any spell up 1/2 your maximum spell level a number of times per day up to your intelligence modifier. The awakened book can cast higher level spells than this, although doing so counts against it's limit per day as well as removing the spell from the pages of the spellbook.


This may be too complicated. I'll toy with it some more.

But I love this concept [/QUOTE]

Actually I thought on the feat as a way to accelerate the castings of unused spell slots (notice it takes a minute to cast the spell, instead of 15 minutes to prepare and the regular casting time), and a way to bring your book having it cast a teleport spell, or blast the bastard that stole it.

The changes you propose are a good option for a new "Familiar book" feat that allowed it to cast spells on his own. But that brings the spectre of two spells per round that the new Haste banished

 

[Winternight]

whoa
cool stuff!
Maybe a bit overpowered (compared to Spell mastery) but way cool

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

I don´t quite see the need; you´re not going to have a lot of them anyway, and don´t see how having dozens of books could be unbalanced.

*Because with my players in my games - they will find a way, and I know it. So I'll limit it to begin with Not to mention, a couple of other homebrew feats, and my sorceress could also start doing this... and I definitely do NOT want her to have multiple spellbooks available with those feats

I agree there could be a balance problem there, and considered that option before.
*Why did you not use it? I think the idea of lowering all the spells by one level is a bit unbalancing in the wider realm of my world. Every wizard with metamagics would be after this.


I agree it´s complicated. Let´s see this way: the deceased soul must save or be utterly destroyed, and the book gains a number of "Blood points" equal to the soul´s hit die.
*Hmm... Closer and better. How about this:

Soul must save or be trapped into the book. For each soul captured in this manner, the book gains a 'soul point'. Soul points work like blood points with the following exceptions: Each soul point can only be used 1x/day, and is not expended when used.

I'd also say that it must be within 5' of the deceased and no more than 1d4 rnds after death.


Thanks. Though I think it could be better. Maybe a set of benefits from where you could choose? and I don´t know if the feat is well balanced. I´d like more comments.
*Heh - why not have the spirit 'guard' the book as well by casting any of a set number of spells (spirits int modifier?) at non-authorized users that open the book...

Additionally, a secondary feat to stack with it whereby the spirit essentially becomes an additional familiar (a few of the pros, most of the cons) that is bound to the book?


Actually I thought on the feat as a way to accelerate the castings of unused spell slots (notice it takes a minute to cast the spell, instead of 15 minutes to prepare and the regular casting time), and a way to bring your book having it cast a teleport spell, or blast the bastard that stole it.

The changes you propose are a good option for a new "Familiar book" feat that allowed it to cast spells on his own. But that brings the spectre of two spells per round that the new Haste banished
*Not necessarily, if you add the requirement that the "familiar book" is essentially a magic item with a command word activation (command word being the spell to cast ) or something similar. You could also, by a different route, indicate that the familiar book is using YOU to cast the spell still, silent, and eschewed - this blocking any action you would normally have.

Of the two, I'd prefer the first option for simplicity, but the second is a bit more comprehensive.

Of course, that's assuming you don't like two spells in one round. With enough metamagics you can do this anyway (FRCS).

I've educated my players that if they can do something - so can the villains, and it'll happen just as often as they themselves do it. They tend to play with an eye towards being balanced now, and reserve such twinks for specific characters whose background highly justifies them .

In other words, I, as a GM for my players, have no fear of the two spells per round.

 

[Golem2176]

I think these are great ideas, but are overpowered as feats (maybe they could be spells). As for the last feat, if I'm understanding correctly the book could cast any spell inthe wizard/sorcerers repetoire. Or is it that the book can only cast a spell that lies within its' own pages?