Aboleth Mage spellbook?
- Thread starter Voadam
- Start date
Thurbane
First Post
The engraved interior of a giant clam or freshwater molusc shell.
The flayed skins of aquatic humanoids stretched taut on racks.
Glowing runes on an engraved tablet - the glowing is caused by bioluminescent moss or bacteria.
A mind-controlled ray with the runes etched into it's hide - maybe this could double as a familiar.
The flayed skins of aquatic humanoids stretched taut on racks.
Glowing runes on an engraved tablet - the glowing is caused by bioluminescent moss or bacteria.
A mind-controlled ray with the runes etched into it's hide - maybe this could double as a familiar.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Or animate them when they die.BOZ said:they'd better take really good care of those slaves, then.
smootrk
First Post
Why would something as smart as an aboleth use slaves (creatures that inevitably die, can be maimed, stolen, etc.) for spellbooks. Sounds interesting but inplausible for actual use. Something inanimate, durable (this is the biggie), and concealable (to avoid unauthorized use)... would be more appropriate.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
No one said the slaves still had feet or hands. And there are ways to reconstruct a maimed body.smootrk said:
If you're going for alien, I suggest really going for it. If not, aboleths are just people in funny suits, IMO.
GwydapLlew
First Post
I have to go write something down now...*scribbles furiously*
I like the slave idea, but I can imagine the added irritation that would come from not only losing your spellbooks but actually having them running AWAY...
Let's see, something that would make sense for their natural peculiarities....
Acid etched, psionically sensitive crystals/gems which are then swallowed and held inside the Aboleth's gizzard? "Reading" them then involves hitting them with their natural psionic energy and absorbing the resultant auras (which just coincidentally takes as long as a wizard reading normal spellbooks of course).
Definitely some "ick" factor in getting your hands on them - which you can increase by saying the crystals needing to be external to the creature before giving hem energy (and thus reswallowed afterwards) and then having your PCs stumble across it while it's studying. Then the "aura" becomes some mystically colored and tainted water/air which the Aboleth then absorbs through its gills.
So how could a normal PC use these? A regular read magic wouldn't necessarily work because the point to gaining the spell is absorbing the aura and laying it down on a wizardly-trained mind (so other characters can't use them). Require the equivalent of 1 PP (either per use as a group, or per crystal/gem) each time they are used to create the aura/gas. Each crystal/gem is useable only once per day.
If you're feeling really RBDM, let them be able to gain the spell but let the gas be mildly poisonous or hallucinogenic with no save, amount of damage sustained equal to the number of spells (or spell levels) absorbed? In which case I might actually let other classes benefit from them if they are low level spells. Level 0 definitely - maybe spells up to level character level / 6 rounded up.
Let's see, something that would make sense for their natural peculiarities....
Acid etched, psionically sensitive crystals/gems which are then swallowed and held inside the Aboleth's gizzard? "Reading" them then involves hitting them with their natural psionic energy and absorbing the resultant auras (which just coincidentally takes as long as a wizard reading normal spellbooks of course).
Definitely some "ick" factor in getting your hands on them - which you can increase by saying the crystals needing to be external to the creature before giving hem energy (and thus reswallowed afterwards) and then having your PCs stumble across it while it's studying. Then the "aura" becomes some mystically colored and tainted water/air which the Aboleth then absorbs through its gills.
So how could a normal PC use these? A regular read magic wouldn't necessarily work because the point to gaining the spell is absorbing the aura and laying it down on a wizardly-trained mind (so other characters can't use them). Require the equivalent of 1 PP (either per use as a group, or per crystal/gem) each time they are used to create the aura/gas. Each crystal/gem is useable only once per day.
If you're feeling really RBDM, let them be able to gain the spell but let the gas be mildly poisonous or hallucinogenic with no save, amount of damage sustained equal to the number of spells (or spell levels) absorbed? In which case I might actually let other classes benefit from them if they are low level spells. Level 0 definitely - maybe spells up to level character level / 6 rounded up.
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