D&D 5E Beyond the book: new ways to represent a wizard's spells known

[Afrodyte]

What are some ways other than a spellbook that you've seen or want to see a wizard's spells known?

(Speaking for me, myself, and I, I'd looooove to do tattoos as a wizard's spells.)

 

[thalmin]

How about runes carved into a staff?

 

[Hand of Evil]

spell coins; the spell is engraved / stored within a gold coin, the coins are easily mixed with other coins and valuable to collectors (wizards). Most have a hole for a string to run through, this allows them to become a spell book.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I rather like the feature of Pathfinder's witch class, where the spells are "stored" by the familiar.

 

[darjr]

Tattoo's. When cast they evaporate or come to life to 'enact' the spell. In order to get more they must be tattooed to the caster.

So the spellcasters nightly ritual is to hum to themself in a kind of Mongolian throat singer song while they re-tattoo themselves with the next day's spells.

 

[darjr]

Or maybe a bit of the Stormbringer rpg? Spells are summoned and bound elementals and demons. Mostly minor. To get the spell-effect the caster has to free them or destroy them or something.

So the caster has to carry around a lot of 'containers' of different types and spend the night swatting at the empty air to captured summoned demons.

 

[bedir than]

Candles, all the instructions and whatnot written on the wax. As the spell is cast a fire burns. When the fire reaches the bottom of the candle the spell is gone, forever.

 

[darjr]

Or, the spells are little favors granted by long dead powerful Magi. Each invocation is in repayment of the wizard putting to rest some small artifact of the Magi, a tooth, or small bone. The wizard spends his nights making little graves for each and every buried artifact.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Fetish; items that are bound together to represent the spell, parts 1) components and 2) objects that represent the title of the spells. Wizards have to perform a knowledge test to identify the spell. Sometimes these items are placed in small "medicine" bags.

 

[Jester David]

I believe Dark Sun had knots on a rope.