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

[NotActuallyTim]

The spell is actually part of a piece of music, but it only works when you play exactly right, after preparing to do it. The magic's always there, but unless you're ready to play it, it's just noise.

 

[FXR]

Obscure calculus based on charts of the night sky or semi-coherent mathematical formulas.

 

[BoldItalic]

Gradario the Mage experimented with a spell book with especially small pages, to fit more easily into his pocket, but thicker than usual to make them more durable. It worked well as an idea, but unfortunately there was a slight manufacturing problem, the glue in the binding was substandard and the pages fell out. Thus, he accidentally invented spell cards.

 

[Afrodyte]

I'll be playing in a two-worlds campaign soon (a setting where there's a split universe where one side is more classic D&D and the other is urban arcana-style modern). I expect someone will be using a smartphone as a spellbook.

Does scrolling or tapping the screen to light it up take a bonus action?

"...blah blah blah magic babble blah bl--crap. God, I hate this phone."

 

[Tia Nadiezja]

Does scrolling or tapping the screen to light it up take a bonus action?

"...blah blah blah magic babble blah bl--crap. God, I hate this phone."

Thankfully, you only need your spellbook when preparing spells or casting rituals.

 

[Dausuul]

• Russian nesting dolls. First-level spells (the ones the wizard has most of) go on the outermost doll, second-level spells on the next one in, and so on.
• A potted plant or flower. Each leaf or petal has a spell formula inscribed on it. When the wizard learns a new spell, a new leaf/petal sprouts.
• An enchanted (possibly sapient) skull, which whispers the spell formulae into the wizard's ear on command.
• An egg, hard as stone, with the spells engraved on the shell. If the shell is ever completely covered in formulae, it will hatch. God knows what's inside.
• A necklace of mummified hands with a spell written on each. (Necromancers only.)
• A set of chimes. Listening carefully to the vibration when a chime is struck, you can discern a spell formula.
• Sheets of metal covered in ridges and bumps. You "read" the spells by moving your fingers over the ridges, like reading Braille.
• Tiny bottles of enchanted ink. When you pour a drop of ink onto a hard surface, it forms the spell formula, then disappears after you've prepared the spell or cast it as a ritual.

 

[darjr]

* The 'spell book' is a puzzle, like a big spirit box, or rubiks cube, but very complicated. Each spell is a new piece of the puzzle. To cast a spell the wizard has to solve for that piece to drop it out of the puzzle box. The wizard will spend the nights trying to reintegrate the puzzle piecies into the box in order to 'memorize' them, all the while mumbling nonsense to them-self.. Each new spell is another darn piece that must be worked into the box somehow.

* Pastries, each spell is a unique pastry, to cast the spell the wizard must eat, or throw, or somehow consume/destroy/ruin the pastry. The soufle's have to be yelled at till they deflate. The wizard spends his nights baking pastries, all the while saying things like 'I heerby beke-a zees megeec pestry fur zee-a sleep spell'.

* Hair pulling. In order to cast a spell the wizard must pull out a clump of hair. Each spell is a different arrangement and kind of hair that must be unceremoniously yanked out by the roots. The wizard spends their nights grunting and forcing new hair to grow, and it does. High level wizards resemble short Sasquatch.

* Acrobatics, each spell is a different collection of acrobatic feats, the wizard must tumble and somersault and twirl their way. Nights are spent stretching and applying heat balm to sore muscles.

 

[Azurewraith]

The somatic component is written on a smoke machine and the verbal is on a mirror, the smoke machine and mirror are also components

 

[MarkB]

A Sensory Stone, from the Planescape setting. Instead of writing down a description of the spell, the wizard imparts his recollection of the experience of casting the spell into the stone, to be recalled later.