Detect Magic and spellcasters

[Hypersmurf]

Spellbooks are non-magical... with the exception of Boccob's Blessed Book.

It's one of the features that make it worth 9500gp... when an absent-minded wizard puts his BBB down somewhere and can't remember where it was, he can find it with a cantrip. It's like putting a key-finder on your car keys.

People who use those clunky non-magical ones usually have to hire someone else to cast Locate Object (since they don't have it memorised, and it's in their spellbook... the one that's missing...) to find them again.

However, certain cunning wizards who don't have BBBs are in the habit of casting Nystul's Magic Aura on their spellbooks, against just such a predicament.

-Hyp.

 

[bret]

However, certain cunning wizards who don't have BBBs are in the habit of casting Nystul's Magic Aura on their spellbooks, against just such a predicament.

-Hyp.

Even more cunning ones use Magic Mouth to call out where they are when the Wizard asks "Now where did I leave my spellbook XYZZY?"

"I'm right here, master. Now don't forget to put another spell on me so you can find me next time as well."

Only costs 10gp in jade dust each time and it permanent.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Even more cunning ones use Magic Mouth to call out where they are when the Wizard asks "Now where did I leave my spellbook XYZZY?"

"I'm right here, master. Now don't forget to put another spell on me so you can find me next time as well."

You know...

1% of all non-charged wondrous items are Intelligent.

That means that out there somewhere, there's a telepathic, talking Boccob's Blessed Book, that can Read Magic, and grants its owner freedom from the need to sleep, Detect Magic and True Seeing at will. Special Purpose : Disintegrate non-spellcasters.

That's a scary thought.

"Don't you scribe that 4th level spell in me! I demand nothing less than 7th level...! 'Freely accepts.' Ha! I can't wait for a chance to Disintegrate the guy who started that rumour..."

Make an Ego check...

-Hyp.

 

[Pax]

What does that matter? You can't cast spells out of your spellbook like you can a scroll. Writing into your spellbook is a class feature, not a feat. Apples to oranges.

TEchnically, someone with a high enough forgery skill -- and the right inks and pens, of course -- could make an exact duplicate of an existing spellbook.

An Expert class someone, in fact.

That forged book would be EXACTLY as useful as the original, assuming the (probably high and repeated) forgery DCs were met.

Spellbooks are uttrly nonmagical, unless external sources of magic are applied. Period.