There's a book that contains information on material/types/protections that can be used in constructing a wizards spellbook and various effects that can happen from its destruction depending on type/level of the spells in it. I can't remember its name though and I was wondering if anyone here know's what tst called?
Question about spellbook construction/destruction
- Thread starter Senko
- Start date
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
I'm sure there's some more modern thing you are referencing that I don't know about.
However, I think, I vaaaguely recall a line or two in the original 1e DMG about spellbooks...or maybe it was the original Unearthed Arcana?...but all I remember (and I don't have any books with me to verify) was something about destroying a spellbook could set off an explosion (like breaking a staff of the magi) that was d-whatever (probably d6) damage per spell level within the book.
So a spellbook of 5 1st level spells (5d6), 5 2nd lvl spells (10d6) and 2 3rd lvl spells (6d6) would generate an explosion/damage totally 21d6...I don't recall if there was some formula provided for the explosion's radius...or a way to figure the percentage chance of the book exploding...
Sorry I can't be more precise/help.
I could also be remembering this completely wrong and it might have been some other book or a house rule...or just a fever dream. But I'm pretty sure I saw it in print...a loooooong time ago.
--Steel Dragons
However, I think, I vaaaguely recall a line or two in the original 1e DMG about spellbooks...or maybe it was the original Unearthed Arcana?...but all I remember (and I don't have any books with me to verify) was something about destroying a spellbook could set off an explosion (like breaking a staff of the magi) that was d-whatever (probably d6) damage per spell level within the book.
So a spellbook of 5 1st level spells (5d6), 5 2nd lvl spells (10d6) and 2 3rd lvl spells (6d6) would generate an explosion/damage totally 21d6...I don't recall if there was some formula provided for the explosion's radius...or a way to figure the percentage chance of the book exploding...
Sorry I can't be more precise/help.
I could also be remembering this completely wrong and it might have been some other book or a house rule...or just a fever dream. But I'm pretty sure I saw it in print...a loooooong time ago.
--Steel Dragons
Thanks for the reply but no I am thinking of something 3rd editionish (supplimentary at any rate) and it contained things specfic to the spell level e.g. destroy a book with 5th level divination spells might give the party telepathic bond, destroy a book with 9th level transmuation spells and risk being turned into a tree, evocation spells can go bang though.
EDIT
It also contained info on making them a crystal carved with runes, ancient dwarven tome of lead, elven spell book written in the way leaves grow on a bush, a human book made out of a waterproofed book enchanted to resist fire and insects etc.
EDIT
It also contained info on making them a crystal carved with runes, ancient dwarven tome of lead, elven spell book written in the way leaves grow on a bush, a human book made out of a waterproofed book enchanted to resist fire and insects etc.
complete arcane or complete mage are the most likely for book made from other materials. You might also want to look at the Arms & Equipment Guide.
I do not remember any 1ed spellbook rule causing it to blow up when destroyed unless the mage trapped the spellbook with a glyph or explosive runes.
I do not remember any 1ed spellbook rule causing it to blow up when destroyed unless the mage trapped the spellbook with a glyph or explosive runes.
What is mostly likely to happen. Spellbooks, the really powerful ones, have any numbers of spelltraps, spell engines, contingencial explosive runes, symbol spells, etc. Almost anything that can be put on a contingencial method inside material is made into the spellbook.
I have seen many, beyond my own boobtrapped books, that had permanent spells on them like elemental resistance and stone skin or weird-er things like invisibility and antimagic-field.
Soooo... not uncommon for something like that go Kaboom. But RAW rules? Never saw one.
Alexander123
First Post
There is a section on spellbooks in Magic of Faerun. It has information on how to construct and protect a spellbook. Nothing happens to anyone attempting to destroy a spellbook unless it has been previously trapped.
Thanks for the replies and I've figured out the problem. You were right Tanisfrey complete arcane had the construction options, alexander123 I sadly don't have magic of Faerun. As for the destruction the reason I couldn't find it is that it wasn't in my DnD books it was in Forbidden Arcana in the Mythic Vistas series (I think). Still I've got it now ah my sweet destruction rules that work so well for any magical item destroyed without care.
Try to destroy a necromantic item carelessly for instance and anything can happen from a random target within 10 feet becoming the target of all undead within five miles (current position and they know where you are) up to all undead within 200 feet being raised as uncontrolled undead as if done by the animate dead spell or one of my personal favorites it doesn't get destroyed but instead sinks into a burning grave and anyone who tries to retrieve it is instantly affected as if by a power word kill spell (20th level caster I assume).
Try to destroy a necromantic item carelessly for instance and anything can happen from a random target within 10 feet becoming the target of all undead within five miles (current position and they know where you are) up to all undead within 200 feet being raised as uncontrolled undead as if done by the animate dead spell or one of my personal favorites it doesn't get destroyed but instead sinks into a burning grave and anyone who tries to retrieve it is instantly affected as if by a power word kill spell (20th level caster I assume).
Hehehehe. You get the idea. Now try picturing a Generalist... OOOOH the fun.
lordxaviar
Explorer
[FONT="]DR#62, June 1982
and the complete arcane: USING SPELLBOOKS
Every wizard possesses a personal set of notations, formulas, scripts, and ciphers for recording the workings of a spell. While the underlying language and concepts are the same, no wizard can simply pick up another’s spellbook and instantly prepare spells from the foreign tome. Whenever an attempt is made to understand another wizard’s spellbook (including forgotten tomes discovered in ruined towers or traveling workbooks seized from the hoards of enemies), the reader must employ read magic or succeed on a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level) to identify a particular spell (and its
general purpose, if the spell is one not known to the reader). Until a wizard deciphers a spell in a foreign book, its magic is useless.
Wizards can prepare spells from a foreign spellbook or copy spells from a foreign spellbook into their own as described in Arcane Magical Writings, page 178 of the Player’s Handbook. Two special circumstances, discussed below, are worth noting.
Masters and Apprentices: Wizards who take on apprentices usually teach them many of the same notations and codes they themselves have perfected. A wizard attempting to decipher, prepare, or copy a spell from the spellbook of a master (or apprentice) gains a +2 circumstance bonus on the Spellcraft check. Mastering a Foreign Spellbook: Instead of laboriously
copying each spell of interest from a found spellbook into his own, a wizard might instead make a dedicated effort to master the spellbook’s particular ciphers and notations. This procedure is sometimes referred to as becoming attuned to the spellbook (although it’s a matter of time and study, not a mystical process). Mastering a spellbook requires a successful Spellcraft check (DC 25 + the level of the highest-level spell in the book) and takes one week plus one day per spell contained within. If the wizard succeeds, he can use the foreign spellbook as his own, requiring no further Spellcraft checks to prepare or copy spells from it. If he fails, he cannot attempt to master that spellbook again until he gains at least 1 more rank in Spellcraft.
SPELLBOOK CONSTRUCTION Aside from ornamentation and spurious false writings, all spellbooks require one page per spell level (minimum one page) to record any particular spell. The pages of most spellbooks have been treated for durability and protection against fi re, mold, water, parasites, staining, and other hazards. These procedures make even a blank spellbook relatively
expensive. The base cost of 15 gp buys a well-bound leather volume of 100 parchment pages, a style also typically used for other high-quality books such as the genealogies of noble families
or the master copies of sages’ published writings. Exotic materials increase the cost and weight of a spellbook accordingly, and these materials are usually reserved for grimoires, not arcanabula.
Table 5–1: Spellbooks Cover Weight Hardness Hit Points Cost Leather 1 lb. 2 +0 5 gp Wood, thin 1 lb. 3 +1 20 gp Metal, soft 5 lb. 5 +4 100 gp Metal, hard 5 lb. 7 +5 200 gp Dragonhide 2 lb. 4 +2 200 gp
Slipcase +1 lb. +1 +1 +20 gp Pages (100) Weight Hardness Hit Points Cost Parchment 2 lb. +0 1 10 gp Paper, linen 2 lb. +0 2 20 gp Vellum 2 lb. +0 3 50 gp Bone or ivory 4 lb. +0 4 100 gp
Metal foil 20 lb. +1 8 500 gp The weight, hardness, hit points, and cost of a spellbook of unusual construction is the sum of its cover and page construction. For example, a book made with a steel plate cover (hard metal) and copper foil pages weighs 25 pounds, has hardness 8, 13 hit points, and costs 700 gold pieces. All fi ne books can be purchased with a waterproof double
slipcase of chased and tooled leather, strong enough to protect against driving rain or burial in snow but not against prolonged immersion. Special physical treatments (such as baths in secret herbal tinctures and alchemical solutions designed to retard fi re and mold damage) are included in the above costs.
PROTECTING SPELLBOOKS
Any wizard with the means to do so will carefully safeguard her spellbooks against accident, battle damage, or theft. Most arcanabula feature cheap and inexpensive protections (often a simple explosive runes or fi re trap), but for most wizards, the risk of losing a workbook isn’t enough to justify the expense of high-level protection. Grimoires, on the other hand, are generally stored in the
most secret hiding places (sometimes even on other planes) and equipped with mechanical traps, loyal guardians, and deadly spells of defense. The protections applied to a greatbook can take virtually any form, from magically sustained poisonous spiders or snakes, to bladders of paralyzing or sleep-inducing gases, to scything blades or poisoned needles concealed in the locks, lids, or frames of the coffers and cabinets the books are hidden in. These traps are never of a design or nature that might endanger the book, but otherwise are almost limitless in the kinds of damage they can infl ict on the uninvited. Magical protections can add thousands of gold pieces to the cost of even the simplest tome. Some of the most common spellbook defenses include the following.
Resistant to Energy (Minor): The book has resistance 5 against acid, cold, electricity, fi re, and sonic attacks Moderate abjuration; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, resist
energy; Price +1,000 gp. Resistant to Energy (Major): The book has resistance 12 against acid, cold, electricity, fi re, and sonic attacks. Moderate abjuration; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item,
protection from energy; Price +3,000 gp. Glamered: The book looks and feels like something else of similar size (no more than 25% larger or smaller in any dimension) and weight (between half as heavy and twice as heavy as the original). Upon command, the book switches between its normal and its glamered appearance, but anyone who touches the book in glamered form can make a DC 14
Will save to disbelieve the illusion. Moderate illusion; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, major image; Price +2,000 gp. Pungent: The book is infused with an acrid essence that repels damaging pests. Any
creature that touches the book without fi rst speaking a command word must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or become nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds.
Moderate conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, stinking cloud; Price +2,000 gp. Levitating: The book hovers in the air at whatever point it is placed, much like an immovable rod (though the
book can support only its own weight). Moderate transmutation; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, levitate; Price +2,000 gp. Waterproof: The book is impervious to damage caused by immersion
in or exposure to water. Faint abjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, endure elements; Price +1,000 gp. Spelltrapped: A magic trap has been incorporated into the book (for example, a burning hands spell that strikes anyone handling the book except its owner). The trap can be set to operate when the book is touched, when it is opened, or when a particular page is read.Any spell appropriate for a trap may be used (see Sample Traps, page 70 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, for suggestions and pricing).
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and the complete arcane: USING SPELLBOOKS
Every wizard possesses a personal set of notations, formulas, scripts, and ciphers for recording the workings of a spell. While the underlying language and concepts are the same, no wizard can simply pick up another’s spellbook and instantly prepare spells from the foreign tome. Whenever an attempt is made to understand another wizard’s spellbook (including forgotten tomes discovered in ruined towers or traveling workbooks seized from the hoards of enemies), the reader must employ read magic or succeed on a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level) to identify a particular spell (and its
general purpose, if the spell is one not known to the reader). Until a wizard deciphers a spell in a foreign book, its magic is useless.
Wizards can prepare spells from a foreign spellbook or copy spells from a foreign spellbook into their own as described in Arcane Magical Writings, page 178 of the Player’s Handbook. Two special circumstances, discussed below, are worth noting.
Masters and Apprentices: Wizards who take on apprentices usually teach them many of the same notations and codes they themselves have perfected. A wizard attempting to decipher, prepare, or copy a spell from the spellbook of a master (or apprentice) gains a +2 circumstance bonus on the Spellcraft check. Mastering a Foreign Spellbook: Instead of laboriously
copying each spell of interest from a found spellbook into his own, a wizard might instead make a dedicated effort to master the spellbook’s particular ciphers and notations. This procedure is sometimes referred to as becoming attuned to the spellbook (although it’s a matter of time and study, not a mystical process). Mastering a spellbook requires a successful Spellcraft check (DC 25 + the level of the highest-level spell in the book) and takes one week plus one day per spell contained within. If the wizard succeeds, he can use the foreign spellbook as his own, requiring no further Spellcraft checks to prepare or copy spells from it. If he fails, he cannot attempt to master that spellbook again until he gains at least 1 more rank in Spellcraft.
SPELLBOOK CONSTRUCTION Aside from ornamentation and spurious false writings, all spellbooks require one page per spell level (minimum one page) to record any particular spell. The pages of most spellbooks have been treated for durability and protection against fi re, mold, water, parasites, staining, and other hazards. These procedures make even a blank spellbook relatively
expensive. The base cost of 15 gp buys a well-bound leather volume of 100 parchment pages, a style also typically used for other high-quality books such as the genealogies of noble families
or the master copies of sages’ published writings. Exotic materials increase the cost and weight of a spellbook accordingly, and these materials are usually reserved for grimoires, not arcanabula.
Table 5–1: Spellbooks Cover Weight Hardness Hit Points Cost Leather 1 lb. 2 +0 5 gp Wood, thin 1 lb. 3 +1 20 gp Metal, soft 5 lb. 5 +4 100 gp Metal, hard 5 lb. 7 +5 200 gp Dragonhide 2 lb. 4 +2 200 gp
Slipcase +1 lb. +1 +1 +20 gp Pages (100) Weight Hardness Hit Points Cost Parchment 2 lb. +0 1 10 gp Paper, linen 2 lb. +0 2 20 gp Vellum 2 lb. +0 3 50 gp Bone or ivory 4 lb. +0 4 100 gp
Metal foil 20 lb. +1 8 500 gp The weight, hardness, hit points, and cost of a spellbook of unusual construction is the sum of its cover and page construction. For example, a book made with a steel plate cover (hard metal) and copper foil pages weighs 25 pounds, has hardness 8, 13 hit points, and costs 700 gold pieces. All fi ne books can be purchased with a waterproof double
slipcase of chased and tooled leather, strong enough to protect against driving rain or burial in snow but not against prolonged immersion. Special physical treatments (such as baths in secret herbal tinctures and alchemical solutions designed to retard fi re and mold damage) are included in the above costs.
PROTECTING SPELLBOOKS
Any wizard with the means to do so will carefully safeguard her spellbooks against accident, battle damage, or theft. Most arcanabula feature cheap and inexpensive protections (often a simple explosive runes or fi re trap), but for most wizards, the risk of losing a workbook isn’t enough to justify the expense of high-level protection. Grimoires, on the other hand, are generally stored in the
most secret hiding places (sometimes even on other planes) and equipped with mechanical traps, loyal guardians, and deadly spells of defense. The protections applied to a greatbook can take virtually any form, from magically sustained poisonous spiders or snakes, to bladders of paralyzing or sleep-inducing gases, to scything blades or poisoned needles concealed in the locks, lids, or frames of the coffers and cabinets the books are hidden in. These traps are never of a design or nature that might endanger the book, but otherwise are almost limitless in the kinds of damage they can infl ict on the uninvited. Magical protections can add thousands of gold pieces to the cost of even the simplest tome. Some of the most common spellbook defenses include the following.
Resistant to Energy (Minor): The book has resistance 5 against acid, cold, electricity, fi re, and sonic attacks Moderate abjuration; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, resist
energy; Price +1,000 gp. Resistant to Energy (Major): The book has resistance 12 against acid, cold, electricity, fi re, and sonic attacks. Moderate abjuration; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item,
protection from energy; Price +3,000 gp. Glamered: The book looks and feels like something else of similar size (no more than 25% larger or smaller in any dimension) and weight (between half as heavy and twice as heavy as the original). Upon command, the book switches between its normal and its glamered appearance, but anyone who touches the book in glamered form can make a DC 14
Will save to disbelieve the illusion. Moderate illusion; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, major image; Price +2,000 gp. Pungent: The book is infused with an acrid essence that repels damaging pests. Any
creature that touches the book without fi rst speaking a command word must make a DC 14 Fortitude save or become nauseated for 1d4+1 rounds.
Moderate conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, stinking cloud; Price +2,000 gp. Levitating: The book hovers in the air at whatever point it is placed, much like an immovable rod (though the
book can support only its own weight). Moderate transmutation; CL 6th; Craft Wondrous Item, levitate; Price +2,000 gp. Waterproof: The book is impervious to damage caused by immersion
in or exposure to water. Faint abjuration; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, endure elements; Price +1,000 gp. Spelltrapped: A magic trap has been incorporated into the book (for example, a burning hands spell that strikes anyone handling the book except its owner). The trap can be set to operate when the book is touched, when it is opened, or when a particular page is read.Any spell appropriate for a trap may be used (see Sample Traps, page 70 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, for suggestions and pricing).
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