#wizard's spellbook

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Wizard's Spellbook

Artist: Iris Compiet TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[algorlthm]

some snaps of the spell book I am making for my boyfriend’s dnd campaign! it’s not perfect at all, but I’m having fun with this so far, although it’s taking me a while to complete a page :(

all images are drawn from references taken from the internet, the journal/book is made by myself!

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Wizard's Spellbook

Artist: Iris Compiet TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[tale-chaser]

neranishin replied to your post “Do you know what aquatic elves do for spellbooks? It doesn't seem like...”

thank you for writing novels though they are very interesting. So the answer to "how do I get a water resistant book" is just "a wizard already did it so go buy one"? That's... almost disappointingly simple.

You’re welcome. I like writing them but then I wonder if anyone’s actually reading. 

Yep. A bit anti-climactic isn’t it? That’s why variants of gold and ivory were invented I suppose. It’s an interesting bit of fluff that says a lot about your wizard. Are they the platinum spellbook sort or is it just a book that they themselves enchanted.

Ultimately, though it is a wizard’s weapon, which is why so many variants of it are thought up. Imagine a fighter who’d worry about his weapon in hot areas or a rogue with glass lockpicks. Or suddenly being caught by rain or dragged into an underwater adventure and having the wizard defenceless. 

I imagine issues like this would come up more often in RP than in campaigns, but every wizard I’ve played or DM-ed with has spent enough gold on their spellbook’s enchantment and protection to buy a small city. Waterproof and fireproof are just some of the more basic ones and it keeps the players from being creative with paraffin and wax paper. I could write ...well, more novels, about how to guard one’s spellbook.

I suppose it also depends on the world. If it’s a low-level low-fantasy campaign, then a waterproof book would be far more expensive and hard to acquire than it would be in Faerun or the Planes. And 30 gold is a lot for a starter wizard who doesn't come from a wealthy family. 

[tale-chaser]

Do you know what aquatic elves do for spellbooks? It doesn't seem like ink/dye or paper/parchment of any sort would work underwater. I'd include things like sahuagin in the question, but somehow I bet the answer to that is "oooh they aren't *civilized* enough to have actual wizards"

Sahuagin are more of a sorcererculture than wizard. It’s not so much civilization, but wizards tend to growinto their power and sahuagin have a reputation for attacking someone for beingweak. I could see an isolated sahuagin wizard, though. Weirder things havehappened.

There is no record ordetail in the books on how an aquatic elf would specifically have a spellbook butI’ve had campaigns underwater so…I’m just going to list the means by which weovercame this issue and other stuff we came up with? Really, your imaginationis the limit, here, vaguely bound by rules.

We’re going by anaquatic grimoire or workbook?

To make it clear, spellbooksare generally classified in two groups—arcanabula and grimoires. Arcanabula, orworkbooks, are a wizard’s everyday working tomes. They tend to contain spellsjumbled in any order, interspersed with annotations and notes of magical lore,and are often stained and battered from travel and use in the field. Grimoires,sometimes called greatbooks, are formal, ordered collections of spells.Greatbooks tend to be locked, guarded, and hidden, either in a secure cache orin a wizard’s abode. Arcanabulas just have the basic cheap protections.

Now, a normalbase-cost spellbook costs about 15 gold because they’re already treatedalchemically to resist against the elements but not against prolonged exposureso method one would be a normal spellbook which is not going to get hurt by aquick dip and keeping it into an Heward’sHandy Haversack or pocket space.

An alternative is …buya waterproof spellbook. It costs 30 gp. Waterproof ink costs 4 gp. The wording is such that you mightneed to go to the surface, to write new entries otherwise it’s pretty safeunderwater. You can also enchant it yourself (Faint abjuration; CL 3rd; Craft WondrousItem, endure elements; Price +1,000 gp) If you ever needed a reason (as if oneneeded more) you could pick up a Boccob’s Blessed Book.

Tomake the paper as an aquatic elf, you’d get…pressed seaweed or vellum made fromfish/shark/dolphin skin, waterproof squid ink or groundmother of pearl powder, urchin quill or coral pen. Again,writing would have to be done in a dry environment, depending on what you writewith. Alternatively the vellum could be punctured or cut in a way that wouldresemble braille writing or cuneiform.

Other spellbooksare made of metal or ivory. So you have ivory, copper, gold, platinum sheetsengraved or stamped with arcane writing. They are usually large and often ofunusual proportions (such as very tall for their width). That way, you can alsowrite on them underwater with an embosser, although it’s still suggested to beplaced in a Heward’s Handy Haversack becausethey’re heavy (bone or ivory books about 4lb., metal foil about 20 lb.) Or get HoardGullet if a bag is too expensive.

For those who don’tknow this spell:

HoardGullet

Transmutation

Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 1,Initiate of Astilabor 1

Components:V, S

Casting Time: 1standard action

Range: Personal

Target:You

Duration: 1hour/level

Youmove your hands to your throat, chanting in low murmurs as you trace animaginary line from your lower jaw clown to your abdomen.

Yougain a magical second stomach, which can be used to transport objects securely.You can safely swallow and transport any object you could normally swallow(including items at least three size categories smaller than you). The capacityof your hoard gullet is 100 pounds and/or 10 cubic feet per caster level (up toa maximum of 1,000 pounds and 100 cubic feet). You can’t remove individualitems from your hoard gullet, but as a fullround action, you can expel itsentire contents into your square. It otherwise functions as a bag of holding.

Atthe end of the spell’s duration, anything still in your second stomach isimmediately and instantly brought up, falling to the ground next to you. Youcan’t have more than one hoard gullet active at one time; casting this spellbefore its duration ends the duration of the previous casting. For example, ifa 7th-level sorcerer with 2 hours left on his hoard gullet casts the spellagain, the spell’s duration resets to 7 hours.

Dragonsoften use this spell to transport their treasure hoards safely, but it isequally useful to those who would loot such hoards.

There.Now you are your own bag of holding.

We also went outsideof the book idea altogether. For an aquatic elf, a string collection of shellsor pearls could form bare-bones arcane writing or form pages (the knots andplacement represent the words and motions for the spells).

Fish scales can formdifferent patterns thus words. One such wizard had a book of fish skins boundand plucked the fish scales into a pattern.  

There could even be a system where they have developed shells into which they whisper the magic spells (scribing them or ghost sound with a permanency spell) and when memorising, you bring the shell to your ear and hear the spell. Magical audio books!

There was a wizardtype called Anagakoks in Dragonlance, from a moreprimitive background, who wrote their spellbooks on tree bark. An aquatic variantcould be doing so on stone, carved ivory or bones, tied together on a string.Assuming small writing, one could write a lot on a rod of bone. Again, for ease,a cuneiform-like writing could be employed. A staff can hold up to 9 pages. Have more staves.

Making a reference to the tattooed spellbook mentioned in the earlier post, I had a character who employed that variant,but opted for scarification tattoos (best tattoo artists for scarification arethe drow, if ever on a field trip through Menzo) and that way she didn’t haveto look at the tattoo to remember the spell, simply read it with herfingertips. She also had braids in her hair that served as such, differentknots and placements and decorations at certain areas or put in a certain wayrepresenting motions or words. Some ancient scripts and recording devices were just simple knotted string (quipus).

It’snot a grimoire but if you’re ever in need, no one is going tosuspect the wizard touching her hair.

[tale-chaser]

//I was wondering - what exactly is a pocket dimension, and how would it be created/gained access to? What are the "rules" for pocket dimensions?

Are we talking temporary ones like Mordenkainen’sMagnificent Mansion or permanent ones? Those that belong where they are? Movingones? Those of a mage or a deity? A specific spell? Bags of holding? Portableholes? Extra-dimendional? Non-dimensional? Demi-planes? Also how big are wetalking about? A Familiar Pocket or a Bag of Holding? It depends on each pocketif it can even be liveable.

Generally speaking, however, a pocket dimension is a separateplane of existence or an isolated area of a plane. Its entry point remains stationary and fixed to a location(…exceptwhen it’s not and it’s tied to other places via portals or by portal key) or particularsituations (like a summer solstice or humming while walking between trees that look like an archway)

It usually cannot be penetrated or escaped from except throughthe entrance. There are ways of outside access via powerful spells but again,it varies from dimension to dimension. Each pocket can have its own planartraits. They can be created via powerful spells or deities and some evolvenaturally.