Lovecraftian Spellbooks
Like a lot of gamers, I have a healthy respect and love for weird fiction, like that created by HP Lovecraft. While unraveling the secrets of the strange and impossible is what appeals most to me in these stories (that and the giant bizarre monsters), I could not deny the importance of the dread tomes that frequent these pages. From the Dread Necronomicon to scriptures whose names are unpronounceable, and even texts so obscure as to be described simply as indescribable, these books contain powerful works of magic never meant for human hands. This week, we bring you three such example spellbooks to leave for unwary wizards.
HAUZE’RMEEQUE
While this book appears to be bound in dyed green leather, anyone touching the cover quickly discovers it to be something else entirely, slick to the touch and seeming to breath as though alive. The pages likewise feel slick despite looking like normal paper and showing none of the normal signs of moisture damage. The book is a work of mad fiction, presented as a history of a lost civilization called Thalni, which was dragged into the sea by terrible half-real entities who warred with and defeated the ancient gods of mankind and replaced them. The book contains instructions for the worship and glory of these beings, called Hauz’rmeeque. Despite the outlandish imagery and melancholy of the tome, it contains over a dozen powerful spells, useful for anyone looking to make contact with these entities.
Value 11,510 gp (11,760 gp with the preparation ritual)
SPELLS
9th— mass hold monster, tsunami(APG)
8th—clone, horrid wilting
7th—ooze form III(UW), insanity
6th—conjure black puddingUM, fluid form(APG)
5th—contact other plane, feeblemind, mind fog
4th—black tentacles, solid fog
3rd—magic circle against good, water breathing
2nd—acid arrow, contact entity I(HA), share language(UC), summon monster II (aquatic creatures only),
1st—comprehend languages, protection from chaos, obscuring mist
PREPARATION RITUAL
God Slayer (Su): You gain a +1 bonus on saving throws against divine spells. Additionally, the saving throw DC of spells you cast against divine characters is increased by +1.
SPECIAL PROPERTIES
Insane Narrative (Su): In order to prepare spells from this spellbook, a character must first read it in its entirety, a process which takes 10 hours. Any character who finishes reading the book must attempt a DC 25 Will save or suffer 1d10 points of Intelligence drain. As long as any of this drain persists, the character is treated as though affected by the spell insanity. If the character instead succeeds on this saving throw, then whenever he would suffer ability drain to one of his mental ability scores, he always suffers 1 fewer point of ability drain.
Wave Speech (Su): A character that finishes reading this book gains the ability to speak with any aquatic creature that has a language. He retains this ability as long as he possesses this book.
PALE BOOK OF LAW
Penned by inhuman hands, this insane text was recorded on nine scrolls in an odd pidgin of languages, rendering the document indecipherable without magical assistance. For those able to read the text, it lays out nine laws, in accordance with the will of some terrible cosmic entity. While these laws seem to have little to do with directing a person’s existence, they claim to involve secrets of the universe’s functions. The laws themselves are a mixture of insane poetry and irrational mathematics, relying on physical laws which seem to have no basis in reality. Regardless, a magical secret can be gleaned from each of the scrolls, and those that study the scrolls can manipulate reality itself by following these true laws.
Value 25,950 gp (27,000 gp with the preparation ritual)
SPELLS
9th—greater create demiplane(UM), wish
8th—antipathy, sympathy
7th—control weather, vision
6th—control water, move earth, true seeing, transformation
5th—dominate person, fabricate, teleport
4th—minor creation, true form(APG)
3rd—haste, slow
2nd—detect thoughts, see invisibility
1st— aphasia(UI), comprehend languages, unseen servant
PREPARATION RITUAL
Laws of Reality (Ex): Insight into the true nature of existence provides you a +4 bonus on saving throws against illusions, but the saving throw DC of illusions you cast are reduced by 4.
SPECIAL PROPERTIES
Impossible Formula (Ex): A character that attempts to copy a spell from the Pale Book of Law must succeed on a DC 30 Spellcraft check or draft the spell incorrectly. If they do, whenever the spell is prepared in from this copy it has a 50% arcane spell failure chance.
Revelations (Ex): A character can consult the Pale Book of Law in order to gain a bonus on all checks made with a single Knowledge skill. If he does, he suffers up to 9 points of Wisdom damage and gains a bonus on all checks in the specified Knowledge check equal to 3 times the number of points of Wisdom damage suffered in this way. This bonus persists until all ability damage is recovered.
Sacred Scrolls (Ex): A character can use the Pale Book of Law like a collection of scrolls, allowing him to cast each spell contained within once, causing the spell to then disappear. When he does so, the spell uses his own caster level and primary spellcasting ability score modifiers, rather than the defaults of the scroll. Once a character uses the book in this way to cast a spell contained within, the cast spell forever disappears from the Pale Book of Law, preventing others from casting it in this way against or preparing the spell from the book.
BLACK BOOK OF AZATHOTH
This small black ledger contains thousands of pages, and seems to add and subtract pages constantly. While the book appears to be a simple collection of names written in blood, those who can sense the unseen spiritual world may see scrawled words spiraling upward impossibly from each name, telling the tale of the witch or wizard to whom the name belongs. The words are written plainly, but in a horrible inhuman hand, and with a magic of unknown and indescribable color. While many of these stories are straightforward, a few include spells and instructions for casting them.
Value 50,000 gp (52,000 gp with the preparation ritual)
SPELLS
9th—time stop, wail of the banshee, wish
8th—clone, mind blank, temporal stasis
7th—contact entity IV(HA), insanity, limited wish
6th—antimagic field, circle of death, contingency
5th—contact entity III(HA), contact other plane, dream, telekinesis
4th—animate dead, contagion, dimensional anchor, dimension door
3rd—arcane sight, contact entity II(HA), magic circle against law, nondetection
2nd—blood transcription(UM), contact entity I(HA), share language(UC), share memory(UM)
1st—air bubble(UC), alarm, erase, memorize page(ACG)
PREPARATION RITUAL
Magical History (Ex): Spells prepared from this book are especially effective against arcane spellcasters. Arcane spellcasters suffer a –2 penalty on saving throws made to resist spells prepared from this book. Additionally, spells prepared from this spellbook are difficult to dispel, and arcane spellcasters suffer a –4 penalty on caster level checks made to dispel spells prepared with a Black Book of Azathoth.
SPECIAL PROPERTIES
Arcane History (Ex): This terrible tome is dedicated to the secrets of all magicians, and can explain to its master how the powers of the chaotic cosmic forces of the universe are worked by lesser hands. A wizard can add the spells from the spellbook of any wizard whose name he knows for free by speaking the wizard’s name and placing their spellbook in physical contact with the Black Book of Azathoth. The spells are then permanently erased from the original spellbook, but added to the Black Book of Azathoth. A Black Book of Azathoth contains unlimited pages for adding spells. Spells added in this way are only accessible by the wizard who added them, and any other character merely sees insane writings and wild speculation about the nature of reality.
Concealed Text: In order to prepare spells from a Black Book of Azathoth, a character must be able to see invisible objects.