Mystical Spellbooks

(Version 1.01 - Last Modified: 12/02/2005)


Introduction

The manipulation of energy is the traditional source of a spell caster's power. The more skilled a spell caster is at manipulating this energy, the greater the amount of PPE the spell caster possesses. While these are virtually unchanging laws of magic, it does not tell the while story. Some spell casters, especially alchemists, are skilled at imbuing objects with magic, creating everything from simple magical trinkets to powerful rune artifacts. One of the more commonly used magical items is a magical scroll. Creating a scroll allows a spell caster to prepare a spell well in advance of actually needing it at a cost of some materials and additional PPE, the benefits are that the spell can often be cast faster and without expending PPE. Mystic Spellbooks share some of these properties, but they have very different benefits. Where a scroll is consumed when its magic is used, a spellbook is persistent, but the spell caster must expend PPE each time it is used and it is no faster then casting a spell normally. However, the benefit of using a spellbook is that it changes the nature of the spell being cast to make it more powerful.

By using the book to help focus a caster's energy, a spell can be changed so that it is harder to resist, effects a larger area, has increased range, or inflicts more damage, just to name a few possible modifications. However, creating a spellbook is a long and expensive process, especially if the creator wants to greatly increase the capabilities of a spell. Even worse, once the pages for a spell have been added to a spellbook, they cannot be changed and any further modifications to the same spell must be made from scratch.

Spellbooks vary in size from small hand-held traveling books to massive tomes that permanently rest on a pedestal, but they all share common features. A spellbook is filled with one or more spells and each spell takes up a minimum of one page per spell level, so a fifth level spell would take up five pages, but the enhancements on a spell placed in a spellbook increase the number of pages required to place the spell in the spellbook. An empty spellbook is simply a normal book with blank pages, but most wizards prefer high quality books and pages and so prefer to write their spellbooks using silver runes to make the books invulnerable

Spellbooks provide an amazing boost of power to wizards and other spell casters, but they are not without their problems. Even though the modifications to a spell require only an up front cost in PPE and materials, the spellbook must always be present and open to the correct page while the wizard casts the spell. Unless a wizard has an assistant or some way to open the spellbook to the correct page and continue to turn the pages while the spell is being cast, it requires the wizard to have his hands empty. Fortunately, the act of holding a spellbook and turning its pages does not disrupt the casting of a spell written in the spellbook. The second problem with a spellbook is that it can be read by anyone. If a spell caster discovers a spellbook, they can attempt to learn the spells written on its pages as they would learn a spell from a scroll. If a scroll would be consumed in the process of learning the spell, then those pages from the spellbook are consumed instead. However, due to the nature of a spellbook, it cannot be used to modify and cast a spell if the spell caster does not already know that spell.


Cost of Writing Pages

To enchant each page so a spell in a spellbook, a spell caster must spend 50 gold pieces and 4 PPE per level of the spell and per level of experience that the spell will be cast at, with an additional cost of 200 gold pieces and 8 PPE per point of spell strength bonus the spell caster wishes to place on the spell. For example, to place the Armor of Ithan spell cast at fifth level and with no spell strength bonus, because it is not needed, would cost 750 gold pieces (50 x 3 x 5 = 750) and 60 PPE (4 x 3 x 5 = 60) per page. Since Armor of Ithan is a third level spell, it would cost 2250 gold pieces and 180 PPE for the three pages needed for the base spell. The person writing the spell into the spellbook can control the level of experience and the spell strength used when writing the spell, but once written, the spell cannot be modified at a later date.

However, writing a basic spell without any modifications would serve no purpose. The only point to writing a spell into a spellbook, aside from having a written copy of the spell, is to add enhancements to it. Enhancements can be added to a spellbook in one of two methods, and both methods can be applied to the same spell. These enhancements increase some aspect of the spell, such as its duration, range, or area of effect, and they are cumulative with other enhancements to the same spell and the same enhancement can even be used more then once with a give spell. The first method of adding an enhancement increases the number of pages required for a given spell, but once the spell is written in the book, there are no further costs to the caster. The second method does not increase the number of pages required for a spell but requires the caster to spend additional PPE each time the spell is cast. As previously stated, once a spell is written into a spellbook with or without enhancements, it cannot be changed at a later date. Finally, The actual act of writing a spell into a spellbook is a long exhaustive process that requires one hour per page being written into the book. Round all fractions from cost increases up to the nearest whole number.

For example, a spell caster wishes to increase the duration of the spell Armor of Ithan mentioned above (cast by a fifth level wizard) by using one enhancement. Using the first method of adding an enhancement, it would add an additional page to the spell or 750 gold pieces and 60 PPE. Alternatively, using the second method it would mean that casting Armor of Ithan would cost 15 PPE instead of the usual 10.


Available Enhancements


Creating a PPE Battery

At any time, a Mystical Spellbook can be made into a PPE Battery. However, this process can only be done one time and once the PPE level of the book has been set, it cannot be changed. The maximum amount of PPE that can be set for a spellbook depends greatly on the size of the spellbook for a large spellbook can hold a lot more PPE then a small one. To transform a spellbook into a PPE Battery, a wizard must perform a special ritual that focuses their own PPE and permanently channels it into the spellbook. Unfortunately, this ritual requires a considerable amount of time and material resources; the wizard must spend 10 uninterrupted hour performing the ritual of the spellbook and the materials to perform the ritual cost 800 gold per level of experience of the wizard. In addition, the ritual consumes an amount of PPE from the wizard, or a source available to the wizard, equal to twice the amount being channelled into the spellbook. In addition to the PPE that is channelled into a spellbook at the time of its creation, the spellbook receives a bonus amount of PPE based on the level of wizard and the size of the spellbook. For example, if a 10th level wizard was channelling 300 PPE into an encyclopedia-sized spellbook, the ritual would require 10 uninterrupted hours, 8000 gold, and 600 PPE, but would result in s spellbook that could hold 450 PPE. The PPE in a spellbook generates at a rate of 10 PPE per hour, but it is affected by proximity to a ley line or nexus same as a Wizard.