Spellbooks and formulae books are a reflection of the personality and capabilities of their creators. Many of these tomes contain more than just spells, such as notes on other research, personal diaries, naturalist sketches, or even political treatises. Some contain preparation rituals, each of which grants a boon — or sometimes a hindrance — to spellcasters who use the book to prepare their spells. Any book listed in this section can be used by a character with the Spellbook or similar rule (such as Alchemist, Magus, and Wizard).
The spellbooks and formulae books below list a description of the book, the book’s spells, and its preparation ritual (if any). Some books also contain precautions against prying eyes. Unless otherwise stated, any precautions on the spellbook do not destroy it when triggered.
Each book features a value which represents what a character must pay on the open market, though finding a seller may be difficult. Any book with a preparation ritual has a second cost. The first is for the book without the preparation ritual, and second is with ritual.
The spellbooks listed here already contain powers within them. Some have specific Trappings while others may only have limited powers (such as lower Trait but no boost Trait).
Whenever a character that uses one of these spellbooks to record his spells learns a new power, he can choose one of the powers listed in the book. These books provide easy access to new powers when a wizard, alchemist, or magus takes the New Powers Edge. Additionally, when a character Advances, he can swap any one power he knows with a power of the same Rank in his active spellbook.
This means that the more powers a caster adds to his spellbook, the more options he has as he Advances.
Finally, a character with one of these spellbooks can spend a Benny to cast a spell within that he does not know (the character must still meet the Rank Requirement).
When a spellcaster uses a spellbook or formulae book with a ritual, as long as he knows at least three spells or formulae listed in the book, he gains a temporary boon granted by the ritual.
The boon lasts until it's used or the next morning. A spellcaster can only take the effect of one preparation ritual, no matter how many spellbooks she has.
This surprisingly ornate and heavy volume is more than three-quarters empty. Tightly written notes on the precepts of arcane defense and the vulnerabilities of supernatural entities fill the first two pages.
Spells: Banish, burst (burning hands), bolt (magic missile), deflection, lower Trait (ray of enfeeblement).
Protection: Average lock (Thievery).
Price: 185 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This slim book is carefully but amateurishly bound, with leather stretched tight across thin boards. The writing inside is fussy and crammed together, with words that are occasionally illegible. Eight of its pages contain spells; the final 10 pages are blank. A portrait of a plain woman, unsmiling, has been bound into the inside front cover.
Spells: Deflection, detect arcana, speak language, summon ally.
Price: 195 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This is a simple, unadorned spellbook. Notes on improving the efficiency spells crowd the margins, most of them hopelessly misguided.
Spells: Bolt (scorching ray), boost Trait, protection, slumber.
Price: 275 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This small book, no larger than a pocket notebook, is bound between wooden covers, and is clearly a copy meant to withstand the rigors of adventuring. The arrowhead lodged in the cover can’t be removed without magic.
Spells: Boost Trait, fly, growth, lock/unlock, smite.
Protection: Average lock (Thievery).
Price: 365 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
The leather wrapping of this book is of an indeterminate type, and gives off a faint and unpleasant scent, as of charred meat. The writing inside is in a jagged hand, and many notes on the ash-smudged pages indicate its previous owner sought ever more damaging magic. A glittering rune in the cover’s center is shaped vaguely like a lightning bolt.
Spells: Blast (fireball), bolt (acid arrow), burst (lightning bolt), confusion, darkness, elemental manipulation.
Protection: Average lock (Thievery).
Ritual (Harmful Surge): As a free action the hero can automatically Ace the damage dice of a spell cast, but these dice can't Ace again. This causes the hero to take one Wound.
Price: 535 gp or 900 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
The steel cover of this slim journal has taken its fair share of abuse; acid scars and minor slag spots show where the journal was subjected to intense working conditions. Equations, balances, and chemical notations mark the margins of the pages—with some formulae, it is difficult to tell where the notes end and the formula begins.
Spells: Boost Trait, burst (fire breath), deflection, environmental protection, healing, speak language.
Ritual (Alchemical Protection): The knowledge granted by this book protects the owner from poisons. Spend this boon’s effect when making a check to resist poison to gain a +1 bonus to the roll.
Price: 395 gp or 770 gp; Weight: 5 lbs.
This tome reeks of decomposing flesh or some even fouler stench. Grave mold clings to the worm-eaten cover, and dirt stains the pages. Some pages have been torn out.
Spells: Burst (burning hands), entangle (web), lower Trait, protection.
Protection: The edges of the first three pages are coated with a Lethal Poison (nitharit).
Ritual (Breath of the Grave): As a limited free action, spend this boon’s effect to breathe a Small Cone Template of rotting stench. Creatures within the cone must make a Vigor check or be Distracted and Vulnerable. After this boon has been spent, the hero take a -2 penalty on Persuasion and Stealth checks until he prepares spells again.
Price: 815 gp or 1,265 gp; Weight: 5 lbs.
The title of this book is embossed into the scaly cover. Inside, the pages sparkle and gleam in even the faintest light, and the handwriting looks preternaturally clean.
Spells: Confusion, disguise, fear, illusion, invisibility, slumber, smite, speak language.
Protection: The book is warded with an illusory script (minor puppet, the suggestion is for the reader to “Close the book and leave”).
Ritual (Glittering Eyes): When casting illusion, the caster gains expanded sight. Spend this boon’s effect as a free action to gain Darkvision and a +2 bonus on checks to disbelieve illusions, with both benefits lasting for one minute.
Price: 1,055 gp or 1,755 gp; Weight: 5 lbs.
This simple book is bound in white leather with a silver clasp. Careful notes on economic theory in a crisp and precise hand occupy the last few written pages, after which there is a page stained with a dark reddish-brown smear. The rest of the pages are blank.
Spells: Boost Trait, burst (dragon's breath), detect arcana, disguise, dispel, elemental manipulation, empathy, healing, protection (barkskin), shape change, sloth, smite, speak language, teleport, unlock.
Protection: Good lock (Thievery at -2), major explosive runes.
Ritual (Defensive Transmutation): When taking another shape, the character can increase his defenses. Spend this boon’s effect as a free action when casting shape change on himself. As long as he is affected by that spell, he gains +2 Armor for the Duration of the spell.
Price: 1,835 gp or 2,635 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This medium-sized book has a creased spine and supple gray leather covers. The leather has rubbed away in certain spots, tiny pinhole burns pock the surface, and a brass lock holds the book shut. A woman’s portrait has been bound into the front cover, and text covers almost all of the image except her face: text in circles, with arrows pointing to new circles with suppositions. Underneath the woman’s chin are the words “Diabolist sacrifice?”
Spells: Conjure item, deflection (protection from evil), detect arcana, disguise, dispel, divination, fear, locate, mind link, scrying, speak language.
Protection: Average lock (Thievery), and the Seasoned powers are hidden on a secret page. The special word is “reveal.”
Ritual (Eyes of Rul Thaven): The caster uses a trick perfected by Rul Thaven to ferret out invisible creatures. Spend this boon’s effect as a free action. Gain major detect arcana for one round.
Price: 2,195 gp or 3,320 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This ragged collection of scorched and stained notes is tied with cheap twine between wooden covers. A few formulae appear to have been deliberately obliterated, scratched through so thoroughly that the paper is torn in places.
Spells: Boost Trait, burst (dragon's breath), disguise, environmental protection, growth, healing, protection (bark skin), speak language.
Ritual (Beastly Concoction): This journal grants the ability to make an extremely potent and savage mutagen. Spend this boon when imbibing a mutagen. The mutagen grants +1 Toughness.
Price: 915 gp or 2,165 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
Blood, dirt, wine, and more stain this white leather book. The owner’s name, Jack Wereson, is stamped into the cover in peeling gold, yet no more information about the author is immediately evident. Several of the pages contain careful diagrams and illustrations done by a competent but uninspiring artist.
Spells: Bolt (acid arrow), boost Trait, burst (Cone Template), conceal arcana, dispel, fear, invisibility, lock, puppet, slumber, speed, teleport.
Protection: Average lock with lock (Thievery at -4) and minor explosive runes.
Price: 2,835 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
Fine vellum sheets fill these two well-worn books. Beautiful illustrations depict the effects of each spell, many with a distinctly arctic theme. Though the pages and their wintry illustrations are of high quality, the protective leather case that encloses both books smells and feels greasy, as if the hide has been crudely waterproofed with animal fat.
Spells: Barrier (wall of ice), blast (ice storm), bolt (lightning bolt), boost Trait, burst (cone of cold), detect arcana, dispel, environmental protection, growth, havoc (shout), make whole, mind reading, protection (stone skin), teleport.
Protection: Minor bolt (ice blast) upon opening the book.
Ritual (Rime Bite): The caster infuses her spells with a biting cold few can withstand. Spend this boon as a free action when casting a spell with a cold Trapping. Any damage from that spell ignores environmental protection and Environmental Resistance.
Price: 4,335 gp or 5,985 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
These two books are part of a set held together with a leather strap. The covers are of a shimmering and unearthly blue leather, and the spines are built of silver and iron. The books are chilly to the touch, and staring at them induces minor vertigo.
Spells: Barrier (wall of iron), create pit, disguise, environmental protection, fear, fly, illusion, intangibility, planar binding, puppet, slumber, smite, speak language, summon ally, summon monster, teleport.
Protection: Minor explosive runes.
Ritual (Sturdy Summoning): A creature summoned gains augmented defenses for a short time. Spend this boon effect as a free action when summoning a creature. The creature summoned gains +2 Toughness.
Price: 4,555 gp or 6,355 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
Stuffed between the pages of these two well-worn volumes are all manner of riddles, tidbits of lore, and fragments of maps. One of the covers is missing a corner, as if hacked off with a blade, and the text inside is tiny and cramped, as if the author were afraid of running out of room.
Spells: Barrier (wall of fire), blast (ice storm), bolt (lightning bolt), boost/lower Trait, deflection, detect arcana, dispel, fear, havoc (hydraulic torrent), lock, mind link, puppet, scrying, smite, speak language, teleport.
Ritual (Travel Sage): There is nothing like a magic book to enhance the memory. Until preparing spells again, your character increase Common Knowledge one die type.
Price: 6,475 gp or 8,395 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This pair of lexicons is covered in excellently preserved human skin, with an intricate lace of fingerbones forming the locks on the cover. A family seal has been embossed on the lower center of the cover, but flecks of gold leaf have begun to peel away, revealing that the embossed pattern in fact follows a faded tattoo on the skin itself.
Spells: Banish, barrier (wall of ice), blind, bolt (Range Limitation; finger of death), burst (Stream; chain lightning), conceal arcana, curse, damage field (acid cloud), darkness, fear, lock, lower Trait, magic jar, slumber, zombie.
Protection: A series of three superior locks each augmented with lock (Thievery at -8), a symbol of weakness (Vigor) on the second page of each book.
Price: 7,635 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
The pages of this formulae book are carefully varnished. Sprinkled among the formulae are details and diagrams of alchemical devices, many of which seem to defy the normal conventions of alchemy and physics. The last page contains incomplete notes on the preparation of experimental mutagens.
Spells: Arcane protection, boost Trait, burst (fire breath), detect arcana, disguise, environmental protection, growth, healing, invisibility, magic jar, protection (stone skin), relief, speak language, speed.
Protection: Good lock (Thievery at -2).
Price: 2,545 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
These three well-made books are covered with runes of warding against Outsiders and Undead. The pages inside show water damage along the edges.
Spells: Arcane protection, banish, barrier, blast (fireball), bolt (Range Limitation; shocking grasp), burst (Stream; chain lightning), deflection, detect arcana, dispel, entangle (grasping hand), environmental protection, growth, light, mind reading, speed, summon monster, teleport, unlock.
Protection: Major explosive runes.
Ritual (Guardian Trick): With a quick phrase of power, the caster attempts to foil an attack. Spend this boon’s effect when an Undead or Outsider hits with an attack. The attacking creature must reroll the attack.
Price: 10,055 gp or 13,055 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This quartet of books is held together by a shining silver strand wound around the four tomes and tied in an intricate knot. Inside, the writing is expansive and sloppy, filled with marginalia; the author’s notes indicate clear excitement about her discoveries, and while the thinker is obviously brilliant, she is also apparently undisciplined.
Spells: Burst, damage field, disguise, elemental manipulation, environmental protection, fear, fly, invisibility, magic jar, monstrous shape change, shape change, smite, telekinesis, teleport, wish.
Protection (Defensive Boon): Your hero throws up a quick burst of arcane energy that deflects an incoming spell attack. When targeted with a spell with Range Touch or Mystic Power with Range Touch, the character can spend this boon’s effect to gain +4 Parry against the triggering attack.
Price: 16,435 gp or 20,710 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This trio of books is bound in leather as black as a starless night, clasped together with gleaming silver. The pages are filled with notes and errata. The handwriting becomes more hurried toward the end of the trilogy, and the final page says, “I have found her!”
Spells: Conjure item, curse, detect/conceal arcana, disguise, dispel, divination, elemental manipulation (fire only), environmental protection, fear, locate, mind link, mind reading, plane shift, puppet, scrying, speak language, summon monster.
Protection: Each book features a superior lock (Thievery at -6); an illusion hides secret pages that hide all powers of Rank Seasoned or higher, and the first book is warded with explosive runes.
Ritual (Improved Eyes of Rul Thaven): The caster uses a trick perfected by Rul Thaven to ferret out invisible creatures. Spend this boon’s effect as a free action. Gain major detect arcana for one round. This can be used up to 10 times a day.
Price: 12,725 gp or 16,550 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
This massive tome is the size of four normal spellbooks, bound in leather as hard as plate armor and stitched together with strands of thin, pliable metal rather than thread. Toward the end is a list of names, each crossed out.
Spells: Banish, blast, bolt, curse, detect/ conceal arcana, dispel, elemental manipulation, environmental protection, fear, fly, havoc, illusion, lock, lower Trait, mind wipe, permanency, plane shift, puppet, smite, sound, time stop, wish.
Protection: Major symbol of death on the first page of the book.
Ritual (Curse of Names): When finished preparing spells with this book, write the proper name of a creature among the list of names in this book. As a free action, when within 5" (10 yards) of the named creature, your caster can call out its name to bestow the curse of names on it. The creature takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls, and a -2 penalty on attack rolls against you, for one minute. When he activates this curse, the name is crossed out in the back of the book. That creature cannot be the target of a curse of names originating from here ever again.
Price: 22,675 gp or 27,265 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
The three volumes of this set are bound in black sharkskin, the spells inscribed in purple ink on fine paper. Spells conceal extensive notes on constructing a lich’s phylactery.
Spells: Barrier (wall of iron), banish, blast, bolt, burst, damage field (cloudkill), darksight, detect/conceal arcana, dispel, divination, entangle (black tentacles), fly, illusion, invisibility, light, lower Trait, magic jar, make whole, permanency, planar binding, summon monster, teleport, time stop, wish, zombie.
Protection: A magic aura makes the spellbook appear nonmagical. A minor illusion hides the notes on constructing a lich’s phylactery.
Ritual (Revivifying Contingency): When your hero is affected by this boon, the first time he is Incapacitated, he immediately make a natural healing roll. With success, he heals one Wound and is not Incapacitated.
Price: 17,165 gp or 21,215 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.
These four cloth-bound books are neatly printed—as with a printing press or some other form of mechanical transcription— with a title page, a table of contents, and a useful cross-referenced index. They have been treated well and are clearly reference works, rather than laboratory notes; the writer was obviously a most disciplined and focused inventor.
Spells: Boost Trait, burst (dragon's breath), damage field, deflection, environmental protection, fly, healing, invisibility, protection, speak language, speed, warrior's gift.
Protection: The cover is treated with a Lethal Poison (tears of death). A Vigor check at -2 resists the poison.
Ritual (Spontaneous Bomb): When it comes to bombs, your hero has a special trick up his sleeve. Once per day, he can reduce the cost of a bomb by 1 Power Point or change the elemental Trapping for free.
Price: 6,615 gp or 11,115 gp; Weight: 3 lbs.