Many wizards want their years, decades, centuries, or even milennia of hard research work to last indefinately, and a good number of them would like to do so themselves. Some embrace the path of undeath, but some others are not willing to walk that road, and instead seek other ways of existence. A few wizards have taken to their most precious items, their spellbooks, and trully immortalized not only their life's work, but also their life essences into them. These few are called living spellbooks.
A living spellbook appears as a giant tome, usually 1 to 2 feet high and about a foot across. How thick they are, of course, depends mostly on their requisite knowledge of spells. When active, a face appears on the cover if it so desires, which resembles what it did in life.
Living spellbooks speak Common plus any other languages they knew in life.
Creating a Living Spellbook
"Living Spellbook" is a template that can be added to any humanoid (referred to hereafter as the "base character"), provided it can create the required vessel (see "The Living Spellbook's Vessel," below). Following the transformation, the character's type changes to "construct". It uses all the character's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice: Increases to d12
Speed: Fly 30 ft. (perfect)
AC: various, (based on construction materials and Dexterity, plus +12 natural)
Damage: None
Special Attacks: A living spellbook losses any of the base character's special attacks that were based on its body or ability to move, but gains those listed below.
__Spells: A living spellbook can cast any spell that it has written within itself. If anyone else ever writes a new spell into the book, the living spellbook is considered to have learned it automatically. Only utterly destroying a page can remove it from the book; no erasure is possible. Any number of pages can be added though, with new pages or the hidden page spell. It can also modify these spells with any metamagic feats it knows. Its caster level and casting ability are as those of the character when they made the transformation. Though its spells per day are still those of its class level, being a spellbook means that preparing spells are unnecessary, much like sorcerers they just cast what they want when they want within their allotments.
__Perfect Metamagic Feats (Su): A living spellbook always makes use of Automatic Still Spell and Ignore Material Components.
Special Qualities: A living spellbook retains all the base character's special qualities that make sense in its new form and those listed below, plus it also gains the construct type.
__Expereince Gain (Ex): Adventuring is more or less impossible in the standard method for a living spellbook, but the commensurate lack of advancement that would go along with it would prevent many wizards from following this path. Due to this, living spellbooks, while incapable of gaining XP from battle, are still capable of receiving it from researching of new spells. Also, akin to the arcane generosity of the Magister, a living spellbook receives XP equal to half the XP cost of a scroll of that spell anytime they teach someone a spell within their pages.
__Projection (Su): See Monsters of Faerun Good Lich entry for details. A living spellbook can create a projection of itself from its previous form to do tasks, such as aide in research of spells, write new spells into itself, make modifications to its form, or use any items it might need. Only one can exist at a time, and if it is destroyed this power cannot be used again for a whole day.
__Spell Resistance (Su): The immense presence of magic power and knowledge inherent in the living spellbook grants it SR equal to 12 + its HD.
__Spell Immunity (Sp): All living spellbooks are totally immune to the effects of Mordenkainen's Disjunction.
__Immunities (Ex): Living spellbooks are immune to cold and magical cold attacks, but take double damage from fire attacks, unless some feature of their vessel or some spell supercedes this.
__Defenses (Ex): Any security devices placed upon the vessel, such as locks or spells, can be deactivated and reactivated as a free action. Common securities are protection from elements spells, mage armor, explosive runes, and any type of lock mechanisms.
Saves: Same as base character's.
Abilities: A living spellbook gains +5 to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma, but being a construct, it has no Constitution score, and its form deprives it of a Strength score.
Skills: A living spellbook receives a +12 racial bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks, and a +5circumstance bonus to Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks. Otherwise, its skills are the same as the base character's.
Feats: Same as base character's
Climate/Terrain: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: Same as base character's +3. Living spellbooks are quite powerful, but they also lose a great capacity to gain XP from combat.
Treasure: Standard coins; double goods; double items
Alignment: Any
Advancement: By character class, though now non-arcane or psionic classes can be gained or increased.
Living Spellbook Characters
Characters can undertake the process of becoming a living spellbook only of their own free will. Following the transformation, the living spellbook retains all the class abilities it had in life.
The Living Spellbook's Vessel
An integral part of becpming a living spellbook is creating the spellbook itself that serve as the vessel for the character's lifeforce and mentality.
Each living spellbook-to-be must make its own vessel, which requires the Craft Portal, Craft Wondrous Item, The character must be a wizard of at least 21th level and must possess the Ignore Material Components feat. The vessel has no preset cost in gold pieces, but it is likely to be what you are stuck with for the rest of time, and many wizards use the most expensive and imperishable substances, and powerful protections that they can, and in addition to any XP costs of said protections, the actual fabrication costs 5,000 XP. The character must then write into the book every single spell that they know, or at least every spell they will want to be able to cast within the book. On the last page, the creator crafts a small portal that they will pass through to become a living spellbook. Their body remains in stasis within a small pocket dimension. If the living spellbook desires, they can reanimate their body and leave the book, but they lose any specaial abilities gained from this template and destroy the book and portal upon leaving it, but if the book is destroyed otherwise, it is a chance to survive.
Obviously, the vessel appears as a spellbook. It might have components of vellum, hide, metal, crystal, or any other of a myriad of substances. The powers in it and around it cannot be hidden, and the only type of book it could be is a spellbook. It also always detects as a magical object. The book is either Diminutive, Tiny or Small and its hardness rating is that of whatever materials it is made of. Its hit points are the same as its previous form.
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| Picture called "B.S. Spellbook, done by Randy Saunders, found at Elfwood |
Sample Living Spellbook
Lothor Rythaman
Male living spellbook Wiz21/Acm4; CR 28; Fine construct; HD 25d12; hp 188; Init +14; Spd Fly 30 ft. (perfect); AC 73 (touch 51, flat-footed 63); Atk +22/+17 ranged touch (by spell); SA spells, perfect metamagics; SQ Archmage high arcana, experience gain, projection, SR 37, spell immunity (Mordenkainen's Disjunction), immunities, defenses, epic-level benefits, DR 5/+1, construct qualities; AL NE; SV Fort +64, Ref +66, Will +85; Str --, Dex 17, Con --, Int 29, Wis 26, Cha 27.
Size: 2 ft. tall, 1 ft. wide, 11 in. thick
Skills and Feats: Alchemy +87, Balance +30, Bluff +72, Concentration +80, Craft (Rods and Rings) +97, Diplomacy +82, Gather Information +72, Handle Animal +42, Heal +38, Hide +68, Innnuendo +62, Intimidate +92, Knowledge (arcana) +52, Knowledge (geography) +77, Knowledge (history) +87, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) + 77, Knowledge (the planes) +87, Knowledge (religion) +97, Listen +80, Move Silently +78, Profession (military general) +72, Ride (nightmare) +50, Search +95, Sense Motive +100, Spellcraft +97, Spot +100, Swim +26, Tumble +30; (16 feats)Automatic Quicken Spell (0-3), Automatic Quicken Spell (4-6), Automatic Quicken Spell (7-9), Combat Casting, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Ring, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Epic Spellcasting, Ignore material Components, Improved Initative, Iron Will, Maximize spell, Quicken spell, Skill Focus (spellcraft), Scribe Scroll, Spellcasting Prodigy, Spell Focus (conjuration, evocation, necromancy, transmutation), Spell Mastery ().
Special Attacks: Absorb Magic, Spells.
Special Qualities: Archmage High Arcana: Arcane Fire, Mastery of Counterspelling, Spell-like Abilities (). Planeshifter Abilities: plane shift at will, analyze portal 10/day, Planar Survival, Morphic Stability, Grant Planar Survival, Control Planar Flux, Telepathy, Planar Area Swap, Demiplane seed. Mage-Killer Abilities: Improved Saves (Fort +3, Ref +2), Augment Summoning feat, Spell focus feats (conjuration, evocation, necromancy, transmutation),
Wizard Spells per Day: 8/16/16/14/14/14/13/10/11/11/8/6/6. Base DC = 28 + spell level, 36 + spell level for enchantment, illusion,
Possessions:
Tome is a wizard who became a living spellbook, becoming one with the item that had gotten him through several skirmishes and many years; his spellbook. His vessel is constructed primarily of metal. The pages are made of mithral foil and the cover is thicker mithral covered in red dragonhide. Glasteel runes decorate the cover, as does an ornate lock made of adamantine.
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