A Wizard's Guide to Protecting their Spellbook [Archive] - Wizards Community

A Wizard's Guide to Protecting their Spellbook [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
UltimateReality
11-27-04, 02:58 PM This thread is exactly what it sounds like. While I have a personal interest in doing what the title suggests (I am level 13 now), I'm curious to see what others have used as well. If anyone could post that, and source any non-core spells or items they used, it'd be extremely useful to me and no doubt many others. The wizard's level doesn't matter, although if we could get a variety of protections based off of a sliding level scale that'd be cool too.

And on_the_wings_of_TPK, you have no excuse for not replying to this thread. I know Sparks had an insane combo on his master spellbook. :P
kliate
11-27-04, 03:25 PM The Tiefling Wiz5 I recently designed has taken the liberty of acquiring 5 "fake" spellbooks, carrying them around in his bag of holding, and casting Explosive Runes on the first page of every one of them.

I'm looking also at adding the following in the near future:

1. Trapping the cover of the real spellbook with an automatic touch trigger Blindness/Deafness trap (Cost: 3000gp, Fortitude DC13 or become permanently blind). I should be able dismiss the effects of the trap in case of an "accident", and attune the trap such that someone either wearing the Tiefling's signet ring or speaking a secret password will be able to open the book unaffected. While ineffective against high-level casters, constructs and undead, the idea behind this trap is to keep "greedy apprentice types" away from knowledge too advanced and too dangerous for them. A simple mage hand spell is another effective bypass of this trap (telekinetically open the book and peruse the pages)

2. An Alarm spell whenever I leave the lab where the spellbook is stored. If anyone is trying to snatch my books while I'm out, I can use the timing of the "ping" with my knowledge of the locale to try and hunt down the thief. Alarm is relatively easy to beat, but most mages who can beat it at this point wouldn't have practical interest in acquiring my insignificant book of spells.

3. Invisibility on the spellbook. Not only does it become much more difficult to find, but hired rogues, constructs and undead will generally prove ineffective at fetching the spellbook themselves. Just remember to dismiss the effect yourself before trying to prepare your daily allotment of spells.

4. Fireproofing. If the enemy's answer to an invisible spellbook is to burn the containing building down, it becomes critically important to make sure that the spellbook survives the blaze :)

5. Backup regular spells. Whatever spells you tend to default to on a given day should be in a backup spellbook with some difficulty in retrieving (whether buried 20ft under your lab or stored in leomund's secret chest).

6. Nondetection. Make certain that rival mage's can't merely divine the location of your book and simplify the process of stealing it.

7. LLL (Lead-Lined Lab). Block many of the simple divinations people might try to use on your book.

8. Secret Page. Make your spellbook appear as a journal of alchemical experiments or an itinerary for your trip to the astral plane in a few months. Don't ever forget the command word.

9. Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion - the perfect home for any spellbook.
Melpomene
11-27-04, 03:33 PM "Why did you aim at the ice, instead of simply aiming at thier bodies?"

In strait-up combat, only the foolish or insane would specify a spellbook. It isn't worth worrying about at that level.

It can be stolen, however, by thieves. Again, anyone doing so has just as easy access to your throught.

You could aquire a set of masterwork adamant handcuffs anf attach one to your wrist and the other to your book, then coat the whole book in adamant bindings, and put multiple masterwork combination locks on it to open.

But, as long as you don't drop the darn thing in a puddle, you really should be fine.
Jkol the Butcher
11-27-04, 04:00 PM By the time you get to levels 4/5, a spell book should be full or nearly so. You could even divide your spells by level or by purpose. Identify them with arcane notation (remember every wizard has their own arcane notations, you need spellcraft or read magic to understand it). In any event, try to store them seperately. A theif who is trying to rob you of your power may get one or two, but he isn't likely to get them all if they are in several places. Not to mention who wants to carry out an armload of books?? Who expects a second level wizard to have 8 or 9 different spell books (1 for each school + universal). If you are really paranoid about loosing your spellbook, Spell Mastery is a godsend. You can already prepare read-magic without a spellbook, and You completely memorize a number of spells equal to your int mod. Keep in mind that Spell mastery can be your bonus wizard feat at 5th level etc. The average character with wizard as his primary class should have a mod of +3 by level 5 anyhow. This allows you to pick one utility spell at each level of spell. And if you have a higher bonus even better! My personal favorite is gaseous form. If you are captured after a battle and they imprison you sans spellbook, being able to prepare gaseous form should defeat the standard prison setup -- unless there are magical barriers or shackles that prevent spellcasting. If they treat you like a commoner with a pointy hat -- well then they are going to regret it!

Seriously though, Wizards are the archtype of characters who plan for every contingency during the adventurer. Just keep up this trend, and have a few back-ups in case you lose your book.
On_the_wings_of_TPK
11-27-04, 06:37 PM And on_the_wings_of_TPK, you have no excuse for not replying to this thread. I know Sparks had an insane combo on his master spellbook. :P
Well the wizard in question didn't mess round with the source of his power. First off he had many spell books, but his main ones he kept very protected indeed. It was stored in a portable hole in his fron pocket. It was covered in watch wear (UE). He used a minor illusion to make it appaer to be a slab of granit. The front cover had a symbol with power word blind on it, the first page had explosive ruins writen all over it. Oh! and openning the the prtable hole, unless a password was utter, cuased a contingency disintragrate to go off. I think that about does it for "Spark's" book.
alecthemad
11-27-04, 10:13 PM How many spell books get stolen and destroyed out there?

Maybe it is just me but it seems very cruel to rob a player of all his character's power. I could see doing it in a game that has been established as rough and tumble, but I have never (as a DM) tried to take a wizards book from him. Without spellbooks a lot of wizards (especially at lower levels) run out of power fast.

Or is it just paranoia?
Xarian
11-27-04, 10:49 PM "Who's a wizard? I'm an aristocrat."
trapspringer
11-27-04, 11:10 PM CA has all sorts of fun rules for manufaturing fire-proofed damage resistant adamantine spell books.
Draco Strang
11-28-04, 11:42 PM One wizard in my party way back in 2E kept a duplicate spellbook in a bag of holding, and another in the fighters pack that was labeled "basic infantry tactics", with the spells disguised as plain text
Ambli Ironcutter
11-29-04, 12:41 AM Be a Sorcerer
penchant
11-29-04, 07:09 AM Carve the spells on the interior walls of your tower. Copy traveling books from those and fire trap them. The only pages that are not flammable are the ones with teleport on them and that is contained inside the leather binder.

For your important or unique high level spells, have a full traveling book, but take out the last page of each spell and keep it in a separate key book or scroll tube. Without the last page all the spells are useless and unreadable.

Mount pages in a 20 ring binder and cut the pages into 10 sections each then flip the pages randomly and mark them with a cypher to tell you the proper way to rearrange the pages to read the spells. Don't forget the cypher or you will be a 20th level apprentice with no spells.
Grigori
11-29-04, 07:36 AM Or for extra fun: Become a Geometer PrC and use the 'Alternate' rules for scribing spells and Tattoo your spellbook to yourself (or at least 80 spells of it). Now the DM has to Skin you Alive to take your spells away...
:uh-huh:
ewww...
Xarian
11-29-04, 02:17 PM Label your spellbook 'dwarvish mating habits from an elven point of view'

I guarentee that nobody will ever read it.
Kyy'Dakh
11-29-04, 06:08 PM Think I'll keep track of this topic. Recently rolled up my first Wiz, so I'll need all the help I can get for her.
DM Zoc
11-29-04, 06:43 PM Any devoted wizard-slayer should take himself a level in sorcerer and research the spell "slay spellbook," which operates exactly like "magic missile," but only works on spellbooks. The restricted target makes it qualify as a much lower spell, so nobody can argue that it's "over-powered."
Melpomene
11-29-04, 06:57 PM PCWiz: "I run to the Wizard's Guild."
DM: "It's raining. Okay?"
PCWiz: "Sure..."
DM: "Roll balance check."
PCWiz: ::fails::
DM: You slip and fall. Your book falls in a puddle. You now have no spells, and are as worthless as David Spade without Chris Farley.
kliate
11-29-04, 08:09 PM Wizard - Spellbook ~= Commoner + Iron Will

On_the_wings_of_TPK: Regarding one of your earlier posts, just how would the spellbook have survived the 6d6 damage it would take when the explosive runes were activated? Or did the mage feel that it was better to blast his spellbook to pieces than allow it to be read by another creature?
PhaedrusXY
11-29-04, 09:23 PM Once you can afford to do so, buy an extra (Boccob's) Blessed Book and copy your entire spellbook into it. Then leave it somewhere very secure. Cast Arcane Mark and (Dramij's) Instant Summons on your "travelling" spellbook. These two things plus mundane protections like waterproofing should protect your spellbook from just about anything that would normally threaten it. If your DM is specifically going after your spellbook, it will be just about impossible to protect it completely, unless you go to very extreme measures.
On_the_wings_of_TPK
11-30-04, 01:22 PM Wizard - Spellbook ~= Commoner + Iron Will

On_the_wings_of_TPK: Regarding one of your earlier posts, just how would the spellbook have survived the 6d6 damage it would take when the explosive runes were activated? Or did the mage feel that it was better to blast his spellbook to pieces than allow it to be read by another creature?
Or did the mage feel that it was better to blast his spellbook to pieces than allow it to be read by another creature?

Pretty much sums it up for that mage. :P
e-z0r
11-30-04, 03:50 PM Spellbook protection 101:

Stab anyone who tries to take it.
Kyy'Dakh
12-01-04, 09:15 AM One inexpensive (And therefore appropriate for a Wiz1) form of protection I can think of is a false cover, with some title that other people would just ignore or actively avoid, like the aforementioned elven commentary on dwarven mating practices. It won't disguise the contents, but it'll make it less likely for someone to crack it open. Make sure your wiz doesn't carry that book with him wherever he goes, otherwise it'll be suspect.
Draco Strang
12-01-04, 03:45 PM Hey, it is just me or has XunValDorl not posted on a thread that has the word "wizard" in it?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
UltimateReality 11-27-04, 02:58 PM	This thread is exactly what it sounds like. While I have a personal interest in doing what the title suggests (I am level 13 now), I'm curious to see what others have used as well. If anyone could post that, and source any non-core spells or items they used, it'd be extremely useful to me and no doubt many others. The wizard's level doesn't matter, although if we could get a variety of protections based off of a sliding level scale that'd be cool too. And on_the_wings_of_TPK, you have no excuse for not replying to this thread. I know Sparks had an insane combo on his master spellbook. :P
kliate 11-27-04, 03:25 PM	The Tiefling Wiz5 I recently designed has taken the liberty of acquiring 5 "fake" spellbooks, carrying them around in his bag of holding, and casting Explosive Runes on the first page of every one of them. I'm looking also at adding the following in the near future: 1. Trapping the cover of the real spellbook with an automatic touch trigger Blindness/Deafness trap (Cost: 3000gp, Fortitude DC13 or become permanently blind). I should be able dismiss the effects of the trap in case of an "accident", and attune the trap such that someone either wearing the Tiefling's signet ring or speaking a secret password will be able to open the book unaffected. While ineffective against high-level casters, constructs and undead, the idea behind this trap is to keep "greedy apprentice types" away from knowledge too advanced and too dangerous for them. A simple mage hand spell is another effective bypass of this trap (telekinetically open the book and peruse the pages) 2. An Alarm spell whenever I leave the lab where the spellbook is stored. If anyone is trying to snatch my books while I'm out, I can use the timing of the "ping" with my knowledge of the locale to try and hunt down the thief. Alarm is relatively easy to beat, but most mages who can beat it at this point wouldn't have practical interest in acquiring my insignificant book of spells. 3. Invisibility on the spellbook. Not only does it become much more difficult to find, but hired rogues, constructs and undead will generally prove ineffective at fetching the spellbook themselves. Just remember to dismiss the effect yourself before trying to prepare your daily allotment of spells. 4. Fireproofing. If the enemy's answer to an invisible spellbook is to burn the containing building down, it becomes critically important to make sure that the spellbook survives the blaze :) 5. Backup regular spells. Whatever spells you tend to default to on a given day should be in a backup spellbook with some difficulty in retrieving (whether buried 20ft under your lab or stored in leomund's secret chest). 6. Nondetection. Make certain that rival mage's can't merely divine the location of your book and simplify the process of stealing it. 7. LLL (Lead-Lined Lab). Block many of the simple divinations people might try to use on your book. 8. Secret Page. Make your spellbook appear as a journal of alchemical experiments or an itinerary for your trip to the astral plane in a few months. Don't ever forget the command word. 9. Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion - the perfect home for any spellbook.
Melpomene 11-27-04, 03:33 PM	"Why did you aim at the ice, instead of simply aiming at thier bodies?" In strait-up combat, only the foolish or insane would specify a spellbook. It isn't worth worrying about at that level. It can be stolen, however, by thieves. Again, anyone doing so has just as easy access to your throught. You could aquire a set of masterwork adamant handcuffs anf attach one to your wrist and the other to your book, then coat the whole book in adamant bindings, and put multiple masterwork combination locks on it to open. But, as long as you don't drop the darn thing in a puddle, you really should be fine.
Jkol the Butcher 11-27-04, 04:00 PM	By the time you get to levels 4/5, a spell book should be full or nearly so. You could even divide your spells by level or by purpose. Identify them with arcane notation (remember every wizard has their own arcane notations, you need spellcraft or read magic to understand it). In any event, try to store them seperately. A theif who is trying to rob you of your power may get one or two, but he isn't likely to get them all if they are in several places. Not to mention who wants to carry out an armload of books?? Who expects a second level wizard to have 8 or 9 different spell books (1 for each school + universal). If you are really paranoid about loosing your spellbook, Spell Mastery is a godsend. You can already prepare read-magic without a spellbook, and You completely memorize a number of spells equal to your int mod. Keep in mind that Spell mastery can be your bonus wizard feat at 5th level etc. The average character with wizard as his primary class should have a mod of +3 by level 5 anyhow. This allows you to pick one utility spell at each level of spell. And if you have a higher bonus even better! My personal favorite is gaseous form. If you are captured after a battle and they imprison you sans spellbook, being able to prepare gaseous form should defeat the standard prison setup -- unless there are magical barriers or shackles that prevent spellcasting. If they treat you like a commoner with a pointy hat -- well then they are going to regret it! Seriously though, Wizards are the archtype of characters who plan for every contingency during the adventurer. Just keep up this trend, and have a few back-ups in case you lose your book.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 11-27-04, 06:37 PM	And on_the_wings_of_TPK, you have no excuse for not replying to this thread. I know Sparks had an insane combo on his master spellbook. :P Well the wizard in question didn't mess round with the source of his power. First off he had many spell books, but his main ones he kept very protected indeed. It was stored in a portable hole in his fron pocket. It was covered in watch wear (UE). He used a minor illusion to make it appaer to be a slab of granit. The front cover had a symbol with power word blind on it, the first page had explosive ruins writen all over it. Oh! and openning the the prtable hole, unless a password was utter, cuased a contingency disintragrate to go off. I think that about does it for "Spark's" book.
alecthemad 11-27-04, 10:13 PM	How many spell books get stolen and destroyed out there? Maybe it is just me but it seems very cruel to rob a player of all his character's power. I could see doing it in a game that has been established as rough and tumble, but I have never (as a DM) tried to take a wizards book from him. Without spellbooks a lot of wizards (especially at lower levels) run out of power fast. Or is it just paranoia?
Xarian 11-27-04, 10:49 PM	"Who's a wizard? I'm an aristocrat."
trapspringer 11-27-04, 11:10 PM	CA has all sorts of fun rules for manufaturing fire-proofed damage resistant adamantine spell books.
Draco Strang 11-28-04, 11:42 PM	One wizard in my party way back in 2E kept a duplicate spellbook in a bag of holding, and another in the fighters pack that was labeled "basic infantry tactics", with the spells disguised as plain text
Ambli Ironcutter 11-29-04, 12:41 AM	Be a Sorcerer
penchant 11-29-04, 07:09 AM	Carve the spells on the interior walls of your tower. Copy traveling books from those and fire trap them. The only pages that are not flammable are the ones with teleport on them and that is contained inside the leather binder. For your important or unique high level spells, have a full traveling book, but take out the last page of each spell and keep it in a separate key book or scroll tube. Without the last page all the spells are useless and unreadable. Mount pages in a 20 ring binder and cut the pages into 10 sections each then flip the pages randomly and mark them with a cypher to tell you the proper way to rearrange the pages to read the spells. Don't forget the cypher or you will be a 20th level apprentice with no spells.
Grigori 11-29-04, 07:36 AM	Or for extra fun: Become a Geometer PrC and use the 'Alternate' rules for scribing spells and Tattoo your spellbook to yourself (or at least 80 spells of it). Now the DM has to Skin you Alive to take your spells away... :uh-huh: ewww...
Xarian 11-29-04, 02:17 PM	Label your spellbook 'dwarvish mating habits from an elven point of view' I guarentee that nobody will ever read it.
Kyy'Dakh 11-29-04, 06:08 PM	Think I'll keep track of this topic. Recently rolled up my first Wiz, so I'll need all the help I can get for her.
DM Zoc 11-29-04, 06:43 PM	Any devoted wizard-slayer should take himself a level in sorcerer and research the spell "slay spellbook," which operates exactly like "magic missile," but only works on spellbooks. The restricted target makes it qualify as a much lower spell, so nobody can argue that it's "over-powered."
Melpomene 11-29-04, 06:57 PM	PCWiz: "I run to the Wizard's Guild." DM: "It's raining. Okay?" PCWiz: "Sure..." DM: "Roll balance check." PCWiz: ::fails:: DM: You slip and fall. Your book falls in a puddle. You now have no spells, and are as worthless as David Spade without Chris Farley.
kliate 11-29-04, 08:09 PM	Wizard - Spellbook ~= Commoner + Iron Will On_the_wings_of_TPK: Regarding one of your earlier posts, just how would the spellbook have survived the 6d6 damage it would take when the explosive runes were activated? Or did the mage feel that it was better to blast his spellbook to pieces than allow it to be read by another creature?
PhaedrusXY 11-29-04, 09:23 PM	Once you can afford to do so, buy an extra (Boccob's) Blessed Book and copy your entire spellbook into it. Then leave it somewhere very secure. Cast Arcane Mark and (Dramij's) Instant Summons on your "travelling" spellbook. These two things plus mundane protections like waterproofing should protect your spellbook from just about anything that would normally threaten it. If your DM is specifically going after your spellbook, it will be just about impossible to protect it completely, unless you go to very extreme measures.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 11-30-04, 01:22 PM	Wizard - Spellbook ~= Commoner + Iron Will On_the_wings_of_TPK: Regarding one of your earlier posts, just how would the spellbook have survived the 6d6 damage it would take when the explosive runes were activated? Or did the mage feel that it was better to blast his spellbook to pieces than allow it to be read by another creature? Or did the mage feel that it was better to blast his spellbook to pieces than allow it to be read by another creature? Pretty much sums it up for that mage. :P
e-z0r 11-30-04, 03:50 PM	Spellbook protection 101: Stab anyone who tries to take it.
Kyy'Dakh 12-01-04, 09:15 AM	One inexpensive (And therefore appropriate for a Wiz1) form of protection I can think of is a false cover, with some title that other people would just ignore or actively avoid, like the aforementioned elven commentary on dwarven mating practices. It won't disguise the contents, but it'll make it less likely for someone to crack it open. Make sure your wiz doesn't carry that book with him wherever he goes, otherwise it'll be suspect.
Draco Strang 12-01-04, 03:45 PM	Hey, it is just me or has XunValDorl not posted on a thread that has the word "wizard" in it?