#i want a reason for more then just wizards to browse bookshelves in dungeons

[honourablejester]

Homebrew Magic Books

Some thoughts for a couple of magic books that are not some variation of wizard spellbook. Because, unless you’re a wizard, there’s not a lot of reasons to get excited about books in 5e? Which I feel is an abiding shame. There’s around 30 magic books that I’ve found, and most of them are wizard spellbooks of some stripe, and then the Manuals/Tomes that increase a stat, and after that the pickings are very slim. So. A couple of thoughts:

THE WHISPERING DICTIONARIES

Wonderous Items, Uncommon

Commissioned from a master linguist by a great court of the ancient world, the Whispering Dictionaries are a collection of uniform, handsomely bound language primers that were imbued with the blessings of a deity of knowledge upon their creation. Though they are commonly called ‘dictionaries’, each one contained not only the vocabulary but the full structure of the language it was focused on. Since the initial creation of the original whispering dictionaries, copies of several have been made, and new dictionaries focused on languages not known or considered by that original court.

Each individual dictionary is focused on a single language, and whispers tendrils of understanding to any person that reads it. Any person who dedicates eight continuous hours to the study of the dictionary permanently learns to speak, read and write the language contained within it.

THE BOOK OF FORGOTTEN MEMORIES

Wonderous Item, Rare

This strange, heavy book is bound in grey leather, and a wispy quartz crystal is embedded on the front cover. The thick pages of the tome are completely blank upon first turning them. However, powerful and focused divination magics are woven into the parchment. This is the Book of Forgotten Memories, and it can retrieve what once was known, and is no longer. Any person who spends a full short rest holding and meditating upon the open book, as if attempting to attune to it, may retrieve one memory that they have forgotten, or one memory that has been removed or taken from them, such as by the Modify Memory spell. The memory does not return to their minds, and they cannot feel the emotions of the memory, but it is written in ink upon the page in front of them, and will remain so as long as the book is held open. Once the book is closed again, the memory fades into blankness once again, but the person can retain the information imparted to them as they would remember a story they had read in a book.

The Book of Forgotten Memories cannot retrieve information that was not at some point known to the person focused on it. It is possible to attempt to direct the book towards a particular memory or piece of information that the person knows they have forgotten. If the person does not know what information or memory they seek, the book will retrieve the most emotionally resonant memory it can sense. Each time an individual sits with the book, it will retrieve a different memory, if it senses more than one. However, the fourth time an individual uses the book, and each time thereafter, they must make a DC15 Wisdom saving throw, becoming enthralled by the book on a failed save. The enthralled person is stunned until the book is forcibly taken from them, and has disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws for six hours it is taken from them.

THE PROPHECIES OF IRANNA

Wonderous Item, Very Rare, requires attunement

This clumsily stitched collection of scraps of paper, parchment, leather and other miscellaneous materials is loosely bound in a stained, tan leather. The pages are blotched with ink, blood, and other, less identifiable substances. And the writings on each page are … eccentric, at best, and incomprehensible at worst, for a variety of reasons including handwriting, language, and sheer insensibility. These are the ‘prophecies’ of Iranna, a legendary mad sage, and a woman cursed, it is said, with the maddening touch of an allip.

In order to comprehend even a fragment of the contents of this dangerous scripture, a person must attempt to attune to the manuscript. At the end of the attunement period, the person must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a failed save, the person takes 6d6 psychic damage, and the attunement attempt fails. A failed attunement attempt does not bar a person from attempting to attune to the Prophecies again.

On a successful save, the person takes 2d6 psychic damage, and becomes attuned to the Prophecies of Iranna. Upon attunement, a substance will leak from the book onto their skin, flowing along their arm and onto their face, leaving three irregular, pallid motes or blotches to mar the skin around one of their eyes. These ‘motes’ are motes of prophecy, and are the result of their mind being torn open to possibility by the wild visions of the manuscript.

As an action, while focused on a creature, place or object that the person has seen, heard of, or knows of the existence of, they can choose to ‘expend’ one of these motes to learn a single, vital piece of information about that creature, place or object, at the DMs discretion. This piece of information may be a creature’s true name, a creature’s true form, the current exact location of the creature, object, or something precious or inimical to them. It may be a vision of one vital act that the creature committed, or a vision of one peril a place is host to. It may be one key piece of knowledge on how to access a hidden place. It may be a vision of the creation of the object, or one purpose to which it had been put. Whatever the piece of information is, it will be very important, and nothing can hide this information from the person, even effects which prevent divination magic, such as the Nondetection or Mind Blank spells, or even the interference of a deity.

Once a mote is expended, the person takes a further 2d6 psychic damage. When all three motes are expended, the person’s attunement to the Prophecies of Iranna is ended, and they cannot attune to it again. If the person ever dies as a result of the psychic damage dealt by the Prophecies, they will rise as an allip within 24 hours, and cannot be revived once this occurs.