Inspired by this post by Mazirian’s Garden, I wanted to write up some spellbooks. I found that post through this one from the excellent I Cast Light! on making 1st level magic users interesting, it’s definitely worth the read.
While I was making this, I remembered I had a little “Council of Wizards” brewing for an unrelated project, so I went ahead and gave each of them a spellbook too. In addition to giving every magic user Read Magic for free, I think I’d just throw Detect Magic in as well. It feels like a suitably generic MU ability to have.
The Liar-Sage Makai
It is said Makai rose through the ranks of a prestigious mage school before it was discovered he was not officially enrolled. He was expelled, but not before copies of his treatises on deception were seeded throughout the university’s library.
Level 1: Dancing Lights, Ventriloquism
Level 2: Audible Glamer
Ibram the Matter Mage
Legend has it Ibram was a prlific dungeon delver and consumate architect. In his mightiest exploits, he reshapes the very foundations of dungeons and forces them to divulge their contents. His spellbooks feature detailed architectural blueprints.
Level 1: Enlargements, Floating Disc
Level 2: Knock
Reyana of the Green Field
A potent and renowned summoner, rumors began to circulate late in her life that Reyana was a member of the fey herself. Her tower vanished in the morning mists over a hundred years ago, leaving behind only a series of slim green volumes detailing wards and fey tricks in equal measure.
Level 1: Protection from Evil, Sleep
Level 2: Invisibility
Evart the Wall
Once Evart built their stronghold, they became increasingly paranoid. They built walls upon walls, false passages upon secret doors. Their tomes are dense and full of confusing rhetoric and circular logic.
Level 1: Hold Portal, Shield
Level 2: Wizard’s Lock
Eren, Bard of the Thousand Tongues
The perfumed pages of this journal tell the story of a wandering bard welcomed into the upper echelons of high society. Hidden inside anecdotes and advice on the etiquette of the aristocracy are the secrets they used to get there.
Level 1: Charm Person, Read Languages
Level 2: ESP
Lillend the Prismatic
Those who knew her as a friend described Lillend as radiant. She was as much an artist as she was a magician and adventurer, painting with pure light. The pages of her spellbook are scintillatingly translucent, and they cast brilliant refractions when held to the light.
Level 1: Light, Magic Missile
Level 2: Detect Invisible
The image is Faust by Rembrant van Rijn
A Council of Wizards
The Red Wizard
Its domain is slow change. The rhyming of continents, the swell of democracy and war. You see it with a hooded cloak and its familiar is the pseudodragon
Level 1: Sleep, Shield
Level 2: Knock
The Green Wizard
Its domain is energy. Crackling lightning, acid wave, fireball. It wears a pointed hat and its familiar is the orb.
Level 1: Light, Magic Missile
Level 2: Pyrotechnics
The Grey Wizard
Its domain is story and tales. It isnt. It wears rags and has no familiar.
Level 1: Read Languages, Ventriloquism
Level 2: Locate Object
The Blue Wizard
Its domain is time and space. Far reaching and omnipotent. Its familiar is the toad.
Level 1: Hold Portal, Floating Disc
Level 2: Levitate
The Wizard of the World
Its domain is living things. Animals, mutants, plagues, spirits. It wears vestments and its familiar is the lizard.
Level 1: Charm Person, Protection from Evil
Level 2: Web