Good spells for bookworms?

[TheCorsairMalac]

I'm in a "gritty" D&D 3.5 campaign now. No living civilization, no economy, few helpful NPCs, lots of undead(Actually all undead, including players.), frequent deaths and loss of equipment. It's more than a little like those Dark Souls video games. Because of all this I realized that a knowledge and crafting oriented wizard would be a useful choice.

So I come to you guys! I'm looking for spells that involve books, places of power, study, ritual, enchanting, and the like. Divination is right at the top of the list. What are some nice thematic spells for the scholarly wizard?

Homebrew ideas are good too!

[Lord Il Palazzo]

Amanuensis, from the Spell Compendium, is a cantrip that lets you copy text.

Comprehend Language and Read Magic seem like obvious picks.

Scholar's Touch, from Races of Destiny, is a level 1 spell that lets you read a book by touching it.

[Honest Tiefling]

Are you willing to immigrate Pathfinder material? I understand most groups do not, but in an undead filled world I feel compelled to mention blood transcription (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/blood-transcription) for flavor. Admittedly, if there is no cattle being kept around for when the undead have a hankering, this spell does become pretty useless unless it can be used on an undead spellcaster.

[Temotei]

I have some homebrew reading spells here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=16438485&postcount=1). Pretty short read and they're all low-level spells.

[StreamOfTheSky]

It's a cleric spell, but the best one of them all is Lore of the Gods. It's only 2nd level, lasts 10 min/CL, and (if you worship a deity with the Knowledge domain....whether or not you have it yourself) gives a +10 on all knowledge checks (or +5 if you chose the wrong faith).

Absent-Minded trait in UA (and on d20srd.org) gives +1 on all knowledge checks.

Collector of Stories skill trick in C.Scoundrel lets you 1/encounter get +5 on a knowledge check to ID a creature. It just costs 2 skill points.

Ideal races are dwarf or gnome, both have a great knowledge feat in Races of Stone. Dwarves get Ancestral Knowledge to use wisdom if higher than intelligence for knowledge checks and let you make them untrained. Gnomes get Trivial Knowledge, to roll 2d20 and take the higher roll for any knowledge check.

It doesn't aid your bonuses, but Knowledge Devotion from C.Champion turns your book learning into killing power.

[Nibbens]

Once again a PF thingie, but Breadth of Experience (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/breadth-of-experience) could be a good feat for knowledge.

[Sagetim]

I consider the following to be my standard crafting wizard toolbox:

Stone Shape (for rough shaping of foundations for buildings and possibly walls and such)

Fabricate (for the fine shaping of the outer layer of stone on buildings, as well as the construction of wood buildings. Also useful for fast crafting checks for items, such as but not limited to: Masterwork weapons, armors, and tools. Books. Boats. Wagons. Bridges. Javelins/Pungi Sticks. Traps. Alchemical stuff. etc.)

Greater Fabricate (same as fabricate, but 10x as much material per casting)

Wall of Stone (if you set up in the right location, you can use wall of stone to fill an area in with stone, then stone shape the amount you just filled in out into a lump or what have you, then wall of stone it again for more building material)

Wall of Iron (Easier to abuse than wall of stone, great for supplying fabricate with iron)

All of these spells are mid level core rulebook spells. If I recall correctly, they're all wizard spells.

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If you want to go in to the realm of the odd, and are willing to spend feats, you can pick up Truename Training, Minor Utterance of the Evolving Mind (Universal Aptitude) and Utterance of the Evolving Mind (Hidden Knowledge).

This gives you access to two great truenamer utterances without having to take any truenamer (though you will have to invest 3 feats and full ranks into a skill. And you might need to get some items to bolster the skill later on to consistently use it). Anyway...Universal Aptitude gives an untyped +5 bonus to all skill checks for it's duration, and Hidden Knowledge gives an untyped +10 bonus on the next knowledge check the target makes, and also lets them act as if trained in the skill and can also be applied to bardic lore/similar abilities. So that's one way to stack a +15 on top of any knowledge check you really badly need to make.

[DrMotives]

In previous editions it was Mordenkainen's Lucabration, but Mage's Lucabration is very bookwormy by the name. Lucabration means to study in a scholarly manner, aided by candlelight.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magesLucubration.htm

[TheCorsairMalac]

Oh man! I'm loving all these ideas! For those of you asking: Yes, I'm fine with pathfinder material.

Keep them coming!

[sovin_ndore]

I would make sure you don't miss out on the Amanuensis[SC] cantrip.

Also, pretty left field, but I also would suggest looking at Archivist as an alternative to Wizard. It is an Int based Divine caster that prepares spells like a Wizard and has class abilities that give bonuses in combat based on esoteric knowledge. It is not nearly as unbound powerful but has alot of flavor in line with what you are trying for.