Need Help Building A Npc

[Nosta]

The Npc is To Be A spell caster how ever Instead of A living person I want the spell caster to Be a spell Aware Tome of spells A living spell Book. I am sure there is a way to do this but i'm still new to Dming

I Would prefer The Book to Have the sorcerer class Due to Being Charismatic and Being Made from a A dragon.

[Bronk]

How about... it is a dragon, cursed into the form of the book, then awakened? Or just straight up under a greater curse?

Or the dragon was mind switched with an intelligent item familiar that happened to be a spellbook?

[Nosta]

How about... it is a dragon, cursed into the form of the book, then awakened? Or just straight up under a greater curse?

Or the dragon was mind switched with an intelligent item familiar that happened to be a spellbook?


so like maybe a High CR Red Dragon who is Trapped in side the spell Book.

How should I go About this.

this is pathfinder by the way

[Coventry]

You may need to take a step back and look at the problem a different way:

You are the DM - the logic of your campaign world springs from your mind. The pile of books you have are not absolute laws, they are just a place to start.

So, if you want your NPC to be a book with Sorcerer levels, then it's a book with Sorcerer levels. If you want, it can have the same statistics as an Ancient Gold Dragon. If someone asks it for an explanation of how it got this way, it can just say, "I was struck by an ancient curse. I used to want to change back, but I have gotten used to being a book, so I'm not interested in changing, anymore."

The true trick to being a good DM is trying to make sure everyone at the table is having a good experience. That's it. If a rule in the book is a problem, drop the rule. If there is no rule in the book for a specific situation, make up something that makes sense. But always remember that the PCs are supposed to be the most interesting thing in the story you are weaving.

If this NPC is going to be an opponent, you need to take a little more care to not overpower the PCs (this tends to ruin the game experience for the others. It can be effective in small doses, but I recommend avoiding that until you stop feeling like you are a novice.)

Some other reasons how this NPC might have come to be a book:

- Used to own an artifact
- Annoyed an Efreet who used Wish to polymorph him into a book
- Encountered a strange energy vortex on the demi-plane of knowledge
- Intentionally performed a ritual to become a book, so as to live forever
- Is actually a ghost possessing the book, but acts like it is the book
- Drank from the Well of Secrets without understanding what could happen
- Fell asleep in the library, and woke up this way

As far as what abilities the NPC book has, if you do not want to think that through, go looking for something close to the power level you want, and use those stats. In my last campaign, I needed some powerful orcs that had been infused with magic - so I used the statistics of the Red Slaad, and just called them "Red Orcs". They were the right challenge rating, and worked out just fine.

In your case, Bronk suggested using the actual stats for a dragon. That seems reasonable to me. Or, pick an outsider with spellcasting levels and the right power level/"challenge rating", and just use it as the template.


Edit: Adding another reason:
- I died. My kids reincarnated me. This is what happened. We were all a bit surprised. They offered to try again. I declined.

[Fouredged Sword]

Here is what I would do

Str 2
Dex 10
Con -
Int 14
Wis 14
Cha 16

Tiny
Fly speed 5 (perfect) if you want it to float around.

Construct with construct immunities
Add sorcerer HD until it casts the way you want it to.

CR = Sorcerer level if it can fly, -3 if it can't.

[Bronk]

It could have originally been a more powerful dragon, too, but is now held back in its spell casting due to the need to continually apply metamagic feats, like still spell, to cast at all.

[Thurbane]

If it helps, I've got an intelligent item in my game that is a Boccob's Blessed Book. It's not animated, though.

[Bronk]

There are also some cool items from Dragon 341. The Floating Book... a 500g book enchantment that lets the book float around a library and put itself back on the shelf. Similarly, the Floating Lantern (1600g) is just a lantern that floats and follows you around. You could combine the two enchantments.

Really, this whole concept reminds me of a mimir that happens to be book shaped.