Alternative spellbooks, re: XGtE wizards

[Arkhios]

So, I was just reading the added flavor for wizards in XGtE, and it suggested the spellbook doesn't necessarily have to be a bound book per se, but that it could be, for example, spells carved in stones carried in a cloth bag.

What different ideas can you come up with?

I seem to recall that one of the D&DNext playtest documents suggested tattoos in place of an actual book, for example, but what else? Surely there are more ideas to explore?

Edit: to avoid further confusion, note that the spellbook's purpose is only to store the information to prepare spells. The spellbook itself doesn't produce the spells.

[Kane0]

Hmm, lets see.

Tattoos, the obvious choice
Tiny runes/markings within crystals or gems
Puzzle boxes or similar contraptions
A familiar, enchanted item or other servant that memorizes and recites it for you
Carved idols, totems, etc

You could also get funky with associative memory, like using your stargazing/astrology to memorize spells.

[Eragon123]

This one is a stretch but here goes.

Magical Potions.

You have bottles called reagents, each spell is a unique recipes that you mix together in a bottle and then throw for its effects.

Throw a bottle on the ground and a giant gooey mess comes forth (casting web).

Break a bottle by your companions feet and they get faster. (haste)

Ritual spells are spells that have components both simple and stable enough to mix on the go. all other spells require unstable or unique components.

Granted this still has problems. Mainly concentration. Why does hitting the wizard affect the potion? Maybe some willpower making some of the reagents work but still.

Like I said this is a bizarre concept but I hope this inspires some other, more rational ideas.

[Tanarii]

Knotted pieces of rope has always been one of my favorites.

[ad_hoc]

Knotted pieces of rope has always been one of my favorites.

http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/portlandia-season-2-2-one-moore-knot-store-jeff-goldblum.jpg

[Arkhios]

This one is a stretch but here goes.

Magical Potions.

-snip-

Granted this still has problems. Mainly concentration. Why does hitting the wizard affect the potion? Maybe some willpower making some of the reagents work but still.

Like I said this is a bizarre concept but I hope this inspires some other, more rational ideas.

Yeah, that's stretch-y.

The point of a spellbook is to store the information required to prepare your spells.

Potion-mixing to produce those effects is different thing entirely :)

It's a decent idea for an alternative spellcasting flavor though.

[RickAllison]

I have two that I've been trying to use in games. The first is a gnomish contraption, a long-lost technology that allowed technicians to replicate arcane magics. The device itself acts as the arcane focus, and preparing spells involves configuring a series of lenses, components, and aether conductors. The spellbook is actually a set of blueprints for how to reconfigure the device to replicate the spells. As the wizard starts, he is unfamiliar enough that only 4 sections can be properly configured without compromising the aetheric pathways, and it takes the form of a gauntlet. As he becomes more advanced, he develops more advanced circuitry that enables a greater number of configurations at a time, as well as integrating some spells (rituals, Signature Spells, etc.) permanently into its pathways. At the final tier of play, the device covers his entire arm and seems to breathe with a life of its own.

The second is perhaps my favorite. The wizard is from a culture that teaches arcane manipulation through the body's channels. The spells are actually a series of feathers, beads, and other pretty things that are bound into an aesthetically pleasing (and enchanted) braid and attached into hair/other protrusions. Preparing spells involves assembling a set of these braids into a headdress that doesn't confuse the flow of mana/aether/weave within the wizard. Casting involves tracing a line along the braid, through the chakra points/leylines to unleash its power.

[Arkhios]

The second is perhaps my favorite. The wizard is from a culture that teaches arcane manipulation through the body's channels. The spells are actually a series of feathers, beads, and other pretty things that are bound into an aesthetically pleasing (and enchanted) braid and attached into hair/other protrusions. Preparing spells involves assembling a set of these braids into a headdress that doesn't confuse the flow of mana/aether/weave within the wizard. Casting involves tracing a line along the braid, through the chakra points/leylines to unleash its power.

Ha! Like reaching Feng shui harmony? Nice one!

[Lord8Ball]

Doing spellbooks the ten commandments style lol.

[Greywander]

A smartphone. Be the tech wizard.

A cage with a parrot (or other animal) that repeats the instructions necessary to prepare a spell when you command it.

A robe (or other clothing article) that has the spells inscribed on it.

A pillow that when you sleep on it you go to a dream world where all your spells are stored as physical objects inside a warehouse, allowing you to select which ones you wish to take back with you when you awake.

A crystal ball that allows you to scry the spells from somewhere else. Not sure how you would add new spells to this one, though.

The spells are written on the back of your eyelids, so that you can prepare them while you sleep. Don't lose your "spellbook"...

[tkuremento]

After reading what Greywander posted I thought of...

A bonsai tree that you shape in such ways that cause the storing of spells.

[JackPhoenix]

Crystal with spellcasting symbols inscribed in it. The wizard can either read the symbols from the crystal directly, or add some source of light (Light?) to project the symbols on a nearby surface.

Spell glyphs carved on the walls. Try to steal *this* spellbook! Somewhat less practical for adventuring wizard, though.

Not mine, but somewhere n this forum, someone mentioned crazy cat person wizard who's "spellbook" is a herd of cats, with each cat representing different spell, and spells prepared through petting and feeding that particular cat. (I'd credit the source of the idea, but I don't remember who and where it was).

[Laserlight]

Bone whistles and flutes, each one summoning the attention of the ancestor or defeated foe who provided the bone.

Cups with engraving on the inside. You drink tea (or beer, wine, blood, mountain dew, depends on spell level) from the appropriate cups. You carry a wicker box with elaborate tea service set.

[Unoriginal]

A deck of cards, each card representing a spell.

You show the card to cast the spell.

[Aett_Thorn]

I remember back in 2E that Saurial wizards used to notch and carve their staffs in place of carrying a book around.

I like the idea of crystals (for more civilized) or stones (for more primitive) as a means of transcribing your spells. They seem like they'd be less likely to suffer damage, even if they would start weighing you down a bit.

I could see a Bladesinger carving runes into their weapons, or Necromancers carrying around carved bones.

[Millstone85]

A scarf that you make longer and longer as you weave new spells into it.


to avoid further confusion, note that the spellbook's purpose is only to store the information to prepare spells. The spellbook itself doesn't produce the spells.Yeah, it is a book about magic but it is not necessarily a magic book.


A crystal ball that allows you to scry the spells from somewhere else. Not sure how you would add new spells to this one, though.After practicing the spell, you scry your past for your best casting.

Or for something weirder, you scry your future to acquire the spell in the first place, self-fulfilling-prophecy style.


A deck of cards, each card representing a spell.

You show the card to cast the spell.That's deliciously meta.

[Joe the Rat]

I appreciate the spellbook-and-focus ideas, but they work best when the focus works without the specific spell being pulled. A staff etched in runes to store the knowledge, which is also an arcane focus works well. A Formulary with a specific set of reagents is alternative material components.

Stones and cards: instead of each spell being a card, each spell is a sequence of cards, or symbols, that you focus on and etch into your brainspace. You need a specific rune to cast, but having that rune doesn't mean you have it prepared.

As an aside, using the "deckmaster" concept for spells known casters becomes more intuitive: The cards function as highly specific arcane foci. With the official 5th edition spell decks, you get a lovely feelie to go with your caster.

Using a tarot deck for a tomelock Book of Shadows. Now that's flavor!


A scarf that you make longer and longer as you weave new spells into it.
I shall now insist that elixir of health produces jelly babies.

[Arkhios]

Oh, yes! Reading a deck of tarot, three cards at a time for each spell! I could also see a Diviner do that.

If I did my math-fu right, there are a total of 27720 possible combinations, which is more than enough to store a few spells :p

[ImproperJustice]

In an OSR game I got to play a “wanderer” class that had some minor spell casting abilities.

He was kind of a hobo, so his “spell book” was scattered sheets of cloth, napkins, and crumpled pieces of paper.
Studying his spell book consisted of scattering this mess alll over the ground and quietly muttering the incantations.

[Temperjoke]

Tattooing your spells on yourself might get a bit awkward:

"Hey bro, could you do me a favor and hold this mirror for me, while I use this mirror, so I can remember what spells I've got tattooed on my back? I don't want duplicates by accident." "Honest, guys, I have to strip totally naked to study my spells for tomorrow. It's not my fault you guys didn't bring a tent with you."

I know it's an old reference (relatively speaking), but the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon (one of them anyways) had an episode where an old wizard had a spellbook computer crystal that was voice-controlled that I've always thought was interesting. http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Lazaar%27s_Computer Not appropriate for a Forgotten Realms setting, but a setting with magical-technology might be able to squeeze in something like it.

[clem]

You could go for a Fahrenheit 451 scenario where you lead a hidden colony where each member has named themselves after the spell they have permanently memorized.

[Waterdeep Merch]

A telescope with notched lenses. Each lens is used with the stars in the night sky to 'read' the spellbook. Higher level spells take additional lens stacked together, forming a more complex image.

[krugaan]

Tattooing your spells on yourself might get a bit awkward:

"Hey bro, could you do me a favor and hold this mirror for me, while I use this mirror, so I can remember what spells I've got tattooed on my back? I don't want duplicates by accident." "Honest, guys, I have to strip totally naked to study my spells for tomorrow. It's not my fault you guys didn't bring a tent with you."


Even more awkward: Can someone else strip naked? I can only read the first and last part of the spell.

Sherlock Holmes style mind palace would be a neat idea, except only in concept. "I sit there remembering stuff" is not really flavorful.

[Aett_Thorn]

A telescope with notched lenses. Each lens is used with the stars in the night sky to 'read' the spellbook. Higher level spells take additional lens stacked together, forming a more complex image.

What happens if you're underground?

[Waterdeep Merch]

What happens if you're underground?
Can't pick new spells. It's meant to both hide the nature of the spellbook from non-casters and make it fairly difficult for other casters to decipher, even if they know what it is.

[Lord Torath]

The spells are written on the back of your eyelids, so that you can prepare them while you sleep. Don't lose your "spellbook"...Ouch! I do not want to think about the process of tattoing a new spell into your "book". Plus, who would you trust to be your tattoo artist? It's only the difference of a quarter circle between the ward for clear-sight and the ward against drunkeness, and the former won't get you home safely with a load on. Especially when you realize that the characters are fractions of a millimeter tall if you're going to fit anything other than Power Word <blank> spells...

Plus, you'd need to have a light shining into your eyes to back-light your spellbook, and there's the minor fact that your eyelids do not lie within your eye's focal range.

In Dark Sun, I always favored the knotted rope, or the knot-pattern shawl versions of spellbooks.


A telescope with notched lenses. Each lens is used with the stars in the night sky to 'read' the spellbook. Higher level spells take additional lens stacked together, forming a more complex image.Also can only memorize certain spells in certain seasons. Um... don't visit the southern hemisphere if your spellbook is keyed to the northern sky. :smalleek:

You know, depending on the cosmology of your campaign world.

[iTreeby]

I had an idea for a wizard school that has abstract sculptures that actually represent spells.

[Hyde]

I had a druid create scrolls by tattooing squirrels.

[I really like the idea of a wizard with a bad memory, having their parrot remember their spells for them]
[I also like that scarf, really nice]

carving or sculpture, the figures' lines of motion hiding arcane sigils.

maps, if the wizard is a city planner.

Song lyrics, if written down, connecting certain letters reveals the spell.

[Asmotherion]

So, I was just reading the added flavor for wizards in XGtE, and it suggested the spellbook doesn't necessarily have to be a bound book per se, but that it could be, for example, spells carved in stones carried in a cloth bag.

What different ideas can you come up with?

I seem to recall that one of the D&DNext playtest documents suggested tattoos in place of an actual book, for example, but what else? Surely there are more ideas to explore?

Edit: to avoid further confusion, note that the spellbook's purpose is only to store the information to prepare spells. The spellbook itself doesn't produce the spells.

I went with tatooed spellbook before it was mainstream... My Abjurer Wizard/Warlock was soo Hipster :P But it does make sence to want your spells noted somewere were they won't get lost.

-Your Arcane Foccus (Stuff/Wand) can contain the carving notes of a number of spells (as much as the DM seems fit). Make them flavorfull choices, such as agressive spells. You can do the same on a dagger/weapon.
-Your Robes can contain your more deffensive/utility spells such as abjurations, in the form of gold/silver thread letters inside your robes.
-You can have a ring containing a single spell of great significance to your character.

This way, you can make those items more special, kinda like "Pseudo-magic items". With DM approval, and investing a bit more gold, you can have the item in question be an arcane focus, and add more vidual to your spell; The runes on your robes or stuff may radiate blueish dim light (1 foot cube from you) when you cast the spell they are assosiated with; The Ring may be cold to the touch and make a harmless wind move your clothes when you cast a spell though it, as it attunes to the plane of elemental Air that the spell you have carved on it is assosiated with, when it comes in contact with magic.


Oh, yes! Reading a deck of tarot, three cards at a time for each spell! I could also see a Diviner do that.

If I did my math-fu right, there are a total of 27720 possible combinations, which is more than enough to store a few spells :p

I love this idea. I'd probably play it as an Arcana Cleric preparing Spells though, or a Multiclass of both.

[Anonymouswizard]

I remember the 3.5 Complete Arcane book, I thought that giving how many pages of spellbook a hand counted as was cool back then (also rules for using stone tablets, and books of unusual materials).

I know Dark Sun suggested the 'patterns of knots in ropes' method.


In an OSR game I got to play a “wanderer” class that had some minor spell casting abilities.

He was kind of a hobo, so his “spell book” was scattered sheets of cloth, napkins, and crumpled pieces of paper.
Studying his spell book consisted of scattering this mess alll over the ground and quietly muttering the incantations.

Do you know what game that was? I'm interested now.


I had an idea for a wizard school that has abstract sculptures that actually represent spells.

I actually want to play a wizard who can only memorise spells in his art gallery, because the paintings (which he made himself) are his spellbook.

Also pieces of jewelry, where differing amounts of mass/surface area regulate the power and number of spells that can be 'inscribed' on them. The downside is that they're relatively easy to steal and pawn, the upside is that you always have the 'spellbooks' you're wearing.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Also can only memorize certain spells in certain seasons. Um... don't visit the southern hemisphere if your spellbook is keyed to the northern sky. :smalleek:

You know, depending on the cosmology of your campaign world.
I'm actually starting to like this idea more and more, though on the NPC/treasure side of things. Hide forgotten spells and lore in astrology, where you have to not only find the correct lenses and determine their correct order, but also figure out what stars to look at, and when and where. So the great Summon Phlebotinum or Conjure Evil Plot requires a lot of investigation to determine, and can lead to a climactic outcome on the night that the players/villain arrive at the right place and time to learn the spell.

[Tanarii]

Tatted spellbook - lose a spell from it every time you take meat damage?

[No brains]

If there were some means to do it in a setting, keying spells to music would work for a wizard as well as a bard. Music has enough complex components to hide magical meaning. Maybe dance could also hide some parts of a spell.

Another sensory spell book could be a collection of snacks. Bizarre combinations of flavors, scents, and textures can bring a magical feeling to the wizard's mind. Perhaps it even has to be eaten a certain way: if you don't savor the food or belch afterwards, it doesn't have the magic.

If you want to go really weird with the idea that any sensory input could cipher magic, maybe a wizard can also be a masseuse that uses touch to evoke power. It can include acupuncture or those sauna stones. A whole workout routine might be way for a gish to memorize spells.

My craziest idea is for a wizard to store magic with no obfuscation. Their spell book is as clear as an Ikea manual. Of course with magic, maybe what every wizard is trying to do is find the simplest way of explaining mysterious forces to themselves.

[LeonBH]

You can make a tinkerer who makes magical chips at the start of the day, which expire at the end of the day. When casting a spell, they pour magic into the chip and after the spell is expended, it cracks, so they have to do it all over again the next day.

[S_A_M I AM]

This one is a stretch but here goes.

Magical Potions.

You have bottles called reagents, each spell is a unique recipes that you mix together in a bottle and then throw for its effects.

Throw a bottle on the ground and a giant gooey mess comes forth (casting web).

Break a bottle by your companions feet and they get faster. (haste)

Ritual spells are spells that have components both simple and stable enough to mix on the go. all other spells require unstable or unique components.

Granted this still has problems. Mainly concentration. Why does hitting the wizard affect the potion? Maybe some willpower making some of the reagents work but still.

Like I said this is a bizarre concept but I hope this inspires some other, more rational ideas.

As has been said, this is a little bit off topic but a more on topic version of it actually does fall into a small literary tradition that I'm rather fond of and was going to be my suggestion for this list.

Potions or food as depositories of information and wisdom. It shows up, as far as I can remember; in Harry Potter with The Pensive, Dark Sun with the spell containing fruits that I can't remember the name of and The Fruit of The Tree of Knowledge from... A bunch of different religious texts from around the same area and time. And Warm Bodies which is a really solid romcom that you should totally watch that I shan't spoil.

And there are a bunch of different ways to handle it that I'm fond of*

The Potions are actually just water, left to gather mana within specially prepared bottles under the moons light. (Based off of a wiccan way of "charging" charms and perfect for Selunite or weave worshipping wizards in The Forgotten Realms.)

A very very old wizard, potentially suffering from some kind of dementia has taken to editing his memories. As they couldn't fit inside his head any longer and using his Pensive as a spellbook eventually came naturally to him. (Also something that is worth using as a Dungeons climactic piece of loot some time.)

Trees that produce Fruit of Knowledge, allowing for distributing magical power across the entirety of a commune every meal in order to better prepare them for a days labours.

A recipe book in a setting where wizards are oppressed to some extent is being distributed by The Resistance and nobody can work out why: It's an instruction book to create spellbooks from. Insert "Anarchists Cookbook" joke here.
(I'm thinking of something similar to a post Stalin Russian Dictatorship, information limitations as a form of dis-empowerment for the populace and attacking "intelectuals" and Rick and Morty fans rather than a religious or racial minority metaphor. But it also works REALLY well as a religious or cultural minority metaphor where some of the signifiers of culture (food) are only being distributed in a manner that is stripped of its unique cultural significance (magic))

The ultra special, secret spell that your Grand High Magus passed down to you actually being known to most of the wizarding world in some form or another. (https://imgur.com/gallery/hw0v4oH)

If Snakes Are Books (http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com.au/2010/05/snakes-are-books.html?zx=31e6596b4c06a42e) then an extension of that idea into this one would be that some kinds of animal flesh inherently have these spells within them, perhaps being the source of magic. Fugu being highly sort after, not just because it's a delicacy but also because eating it is the only way to get access to the improved invisibility spell. A tumbler full of fermented dragons blood being a shortcut to very high level fire spells. Cheeses made from certain animals milks (I'm thinking rat milk and I'm not sure why.) producing some of the foulest necrotic magic possible thanks to their existence as the rotting leavings of a mothers care for their child.
See also: Toriko and the Gourmet World if you wanna base a setting around this and... I think I really want to now.

The Mystical Secrets of Eleminsters 11 Secret Herbs and Spices.

Edit: Cannibalism of certain parts of a wizard directly writing their knowledge into your own mind. Not by eating the brain: Magic sinks right down to the marrow of a person. You either suck the marrow out of them (a variation on the truism about getting the most possible out of life) or because it sinks into the bones of a person (becomes a fundamental part of who they are.)
Also: There straight up is not enough literary analysis of the meaning of DnD's core mechanics. It could actually be really interesting.

*Off topic: The Last Man, My default Shadowrun character was an alchemist and he used to bake his prepared spells into snack food like cupcakes and bickkies in the event of an emergency. Made him very popular with both The Party and The Cutters while we were seeking asylum with them but cost him a small fortune in nuyen. (Real flour being prohibitively expensive.)


Cups with engraving on the inside. You drink tea (or beer, wine, blood, mountain dew, depends on spell level) from the appropriate cups. You carry a wicker box with elaborate tea service set.

Mate's speaking my language. :smallsmile:


Another sensory spell book could be a collection of snacks. Bizarre combinations of flavors, scents, and textures can bring a magical feeling to the wizard's mind. Perhaps it even has to be eaten a certain way: if you don't savor the food or belch afterwards, it doesn't have the magic.

Missed this first time though so this is an edit: I also love it.

[Falcon X]

I have a player who wanted to play a Mad Hatter character and asked if he could have a big hat to climb into that was bigger on the inside than on the outside for when he had to miss sessions.

I said “while you’re at it, why don’t you just scribble on the walls inside your hat and call it your spell book!”
That is just what he did.

Now he stared into his hat muttering to himself half the time. Fun stuff.

[LeonBH]

I have a player who wanted to play a Mad Hatter character and asked if he could have a big hat to climb into that was bigger on the inside than on the outside for when he had to miss sessions.

I said “while you’re at it, why don’t you just scribble on the walls inside your hat and call it your spell book!”
That is just what he did.

Now he stared into his hat muttering to himself half the time. Fun stuff.

You let your player use their Bag of Holding as a spellbook, while also allowing it enough air to sustain a breathing creature?

Please, tell me what shenanigans happened as a result of this!

[S_A_M I AM]

Didn't occur to me until now but a necromancer or another artificer of some kind using a particularly powerful and impressive creation of theirs as a spellbook. Engraving it on a metal plate on the inside of their chassis or carving it into the teeth of their thrall is a really good metaphor for the closeness of an artist to their lifes work. How it's a tool, a repository of knowledge and skill and a power all its own. Something to both protect and be protected by.

Also a really good use for the people who have been talking about using tattoo's as spell books but doing it on another person as a sign of trust. Or if they're a big, important evil wizard emperor: A way to even more literally comodify a person.


Tatted spellbook - lose a spell from it every time you take meat damage?

To wear armour is to acknowledge the possibility that you could be hit!