[3.5] Who Uses Spellbooks?

[Thurbane]

So, just for my own odd purposes, wondering if there is a list of classes and prestige classes that use spellbooks, or equivalents.



Chameleon
Corrupt Avenger
Cultist of the Shattered Peak
Deathmaster
Dark Magi [Deathwalker, Fleshcrafter, Soul Reaper] (necromancer variants, Dragon 312).
Ebonmar Infiltrator
Hoardstealer
Merchant Prince
Prime Underdark Guide
Psi-Hunter (Dragon 281)
Telflammar Shadowlord
Thayan Slaver
Wizard (& specialist wizards)
Wu Jen


Archivist (prayer book)

Feats/Spells:


Cleric (or other caster) using Anyspell/Greater Anyspell.
Corrupt Arcana feat
Magical Training feat
Sword of the Arcane Order feat

Monsters/templates:

Drider
Ethergaunts
Fensir
Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra (unique being) (Dungeon 150)
Hobgoblin, Warcaster
Hobgoblin, Warsoul
Marrutact
Oni, Me-zu
Orcus (unique being)
Spellhoarding template (Dragon 313)
Titan, Elder
Ursinal
Varrangoin

Special mention:


3.0 Assassin ("An assassin prepares and casts spells just as a wizard does.")
3.0 Bladesinger (in the Web Enhancment for Tome and Blood); updated 3.5 Bladesinger no longer functions this way.
Shugenja (they write their their spells on ofudas, but these are more a focus, and not a spellbook-type item)


...I feel like there are more than this?

Only looking for official 3E, no PF, 3rd party, no Kalamar, no Ravenloft etc. Dragon/Dungeon mag classes are acceptable for this list.

I'm going to assume any class that says "You prepare and cast spells just as a wizard does" uses a spellbook

[edit 2] I'm also going to assume any monster that has innate Wizard (or similar) casting uses a spellbook, unless otherwise noted [/edit 2]

Cheers - T

[Kaleph]

I only have two onorable mentions for you:
- corrupt arcana (feat, HoH)
- sword of the arcane order (feat, CoV)

[ciopo]

Prime underdark guide according to my limited google-fu

[Tzardok]

If I remember correctly, assassins used spellbooks in 3.0 before they became spontanous casters in 3.5. Is that a useful information?

[ShurikVch]

Psi-Hunter PrC (Dragon #281)

Also, some monsters are using spellbooks for their monstrous casting: like Spellhoarding Dragon, or the Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra (Dungeon #150)

[Thurbane]

Thanks everyone for the excellent replies.

Is the Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra a unique being?

[ShurikVch]

Is the Fiend-Sage of Rel Astra a unique being?
By the statblock:

Unique molydeus demon

[The Viscount]

Shugenjas use ofudas in place of spellbooks, though they're spontaneous casters and use them a little oddly.

[Maat Mons]

I think the ofudas are more of a focus that Shugenjas have added as a requirement for all their spells.

[Thurbane]

AFB at the moment, can anyone confirm if 3.0 Bladesingers memorized spells using the Wizard method?

[The Viscount]

Tome and Blood has no text on how Bladesingers cast, it just gives their list.

The web enhancement for the book revises the Bladesinger class, and says they have a spellbook and cast like a wizard.

[Thurbane]

Tome and Blood has no text on how Bladesingers cast, it just gives their list.

The web enhancement for the book revises the Bladesinger class, and says they have a spellbook and cast like a wizard.

Pefect, thank you. I saw Bladesinger mentioned in an old forum thread, but couldn't find the citation.

Largely irrelevant since the class was updated to 3.5 anyhow, but maybe a small point of interest.

[Darg]

Archivist uses a prayerbook but I don't know if that is relevant.

[noob]

Any cleric can use a prayerbook for using researched cleric spells(in addition to the normally acquired cleric spells by virtue of being one of the master T1 classes that gets all their class list spells for free).
It is probably likewise for druids.

[Thurbane]

Archivist uses a prayerbook but I don't know if that is relevant.

Already in the OP from the get-go. :smallsmile:


Any cleric can use a prayerbook for using researched cleric spells(in addition to the normally acquired cleric spells by virtue of being one of the master T1 classes that gets all their class list spells for free).
It is probably likewise for druids.

Spell research rules are a bit undefined, so I might steer clear of them for now. Maybe I'll add it to Special Mentions.

[noob]

Already in the OP from the get-go. :smallsmile:



Spell research rules are a bit undefined, so I might steer clear of them for now. Maybe I'll add it to Special Mentions.

They are defined as "if the gm allows you to research that spell then you can" which is not undefined.
However while defined clearly a gm can refuse 100% of the spells you want to research while firmly following raw.

[Thurbane]

They are defined as "if the gm allows you to research that spell then you can" which is not undefined.
However while defined clearly a gm can refuse 100% of the spells you want to research while firmly following raw.

Still too nebulous for this list, but thanks for the suggestion.

[ShurikVch]

Titan, Elder (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/titanElder.htm):

An elder titan can use arcane spells as a 29th-level wizard or divine spells as a 29th-level cleric, from the cleric list and from the Knowledge and Magic domains.

[Thurbane]

Nice catch!

I might ask a mod's permission to post that to the Complete list of Innate Spellcasting (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?136021) thread.

[YellowJohn]

Is it worth noting Prestige Classes who can get unusual spells into a spellbook?
I suspect one of the big reasons someone (me) would be asking about spellbook using classes is for Anyspell shenanigans, so this kind of information is useful.

Chameleon can add spells from any Arcane caster list to their spellbook (Bard, Dread Necromancer, Sorcerer Only)
Divine Oracle adds the Oracle Domain spells
Rainbow Servant allows a wizard to add Cleric spells and spells from the Air, Good and Law domains to their spellbooks
Ultimate Magus can add spells from their Spontaneous arcane class to their spellbook
Unseen Seer can get any Divination spell from any list
Wyrm Wizard can get any spell from any list

Anything I've missed?

[Tzardok]

Geometers from Complete Arcane add Glyph of Warding and Greater Glyph of Warding to their spellbook. They are also worthy of mention because of a class feature that causes every spell to take a single page in the spell book, no matter the spell's level.

[ShurikVch]

Orcus - by the Dungeon #89 - cast spells as both Cleric (Chaos, Death, Destruction, and Evil domains) and Wizard (Necromancy specialization, but no prohibited schools); by the Book of Vile Darkness - casts as 13th-level Necromancer (his prohibited school is Divination)