Trapped Spellbooks [3.5]

[Twilight Jack]

My wizard character is currently engaged in a resistance movement against an evil empire run by a cult of other wizards. He's level 8 (Conjurer 5/Master Specialist 3), and luckily for him, the most powerful enemy wizard in his current location clocks in at a mere level 10, with most of them level 4-5. They are backed up, of course, by a few hundred soldiers, including clerics and binders, all in the same level range.

One of my character's goals in this little endeavor is to take possession of the spellbooks of the wizards he defeats (it's pretty much his only way to learn new spells here, as the laws of the empire make the practice of wizardry a capital crime if you're not a part of the cult). So, before I find out the very, very hard way, what are the various wards and traps I should expect to encounter on the spellbooks of wizards of this level? More importantly, what are my best means to bypass them? I already have both dispel magic and dispel ward in my books, as well as access to alter self and a fair number of interesting wardings of my own.

How do I make my acquisition of these books as painless as possible?

[taltamir]

defensive spells:
explosive runes
sepia snake sigil
various "symbol" spells.
probably some more I am not aware of, you should really get some more people's opinion here.

the biggie is explosive runes, it can contain hundreds of them, and they go off on a failed dispel attempt; and they destroy the book itself (you could buff yourself and just start reading, absorbing all the spells, but the book will be destroyed due to explosive runes). Many of the protections cannot be detected without triggering them unless you are a rogue (and only a rogue, they specifically say that only a rogue can detect and disarm them), and those are high DC checks for said rogue...

A good way to deal with a lot of them is just to use summon monster 1 to summon a celestial monkey or any celestial / infernal creature. They are all capable of reading and writing and speaking common (and only common oddly enough). just have it open it and trigger the traps... problem is, explosive runs will blow up the book...

here is the trick, force a ruling from the DM by (pointing out how you could be) utilizing it to your advantage. that is, explosive runes, as written, allows you to create a weapon of mass destruction. Take an empty book, put N castings of explosive runes on it (it costs nothing to cast, has a permanent duration). Throw it at a square (AC10 touch attack; on a miss it hits a random adjacent square). hit it with dispel magic and intentionally fail your dispell attempts triggering all the explosive runes at once. anyone in a 10 foot radius blast takes N * 6d6 force damage. with 100 castings (say you are somehow limited to one per page) that is 600d6 damage blast.

Obviously a way to ban it is to say that a failed dispel does not trigger them... rejoice, you can now safely stand on the other side of the room and just hit the book with dispel over and over every day for a week to get rid of all the traps.

[ex cathedra]

You automatically succeed on your dispel check against any spell that you cast yourself.

So.. yeah. I think not.

[2xMachina]

Then get your cleric/others(wand) to dispel them.

Make books of explosive runes, toss them, and eternal wand boom them.

[Slayn82]

A) Read the book in an Antimagic Field, after checking carefully for poisons. Then try to find any signs of simbols, or other magical traps around, with the help of a good Rogue. Where to find an Anti magic Field? Well, maybe one of your enemies has a permant one around (as some dms do to contain the wizards), or just wait a little. Lesser and normal Globe of Invulnerability can work wonders for this purpose too, so try to persist one.

B) If there are not any explosive runes, summon a few creatures to read the book and discharge the non permanent traps. Just cast Compreend Languages over them, if they dont know how to read. Also, if some of those creatures have Spell Resistence, better for you.

[olentu]

So.. yeah. I think not.

This is a point. One would need to set things up to use the area version as I recall that for the area version one does not necessarily automatically succeed.

[Tyndmyr]

Initiate of mystra dispelling in an antimagic field = win.

If you lack one of those, detect magic and dispels from a (somewhat) safe distance is your best bet. Stack will saves(easy enough), hp and resists in case of mishap.

Sure, undetectable aura will likely be used on the traps...but it's low level, so dispels will likely take it off even if they fail to take out other traps.

Also, for the dispel attempts, stack CL bonuses. A magic tattoo is a particularily inexpensive way to get a +1(100g for the day).

All actual handling of said book should be done via Unseen Servant/disposable minions.

[Lamech]

Antimagic field and a rogue if at all possible. Gets rid of a lot of dangerous stuff...

[taltamir]

is explosive runes the only one that actually destroys the book itself? summon monster 1 really CAN take care of every type of possible trap with 100% safety and satisfaction as long as it doesn't actually destroy the book itself...

[Thurbane]

Poison needle and contact poison on the pages are two common, non-magical spellbook traps.