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Fragments From The Silver Grimoire

Before the Rivenning, before the Aeld became three races, they were known as the greatest masters of the Arcane on Cret. The Books Of Metal — the Iron Grimoire, the Copper Grimoire, the Mithral Grimoire — were legendary, and to have one’s own work inscribed on those foil pages and added to a tome was the greatest achievement a wizard of the Aeld could imagine. (Well, the greatest we’re willing to discuss here… ) After the destruction that consumed most of the Aeld cities, the Grimoires were scattered and forgotten — but not destroyed. While no volume remains complete, pages — seemingly indestructible — appear here and there, offering new powers to those who study them. The Silver Grimoire, the Grimoire Of Bindings, is one of the most desired — for in its final pages are the spells which led to the Elfwar, the spells which summoned, but did not quite bind, the great Demon Lords of the Abyss. Those pages are still thankfully unknown, but lesser pages, small scraps of knowledge, are sometimes traded (and more often stolen) among the arcanists. Here are a few of those lesser — but still potent — pages.

On Spellbooks, And More

I’ve always loved spellbooks — they were my favorite part of Classic D&D, i.e, AD&D 1e, back when Bards were a munchkin class, grappling was a nightmare, and dragons were color-coded for your convenience. When the DMG had paragraphs dedicated to making sure that Magic User (what you young punk kids call "Wizards") PCs couldn’t just add spells to their precious spellbooks willy-nilly, if you found a tome in some dungeon, you were thrilled! I loved the many unique books, books with covers of obsidian or pages of dragonskin parchment.

While 4e is all about not putting the kind of "Screw you, players!" roadblocks into the game that AD&D 1e merrily encouraged, there’s no reason that spellbooks can’t be a kind of loot. Gaining access to a power which few others have, which isn’t just another spell/exploit/prayer on Page XX of Supplement Y, is cool.

And since everyone has the same "structure" for powers in 4e, you can have "spellbooks" for everyone! Fighters and Warlords can find tomes which instruct them in new martial techniques. Clerics can find ancient prayers or references to lost rituals which let them use their divine investment in new ways. Warlocks can discover dread lore which speaks of forgotten… and forbidden… pacts.

Nothing here should allow extra powers, though — merely different ones. If you find a book with a new Level 5 Daily, you need to retrain your old one.

How DMs want to handle these "discovered" powers is up to them… you can just say "You found the book, learn the power if you want it." I’d recommend that only one PC be able to learn the power — you can have the book dissolve into dust when done, or you can just declare it as a metagame construct to follow dramatic convention. Or you can demand a resource cost — for example, a Feat must be taken to allow the choice of the power (said Feat will not grant the power itself), or you can say "Access to this power is your magic item for this level."

For purposes of future development, I am assuming a Feat cost, and this means the powers I create here will be slightly — very slightly — more potent than others of their level. DMs who do not wish to require a feat may choose to tone the power down a little bit, or just let it stand, especially if aquiring access to it was difficult. You can always change it later — "The spell seems to have lost potency as the etheric forces have shifted" or "The ancient fighting techniques you used required special exercises to fully maintain" or whatever.

Anyway, on to the actual crunch!

 

 

Pages From The First Movement Of The Silver Grimoire

The Aeld believed magic was the song of creation, and so, the Silver Grimoire arranged into Movements, each one growing progressively more potent. The least spells were placed in the First Movement.

Summon The White Wyrmling

Wizard Attack 1

This spell conjures forth a tiny creature of vicious mien, a simalucrum of a newly-hatched white dragon. All flashing claws and rending teeth, it playfully lunges at whatever foe you designate.

Daily; Arcane, Cold, Implement, Summoning
Minor Action Ranged 10

Effect: You summon a Small white dragon in an unoccupied square within range. The white dragon has a speed of fly 8. It has a +2 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Reflex. You can give the wymrling the following special commands.

Standard Action: Melee 1; targets one creature; Intelligence vs. Reflex; 1d6 + Intelligence modifier cold damage and target is Slowed until the end of your next turn.

Opportunity Attack: Melee 1; targets one creature;Intelligence +2 vs. Armor Class; 2d6 +Intelligence modifier damage.

 

Conjure Ancient Advisor

Wizard Utility 2

With a few words of power, a skull of finest crystal and silver appears before you. Despite being carved from a single piece of stone, the bones move as fluidly as flesh, and a voice redolent with ancient wisdom speaks.

Daily; Arcane, Implement, Summoning
Minor Action Ranged 5

Effect: You summon a Tiny crystal skull in an unoccupied square within range. The skullhas a speed of fly 6 (Hover). It has a +2 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Will. You can give the skull the following special commands.

Minor Action: You may ask the skull for advice on certain matters. It will grant a +2 Power bonus to your next Arcane, Dungeoneering, History,  Nature, or Religion check.

Move Action: You may command the skull to follow an ally. So long as the skull is within 2 squares of the ally, the ally may spend a minor action to benefit from the skull’s advice. The skull will remain with the ally until you stop spending move actions, until the ally is more then 50 squares from you, or until you dismiss the spell or the spell expires. (This can be useful when someone has to sneak ahead to observe something.)

Call Forth The Whirling Knives

Wizard Attack 9

There is a howl of wind and inrush of air, and a dark vortex appears. From within the vortex emerges a spherical crystalline being that resembles nothing so much as the spiked head of a morning star, albeit one composed of black ice. Faceless and implacable, it moves towards your enemies, where it will impale them on shards of its own substance.

 

Daily; Arcane, Implement, Cold, Summoning
Minor Action Ranged 10

Effect: You summon a daggersphere, a creature from the elemental chaos, in an unoccupied square within range. The sphere has a speed of fly 6 (Hover). It has a +2 bonus to AC and a +2 bonus to Fortitude. You can give the sphere the following special commands.

Standard Action: Close Burst 2; all enemies in burst; Intelligence vs. Reflex; 1d8+Intelligence cold damage and one target (controller’s choice) also takes ongoing 5 damage (save ends).

Opportunity Action: Intelligence vs. Reflex; 1d8+Intelligence cold damage and target is immobilized until the end of your next turn. 

 


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