For an adventure I'm DMing, the players have been asked to retrieve an "orange book" from an abandoned library. This book is actually a player's handbook. I want it to have a magical effects, being basically a part of the fabric of their universe, but I can't think of anything. Any ideas? Also, I want it to be initially unreadable (D&D character don't speak English, they speak common, which even uses a different alphabet), so they can find out it's identity, but I want to give them some hint that finding a way to read it is a good idea, to prevent them from completely missing a really cool plot thread. What should I do?
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
First, I’d keep in mind that comprehend languages is a 1st level, ritual spell, so lots of parties will have a way to read it fairly easily.
”You also understand any written language that you see, but you must be touching the surface on which the words are written.”
That said, I could see two ways of going with it off the top of my head. The characters get insight into the workings of the multiverse and each of them gets a skill proficiency for free — maybe one they can choose to swap to a different skill at the end of a long rest. Or, that glimpse of the inner workings breaks something inside them and you start using the madness rules in the DMG. Or both. Maybe every time they swap the skill, they get a temporary madness effect.
Detect Magic should probably show the magic type to be "Universal" magic.
Identify would probably fail to work on it because it's an artifact, but Attunement would reveal its effects.
I'd describe the book as being filled with odd formulae that relate to the nature of the universe, instead of just saying it's a player's handbook. Maybe have Perception checks to determine how obvious your clues are.
For magical abilities, I'd give it a number of charges (like a Staff of the Magi) that can be used to cast spells as well as 2 Major and 1 Minor Beneficial Properties, as well as 2 Minor and 1 Major Detrimental properties.
I'd agree with the above comments for the most part.
The PHB is a world BUILDING book describing how the universe the characters exist in operates. It contains the fundamental magic for a long list of spells as well as information on what spells individuals are able to learn to cast. It includes a description of how the professions available to the people of the realm operate and the typical abilities they learn.It even includes descriptions of races that may appear within the world.
It also refers to the World Builder who can change any of these conditions as they will or modify the fundamental structure of the Universe.
The PHB is one of several world building artifacts available to the "Builders" - mysterious beings who create the worlds the characters exist within. Additional world building tomes would include "XgtE", "TCoE", "MM", "MotM", "DMG" and any other tomes that may have contributed to the particular world the characters exist in.
If and how the characters could possibly interact with one of the world building tomes is entirely up to the World Builder themself. It is possible that access to the world building tools could allow a character to change any aspect of themselves - race, class, spells known, skills. They might even be able to change themselves into anything they can imagine or allow themselves to have multiple classes at the same time or an infinite number of other options. It is entirely up to the World Builder (DM :) ) to decide. It is also possible that the knowledge would just be too powerful for creatures who exist within the world, it would be like staring into the workings of the Universe, and as such it could cause damage to a character looking inside the tome or even kill them.
However, it is important to note that although the PHB allows access to information for specific spells, it does NOT contain any information on how to create new spells. It also does not contain information on items other than mundane ones so it isn't a tome that would allow them to summon any item they could imagine. It does contain templates on how races/classes are created but does not contain specifics on other races. So a character could not choose to turn themselves into a Bugbear based on PHB content but they might be able to create a custom race modeled on the PHB content. Similarly, changing to a Gloomstalker ranger would not be possible without XgtE but they might be able to modify the ranger template in the PHB if the DM wanted to give them that ability (e.g. have a ranger with a battlemaster fighter feature subbed in ..).
The bottom line is that it is up to you if and how you would allow characters some interaction with the tools used to create the Universe the character's live in ..
One reasonable thing it might do is turn commoners into adventurers. Which is probably not directly useful to the PCs (who already are adventurers) but does have applications towards kingdom building type activities.
As far as making it unreadable... it's an artifact, there's no reason spells like comprehend languages would work. I would be tempted to say it can only be read by commoners (and doing so changes them into adventurers... who can no longer read it or recall exactly what it said). Probably a cooldown on its use.
I once put a Player's Handbook for something called "Fiends & Fortresses" in my campaign as a joke. My players got a kick out of it.
As for yours, you might consider using it like a Tome of Clear Thought or a Manual of Gainful Exercise wherein reading the item takes a while and eventually bestows some kind of permanent benefit - a feat, a stat increase, an Epic Boon, etc.
For how players would know to read it, you can always allow them to make a History/Arcana/Religion check to see if they've heard of this mythical book. A high roll might even earn them some vague details about the kind of benefits or properties it has.
A little bit of spice: I would add some insanity checks or something. IMO it's mind blowing to find out your world is part of a game or a system of some sort and you a pawn of said mechanic.
One reasonable thing it might do is turn commoners into adventurers. Which is probably not directly useful to the PCs (who already are adventurers) but does have applications towards kingdom building type activities.
As far as making it unreadable... it's an artifact, there's no reason spells like comprehend languages would work. I would be tempted to say it can only be read by commoners (and doing so changes them into adventurers... who can no longer read it or recall exactly what it said). Probably a cooldown on its use.
I think that this is an awesome suggestion, and very thematic. You could rol lrandomly on a d12 to establish their class, and they become level 1.
I think the first thing the players want to know is what makes the book so special. Naturally they'll try to detect magic or traps first, but is it magical or a trap? Perhaps it's not magical: it's the physical means of how to create or sculpt an adventurer, like creating man out of mud, from a time when magic wasn't needed to perform such a task, a trait lost through evolution or some such reason. If it is magical, can spells the players access even detect it? Is this a force beyond the very nature of what they're used to. Think what Lord Ao is to the gods: he's above them all, and I imagine there's some gods who don't know of his existence. The magic of the PHB is above the magic of the game's world.
As for reading it, it could well be spelt like common, sound like common, but for some reason they just can't concentrate on it. While I like the idea of insanity, maybe it's overexposure to the subject but I don't think the players need to go insane like in Lovecraft or as if they're reading an Elder Scroll. A gradually building headache and a level or two of exhaustion would suffice.
Were I to feature the PHB in-game it would be an unimportant easter egg in a grander campaign, that this is a trial for a thieves' guild or some other organisation who wants the adventurers to prove their worth. Amusing, but nothing players need to think about too hard about.
I wish you luck, there's some brilliant ideas from the others here!
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
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For an adventure I'm DMing, the players have been asked to retrieve an "orange book" from an abandoned library. This book is actually a player's handbook. I want it to have a magical effects, being basically a part of the fabric of their universe, but I can't think of anything. Any ideas? Also, I want it to be initially unreadable (D&D character don't speak English, they speak common, which even uses a different alphabet), so they can find out it's identity, but I want to give them some hint that finding a way to read it is a good idea, to prevent them from completely missing a really cool plot thread. What should I do?
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
First, I’d keep in mind that comprehend languages is a 1st level, ritual spell, so lots of parties will have a way to read it fairly easily.
”You also understand any written language that you see, but you must be touching the surface on which the words are written.”
That said, I could see two ways of going with it off the top of my head. The characters get insight into the workings of the multiverse and each of them gets a skill proficiency for free — maybe one they can choose to swap to a different skill at the end of a long rest.
Or, that glimpse of the inner workings breaks something inside them and you start using the madness rules in the DMG.
Or both. Maybe every time they swap the skill, they get a temporary madness effect.
Comprehend languages would translate the text.
Detect Magic should probably show the magic type to be "Universal" magic.
Identify would probably fail to work on it because it's an artifact, but Attunement would reveal its effects.
I'd describe the book as being filled with odd formulae that relate to the nature of the universe, instead of just saying it's a player's handbook. Maybe have Perception checks to determine how obvious your clues are.
For magical abilities, I'd give it a number of charges (like a Staff of the Magi) that can be used to cast spells as well as 2 Major and 1 Minor Beneficial Properties, as well as 2 Minor and 1 Major Detrimental properties.
I'd agree with the above comments for the most part.
The PHB is a world BUILDING book describing how the universe the characters exist in operates. It contains the fundamental magic for a long list of spells as well as information on what spells individuals are able to learn to cast. It includes a description of how the professions available to the people of the realm operate and the typical abilities they learn.It even includes descriptions of races that may appear within the world.
It also refers to the World Builder who can change any of these conditions as they will or modify the fundamental structure of the Universe.
The PHB is one of several world building artifacts available to the "Builders" - mysterious beings who create the worlds the characters exist within. Additional world building tomes would include "XgtE", "TCoE", "MM", "MotM", "DMG" and any other tomes that may have contributed to the particular world the characters exist in.
If and how the characters could possibly interact with one of the world building tomes is entirely up to the World Builder themself. It is possible that access to the world building tools could allow a character to change any aspect of themselves - race, class, spells known, skills. They might even be able to change themselves into anything they can imagine or allow themselves to have multiple classes at the same time or an infinite number of other options. It is entirely up to the World Builder (DM :) ) to decide. It is also possible that the knowledge would just be too powerful for creatures who exist within the world, it would be like staring into the workings of the Universe, and as such it could cause damage to a character looking inside the tome or even kill them.
However, it is important to note that although the PHB allows access to information for specific spells, it does NOT contain any information on how to create new spells. It also does not contain information on items other than mundane ones so it isn't a tome that would allow them to summon any item they could imagine. It does contain templates on how races/classes are created but does not contain specifics on other races. So a character could not choose to turn themselves into a Bugbear based on PHB content but they might be able to create a custom race modeled on the PHB content. Similarly, changing to a Gloomstalker ranger would not be possible without XgtE but they might be able to modify the ranger template in the PHB if the DM wanted to give them that ability (e.g. have a ranger with a battlemaster fighter feature subbed in ..).
The bottom line is that it is up to you if and how you would allow characters some interaction with the tools used to create the Universe the character's live in ..
Do it!
I have a PHD in traps
One reasonable thing it might do is turn commoners into adventurers. Which is probably not directly useful to the PCs (who already are adventurers) but does have applications towards kingdom building type activities.
As far as making it unreadable... it's an artifact, there's no reason spells like comprehend languages would work. I would be tempted to say it can only be read by commoners (and doing so changes them into adventurers... who can no longer read it or recall exactly what it said). Probably a cooldown on its use.
I once put a Player's Handbook for something called "Fiends & Fortresses" in my campaign as a joke. My players got a kick out of it.
As for yours, you might consider using it like a Tome of Clear Thought or a Manual of Gainful Exercise wherein reading the item takes a while and eventually bestows some kind of permanent benefit - a feat, a stat increase, an Epic Boon, etc.
For how players would know to read it, you can always allow them to make a History/Arcana/Religion check to see if they've heard of this mythical book. A high roll might even earn them some vague details about the kind of benefits or properties it has.
A little bit of spice:
I would add some insanity checks or something. IMO it's mind blowing to find out your world is part of a game or a system of some sort and you a pawn of said mechanic.
I think that this is an awesome suggestion, and very thematic. You could rol lrandomly on a d12 to establish their class, and they become level 1.
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I think the first thing the players want to know is what makes the book so special. Naturally they'll try to detect magic or traps first, but is it magical or a trap? Perhaps it's not magical: it's the physical means of how to create or sculpt an adventurer, like creating man out of mud, from a time when magic wasn't needed to perform such a task, a trait lost through evolution or some such reason. If it is magical, can spells the players access even detect it? Is this a force beyond the very nature of what they're used to. Think what Lord Ao is to the gods: he's above them all, and I imagine there's some gods who don't know of his existence. The magic of the PHB is above the magic of the game's world.
As for reading it, it could well be spelt like common, sound like common, but for some reason they just can't concentrate on it. While I like the idea of insanity, maybe it's overexposure to the subject but I don't think the players need to go insane like in Lovecraft or as if they're reading an Elder Scroll. A gradually building headache and a level or two of exhaustion would suffice.
Were I to feature the PHB in-game it would be an unimportant easter egg in a grander campaign, that this is a trial for a thieves' guild or some other organisation who wants the adventurers to prove their worth. Amusing, but nothing players need to think about too hard about.
I wish you luck, there's some brilliant ideas from the others here!
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft