I would like to explore what the D&D community thinks about the capabilities of the Manifest Mind feature from the wizard subclass - Order of Scribes.
TLDR: Do you think the sentient consciousness of the Awakened Spellbook would be able to speak with others aside from the wizard that created them? What is the spellbook's INTELLIGENCE score if any? Would its INT score be based on the conjuring wizard's INT at the time of creation, or more akin to other "awakened" creatures with an INT score of 10? What would happen to the sentient consciousness if the wizard were to fall victim to a Feeble Mind spell?
For those that are unfamiliar with the feature or subclass, the following is the relevant information from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything:
With all that out of the way what is your take on the level of intelligence and capabilities the Awakened Spellbook has?
Given the information above would you consider the sentient consciousness of the spellbook an intelligent actor? Clearly, it is completely under the sway of the wizard that created it, but seeing as how the universe of D&D routinely enslaves sentient creatures through magic to serve their masters regardless of their own will I don't see a mechanical problem here.
Would the INTELLIGENCE of the manifested mind be equal to what the caster's was at the time of creation, or would it simply be 10 as that is what other Awakening spells give the creatures?
If you believe the spellbook would be intelligent, does it then have the ability to speak outside of the telepathic communication with the wizard that the feature states you have the option of using? If not would it be able to communicate using some other method with others?
Accepting the intelligence of the sentient spellbook, would it be fair to say the mind is similar to something like Superman's "father" in the crystals he keeps to consult with on occasion? i.e. It has a noteworthy intelligence and is capable of reasoning, but lacks motivation outside of assisting the owner as it is somewhat of a "soulless" entity.
Finally, regardless of all the above, what do you believe would happen if the wizard had Feeble Mind cast on them? Would the manifested mind be able to act or do anything?
The manifest mind is a tiny spectral object, not a creature. The description only describes it being able to "telepathically share with you what it sees and hears" to it's owner, and nobody else.
Other than moving around and you casting spells from it's position, there's nothing else it can do, so trying to assign an intelligence to it (an object) is irrelevant.
If the wizard failed the saving throw against Feeblemind, then you could argue (if you treated the manifest mind as a magic item) that they aren't able to control the movement of the manifest mind (and it would eventually end up further than 300 ft from the caster).
This mostly makes since until you take into account the feature stating the spellbook gains consciousness and sentience which, by definition, means it would have some semblance of intelligence. Though this may not be the original intention of the feature, it perhaps could be interesting to explore.
This mostly makes since until you take into account the feature stating the spellbook gains consciousness and sentience which, by definition, means it would have some semblance of intelligence. Though this may not be the original intention of the feature, it perhaps could be interesting to explore.
The rules as written never give the mind stats or even an ability to communicate, so it doesn't have any. For the purposes of role play, do whatever you want within the limits of what the DM allows.
If you want to work with your DM on what the sentience of an awakened spellbook might look like, there's a section on Sentient Magic Items in the Dungeon Master's Guide that has some basic ideas, but it'd be entirely up to the DM. Really that line in the Order of Scribes is just flavouring, there are no mechanics associated with it, but nothing stops you from deciding your awakened spellbook is sassy with a heavy Brooklyn accent or whatever. 😉
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
If you want to work with your DM on what the sentience of an awakened spellbook might look like, there's a section on Sentient Magic Items in the Dungeon Master's Guide that has some basic ideas, but it'd be entirely up to them.
This is the answer. The spellbook is a sentient item. This link is to the rules for sentient items.
Really that line in the Order of Scribes is just flavouring, there are no mechanics associated with it, but nothing stops you from deciding your awakened spellbook has a heavy Brooklyn accent or something.
Uh, what? You yourself linked the mechanics associated with being a sentient item... sentient items are mechanically defined.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
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I would like to explore what the D&D community thinks about the capabilities of the Manifest Mind feature from the wizard subclass - Order of Scribes.
TLDR: Do you think the sentient consciousness of the Awakened Spellbook would be able to speak with others aside from the wizard that created them? What is the spellbook's INTELLIGENCE score if any? Would its INT score be based on the conjuring wizard's INT at the time of creation, or more akin to other "awakened" creatures with an INT score of 10? What would happen to the sentient consciousness if the wizard were to fall victim to a Feeble Mind spell?
For those that are unfamiliar with the feature or subclass, the following is the relevant information from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything:
With all that out of the way what is your take on the level of intelligence and capabilities the Awakened Spellbook has?
Given the information above would you consider the sentient consciousness of the spellbook an intelligent actor? Clearly, it is completely under the sway of the wizard that created it, but seeing as how the universe of D&D routinely enslaves sentient creatures through magic to serve their masters regardless of their own will I don't see a mechanical problem here.
Would the INTELLIGENCE of the manifested mind be equal to what the caster's was at the time of creation, or would it simply be 10 as that is what other Awakening spells give the creatures?
If you believe the spellbook would be intelligent, does it then have the ability to speak outside of the telepathic communication with the wizard that the feature states you have the option of using? If not would it be able to communicate using some other method with others?
Accepting the intelligence of the sentient spellbook, would it be fair to say the mind is similar to something like Superman's "father" in the crystals he keeps to consult with on occasion? i.e. It has a noteworthy intelligence and is capable of reasoning, but lacks motivation outside of assisting the owner as it is somewhat of a "soulless" entity.
Finally, regardless of all the above, what do you believe would happen if the wizard had Feeble Mind cast on them? Would the manifested mind be able to act or do anything?
The manifest mind is a tiny spectral object, not a creature. The description only describes it being able to "telepathically share with you what it sees and hears" to it's owner, and nobody else.
Other than moving around and you casting spells from it's position, there's nothing else it can do, so trying to assign an intelligence to it (an object) is irrelevant.
If the wizard failed the saving throw against Feeblemind, then you could argue (if you treated the manifest mind as a magic item) that they aren't able to control the movement of the manifest mind (and it would eventually end up further than 300 ft from the caster).
This mostly makes since until you take into account the feature stating the spellbook gains consciousness and sentience which, by definition, means it would have some semblance of intelligence. Though this may not be the original intention of the feature, it perhaps could be interesting to explore.
The rules as written never give the mind stats or even an ability to communicate, so it doesn't have any. For the purposes of role play, do whatever you want within the limits of what the DM allows.
If you want to work with your DM on what the sentience of an awakened spellbook might look like, there's a section on Sentient Magic Items in the Dungeon Master's Guide that has some basic ideas, but it'd be entirely up to the DM. Really that line in the Order of Scribes is just flavouring, there are no mechanics associated with it, but nothing stops you from deciding your awakened spellbook is sassy with a heavy Brooklyn accent or whatever. 😉
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
This is the answer. The spellbook is a sentient item. This link is to the rules for sentient items.
Uh, what? You yourself linked the mechanics associated with being a sentient item... sentient items are mechanically defined.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.