Greetings fellow adventurers and I hope this post finds you well!

For the last month, I've been hearing rumblings of the return/tweaking of a favored school of wizardry, the lore wizard in the form of the Order of Scribes. And from the get go, I've been in love with the concept. As a Lit teacher, the idea of a bibliophile wizard who just embraces the notion that they are bound to their books and research to the point that, at higher levels, they become one in the same just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

However, one of the awakened spellbook's features, that the wizard gains early on, is giving me pause in it's mechanics.

And that would be its damage alteration ability.

You see, at second level, the Scribe Wizard has the option to change the damage type of any spell he or she casts to another, so long as they have a spell of that damage type in their spell book. So, let's say, if they were casting fireball against a group of bandits, they could choose to switch the damage type to acidic since they also have Melf's acid arrow stored in their book as well. 

Now, what's causing me some concern is, that it's unclear as to what, if any, damage this is limited to. For example, is it just elemental damage you can switch a spell's damage to (fire to ice, radiant to necrotic, poison to lightning, etc. etc.) or can it also include things like bludgeoning, thunder, or piercing?

And, for that matter, is it limited to just one damage type. As WOTC states, you can temporarily replace the damage type with the "type of another spell in your spellbook." But what about a spell with multiple damage types like ice dagger, which does both piercing and cold damage? Would that mean a fireball would then do, at a minimum, 8d6 cold and piercing damage since the the spell you are choosing deals two types of damage?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and input, and I hope you all are staying safe out there!

I would rule ANY damage type, including force, radiant, necrotic, bludgeoning, etc.

Alliteration lets you change to any single damage type from any spell.  If you have Ice Dagger, you can turn a fireball into piercing or ice, not both.

Thanks for the reply!

I just found that the limit to elemental damage was from the lore wizard, so that's where I was getting confused. But where in the class description does it say change to only one damage type?

Looking at this very site, it says:

While you are holding the book, it grants you the following benefits:

• You can use the book as a spellcasting focus for your wizard spells.
• When you cast a wizard spell with a spell slot, you can temporarily replace its damage type with the damage type of another spell in your spellbook, as your spellbook magically alters the spell’s formula for this casting.
• When you cast a wizard spell as a ritual, you can use the spell’s normal casting time, rather than adding 10 minutes to it. Once you use this benefit, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

It doesn't say choose one damage type, but the damage type of one spell. So, in theory, if the spell you chose happened to have multiple damage types, wouldn't that then transfer to the altered spell? Sorry if I'm being a bit anal about the wording, I just want to be as close to absolutely sure on the rules as possible, since I had a similar problem with the flock of familiar spell a while back. As every site I looked it up on said it was an instantaneous cast but on official sites/books was a concentration spell. So I just want to get the most accurate info I can.

Thanks again for your help! And hopefully this won't turn into another best laid plan gone awry.

"the damage type"

Not "the damage type(s)"

Just for practicality's sake, allowing every spell to be 6 damage types because you know Chromatic Orb is pretty silly. Probably still not better than force or psychic, but silly.

This is the part of the class that seems to come up the most (aside from maybe the controversial level 14 feature) and is likely a bit too good to survive the final cut of the subclass. I am under the impression that it is one damage type, but you are correct that the word is ambiguous enough to merit clarification. UA material is still being tested and the wording will likely be changed a bit even if the effect is not.

I have to say though that I love coming up with descriptions of the altered damage types. It feels like making up your own spells on the spot and really adds something to play.

Thanks for the input, and you're right. Such vague wording could potentially lead to some game breaking interpretations of the rules. Good thing we have play-testers and forums to point out such exploits before official publishing. However, in that spirit, maybe you could help me with a similar scenario which was half the catalyst for this question. 

You see, aside from lore, I tend to gauge classes based on how well they can handle certain combat and social situations. Granted, not every character can do everything, that's why we have facemen, navigators, and Ella Fitzgerald's. But I tend to favor roles that can provide more for the party in fights and down time than simply those that can only hit/blast things or those who can only pickpocket guards/wheedle info out of innkeeps.

So, while I was looking at who the Scribe Wizard might have trouble fighting, I had come upon every adventurer's favorite Tiger Devil Man, the Rakshasa. Who, should he choose, can ignore any magic thrown at him if it's below six level and takes double the magical piercing damage if it's from a good aligned character. So (this being the why I was looking for clarification) I was imagining taking a fireball, upcasting it to level 7, the changing it's properties to become piercing from the ice knife spell to royally wreck the devil's day. But then I took a look at the Rakshasa's info and it says that its double the damage from magical piercing weapons wielded by good aligned characters. 

So the question this long drawn out post comes down to is, does a Rakshasa take double damage from a good aligned character's magical piercing attack or does he take double damage from a good aligned character's magical piercing weapon attack?

I'm afraid Ice Knife is still worded as a magical spell attack, not a weapon attack. I also don't think that falls under the umbrella of damage type anyway. Magical weapon attack is a type of attack, not a type of damage. But if you did confer that as well, Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound has a bite that I believe would be classified as a magical weapon attack. If that is the case though, this spell as is can handle the Rakshasa just fine without need for fancy spellbook shenanigans.

If necessary, you can replace the book over the course of a short rest by using your Wizardly Quill to write arcane sigils in a blank book or a magic spellbook to which you’re attuned. At the end of the rest, your spellbook’s consciousness is summoned into the new book, which the consciousness transforms into your spellbook, along with all its spells. If the previous book still existed somewhere, all the spells vanish from its pages.

Does this mean that I would be able to take someone else’s spell book, attune it to my character, and gain whatever spells are in it, while also retaining my own spells?

I can't seem to find an answer to this ANYWHERE! Everyone's asking all sorts of questions about the part that says you can change damage types, but NO ONE has an answer (that I've found) when it comes to the second part of that sentence. ".....as your spellbook magically alters the spell's formula for this casting." Sooooo hypothetically, you cast a level 5 cloud kill on a group of enemies, but they're reptilian and have resistance/immunity to poison damage (and most creatures have a decent Con saving throw), you can change the damage type to say Psychic (if you have Synaptic Static as well). Would that change the CON saving throw to an INTELLIGENCE saving throw? As it not only changes the damage TYPE, but also the spell's FORMULA for this singular casting?

The spells formula is the writing in your spell book, which is altered temporarily to another damage type. 

There is nowhere written, that you exchange anything else.

No changing of the saving throw associated.

Alright I couldn’t find ANYONE that had said this, or anything on the topic, everything about changing damage type, but nothing on if it changed the saving throw type. Thank you! Happy to have an answer!

My question is - can anAwakened spellbook move on its own and if Yes, how far can it move?  The spell description states that it can pass thru persons but not objects. 

As a bonus action, you can cause the spectral mind to hover up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space that you or it can see. It can pass through creatures but not objects.

So it takes your bonus action to cause it to move.

The awakened spellbook is an object with no speed of its own. The only sentence in the rules about it moving is the one that says that the wizard can spend their bonus action to move it.