This shield looks unremarkable, at first. But press a spellbook against its outer face during a moment of quiet focus, and something strange happens — the cover softens, the pages fan open on their own, and the book is drawn inward, absorbed into the wood and metal like ink into parchment. Within moments, the shield's surface is covered in script. Your script. Every spell, every annotation, every margin note rendered in fine glowing lines just beneath the surface, visible when you tilt it toward the light. The book is not gone. It is simply inside. Wizards who have used the shield describe the sensation as carrying their thoughts on their arm — the weight of years of study made literal. Some find it unsettling. Most find it oddly reassuring, the way a well-worn coat is reassuring.
Absorption. By pressing a spellbook against the shield's outer face for 1 minute, you allow the shield to absorb it. Only one spellbook can be absorbed at a time. A spellbook held within the shield cannot be removed by any other creature or effect unless the shield is destroyed. While a spellbook is absorbed into this shield, it counts as both your spellbook and your arcane focus, freeing up a hand. To remove the spellbook from the shield, concentrate on it for 1 minute and the spellbook reappears into your hand.
Warding. You can cast the Resistance cantrip using this shield as the focus. When you do, the shield maintains concentration on the spell instead of you, using your Constitution modifier for any concentration saving throws it must make. If you are concentrating on a spell when you take damage, you make a single concentration saving throw. The result applies to both your spell and the shield's resistance spell simultaneously.
Enhancement. If an enchanced spellbook is absorbed (like an Arcane Grimoire), the properties of that item are imbued into this shield (for as long it is absorbed)*. If the absorbed spellbook requires attunement, it is covered by the attunement of this shield (so you would not require 2 attunement slots for having this shield with the spellbook absorbed).
* For combinations with enhanced spellbooks, a copy of this item can be made with the enhanced properties
Shields require the Utilize action to Don or Doff. You gain the Armor Class benefit of a Shield only if you have training with it.
Notes: Wizard, Warding
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