The Air Touch Library Tablet is a small magic item the size of a thin journal. As an action, an attuned creature can activate it to access virtual copies of books, maps, and other text available in participating libraries, presently including Candlekeep, Vault of the Sages, Map House of Silverymoon, Library of All Knowledge, Herald’s Holdfast, Monastery of St. Fanal, and the Leaves of Learning. The activated tablet becomes a virtual heads up display perpendicular to the ground at the reader’s eye or other visual apparatus height. The display shows menus and available texts one or two pages at a time, and the attuned creature may navigate through menus, pages, or chapters via gestures.
The reader must make an investigation check at an appropriate DC and spend time appropriate to the task (as determined by the DM) to find relevant texts and information within those texts in the available collections, similar to researching in a physical library of a similar collection size. Note: not all texts from the participating libraries are available in the virtual medium, as librarians and monks must first complete a painstaking and time-consuming scanning process on each text to make it available.
The Air Touch Library Tablet faithfully displays texts in their original size, thought the reader may use pinch gestures to increase or decrease the text size to anywhere between 25% to 500% of original (doing so does not change the size of the display, only makes more or less of the text visible). The displayed image includes writing and pictures but also any stains, margin writing, or other damage present on the original medium. Mundane text appears in its original font or longhand and in its original language, including spelling mistakes if any. Magical runes or writings may be understood with a relevant arcana check, but not copied, memorized, learned, or cast.
When active, the display is stationary regardless of the location of the reader, and sheds either dim or bright light (appropriate to ambient light conditions) in a 5’ radius. The two-dimensional display is translucent and may be viewed from front or back, though the image is inverted when viewed from behind. Viewers directly to the side of the display see nothing. Anyone may view the display, but only the attuned creature can manipulate the display or navigate to different pages or menus.
The display remains active until either the attuned creature uses an action to touch the display to turn it off, or the tablet runs out of charges. Either way, the tablet remains suspended for a moment and then falls harmlessly to the ground or nearest surface (if not grabbed first).
The tablet has six charges. Each cumulative hour of use expends one charge. All expended charges are reset at dawn.
Notes: creature that has proficiency in the Arcana skill
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