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Spellbooks

Description Source: Ultimate Magic
Each spellbook or formula book is a unique reflection of the personality and capabilities of its creator. Many of these tomes contain more than just spells, such as notes on the caster’s other research, personal diaries, naturalist sketches, or even political treatises. Some contain preparation rituals, each of which grants a boon—or sometimes a hindrance—to spellcasters who use the book to prepare their spells.

The sample spellbooks and formula books below each list a description of the book, information on the caster’s specialty school and oppositional schools (if any), the book’s spells, and its preparation ritual (if any). Some books also contain precautions against prying eyes.

Descriptions, protections, preparation rituals, and spell content can be mixed and matched as desired from different books. Higher-level books can easily serve for lower-level casters—just drop the spell levels that aren’t applicable and remove lower-level spells as desired. Similarly, if you desire longer books, combine two together or add spells or formulae of your choice to the desired levels. These books also work as spellbooks and formula books for new characters. Just copy the list, hand it to the player, and go.

A standard spellbook includes all cantrips except those in the wizard’s oppositional schools. Books containing cantrips from additional sources are noted in the content description.

Each book features a value, which represents what a character must pay for the book on the open market, though finding a seller may be difficult. The character may sell the book for half that value. Any book with a preparation ritual has two sets of costs, one for the book without the preparation ritual, and one for the book with the ritual.

Using Preparation Rituals

When a spellcaster who prepares spells uses a spellbook or formula book with a preparation ritual, as long as he prepares at least three spells (not including cantrips) or formulae from the spellbooks, he gains a temporary boon granted by the ritual. The boon lasts until its effect is spent (as specified by the boon description) or the spellcaster prepares spells again (at which time it can be reapplied by preparing at least three spells from the book). A spellcaster can only take the effect of one preparation ritual when she prepares spells, no matter how many spellbooks with preparation rituals she uses to prepare spells. Spells in this section A superscript “S” (^S) indicates a spell from the caster’s specialty school, whereas a superscript “OP” (^OP) indicates a spell from the spellbook creator’s opposition school.

Description Source: Arcane Anthology

Transcribing Spellbook Preparation Rituals

Preparation rituals (Pathfinder RPG Ultimate Magic 121) grant a unique boon to anyone who prepares at least three spells from the associated spellbook. Like spells, preparation rituals can be copied into new spellbooks. To imbue a spellbook with a preparation ritual, you must have the Scribe Scroll feat, as well as a number of ranks in Spellcraft and a caster level each equal to double the highest spell level in the original spellbook. You also must have scribed at least three spells from the original spellbook into the new spellbook; at least one of these spells must be of the highest spell level found in the original spellbook. You must prepare those three spells (or know them, if you cast spells spontaneously) and perform an 8-hour creation ritual that requires supplies costing half as much as the value of the preparation ritual (the difference in the spellbook’s value with and without the preparation ritual). At the ritual’s end, attempt a Spellcraft check (DC = 10 + double the highest spell level in the original spellbook). If you succeed, the new spellbook gains that preparation ritual. If you fail, the supplies are wasted to no effect. Formula book preparation rituals are similarly imbued, but use extracts rather than spells, and instead of Scribe Scroll, you must have Brew Potion. A spellbook can have multiple preparation rituals, but it must meet the requirements for each. This does not affect the number of preparation rituals from which a character can benefit.

Prayer Book and Meditation Book Rituals

Characters who prepare divine spells can create prayer books containing divine magical writing similar to the arcane magical writing in spellbooks. These books are usually used to instruct new acolytes in a faith’s magical traditions or to make use of preparation rituals that align with the faith’s goals. Prayer books with preparation rituals follow the same rules as arcane spellbooks with preparation rituals. Any preparation rituals found in spellbooks can also be found in prayer books, which have the same number of spells of each level recorded but generally draw them from the cleric, druid, or shaman spell list. Any character able to prepare the appropriate spells as divine spells can benefit from the preparation ritual recorded in a prayer book.

A meditation book is a secular version of a prayer book, recording theories and philosophies of magic, and can be used to focus energies when preparing arcane spells from a source other than a spellbook (such as for witches) or meditating to regain spell slots (for spontaneous spellcasters). A spellcaster can benefit from a meditation book’s preparation rituals by preparing spells or meditating to regain spell slots while studying the spellbook and expending one spell slot of a level at least equal to that of the highest-level spell within the meditation book.

Meditation books and prayer books have the same cost as the spellbooks they emulate (including the cost of the scribed spells, despite the users of such books not normally requiring spellbooks to prepare spells). If the boon granted by a meditation book or spellbook applies to only a particular class’s spells, a character gaining that boon can apply it to any spell from the same class list that the spells she prepared were drawn from (for prayer books) or that provided the spell slot expended (in the case of meditation books).