The Bowyer's Book

T
he wizard Cyril Gentlebow was a half-elven New Spells
adventurer of great renown. He was widely
hailed as a pure-hearted and good soul, whose The following spells are new or modified as they appear in
efforts brought light to the world. His deeds this book. At your DM's option, new spells can be learned by
are numerous, with even more attributed to other classes as shown in each spell.
him since his death. Whether or not all such
tales are true is left to the listener, though any Burning Hands (modified)
good deed might plausibly be of his making. 1st-level evocation
The codex was created by one of Cyril's last apprentices, Casting Time: 1 action
shortly after the wizard's death of old age in his tower. Range: Self (15-foot cone)
Wanting to commemorate the great hero, the apprentice Components: V, S
gathered together the greatest spells her master had wielded Duration: Instantaneous
for good, and assembled them into a codex of wizardly
heroics. She named the result The Bowyer's Book in honor of This modified version of the burning hands spell functions
the wizard's humble origins as a bowyer's son. as normal, save for in execution. Instead of fanning the hands
With covers crafted from fine ivory, the book's front bears a ahead, the caster instead fans their fingers in front of their
carved rendition of one of the wizard's most famous deeds. A face, then blows in between them. The breath is ignited by
young half-elven wizard and a red dragon face one another, the magic, which then fans out in a cone of flame.
each breathing fire towards the other. The dragon does so in Attempting to combine this spell with other breath
rage, while the wizard's face is split in a grin. The dragon fell weapons, such as a dragonborn's, results in this spell failing
that day, thanks to the wizard's taunting allowing his and the spell slot being expended with no effect.
companions to hack the beast to pieces. The great wizard Cyril created this variant early in his
Each yellowed page within is of the finest parchment, career. He then used the spell when fighting a young red
silvered at the edges. Cyril's last apprentice, a young tiefling dragon, taunting the creature so that his companions could
woman, had worked in a book-makers shop before slay the beast. The spell has since been mostly lost to
becomming the great wizard's student. The craftmenship is wizards, though some sorcerers who draw their magic from
superb, bearing the same majesty born by the wizard himself fire-breathing dragons still use this form almost instinctually.
in life.
Fleeting Journey
5th-level conjuration
Contents Casting Time: 1 action
Each of the book's 14 pages contains a single spell, many of Range: Touch
which are simple wizard's favorites. Four of the spells are Components: V, S, M (a short length of elastic cord)
unique - magic the great Cyril found in his travels - which are Duration: Special
bolded in the following list, and detailed in full below. Classes Availble: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Wizard
Additionally, the book contains a slightly modified form of When cast, the caster touches an ally and teleports them to
burning hands that was known to be one of the wizard's an area within sight, only to have them return one round
enduring favorites. later. The creature teleported must be willing, and no
1st Level: burning hands (modified), comprehend movement on the part of caster or target changes where the
languages, protection from evil and good creature teleports back to.
2nd Level: arcane lock, magic mouth, ray of hesitation, The location the target is first sent to must be an
rope trick unobstructed area that you can see within 40 feet. The target
3rd Level: Leomund's tiny hut, tongues immediately disappears and reappears in the chosen
4th Level: arcane eye, grasping hand location, facing the direction of your choice. The target
5th Level: Bigby's hand, fleeting journey, mournful harp remains there until the end of your next turn, at which time
they are instantly teleported back to the location they
occupied prior to the spell being cast. If the return location is
obstructed, the target is shunted to the nearest open space.
At Higher Levels. When cast with a 7th level or higher
slot, the target location can be anywhere the caster can see
within 80 feet. When cast with a 9th level or higher slot, the
teleportation functions similar to the dimension door spell -
the location may be anywhere the caster names within 250
feet.
Grasping Hand A silver beam of arcane energy springs from your finger
4th-level conjuration toward a creature in range. Make a ranged spell attack
against the target. On a hit, the target's movement speed is
Casting Time: 1 reaction halved, they take a -2 to AC and Dexterity saves, and they
Range: 30 feet cannot take reactions. On its turn, the target can take either
Components: V, S an action or bonus action, not both.
Duration: Concentration, 1 minute At the end of each of the target's turn, it can make a
Classes Availble: Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard Wisdom saving throw against the spell. On a success, the
This spell causes a translucent hand twice the size of the spell ends.
caster's own left hand to appear anywhere within range. The
hand grasps a single missile from in air, and immediately Location
turns and throws the missile back at its origin.
Most spell projectiles can also be deflected by use of this No one knows what the original plan was for The Bowyer's
spell, so long as the grasping hand is cast with a spell slot at Book after its completion. It was a labor of love for the great
least two levels higher than the spell to be deflected. The total wizard's apprentice; perhaps it was meant as a gift for one of
distance the spell covers cannot exceed the normal range of Cyril's old traveling companions, or perhaps it was meant to
the spell - otherwise the spell travels along its new path only sit in one of the great libraries.
to disappear. The grasping hand spell cannot reflect any Whatever its final destination, the book never made it far
spells that create rays, beams, or arcs of electricity. from the great wizard's tower. His apprentice was attacked
Certain spells have unique interactions with a grasping shortly after she left the tower, killed by a roving band of
hand. The hand may only affect a single missile created by vicious orcs. The book later resurfaced in the hoard of a
magic missile, and an intercepted fireball has a 60% chance particularly nasty black dragon, and was liberated by a few
of exploding on impact with the hand. adventurers who managed to abscond with it from under the
dragon's slumbering bulk.
Melodic Harp The adventurers then brought it back to civilization,
4th-level illusion allowing one of the preeminent scholars, Felisari Sinclair, to
Casting Time: 1 action examine it. She identified the tome as being related to the
Range: 30 feet late Cyril, and copied down the contents for posterity. Her
Components: V, S, M (a silver harp-string and the tears of an catalogue of its contents survives to this day, though she
elf or musician) allowed the adventurers to keep the book for themselves.
Duration: Concentration, 1 minute However, on the way back to their secluded home town in
Classes Availble: Bard, Wizard the mountains, the party was ambushed by an ancient red
dragon, and neither the adventurers nor the book has been
When cast, a ghostly illusion of a harp comes into seen since. No red dragon had ever been reported in that
existence within range. This harp begins to play slow, region, and no sign of a burned book was found with the
melodic music - neither sorrowful nor haunting. While adventurer's charred corpses.
playing, the harp causes several effects in a 30 foot radius "No good deed goes unpunished..."
around itself:
All other sound is hushed, but not completely made silent.
Any natural light (including sunlight), as well as any DM's Notes
magical light created by a spell of a lower level than the When adding The Bowyer's Book to your campaign,
harp, is dimmed. consider giving the book as low level loot, even if
All creatures within range are affected as in the feather the party wizard can't yet cast all the spells in it.
fall spell. Working towards the spells listed can be a good
All ranged attacks that pass through the area are made ongoing reward for the wizard.
with disadvantage. If your party contains one of the classes listed by
All creatures within range must make a saving throw or be each spell, consider allowing them to learn the
affected by the sleep spell. spell at their next level up, either as one of their
new spells or by replacing one of the spells they
All effects of the harp end immediately when the spell already know. Draconic sorcerers who specialize in
expires. fire might be particularly interested in the burning
hands variant, and could even be allowed to take
Ray of Hesitation the spell without finding the book first.
2nd-level alteration Even if the party has no wizard, the book still
Casting Time: 1 action might serve as a good plot hook into any story
involving a red dragon - the red dragon Cyril dueled
Range: 60 feet as a young man had a relative who was none too
Components: V, S happy about the death of his kin, and who even to
Duration: Concentration, 1 minute this day bears a deadly grudge against the great
Classes Availble: Cleric, Wizard wizard's very name.