Spellbook
Item classes | ||
---|---|---|
" Amulets | [ Armor | |
% Comestibles | $ Coins | |
* Gems | ! Potions | |
= Rings | ? Scrolls | |
+ Spellbooks | ` Statues | |
( Tools | ` Boulders | |
) Weapons | / Wands |
A spellbook + is a book containing runes describing some spell. To attempt to memorise the spell, you must read the spellbook. (This obviously breaks the illiterate conduct.) Pair of lenses are great for reading spellbooks. If the spellbook is too difficult, you will not learn the spell, and instead harmful effects will happen: you might become blind, or you might lose all of your gold.
A cursed spellbook can also cause these harmful effects. Thus in general, never read a cursed spellbook. You can use holy water or a blessed scroll of remove curse to uncurse the spellbook. You could also wield it and read an uncursed scroll of remove curse or cast remove curse.
If you have a blank spellbook and a magic marker, then you can try to write the spellbook of any spell that you know. Dipping a spellbook into water or a fountain will blank it. Spellbooks made blank this way will retain their BUC status.
Note that you will forget spells 20,000 turns after you read the respective spellbook the last time and spellbooks will fade after reading them a few times, making spellbook-management quite important. If you polymorph a spellbook into one which you have already studied and learnt, reading it again may induce a greater chance of it fading.
Reading a spellbook in a shop and in the presence of a shopkeeper before you pay for it incurs a usage fee ("This is no free library, cad!")
Spellbooks have a weight of 50.
Contents
Spellbooks versus closed doors
It is possible to drop one or more items in a doorway, with the top item being a brown spellbook. If your tty has color, then a brown spellbook looks like a closed door, because both use a brown plus sign.
If your tty does not have color, you might confuse any spellbook with a closed door.
Either way, attempting to use the [o] command on a doorway that contains a spellbook will fail with, "You see no door there." The [o] command only opens doors, not spellbooks. Furthermore, the spellbook will not stop monsters from crossing the doorway.
Alternatively, use the [;] far look command to identify the '+'.
Strategy
Do not attempt to read a spellbook unless you know it isn't cursed (easily determined at an altar). Unless you are a wizard, do not attempt to read a non-blessed spellbook unless you know which level it is (easily determined at the appropriate shop).
Blessed spellbooks can always be read successfully, regardless of the spell's level, your level, or your intelligence score.
Whenever you successfully read a spellbook:
- Type-name it with the current turn number, so that you will know when you need to rememorize it. You can review the type-names of identified items with the '\' key.
- Individual-name it '1', or increment the existing number, so you know how many times you have read it.
List of spellbooks
The following is a list of all spellbooks, listed alphabetically by the school of magic they represent and by difficulty inside the schools. The number behind each Spellbook is its level.
Attack
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of force bolt | 1 | beam | 3.56% | 12.2% | 4 | |
Spellbook of drain life | 2 | beam | 1.01% | 4.3% | 4 | |
Spellbook of magic missile | 2 | ray | 4.58% | 19.1% | 4 | |
Spellbook of cone of cold | 4 | ray (distant if skilled) | 1.01% | 8.3% | 23 | S |
Spellbook of fireball | 4 | ray (distant if skilled) | 2.03% | 16.7% | 14 | S |
Spellbook of finger of death | 7 | ray | 0.5% | 25.0% | 82 |
Clerical
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of protection | 1 | non-directional | 1.83% | 6.3% | 5 | E |
Spellbook of create monster | 2 | non-directional | 3.56% | 14.9% | 5 | |
Spellbook of remove curse | 3 | non-directional | 2.54% | 10.8% | 12 | S |
Spellbook of create familiar | 6 | non-directional | 1.01% | 19.6% | 44 | |
Spellbook of turn undead | 6 | beam | 1.62% | 31.4% | 50 |
Divination
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of detect monsters | 1 | non-directional | 4.37% | 15.0% | 3 | S |
Spellbook of light | 1 | non-directional | 4.58% | 15.7% | 3 | |
Spellbook of detect food | 2 | non-directional | 3.05% | 12.8% | 5 | S |
Spellbook of clairvoyance | 3 | non-directional | 1.52% | 16.5% | 8 | S |
Spellbook of detect unseen | 3 | non-directional | 2.03% | 8.6% | 10 | |
Spellbook of identify | 3 | non-directional | 2.03% | 8.6% | 14 | S |
Spellbook of detect treasure | 4 | non-directional | 2.03% | 16.7% | 17 | S |
Spellbook of magic mapping | 5 | non-directional | 1.83% | 47.4% | 37 |
Enchantment
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of sleep | 1 | ray | 5.09% | 17.5% | 3 | |
Spellbook of confuse monster | 2 | non-directional | 3.05% | 12.8% | 4 | S |
Spellbook of slow monster | 2 | beam | 3.05% | 12.8% | 4 | |
Spellbook of cause fear | 3 | non-directional | 2.54% | 10.8% | 8 | |
Spellbook of charm monster | 3 | non-directional | 2.03% | 8.6% | 8 |
Escape
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of jumping | 1 | non-directional | 2.03% | 7.0% | 5 | BSE |
Spellbook of haste self | 3 | non-directional | 3.36% | 14.2% | 10 | S |
Spellbook of invisibility | 4 | non-directional | 2.54% | 20.8% | 17 | |
Spellbook of levitation | 4 | non-directional | 2.03% | 16.7% | 14 | S |
Spellbook of teleport away | 6 | beam | 1.52% | 29.4% | 38 |
Healing
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of healing | 1 | beam | 4.07% | 14.0% | 4 | S |
Spellbook of cure blindness | 2 | non-directional | 2.54% | 10.6% | 4 | |
Spellbook of cure sickness | 3 | non-directional | 3.25% | 13.8% | 8 | |
Spellbook of extra healing | 3 | beam | 2.74% | 11.6% | 12 | |
Spellbook of stone to flesh | 3 | beam | 1.52% | 6.5% | 4 | |
Spellbook of restore ability | 4 | non-directional | 2.54% | 20.8% | 17 | S |
Matter
Spellbook | Spell level | Direction | Relative probability | Probability conditional on price | Actions to read | Skill changes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spellbook of knock | 1 | beam | 3.56% | 12.2% | 3 | |
Spellbook of wizard lock | 2 | beam | 3.05% | 12.8% | 5 | |
Spellbook of dig | 5 | ray | 2.03% | 52.6% | 32 | |
Spellbook of polymorph | 6 | beam | 1.01% | 19.6% | 50 | |
Spellbook of cancellation | 7 | beam | 1.52% | 75.0% | 66 |
Other
Pricing
The base price of a spellbook is 100 per level.
Generation
Spellbooks comprise 4% of all randomly-generated items in the main dungeon and 12% in containers.
Success rate for Spellbook reading
Your rate of successfully reading an uncursed book is:
(Intelligence + 4 + (XPLevel)/2 - 2*(BookLevel)) * 5%
Lenses add 10% to the success rate.
Only wizards will be warned if this chance is below 100%.
Failure effects of spellbook reading
Failing when reading a spellbook paralyses the player for a number of turns and causes one of a number of additional bad effects. The length of the paralysis effect grows exponentially with the level of the spellbook with high level spellbooks paralysing a player for up to 80 turns. A ring of free action will not help protect the player from this effect. In addition to the paralysis a random bad effect is chosen, with the nastiest effects reserved for the higher level spellbooks. Low level spellbooks can teleport the player or wake all monsters on the level. High level spellbooks can also steal all of the player's gold, poison the player or even explode in the player's face.
The teleportation effect means players should be especially careful when reading spellbooks in shops. Being teleported out of a shop while carrying unpaid goods counts as stealing, which will anger the shopkeeper and cause the Keystone Kops to be called, which is bad considering that you're also paralyzed for a number of turns.
Encyclopedia entry
The Book of Three lay closed on the table. Taran had never been allowed to read the volume for himself; now he was sure it held more than Dallben chose to tell him. In the sun- filled room, with Dallben still meditating and showing no sign of stopping, Taran rose and moved through the shimmering beams. From the forest came the monotonous tick of a beetle. His hands reached for the cover. Taran gasped in pain and snatched them away. They smarted as if each of his fingers had been stung by hornets. He jumped back, stumbled against the bench, and dropped to the floor, where he put his fingers woefully into his mouth. Dallben's eyes blinked open. He peered at Taran and yawned slowly. "You had better see Coll about a lotion for those hands," he advised. "Otherwise, I shouldn't be surprised if they blistered." [ The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander ]