There is something about a book about books that people seem to like. 101 Spellbooks is more then a book about books, it describes new types of poisons, has new feats and spells, as well as a few skills. But this PDF is centered on the books it describes and brings to life.
101 Spellbooks is a 59 page PDF by Ronin Arts. It is one of a series of 101 books that cover different areas in depth and in ways not seen by the other companies. Phil Reed is the author of the series and has done a good job of making the products cover a lot of area and be complete products. The PDF has bookmarks in it which I like, but I would have liked to see the bookmarks to be more complete. The art as always is done by Christopher Shy. His style is distinct and always adds a nice feel to the PDFs. The layout of the PDF is well done making it easy to read no matter if one prints it out or uses it from a computer or laptop.
The PDF starts with the spellbooks. All the books in here are unique items adding to the flair of them. The spellbooks are organized by price going from cheapest to the most expensive. Each book starts with an appearance of the book. The appearances are nicely detailed and make it easy to visualize the book. The descriptions are enough to use but not so detailed that they can not be easily changed or altered to fit a particular need or style. Each book contains certain spells with in it. These spells are either from the Player’s Handbook or from the spells listed later in this PDF. Some books also have special features. These are mostly found only on the higher priced spellbooks. Some of the special features are like a bonus to the heal skill when using the book or secret instructions to build a magical item. Lastly each item has the gold piece value. The books have a wide range of value going from a cheap 200 gold pieces to one book priced at an even million. The books have many abilities and it is important for a DM to read them over and understand them before allowing them to enter into his campaign.
The next section of the PDF covers special books. These are similar to spellbooks except they have no spells in them but all of them have a special feature. Some of the special features are mysterious like the ability to unlock an unknown tower that the book is an unmarked map to. Other books have features like learning about dwarves or about poisons, or even allow a gate to be created to another world. Each book can be seen as some type of adventure seed.
The last section of books covers the mundane ones. While these books just have a title and description they are no less interesting. There are not as many books in this category and they cover things from dwarven prayer to a child’s book about a Halfling and his breakfast.
New spells are always an interesting section. NPCs using spells the players never knew existed allows the NPCs to seem unique and fearful with unknown abilities and powers. After the spells the book has a few new feats, poisons, skills, and some random table for determining what book might be found in a treasure trove.
Over all I found this book to be a fun read. The descriptions are simple and easy to use. The books are creative and can serve as rewards, treasure, or just a simple prize found in a duke’s collection. The spells and feats are well done and are always a nice addition to a book. For any DM wanting some interesting ways to give wizards spells, or take advantage of the fact that most characters are literate these days; this PDF has much to offer.
