Wondrous Item

Varies Requires attunement by a spellcaster

The Dark Arcananomicon is a comprehensive volume detailing ancient and terrible funerary rites as well as horrifically specific information pertaining to different realms. The book also has information about ancient rituals, necromancy and dark arts. The Dark Arcananomicon itself is a thick black leathered book with a golden spine and purple binders. The symbol on the book is the skull of a dragon with purple outlines.

To attune to The Dark Arcananomicon, the previous owner of the Dark Arcananomicon must either be dead or have willingly ended the attunement to the book, in which case it can never attune to it again and loses all gained benefits from the book. If the requirements are met, a new creature must spend 200 hours reading and studying it to digest its contents and attune to it. Once a creature has attuned to the book, it can freely modify the book’s contents, provided that those modifications advance the lore already contained within. The dark arcananomicon can also serve as a spellbook for a wizard with no page limitation on writing and copying spells.

Arcane Security. The Dark Arcananomicon has different means of security which are set in place when someone other than the attuned person tries to read it. The book is under the permanent effect of the Arcane Lock spell which can only be opened by saying the phrase “Death Before Life”. The book also gives off an alarm inside the attuned person’s head when someone tries to unlock it. The pages of the book appear blurry to anyone but the attuned creature. If another creature attempts to read the pages, they must succeed on a DC 25 intelligence check to obtain the information from one page. You can as an action make The Dark Arcananomicon become invisible.

Bound Tome: You can as an action summon the Dark Arcananomicon to your hand, no matter the distance it is from you, or even if it is on another plane of existence from you.

Command Undead. While you are attuned, you can use an action to cast the Dominate Monster spell on an undead creature, when you do so, you use your spellcasting DC. If the undead normally is immune to being Charmed, it can still be Charmed by this ability, but gains a +5 bonus to its saving throw. Once you have cast the spell in this way, you must finish a long rest before you can do so again.

Increased Mind. After you spend the required amount of time reading and studying the book, your intelligence score is increased by 2 to a maximum of 30. You also gain advantage on all Intelligence saving throws.

Obscene Lore. You can reference the Dark Arcananomicon whenever you make an ability check to recall or understand information about necromancy and dark arts. When you do so, you can add either your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier to the roll (your choice), even if you already could. Additionally you learn the Magic Circle, and Protection from Evil and Good spells. They count as spells of your highest spellcasting class, are always prepared and do not count against the number of spells you can have known or prepared.

Potent Spell Casting. You gain a +2 to your spell attack modifier and DC. Additionally, whenever you roll damage with a Necromancy spell you can add your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier to the damage (your choice), even if you already could.

Spell Holder. The book can hold a spell of the user's choice. The spell can be triggered by something declared by the user just like the Hold action. If the spell needs components they are used when the spell is put into the book. Casting a spell into the book uses a spell slot.

Spell Scribe. While having a stored spell within the Dark Arcanomicon either from the Spell Holder or Spell Stealer feature, you can feed the Dark Arcanomicon the required amount of expensive paper and ink to have it instantly make a spell scroll of the chosen spell. Once the Dark Arcananomicon has made a spell scroll in this way, you must wait 30 days for it to be able to do so again.

Spell Stealer. When a creature within 30 feet of you casts a spell, you can use your reaction to attempt to have the Dark Arcanomicon steal the spell. To do so, you must make an ability check using either your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier (your choice). The DC is equal to 10 + the spell’s level. On a success, the creature’s spell fails. When you steal a spell with this feature, the spell is stored within the book, and you can use the same action as the spell was to cast the spell, using the original creature’s spellcasting ability and any traits it might have had when casting the spell. You can only have one spell stored in this way, and it lasts until you either cast it or use this feature again. You can use this feature once per long rest.

Until Death Do Us Part. If you die while attuned to the Dark Arcanaomicon, your soul is consumed by the book and your experience, life and knowledge is added to the book in the form of pages. A person killed in this way can only be brought back by Wish or similar magic while holding the book and knowing the person’s true name.

Cost: Priceless
Weight: 20lb