| Type | Artifact |
|---|
The Book of the Dead is a powerful divine artifact and possession of the immortal ferryman of The River Styx, Charon. It is a three stage magic item.
Description[edit | edit source]
The book is an ancient tome bound in old black leather with aged parchment and closed with a golden clasp.. When opened, the reader finds that it has almost thousands of pages, more then what the book can seem to actually hold, but appears blank. If the reader is attuned to the book though, they find that it contains millions of names written in dark ink. Each name is the name of someone in Quelmar who has died, and if you are attuned to the book, you can also read their time and cause of death. While some of the the most recent entries in the book appear to be written in a language the attuned reader can understand, the rest are ind3echipherable. But the more the reader studies the book, the more of the names they can understand.
As a three stage magic item, when a new user initially attunes to the book, they can only access stage 1 abilities. But if they continue to use and study the book, they can unlock stages 2 and 3.
Powers and Abilities[edit | edit source]
Stage 1
- Whispers of the Departed. While attuned, you can cast speak with dead once per long rest. This version does not require a corpse — but the creature must have died within the last 24 hours.
- One Foot on the Boat. You gain resistance to necrotic damage and have advantage against being frightened.
- Death’s Ledger. As an action, you may write the name of a creature you can see within 60 feet of you in your book. If you do not know their name, you may make a Religion check with a DC equal to 5 + their level/CR. A creature who has their name written in the book must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, they are cursed (as per bestow curse, chosen effect). This lasts for 1 minute or until removed by remove curse or greater restoration. This has no effect on celestials or undead.
Stage 2
- Expanded Whispers. You can now cast speak with dead twice per long rest. Additionally, the book now allows you to ask seven questions instead of five.
- Death’s Ledger. Creatures under the effects of bestow curse from your book take 2d8 necrotic damage at the start of each of their turns. After a creatures name is written in the book using this feature, you know the targets general direction and what plane of existence they are on for 24 hours.
- Blessing of the Ferryman. You can cast revivify once per long rest without material components.
Stage 3 Abilities Unknown
