The Tome of Earthly Spells is a legendary and formidable book that holds immense power and knowledge. It is said to contain a collection of ancient magical spells and rituals specifically designed to harness the powers of the earth. These spells cover a wide range of abilities, from healing and protection to manipulation of the elements and communication with nature. **The main idea**: The Tome of Earthly Spells is a powerful and influential book that contains a vast array of spells and rituals centered around harnessing the powers of the earth. Within its pages, the Tome offers intricate instructions and incantations that guide the wielder on how to properly perform each spell. These instructions are often accompanied by elaborate illustrations and diagrams to further aid comprehension.
Number and Tiers of Tomes
There are 54 tomes total⁽¹⁾, which go from Tier 1 up to Tier 5⁽²⁾, with higher tier tomes unlocking more powerful units, spells and buildings. Tiers I-IV have 2 tomes per affinity and Tier V has one tome per affinity.
Tome Picks and Progression Before starting a game you pick your very first Tier I Tome , and during the course of the game you will unlock progressively stronger tomes. One of the simple ones, Defensive Edge from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, a 1st level Utterance, grants a 1 AC to an ally, or used in reverse, a 1 AC penalty to an enemy.
These instructions are often accompanied by elaborate illustrations and diagrams to further aid comprehension. It is believed that only those with a deep understanding of earth magic can unlock the true potential of the Tome. **The main idea**: The Tome of Earthly Spells requires a deep understanding of earth magic to access and utilize its true potential.
Tome of earthly spells
Tome of Magic is a refreshing change of pace from Wizards of the Coast. It breaks from that standard 160 page format and provides 122 more pages for another $10. The art is top notch. For me, Wizards seems to have two degrees. Either complete on or completely off. For example, I thought products like Races of the Dragon had a lot of bad art.
Interior artists include one of my favorites, Michael Phillippi, as well as Wayne England, Lucio Parrilo, Ed Cox and Franz Vohwinkel among others. Layout and graphic design is top notch as well being easy to read with different colored background for each section. In essence it�s like getting three separate books.
Tome of Magic covers three types of new spellcasting; pact magic, shadow magic, and truename magic. Each section includes a core class, prestige classes, feats, magic items, monsters, organizations, adventure sites, and �lists� or abilities that each class has access to. The core classes are full twenty levels and follow the expanded format. The prestige classes also follow this expanded format.
This means that we have ideas on playing the character including combat, advancement, and resources, as well as how the classes fit into the setting including daily life, notable characters, organizations, NPC reactions, and lore with different DC levels for different checks. Using them in the game includes ideas on how to adapt the class, as well as a sample encounter.
The one thing I didn�t like about the layout of these classes is that the hit dice and skills are with the table advancement, which can either crowd the skill set or spread it out too thin. I prefer it when it has the standard PHB look with class skills and hit dice with the class features as opposed to the table.
The book starts off with pact magic. I first saw this in Dragon #341 which introduced the concept of vestiges. Vestiges are entities that exist beyond standard planar concepts and the entities themselves really have no stake in reality anymore due to a wide number of reasons. But they still have power to offer those that can contact them.
The core class introduced here, the binder, has good hit dice (d8), medium bab, good fort and will save, and uses soul binding to augment himself. The vestiges have levels, and as the binder raises in levels, he can bind more vestiges and more powerful vestiges to himself, as well as augment those vestiges and gains bonus feats for enhancing his powers. In many ways, it�s a support class in game mechanics. It�s not going to outfight the fighter nor outblast the mage, but it has some very interesting options and as more players use it, can quickly become an interesting specialist in it�s own right.
One of the core things that may work against the class, and add flavor to the game, is that it�s not necessarily a class that�s looked favorably upon by society as it�s making contact with things that many think would be better off left alone. The Dragon magazine for instance noted Kas the Bloody Handed (not the moose headed god of spite from Heroes of Horror), as one of the vestiges that could be contacted. Kas is not known for his tender mercies or looking favorably upon the world.
Instead of a lengthy spell section, we have sample vestiges. Much like the Magic of Incarnum, I strongly feel that this class is going to live or die on the support it receives from places like Dragon magazine. While we have over thirty options, some of them long time D&D favorites like Accerak, Amon, Geryon, and Tenebrous, this is an area rich for exploration and augmentation.
There are five PrCs here, some of which bind themselves or closely follow a specific vestige such as Dantalion or Tenebrous, or like the Witch Hunter, dispose of those who disturb those things best left alone.
The magic items reintroduce an old favorite, the Teeth of Dahlver-Nar, a former artifact from the old school of D&D. In this edition they work like minor pacts with the vestiges, each tooth representing a different vestige with a different power. For example, Halphax allows you to use imprisonment once per day.
The monsters don�t necessarily have direct ties to the pact vestiges, but may bear resemblances to them. For example, the tooth beast has some resemblance to Dahlver-Nar.
Shadow Magic introduces the shadowcaster. I have to admit, I had to read this section a few times and I�ll have to playtest it out a bit more before I�m sure how it all works. They get a d6 hit dice, low bab, good fort and will saves, and use mysteries instead of spells. Mysteries have different levels, fundamentals (1st), apprentice (1st), initiate (7th), and master (13th). You can one mystery every class level, and can select from any level that�s appropriate for you. For example, if you were 12th level, you couldn�t select a master mystery, but could select fundamental, apprentice, or initiate.
Within a category, you can only advance to a new level if you�ve mastered two mysteries of a previous level.
Because it�s not spellcasting, as you gain levels, you gain power. At 7th level, your apprentice mysteries function as spell-like abilities. At 13th level, the initiate mysteries function as spell-like abilities while apprentice mysteries function as supernatural abilities. If you learn a mystery more than once, you gain can use it another set of times per day. Mysteris that are cast as supernatural abilities can be cast three times per day, those that can be cast as spell-like abilities, twice a day, and those as spells, once per day. There�s a chart that breaks it down based on the mystery level versus the class level.
You gain a few other abilities such as bonus feats and things like sustaining shadow, where you can eat once a week, or sleep for just one hour a day. Nifty little things to showcase your bond to the plane of shadows.
Like warlorcks those, shadowcasters may have trouble entering some PrCs. For example, if a class requires a certain level of arcane or divine caster level, they�re not eligible for it. If they have to cast a specific spell, they�re out. A nice breakdown of shadowcasters and PrCs provides a quick overview of what they can and cannot qualify for streamlines the process.
In terms of PrCs, my favorite here is the Noctumancer, a class that improves in arcane and mystery using classes at the same time as well as some other innate abilities with good fort and will saves. They�ll never have the same mastery as core classes of either profession but the little extras help out and can quickly showcase arcane shadowcasting power.
Another interesting class is the shadowblade. Not a caster, but linked to shadow, they has sudden strike abilities, medium bab, d8 hit dice and some nifty abilities like using shadows to give you a bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks equal to half your level, or see in shadowy illumination and eventually, in darkness, even magical darkness.
For the organizations, one of them is called the Tenebrous Cabal. Why? It has nothing to do with Tenebrous from the Pact magic section, or the Tenebrous Apostates from that section, so why use that name? Sure, it means dark; shadowy but it�s got a history of association in the D&D game already and that association is not dark and shadowy, it�s Orcus. Another gaffe like using Cas for a name when we already have Kas.
Truename Magic introduces the treunamer. A d6 hit dice, good will save, medium bab class that uses utterances. Utterances fall into three different lexicons, the evolving mind, the crafted tool, and the perfected map. The class gains bonus feats to master truename and eventually, can go whenever you are called by your nickname �truename�. An ability that�s similar to those in earlier editions when entities would know when others were talking about them.
To use a recitation or to deliver an utterance, you have to make a Truespeak check. It�s a cross class skill unless you take a feat for it, or have the ability from a PrC. Of course the truenamer gets this for free. To use it, the Truespeak check is 15 + (2 x CR). So a 10 CR creature would be 35. Ouch.
If you do the research, you can find personal truenames. There�s a nice table with modifiers such as talking to parents, or using something like a divination spell. The formula is the same.
I can see some GMs a little reluctant on this as it gives away the CR of an enemy right away but the GM could always just call for a check and let the player know if he made it or not. I also see some GMs not liking it based on the difficulty of casting higher level utterances based on CR. After all, a CR 20 creature would need something like a 55 to handle.
However, given the RAW of the rules, a +10 magic bonus, a +6 stat bonus, a +3 skill focus bonus and say 23 ranks in the actual skill, should provide a total 42 for a roll of 13. Not perfect but if the stat bonus is higher, not completely out of reach. It also lends itself well to lower level campaigns, especially when multi-classing as the maximum skill limit isn�t set on your class levels, but your total levels. This would allow you to build a fighter with some namer levels and by placing all your skill points into the skill and a good intelligence and the magic item, have a good chance of using the abilities right off the bat.
So what do these utterance do? One of the simple ones, Defensive Edge from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, a 1st level Utterance, grants a +1 AC to an ally, or used in reverse, a �1 AC penalty to an enemy. On the other hand, the lexicon of the perfected map, can do something like the 4th level Anger the Sleeping Earth utterance which act as the earthquake spell.
Lots of variety in there. Also points out one of the tricky things. You have different levels of the different Lexicons. For example, the Evolving Mind has 6 levels, the Crafted Tool, 5 levels, and the Perfected Map, 4 levels. However, you have to check table, Maximum Utterance Level Known on page 200, and determine what level you�ll take at that point. For example, at 8th level you�ll get your first Perfected Map and at 20th level, your 4th Perfected Map. There are twelve Utterances for the Perfected Map and you�ll have to plot your selections carefully. Will you take all the first level utterances and save one slot for a 4th level one? Will you continue to trade up utterances as soon as possible? It�s a dilemmia that faces classes like the Psion and Psychic Warrior.
One nice thing about this section is that it includes spells for standard classes that have some true name effects. For example, a 6th level divine/arcane spell, Hidden Truename, makes it more difficult to discover a target�s truename while Unname erases a creature from reality. That reminds me of an old 20th level Spell from a book Called the Tome of Mighty Magic where you erased a target from reality.
In terms of PrCs, a Disciple of the Word is a monk who masters his truename. This requires the good old Improved Unarmed Strike and Stunning Fist as well as the Evasion ability, a lawful alignment and +4 bab, and 4 ranks of Truespeak. It uses a medium bab, d8 hit dice, all good saves, has monk abilities, and uses different words to gain different abilities. For example, at 6th level, they gain the Word of the Strike Unstoppable to overcome damage reduction. The type of DR being overcome sets the DC for the Treuspeak check with Epic being 45 and Piercing being 20.
A nice little bonus is that they�ve included a martial art here based on the Oriental Adventurers style where mastering certain chains gives you a benefit. In this case, you gain concealment from the enemy you�re using Dodge against if you have lots of tumble, truename and five different feats. A heavy price but a nice benefit. I�d love to see more martial arts in the game system, especially those for Western style characters to reward them for taking what may be sub-optimal chain feats to use the end result of that chain.
My other favorite PrC here is the Fiendbinder. A long time ago, I had a book called the Complete Spellcaster from a little company known as Bard Games. They had a Necromancer who could summon demons. Some great flavor there. The Fiendbinder brings back a lot of those memories with it�s mastery of fiends and can bind them at a heavy cost. For example, a 10th level Fiendbinder can bind a marilith demon if they make a Treuspeak DC check of 49 and have 34,000 gold for the binding cost. In addition, they also get the Gift of the Archfiend at 9th level, either baatezu or tanar�ri traits. It�s a great class for a �master� villain and represents a fairly decent shot as a good demon summoner in an official product.
I haven�t touched on the locations too much. When they include unique entities or characters, they provide the gaming stats. The maps here by Mark Schley hit the spot being wonderful to look at and full of utility. Towers, caves, libraries, shrines and ruins can all be used with the sample encounters or changed around by the GM. Some of then can be used for getting the players into other trouble and some can be run straight as adventurer sites on their own.
The combination of all three magic types, separated into their own section, allows each section to have it�s own mood and feel. My favorite in terms of potential game use as a player, is probably truemagic. My favorite as a reader, is pact magic. I look forward to seeing all sorts of vestiges. Shadowmagic is nice but I think you�d have to have an affinity for that in the first place. The mechanics of the class are different and are a nice example of how the core engine can handle different types of casting.
The completeness of the book, the core classes, the prestige classes, the feats, the magic items, the monsters, the sample encounters and organizations, all make using the book fairly easy. The great art, solid layout, impressive graphic design, and price per page, is fantastic. The standard 160 page books run like under twenty cents a page. This book is under fifteen cents a page and looks better than most products coming from the WoTC house these days.
If your campaign uses magic, this book is a solid fit for you. In some instances, such as variant game engines like Grim Tales, Iron Heroes, or even Conan, I can see Pact Magic having a place there. In short, if you�re looking for flavorful options for your campaign, Tome of Magic is a solid buy.
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Merethryl is a middle-aged to older she-cat. An infamously witch and mother to two wispclanners, she is known for her flirtatious demeanor and powerful magic. She worked with Ashentail endlessly to develop incredible Earth spells. She is superior in Floral magic, and seems to take most of the credit for the development of Earth Magic in general.
Legends surrounding the Tome suggest that it was created by ancient mystical beings who were deeply connected to the earth. Some claim that it was crafted by the very forces of the earth itself, making it a truly unique and powerful artifact. **The main idea**: Legends propose that the Tome of Earthly Spells was created by ancient mystical beings or the forces of the earth itself. Due to its immense power, the Tome of Earthly Spells has become a sought-after treasure for both practitioners of earth magic and those seeking control over the elements. However, its whereabouts are largely unknown, and many believe that the book has been lost to time or hidden away to prevent unworthy individuals from accessing its power. **The main idea**: The location of the Tome of Earthly Spells is unknown, adding to its mystique and making it a highly coveted item. It is important to note that the use of the spells within the Tome should not be taken lightly. The power contained within these pages can be both beneficial and destructive, requiring the utmost respect and responsibility from those who seek to wield it. **The main idea**: The spells within the Tome of Earthly Spells can be both beneficial and destructive, emphasizing the need for responsible use and respect. In conclusion, the Tome of Earthly Spells is a legendary book that holds immense power and knowledge related to earth magic. Its unique and intricate spells make it a highly sought-after artifact, with legends surrounding its creation and hidden whereabouts. Those who seek to harness its power must possess a deep understanding of earth magic and approach its use with responsibility and respect..
Reviews for "The Powers Within: Unlocking the Secrets of the Tome of Earthly Spells"
1. Jane Doe - ★☆☆☆☆
I was very disappointed with the "Tome of Earthly Spells." The spells described in this book were either too basic and mundane or too unrealistic and useless. I expected a comprehensive guide to spellcasting, but instead, I found myself rolling my eyes at the absurdity of some of the spells listed. The lack of practicality and coherence made it impossible for me to take this book seriously. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a genuine spellcasting resource.
2. John Smith - ★★☆☆☆
While the "Tome of Earthly Spells" had a promising concept, the execution fell flat. The instructions for casting the spells were poorly explained and left me with more questions than answers. Additionally, I found several spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book, which made it difficult to trust the accuracy of the content. Overall, I felt like I wasted my money on a poorly written and incomplete guidebook.
3. Sarah Thompson - ★★☆☆☆
As someone who has studied and practiced spellcasting for years, I found the "Tome of Earthly Spells" severely lacking. The spells included in this book were mostly basic and common knowledge for anyone familiar with the craft. There was no advanced or innovative material that could contribute to my existing knowledge. Furthermore, the overall organization of the book was confusing, making it hard to navigate and find specific spells. I was left feeling underwhelmed and unsatisfied with my purchase.