CM
Adventurer
While perusing 2e books for material to convert, Prayers from the Faithful was particularly useful. To those unfamiliar, it's a catalog of Faerûnian holy books dedicated to specific gods of the Forgotten Realms, each containing unique spells and abilities.
That got me thinking. In 5e, divine characters don't really have a reason to carry a holy book other than for roleplaying purposes, so I wanted to change that. Here's what I came up with. Any feedback is appreciated.
DIVINE PRAYERBOOKS
Much like wizards and their spellbooks, clerics, druids, paladins, and other divine classes can choose to create holy prayerbooks which allow them to access spells for special or unforeseen circumstances.
Prayerbook Construction
A prayerbook must be created from specially prepared materials and is illuminated with inks and paints containing rare or intrinsically valuable components. A prayerbook itself costs 10gp per page. Most contain 25 to 100 pages and weigh 2 to 5 pounds. In order to inscribe a spell into a prayerbook, you must first have the spell prepared. A spell takes up one page per level, and each page requires 50gp worth of materials and 2 hours of time to complete.
A prayerbook can contain spells for multiple classes, provided they are appropriate to the god to which the book is dedicated. They could also contain copies of the same spell for multiple classes. For example, a Chauntean prayerbook may contain both cleric and druid versions of the cure wounds spell, while a Kelemvorite prayerbook might contain cleric and paladin versions of the lesser restoration spell. Prayerbooks dedicated to Azuth and Mystra may even contain both cleric and wizard spells, recorded as per a normal wizard spellbook.
Use of Prayerbooks
In order to use a prayerbook, it must first be of your religion. For example, a cleric of Moradin cannot use the hallow spell from a prayerbook consecrated to Tyr, even though these gods and their followers may be similar in outlook. If you have access to a prayerbook dedicated to your god, even if you did not create it, you may study and meditate on one of the prayers therein for 1 hour. After doing so, you are considered to have that spell prepared for the next hour, and can cast it using one of your own spell slots, provided the spell is on your class’s spell list, you have a spell slot of the appropriate level available (or it’s a ritual of an appropriate level), and you can provide any components necessary. Any interruption in this process requires that you start over from the beginning.
If the prayerbook’s spell is of a level that you normally cannot prepare due to multiclassing but you do have an appropriate-level spell slot, you can still prepare the spell. This would allow, for example, a multiclass wizard 5/cleric 5 to cast the raise dead spell even though the character normally cannot cast level 5 cleric spells but does have a level 5 spell slot.
That got me thinking. In 5e, divine characters don't really have a reason to carry a holy book other than for roleplaying purposes, so I wanted to change that. Here's what I came up with. Any feedback is appreciated.
DIVINE PRAYERBOOKS
Much like wizards and their spellbooks, clerics, druids, paladins, and other divine classes can choose to create holy prayerbooks which allow them to access spells for special or unforeseen circumstances.
Prayerbook Construction
A prayerbook must be created from specially prepared materials and is illuminated with inks and paints containing rare or intrinsically valuable components. A prayerbook itself costs 10gp per page. Most contain 25 to 100 pages and weigh 2 to 5 pounds. In order to inscribe a spell into a prayerbook, you must first have the spell prepared. A spell takes up one page per level, and each page requires 50gp worth of materials and 2 hours of time to complete.
A prayerbook can contain spells for multiple classes, provided they are appropriate to the god to which the book is dedicated. They could also contain copies of the same spell for multiple classes. For example, a Chauntean prayerbook may contain both cleric and druid versions of the cure wounds spell, while a Kelemvorite prayerbook might contain cleric and paladin versions of the lesser restoration spell. Prayerbooks dedicated to Azuth and Mystra may even contain both cleric and wizard spells, recorded as per a normal wizard spellbook.
Use of Prayerbooks
In order to use a prayerbook, it must first be of your religion. For example, a cleric of Moradin cannot use the hallow spell from a prayerbook consecrated to Tyr, even though these gods and their followers may be similar in outlook. If you have access to a prayerbook dedicated to your god, even if you did not create it, you may study and meditate on one of the prayers therein for 1 hour. After doing so, you are considered to have that spell prepared for the next hour, and can cast it using one of your own spell slots, provided the spell is on your class’s spell list, you have a spell slot of the appropriate level available (or it’s a ritual of an appropriate level), and you can provide any components necessary. Any interruption in this process requires that you start over from the beginning.
If the prayerbook’s spell is of a level that you normally cannot prepare due to multiclassing but you do have an appropriate-level spell slot, you can still prepare the spell. This would allow, for example, a multiclass wizard 5/cleric 5 to cast the raise dead spell even though the character normally cannot cast level 5 cleric spells but does have a level 5 spell slot.
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