AN IN-GAME READING SYSTEM FOR DMS

Books and tomes enshrine a vast wealth of knowledge.

Give your players the means to read, study, and learn.
A CORE RULES SET FOR BOOKS, READING, AND STUDY
IN 5TH EDITION DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

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J M Gunnarsson
 JAMJIE’S HOARD OF TOMES
AN IN-GAME READING SYSTEM FOR DMS

BY J M GUNNARSSON

Revision: 1

Template created by William Tian

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“T
HE PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD.” AS THE OLD SAYING SUGGESTS, THE WRITTEN WORD IS
mighty indeed. As Dungeon Masters, we frequently enjoy littering our settings with benign
refuse like scattered parchment and dusty old books, but it is difficult to ignore the obvious
breakdown of verisimilitude in our games: Our players know that the books on the shelf in the old
wizard’s tower do not actually contain anything substantive, right? They’re just window dressing! …or
are they?

What if every book in your game contained some useful knowledge or fascinating lore? What if the
players knew that the key to fighting hordes of undead might start with a trip to the library, or that a
quick history lesson at the old archives might reveal the secret of a mysterious city district? What if
understanding the culture of an obscure clan of lizardfolk could help the heroes convince the creatures to
lend their assistance? The party’s engagement with your world deepens greatly when their options go
beyond simply fighting their next obstacle.

This system of rules outlines a way for players to pick up and thumb through any book they find in
your world, and indeed to study it night after night until they have learned all the knowledge, skills, and
secrets it has to offer. As in the real world, studying and learning from texts takes dedicated time, and
only the most intelligent amongst us can truly capitalize on the knowledge they enshrine. For the DM,
such a system must be simple enough to allow you to improvise books on the fly should the need arise,
while still being rich and flexible enough to create a true sense of engagement for your players.

After outlining a system of reading, the last section provides a list of example texts that you can use to
begin stocking the libraries and archives of your world.

I hope this system of rules will not just add a layer of depth and realism to your world but also provide
your players with a new means of engagement, allowing them to develop their character as they see fit
and to confront challenges with both brawn and brains. Please reach out to me on Reddit
(/u/fifthstringdm) or by e-mail ([email protected]) with any feedback, thoughts, or
comments. Study hard!

— J M Gunnarsson
February 2019

A NOTE ON INSPIRATION…
I drew inspiration for these rules of book reading from a 2016 Reddit post entitled “The Complete
Librarian’s Handbook,” wherein user /u/wolfdreams01 describes the need for a book reading system
and outlines an interesting point-buy system to allow characters to gather knowledge from books by
asking questions of the DM. His ideas led me to come up with my own version of book reading that I
believe meshes nicely with the existing 5e framework, appearing transparent to the players while putting
little extra burden on the DM.

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Introduction ..................................3 Finding a book ...........................7
Table of Contents ........................4 Perusing a text............................7
Book Definition ...........................5 Reading a book ..........................8
Book attributes ...........................5 Book mastery..............................8
Book content ...............................6 The Library ...................................9
Learning to Read ..........................7

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 Improvising Books
If you find yourself unprepared for a character

B
searching for a book, you need only improvise
ARBARIC STRENGTH, CLERICAL WISDOM,
all the basic attributes. The Content (described
and bardic charisma can go a long way in in the next section) can be deferred to a later
any DUNGEONS & DRAGONS campaign. session. After all, no character can glean all of a
But what about wizardly intelligence? The book’s knowledge in one sitting. This approach
skillsets of history, arcana, religion and nature allows you time to plan detailed content for only
may lack the drama of a stealthy approach or the books your players find interesting.
the heroism of an athletic grapple, but they
surely ought to have a role to play in the success STYLE
of any party. Associated with every book is an Intelligence
skill representing the general style of its content
These rules are about helping the most
and the perspective of its author:
intelligent and bookish characters to contribute
to their party’s success by learning from the • History. Books based on documenting
written words around them. This section defines hard facts, knowledge, and histories.
game mechanics for working those written • Arcana. Tomes detailing magic, rituals,
words into your world. artifacts, or otherworldly knowledge.
• Nature. Volumes detailing scientific
BOOK ATTRIBUTES information about the natural world.
Every book in your world should have a few • Religion. Texts associated with gods and
basic attributes associated with it, described the mythology of the world.
below. These attributes can be quickly prepared Choose a style to represent the type of
before a session or even improvised in-session. Intelligence skill needed to comprehend a given
text.
TITLE
A book’s title is the first impression a character In rare cases, you may wish to select a non-
has of it. The most captivating tomes have Intelligence based skill as the style for a certain
intriguing or mysterious titles, while book (for example, a book on medical
encyclopedic volumes of useful knowledge may treatments with a style of Wisdom (Medicine)).
have straightforward and descriptive (albeit
dry) titles. An Elementary Study of Alchemy may DIFFICULTY
have great appeal to a student of the School of Some books are written for any layperson to
Conjuration, while Secrets of the Shadowfell might understand, while others cater to more
pique the interest of a curious warlock. Give sophisticated and educated portions of the
each tome in your library a title that suggests its populace. These denser texts may hold more
contents while titillating the interest of your fascinating secrets and useful knowledge, but
players. may befuddle less intelligent characters, wasting
their downtime trying to decipher difficult texts.
SUMMARY
Choose a DC between 5 and 10 to represent the
A brief description of the book’s content will
book’s difficulty. For example, a straightforward
satisfy a character who successfully peruses the
chronology of a city’s history might be a simple
text: “Benjamin Brushgather’s Guide to Herbs is a
DC6 Intelligence (History) text, whereas an
field reference for wild herbs and useful
ancient book describing magical methods for
medicinal plants” is sufficient for a character to
interplanar travel could be a DC9 Intelligence
determine whether a book is worth their time to
(Arcana) tome.
read and study.

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BOOK CONTENT
The core of any book is the detailed knowledge
that it contains. This information is what a
character is truly after and the reason they
spend hours poring over a book’s pages.

You should define a book’s content in discrete

chunks that the character may learn upon each
bout of reading. Examples of this content
include:

• A summary of a city’s history

• Tactical information about a monster
• Foraging techniques for a certain region

Content should provide some small benefit or

knowledge relevant to the plot of your
campaign.

CAPSTONE
In addition to the list of content that a book
provides, each book should also have some kind
of capstone that provides the character with a
meaningful, lasting benefit: a skill or weapon
proficiency, a new ability or class feat, or some
knowledge key to the campaign’s plot. This
capstone should be the reward for a character
who has dedicated time and effort to mastering d8 Capstone
the topic of a particular book. 1 The character can cast the
thaumaturgy cantrip.
The capstone of a book should be awarded to
2 The character has advantage on
the character once they have learned all the
Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks
pieces of content that the book has to offer. when handling horses or mounts.
When coming up with capstones for each of 3 The character learns to speak Abyssal.
the books in your world, try to balance 4 The character has advantage on
Wisdom (Survival) checks to track
usefulness with practicality. The optional class
lycanthropes.
feats in “Chapter 6: Customization Options” of
5 The last page of the text turns out to
the Player’s Handbook may provide useful be a command spell scroll.
capstones for exceptionally dense, difficult, and 6 Whenever the character makes an
rare texts, but in general are much more than a Intelligence (History) check related to
typical text should provide. On the other hand, a the city of Waterdeep, they are
simple perk like the dwarves’ stonecunning considered proficient in the History
ability is a great way to provide a character with skill and add double their proficiency
a simple, topic-based expertise. bonus to the check.
7 The character knows the combat
Roll on the Capstone table to determine a few statistics of all Underdark beasts.
example capstones for your books. 8 The character has advantage on
Intelligence (Nature) checks when
identifying forest fungi.

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 Stumbling upon a book. If a player declares
that their character is aimlessly searching
through a library, then no check is necessary;

S
TUDYING THE KNOWLEDGE OF ANCIENTS provide them a title or two of any book that they
requires more than just reading words on might find in that given setting. If these titles do
a page. Characters must find the book they not pique their interest, then you can adjudicate
are after, peruse it to understand what they may their random search by asserting that their
learn, and spend hours studying its pages before character finds nothing of interest to them.
they can acquire the knowledge it offers.

Guide your players on their journey to PERUSING A TEXT

discovery using the steps below. When a character finds a book, they can spend a
few minutes perusing it to try and understand
the summary, style, and difficulty of the book.

To do so, have the character make a DC10

Intelligence check. On a success, share the
attributes of the book with the player (summary,
style, and difficulty—see “Book Attributes”
above). On a failure, the character wastes 15
minutes thumbing through a text that—aside
from the title—appears rather dense to them.

The character may repeat this ability check if

they wish—the downside of failure is simply
wasting time with each check, which may be a
small price to pay to understand the content
behind an intriguing title.

Time: The price of failure

Ability checks in DUNGEONS & DRAGONS are
most interesting when there is both a reward for
FINDING A BOOK success and a consequence for failure.
Characters may find books in one of two ways: Otherwise, a character can just attempt an action
actively searching for a topic of interest or over and over again until successful.
simply stumbling upon it. When it comes to reading, failure might not be
as dangerous as a failed Dexterity (Stealth)
Searching by topic. When researching a certain check, but it still comes with a consequence:
topic, have a character make an Intelligence wasting time. As in the real world, almost
(Investigation) check, with the DC based on the anyone can learn a subject by devoting time to
setting and obscurity of the topic. On a failure, study, but no one has unlimited time.
the character wastes 15 minutes searching in
This consequence of failure is most meaningful
vain. On a success, describe the appearance and when your campaign gives them a reason to be
title of the book that the character finds. concerned about the passage of time. The villain
grows stronger, the invading armies move
In some cases, it may be impossible for a
closer, or perhaps a shopkeeper just grows
character to find a book on the topic, meaning
impatient with customers reading his books but
no check should be allowed. A desolate swamp not purchasing any. Give your players reasons
is usually a rather unlikely location for any to make a meaningful choice between studying
book, whereas a library may be a more fitting and saving time.
place to research.

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 • The character must spend the entire 8-
READING A BOOK hour travel day reading to make the
A character who wishes to read a book and gain Intelligence check, instead of the normal 4
the benefits of the knowledge that it imparts hours, to account for the distractions and
must dedicate the time to do so. rigor of travel.
• The character can neither forage nor
If a character spends 4 hours reading a book,
navigate for that day.
allow them to make an Intelligence check
• The character automatically fails all
against the DC of the book. If the character is
Wisdom (Perception) checks, both active
proficient in the skill associated with the book’s
and passive.
style (History, Arcana, Nature, or Religion), add
• The character prevents the party from
that skill proficiency bonus to the check.
moving at a fast pace.
Reading must be done while the character is
See Jamjie’s Travel Guide on the DM’s Guild for
idle and not during travel or other activities
a detailed system of travel rules to which these
(unless the variant rules below for travel are
variant rules can be easily applied.
used). Any time that a character spends reading
cannot be counted toward the 8 hours required
for a long rest or the 1 hour required for a short BOOK MASTERY
rest, as the character is busied during those Most characters may want to learn a bit from
times with sleeping, making and breaking camp, each book they pick up. However, some
or preparing and eating food. characters will choose to glean every piece of
If the check is successful, then the character knowledge they can from a particular text.
learns one piece of content from the book. On a Doing so requires hours and hours of study.
failure, the character finds himself befuddled by Once a character learns every piece of content
the hours he has just spent reading the words on available in the book they are reading, award
the pages but not quite grasping their meaning. them the capstone for that book (see Book
Content section). No additional reading check is
VARIANT: READING WHILE TRAVELING required to attain this capstone; it is awarded as
You as the DM may decide to allow characters soon as all other content is learned.
to read while traveling. In this case, apply the
following rules for a character reading during
travel:

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 BEFRIENDING BEASTS
Nature, DC6

A book containing methods and tricks for

T
HE WORLD IS FULL OF GREAT KNOWLEDGE,
approaching, handling, and interacting with all
ancient secrets, and powerful magic. You sorts of animals. These tips allow Wisdom
as the DM have the task of littering your (Animal Handling) checks to be made with
world with the books that describe this advantage for each type of animal studied.
knowledge. This section contains some example
books to help build your library. 1. Horses and mounts can be kept calm by
patting them on the nose and offering them
The titles of these volumes are listed below some vegetables.
according to their style (the associated skill). The 2. Birds will avoid fleeing if they hear a
subsequent section presents the detailed book whistled song or similar call.
descriptions in alphabetical order by title. 3. Mice, rats, and other small rodents, if
friendly, will take a piece of cheese or small
Arcana
morsel of bread and keep calm.
The Art of Spellcasting
Capstone: Animal Wrangler. The character has
Secrets of the Shadowfell advantage on all Wisdom (Animal
History Handling) checks to interact with non-
hostile beasts.
Tongue of the Abyss
Waterdeep in Brief LYCANTHROPE HUNTER’S FIELD GUIDE
Nature Nature, DC7
Befriending Beasts A small, savagely worn brown handbook
Lycanthrope Hunter’s Field Guide describing werewolves, werebears, and other
Neighbors in the Underdark lycanthropes, as well as tactical information on
hunting and slaying the beasts.
Religion
Mad Gods of the Kuo-Toa 1. Lycanthropes come in five varieties:
Unholy Abominations wererats, werewolves, wereboars,
weretigers, and werebears. Wererats are the
THE ART OF SPELLCASTING easiest to slay, while werebears are the
Arcana, DC8 deadliest.
2. Lycanthropes are completely immune to
A lavish tome filled with flowery, esoteric bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage
language. Provides dogmatic instruction on the from normal weapons. Magical weapons
art and philosophy of magic and spellcasting. can inflict damage, or normal weapons can
be silvered to make them effective.
1. Magical energy permeates the cosmos as
3. A remove curse spell can be used to cure a
strands of energy, which spellcasters must
lycanthrope of its curse unless it is a natural-
manipulate to create magical effects.
born lycanthrope, in which case only the
2. Spellcasters are some of the most
wish spell can remove the condition.
charismatic and influential figures
Capstone: Lycanthrope Hunter. The character
throughout history.
has advantage on all Wisdom (Survival)
3. The author gives a long and detailed history
checks to track lycanthropes.
of his own engagements and research with
famous spellcasters.
Capstone: Magic Initiate. The character can
cast the thaumaturgy cantrip.

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MAD GODS OF THE KUO-TOA indistinguishable from stalactites until
Religion, DC8 dropping down on unsuspecting prey. The
creatures mature into ropers: enormous,
A small handbook with yellowed, waterlogged tentacled beasts that disguise themselves as
pages whose cover bears a strange glyph stalagmites. Cutting off a roper’s tentacles
resembling a fish with legs. does little to deter the monster, which can
grow them back in seconds.
1. The kuo-toa are a race of altogether mad 3. The darkmantle uses stealth to slink around
fish-like humanoids. They are prone to
the Underdark. It uses echolocation for
fanatical worship of bizarre idols or graven
navigation, becoming effectively blind if it is
images. Their gods are entirely fictional, deafened.
based more on the collective fervor of the Capstone: Scholar of the Underdark.
masses than on any real divine inspiration.
Whenever the player makes an Intelligence
2. Blibdoolpoolp, whose image is a human
(Nature) check related to the Underdark or
bearing a crayfish head and claws, stands
its creatures, they are considered proficient
out from the kuo-toa “pantheon” as one of
in the Nature skill and add double their
the most revered goddesses.
proficiency bonus to the check, instead of
3. The archpriests of the kuo-toa hold great
their normal proficiency bonus.
sway over their followers, but are generally
subject to manipulation by appealing to SECRETS OF THE SHADOWFELL
their fanatical religion.
Arcana, DC6
Capstone: Kuo-Toa Acolyte. The character has
advantage on all Charisma (Persuasion) A small volume with a cracked black leather
checks to convince any kuo-toa of their own binding and smoky gray lettering that details
divinity or religious enlightenment, as well the nature and magic of the Shadowfell plane.
as on any Intelligence (Religion) checks
1. The Shadowfell parallels the material plane,
related to kuo-toa gods and religion.
with every location mirrored but warped.
NEIGHBORS IN THE UNDERDARK Ash falls from the sky like snow and
Nature, DC5 accumulates on the ground. The sun is a
ring of fire like a perpetual eclipse. The sky
A dense, encyclopedic volume providing a is a swirling purple-gray. The plane is
naturalistic and strangely sympathetic inhabited by the undead, such as zombies,
description of creatures that dwell in the wraiths, wights, shadows, and specters.
Underdark. It looks like it was compiled 2. Wights are the undead incarnations of those
haphazardly over years, with sections of it who, upon death, sought an unholy bargain
handwritten or drawn, and is horribly frayed, with a divine power to remain undead so
torn, and even burnt in places. Note to DM: For they could pursue a malevolent agenda. A
each of the monsters mentioned below, allow the wraith is the collapsed shell and distilled
player to view the Monster Manual descriptions once essence of such a creature, existing as a
they have learned the content from the book. more powerful, incorporeal soul, shedding
its memories of life and retaining only its
1. The Underdark is a vast network of caves
rage and malice. Both wights and wraiths
and caverns deep under the surface of the
are resistant to physical damage from
earth, containing all manner of horrid, evil
nonmagical weapons, unless those weapons
creatures, including some humanoid races: are silvered. Many smiths and weapons
the drow (dark elves), the duergar (dark craftsmen with knowledge in magic and
dwarves), the svirfneblin (deep gnomes), arcana can silver weapons and arrows.
and the derro.
Capstone: The last page of the book is a spell
2. Piercers are small, worm-like creatures that
scroll containing the gate spell.
hang from ceilings in the Underdark,

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TONGUE OF THE ABYSS WATERDEEP IN BRIEF
History, DC9 History, DC5

A haughty primer on the abyssal language, with An encyclopaedic volume detailing the political
forays into the culture and habits of its speakers. history of the city of Waterdeep, its deep blue
cover ornately laced with gold bordering and
1. After learning the basics of Abyssal, the
letters.
character can now identify the language in
writing or speech. 1. Known as the City of Splendors, Waterdeep
2. After long study, the character can is a vast and influential city with a
understand spoken Abyssal and read population well over a million inhabitants.
Abyssal writing. Its grand gated harbor provides
3. After plenty of practice, the character has unparalleled support and provisions for
learned mastery of the Abyssal language. seafaring captains and their crews.
Capstone: Abyssal speaker. The character 2. The city grew out of trade with northern
knows Abyssal fluently. tribesman, first based on timber from the
vast forests, then farming in the cleared
UNHOLY ABOMINATIONS lands. Various conflicts and wars between
Religion, DC8 artisan guilds ensued for hundreds of years
before a proper and stable government
A handwritten volume filled with hand-drawn
formed.
sketches as well as notes and symbols torn out
3. The city is now controlled by a secret
from other religious books. The writing focuses shadow government called the Lords of
on demons and their influence, but the author Waterdeep, who wear masks to hide their
seems to become increasingly paranoid,
true identities.
delusional, and incomprehensible throughout
Capstone: Scholar of Waterdeep. Whenever
the text. the character makes an Intelligence (History)
1. Demogorgon is the two-headed Prince of check related to the history of Waterdeep,
Demons, whose influence has driven whole they are considered proficient in the History
cities mad with violence. The demon uses its skill and add double their proficiency bonus
gaze to hypnotize or madden victims. to the check, instead of their normal
2. The fabled demon armor bestows the power proficiency bonus.
of demons on its wearer, but wields a curse
making its wearer susceptible to demonic
influence.
3. Orcus is the master of undeath. The hellish,
winged Blood Lord seeks to snuff out all life
on the Material Plane and transform it to a
world of undead servants. His legendary
Wand of Orcus wields deadly necrotic power.
Capstone: Demonic Scholar. Whenever the
character makes an Intelligence (Religion)
check related to demonic knowledge, they
are considered proficient in the Religion
skill and add double their proficiency bonus
to the check, instead of their normal
proficiency bonus.

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