Tome thieves are strange little creatures, who are strongly tied to the Fae realm. Physically, they appear as small, black skinned humanoids with large mouths (similar to that of Goblins), with white teeth that upon closer inspection, are similar to pages of a book. They are typically only 2-3 feet in height, and weigh only around 5 pounds. The eyes are large and pure red, and they are totally hairless.

These creatures are quite intelligent, and are always capable of using their intellect to help them in their pursuits of gaining their most valued treasures. At the same time, they will not do anything as long as it is in their power to be discovered. Thanks to racial abilities, they can often move unseen.

These little creatures can be found in any forested region, but are always close to where civilization is located. They make their homes in caves and underground grottos, using trees or other large and sturdy foliage to store their most prized possessions – books.

They are always searching for books, or those who are quite knowledgeable in order to literally steal the knowledge from them. Being nocturnal, they are never found during the day, always heading out in the twilight or night to hunt any communities nearby. Being masters of stealth, they can easily sneak into buildings in order to steal what they are looking for.

Books that are encountered are consumed by the creatures, the pages being transferred to their teeth.  Any such book is destroyed, although there are ways to get the items back. Upon returning to their hidden homes, they go through a ritual, turning trees or other similar plants into new ‘homes’ for the stolen books.

A typical lair has 20d10 various books, which appear as nothing more than blank-spine tomes. It is impossible to know what is in the book until after it has been opened and browsed. The vast majority of the books will be non-fiction, fiction and the occasional text-book, but on the rare occasion one will find a spell-book (with the spells intact), or other similar tomes that can be used to gain knowledge.

The creatures avoid combat as much as possible, but when they are forced to fight, they have several abilities which can leave those they engage in combat with addle-brained. The creatures will swarm an attacker, using little daggers.  This does not cause much in the way of physical damage, but they can muddle the thoughts of those they are fighting, leaving them feeling not quite as bright as they used to be.

They are quite intelligent, and are fully capable of speaking, although they are loath to do so with outsiders. They know the ancient tongue of the Fae, Sylvan, and always understand the common tongue of those they live near. Occasionally if they are found, they can be bargained with to trade some of their books for new tomes, although this can and often requires a great deal of negotiation, and they always demand at least a 10-1 exchange in their favor before they will give up any of their precious books.

Once they have been discovered, they will invariably pack up their homes and leave within hours of their discovery.

As a group, they often share their ill-begotten knowledge with others of their kind, and showing off a massive library is a status symbol among their kind. Although they have no problem in stealing books from others, it is absolutely taboo for them to steal from one another, although trading and ‘gifting’ books to other members of their kind is not frowned upon.

When a Tome Thief’s library has been discovered and looted, the looters can use their discoveries to their own advantage. It will take time to go through the books, typically 1 hour per 10 books, but after this task has been finished, the GM randomly determines a single skill possessed by the character (this typically has to be a skill requiring intelligence or a profession skill).  As long as they have the looted book in their possession, once per day they can gain a equipment bonus of +2 to any skill check requiring that skill. This lasts for only a single check, and cannot give them a bonus on further checks that day.

It should go without saying that once wind of the loss of the book becomes known among the other book thieves, they will go out of their way to retrieve what they consider to be a stolen item from the person who possesses it.

Starfinder Creature Index

Chris Van Deelen is the creator and contributor to over half of the Wisdom from the Wastelands series, contributor to the Swords of Kos: Hekaton anthology, and the recently released 'Swords of Kos: The Rite'. He also wrote Creatures of the Tropical Wastelands, and 100 Oddities found in a Car. As prolific as he is, Chris Van Deelen continues to write and produce material which will be in publication soon. Not only is he a prolific content creator, he also has a wide selection of fiction and stories! If you like his work, please follow his personal author page on Facebook and on Twitter to keep up with his latest news and game content.