Skyspells: A Legendary Tome for 5e

Skyspells

Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement by a spellcaster)

Skyspells represents the life’s work of the legendary wizard and meteographer Fulmenica Levinholt, who dedicated her life to the scientific and esoteric study of weather phenomena and the potent elemental forces that rule the air. Equal parts academic treatise, philosophical dissertation, and spellbook, complete editions of Skyspells are highly prized by elemental wizards, weather witches, and collectors who covet tomes of true power. According to a dedication traditionally reproduced in later editions, Fulmenica created twelve complete editions of Skyspells which she distributed amongst her most promising students and the libraries of several leading arcane academies.

First and foremost Skyspells is a spellbook, and functions as such regardless of whether you are attuned to the book or not. Skyspells contains the following spells:

Cantrips: ray off frost, shocking grasp

1st level: feather fall, find familiar (bat, hawk, owl, and raven only), fog cloud, thunderwave

2nd level: gust of wind, levitate, moonbeam∞

3rd level: call ∞, fly, gaseous form, lightning bolt, protection from energy, sleet storm, wind walk∞

4th level: conjure minor elementals (air elementals only), ice storm

5th level: cone of cold, conjure elemental (air elementals only), contact other plane (can only contact beings related to air, storms, and other weather phenomena), planar binding (air elementals only)

6th level: chain lightning, Otiluke’s freezing sphere, sunbeam, wind walk∞

7th: plane shift (elemental plane of air or prime material plane only)

8th level: control weather, sunburst

9th level: gate (elemental plane of air only), meteor swarm, shapechange (creatures with flying speeds only)

∞ While attuned to Skyspells you can prepare and cast these druid spells regardless of your class.

When you spend an hour studying Skyspells you gain one of the following benefits:

• Ability to comprehend Auran.

• Immunity to the environmental effects of extreme cold, extreme heat, strong wind, heavy precipitation, or high altitude.

• Resistance to cold, lightning, or thunder damage.

The chosen benefit persists until you loses attunement to Skyspells or choose a new benefit while studying the tome. You can study the tome to gain a benefit as part of your daily spell preparations if you are a wizard.

While attuned to Skyspells you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) skill checks made to predict the weather.

Finally, when you succeed on a saving throw against a spell or effect that deals cold, lightning, or thunder damage, you take no damage from the spell or effect.

Differences Between Editions

The original twelve complete editions of Skyspells featured an enchanted lock (DC 20 to pick with thieves tools) to which the intended recipients were given a key. Any attempt to force the lock, open the lock with a forged key, or failure to successful pick the lock, causes the tome to release a burst of energy dealing 4d8 lightning damage to all creatures within 5 feet (DC 15 Dexterity save for half damage). Reproduction editions of Skyspells often omit this security feature. Such editions have a 50% chance of having no lock at all. If a lock is present there is a 50% chance it is a mundane lock.

Scholarly editions of Skyspells are rare wondrous items. They function as spellbooks and allow the attuned spellcaster to cast a limited selection of druid spells and gain advantage of Wisdom (Survival) skill checks made to predict the weather, but grant no other benefits.

Study editions of Skyspells are simply spellbooks and not true wondrous items. These editions do not require attunement and grant no benefits. Though they contain instructions for how to cast a selection of druid spells, you can only cast these spells if they appear on your class’s spell list. If you take ten minutes to consult a study edition before making a Wisdom (Survival) skill check to predict the weather, you gain advantage on the check.

According to legend Fulmenica’s personal edition of Skyspells contained additional spells and grants even more potent benefits. This edition, along with its author, vanished on an ill-fated expedition to observe a storm giant moot being held in the eye of a hurricane.