MAGIC

IN THE

STACKS
M
ANY SCHOLARS CLAIM

that knowledge is the greatest

treasure a library can hold— but books

aren’t the only enchanted objects lore-

hungry heroes might discover in a

wizard’s study or ancient atheneum.

Catch up on your sleep and reading at

the same time with a nap in a dozing

chair, receive book recommendations

from a pickled critic, or spin the trotter’s

globe to plan your next adventure! The

enchanted trinkets presented in this

WRITING William Fischer
article all grant their users a minor COLOR ART Dana Braga
EDITING Mike Myler
magical benefit, or a more powerful
LAYOUT Frank Michienzi
effect if the object’s magic is expended.

Enchanted Trinkets: Magic in the Stacks  |  EN World EN5ider

Archivist’s Candle remained inside a book for 24 hours, a perfect copy
Wondrous item, uncommon (cost 150 gp) of that book appears on the shelves of the Eternal
As an action, you can light this blue candle to Atheneum, a vast library on the Astral Plane. The
activate its magic. While lit, the candle sheds dim bookmark can copy spellbooks, but not magical
light in a 30-foot radius. The candle burns for 2 tomes such as a manual of bodily health.
hours total before being destroyed. You can extin- As an action, you can use a bladed weapon to
guish the candle at any time, deducting the time it sever the bookmark, destroying it to summon from
burned in 10-minute increments from the candle’s the Eternal Atheneum the book it most recently
total burn time. copied. The duplicate book appears in your hands,
While you hold the lit candle, humanoid-shaped and the original book (if it still exists) fades from
shadows flit about the edges of the candle’s light. existence. You must know a book’s title or be
The shadows beckon you forward, granting you familiar with its contents to summon it in this way.
a +2 bonus to Intelligence (Investigation) checks
you make to find information stored in archives, Bookwyrm
libraries, and similar areas. Wondrous item, common (cost 85 gp)
As an action, you can cause the shadows to This crystal figurine resembles a fearsome dragon.
coalesce into a single shadow. The shadow’s As an action, you can speak the figurine’s command
alignment is neutral, and its Strength Drain can’t word and magically link it to a book within 5 feet of
create new shadows. It is friendly to you and your it. The book’s subject must be of interest to the type
companions and takes its turn immediately after of the dragon the figurine depicts. For example,
yours. The shadow obeys your verbal commands. a green dragon bookwyrm might be interested in
Without such commands, it only defends itself. The books about forests or poison, while a silver dragon
shadow disappears after 1 minute or if it drops to 0 might favor the biographies of saints. If you attempt
hit points. It also disappears if it leaves the candle’s to link the figurine to a book it isn’t interested in,
illumination radius or if the candle is extinguished. the linking fails and your action is wasted. The
Once the shadow disappears, the candle loses its GM determines which books interest a figurine,
magic and becomes a mundane item. although all bookwyrms value books about magic
(including spellbooks) and treasure.
Bookmark of Eternity The bookwyrm remains linked to a book until you
Wondrous item, common (cost 50 gp) link it to a second book, at which point the first
While this slim, silver cord is placed between the link ends. Once linked, the bookwyrm emits a thun-
pages of a book, the book ignores the ravages of time, derous roar if it and its book are ever separated by
although it remains vulnerable to damage caused 10 feet or more. The roar lasts for 10 seconds and
by fire, water, and the like. Once the bookmark has can be heard up to 300 feet away. Once the book-
wyrm finishes roaring its link to the book breaks,
although you can use another action to re-link the
Open Game Content | The game rule information in this figurine to the same book or a different one.
article is designated Open Game Content. All other material While you hold the bookwyrm, you can use an
in this article, including maps and illustrations (including action to order the figurine to fly to any point you
illustrations in the public domain), in-character and out-of- can see within 60 feet. Once it reaches its destination,
character narrative and descriptive text, character and place the bookwyrm explodes and is destroyed. Creatures
names, trade dress, “EN Publishing,” “EN World,” “EN5ider,” and objects within 10 feet of an exploding bookwyrm
EN Publishing product and article titles, and take 2d6 damage, or half as much damage with a
EN World and EN Publishing logos, are designated successful DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. The type
Product Identity.

Enchanted Trinkets: Magic in the Stacks  |  EN World EN5ider

of damage dealt is determined by the dragon’s the highest spell level you can cast. You lose this
breath weapon (cold damage for a white dragon additional prepared spell the next time you prepare
bookwyrm, lightning for a bronze, and so on). your spells. Preparing an additional spell in this
way causes the dozing chair to lose its enchantment
Borrower’s Card forever, transforming it into a mundane item.
Wondrous item, uncommon (cost 150 gp)
Libraries issue these enchanted identification Endless Inkwell
cards only to their most trusted patrons. If you tap Wondrous item, common (cost 90 gp)
the card to the cover of a book you have borrowed When a pen is dipped into this Tiny black iron
from the library within the last 10 days, the book pot it always completely refills with ink. Despite this
magically teleports to its original location within item’s name however, the ink inside the well is not
the library, assuming the book and the library are truly endless. You can use an action to upend the
on the same plane of existence. inkwell and pour out magical darkness that fills a
If you use the card’s magic to return a book 10-foot cube originating within 5 feet of you. A crea-
borrowed for longer than 10 days, both you and the ture with darkvision can’t see through the darkness,
book teleport to the library. Upon your arrival, you and nonmagical light can’t illuminate it. The darkness
may be asked to pay a fine for returning the book lasts for 10 minutes or until dismissed by a dispel magic
late. The size of this fine is hefty (at least 100 gp) spell. Once you create this darkness, the inkwell loses
and may increase depending on how long the book its magic and becomes a mundane object.
has been overdue. If you refuse to pay the fine, the
library’s staff revokes your borrower’s card and may Homunculi Bookends
impose additional, even stiffer, penalties. Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement;
cost 100 gp)
Dozing Chair These pewter bookends are shaped to resemble
Wondrous item, common (cost 75 gp) homunculi posed in contemplation. The bookends
If you spend more than 10 minutes reading in come in sets of two, and if one of the bookends is
this comfy chair, you must make a DC 13 Consti- destroyed, the other loses its magic. While you are
tution saving throw. On a failure, you doze off, attuned to the bookends, a creature that attempts to
falling into a natural slumber for the next 8 hours. remove a book from between them must first make
Assuming you do not wake up before this time, a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check against your
upon awakening you gain the benefits of a long rest passive Perception score. On a failure, you receive
and learn the entire contents of the book you were a mental alarm, provided you and the bookends
reading at the time you fell asleep. You can’t use are on the same plane of existence. You also receive
the dozing chair to read a book written in a language this alarm if the bookends are moved, damaged, or
you don’t know or a magical book such as a manual tampered with in any way.
of bodily health. You can voluntarily fail the Consti- When you receive the alarm, you can cause each
tution saving throw, but you automatically pass the of the bookends to animate as a homunculus. The
save if you have already completed a long rest in homunculi telepathically convey whatever they
the past 24 hours. sense to you and follow your mental commands.
If you are a wizard and fall asleep in the chair The bookends remain in homunculus form for
while reading your spellbook, you can change 8 hours or until one of them is reduced to 0 hit
your list of prepared spells upon awakening, as if points, at which point they both revert to inanimate
you had prepared the spells normally. In addition, mundane objects.
you can choose to prepare an additional spell at

Enchanted Trinkets: Magic in the Stacks  |  EN World EN5ider

Pickled Critic you can magically transform the knife into a dagger
Wondrous item, uncommon (cost 100 gp) that deals magical piercing damage. After 1 minute,
This jar contains the shrunken head of a dead the knife reverts to its original form and becomes a
scholar floating in a murky brine. The head’s eyes mundane object.
are open and follow movement as though it were
still alive. Spectacles of Literacy
If you place the jar on top of a book, the head Wondrous item, common (cost 85 gp)
magically reads the contents of that book at a rate While wearing these silver-rimmed spectacles,
10 times faster than an average adult, allowing it you can read any language you can speak, even if
to consume most books within 1 hour. The head you are not otherwise literate in that language.
can only read books written in a language it knows By focusing intently, you can use the spectacles
(usually Common plus any other languages deter- to read a written sample of a language you can’t
mined by the GM). The head cannot read spellbooks speak. You gain a +10 bonus on Intelligence (Insight)
or magical books such as a manual of bodily health. checks made to understand the meaning of the
When the head finishes reading, you can touch written sample. Typically interpreting an unknown
the jar and command the head to telepathically tell language is a DC 20 check, but the GM may use DC
you the book’s title and author (if known), as well 15 for a language closely related to one you know,
as a summary of the book’s contents. You can also DC 25 for a language that is particularly unfamiliar
ask for the head’s opinion of the book. If you do, or ancient, or DC 30 for a lost or dead language. This
roll a die. On an even result, the head considers effect lasts no longer than 1 minute. At the end of
the book a masterpiece. On an odd result, the head this time or once you stop reading, the lenses of the
condemns the book as irredeemable trash. spectacles shatter, rendering them useless.
Finally, you can ask the head about a subject
other than a book it has read. The head knows only Trotter’s Globe
what it knew in life, although it can make Intelli- Wondrous item, uncommon (cost 150 gp)
gence (History) checks with a +10 bonus to recall This globe maps the geography of an entire
facts about most subjects. The head answers your planet, though at the GM’s discretion certain areas
question, though on a failed check the information of the globe may be inaccurate or incomplete. As
it provides is inaccurate or incomplete. The GM an action, you can touch the globe and shrink it to
makes Intelligence (History) checks for the head the size of a marble or expand it to fill a 5-foot cube.
in secret. Once the head has answered 1d4+1 ques- By speaking the globe’s command word, you can
tions (another secret roll by the GM), it closes its cause your current location on the globe to twinkle
eyes and falls silent forever. briefly with magical light. This effect does not func-
tion if you are not currently on the planet the globe
Scrivener’s Knife represents (if you are on a different plane of exis-
Wondrous item, common (cost 50 gp) tence, for example).
This knife features a short, curved blade affixed Finally, you can spin the globe and quickly place
to a mother of pearl handle. If you spend 10 minutes your finger on a random location on the globe’s
sharpening a writing quill with the knife, you can surface. If you do, you learn one interesting fact about
imbue the quill with supernatural power. Creatures that location. The GM determines which location you
who use the quill gain a +2 bonus to ability checks learn about, as well as the nature of the information
made with calligrapher’s supplies and forgery kits. you receive. Once you spin the globe, you can’t acti-
The quill loses this enchantment after 1 hour of use. vate any of the globe’s magical effects again until
The knife can be used as an improvised weapon you visit the location your finger landed on. e
that deals 1d3 piercing damage. As a bonus action,

Enchanted Trinkets: Magic in the Stacks  |  EN World EN5ider