@samwise (Sam Weiss) on the CF Discord has been posting some details of times and books worth reposting here. Much of it based on references in lore but with his own TNC heresy added.
The Magical Properties of Gemstones by Tenser
150 gp
3 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana
+1 Arcana involving gems.
The Magical Properties of Herbs and Flowers by Tenser
150 gp
3 days
Aerdian (Common)
Craft (alchemy)
+1 Craft (alchemy) involving herbs and flowers.
The Metaphysics of Mathematics by Nystul
150 gp
3 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana, Spellcraft
+1 Arcana and Spellcraft identifying and learning spells.
Book of Erotic Poetry
10 gp
2 days
Keoish
Bluff, Diplomacy
Nothing.
Local Naval Almanac
10 gp
2 days
Keoish
Survival, Profession (sailor)
+1 Survival and Profession (sailor) for navigating within 100 miles of Saltmarsh.
Principles of Navigation by Da Korma
10 gp (100 gp)
2 days
Keoish
Survival, Profession (sailor)
(+1 Survival and Profession (sailor) for navigating.)
Legal Distinctions in Letters of Marque by Tazaar
10 gp (50 gp)
2 days
Keoish
Diplomacy
(+1 Diplomacy to acquire a letter of marque and avoid hanging for piracy.)
Book of Mesmerism
10 gp (100 gp)
3 days
Old Oeridian
Autohypnosis (Diplomacy)
+1 Autohypnosis to memorize.
(You may use the Hypnotism skill unlock from PF Occult Adventures.)
Ye Secret of Ye Philosopher’s Stone
500 gp
10 days
Old Oeridian (80%), Ancient Suloise (20%)
Craft (alchemy), Arcana (alchemy & artifice)
+2 Craft (alchemy) and Arcana involving alchemy.
Power Politics by Abel Mackie
The Politics of Power by Lorenzo Domici
The Triumph of Diplomacy by Tyrons Scroot
5 gp, 5 gp, 5 gp (50/50/50 gp)
2/2/2 days
Keoish
Diplomacy, Sense Motive
+1 Diplomacy and Sense Motive when dealing with politics.
The Occult Properties of Gemstones
150 gp
3 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana
+1 Arcana when dealing with gems.
A Lizard Language and Common Grammar
10 gp (100 gp)
180 days
Keoish
Decipher Script
Gain Draconic as a bonus language.
The Nature of the Sahuagin by Professor Gax
15 gp
3 days
Keoish
Arcana, Naturas
+2 to identify the abilities of sahuagin.
A Rigorous and Complete Treatise on the Theoretical Applications of De-salinated Waters in the Production of Potions
600 gp
14 days
Old Oeridian
Alchemy, Arcana
+2 Alchemy and Arcana in producing potions.
Curative Magic by Otto
200 gp
3 days plus 1 day per spell
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana, Spellcraft
+1 Arcana and Spellcraft to learn or identify healing spells. Contains 3-5 arcane (most likely bard) healing spells.
The Beasts of Humanity by Balar
100 gp
5 days
Old Oeridian
Arcana, Societas (history)
+1 Societas to identify humans warped by curses and noble families.
The Book of Stone
50 gp
1 day
Aerdian (Common)
Societas (history)
+1 Societas to identify tombs in the Kron Hills.
Specifically includes the internment of Halmadar the Cruel.
The Chronicle of Secret Times by Uhas of Neheli
5,000 gp (50,000 gp or more in the Sheldomar where it is illegal)
14 days
Suloise
Arcana, Societas
+4 on Societas checks regarding Keoland before 300 CY. Contains the story of the destruction of Fleeth, the Malhel and Valadis, and information on the Hand and Eye of Vecna.
The book is banned by the Silent Ones of Keoland who will take extreme measures to destroy it. The copy in the library of the Wizard’s Guild of Greyhawk is possibly the only publicly known copy.
The Dragon-Scale Tome by Timonas of Jalpa
1,000 gp
4 days
Old Oeridian
Arcana, Mysteria, Societas
+4 on Arcana and Mysteria to identify artifacts.
Specifically includes information on the Hand and Eye describing the Insurrection of the Yaheetes, Vecna the Second of Tyrus, the Gnomelord of Blemu, the Paladin-King of Miro, and Halmadar the Cruel. Nineteen other artifacts are covered.
These are "conversions" of books mentioned in published adventures. The adventures are:
Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
Danger at Dunwater
Vecna Lives!
The format I am using is similar to that used in Call of Cthulu, though heavily modified to fit my 3.5/PF1 house rules. Conversion to standard anything post-3 should be fairly easy.
The extended background for these is that while running some PF AP adventures that used the Research "mini-game" rules that PF developed, I found the system too much effort for the return, so I fiddled with several options before settling on this.
I also wanted to make the books more flavorful and relevant rather than the majority of them being little more than titles and gp values to dump for extra loot.
The bonuses I assigned are based on equivalents in the 3E rules. A masterwork tool is generally 50 gp and gives a +2 equipment bonus. The libraries in the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook give a +2 circumstance bonus on every use of a skill for 1,000 gp, going up to +6 for 20K gp of books. A competence bonus magic item has a cost of 100 gp x the square of the bonus. (Thus, +5 costs 2,500 gp, +1 would cost 100 gp.) Obviously, a lot of tweaking of that is possible, though I tried to stick with the listed prices.
For the layout and how it works:
Name of Book
Price of Book
Time to Read
Language Written In (If a PC does not read and write the language, magic or decipher script or equivalent be used but should extend the time to read the books.)
Skills to Read the Book (Each skill a PC has the equivalent of 5 ranks in reduces the time to read by 1 day.)
Bonuses (These are circumstance bonuses gained after reading the book. These should be capped at +6. If desired, reference time should be imposed, generally 1d4+1 rounds/hours/days depending on the difficulty of the related skill check.)
Extra Bonuses (Books can give additional bonuses such as the optional bonus of the book on mesmerism or the language learned by the lizardman grammar.)
Fluff (Additional information on the contents of the books. The books in VL! have a lot of additional descriptive information that I did not include.)
I have done a bunch of books from APs that I have not posted and might do some more old Greyhawk adventures in the future.
Has anyone developed more about Thalac Jiwo, for example? Or Professor Gax, who authored The Nature of the Sahuaghin.
IMC, Tragedy of the Suloise Imperium, or A True History of the Ancient Suel Empire and of its Destruction by the Vile Bakluni Mage-Priests and their Rain of Colorless Fire, is an epic poem, in two parts, that the Scarlet Brotherhood caused to be published as propaganda to stimulate romanticism and valorization of the ancient Suel Imperium.
I've yet to create / fix an author for it but think that it was first introduced in Gradsul and Greyhawk City around 573 CY and quickly became quite popular among the literate classes. (IMC, there are no printing presses, but temples of Delleb and Lydia use the 1e copy spell so that a larger number of books exist than might otherwise.)
TAB
Exile from Aerdy by Sonderrako of Rauxes
100 gp
4 days
Old Oeridian
Naturas
+1 Naturas related to Polaria
Two Years’ Record of the Hidden Sea
50 gp
6 days
Aerdian (Common)
Naturas
+1 Naturas related to Polaria
History of the Bards
500 gp
10 days
Aerdian (Common)
Societas
+2 Societas related to the history of the City of Greyhawk
An Inspection of the Nature of Oerth by Jawan Sumbar
200 gp
4 days
Aerdian (Common)
Naturas
+2 Naturas related to the Flanaess
Introductory Marine Chronography by Mathilde Dessenter
100 gp
6 days
Aerdian (80%), Baklunish (20%)
Naturas
+1 Naturas related to navigation
SB
The Journal of Kevelli Mauk
25,000 gp
12 days
Suloise
Societas
+4 Societas related to the early history of the Scarlet Brotherhood
The Scarlet Brotherhood will take extreme measures to recover any copy of this book and eliminate any outsider who has come into contact with the book.
Tome of the Scarlet Sign
10,000 gp
30 days
Suloise
Societas
+4 Societas checks related to the Scarlet Brotherhood
The Scarlet Brotherhood will take extreme steps to recover any copy of this book and eliminate any outsider who has come in contact with the book.
WGA4
The Official History by Uhas of Neheli
500 gp (100 gp Keoish translation)
8 days
Suloise (Keoish)
Societas
+2 Societas checks related to Keoish history until 300 CY
A 1-4
The Illumination of the Rose
10 gp
1 day
Keoish
Societas
None (simple book of art)
Ex2
Murlynd’s Early Adventures and Subsequent Ventures by Murlynd
500 gp
1 day
Aerdian (Common)
Societas
+1 Societas regarding Murlynd
SPECIAL: 10,000 xp (AD&D), stone of luck for eight days
N1
A Most Worshipful Guide to Benign Merikka
500 gp
10 days
Keoish
Mysteria, Societas
+2 Mysteria and Societas related to Merikka
The copy in the adventure is damaged and only worth 50 gp.
T1-4
Legal Affairs in Veluna, 213 to 312 CY
500 gp
10 days
Old Oeridian
Societas
+1 Societas related to law in Veluna
The copy in the adventure is used as the hiding place for several scrolls.
UK2
The Art of Coarse Angling
75 gp
7 days
Keoish
Naturas, Survival
+1 Naturas related to freshwater fish, +2 Survival to get along in the wild if you can fish
A very good book on the subject.
Cenozoic Glacial Geology
50 gp
10 days
Keoish
Naturas
+1 Naturas related to utterly irrelevant geology
The copy in the adventure has a deliberate misspelling that provides a clue for the adventure.
Woebluf
100 gp
3 days
Old Oeridian
Societas
+1 Societas related to pre-Migrations Oeridian culture
The copy in the adventure is a cheap and damaged knockoff written in Keoish worth 5 gp and providing no bonuses.
Philosophy by Quern
400 gp
24 days
Suloise
Societas
+1 Societas related to philosophy
History of the Van Arthog Family
60 gp
2 days
Old Oeridian
Societas
+1 Societas related to the Van Arthog family
Very relevant to the adventure.
Meenlock Books
10,000 gp
30 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana, Mysteria, Naturas, Societas
Ability to make a meenlock (?)
Guide to transforming a creature into a meenlock.
More Meenlock Books
5,000 gp
30 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana, Mysteria, Naturas, Societas
Ability to mutate your meenlock creations (?)
Log of experiments in warping creatures.
Social Graces Among Gnomes
25 gp
50 days
Aerdian (Common)
Societas
+1 Diplomacy with gnomes
Structural Mathematics
10 gp
4 days
Aerdian (Common)
Craft
+1 Craft related to building things
Library
25-50,000 gp
1-3 years
Aerdian (Common)
Naturas, Societas
+6 Naturas and Societas
Note: This is a massive library. Recovering it from the dungeon will be a profound task.
Blueprints to the fortifications of the City of Greyhawk
10-100,000 gp
30 days
Aerdian (Common)
Craft
+4 to expand, repair, or destroy the defenses of the City of Greyhawk, +4 Stealth to get around the defenses
Note: These are extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. Anyone who knows of them will try to acquire them and eliminate whoever had them.
Summoning Logs
10-50,000 gp
30 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana, Mysteria
+4 Arcana and Mysteria to research spells to summon and bind outsiders and elementals, +2 DC to spells for summoning and binding outsiders and elementals
Alchemy and Binding Library
2,000 gp (200,000 gp)
200 days
Aerdian (Common)
Arcana, Mysteria
+4 DC to spells for binding outsiders and elementals.
This library contains information on combining alchemy with runes in binding techniques. The information is extremely difficult and powerful.
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