The Codex of the Unlit Hour
A reclusive illusionist's grimoire holds the means to make darkness a disguise, a weapon, and a witness.
Spellbook · Wizard, School of Illusion · Level 15
The Codex of the Unlit Hour
A reclusive illusionist's grimoire holds the means to make darkness a disguise, a weapon, and a witness.
Ex librisIlyra VennWizard, School of Illusion
At a glance
Level
15
Wizard, School of Illusion
Spells
10
2 cantrips, 3 signature
Spell slots
1st level
2nd level
3rd level
4th level
5th level
6th level
7th level
8th level
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
10 spellsCantrips
2- Create a sound or an image of an object within range. The image fits within a 5-foot cube and makes no sound, light, smell, or other sensory effect.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- S, M (a bit of fleece)
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- A bell-like toll targets one creature you can see. It takes necrotic damage on a failed save and none on a success.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic, or if the target is missing any hit points
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by one die at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
1st level
1- Change your appearance, including clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings. The changes do not withstand physical inspection.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
2nd level
2- Magical darkness spreads from a point within range, filling a 15-foot-radius sphere. Darkvision cannot see through it.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 10 minutes
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, S, M (a bit of bat fur and a drop of pitch or piece of coal)
- Higher levels
- If cast with a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the darkness lasts up to 1 hour without concentration.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- Create a simple melee weapon of woven shadow in your hand. It has the finesse, light, and thrown properties, with a range of 20/60 feet, and vanishes if it leaves your hand.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Melee spell attack
- Damage
- psychic damage on a hit
- Higher levels
- The damage increases by when cast with a 3rd- or 4th-level slot, and by with a 5th-level slot or higher.
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
4th level
1- Flame-like shadows wreath your body, heavily obscuring you to others. Bright light within 10 feet becomes dim light, and dim light becomes darkness. A creature that hits you with an attack within 10 feet takes necrotic damage.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M (a shard of obsidian and a pinch of graveyard soil)
- Damage
- Necrotic damage to creatures that hit you with an attack within 10 feet
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
5th level
1- Become invisible and create an illusory double that appears where you stand. You can move the double and perceive through its senses. Your invisibility ends if you attack or cast a spell.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M (a bit of fleece)
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
6th level
1- Create an illusion of an object, creature, or visible phenomenon in an area no larger than a 30-foot cube. It remains imperceptible until a specified condition occurs, then performs a scripted scene lasting up to 5 minutes.
- Duration
- Until dispelled
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, S, M (a bit of fleece and jade dust worth at least 25 gp)
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
7th level
1- Create an illusory copy of yourself at a location you have seen before. You can see and hear through it, and move and direct it. It can appear to speak and behave as you choose.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- One illusory copy of yourself
- Components
- V, S, M (a bit of fleece)
- Damage
- psychic damage
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Conditions
- Frightened
- Source
- Player's Handbook
8th level
1- Create a large illusory dragon in an unoccupied space you can see. Creatures that see it must make a Wisdom save or become frightened. On your turn, you can move it and use its breath weapon; a creature that succeeds on the initial save is immune to its breath weapon.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- S
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw against the dragon's breath weapon
- Damage
- Psychic damage from the dragon's breath weapon
- Higher levels
- No effect from using a higher-level spell slot.
- Conditions
- Frightened
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
In the margins
3 notes
DiaryA shadow is not empty space. It is a promise that something once stood between you and the light.
WarningNever trust a silent duplicate. If it has no weight, it has no alibi.
DiagramThree overlapping silhouettes, each offset by one finger's breadth. The central line is marked: 'the true edge is the one that moves last.'
The book itself
The book's pages feel cool even beside a fire.
Its silver clasps cast shadows that point toward no visible light source.
A few pages are written in mirrored script, legible only by reflected moonlight.
The caster
Wizard, School of IllusionIlyra Venn
Studies: Illusion with a focus on shadow, concealment, and misdirection.Manner: Courteous, watchful, and difficult to surprise; she gives people room to speak before deciding what they meant.Focus: A slim silver mirror backed with black walnut, used to catch and redirect the edges of shadows.Quirk: She turns a candle slightly before answering any question, as if checking which way her shadow leans.Wants: To find the source of a living shadow that has begun copying her movements a heartbeat too late.Ilyra Venn once worked as a stage illusionist for a royal court, where she learned that the most useful secrets were revealed in the shadows after the performance. She left when a patron demanded she make a rival disappear for real.
The book
A narrow black-leather codex with smoke-darkened silver corners. Its pages are thin gray vellum, and the ink seems to deepen wherever a reader's shadow falls.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatShadow-stained codex
ThemeShadow
Written by aWizard, School of Illusion
Caster level15
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
Plot hooks
1A shadow detached from the codex's former owner has begun appearing in places the owner has never visited, leaving a trail of copied pages.
2A collector seeks the codex because one spell recorded within it can expose a hidden pact, but the relevant page has been torn out and replaced with a blank shadow.
3The codex's mirrored marginalia names a person who has not yet been born, and that person's shadow has started answering questions.
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