The Ink Between Lamps
A watchful young wizard records the ways darkness can conceal, misdirect, and carry a hunted soul beyond reach.
Spellbook · Wizard · Level 3
The Ink Between Lamps
A watchful young wizard records the ways darkness can conceal, misdirect, and carry a hunted soul beyond reach.
Ex librisMara VennWizardly arcane study
At a glance
Level
3
Wizard
Spells
10
3 cantrips, 3 signature
Spell slots
1st level
2nd level
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
10 spellsCantrips
3- Create a sound or an image of an object within range. The image must fit within a 5-foot Cube and has no sensory effects beyond sight.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Investigation check against spell save DC to discern an image
- Higher levels
- Cantrip; no slot scaling.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- Create a spectral hand that can manipulate objects, open an unlocked door or container, stow or retrieve an item, or pour out a vial. It cannot attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Cantrip; no slot scaling.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- A spectral hand reaches toward a creature within reach. On a hit, the target takes necrotic damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within reach
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Melee spell attack
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
1st level
4- Change your appearance, including clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person. The illusion does not withstand physical inspection.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M (a pinch of soot)
- Save or attack
- Investigation check against spell save DC to discern the disguise
- Higher levels
- 1st-level spell; no higher-slot benefit.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- Create a visual illusion of an object, creature, or phenomenon that fits within a 15-foot Cube. It has no sound, smell, or other sensory effects.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 10 minutes
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Investigation check against spell save DC to discern the image
- Higher levels
- 1st-level spell; no higher-slot benefit.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- A willing creature not wearing armor has base AC 13 plus its Dexterity modifier until the spell ends.
- Duration
- 8 hours
- Target
- One willing creature not wearing armor
- Components
- V, S, M (a piece of cured leather)
- Higher levels
- 1st-level spell; no higher-slot benefit.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- Sense the presence of magic within 30 feet. You can take the Magic action to see a faint aura around a visible magical creature or object and learn its school, if any.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 10 minutes
- Target
- Self, sensing within 30 feet
- Components
- V, S, M (a copper piece)
- Higher levels
- 1st-level spell; no higher-slot benefit.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
2nd level
3- Create a 15-foot-radius Sphere of magical darkness. Darkvision cannot see through it, and nonmagical light cannot illuminate it. If the chosen point is on an object you are holding or one that is not being worn or carried, the darkness emanates from the object and moves with it.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 10 minutes
- Target
- A point within range
- Components
- V, S, M (a bat-fur tuft and a drop of pitch)
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 3rd-level or higher spell slot, the radius increases by 60 feet for each slot level above 2.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- A creature you touch has the Invisible condition until the spell ends.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Target
- One creature you touch
- Components
- V, S, M (an eyelash encased in gum arabic)
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 3rd-level or higher spell slot, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2.
- Conditions
- Invisible
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
- Briefly surrounded by silvery mist, teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V
- Higher levels
- 2nd-level spell; no higher-slot benefit.
- Source
- 2024 Player's Handbook
In the margins
3 notes
DiaryA shadow is not empty. It is a place the light has not finished explaining.
FormulaKeep the lantern behind you when tracing the false doorway; the silhouette must fall across the hinge.
WarningDo not mistake magical darkness for ordinary shade. The page will not show you what you cannot see.
The book itself
The page edges feel cool even beside a fire.
Its ink gives off a faint scent of rain on stone.
In a quiet room, the clasp ticks softly like a watch.
The caster
Wizardly arcane studyMara Venn
Studies: Illusion and shadowcraftManner: Soft-spoken and observant, Mara leaves a pause before answering, as if listening for what a room is concealing.Focus: A slim silver stylus that casts a sharp shadow even in diffuse light.Quirk: She turns a page only after tracing the shadow of its corner with one fingertip.Wants: Find the missing witness, whose last known message was scratched into the codex’s back cover.Mara Venn once mapped alleyways and hidden passages for a city watch. After a witness disappeared in a locked room, she turned to illusion and shadow magic to learn how someone could vanish without leaving.
The book
A narrow, black-lacquered codex bound in soft leather, its pages edged in dull silver. The ink seems to drink in lamplight, while faint blue-gray diagrams emerge when the book is held near a flame. It smells of cold ash and cedar, and its clasp is shaped like a shut eye.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatPocket-sized shadow-codex
ThemeShadow
Written by aWizard
Caster level3
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, 2024 rules
Plot hooks
1A page has been torn from the codex, and its missing spell diagram appears in the dreams of people who vanish at dusk.
2The former owner’s name is hidden beneath the book’s clasp. Speaking it aloud makes a distant shadow answer.
3A local magistrate claims the codex was stolen from a sealed archive and has sent quiet agents to retrieve it.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Visual sheet
Turn The Ink Between Lamps into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.