The Vesper Glass Codex
A meticulous magic-user searches for the vanished observatory where the stars first taught her to read the hidden grammar of magic.
Spellbook · Magic-User · Level 3
The Vesper Glass Codex
A meticulous magic-user searches for the vanished observatory where the stars first taught her to read the hidden grammar of magic.
Ex librisVesper AnselOSR Magic-User
At a glance
Level
3
Magic-User
Spells
9
2 signature
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
9 spells1st level
5- The caster perceives magical auras within range. The spell does not identify what the magic does.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Magical objects, creatures, or effects within range
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- The caster can decipher magical inscriptions, including spells on scrolls and in spellbooks. Once deciphered, an inscription can be read later without this spell.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Magical writing touched or examined by the caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Creates a horizontal, circular disk of force that follows the caster and carries up to 500 pounds. It cannot travel more than 20' from the caster.
- Duration
- 6 turns
- Target
- A disk of force created near the caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Creates light in a 15' radius. If cast on a creature's eyes, a successful save versus spells negates the effect; otherwise the creature is blinded for the duration.
- Duration
- 6 turns
- Target
- An object or creature
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Save versus spells if cast on a creature's eyes
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Creates a protective field around the caster. Evil creatures suffer a -1 penalty to hit the caster, and summoned or enchanted creatures cannot touch the caster. The protection ends if the caster attacks a creature that would be warded by it.
- Duration
- 6 turns
- Target
- Caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 1st-level spell
2nd level
4- Makes one creature or object invisible. The effect ends for a creature if it attacks, but an object remains invisible for the duration.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- One creature or object
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
- Creates illusory duplicates of the caster. Attacks directed at the caster may hit and dispel an image instead.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
- The caster rises or descends vertically at up to 20' per round, carrying a normal amount of weight. The spell does not allow horizontal movement by itself.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is fixed.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
- Magically locks a door, gate, or similar closure so it cannot be opened by ordinary means. A magic-user of at least three levels higher than the caster can open it.
- Duration
- Permanent until dispelled
- Target
- One door, gate, or similar closure
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- A higher-level magic-user can open the lock without dispelling it.
- Source
- Old-School Essentials, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
In the margins
3 notes
WarningA lens is not a window. Never mistake seeing through for being safe.
DiaryThe old observatory's brass door has no keyhole. Knock may answer what the stars refuse.
FormulaCircle the subject first; name the boundary second; speak the command last.
The book itself
The silver ink glimmers faintly when magic is nearby.
A few page edges bear the scorched fingerprints of hurried experiments.
The book is a working grimoire, not a guarantee that its owner can prepare every spell at once.
The caster
OSR Magic-UserVesper Ansel
Studies: Arcane observation and practical spellcraftManner: Soft-spoken, patient, and exacting; she asks questions before offering answers.Focus: A thumb-sized glass lens held in a silver ring, used to inspect diagrams and focus her gaze while casting.Quirk: She measures doorways and windows with her fingers before entering a room.Wants: Find the observatory and discover whether its disappearance was an accident, a deliberate experiment, or a choice made by her old master.Vesper Ansel was once an assistant to a reclusive astronomer whose observatory vanished in a magical storm. She salvaged this codex from the wreckage and has spent years annotating its spells.
The book
A narrow, soot-darkened codex bound in cracked blue leather, with brass corner plates and a glass lens set into its cover. Fine silver diagrams crowd the vellum pages; several are annotated in a small, precise hand.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatPocket-sized codex
ThemeArcane
Written by aMagic-User
Caster level3
SystemOld-School Essentials (OSR)
Plot hooks
1A map hidden beneath the cover points to an abandoned observatory, but its final coordinates appear only under Detect Magic.
2A former apprentice has stolen the codex's missing leaf, which contains the only known copy of Vesper's carefully annotated Mirror Image spell.
3The glass lens in the cover begins showing a star that is absent from the night sky, and something on that star appears to be watching.
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