The Astral Margins of Vesper Quill
A careful young magician's annotated grimoire holds the means to find a vanished observatory, and perhaps the star that fell through its roof.
Spellbook · Magic-User · Level 3
The Astral Margins of Vesper Quill
A careful young magician's annotated grimoire holds the means to find a vanished observatory, and perhaps the star that fell through its roof.
Ex librisVesper QuillOSRIC Magic-User
At a glance
Level
3
Magic-User
Spells
10
2 signature
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
10 spells1st level
6- Creates magical missiles that strike the chosen target, each dealing damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One or more visible creatures, with missiles assigned among targets
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- No attack roll; missiles strike unerringly if the target is in range and visible.
- Damage
- per missile
- Higher levels
- At 3rd level, creates two missiles; one additional missile for every two caster levels above 1st.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Detects magical radiations in the direction the caster faces; intervening material can block the effect.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Magical auras within a 60-foot path
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No scaling.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Allows the caster to read magical inscriptions that would otherwise be unintelligible.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Magical writing touched or examined by the caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No scaling.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Creates an invisible barrier before the caster that improves protection against attacks and blocks magic missile attacks.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No scaling.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Puts eligible creatures in a small area into magical slumber; undead and certain other creatures are unaffected.
- Duration
- turns
- Target
- Creatures in a 15-foot-radius area
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- No saving throw for affected creatures.
- Higher levels
- Affects Hit Dice of creatures; roll to determine the total.
- Conditions
- Sleep
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 1st-level spell
- Creates an invisible, mindless force that performs simple tasks within the spell's limits.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- One summoned unseen servant
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No scaling.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 1st-level spell
2nd level
4- Allows the caster to see invisible creatures and objects within range.
- Duration
- 2 turns
- Target
- Invisible creatures and objects within range
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Range is 10 yards per caster level.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
- Makes one creature or object invisible; the spell ends for a creature that attacks.
- Duration
- 1 turn per caster level
- Target
- One creature or object
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Duration is 1 turn per caster level.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
- Creates illusory duplicates of the caster that make it difficult for attackers to identify the real caster.
- Duration
- 1 round per caster level
- Target
- Caster
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Creates images plus one image per three caster levels; images last 1 round per caster level.
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
- Fills an area with thick, sticky webs that entangle and impede creatures; the webs are flammable.
- Duration
- 2 turns per caster level
- Target
- A 10-foot cube per caster level
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Creatures caught in the webs may save versus breath weapon to avoid becoming trapped.
- Higher levels
- Range and duration are based on caster level.
- Conditions
- Restrained
- Source
- OSRIC, Magic-User 2nd-level spell
In the margins
4 notes
WarningNever mistake the reflected star for the true one. The reflected one answers faster.
DiagramDiagram of a brass lens, three chalk marks, and a little figure labeled 'assistant, not sacrifice.'
DiaryI heard the observatory bell again. It rang once, though the tower is gone.
FormulaA spell is a question asked of the world in a voice it cannot ignore.
The book itself
The silver ink catches even the faintest light.
A few pages smell of rain on hot stone.
The brass clasp grows warm when opened beneath a night sky.
The caster
OSRIC Magic-UserVesper Quill
Studies: Celestial correspondences and practical arcane wardsManner: Soft-spoken, exacting, and polite even when frightened; treats every unexplained event as a problem that can be measured.Focus: A brass astrolabe fitted with a cracked lens, used to sight angles and trace sigils.Quirk: Counts doorways and windows aloud before entering a new room.Wants: Find the vanished observatory and discover what answered the mentor's final summons.Vesper studied under an itinerant astrologer and learned to copy spells in the margins of star charts. Their mentor disappeared while investigating a fallen star.
The book
A narrow, brass-cornered codex bound in midnight-blue leather. Its pages are ruled with fine silver lines that shift like star paths when viewed by candlelight. A brass clasp bears a tiny, unblinking eye.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatStar-chart codex
ThemeArcane
Written by aMagic-User
Caster level3
SystemOSRIC
Plot hooks
1The brass clasp warms whenever the party nears a ruined observatory said to have vanished during a meteor shower.
2A rival wizard claims Vesper stole the codex from their master, but the book's marginalia suggest both magicians studied under the same missing astronomer.
3One star in the book's silver diagrams has appeared in the actual night sky, and it is moving toward the party.
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