Bookwyrm (3.5e Monster)
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| Bookwyrm | |
|---|---|
| Size/Type: | Tiny Dragon |
| Hit Dice: | 2d12+2 (15 hp) |
| Initiative: | +7 |
| Speed: | 15ft (3 squares), fly 60ft (Good) |
| Armor Class: | 18 (+2 size, +3 Dex, +3 Natural), touch 15, flat-footed 15 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +1/-8 |
| Attack: | Sting +5 melee (1d3-2 plus Poison) |
| Full Attack: | Sting +5 melee (1d3-2 plus Poison) |
| Space/Reach: | 2-1/2 ft./0 ft. (5 ft. with tail) |
| Special Attacks: | Breath Weapon, Poison |
| Special Qualities: | Wordsight, Polyglot, Scan Text, Quilltail, Demonscribe, Living Spellbook |
| Saves: | Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +4 |
| Abilities: | Str 6, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 11 |
| Skills: | Autohypnosis +6, Craft (Calligraphy) +12, Decipher Script +12, Forgery +12, Hide +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +8, Listen +6, Spot +6, Search +8 |
| Feats: | Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse B |
| Environment: | Urban |
| Organization: | Solitary, Pair, or Flock (3+) |
| Challenge Rating: | 1 |
| Treasure: | None |
| Alignment: | Usually Neutral |
| Advancement: | By character class |
| Level Adjustment: | - |
This small dragon is so thin that it almost appears frail, with soft scales that resemble paper covered in half-erased pencil writing. Their batlike wings seem almost oversized for them, with the membrane stretched between the "fingers" very closely resembling yellowed, cracked parchment. Tiny straight claws tip each of its abnormally-long digits, and its tail is tipped with what almost appears to be halfway between a stinger and the tip of a quill pen. Their head is devoid of horns, beyond a small backwards-curving horn on their nose and a five-pointed frill on the back of their head, similarly to a Triceratops.
Thought to be a variant of Pseudodragon related distantly to Eraser, Lexicon and Pendragons, the Bookwyrm is a small dragonkin who hoards literature. They love stories, be they written or spoken, and often trade stories with travelers who pass through their libraries. Among their hoard is usually scrolls and spellbooks, which the Bookwyrm may allow wizards to copy from if the wizard has unique spells to trade in return.
Interestingly, they can often be found in the company of Spelling Faeries.
CombatEdit
Bookwyrms prefer not to fight, but will unleash word-based fury on those who dare defile their precious hoards of knowledge.
Breath Weapon (Su): The Bookwyrm's breath weapon is a gyrating orb of random magic words, requiring a ranged touch attack to land ad having a range of Close (25ft, +5ft/2 HD). On a successful hit, it deals 1d6 Psychic damage, and allows a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 HD + Con modifier). On a failed ave, the target takes full damage, is Confused for 1 round, and is affected as if by the Misspell spell for 1d4 rounds. Like most breath weapons, this breath weapon can only be used once every 1d4+1 rounds.
Wordsight (Su): The Spelling Dragon can automatically sense all written and spoken words within 30ft as if by Blindsense, and can "see" said words mentally when within 15ft; This allows them to read any written or spoken words, in any language when combined with Polyglot.
Scan Text (Su): Like the Spelling Faerie, the Bookwyrm can read any book or work of text, no matter how long, as a full-round action.
Polyglot (Ex): The Bookwyrm can read, write, understand and speak any language, as if they possessed the Polyglot feat.
Living Spellbook (Su): The Bookwyrm's skin can be used as a spellbook, prayerbook and/or grimoire by any spellcaster that uses one, including themselves if they have levels in such a class, or their master when they're a familiar.
Poison (Ex): Initial damage: Confusion for 1 minute. Secondary damage: Affected as if by Misspell for 1d4 minutes; Rolling a 1 on the Intelligence check results in a wild magic effect, as per a Rod of Wonder (Treat the poisoned spellcaster as the wielder of the Rod). While under the effects of the Secondary damage, the target may make another Fortitude save against the poison to ignore its effects for 1 round.
Quilltail (Su): The Bookwyrm's tail stinger can function as a writing utensil at no penalty, using its sticky black poison as ink.
Demonscribe (Su): The Bookwyrm can use arcane scrolls as a Wizard of their HD (Or their master's HD, if a familiar). If the Bookwyrm's master ever gains the Scribe Scroll feat or Scrolltongue class feature, the Bookwyrm benefits from it as well, able to cast spells from scrolls quickly, and craft scrolls of any spell their master has inscribed in their spellbook, in their master's place. This has no effect on the cost of scribing a scroll, but having the familiar do it for you while you're off adventuring has its perks.
Skills: The Bookwyrm has an innate +4 bonus on Craft (Calligraphy), Decipher Script and Forgery checks, and their size grants them a +8 bonus to Hide checks. The Bookwyrm's racial class skills are Appraise, Autohypnosis, Climb, Craft (Calligraphy), Decipher Script, Forgery, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (All, taken individually), Listen, Search, Spot and Swim.
FamiliarEdit
Bookwyrms can be chosen as Familiars, granting their master a +2 bonus on Forgery and Decipher Script checks. Sadly, such a Bookwyrm lacks access to its Poison, Breath Weapon, and Demonscribe ability, as their master's magic drowns out their own innate power.
However, if the master gains the Improved Familiar feat and is at least 7th level, they can choose to remove this issue instead of replacing their Bookwyrm, granting the familiar access to its Poison, Breath Weapon and Demonscribe once more.
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