The Tome of Unfinished Business

Tome of Unfinished Business
A Tome of Unfinished Business forms when a spellcaster or a person with innate magical abilities directly interacts with spirits in an area rich with necromantic energy. The mingling of the two magics causes this dangerous book to manifest, binding the ghostly essence of any lost souls nearby into its pages and trapping them within.
Souls bound within the tome are at the mercy of the tome's keeper; a merciful wielder can help the contained souls to resolve what they could not acheive in life, while a cruel master can abuse and consume the souls within, destroying them utterly to empower themself. The tome itself is not truly sentient, but can act of its own accord, reflexively trying to sate its hunger for souls.
The Tome of Unfinished Business appears as a worn journal filled with the scrawlings of those souls trapped within. In some cases, the tome may form using a preexisting book as its basis; in this case, the tome takes on the appearance of the book into which it has suffused its essence.
The Tome of Unfinished business requires attunement. Once attuned, it cannot be unattuned unless by use of a wish spell, divine intervention, or by use of special rituals only known to certain sects of gods of the dead.
Ethereal Sight. The keeper of the tome can see 60 feet into the Ethereal Plane when it is on the Material Plane, and vice versa.
Deathproof. The keeper of the tome is immune from possession effects.

Soul Harvest. When the owner is within 60 feet of a humanoid creature when it dies, or interacts willingly with a ghostly presence, the book will, of its own accord, attempt to draw the unattached soul into its pages. A soul held within the tome cannot be resurrected while it is contained.
As a reaction, the keeper of the tome may attempt to keep the book from claiming a soul by exerting their will upon it, making a DC 15 charisma or wisdom saving throw. If successful, the keeper of the tome is able to keep the creature from being absorbed, but they take 4d10 psychic damage as the book tears at their own soul, unable to sate its hunger. The soul of the creature is then immune from the Soul Harvest effect for 7 days.
If the keeper fails this check, the creature is absorbed into the tome and the keeper takes half of this damage (2d10 psychic) as a result of this battle of wills.
The book has limitations on which souls it is able to harvest. The book cannot harvest the soul of its keeper while the item is attuned-- the two are already linked. The book is also unable to claim a soul that has already been spoken for. If a creature that dies within the book's range is bound to another, for example, under infernal contract, there is no effect. Additionally, a creature wearing a Ring of Mind Shielding or an item with a similar effect is immune to the Soul Harvest ability.

Spirit Catalog. The Tome of Unfinished Business has 144 pages when first created. When first encountered by a character, roll a d100 to determine the number of souls currently residing within. Each page provides some basic details about the creature, as well as an account of its unfinished business on the material plane. The keeper may seek to put the soul to rest by completing this business on the spirit's behalf.
Lay to Rest. A keeper of the tome may perform a ritual to lay a spirit within the book to rest once they have resolved the creature's unfinished business. A creature freed through this ritual is released from the book. Its text vanishes and leaves the page blank and intact. Once freed, the spirit may be resurrected through normal means.
The keeper of the tome may also expend the spiritual energy of the souls residing in the book in several ways. These effects, and their effect on the souls within, are listed below.
Query Soul. You ask the soul a question (no action required) and receive a brief telepathic answer, which you can understand regardless of the language used. The soul knows only what it knew in life, but it must answer you truthfully and to the best of its ability. The answer is no more than a sentence or two and might be cryptic. Each soul within the book may be asked 5 questions before their spiritual energy is exhausted and they are unable to further respond.
Steal Life. You can use a bonus action to drain vigor from the soul and regain 4d10 hit points. This consumes a soul within the book, and its page within bursts into green necromantic flame. The page is irrecoverable and the soul is destroyed.
Borrow Experience. You can use a bonus action to bolster yourself with the soul’s life experience, making your next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw with advantage. If you don’t use this benefit before the start of your next turn, it is lost. Once this ability is used, the page bursts into green necromantic flame. The page is irrecoverable and the soul is destroyed.
Eyes of the Dead. You can use an action to name a place the creature saw in life, which creates an invisible sensor somewhere in that place if it is on the plane of existence you’re currently on. The sensor remains for as long as you concentrate, up to 10 minutes (as if you were concentrating on a spell). You receive visual and auditory information from the sensor as if you were in its space using your senses. Once this spell ends, the page bursts into green necromantic flame, the page is irrecoverable, and the soul is destroyed.
A humanoid that can see the sensor (such as one using see invisibility or truesight) sees a translucent image of the tormented humanoid whose soul has been trapped.

Final Chapter. There are two circumstances under which this item can destroy itself and its keeper in the process. If at any time the Tome attempts its Soul Harvest ability when there are no available blank pages left within its binding, the power of the spirits within overtakes the keeper. Conversely, if all souls in the book are expended, and all pages destroyed, the tome's insatiable hunger overtakes the keeper.
The result of either circumstance is that the book ignites in an explosion of green necromantic flame, consuming the keeper utterly and dealing 5d10 fire damage and 5d10 necrotic damage to any other creatures within 60 feet. In 1d10 days, the book reforms, its former keeper trapped within its first page.

Destroying the Tome of Unfinished Business. To destroy the Tome of Unfinished Business, the unfinished business of the book's initial soulseed, the former weilder bound to its first page, must be fulfilled. Once this has been odne, the book must be placed in a brass and iron vault filled with a mixture of salt, sage, ashes of an archlich, and the ashes of a baelnorn. The box must be sealed with pure wax and buried . After it has been buried, it takes 1d10 days to dessicate into nothingness.

Item type

Book / Document