The Book of Eibon

The Book of Eibon

Wondrous Item

Legendary Requires Attunement

Random Properties. The Book of Eibon has the following random properties:

• 2 minor beneficial properties.
• 1 major beneficial property.
• 2 minor detrimental properties.
• 2 major detrimental properties.

Adjusted Ability Scores. After you spend the requisite amount of time reading and studying the book, either your Intelligence or Wisdom is increased by 2 permanently, to a maximum of 24. When one is chosen, the other is reduced by 2 to a minimum of 3. The book can't adjust your ability scores again.
Mark of Insanity. After you spend the requisite amount of time reading and studying the book, you acquire a form of Insanity (Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft can be used for this). At the very least it can be treated as the following: all Wisdom or Intelligence rolls (your choice) are made with disadvantage from now on. Also, you never experience the effects of Fear from any source, and you actually get a bonus +2 to all rolls on the stat that wasn't lowered.
Attract Evil Cultists & Undead. While you are attuned to the book you have a 25% chance of attracting 2 1d4 cultists and/or undead totalling no more than 3 CP. They will do anything requested of them within reason, and if they are cultists they will regularly request the use of the book, at least by yourself in their presence.
Unearthly Spells. You can study the book for references to ritual magic of the Evocation, Divination, Conjuration, and Necromancy schools. You get double the proficiency bonus to cast these spells.
Dark & Ancient Arts. While carrying the Book of Eibon & attuned to it, you can speak, read, and write in Dark Speech. This can be read or understood, by any who knows the following languages: Infernal, Abyssal, Deep Speech, Celestial, Primordial.
Destroying the Book. If a Celestial tears the book in two, the book is destroyed for up to 100 years {roll:1d100], after which it reforms somewhere on Earth, usually somewhere associated with one of the dreaded Gates to Hell. A creature attuned to the book for 100 years can unearth a phrase hidden in the original text that, when translated to Celestial and spoken aloud, destroys both the speaker and the book in a blinding flash of radiance. However, as long as the seven Gates of Hell remain open, the book reforms 1d10*100 years later. If all seven Gates to Hell are closed permanently then the book turns to dust, never to be seen again.

The Book of Eibon is an ancient text, reported to have been wrote by the wizard called Eibon. An inheritor of a large fortune that lived in Constantinople, Eibon had travelled far & wide around the Mediterranean and the countries bordering it. By doing so, he studied magic all its forms, taking extensive notes on the rituals carried out by many a magic user.

Sometime in the Arabic Empty Quarter, he found a set of ritual spells that he was interested in, he travelled to Luxor in Egypt to compare a set of funerary texts with them. By doing so, Eibon had found a group of ancient rituals that could revive the dead, summon demons & devils, and act as a means to open up the way to the underworlds.

Unfortunately others had taken an interest in his works. These were significantly older than most living gods, and seen the chance to use Eibon as a conduit for their will. These 'Elder Gods' added their own ritual spells to the mix through Eibon, providing information to where the legendary Gates to Hell were situated in the world. Although unknown both to him, and the world at large these gods planned on opening these portals & keep them opened permanently. This would allow them to eventually breech the gates and harvest the hells that were behind it. In time the gods who commanded these hells made pacts with these Elder Gods, in which a portion of their power could be leeched off to the Elder Gods themselves for a measure of security. This allowed them to survive, and gain more power in the long run for themselves too.

Again, these gods added more to Eibon's spell range, and infect the lands around the seven Gates to Hell when the book was near one of the gates. All the while Eibon was being driven insane with the amount of knowledge that was pouring through him. He knew now many secrets of the underworlds along with the nature of both Elder God & Hell's keepers. No such knowledge should be known by mortals, and eventually Eibon travelled to Rome to finish his book and ask the Roman Emperor for help personally. The emperor was terrified of what Eibon spoke about and had him thrown out of Rome. From there he was forced north, and he made his way in the direction of Ravenna. Upon travelling near the edge of a mountain he fell sick, and tried to use one of the spells in his book to heal himself. Unfortunately the spell worked only too well, and he would never fall ill again, as his flesh rotted & sloughed of his bones corrupting the local soil further. It turned out the region was cursed by having a Gate of Hell close by and now it is rumoured the wood covered book of loose parchment papers are found somewhere in the same region.

Rumours abound that it has been copied down & spread throughout some circles of black magic users.

Cost: 5000000gp
Weight: 2 lb