Tome of the Dragon

"Power has its own beauty. Perhaps the most beautiful combination of grace and might among the mortal creatures of Toril is a dragon."

— Sammaster the Mad, Tome of the Dragon

The Tome of the Dragon was written by Sammaster and completed in 905 DR. It contained all of Sammaster's theories, experiments, and conclusions in his efforts to turn dragons into dracoliches and was a basis for the Cult of the Dragon.
The book measures 14 in by 10 in and is 6 in deep. It has a clasp in the form of a fireball ( part of both the symbol for the Cult of the Dragon and Garyx). Its cover radiates magic and a dispel magic spell is needed to safely handle it for a limited time with bare hands.

Defenses

Touching the book without proper precautions would lead to a dragon breath effect (DC 15) that emanated from it, but would never damage the book itself (ROLL 1d10 one Draconic Ancestry table for type).

One of the pages also contained an invisible enchantment that, when activated, would cause damage to the wielder, but would imbue him or her with the ability to use a dragon breath effect, and another page of this type that allowed the wielder to use teleport without error to a random location, leaving the book behind.

Copies

Many copies of the original book were made by Cult of the Dragon members. The original book is almost indestructible (rumored by THE HARPERS to be damaged only by silver fire), but the same did not hold true for copies which contained no enchantments. There were also known to be many corrupt copies in existence.

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Contents

The first quarter of the book is filled with fairy tales and other stories relating to dragons. The middle half is a manifesto written in an unknown language The final quarter of the book is written in some strange magical cypher. Once solved it transforms into diagrams and and spells with components listed for creating a dracolich.

"Wah-ree for the World"

After thousands of years of war between the giants and the dragons, the god of giants, Annam All-Father, made a truce with the god Garyx by agreeing with the dragon god to settle the war with a game of wah-ree. So skilled were the two opponents, that game ended in a stalemate, and the war came to an end.

Fairy Tales

World History

Manifesto

"Benevolence is the best mask for manipulation. Those who have power are sluggards and wastrels if they use it not, but are wisest if they learn many ways to achieve their ends. There is a time for the ravening assault and a time for deft misdirection. And then there are grimmer occasions when one lacks even the time to choose how to proceed. These are best kept rare."

Translations from Chronicles of years to come

"And naught will be left save shattered thrones with no rulers. But the dead dragons shall rule the world entire... and the dominion of the dead dragons shall endure until the end of all things."

Mechanics & Inner Workings

The words in the book were written in a magical cipher that could not be understood even with comprehend languages, but this cipher was known by wizards in the Cult of the Dragon.

Significance

Cultural

Rarity

Unique artifact, but with copies that are rare.

Weight

33lbs

Dimensions

14" x 10" x 6"

Base Price

150gp for a copy in poor condition