Some Grimoires

So your player is a spellcaster seeking out new and occult texts to fuel their quest for power. Maybe they even know what they're doing. Have a few I've been working on.

* indicates a custom spell, I might make it later. For common spells, use your system's description.

^ indicates a custom spell I didn't make.

Any benefits assume the character has taken what you think is an appropriate time to study the material.

1. The Wayfinders Arcanum

A worn barkbound tome whose pages are more annotation than text. Penned by the infamous Craxus, its adherence to the long-outdated naturalis principiis earned him scorn in scholarly circles. Educated wizards may know critiques of this work, but it is beneath them. This tome is coveted by hedge-wizards, druids and other outcasts. It has travelled all over the world, and may be found in a strange old man (you read that correctly), a forgotten grotto or a hole in a tree. The naturalis pincipiis reveals that the pomp and scholarly appearance of wizards is simply to cover the truth - wizards don't know why magic works either, magic just happens and wizards attempt to replicate the conditions.

Contains: Sleep, Light, Growth, the summoning ritual for Krentos, Knight-Botanical and Craxus' Earthbend*

2. Die Doppelgängertheorie

If in no-one's possession, it appears as a treasure chest with the dimensions of a book, but once attuned it will take on the appearance of the owner - as if their face was cut off and stretched to bind. Archmage Fechus was the world's premier expert on transmogrification, both transmutation and shapeshifting, and this is said to be his magnum opus. While it is unclear how, this text is an enlightened mimic - it now seeks to consume knowledge rather than adventurers, and will blank out any other text left nearby for too long. Should it not be sated, it will devour its owner's mind. It contains clues to the origins of shapeshifters, as well as complex theory explaining their entirely natural bodily transformations. 

Contains: Alter self, Polymorph and Detect Mimic*

Bonus: give the player the bestiary page, or stat-block on mimics.

3. La Partie sans Fin

A silverbound tome that can only be opened when its cover is polished to a mirror-clear sheen. Written by Party-Prince Leos, it is part journal, but also contains drug-induced visions, pornographic illusions, extensive poetry by the author lavishing in his own magnificent traits, recipes and accounts on the princes and princesses he seduced - many of them elvish, all woven together by Leos' infectious narcissism. It is said that in his final party, the youthful prince invited the mightiest warriors, sagest magicians, and all the beautiful people of the realm for a brilliantly scandalous affair. After a week of partying, he led them to Tomb of the Necrodancer where they would all perish (and where this tome can be found). Since, groups of adventurers have been known as "a party". The self-delusion is so potent that it produces magical affect. It is nigh impossible to read this entirely without becoming self-indulgent.

Contains: Charm, Awaken^, Exfoliate (re-named Sanitize)^, Bubblegum Fluff^. See Handsome Wizard (a fun GLOG class!)

Bonus: The player can refer to this to identify a recreational drug. May know intimate details on an elven prince or princess seduced by Leos.

4. Scraps of the Liberating Flame

Long ago, the Pyromancer Aevis sought to share her spark with the frost-numbed commonfolk of the Hinterlands. Invigorating spirit and body, her teachings quickly spread. Her revolution burned brightly, but was quickly extinguished. Once the people had cast off their lords' yoke, they used the fire within to destroy each other. Still surviving are some of the scraps spread across the land, that when burned with one's spark, stoke the spark and impart secret knowledge. Absorbing such knowledge inspires a revolutionary fervour. These are few and far between, and are likely under guard deep within fortress-compounds. Many pyromancers search for them, and will fight to the death for their power.

Scrap of the Everkindling

We must persist.

A blackened scrap that has been burned many times, but eventually reassembles. 

You become incredibly stubborn, if not already. Your flames may persist when they would otherwise be extinguished for as long as you can hold your breath. Torches will burn in a vacuum, fireballs will blaze underwater.

Scrap of the Devourer

If we should be driven from our homes, they cannot house our oppressors.

A scrap featuring demonic symbols and hate-filled language.

You have a deep hatred for your enemies, and will no longer grant them mercy even if it would benefit you. Your flame burns dark, and can burn through even the unflammable. Clerics probably hate you.

Scrap of the Swift

The unmoving is already dead.

A scrap that flows about as if it were gliding on the wind.

You can no longer bear to stay in one place for too long, you have to keep moving. You permanently have +10 to movement speed, and can expend a torch-sized flame to escape binding, grappling etc.

(Designed with the Pyromancer in mind, but I'm you sure could hack it into anything that you like.)