Spell book

Version 0.10: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Spell books contain spells that can be memorised, if you have sufficient skills in Spellcasting and the school to which the spell belongs. They are very important, as they are the method by which spellcasters gain new spells. Spell books can be found on the Dungeon floor, bought from shops, given as gifts by certain gods, or generated with a scroll of acquirement.

Spell Book Identification and Use

Most of the time, reading a spell book is enough to identify it, revealing the spells it contains. Once a spell book is identified, you can attempt to memorize any spells it contains, provided you have free spell levels and high enough magical skills to handle the spell in question.

However, a few powerful spell books require you to have certain magical skills, or they will be "beyond your level of understanding," preventing you from identifying them:

• The Book of Annihilations requires either level 6 in Spellcasting and level 10 in Conjurations, or to be a follower of Vehumet.
• The Grand Grimoire requires either level 6 in Spellcasting and level 10 in Summonings, or to be a follower of Vehumet.
• The Necronomicon requires either level 6 in Spellcasting and level 10 in Necromancy, or to be a follower of Kikubaaqudgha.

For followers of Trog, identifying a spell book will decrease the piety gained from burning it.

Spell Book Destruction

Advanced magic users often need to change their spellsets. Scrolls of amnesia allow them to forget any spell and recoup the spell levels to learn a different spell. However, these scrolls are rather rare. Conveniently, spellbooks can also be used to this effect, however you are limited to forgetting one spell contained therein, and the process destroys the spellbook itself. (Followers of Sif Muna never need to do this because they are granted this ability after sufficient piety.)

Strategy

Spell books are not exactly rare, but there are a great many of them. They're also rather expensive in shops. Thus, obtaining a specific spell book that you want can be a hassle, but you can alleviate this by worshiping the right god.

Sif Muna and Kikubaaqudgha both grant spell books as gifts, weighted towards spells/books you don't already have. Sif Muna is the most generous in this regard: since the types of spellbooks granted depend on magical skills, you can influence them by training specific skills, and thus raise your probability of getting the most useful spells for your playstyle. Followers of Sif Muna will eventually have access to every spell in the game this way. Meanwhile, Kiku only grants Necromancy-related books (including the Necronomicon at the final piety level), making him in some ways better suited for Necromancers than other spellcasters; on the other hand, he grants two randart books as you gain piety, containing level 1 to 3 necromancy spells at the 1* piety level and level 4-6 necromancy spells at the 3* piety level, so he's a good choice for training up Necromancy from scratch. It is also worth noting that Kiku starts granting his books much sooner than Sif Muna.

Note that you keep your gift books even if you abandon your god. Some advanced players take advantage of this, serving Kiku until they get the Necronomicon (and can survive Kiku's divine retribution), then leaving Kiku for another god who offers further powers.

Followers of Trog, who shun spellcasting, can burn any visible spell book as an ability. This not only scores piety, but the flame cloud generated will remain for several turns afterward, potentially blocking or damaging monsters (especially if they were standing on the book when you detonate it). Note that no monsters avoid spell books on the floor or see them as a hazard at all, making it easy for you to use your books like land mines.

List of spells by book

Main article: List of spells by book

The following are all standard spellbooks in Crawl. If you find any book other than the ones listed below (often with exotic or ridiculous names), it is a randomly generated artefact spellbook. Randart spellbooks have no set contents but may often contain just the spell you were looking for.
Please do not add randart spell books to this list.

• Book of Air: Shock, Swiftness, Repel Missiles, Flight, Static Discharge, Lightning Bolt

• Book of Alchemy: Lethal Infusion, Sublimation of Blood, Condensation Shield, Alistair's Intoxication, Petrify, Ignite Poison

• Book of Annihilations: Poison Arrow, Orb of Destruction, Chain Lightning, Lehudib's Crystal Spear, Ice Storm, Fire Storm

• Book of Beasts: Summon Butterflies, Sticks to Snakes, Call Canine Familiar, Ice Form, Summon Ice Beast, Summon Hydra

• Book of Burglary: Apportation, Swiftness, Passwall, Passage of Golubria, Lee's Rapid Deconstruction, Darkness

• Book of Callings: Summon Small Mammals, Call Imp, Call Canine Familiar, Summon Scorpions, Summon Ice Beast

• Book of Cantrips: Confusing Touch, Animate Skeleton, Summon Small Mammals, Apportation

• Book of Changes: Beastly Appendage, Sticks to Snakes, Spider Form, Ice Form, Blade Hands

• Book of Clouds: Mephitic Cloud, Conjure Flame, Poisonous Cloud, Freezing Cloud, Ring of Flames

• Book of Conjurations: Magic Dart, Force Lance, Dazzling Spray, Iskenderun's Mystic Blast, Iskenderun's Battlesphere, Fulminant Prism

• Book of Control: Control Teleport, Control Undead, Enslavement, Mass Confusion, Metabolic Englaciation

• Book of Death: Corpse Rot, Sublimation of Blood, Agony, Dispel Undead, Excruciating Wounds, Bolt of Draining

• Book of Debilitation: Corona, Slow, Inner Flame, Enslavement, Cause Fear, Leda's Liquefaction

• Book of Dreams: Ensorcelled Hibernation, Flight, Phase Shift, Shadow Creatures, Mass Confusion, Darkness

• Book of Earth: Dig, Leda's Liquefaction, Bolt of Magma, Statue Form, Iron Shot, Shatter

• Book of Enchantments: Cause Fear, Silence, Tukima's Dance, Deflect Missiles, Haste

• Book of Envenomations: Spider Form, Poison Weapon, Summon Scorpions, Olgreb's Toxic Radiance, Poisonous Cloud

• Book of Fire: Fire Brand, Ignite Poison, Fireball, Bolt of Fire, Delayed Fireball, Ring of Flames, Dragon Form

• Book of Flames: Flame Tongue, Throw Flame, Conjure Flame, Inner Flame, Sticky Flame, Fireball

• Book of Frost: Freeze, Throw Frost, Ozocubu's Armour, Throw Icicle, Summon Ice Beast, Condensation Shield

• Book of Geomancy: Sandblast, Stoneskin, Passwall, Stone Arrow, Petrify, Lee's Rapid Deconstruction

• Book of Hinderance: Confusing Touch, Slow, Confuse, Petrify, Leda's Liquefaction, Metabolic Englaciation

• Book of Ice: Freezing Aura, Ensorcelled Hibernation, Ozocubu's Refrigeration, Bolt of Cold, Freezing Cloud, Metabolic Englaciation, Simulacrum

• Book of Maledictions: Corona, Sure Blade, Ensorcelled Hibernation, Confuse, Enslavement, Invisibility

• Book of Minor Magic: Magic Dart, Blink, Call Imp, Repel Missiles, Slow, Conjure Flame, Mephitic Cloud

• Book of Necromancy: Pain, Animate Skeleton, Lethal Infusion, Vampiric Draining, Regeneration, Animate Dead, Control Undead

• Book of Party Tricks: Summon Butterflies, Apportation, Blink, Alistair's Intoxication, Tukima's Dance

• Book of Power: Iskenderun's Mystic Blast, Venom Bolt, Bolt of Magma, Poisonous Cloud, Iron Shot, Orb of Destruction

• Book of Spatial Translocations: Apportation, Portal Projectile, Blink, Shroud of Golubria, Teleport Other, Passage of Golubria

• Book of Summonings: Abjuration, Recall, Summon Elemental, Shadow Creatures, Summon Demon, Summon Ugly Thing

• Book of Transfigurations: Stoneskin, Polymorph, Ice Form, Statue Form, Dragon Form

• Book of Unlife: Recall, Animate Dead, Control Undead, Twisted Resurrection, Death Channel, Simulacrum

• Book of War Chants: Fire Brand, Freezing Aura, Shroud of Golubria, Repel Missiles, Poison Weapon, Regeneration

• Book of Wizardry: Summon Elemental, Agony, Lightning Bolt, Fireball, Haste, Invisibility

• Book of the Dragon: Flight, Cause Fear, Bolt of Fire, Dragon Form, Summon Dragon

• Book of the Sky: Flight, Airstrike, Silence, Deflect Missiles, Conjure Ball Lightning, Tornado

• Book of the Tempests: Static Discharge, Lightning Bolt, Fireball, Tornado, Shatter

• Book of the Warp: Recall, Passage of Golubria, Phase Shift, Warp Weapon, Dispersal, Controlled Blink, Disjunction

• Grand Grimoire: Demonic Horde, Mass Abjuration, Haunt, Summon Greater Demon, Malign Gateway, Summon Horrible Things

• Necronomicon (Kikubaaqudgha Special): Borgnjor's Revivification, Haunt, Death's Door, Necromutation

• Young Poisoner's Handbook: Sting, Cure Poison, Mephitic Cloud, Olgreb's Toxic Radiance, Venom Bolt

History

In 0.12, Vehumet no longer gifts spellbooks. Instead, he gifts spells directly to the player.

Starting in 0.10, Spellcasting was trainable without first having to "exercise" it to skill level 1 via reading spells.

These spellbooks were removed/made obsolete, as of 0.9:

• Book of Tukima: Sure Blade, Tukima's Vorpal Blade, Tukima's Dance
• Book of Conjurations (fire+earth): Magic Dart, Throw Flame, Stone Arrow, Conjure Flame, Bolt of Magma, Fireball
• Book of Conjurations (ice+air): Magic Dart, Throw Frost, Mephitic Cloud, Static Discharge, Lightning Bolt, Bolt of Cold
• Book of Charms: Corona, Repel Missiles, Ensorcelled Hibernation, Confuse, Enslavement, Silence, Invisibility
• Book of Minor Magic (flame): Magic Dart, Summon Small Mammals, Throw Flame, Blink, Slow, Mephitic Cloud, Conjure Flame
• Book of Minor Magic (frost): Magic Dart, Throw Frost, Blink, Sticks to Snakes, Slow, Mephitic Cloud, Ozocubu's Armour
• Book of Minor Magic (summ): Magic Dart, Summon Small Mammals, Blink, Repel Missiles, Slow, Call Canine Familiar, Mephitic Cloud
• Monster Manual: Summon Small Mammals, Sticks to Snakes, Call Canine Familiar, Tame Beasts, Dragon Form
• Book of Brands: Corona, Swiftness, Fire Brand, Freezing Aura, Poison Weapon, Cause Fear
• Book of Divinations
• Book of Surveyances
• Book of Healing: Cure Poison, Lesser Healing, Greater Healing, Purification
• Book of Practical Magic: Projected Noise, Selective Amnesia, Detect Curse, Dig, Remove Curse

See also

• Manuals
• Starting books
• Spell memorisation