Spellbooks

Spellbooks are the main source of spells in Elona. Reading a spellbook checks the difficulty of the book against your literacy skill (which can temporarily be boosted by the Divine Wisdom spell or a scroll of knowledge). If the check succeeds, you increase your spell stock in the spell, with the increase being boosted by your memorization skill and lowered by the amount of stock you already have. If the check fails it may cause the player to randomly teleport, to lose MP and possibly die as a result of magic reaction, or to summon monsters. Because of the possibility of summoning monsters, it is recommended that you read difficult spellbooks in the wilderness, a portable shelter or the Puppy Cave, rather than in a town or your home (though in Elona+ the monsters will eventually disappear from towns (but still remain in your home)). Further, since draining your MP to negative numbers causes damage, it is recommended that when reading difficult spellbooks that you Rest until your MP is full.

All spellbooks have a number after them that tells the maximum times the spellbook may be read; when the number reaches zero, the spellbook falls apart. This number can only be seen after the spellbook has been identified. The number can be increased by using a scroll of recharge or the Fill Charge on the spellbook. However, this has the chance of exploding the spellbook.

If you've joined the Mages' Guild then you can "reserve" most of the books which you've successfully read at a special shop, which will cause that shop to stock multiples of the reserved spellbook.

Use of spellbook reading failure

It should be noted that the third result of reading spellbooks may be used in both good and bad ways. Because artifacts have a chance to drop if the NPC carrying them dies, spellbook failures may be use to intentionally kill high level NPCs to retrieve their artifacts. Any players interested in attempting this should however be warned that NPCs, notably adventurers, are surprisingly more powerful than they should be. Any damage the player causes through spellbooks will be automatically repaired in a few days time, as well as any NPCs killed respawning. The worse that can happen to the player by doing this is dying to the monsters and not being able to return to town for a few days if the monsters are not killed. Note that monsters that can split or summon other monsters can be especially dangerous, as they can overwhelm the NPCs more easily and possibly make part of the city unusable. It is recommended to do this in a well-guarded city such as Palmia, where guards can kill the monsters more easily if they go out of control.

List of Spellbooks

Spellbook listing by a rough order of difficulty in reading them. This list is not complete. The number after them is the number of turns it takes to read the spellbook.

The number of turns it takes to read a spellbook is dependent on your literacy skill and maybe other things. Books that take about 10 turns or less are books your character can comfortably read with few failures. Books that take over 12 will begin to have high failure rates. You can record the number of turns by looking at your character sheet before and after reading a book. In Elona+, it added a note on the difficulty of reading each book.

Literacy skill gained seems to depend only on number of turns; blessed books read in the same amount of time.

Note: Some spellbooks have names different than the spells they grant upon reading; I have listed some of the spell names next to their corresponding spellbooks. (This list is incomplete; please verify, add, or correct as needed.)

• 4-Dimensional Pocket
• Hero
• Holy shield
• Magic arrow [gives Magic Dart spell]
• Minor teleportation [gives Short Teleport spell]
• Web
• Make door [gives Door Creation spell]
• Darkness arrow [gives Dark Eye spell]
• Incognito
• Lightning bolt
• Fire bolt
• Ice bolt
• Detect objects [gives Sense Object spell]
• Wall creation
• Summon monster
• Weakness [gives Mist of Frailness spell]
• Knowledge [gives Divine Wisdom spell]
• Resistance
• Illusion eye
• Harvest
• Cure critical wound [gives Heal Critical spell]
• Nether eye [gives Nether Arrow spell]
• Healing hands
• Nerve eye [gives Nerve Arrow spell]
• Regeneration
• Holy light
• Healing hand
• Holy Veil
• Teleport
• Fire ball
• Ice ball
• Acid ground
• Slow
• Magic mapping
• Nightmare
• Healing rain
• Holy rain
• Return
• Illusion beam [gives Mind Bolt spell]
• Darkness beam [gives Darkness Bolt spell]
• Chaos eye
• Weaken resistance
• Silence
• Fire wall
• Sound ball [gives Raging Roar]
• Cure <Eris>
• Identify
• Speed
• Uncurse
• Contingency
• Oracle
• Domination
• Wish
• Elemental Scar
• Magic laser [gives Crystal Spear spell]
• Heal minor wound (gives Heal Light)

Spellbooks and ancient books in Elona+

The base reading difficulty of ancient books is

20 + 10GP + 20GP²

where GP is the guild points that it yields in the mages' guild quest. A second Apocalypse ancient book was added in Elona+ ('True Apocalypse').

If the book is blessed, then

$\text{NetDifficulty} = \frac{\text{BaseDifficulty}}{1.2}$
 

If cursed, then it is

$\text{NetDifficulty} = \text{BaseDifficulty} * 1.5$
 

The following checks occur every turn during book reading to see if reading should succeed during that turn, or fail and end the entire book reading attempt:

If the player character is blinded, then spellbook reading fails.
If the player character is confused (and dimmed in vanilla Elona), then spellbook reading has a 75% chance of failing.

It then rolls

$\text{LiteracySum} * \text{Attribute} * 4 + 250$ against $\text{NetDifficulty} + 1$

where

$\text{LiteracySum} = \text{PlayerLiteracy} + \text{PetLiteracyMemorizationSum}$,

$\text{PetLiteracyMemorizationSum} = \frac{\text{PetLiteracy} + \text{PetMemorization} + 1}{2}$

for every pet taking part in the Reading Party, with the contribution of every pet having a lower bound of 3 and upper bound of $\frac{\text{PlayerLiteracy}}{5} + 3$, and

$\text{Attribute}$ equals the attribute used for the spell that the spellbook is for, such as Dexterity for a spellbook of feather. If the book is an ancient book, then it will be the Magic attribute.

If the value rolled on the left is equal or larger (equal or more skill than difficulty) than the one on the right, then spellbook reading succeeds for this turn.

If this roll fails, then the game will perform up to 4 additional rolls to determine if book reading should fail - failing any of these will fail the book reading.

First roll: 1/7 chance of failing reading

If (Attribute * 10) < NetDifficulty, then it rolls a second time:

(Attribute * 10 + 1) against (NetDifficulty + 1)

If (Attribute * 20 + 1) < NetDifficulty, then it rolls a third time:

(Attribute * 20 + 1) against (NetDifficulty + 1)

If (Attribute * 30 + 1) < NetDifficulty, then it rolls a fourth time:

(Attribute * 30 + 1) against (NetDifficulty + 1)

If the above 4 additional rolls were passed, then book reading will succeed for that turn.

If book reading has failed, then it has...

a 1/4 chance of absorbing your mana, followed by

a 1/4 chance of applying confusion, then

a 1/4 chance of summoning 2-4 monsters.

Otherwise, the player gets teleported.

Turns to read is

$\frac{\text{BaseDifficulty}}{\text{PlayerLiteracy} + 2} + 1$

If in a reading party, then turns to read is

$1.5 * \left[ \frac{\text{BaseDifficulty}}{\text{PlayerLiteracy} + 2} + 1 \right] + 5$

In other words, it takes 1.5 times as many turns +5.

Note that turns to read is calculated with base difficulty, and not with net difficulty, so cursed and blessed books will read in the same number of turns.

Base reading difficulty of spellbooks is also the cast difficulty of their respective spells, except for Wish and Harvest, which adds additional casting difficulty based on their spell levels. See the Elona+ Spells (Technical) page for details.

Spell ID	Spell (J)	Spell (E)	Spellbook (E)	Item ID	Stat	Base MP cost/Guild Points	Base Difficulty
400	軽傷治癒	Heal Light	cure minor wound	249		6	80
401	致命傷治癒	Heal Critical	cure critical wound	250		15	350
402	エリスの癒し	Cure of Eris	cure <Eris>	251		35	800
403	ジュアの癒し	Cure of Jua	cure <Jure>	252		80	1300
405	癒しの手	Healing Touch	healing hands	550		20	400
406	清浄なる光	Holy Light	holy light	386		15	400
407	全浄化	Vanquish Hex	holy rain	387		35	850
409	テレポートアザー	Teleport Other				10	200
408	テレポート	Teleport	teleportation	20		10	400
410	ショートテレポート	Short Teleport	minor teleportation	116		8	120
411	鑑定	Identify	identify	21		28	800
412	解呪	Uncurse	uncurse	22		35	700
413	神託	Oracle	oracle	247		150	1500
414	魔法の矢	Magic Dart	magic arrow	257		5	110
415	地獄の吐息	Nether Arrow	nether eye	263		8	400
417	混沌の瞳	Chaos eye	chaos eye	264		10	650
416	麻痺の矢	Nerve Arrow	nerve eye	265		10	400
418	暗黒の矢	Dark eye	darkness arrow	660		10	200
459	魔力の集積	Crystal Spear	magic laser	697		20	950
419	アイスボルト	Ice Bolt	ice bolt	32		10	220
420	ファイアボルト	Fire Bolt	fire bolt	33		10	220
421	ライトニングボルト	Lightning Bolt	lightning bolt	34		10	220
422	ダークネスボルト	Darkness Bolt	darkness beam	267		12	350
423	マインドボルト	Mind Bolt	illusion beam	268		12	350
475	ハイドロボルト	Water Bolt	water beam	1033		12	350
431	氷結の波動	Ice Ball	ice ball	269		16	450
432	灼熱の嵐	Fire Ball	fire ball	270		16	450
433	混沌の渦	Chaos Ball	chaos ball	272		20	1000
434	轟音の波動	Raging Roar	sound ball	271		18	700
460	魔力の嵐	Magic Storm	magic ball	696		40	1400
469	月蝕の檻	Eclipse	Eclipse wave			40	1200
470	雷霆の渦	Thunder vortex	Thunder Vortex			20	1000
471	冥王の咆哮	Nether Roar	Nether Roar			30	1000
473	猛毒の嵐	Poison Storm	Poison Storm			25	450
476	泡沫の嵐	Bubble Storm	Bubble Storm			35	800
404	治癒の雨	Healing Rain	healing rain	548		38	500
466	グラビティ	Gravity				24	750
424	モンスター召喚	Summon Monsters	summon monsters	118		15	200
425	野生召喚	Summon Wild				15	200
467	精霊召喚	Summon spirit				30	200
435	支配	Dominate	domination	481		125	2000
436	蜘蛛の巣	Web	web	484		10	150
437	闇の霧	Mist of Darkness				12	320
472	光の霧	Mist of Dazzling				12	320
438	壁生成	Wall Creation	wall creation	546		20	250
457	ドア生成	Door Creation	make door	582		15	200
455	酸の海	Acid Ground	acid ground	564		18	480
456	炎の壁	Fire Wall	fire wall	569		24	640
428	帰還	Return	return	248		28	550
463	四次元ポケット	4-Dimensional Pocket	4 dimensional pocket	731		60	750
429	魔法の地図	Magic Map	magic mapping	246		30	450
464	魔術師の収穫	Wizard's Harvest	harvest	732		45	350
430	物質感知	Sense Object	detect objects	410		22	250
439	肉体復活	Restore Body				18	250
440	精神復活	Restore Spirit				18	250
461	復活	Resurrection				60	1650
441	願い	Wish	wishing	289		580	5250
465	メテオ	Meteor				220	1450
454	自己の変容	Mutation	mutation	434		21	2250
442	聖なる盾	Holy Shield	holy shield	365		8	150
443	沈黙の霧	Mist of Silence	silence	367		24	620
444	リジェネレーション	Regeneration	regeneration	369		16	400
445	属性保護	Attribution Shield	resistance	371		14	350
446	加速	Speed	speed	373		28	1050
447	鈍足	Slow	slow	374		10	450
448	英雄	Hero	hero	378		12	80
449	脆弱の霧	Mist of frailness	weakness	380		8	300
450	元素の傷跡	Element Scar	elemental scar	381		15	600
451	ホーリーヴェイル	Holy Veil	holy veil	383		20	900
452	ナイトメア	Nightmare	nightmare	396		15	500
453	知者の加護	Divine Wisdom	knowledge	397		22	350
458	インコグニート	Incognito	incognito	628		38	250
462	契約	Contingency	contingency	710		25	1250
468	フェザー	Feather	feather	870		8	150
474	集中	Concentration	concentration	978		12	100
477	守護石	Gem Power	gem	1076		12	120
	ヴォイニッチ写本		Voynich Manuscript	687		[1 GP]	50
	ドール賛歌		Dhol Chants	687		[2 GP]	120
	ポナペ教教典		Ponape Scripture	687		[3 GP]	230
	グラーキ黙示録		Revelations of Glaaki	687		[4 GP]	380
	グ＝ハーン断章		G'harne Fragments	687		[5 GP]	570
	断罪の書		Liber Damnatus	687		[6 GP]	800
	ドジアンの書		Book of Dzyan	687		[7 GP]	1070
	エイボンの書		Book of Eibon	687		[8 GP]	1380
	大いなる教書		Grand Grimoire	687		[9 GP]	1730
	セラエノ断章		Celaeno Fragments	687		[10 GP]	2120
	ネクロノミコン		Necronomicon	687		[11 GP]	2550
	ルルイエ異本		The R'lyeh Text	687		[12 GP]	3020
	エルトダウン・シャールズ		Eltdown Shards	687		[13 GP]	3530
	金枝篇		The Golden Bough	687		[14 GP]	4080
	終焉の書		Apocalypse	687		[15 GP]	4670
	真なる終焉の書		True Apocalypse	687		[16 GP]	5300