5 In-Game Books That Give Your Players an Advantage - A 5e RPG Tabletop Homebrew Item List
I tend to peruse Reddit a lot (who doesn't, right?) looking for ideas to create items to give to my players. I see so many posts asking about in-game books.
Such as:
"What kinds of books can be found in a wizard's library?"
"Is there a list of books I can use in my games for my players to find?"
And the infamous, "I have one player that is determined to study every book in every room they come to so I need something to give to them."
As a huge fan of books inside and outside of the game (Liberum is the Latin word for books) I decided to start creating homebrew books for my games that the players can actually use instead of just telling them "the book is blue" or "the book is about the last time a gnome ate a blueberry" and moving on. If players are looking in books within the game it's because they expect to find something useful.
The rule for my games is that my player's have to use downtime and study the books for a certain amount of hours that is determined by a d100 in order to gain the advantage that the book gives. Before you ask, yes, I had a player get a very low roll on the d100 and was able to gain the advantage in a very short amount of time. The nature of my games is for my player's to have fun and there is nothing more exciting than watching that giant die roll onto a low number for an advantage that is desperately needed or wanted.
So without further ado, here are my 5 favorite in-game books for my player's to find:
Valuable Accounts of the Real Dangers of Plants (450 gp)
gives advantage on Nature Checks pertaining to plants
Elaborated Encyclopedia of New Technical Inventions (370 gp)
gives advantage when using
Carpenter’s Tools
Cobbler’s Tools
Mason’s Tools
Tinker’s Tools
Woodcarver’s Tools
Experimental Considerations on Financial and Tax Rules (750 gp)
gives advantage on Persuasion Checks pertaining to currency
there was a bit of friendly disagreement over this one pertaining to haggling or not. We decided to roll for it and the die said it did not pertain to haggling. So, my players have found some creative ways to use it. Those ways are almost always completely hilarious.
Exposed Insights into the Uglu: the Grey Wind of Illusion (500 gp)
gives advantage on Insight Checks pertaining to deception
Collected Insights into the Bodily Chemistry of Elves (1000 gp)
gives advantage on Medicine Checks pertaining to elven bodies
Major Studies in Powder Experiments (450 gp)
gives advantage when using Herbalism Kit or Poisoner’s Kit
First Knowledge of Nightwatch Uniforms & Badges (1500 gp)
gives advantage to Sleight of Hand Checks against guards/soldiers
Glorious Handbook of the Elven Heroes in Folk Stories (350 gp)
gives advantage on History checks pertaining to elven culture
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