The Book of Flesh and Mirrors + 10 New Spells (Patreon Exclusive) (Patreon)

The Book of Flesh and Mirrors is bound in mirror mephit hide, a substance that is velvety but cold to the touch. The surface is also reflective, though the reflected images look slightly blurry, as if seen in a lightly fogged mirror. 

At the center of the front cover and at each corner are a few tiny rubies set in a pattern resembling an eye (eighteen total, worth 100 gp each).  The ninety-nine interior pages are vellum sheets inked in black, blue, brown, and red with a steady hand. The text is contradicted by comments written in the margins or inserted between lines—all in the same handwriting. Diagrams are drawn with annotations in triplicate. 

The tome contains original spells created by Rule-of-Three and his father Graz’zt, plus some rare planar spells and a few standard spells of general use to plane travelers.

The authorship of this book is not known for certain, although it has most often been attributed to Rhyxali, Graz’zt’s sister. She is believed to have studied the Plane of Mirrors in an effort to corrupt it and draw it into the Abyss, thereby creating a Reflected Realm somewhat similar to her brother’s Triple Layers.  Neither suggested author has ever answered any questions about the book, so who penned its pages remains in question. Indeed, an ordinary demon, a dabus arcanist, or a shadow demon caster with knowledge of Rhyxali’s methods could have written the Book of Flesh and Mirrors. 

The Book of Flesh and Mirrors contains the spells listed in the Book of Flesh and Mirrors Spells list below and a summary of the magical principles involved in their use (written out in triplicate). It also contains a description of the Plane of Mirrors and instructions on how to create a mirror mephit. 

Only wizards can learn the spells found in the book. Moreover, the time required for a wizard to learn the spells is halved due to its mirror nature.

The Book of Flesh and Mirrors is the only one of its kind and difficult to price. The tome is worth at least 100,000 gp on the open market, though it is unlikely that characters who acquire it would want to sell it. 

Book of Flesh and Mirrors Spells

The Book of Flesh and Mirrors contains the following spells:

1st level: portal beacon

2nd level: enlarge/reduce, mirror image, portal alarm

3rd level: dread word

4th level: conjure minor elementals; meld into mirror; portal alarm, improved; scramble portal; seal portal

5th level: mirror magic

7th level: simulacrum, spell turning

New Spells

Described below are some of the new spells that appear in the Book of Flesh and Mirrors.

Analyze Portal

3rd-level divination (ritual)

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (a crystal lens and a small mirror)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You can tell whether an area contains a magic portal or the effect of a gate spell. If you study an area for 1 round, you know the sizes and locations of any such portals in the area. Once you find a portal, you can study it. (If you find more than one portal, you can study only one at a time.)  Each round you study a portal, you can discover one property of the portal, in this order. 

• Any key or command word needed to activate the portal. 
• Any special circumstances governing the portal’s use (such as specific times when it can be activated). 
• Whether the portal is one-way or two-way.  
• A glimpse into the area where the portal leads. You can look at the area where the portal leads for 1 round; the range of your vision is the spell’s range. Analyze portal does not allow other divination spells or spell-like abilities to extend through the portal. For example, you cannot also use detect magic or detect evil and good to study the area where the portal leads while viewing the area with analyze portal. 

For each property you wish to learn, you must make a DC 17 Intelligence using your spellcasting ability modifier. On a successful check, you learn a property. On a failed check, you learn nothing and must try again next round.

Dread Word

3rd-level evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

You speak a unique word of pure malevolence, a word so foul that it harms the soul of anyone that hears it. Each creature within 30 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the creature becomes permanently cursed. While cursed, the target has disadvantage on Charisma ability checks and saving throws. The curse can only be removed with a remove curse spell or similar magic.

Any caster of non-evil alignment that attempts to cast this spell, must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the caster drops to 0 hit points. On a success, the caster takes 3d6 psychic damage. No matter the outcome of the caster's saving throw, the spell is still cast.

Meld Into Mirror

4th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self

Components: V, S, M (one mirror large enough for you to step into)

Duration: 10 minutes

You step into any mirror that is tall and wide enough to accommodate you and merge with its substance. No other creatures can accompany you, and you can take no more than 100 pounds of objects with you. The mirror must be within 10 feet of you and in line of sight at the time of casting, and you can step in at any time before the spell duration expires.  While in the mirror, you can see through the surface by which you entered as if it were a window, but you are not visible to creatures outside it. Your other senses do not extend outside the mirror—that is, you cannot hear any sounds, smell any scents, or feel any sensations originating from outside. 

You remain aware of the passage of time and can cast spells normally on yourself and on creatures and objects outside the mirror. The range of any spell cast from within a mirror begins at the mirror’s surface, and the effect seems to come from within the mirror. 

Minor physical damage to the mirror (such as chips or scratches) does not harm you, but its complete destruction expels you, dealing 5d6 points of psychic damage in the process.  Any time before the spell’s duration expires, you can step out of the mirror through the surface by which you entered. If the spell’s duration expires, or you can no longer fit through the surface by which you entered, or the effect is dispelled before you voluntarily exit, the mirror shatters and you are violently expelled from it, taking 5d6 psychic damage.  

Certain spells affect you if cast upon the mirror while you occupy it. Shatter and disintegrate expels you, dealing you 5d6 psychic damage. Animate object does not affect you, but you cannot control an animated mirror from inside it. Passwall expels you without damage. 

Mirror Magic 

5th-level divination

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, M (one silvered glass or polished metal mirror worth at least 100gp)

Duration: Concentration, up to10 minutes

You can converse with another being using a pair of mirrors. When you cast the spell, gaze into a mirror, and specify the person you wish to contact, you see that creature as if gazing from the mirror closest to the creature. In order for the spell to function, the creature must be willing to communicate and be within 10 feet of a mirror.  

A particular sound (such as clarion horns, a single note, a chime, or the like) emanates from the distant mirror to announce your wish to converse. You choose this sound at the time of casting. If the target creature is present and wishes to converse, it need only gaze into the mirror and give mental or verbal acquiescence. Doing so allows the target to see and hear all that transpires within 10 feet of your mirror, within its normal limits of perception. You and the target can then speak and see through the mirror for the duration of the spell, as can any other creatures within 10 feet of the surface of either mirror.  

If the target is not present, or does not accept your attempt at communication within 5 rounds, or either mirror is broken, the spell ends. The two mirrors are ordinary in every respect except while used to communicate. During that time, each gives off a faint aura of divination.

Portal Alarm

2nd-level abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a tiny bell)

Duration: 8 hours

You target one interplanar gate or portal. Each time a creature passes through the magic gate or portal the spell is cast upon, the spell sounds a mental or audible alarm. You decide at the time of casting whether the portal alarm will be mental or audible. 

Mental Alarm: A mental alarm alerts you (and only you) as long as you remain within 1 mile of the warded area and on the same plane. You notice a mental tremor that would awaken you from a normal sleep but does not otherwise disturb concentration (it would not interfere with spellcasting). A silence spell has no effect on a mental alarm. 

Audible Alarm: An audible portal alarm produces the sound of a hand bell, buzzer, or other similar repeating sound that can be heard clearly up to 60 feet away, and it pierces closed doors and extends onto other planes. The ringing can be heard faintly up to 180 feet away and lasts for 1 round. Creatures within the area of a silence spell cannot hear the ringing, and if the portal itself is within the area of a silence spell, no alarm is sounded. 

Ethereal and astral creatures trigger a portal alarm if they pass through the portal. You can set a portal alarm with a password, determined at the time of the casting, and this password can be discerned with the analyze portal spell. Those speaking the password before passing through the portal do not set off the alarm. 

Portal Alarm, Improved

4th-level abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a small leather pouch containing three brass bells)

Duration: 8 hours

This spell functions like portal alarm, with the following additions.

• You can designate the alarm set off by the improved portal alarm spell to be mental, audible, or both.
• If a mental alarm is chosen, you receive a mental picture of all creatures that have passed through the portal and which direction they passed through. The mental image provides information as if you were standing 10 feet away.
• You enable another creature to receive the mental alarm instead of yourself. You must touch the creature, which can make a Wisdom saving throw to negate the effect, if applicable. 

Portal Beacon

1st-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S

Duration: 8 hours

You alter a magic gate or portal so it sends out a mental beacon for up to six creatures, including yourself if you choose. These creatures must be known to you but need not be present at the time of casting. Once you cast portal beacon, these creatures know the direction and distance to the targeted portal for the spell’s duration. Moving to a plane other than the two connected by the portal ends the spellfor that creature but leaves it intact for others. You can have any number of portal beacons tuned to you without impairing other abilities or actions. 

Scramble Portal

4th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a cracked mirror)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You target one interplanar gate or magic portal. For the duration of the spell, anyone who passes through the portal from either side is sent to a random plane instead of the portal’s normal destination. Use the DMG's Color Pools chart to determine which plane the creature goes to.

Seal Portal

6th-level transmutation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a silver bar worth 50 gp)

Duration: Instantaneous

You can permanently seal an interplanar gate or portal within range. The spell prevents any use of the portal, although seal portal can be dispelled by a dispel magic spell. A knock spell does not function on a sealed portal. Once a portal is opened, seal portal does not remain in effect and must be cast again.

Spell Turning

7th-level abjuration

Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casts a magic missile spell, a line spell, or a spell that requires a ranged attack roll

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (a small silver mirror)

Duration: Instantaneous

You attempt to reflect back a spell onto its caster. If the creature is casting a magic missile spell, a line spell, or a spell that requires a ranged attack roll of 5th level or lower, you are unaffected, and the effect is reflect back at the caster as though it originated from you, turning the caster into the target.