The Bookworm from the Tome of Horrors can really ruin a wizard's day.
I can't help suspect there should be some spell or other defence that intelligent wizards would use to protect their spellbooks...?
The harden spell makes the hardness of each page 1/2 your caster level -- making it much harder to hurt. making your spell book out of metal foil pages (a suggestion presented in the 3.5 complete arcane) would also stop wood eating pests from damaging your book -- but would attract xorns and rust monsters.
Maybe a 'Bookward' spell that protects a tome for 1 week / month per casting would make sense?
Alchemist Bug Dip = Just dip one book in the dip, to make it bug resistant for life.
Now sold at your local Alchemist 4.99 gold. Not responsible for the loss of spell that were inscribed before being dipped. Not responsible for numbness of fingers, hands or arms after exposure. Not responsible for flammable exposure to heat or fire. Not responsible for normal wear and tear of pages, binding, or ink. Not responsible for acid, water, or cold damage. Not responsible for lost, theft, or misplaced property. Not responsible for eye, or skin irritation after use. Not responsible for hair loss from prolonged exposure to Alchemist bug dipped book. If you are of an insectoid race, dip could be life threating, if death accrues, please seek your refund within 30 days, from date of purchase.
There was a spell called Bigbys Bookworm Bane in 3.5 (or 3.0)
It was an Hand made of force that combed through your books and searched for this little pests und killed them
If only there were a big book of spells coming out from Paizo soon where this problem could be rectified...
Bookward
School abjuration; Level Sorcerer/wizard 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a pinch of salt)
Range touch
Target one book touched
Duration 1 week
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This spell is commonly used to protect spellbooks from any kind of infestation by bookworms. It also protects against damp (but not immersion in water).
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In the meantime simply apply some really nasty ingested poison like King's Sleep, Wolfsbane, and Oil of Taggit. You can apply several types of poison to the same thing and if you apply multiple doses of any given ingested poison they must make saves for each dose you applied.
This should keep your spellbook safe from anything that seeks to eat it. Just make sure you don't wet your finger to help flip the pages.
Can't help but suspect mages would just use magic. Poison is pricy and, as you point out, prone to mishaps.
The Bookworm from the Tome of Horrors can really ruin a wizard's day.
I can't help suspect there should be some spell or other defence that intelligent wizards would use to protect their spellbooks...?
There was an alternate class feature called Eidetic Spellcaster in Dragon 357 that allowed a wizard to memorize spells without even the need of a spellbook. In return for this, the wizard lost the Scribe Scroll feat and the ability to get a familiar.
Complete Arcane has a Pungent enchantment for spellbooks that repels pests that touch the book with a nauseating effect.
And of course, there is the Spell Mastery feat for particularly valuable spells.
Maybe another idea would be to have your familiar regularly tasked with guarding the master's spellbook?
Interesting thoughts. The nicest thing about PFRPG though is that the designers have a wonderful tendency to look at what was especially cool in the 3.5 splatbooks and pathfinderise it...
If you're using 3.5 rules, the spell Force Chest from the Spell Compendium is useful in protecting a spellbook from just about everything.
If you're using 3.5 rules, the spell Force Chest from the Spell Compendium is useful in protecting a spellbook from just about everything.
4th level spell though...
No, I reckon a 1st level spell should be able to do the trick.