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I got the 3rd party publisher book that has new wizard discoveries in it a while back, but even if one were to make one in pathfinder I'm interested in the benefits of such an item.
Say (like the 3pp discovery) that the book has telepathy, empathy, read languages and read magic as special abilities and that it has a caster level and ego equal to your class level. What could one actually do with an intelligent spellbook such as this besides talk to it when one is lonely? It has a caster level but does that actually mean it could actually learn spells?
Just curious.
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I have a lovely image of it critiquing your spell list you memorise every morning.
"Fireball? Are you for real here? Your just going to go around blowing things up? It's because of people like you that wizards have a bad name, you know."
"Mage's helping hand? Yeah.... I don't need to see that. I know what your going to use it to 'help with' later on.... just.... look.... if you must, flip forwards 4 pages to blindness / deafness and throw that my way before you 'help' will you?"
"Planar Binding.... <sigh>.... Your going to get another succubus and clone it, aren't you? Because the last one worked out SOOOO well."
"Silent image... an excellent choice sir if your planning on outwitting your opponents and resolving things in a non-violent manner. However, I regret to point out that from prior track record, every time you enter a battle of wits wit someone, you appear to turn up unarmed so to speak."
Past that, I got nothing. I don't know the discovery your talking about, but intelligent ANYTHING's intrigue me.
Doooooooot.
I wonder if it could intentionally protect or hide itself. I doubt it as that would require magic and actually doing magic doesn't seem like something a spell book without hands or a mouth could do (as noted above).
I suppose you could hold it up to examine documents in foreign languages? It has read languages after all. A feat seems a bit pricy for a book that tells you what other written things say.
hmmm....
Maybe give it a Knowledge (Arcana) and Spellcraft skill and let the PC consult it for various things, such as what spell to use.
It should be pretty useful for aiding another on on knowledge checks
You can hold it up to the weird runes and ask it to read them for you
You might upgrade it to a familiar at some point...
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There is a good fantasy story about a magic book that provides a page number on the front to any predicament. A knowledgeable thief gets it from an owner who dies in the attempt. At one point, he wants to know what to do if the book is lost destroyed so he throws it in the fire, a page comes up, he pulls it out, it says "that's right" The last thing that happens to him, the book references the last page. It reads "The end" And for him, it is.In another scene, he's playing poker, gets up to use the bathroom, finds himself in a different plane threatened by a BBG. Book says "He's bluffing" So, he turns around and goes back thru the door to the game, notices that the same page is up, and wins the hand.
An intelligent blessed book makes a great McGuffin for a wizard. Give it Speech, Senses to 60 or 120 ft, read magic, detect magic at will, magic aura on self at will (to "hide"), 10 ranks each in Knowledge (Arcana) and Spellcraft (can use aid other for a +2 on checks, as well as potentially acting as a mentor). Possibly also the ability to change shape into another book (some unremarkable treatise; used in conjunction with magic aura) and/or have every spell protected by secret page (the book knows all the words, of course, but only grants those that are "worthy" access to particular spells).
Depending on alignment (and the spell selection in the book), the goals/motivations could run from establishing a place of arcane learning to building up a wizard-king tyrant to corrupting its "owner" into lichdom (or whatever fits in the campaign).