The Archive

What is The Archive?
The Archive more or less a list of things that strictly speaking are just magic items, but with a twist. They confer knowledge to a single character and gives them a cool new thing they can do. So far the only ideas I have are Codex (a book that when read gives ability) and Song (something that takes up concentration unless you're a bard, giving mundane characters something to concentrate on.)

What is a Codex?
A codex is something you guys have been doled out in one way shape or form over the course of the campaigns I've run. In short: read book, learn thing. This has primarily given you access to cantrips and languages but I wanted to branch it out and give you guys interesting abilities that don't fit well on a magic item. A prime example of this is the Manuals of Martial Technique available from Pen is Mightier, they learn you something that would be out of place on an item.

Codex Lore
Codices are powerful magic artifacts from before the tyranny of K-Money. Texts magically encoded on divine parchment, a codex possesses the power to permanently infuse the reader's mind with a wide variety of knowledge, from spells and languages, to fighting techniques and ancient lore. Their power is waning with their age, and while they can be "recharged" through advanced artifice, left alone a codex loses its power for longer than many races can hope to live. Reading a codex imparts its contents to whoever read it, but it then falls dormant, making it highly unlikely another person will ever read it. Codex researchers have found that they are bound to certain emotions, spaces in time, locations, or creatures of great power, and may spontaneously appear under the right circumstances.

Codex Archive List
I'm gonna be honest I have no clue how many of them I've actually given out and I'm really using this space to store ideas.

Codex of the Fire Covenant
A tome that teaches a spellcaster how to unleash their lifeforce as a burst of intense flame, greatly harming them in the process. You may roll and expend any number of your hitdice and deal that much fire damage to yourself and up to a number of targets equal to the number of hitdice spent. Those targets makes a Constitution saving throw against your spellcasting DC, on a failure, it is set ablaze and gains the Burning condition. You may gain levels of exhaustion to deal an additional 10 points of damage per level of exhaustion gained. You must finish an extended long rest before you can do this again, and spent hit dice from this ability do not return until you do.

''The Fire Covenants were written by a researcher that was following folklore and first-hand accounts of a number of different factions that had all figured out a way to start a blaze through sheer force of will, ranging from religious zealots to cultists of great dragons. All had a similar technique of spontaneously combusting themselves that the subject of their ire. The codex will likely appear in places of great elemental fury, or in lairs of creatures that embody that ideal.''

Codex of Misdirection
A tome that instructs those trained in Deception, Sleight of Hand, or Performance to exert their will to the point of lying to reality itself. You may attempt to redirect a spell or attack to yourself or an ally. You must make a Deception, Sleight of Hand, or Performance greater than or equal to the DC of the spell or ability, or the attack roll. If you succeed, you may choose and allied target within range (including yourself). You can't redirect an AoE, but you can switch targets for spells that affect more than one. (Such as Eldritch Blast or an upcast Hold Person). You have one use of this ability, which you regain when both moons are full. Yes, you can use this constantly like a tricksy little fucker during a double full moon, but some creatures are better connected to the moons than you are.

''Written by a prolific street magician widely lauded for their impressive illusion magic right before their final act ever performed, where they disappeared forever. What made their magic so unique, was that despite casting no spells at all, the effects were certainly magical in nature. The performer baffled arcanists for decades during their career, and even in their suspected but unconfirmed death with how they could cast magic without casting magic. Capturing the spirit of this might lead down a rabbit-hole that might uncover the codex.''

Codex of Forceful Will
A gathering of mantras and philosophies. Extraordinary writings that have been described as a transcendent literary experiences that has been described as euphoric and terrifying at the same time, a dizzying rollercoaster of written word that has shattered the world view of many, driving some of the weaker minds of the world insane, rambling about how this all just a game and nothing is real. You may make a DC 30 Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma check to force a roll to critically succeed or critically fail. Attempting this without a chance of success afflicts the character with Indefinite Madness: This is a game and my actions are not my own. This is the undeniable truth of the world and I must tell everyone their life is a lie. My actions are no longer decided by fate, but by a cruel and handsome asshole in their entirety.

This means that unless you can reach +10 or better (big stat, bardic inspiration, Dark one's luck, etc), worse than nothing will happen.

Codex of Indominability
A hardbacked tome of rough leatherbound wood linked with chain, this codex imparts the reader deep intrinsic knowledge of their own limits, allowing them to know exactly when they can push themselves further to overcome adversity. When you fail a saving throw, you may reroll it, keeping the new result. Fighters with the Indomitable ability gain an additional use.

''Written by a now long dead sect of warrior monks, the refined decades of their intense, brutal training have been condensed via magic into this tome that has a weight much greater than it should seem to have. Evoking the intense personal hardship and perseverance contain within the codex would take and extremely hard fought battle or obstacle.''

Codex of Grit
Less of an advanced text, this simple mantra carved into an iron slab, the Codex of Grit doesn't seem to have an author, and is more of an idea, the idea of borrowing from your future to ensure you have one. When you make a saving throw, you may take 10 points of damage, expend a hitdie, or gain a level of exhaustion to gain a +1 bonus to that saving throw. You may do this multiple times to get as high a bonus as you want. Exhaustion gained this way takes an extended long rest to recover, but you may otherwise do this as much as you like.

Never give up, never surrender.

Codex of Sacrifice
Lessons learned through hemalchemy, some practices more objectively evil than others, have yielded profane knowledge that allows a macabre form of limited restoration or resurrection. You may replicate one of the following spells by permanently losing a number of hitdice equal to its level minus two, requiring no spell slots or material components: Revivify, Greater Restoration, Raise Dead, Reincarnate, Create Undead, Resurrection.

Where you get these hitdice is up to you, but they must be hitdice of beings that have an emotional bond to the creature you are trying to affect with these spells. You can pull hitdice from other people, if they allow it. A creature with zero hit dice remaining dies. I don't think there's actually a rule for that anywhere but fuck you this is dark magic.

''A heretical codex that many different self-righteous groups have tried to scour from existence, written by an order that had been. The codex may appear at sites of slaughter, but never at the site of battle. A grim reminder of what lengths humanoids will go to to try and bring someone back.''

Codex of Slaying
Codices of Slaying are the expert knowledge of dedicated hunters, exorcists, knights, and other orders of how to take down specific monstrous creatures. From monstrosities to dragons, to demons, to giants, to even celestials, Slayer's Codices increase how effective you are at killing the subject of the codex.

A slaying codex, once read, gives a +4 damage bonus to the creature type it is about.

''Codex books likes these are often guarded fiercely by whoever wrote them, often locked away in a vault only offered to their most trusted of members. Even an emergency of epic proportions might not grant you access to one, and for whom would you ask to read it?''

Codex of Voidthought
Written in singing crystal shaped into a multi-faceted dodecahedron comprised of rubicon cubes, the move one fiddles with the codex the more one understands it. Your thoughts cannot read, and effects similar to a zone of truth do not work on you, unless cast by a solar level celestial or higher. If you have a class feature that grants you this ability, you may instead reach back through the psychic connection and attempt to read their thoughts instead.

Codex of the Forge
Half as much material i'm tired.

Codex of Displacement
Cast etherealness as a reaction

Codex of Dueling
When you take the Dodge Action, you make make a weapon attack if you are holding a one-handed weapon and no shield.

Codex of Logistics
When organizing travel, if you have a map and compass, a route planned that way is counted as one speed above. (it might seem boring until you factor in traveling across the sea and save a week of time, or a month over the course of several quests, or getting reinforcements somewhere crucial)

Codex of the Witness
By making an investigation check, you may perform psychometry once per extended long rest, or while under a full moon

Codex of the Seer
Portent

Codex of Promethium
Unlocks promethium

Codex of Rapid Artifice
Cuts enchanting time and cost by 25%

Codex of the Voice
You may communicate without sharing a language, under certain circumstances even with plants and animals.

Codex of Tainted Pacts
You learn how to summon The Dealer