Libraries

Libraries can be used to grant one-time bonuses to a single skill check. After a single full day of research, characters can make a roll on a skill of their choice and add a +4 circumstance bonus to the roll. Note that you cannot 'take 20' or 'take 10' on this roll, you must roll the die. This roll may be repeated after another full day of research on the same topic, though the bonuses are not cumulative. Knowledge, Bailiwick, and Profession skills are the most frequently boosted skills in a Library, but any other skill could potentially be boosted with GM approval. Finding a brightly illustrated scroll of leverage techniques could lend a bonus to a Might check, for example. The circumstance bonus, once acquired, can be rolled immediately, or saved until the next time a skill check for the designated skill is made (even if that is several days after the research is performed). Research is a useful method of retrying a failed knowledge check (which is normally not permitted).

Libraries are also repositories for unusual, rare, or obscure information. For example, planar travel using either Plane Shift or Gate spells is very difficult, because you need a material component sourced from the Plane you wish to reach, or a remnant dropped by an extra-planar creature of the appropriate Plane. If you don't have ready access to such things, a Library can be used to figure out where such materials can be found, or if you are lucky, the Library might actually have suitable objects.

Similarly, using a Teleport spell can be fraught with peril if you are trying to 'jump blind'. Days spent in research at a Library can move you 'down' on the Familiarity chart, at the GM's discretion. As a rule of thumb, one day of research can move you 'down' one row, three days of research can move you down two rows, six days moves you three rows, and ten days of research moves you down four rows. The GM adjudicates all results, and may rule that libraries in larger settlements may be required to gain any benefit at all.

• Settlement Size: As a general rule, no settlement smaller than a Small Town will have a library, and the Circumstance bonus for a Small Town Library is reduced to a +2 circumstance bonus. A Library in a Large Town, or settlement size greater than a Large Town, gets the full +4 circumstance bonus for research, as described above.

• Great Libraries: A Great Library is a library which holds a diverse and plentiful collection of books, scrolls, knowledge crystals, and other bodies of knowledge. While not necessarily magical in nature, they are rare and awesome places nonetheless. Great Libraries are often found in the tower of powerful wizards, the castle of an erudite king, or the hidden bowels of a secret college. They are usually not open to the public, and often only to members of an exclusive group, caste, or kin, though sometimes access can be purchased for favors, feats of heroism, or a reward for some great deed. Great Libraries in a Small City provide an additional +1 circumstance bonus over and above the normal bonus (total bonus +3). A Great Library in a Large City gains an additional +2 (total bonus +6). A Great Library in a Metropolis gains an additional +3 (total circumstance bonus +7), a Great Library in a Megalopolis gains an additional +4 (total bonus +8), and a Great Library in a Dimensional Nexus gains an additional circumstance bonus of +5 or even more, depending upon the GMs ruling, for a total circumstance bonus of +9 or even greater. Gaining access to a Great Library is a Big Deal!

• Cost of Library Research: Some libraries are free for all to use, and they are wonderful things indeed. Other libraries, unfortunately, are not so generous. Libraries in schools and scolams often charge for research time, and religious libraries can be very expensive indeed. A shining paladin who needs to do research in the Library of the Church of Invincible Evil is rarely going to get in without a steep price, paid in one way or another. A rule of thumb is that each full day of research costs the CR squared x 100 gold pieces, based on the CR of the topic being researched. This price is CR squared x 1,000 gp (per day) for research in a Great Library. It should be noted that these prices are highly variable, and GMs are encouraged to be creative in how this is applied. ("BRING ME A...SHRUBBERY.")

• Magical and Wondrous Libraries: At the GMs discretion, it is possible to find Libraries in many shapes and sizes and types out in the world. Players might stumble upon a gypsy's wagon with a wise old crone who always seems to have the right book for any topic, for example. An alchemical automaton that will lecture on any topic for the price of a small gem, a magnifying glass that finds small print on any subject you wish on a normal book you already own, a magic book that you put under your pillow at night, and even that old reliable mystical fish that shows up in a stream and will answer any question, all can be seen as magical and wondrous libraries, of as temporary or as permanent a nature as the GM desires. The size of the circumstance bonus such libraries grant is determined by the GM, as is any monetary expense or other price they may require. It is strongly recommended that GMs follow the guidelines for bonuses as laid out for settlement libraries, above. Magical and wondrous libraries can often provide answers to specific questions immediately, or in significantly less time than normal research.

• Limits on Topics: Some libraries might not be capable of granting a research bonus to some skills (for example, a library in a city where magic is outlawed would not grant any research bonuses for Spellcraft or Knowledge (Arcana) skills). The Library of the Church of Infinite Evil is unlikely to have materials on how to improve healing spells, for example.

• Language Textbooks: Any full library (granting a +4 Circumstance bonus or greater) usually has materials available to learn new non-secret languages with sufficient time, generally a week or more per language. Players wishing to acquire a new language must have an available language 'slot' from their ranks in Linguistics before they begin studying. No Library, ever, will have textbooks available to the public for secret languages.