Pages from the Lost Grimoire – Delóclya Berres / By the Book by Dan Coleman is a role playing game supplement published by Dan Coleman Productions for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is the seventh in a series of supplements which follow a standard format; new content followed by a mini-adventure or encounter using said content.
The series is funded through Patreon and the supplement is available from RPGNow as a Pay What You Want item. It is comprised of an eight page PDF, with one page being the front cover, one the front matter, one a thanks to Patrons and two the Open Game License, as well as four PNGs. Three of the graphics are the encounter area, one with a grid, one without and one for GMs; the fourth is of the titular Delóclya Berres.
Delóclya Berres is the first page and this is a description of an NPC. Her history, motivations stats are given; due to an event in her past, Delóclya spends much of her time visiting libraries and collecting books.
By the Book is two pages and is an encounter featuring Delóclya Berres, who the PCs may be visiting for some reason – she is a useful source of sage knowledge – or who they may have bumped into. The encounter is intended for 2nd to 3rd level characters and starts with an evaluation of the encounter’s difficulty based on average party level and size. The encounter itself occurs when Delóclya reads an incantation from a book, animating several tomes by accident as a result. The characters must defeat the animated books, preferably without destroying them.
Pages from the Lost Grimoire – Delóclya Berres / By the Book in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, given the amount of actual content, they are not really required. Navigation is okay but it could be better. The text maintains a two column format and appeared to be error free. Given the colour page backgrounds, the image of the NPC and the colour maps, presentation is actually very good for such a short supplement.
Delóclya is well detailed and could easily be used, especially as her history gives a major adventure hook. She is perhaps fairly underpowered for someone who has spent so long collating knowledge though. Delóclya has also apparently amassed a very extensive personal library; nothing is mentioned about where this library is, though, as she moves around a lot.
The encounter is a brief, simple encounter adequate for low-level characters. It will probably do as a brief side encounter as an introduction to Delóclya – if she was more powerful, the encounter would be much simpler.
Pages from the Lost Grimoire – Delóclya Berres / By the Book is a decent NPC description and encounter and it can be found by clicking here.
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