Lost Books 8: Wayryth's Lexicon of Walls
Clockwork Golem Workshop
Written by David Sanders
12 pages + OGL
$1.40 at RPGNow


Wayryth's Lexicon of Walls is the eighth book in the Lost Books series. As might be guessed, this particular work deals with spells that have wall-like effects. Wayryth's Lexicon of Walls includes several new spells and metamagic feats.

The book begins with a semi-history of Wayryth. It describes three pieces of unusual architecture that bear his name. All that is actually learned about Wayryth is that his origins are unknown, and he had a fascination with walls and structures. The history could have been longer, with more information about the wall-loving mage and his unusual architecture.

Following the history is a description of the Lexicon itself. The Lexicon is an incredibly stout book, with a hardness of 20, and more than 150 hp. As it has iron covers and weighs in at 8 pounds, I think the Lexicon needs weapon stats. Truly, some wizard will use this as a club someday.

Following this are the DCs required to determine what a character knows about the Lexicon using Bardic Knowledge or Knowledge (arcana, or architecture and engineering). This detail should be included with many more tomes and magic items in documents. This is a timesaver for the GM, who does not have to invent details on the spot.

After the lore section comes the spells. The Lexicon holds quite a few spells, many of them standard spells that deal with walls and wall-like structures. The Lexicon also includes 12 new spells, ranging from 1st to 9th level.

These include spells such as the void wall – a wall of nothingness that coexists with multiple planes (dimensions); the wall of confusion – this causes those passing through it to become confused; wall of paper – this creates a wall of, well, paper. Also included is a wall of hellwasps – this essentially allows the creation of several stationary swarms of hellwasps. There is also the wall of poppies – this puts creatures to sleep. I was a little disappointed that sleep was the only effect of this spell (I keep hearing "Poppies, poppies, poppies!" in my head when I look at it).

The last section of the book, not including the OGL, is the feat section. This details five new metamagic feats, all of which are applicable only with spells that have Effect: Wall, or "wall" in their name. These feats allow the caster to shape and animate his walls, and even make them larger than normal.

According to the clear and simple OGC declaration, all of the text in Lost Books 8: Wayryth's Lexicon of Walls is open gaming content. A broad and simple declaration is a plus.

The layout is landscape, and easy to read on Fit Width. I don't know how this will work for hard copy printing however. It has standard two-column text that flows well. It was a comfortable read. The art consists of two very small pieces – so small that I actually didn't notice them my first time through. The file has bookmarks, allowing you to move quickly to a particular spell. More pdfs should have bookmarks, even those that are only 12 pages long.

Ultimately, Lost Books 8: Wayryth's Lexicon of Walls is an average product. Nothing in it is particularly exciting or interesting, but nothing in it is bad either. Solid is the best description.