Runestone Spell-Clasp
Awarded to Steve for the adventures of Hallowing the Hearthforge.
Description and Rules
Wondrous item, very rare (requires attunement by a wizard)
A dwarven-forged clasp with three inset runestones, made to secure a spellbook or fasten around a staff. Its runes preserve hard-won knowledge and turn survived danger into useful magic.
Attachment and Focus +1. Moving the clasp between your spellbook and staff takes 1 minute. While attuned, holding the attached book or staff lets you use it as an arcane focus and adds +1 to spell attack rolls made through it. Damage, spell save DCs, and normal component requirements are unchanged.
Keeper of Pages. While fastened to your spellbook, the clasp protects itself and the book, including its writing, from ordinary nonmagical fire, water, and crushing damage. This protects the book, not you, and does not prevent theft, magical damage, or magical alteration. This protection does not extend to a book while the clasp is on a staff.
Absorb Elements (3/Long Rest). While holding the attached book or staff, you can use your Reaction when you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage to cast Absorb Elements at 1st level without a spell slot or preparation. Regain all three free uses when you finish a Long Rest. You gain resistance to the triggering damage type, including the triggering damage, until the start of your next turn. This requires no Concentration. If the spell is in your spellbook, you can also prepare it and cast it normally using spell slots. The free item casts remain available without preparation. In VikingWorld, release the extra 1d6 on your next turn through your first melee hit or one damage roll of a spell cast that turn that already deals the absorbed type. A shared area damage roll adds the bonus for all targets; separate rays gain it only once. Different elements do not qualify. Choose melee or spell damage, once only; unused energy expires at the end of that turn.
Three Runestones. Each casting of Absorb Elements through the clasp that actually reduces qualifying damage can store one rune matching the resisted type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. This includes the free casts and any normal casting you can legally make while using the clasp. Store at most one rune per casting and three total; duplicates count. Stored runes persist through rests until spent. Record a rune only after the DM confirms a real reduction of hostile damage or a genuine hazard encountered in play. Harmless exposure, staged friendly attacks, self-inflicted damage, and hazards deliberately entered or repeated to charge the clasp give no runes. Existing resistance that makes the spell prevent no additional damage also gives no rune. Storing a rune does not consume the spell's extra-damage benefit.
Recovered Insight. During a Short Rest, expend all three stored runes to recover one expended 1st-level spell slot. The slot must actually be expended; this cannot create extra slots or restore a higher-level slot. This recovery is separate from Arcane Recovery. If you have no expended 1st-level slot, keep the runes.
Steve has Absorb Elements in his spellbook. Its free item casts remain available without preparation while uses remain. See the VikingWorld Absorb Elements ruling for the full matching-element spell release rule, including shared damage rolls affecting all targets.