This is a work of ineffable evil—meat and drink to priests of that alignment. To fully consume the contents requires 10 days of study, but once this has been accomplished, the evil priest gains one point of Willpower and 50,000 experience points.
Priests neither good nor evil who read the book either lose 10,000 to 40,000 (1d4 x 10,000) experience points or become evil without benefit from the book; there is a 50% chance for either. Good priests perusing the pages of the unspeakable book of vile darkness will have to make a successful Normal save or die; and if they do not die they must make a successful Mental save or become permanently insane. In the latter event, even if the save is successful, the priest loses 250,000 experience points, less 10,000 for each point of Willpower he has (minimum loss is 10,000 if WP is 24 or higher).
Other characters of good alignment suffer 10d6 points of damage from handling the tome, and if they look inside, there is an 80% chance a night hag will attack the character that night. Nonevil neutral characters suffer 5d8 points of damage from handling the book, and reading its pages requires a successful Mental save or become evil, immediately seeking out an evil priest to confirm their new alignment (see Book of Exalted Deeds for other details). |