Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks Mod Guide
What is Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks all about?
Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks is a magic-focused mod for Minecraft, designed to bring the classic RPG spellcasting experience to the game. It introduces a range of new spells, magical items, structures, and enemies, all centered around the theme of spellcasting and magic.
Here's a video version...
What's great about it?
- Diverse Spells: Over 80 upgradable spells to discover and use.
- Magical Items and Equipment: Includes a weapon imbuement system and an armor upgrade system with 11 unique wizard armor sets.
- New Structures and Enemies: Explore seven randomly generated structures and face six new enemies and a new boss.
- Compatibility: Out-of-the-box support for several popular mods like JEI, Apotheosis, and Curios.
- Extensive Configuration Options: Customize the mod to suit your playstyle with detailed world configuration options.
What is the goal of Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
The ultimate goal in Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks is to become a powerful wizard by mastering spells, upgrading your equipment, and defeating formidable enemies. The end-game features include crafting powerful legendary spellbooks, obtaining rare magical artifacts, and conquering challenging dungeons and bosses.
What are the end-game features worth going through the mod to get to?
- Legendary Spellbooks: These can hold the most powerful spells and provide significant combat advantages.
- Unique Armor Sets: Late-game armor sets not only provide substantial protection but also boost specific types of spell power by up to 42%.
- Defeating the Dead King: A challenging boss fight that rewards you with rare items, including the blood staff with five imbued spells.
- Arcane Anvil: A late-game workstation that allows you to bind spells to weapons and upgrade your gear.
Some of the later game spells are crazy. Want to fly with magical elytra? Destroy your enemies with magic missiles? Summon a Wall of Fire? You came to the right place.
Play Iron's Spells & Spellbooks on a Mod Pack with Friends
You can have a server running in just a few minutes, with one-click install of modpacks like Valhelsia 5 and ATM9 that include Iron's in them! There's a bigger list of mod packs including this mod near the end of the post.
See my full list of Minecraft Server Providers with in depth reviews here.
How do you get started with Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks?
Very First Things to Do
Craft the Iron's Guidebook with a book and some arcane essence.
The Iron's Spells guidebook is actually a Patchouli book (a mod for in-game documentation), which can make recipe requirements complicated in some modpack configurations. Some versions of this mod and certain modpacks may not allow the guidebook to be crafted.
If you find yourself unable to craft it, you can obtain one using commands. The command syntax differs depending on your Minecraft version:
- For Minecraft 1.21+ (uses square brackets):
/give @p patchouli:guide_book[patchouli:book="irons_spellbooks:iss_guide_book"] - For earlier versions like 1.20.1 (uses curly braces):
/give @p patchouli:guide_book{"patchouli:book":"irons_spellbooks:iss_guide_book"}
The difference between square brackets [] and curly braces {} is important - Minecraft 1.21 changed the NBT data syntax for commands. If one command doesn't work, try the other based on your version. You can also use the autocomplete feature when typing the command to help determine the correct syntax for your version.
It has everything you need to know while in-game. You don't have arcane Essence? Yeah, you'll just need to go find some. In the early game of Iron's you just need to go exploring and looting. Search in loot chests around the world, and especially in structures added by the mod.
Explore and Gather - Start by exploring your world to find magical scrolls, Arcane Essence, and Ink. These can be found in chests within new structures or by defeating magical enemies like Cryomancers, Pyromancers, Apothecarists, and Necromancers. If you're really lucky, you may find some spell books.
A few of these mobs are friendly and you can trade with them! Bring emeralds.
While you can cast these found spells directly and they won't consume any mana, they'll be consumed. You're better off saving them to put in a spell book from where they can be used repeatedly.
Here's a Pyromancer's tower
And it's inhabitant...
Here's their chest. The best way to find Iron's loot is in these towers around the world, and by killing the owner!
Once you find some arcane essence, you can start crafting.
Craft Basic Equipment - Use Arcane Essence to craft the Wandering Magician armor set. This armor provides additional mana, which is crucial for spellcasting.
Set Up Workstations - Craft an inscription table to add spells from scrolls to your spellbook.
Make a spell book to store your found scrolls in, and use that to cast the spells.
Once you have a spell book, right click with it in your main hand to equip it. If you are using a curios mod, the book will become equipped in the curios slot. Otherwise, the book will remain in your inventory.
You can cast the active spell using the V key, or you can get a staff which allows you to cast spells by right clicking with the staff, allowing better control. You can swap between scrolls with the "R" key to open the spell selection scroll wheel.
As you start casting spells, you'll notice that you will quickly run out of mana. The different magician armor sets will provide you with more max mana, allowing you to cast more spells without regenerating.
Things to do mid game
Are you ready to craft your own scrolls?
Craft a scroll forge to create new scrolls using paper, ink, and special items corresponding to each spell class.
An Alchemists Cauldron will turn found scrolls into Ink, allows you to get blood vials, and allows you to craft potions.
Collect Scrolls and Add to Spellbooks
Find scrolls in dungeons or craft them, then add these scrolls to your spellbooks using the inscription table. Start with common spells and gradually upgrade to more powerful ones.
Upgrade Your Gear
As you progress, upgrade your armor and weapons using the Arcane Anvil. Bind powerful spells to your weapons and enhance your spellbooks and armor with upgrade orbs.
Schools of Magic in Iron's Spells and Spellbooks
Each magical spell belongs to a school of magic, encapsulating a theme both visually and functionally. Each school has a Focus: a representative item used as a crafting ingredient, and each school can be empowered by specific gear, allowing you to become a powerful master of a single school or mix and match to become a jack of all trades.
Fire School
The Fire school, with a Blaze Rod as its Focus, is centered around damage and damage over time. Spells like Blaze Storm and Fireball demonstrate its raw destructive power, setting creatures and blocks ablaze with intense heat.
Ice School
The Ice school, focused on a Frozen Bone, combines offensive and defensive strategies with spells like Frostbolt and Ice Shard that deal damage while slowing or immobilizing enemies, giving you control over the battlefield.
Lightning School
Centered around a Bottle o’ Lightning, the Lightning school specializes in concentrated damage. Spells such as Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning deliver high-damage attacks in focused bursts, perfect for dealing with tough enemies quickly.
Ice School
The Holy school, with the Divine Pearl as its Focus, is dedicated to support, healing, and buffing allies. Spells like Healing Light and Blessing provide crucial aid to yourself and your team, enhancing survivability and strength.
Ender School
The Ender school, using an Ender Pearl as its Focus, offers a versatile range of spells from damage to utility to mobility. Arcane Missile and Blink exemplify its arcane and mystical nature, offering a broad set of tools for various situations.
Blood School
The Blood school, themed around a Blood Vial, delves into necromancy, wither, and blood magic, with spells like Blood Sacrifice and Wither Curse focusing on damage that buffs the caster, often at a cost to themselves.
Evocation School
Evocation, with an Emerald as its Focus, is all about magical trickery and conjuration, with spells such as Summon Elemental and Mirror Image covering offensive, defensive, and utility needs, perfect for those who want a bit of everything.
Nature School
Focused on a Poisonous Potato, the Nature school emphasizes debuffs and damage. Poison Ivy and Entangle are prime examples of its ability to weaken enemies with various debuffs and finish them off with potent attacks.
Eldritch School
The Eldritch school, unlike the others, is an ancient and powerful form of magic that cannot be immediately crafted or cast. You need to piece together shreds of ancient Eldritch manuscripts using Ancient Knowledge Fragments and an Echo Shard to craft a complete Eldritch Manuscript. Upon restoring and consuming a manuscript, you learn a single Eldritch spell, enabling its crafting and casting with the Echo Shard as the Focus.
Attempting to learn Eldritch spells without the proper knowledge results in the error, "You can't understand this spell..." Eldritch spells such as Eldritch Blast and Forbidden Knowledge offer unique and formidable abilities, making the arduous process of learning them worthwhile.
Items in Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
Key Items and Their Uses:
Arcane Essence - Essential for almost all new crafting recipes, found in magical structures and dropped by magical enemies.
Scrolls: Contain spells that can be cast or added to spellbooks via the inscription table. Many scrolls can be crafted on a Scroll Forge with Ink and a variety of other ingredients. Some spells must be found.
Spellbooks Many spell books can be crafted from a variety of materials, others are found in dungeons, or dropped by enemies.
Inks: Common Ink, Uncommon Ink, Rare Ink, Epic Ink, Legendary Ink. They're used used to craft scrolls of different rarities. They can be found in magical structures or crafted using the Alchemist's Cauldron.
Special Items:
Examples: Blaze Rod for fire spells, Frozen Bone for ice spells, Bottle of Lightning for lightning spells.
Use: Required for crafting specific types of spells.
Rings and Necklaces:
Examples: Emerald Stone Plate Ring, Firewood Ring, Frost Wood Ring, Poison Water Ring, Ring of Expediency, Ring of Recovery, Silver Ring, Ring of Mana, Affinity Rings.
Use: Provide various bonuses like increased XP drops, resistance to specific damage types, cooldown reduction, and additional mana.
Types: Flimsy Journal, Ironbound Tome, Rotten Spellbook, Apprentice Spellbook, Blaze Instruction Manual, Villager Bible, Enchanted Spellbook, Dragon Skin Spellbook, Ancient Codex.
Use: Store and use spells without consuming the scrolls.
Mobs in Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
- Cryomancer:
- Description: Uses ice spells to attack.
- Tips: Use fire spells to counter its ice abilities and exploit its weakness to fire.
- Pyromancer:
- Description: Uses fire spells to attack.
- Tips: Use water or ice spells to mitigate the fire damage and attack safely from a distance.
- Necromancer:
- Description: Uses various spells and can summon undead minions.
- Tips: Be prepared for surprise attacks and summon spells. High mobility and burst damage can help take it down quickly.
- Ancient Knight:
- Description: A powerful warrior found in ancient battlegrounds.
- Tips: Requires strong equipment to defeat. Use spells and hit-and-run tactics to avoid its powerful attacks.
Bosses in Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
- Dead King:
- Description: Found in the Catacombs, uses powerful blood spells and has multiple phases.
- Tips: Bring enchanted diamond or netherite gear. Be prepared for a tough fight with multiple phases, and use powerful spells and potions to maintain health and mana.
Structures in Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
- Mountain Tower:
- Biome: Mountainous and snowy biomes.
- Contents: Chests with loot, inscription table, and hostile cryomancers.
- Secrets: Two secret cellars accessible through trap doors on the ground floor.
- Pyromancer Tower
- Biome, Plains and forests
- Contains a Pyromancer who will trade with you (unless you steal), and loots in Forests
- Mangrove Huts:
- Biome: Swampy biomes.
- Contents: Chests and barrels with loot, a friendly Apothecarist, and a secret room accessed from the roof.
- Evoker Fort:
- Biome: Forests, plains, deserts, and savannas.
- Contents: Home to villagers, hostile mobs, and Archer Walkers, with chests, barrels, and an inscription table.
- Secrets: Hidden passage to a cellar below the stairs.
- Catacombs Dungeon:
- Description: A randomly generated stronghold of the Dead King, filled with hostile mobs and traps.
- Contents: Necromancer mobs, chests, barrels, and hidden rooms.
- Secrets: Tough traps and hidden chests with valuable loot.
- Ancient Battleground:
- Dimension: Nether.
- Contents: Netherite armor piles, Cinder Essence, and ancient debris.
- Secrets: Reanimate powerful ancient knights by breaking remains with a diamond pickaxe.
Mod Versions and Loaders
Supported Minecraft Versions:
- 1.20.1: Latest version with full support and features.
- 1.19.2: Active support with the latest updates.
- 1.18.2: Older version, still supported but not the latest updates.
Supported Mod Loaders:
- Forge: Primary mod loader.
- NeoForge: Also supported for compatibility.
Popular Modpacks Including Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
- All the Mods 9 (ATM9) and ATM9 No Frills
- Valhelsia 5
- Magic n' Dungeons
- Another Quality Modpack 3 - AQM3
- Another RPG Pack [FORGE]
- DarkRPG Forge - RPG, Quest, Vampires, Magic, Online Adventure
- DawnCraft - Echoes of Legends
External Resources
- CurseForge page for Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks
- Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks on Modrinth
- Official Wiki for Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks