Books

A Book Merchant in Warband. Books can be very useful in the Mount&Blade series. Their primary purpose is to give boosts to your skills or attributes without having to level up. You can purchase them from Book Merchants that are found in taverns. Reference books provide the bonus by simply being in your inventory. You do not have to read them, but losing the book will result in losing the bonus. Other books must be read, but the bonus is permanent. In order to read a book, go to the camp menu and choose "take an action". From there, there is an option to "select a book to read". Choosing that will allow you to pick one of the books in your inventory to read. From then on until you finish the book or switch books, you will slowly read the book while camping or staying in a town or village. Once the book is finished, you will receive a boost to a certain skill or attribute. These types of books require approximately 143 hours to read. Bonuses can't pass the 10 level limit of skills, so make sure you only level up to 9 in the skills for books you intend to read or keep as a reference. Bonuses of reference books don't stack and you can only read each book type once, although if you import a character who has read a book in a previous game, you can re-read the same book again in the new game. It is important to remember that books can be taken from you if you lose a battle and that they can never be replaced if this happens. The only way to get a book back is if more than one copy existed at the beginning of the game (by starting as a University Student), if more than one Book Merchant has a copy of that book, or you may fight the party that took your book. Contents 1 Book Merchant 2 Mount&Blade Books 3 With Fire & Sword 4 Viking Conquest Book Merchant[] Book Merchants are educated men peddling books for those who wish to better themselves. You can find them in taverns. Books are expensive, but often well worth the benefit. Their inventories never update and are persistent with each individual merchant. Mount&Blade Books[] Common between both Mount&Blade and Warband, the following books may be found. All books have a weight of 2.0. Book INT Bonus Bonus Type Base Value The Life of Alixenus the Great 7 +1 Leadership Permanent 4200 Rhetorica ad Herennium 8 +1 Persuasion Permanent 5000 On the Art of Fighting with Swords 9 +1 Weapon Master Permanent 4200 De Re Militari 9 +1 Tactics Permanent 4000 Essays on Logic 10 +1 Intelligence Permanent 2900 A Treatise on the Value of Things 11 +1 Trade Permanent 3100 Method of Mechanical Theorems 12 +1 Engineer Permanent 4000 Manual of Arms - +1 Trainer Inventory 3500 The Book of Healing - +1 Wound Treatment Inventory 3500 The Great Book of Surgery - +1 Surgery Inventory 3500 With Fire & Sword[] In With Fire & Sword, books are almost exactly the same, but most have different names. They increase the same skill sets and are sold from the same book merchants. The names of the authors, based on real people, were also added. Note that the authors listed in the table below are the ones given in the game and are accurate. While other books with similar names may have been written by other authors (such as The Art of War by Sun Tzu), their works are not featured in With Fire & Sword. Book Author INT Bonus Bonus Type Base Value Maxims of State Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu 7 +1 Leadership Permanent 4200 Rhetoric of Philipp Melanchthon Philipp Melanchthon 8 +1 Persuasion Permanent 5000 On the Art of Fighting with Swords Antonio Lovino 9 +1 Weapon Master Permanent 4200 De Re Militari Vegetius 9 +1 Tactics Permanent 4000 A Grammatical Outline of the Russian Language Juraj Krizanic 10 +1 Intelligence Permanent 2900 A Discourse of Trade from England unto the East Indies Thomas Mun 11 +1 Trade Permanent 3100 Geometry Rene Descartes 12 +1 Engineer Permanent 4000 Art of War Niccolo Machiavelli - +1 Trainer Inventory 3500 Healing Adam Olearius - +1 Wound Treatment Inventory 3500 On Surgery and Instruments Abu al-Kasim - +1 Surgery Inventory 3500 Viking Conquest[] In Viking Conquest, books have the same appearance in the inventory and level the same skills as in Warband, however all but one of the books have different names. Please note that in order to be able to use the books (apart from the Intelligence requirement that some have), you will also need to know how to read. The price for learning is 4000 penningas, and you can learn in a monastery (if character does not already know). You can verify this in the camp menu. Book INT Bonus Bonus Type Base Value The Life of Alexander the Great 7 +1 Leadership Permanent 4200 Rhetorica ad Herennium 8 +1 Persuasion Permanent 5000 Constitution of Sparta, of Xenophon 9 +1 Weapon Master Permanent 4200 History of the Peloponnesian War, of Thucydides 9 +1 Tactics Permanent 4000 Paedeia 10 +1 Intelligence Permanent 2900 Oeconomica, of Aristotle 11 +1 Trade Permanent 3100 De architectura, of Vitrivius 12 +1 Engineer Permanent 4000 Epitoma Rei Militaris - +1 Trainer Inventory 3500 De Materia Medica, of Dioscorides - +1 Wound Treatment Inventory 3500 Synopsis of Aelius Galenus - +1 Surgery Inventory 3500