Item:Ability tome

An Ability Tome is a rare and powerful book that permanently grants an inherent bonus to one or all of a character's ability scores.

Ability tomes come in seven varieties - one for each Ability, plus one for all abilities:
 * Tome of Gainful Exercise (Strength)
 * Tome of Quickness in Action (Dexterity)
 * Tome of Bodily Health (Constitution)
 * Tome of Clear Thought (Intelligence)
 * Tome of Understanding (Wisdom)
 * Tome of Leadership and Influence (Charisma)
 * Supreme Tome (All abilities)

Ability tomes come in the range of +1 to +7.

Ability tomes are consumed when used - the book will disappear and an inherent bonus will permanently be added to the appropriate ability on the character's character sheet.

Only the highest value + for a given ability tome will affect your character - the game will not even allow you to use a second tome if you have already consumed one of an equal or greater bonus. If you consume a higher value tome after you have consumed a lower value tome (such as +2 after a +1), the higher value will replace the lower value. Supreme tomes may be consumed if at least one existing value is lower than the supreme tome's value.

Ability tomes can come in unbound (mostly from normal treasure), Bound to Character (mostly from raids), and Bound to Account (mostly from the DDO store) variants. Upgrade tomes only comes as Bound to Account.

Supreme Tomes are available from the DDO Store only. Supreme Tomes are Bound to Account.

Since Update 16, Upgrade Tomes are available in game and from the DDO Store. Upgrade tomes were always bound to account (even if they're replacing an unbound or BtC tome when generated), but since Update 19 they now follow the same bind rules as other tomes (unbound in random gen chests, BtC in Raid chests). Currently +1, +2, and +3 tomes of all types and +1→+2 and +2→+3 upgrade tomes of all types are permanently available in the store, with +4 and +3→+4 upgrade tomes available during special promotions. +1 and +2 supreme tomes come as a single book, while supreme upgrade "tomes" actually come as a set of six appropriate tomes which are all Bound to Account. You can't buy the supreme upgrade tome with a toon which has already used one of the tomes. In that case you have to switch to another toon, buy the supreme update tomes and trade them via the shared account bank (confirmation needed for +3 tomes; +4 supreme upgrade tomes tested at 03.10.2013 and confirmed!).

Ability tome inherent bonuses persist through reincarnation.

Drop locations
Update 19 changed these values in unknown ways - at least the Ascension Chamber raid's tomes were reduced by one level.

See also:

Minimum level
Since Update 28, Patch 1, all newly acquired tomes have a minimum level of 1. However, the pluses will be applied according to the following table:
 * +1 Tomes will be applied at level 3 and higher
 * +2 Tomes will be applied at level 7 and higher
 * +3 Tomes will be applied at level 11 and higher
 * +4 Tomes will be applied at level 15 and higher
 * +5 Tomes will be applied at level 19 and higher
 * +6 Tomes will be applied at level 23 and higher
 * +7 Tomes will be applied at level 27 and higher

Note that the effects of a tome don't apply until after you use the tome - if, for example, you use a +2 INT tome at level 7, you will have an additional skill point at level-up 8 and beyond. Intelligence ability bonuses to skill points from a tome are effectively not retroactive, but other tome bonuses such as CON bonus to HP effectively are since they do not depend on the level you obtained the ability score.

After Reincarnation (Lesser, Greater, or True), inherent bonuses from tomes will be reapplied one point at a time at the appropriate levels above (i.e., a consumed +3 tome will have one point applied at L3, a second point at L7, and the third point at L11). Since the effect applies immediately at the start of leveling up, you get that additional skill point from (for example) a +2 INT tome at level 7 instead of waiting to level 8 as you did when you actually used the tome.