Spell Tomes is the latest official Oblivion mod (I can't call them plug-ins…makes them sound too much like room deodorizers) from those lovely folks over at Bethesda. Here's the good news: it's hella cheap. A mere 80 Microsoft points or ninety-nine American cents will add this little modification to your game, depending on your platform of choice. The bad news is that if you're one of those instant gratification types, your head will explode from frustration shortly after downloading the thing.

The Spell Tomes mod randomly adds spell books to the loot that you find as you raid caves and mines, and when I say "random," I ain't kidding. I completely gutted five dungeons before stumbling across my first book, which contained a fairly low-powered Hush spell. Though unremarkable looking, the books contain spells not found in the original game, and many combine several different spell effects. To learn them, all your character has to do is read the book, and you can even sell it afterwards, if you like. (Psst, hey, Beth? Make us a mod that lets us collect them all and put them on a bookshelf. Please? If they have numbers on the spine, we'll spend weeks collecting them all and putting them in proper order, I assure you. Talk about extending play life!) Though so far I've only found low-level spells that were relatively useless to my godlike Breton (maxed out intelligence and willpower, with 125% resistance to magic, thank you), rest assured that ballsier magicks exist—you just have to be patient or lucky enough to find them. Preferably both.

Installing the Spell Tomes mod is not going to make you feel like you're playing a brand spankin' new version of Oblivion, as you'll likely play for several hours before finding your first volume, but it does provide a soupcon (look it up) of freshness and really, the more loot in the game, the better, right?

-Maj1013