Twenty four recipes run off the 
Writing Desk, which is more than any other bench in Graveyard Keeper 2. Every sheet of paper, every book, every 
Story and all fourteen prayers come off this one table.
It is also the bench people get stuck at. Each recipe carries a Book writing requirement, they run from one to sixteen, and nothing on screen tells you how to get past thirteen.
Four planks, and it is the first bench worth building
The desk is four Wooden Plank, six Bronze Nails and one Polished Bronze, behind Writing Basic at 
5 and 
5, a root node with no prerequisite at all.
It needs no tool. The desk asks for your hands rather than an item, so unlike an anvil or a furnace there is nothing to forget to carry.
The ladder, rung by rung
At one you can turn a pig skin into a 
Leather Scroll and a scroll into six 
Clean Paper. At two the desk opens up properly: 
Ink from Ash, Water and 
Melted Fat, the 
Blank Softcover Notebook, the 
Primer and 
Science Kit I.
Three gives the 
Dictionary and four gives Science Kit II. Five is the first prayer and 
Music Notes, six is the Story itself, and seven and eight improve stories into their better grades.
A Basic Prayer sits at five and takes a Story. The Story recipe sits at six. So the first prayer on the list asks for an ingredient one rung above where it is, which is the wall most people hit.
The Tavern sells Story from its first tier, ten at a time, so the gap is a shopping trip rather than a grind.
Eight covers the Faith and Money prayers and the prayers for Repose and Storms. Ten adds the Combo, Combat and Harvest prayers and the Prayer for Old God, which is the biggest earner in the game.
Then it jumps. Prayer for Excellence and Prayer for Likes want fourteen, and the Hypno Prayer wants sixteen.
Talent points alone cap you at five
Book writing is three numbers added together: the levels you buy, every matching tool you are carrying, and any perk that names the recipe. Five level nodes exist and each gives one, so points alone stop at five.
The sum runs over every tool you hold that feeds the track, and books and talismans are different kinds of tool, so one of each stacks. A 
Glossary is four and a 
Golden Talisman is four.
The cheap end matters more. A 
Bronze Talisman is two Bronze Details at the 
Jewelry Table and gives one, which is the least effort for a point of mastery anywhere in the game.
The Primer is one, the Dictionary two and the Glossary four, and the same ladder runs through the talismans. The Glossary is made at the 
Printing Press rather than the desk, and it wants a 
Blank Hardcover Notebook.
Without Scribe you stop at thirteen
Two perks in the yellow tree add four each. Scribe gives four whenever you work at the desk, and Voice of Faith gives four more when what you are writing is a sermon.
Five bought levels plus a Glossary and a Golden Talisman comes to thirteen. Prayer for Excellence and Prayer for Likes need fourteen and the Hypno Prayer needs sixteen, so without a perk the last three are out of reach however long you play.
Scribe alone takes that thirteen to seventeen and clears all of them. It is three talent points from the root of the tree, through Paper maker.
With both perks a sermon is written at twenty one, which is well past the last lock. That headroom is not wasted either, because the prayers come out at a grade and the grade decides how large a sermon the writing can carry.
Graveyard Keeper 2 Writing Desk FAQ
How do you unlock the Writing Desk?
Writing Basic, a root node on the Theology tab at 5 red and 5 green with no prerequisite. The desk then costs four Wooden Plank, six Bronze Nails and one Polished Bronze.
What mastery does the Writing Desk need?
Book writing, and every recipe has its own requirement. They run from 1 for paper up to 16 for the Hypno Prayer, with the first prayer at 5 and the Story at 6.
Why can I not write a prayer when I have the recipe?
A Basic Prayer needs a Story and sits one rung below the Story recipe, so you can see the prayer before you can write its ingredient. The Tavern sells Stories from its first tier.
How do you raise Book writing mastery?
Five level nodes at one each, plus every book and talisman you carry, plus perks. Books and talismans are different tools so they stack, and a Bronze Talisman is two Bronze Details for one point.
What is the highest Book writing you can reach?
Twenty one on a sermon: five from levels, eight from a Glossary and a Golden Talisman together, and four each from Scribe and Voice of Faith.
Do I need a tool to use the Writing Desk?
No. It asks for your hands rather than an item, so nothing can be missing. The books and talismans are there to raise mastery, not to operate it.
Crafted Here
Unlocked By
More Buildings
Alchemy Tools I
Alchemy Tools II
Alchemy Workbench
Apple Tree
Combat buildArcher Tower I
Combat buildArcher Tower II
