On the most part of Faerun, women are considered as equals of the man. They are mages, warriors, nobles of influence, whatever they wish and can be.
However, you will still find less exemples of female adventurers and warriors simply because it is a rude lifestyle that less women are willing to embrace than males. Still, in no book there is mentionned any downlooking of their abilities or segregation in a profession, outside of some local cultures.
There are several notable exemples of women having reached the top ranks of almost every "profession": Alustriel is one of the most powerful mages, the Simbule a ruling queen, Danica a monk able to survive the fall of a 300m cliff with no more than few scratches, Cattie-Brie an exceptionnal archer with unrivaled precision, there is a female dwarf which ends to lead the whole clergy a Moradin with not a single contest of their male counterpart... and so on.
Now, there are a few exceptions due to local cultures: - Barbarians don't admit women in the fightning ranks. Men fights, women do the chores. - You will very rarely see a female drow warrior. Because "warrior" is a position that is good for "lowly males", not females, which are rather trained to be Piestresses. (*) ... and some other I don't quite remember
But almost anywhere on the "civilized" parts of Faerun, there is not much obstacles for a woman to become what she wants, except from her parent's expectations.
(*) Yes, I know, there is a "Female Fighter Guild" in BG2. And you know what? That's just stupid. Who friggin would want her daughter go do the same training that lowly males instead of have her trained in the glory of Lolth, and support her house's position as a full-fledged Priestress of the Spider Queen? If a drow female would say she would become a warrior instead of a priestress, it would be seen as an insult to Lolth, and the female, caught, tortured, killed, and have her corpse exposed as an exemple. So a "Female Fighter Guild" ? It doesn't have any sense to my eyes.
Btw, another little tidbit on Bards. In the Complete Adventurer 3.5 book there is the Fochlucan Lyrist Prestige class that is based on the 1e Bard.
It's a Bard/Rogue/Druid combination that has full BAB, bardsong progression, bard spellcasting, and Druid spellcasting. Minimum character level to enter. Would post requirements but I don't think I'm able to.
character looks like Bard 6/Rogue 2/Druid 2/Fochlucan Lyrist 10.
As for another question:
Is magic actually categorized innately or do scholars classify the spell once it's been officially codified? Possibly explaining an in universe reason for Fear being Necromancy spell in 3.5 but illusion in 5e. Also why Cure wounds is a necromancy spell in 2e but a Conjuration spell in 3.5/5e?
Question! Is there anymore information on the net about Abdel Adrian [Main_Char] besides whats on the wikia. Im thinking of maybe doing a RP of him on my next play though and wanted to know as much as i could about him. I know there are books but I dont have them .
Is magic actually categorized innately or do scholars classify the spell once it's been officially codified? Possibly explaining an in universe reason for Fear being Necromancy spell in 3.5 but illusion in 5e. Also why Cure wounds is a necromancy spell in 2e but a Conjuration spell in 3.5/5e?
That's normaly innate. Each spell is based on some mechanics that need to be learnt prior the spell... the sum of common or related mechanics form a "school".
A specialist mage concentrate on learning mechanics of a school more precisely than all other, which makes him in return more easy for him to memorize spells of the based school, but this way, he also build a difficulty to correctly graps the mechanics of the opposing school, and thus, to memorize the spells of this school
There is no RP explanation to the change of school of some spells. It's a balance change, not a roleplay one... the creators of the rulebook wanted to make the necromancy a school that if truly related to evil things, and not to mundamne things, so they changed the school of about every spell that was not evil enough.
Question! Is there anymore information on the net about Abdel Adrian [Main_Char] besides whats on the wikia. Im thinking of maybe doing a RP of him on my next play though and wanted to know as much as i could about him. I know there are books but I dont have them .
The kit description for the new Priest of Tyr kit in 2.0 mentions that Tyr is a powerful god that is a part of the "Triad" which is described as a trio of lawful good gods that have teamed up. It fails to mention who the other two gods are. So... Who are they?
The kit description for the new Priest of Tyr kit in 2.0 mentions that Tyr is a powerful god that is a part of the "Triad" which is described as a trio of lawful good gods that have teamed up. It fails to mention who the other two gods are. So... Who are they?
Tyr, god of Justice; Torm, god of Honor; Ilmater, god of Suffering. Tyr and Ilmater are greater deities, Torm is an intermediate deity. They are all Lawful Good.
The kit description for the new Priest of Tyr kit in 2.0 mentions that Tyr is a powerful god that is a part of the "Triad" which is described as a trio of lawful good gods that have teamed up. It fails to mention who the other two gods are. So... Who are they?
They are Torm and Ilmater. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyr_(Forgotten_Realms): "Tyr's allegiances are also defined: "Torm and Ilmater serve Tyr, and worshippers and priests do the will of this Triad willingly."
These gods, like any other, have influence over a vast portfolio. Ilmater is not only the god of suffering (whom sick people would send their prayers to), but also sacrifice as @illathid pointed out, martyrdom for the sake of others, endurance against the oppressor, to inspire and encourage the just and the brave to stand up for what it is right and so on. Torm for example is the god of Honor, but also the god of duty, loyalty and all "good" aspect related to servitude (a knight in charge of protecting a LG king would very likely be a worshiper of Torm).
Illmater is not suffering, but martyrdom. That's not exactly the same. He's the god who help those who are oppressed, that support people sacrifying themselves for the sake of others, and things like that.
The god of suffering is Loviatar.
You thought drows knew the art of torture the best? Heh, you have read too much of Salvatore's books, then. Believe me, I prefer be in the hands of the drows than in the hands of a priestress of Maiden of Pain... they could give some lessons on the topic to the Spider Queen herself
And you want the worst of the worst? Ask for the -crintri- priestress of Loviatar in Dambrath... you can miss them... beautiful half-drowess all dressed in revealing black leather with a barbed whips attached to their hips... they'll slowly detach your skin from your flesh with them, you'll never doubt anymore that they are the best in their art.
I have a question. When a blackguard makes a deal with a demon/fiend/any other creature to get power, does he loose his soul? Is this thing part of the deal?
Ciao @Aedan ! Lorewise, it is not specified whether a blackguard loses his/her soul after making a pact with his/her patron, at least not to my knowledge. Maybe someone can correct me on this. I think it's really up to the DM and the alignment of the creature granting the powers. Devils (LE) are known to be bound by contracts and pacts, so if the blackguard strikes a pact with a devil it would be understandable the devil demand something in return. If the creature (or the blackguard) is instead CE, any pacts would probably mean nothing, or be twisted to the advantage of one or the other party involved. After all, even without a pact, any evil deity/fiend would still benefit from having an additional followed to bring forth their plans. So I think it's really up to the DM and the player.
Edit @Lord_Tansheron : I was not trying to be obnoxious in my previous reply, I simply did not catch the irony in your post. I'm sorry if I came out as annoying.
This is not precised, however, you must under that fiends don't give a damn about anything but one: Power. And souls are the main source of power for them. To be able to seal a pact with a fiend and earn power from it without loosing his soul to him at his death, a mortal would have to need to provide another source of Power to the fiend.
For exemple, with a Devil, he could make a contract saying he will have to steal a powerful artifact of the good, and hand it to the devil to subvert, before his death time. Or, with a Demon, he could capture and offer as sacrifice twenty virgins daughters of paladins for the demon to steal their souls (only work with demons, devils won't take a soul without a willing contract, that's part of Asmodeus pact with the deities)
Things like that are possible, the fiend just have to feel he's on the winning side of the bargain in terms of power (he must get more power than the ones he will provide to the mortal) and know that those bargains are hard to negociate: The fiend will always attempt to screw the mortal during the deal in every way possible.
Io is only the highest ranked deity withing the draconic pantheon, the same way Lolth is the highest ranked deity of the drow pantheon, Corellion is the highest ranked deity of the elven pantheon, and Moradin the highest ranked deity of the dwarf pantheon... and so on
Ao is -above- all pantheons, above all gods. As per his nickname "the OverGod"
The "being of light"? As far as I remember, this is an old pun of the rulebooks.... the "being of light" is insinuated as being the Dungeon Master. "Ao only anwers the being of light" means: Ao will never answer to anything PC or NPC will do or ask... Ao only answers to the Dungeon Master and no one else.
This is a way to tell the final autority in the Realms is the DM, and also a way to tell that it is useless to seek for an entity superior to Ao within the Realms.
I recall reading there is an overpower for the draconic pantheon named Io or something. What is known about this guy?
I heard once that Ao has a superior known only as the "Being of Light". Who is this dude?
Is there an overpower for every pantheon?
No idea about the first question. Sorry.
About Ao's Master, it might be a different deity, since he/she treats Ao almost like a child, asking how is little creation is doing or something similar. And Ao replies addressing the being as "Master" IIRC. Personally, I like to think that the "Master" is the Dungeon Master, a Deadpool-style breaking of the fourth wall. Ao acknowledging that he is jsut a puppet at the order of a superior being, the one that writes the book and the ones that read it. I've always felt it was such a cool theory.
About the overpower for every pantheon, now that's an exceptional question. I would bet against it. No, because during the ToT we know that all pantheons were cast down, not only human's. Tiamat (dragons) appeared in Chessenta if I'm not mistaken. Lolth (drows) appeared in Menzoberranzan, Clangeddin (dvarves) and Labelas (elves) got into a fight, and Labelas cheated for the win. I had good money on Clangeddin. So, it appears that all deity (with very few exceptions) were cast down by Ao, i.e., he seems like the only overdeity, or rather, the only one with enough power to be feared and respected throughout pantheons of different races.
@Moradin, @Moonheart You two seem to be competing for who can give the best answers here. It is nice that we have some good lore experts to answer our questions!
Or, with a Demon, he could capture and offer as sacrifice twenty virgins daughters of paladins for the demon to steal their souls (only work with demons, devils won't take a soul without a willing contract, that's part of Asmodeus pact with the deities)
Things like that are possible, the fiend just have to feel he's on the winning side of the bargain in terms of power (he must get more power than the ones he will provide to the mortal) and know that those bargains are hard to negociate: The fiend will always attempt to screw the mortal during the deal in every way possible.
Oh man... I read "sacrifice twenty virgin daugthers of a paladin".
No way I could successfully make a deal with a demon with this level of concentration.
@Tresset there is someone Ao serves that he calls "Master".
@Moradin, @Moonheart You two seem to be competing for who can give the best answers here. It is nice that we have some good lore experts to answer our questions!
That's always a pleasure to know speak with other people that hold some knowledge about FR's lore It's difficult to know everything of such a large topic, so dispersed in a lot of book, sources, official or not.
I'm glad to read what the people write here. I'm learning some little things, and I hope I help other to do the same
@Grum, I think @AstroBryGuy hit on something important by reminding us that the original 1st edition "bard" was required to have druid levels. I'm not sure what Gygax was thinking with that, actually.
A bard is not required to worship Oghma. Many of them worship Oghma's "right hand" and "left hand" associated deities, Deneir and Milil, but many worship other deities, or are even Faithless. My guess is that Oghma makes it possible for all bards to cast healing and a few other divine spells through bardic skill, regardless of whether they are direct worshipers, because the welfare of all bards is one of the main duties of his portfolio. I base that idea on 3rd edition lore, not 1st or 2nd, although, as @AstroBryGuy says, 1st edition put the divine element of the bard's skills into the D&D lore system with that strange requirement of druid levels for the original class, which was presented in the appendices of the 1st edition AD&D Player's Handbook as an optional "prestige class".
You're missing the role of Celtic bards and Norse skalds as historians, rather than just itinerant minstrels and entertainers. Bards and skalds were chroniclers of oral history. They composed epic poems not only to amuse an audience, but to create a living memory of their people. This is the reasoning for the "bardic lore" ability. There's really no logical reason for an itinerant juggler to have such lore abilities, but there is for a trained chronicler.
The 1e Bard was based on the Celtic tradition, thus being somewhat trickster-y (Thief), plus fighting and lore/Druidism. This was where Legend/Lore arose from. They were also five different colleges for Bards. Fochluchan was one of them. These College names were also used for "The Instruments of the Bards", which were magic items in the original DMG.
On Werewolf Island there are a few cannons set up. What is up with that? I thought there wasn't any gunpowder in the forgotten realms. Anyone able to explain?
Actually, Clerics of Gond in 2e developed something called "Smoke Powder" which were used in wheel-lock guns, or "Gonnes". This was stated in "Forgotten Realms Adventures" book.
In an edition of Dragon Magazine it had some Drow names and their meanings, not sure which. I also have The Drow of the Underdark for 2e and 3e and they have a small dictionary of Drow language in the 2nd edition one as well as more names and what they mean in the 3rd edition one. If you want I could type out the words they have along with their translations but it would take me a while, would have to wait until the weekend. Also I'm unsure if transcribing the words would have any copyright issues.
FOR2, "Drow of the Underdark" has a selection of phrases in Drow. Whereas some races/peoples curse on the Dark, in the Drow, that's the opposite. Oloth plynn doss is "Light take you!" Because it's the Light to Drow that's a bad thing...
@Moradin@Moonheart
I have another question, if I may
Years ago, I played Neverwinter Nights 2 and its expansion, Mask of the Betrayer.
I remember that all the Hatrans wore a mask, but I cannot remember why.
Can you please tell me anything you know about this custom (origin, meaning, type of masks and so on)?
Thank you very much!
@Aedan
I remember reading the description of the prestige class on the FR campaign setting years ago. I did not remember the reason Rashemi witches wear masks, so I had to look it up. Apparently, it's to conceal their face when travelling outside of Rashemen. No sh*t... http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Hathran. Lorewise, it makes more sense what I found here: http://www.realmshelps.net/magic/items/thayan.shtml
In short, Rashemi masks can be imbued with magical powers, be it True Seeing, Disguise self or other useful spells. Basically it should be able to hold any spell a regular helm would.
It is interesting to observe though, that Dynaheir does not wear a mask, likely because gnolls stripped it from her, but to my knowledge she never refers to the mask or makes any remark on wanting a new one. Strange woman.
Edit, from the bastion of Knowledge: http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8519
"[...] the more elaborate and Hathran-specific masks are often worn only within the borders of Rashemen by Hathran, as part of the sisterhood. Whereas, when travelling outside Rashemen and to other places across the Realms, the Hathran rely more on simple masks with only slight magical abilities, or just simply as means concealing their identities [...]"
Comments
However, you will still find less exemples of female adventurers and warriors simply because it is a rude lifestyle that less women are willing to embrace than males. Still, in no book there is mentionned any downlooking of their abilities or segregation in a profession, outside of some local cultures.
There are several notable exemples of women having reached the top ranks of almost every "profession": Alustriel is one of the most powerful mages, the Simbule a ruling queen, Danica a monk able to survive the fall of a 300m cliff with no more than few scratches, Cattie-Brie an exceptionnal archer with unrivaled precision, there is a female dwarf which ends to lead the whole clergy a Moradin with not a single contest of their male counterpart... and so on.
Now, there are a few exceptions due to local cultures:
- Barbarians don't admit women in the fightning ranks. Men fights, women do the chores.
- You will very rarely see a female drow warrior. Because "warrior" is a position that is good for "lowly males", not females, which are rather trained to be Piestresses. (*)
... and some other I don't quite remember
But almost anywhere on the "civilized" parts of Faerun, there is not much obstacles for a woman to become what she wants, except from her parent's expectations.
(*) Yes, I know, there is a "Female Fighter Guild" in BG2. And you know what? That's just stupid. Who friggin would want her daughter go do the same training that lowly males instead of have her trained in the glory of Lolth, and support her house's position as a full-fledged Priestress of the Spider Queen?
If a drow female would say she would become a warrior instead of a priestress, it would be seen as an insult to Lolth, and the female, caught, tortured, killed, and have her corpse exposed as an exemple.
So a "Female Fighter Guild" ? It doesn't have any sense to my eyes.
It's a Bard/Rogue/Druid combination that has full BAB, bardsong progression, bard spellcasting, and Druid spellcasting. Minimum character level to enter. Would post requirements but I don't think I'm able to.
character looks like Bard 6/Rogue 2/Druid 2/Fochlucan Lyrist 10.
As for another question:
Is magic actually categorized innately or do scholars classify the spell once it's been officially codified? Possibly explaining an in universe reason for Fear being Necromancy spell in 3.5 but illusion in 5e. Also why Cure wounds is a necromancy spell in 2e but a Conjuration spell in 3.5/5e?
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Abdel_Adrian
A specialist mage concentrate on learning mechanics of a school more precisely than all other, which makes him in return more easy for him to memorize spells of the based school, but this way, he also build a difficulty to correctly graps the mechanics of the opposing school, and thus, to memorize the spells of this school
There is no RP explanation to the change of school of some spells. It's a balance change, not a roleplay one... the creators of the rulebook wanted to make the necromancy a school that if truly related to evil things, and not to mundamne things, so they changed the school of about every spell that was not evil enough.
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6738
Read this and let the hate flow through you.
Tyr and Ilmater are greater deities, Torm is an intermediate deity. They are all Lawful Good.
Don't ask me which of the three play the role of Batman
Yeah, hm, I dunno. Catchy, but kind of a bummer there towards the end.
These gods, like any other, have influence over a vast portfolio. Ilmater is not only the god of suffering (whom sick people would send their prayers to), but also sacrifice as @illathid pointed out, martyrdom for the sake of others, endurance against the oppressor, to inspire and encourage the just and the brave to stand up for what it is right and so on. Torm for example is the god of Honor, but also the god of duty, loyalty and all "good" aspect related to servitude (a knight in charge of protecting a LG king would very likely be a worshiper of Torm).
Geez.
I suppose Justice. Honor. Sacrifice. would work.
The god of suffering is Loviatar.
You thought drows knew the art of torture the best? Heh, you have read too much of Salvatore's books, then.
Believe me, I prefer be in the hands of the drows than in the hands of a priestress of Maiden of Pain... they could give some lessons on the topic to the Spider Queen herself
And you want the worst of the worst?
Ask for the -crintri- priestress of Loviatar in Dambrath... you can miss them... beautiful half-drowess all dressed in revealing black leather with a barbed whips attached to their hips... they'll slowly detach your skin from your flesh with them, you'll never doubt anymore that they are the best in their art.
When a blackguard makes a deal with a demon/fiend/any other creature to get power, does he loose his soul? Is this thing part of the deal?
Lorewise, it is not specified whether a blackguard loses his/her soul after making a pact with his/her patron, at least not to my knowledge. Maybe someone can correct me on this. I think it's really up to the DM and the alignment of the creature granting the powers. Devils (LE) are known to be bound by contracts and pacts, so if the blackguard strikes a pact with a devil it would be understandable the devil demand something in return. If the creature (or the blackguard) is instead CE, any pacts would probably mean nothing, or be twisted to the advantage of one or the other party involved. After all, even without a pact, any evil deity/fiend would still benefit from having an additional followed to bring forth their plans.
So I think it's really up to the DM and the player.
Edit @Lord_Tansheron : I was not trying to be obnoxious in my previous reply, I simply did not catch the irony in your post. I'm sorry if I came out as annoying.
This is not precised, however, you must under that fiends don't give a damn about anything but one: Power.
And souls are the main source of power for them.
To be able to seal a pact with a fiend and earn power from it without loosing his soul to him at his death, a mortal would have to need to provide another source of Power to the fiend.
For exemple, with a Devil, he could make a contract saying he will have to steal a powerful artifact of the good, and hand it to the devil to subvert, before his death time.
Or, with a Demon, he could capture and offer as sacrifice twenty virgins daughters of paladins for the demon to steal their souls (only work with demons, devils won't take a soul without a willing contract, that's part of Asmodeus pact with the deities)
Things like that are possible, the fiend just have to feel he's on the winning side of the bargain in terms of power (he must get more power than the ones he will provide to the mortal) and know that those bargains are hard to negociate: The fiend will always attempt to screw the mortal during the deal in every way possible.
I recall reading there is an overpower for the draconic pantheon named Io or something. What is known about this guy?
I heard once that Ao has a superior known only as the "Being of Light". Who is this dude?
Is there an overpower for every pantheon?
Ao is -above- all pantheons, above all gods. As per his nickname "the OverGod"
The "being of light"?
As far as I remember, this is an old pun of the rulebooks.... the "being of light" is insinuated as being the Dungeon Master. "Ao only anwers the being of light" means: Ao will never answer to anything PC or NPC will do or ask... Ao only answers to the Dungeon Master and no one else.
This is a way to tell the final autority in the Realms is the DM, and also a way to tell that it is useless to seek for an entity superior to Ao within the Realms.
About Ao's Master, it might be a different deity, since he/she treats Ao almost like a child, asking how is little creation is doing or something similar. And Ao replies addressing the being as "Master" IIRC. Personally, I like to think that the "Master" is the Dungeon Master, a Deadpool-style breaking of the fourth wall. Ao acknowledging that he is jsut a puppet at the order of a superior being, the one that writes the book and the ones that read it. I've always felt it was such a cool theory.
About the overpower for every pantheon, now that's an exceptional question. I would bet against it. No, because during the ToT we know that all pantheons were cast down, not only human's. Tiamat (dragons) appeared in Chessenta if I'm not mistaken. Lolth (drows) appeared in Menzoberranzan, Clangeddin (dvarves) and Labelas (elves) got into a fight, and Labelas cheated for the win. I had good money on Clangeddin.
So, it appears that all deity (with very few exceptions) were cast down by Ao, i.e., he seems like the only overdeity, or rather, the only one with enough power to be feared and respected throughout pantheons of different races.
Thank you very much for your replies!
No way I could successfully make a deal with a demon with this level of concentration.
@Tresset there is someone Ao serves that he calls "Master".
I read it on the Forgotten Realms wiki about Ao.
It's difficult to know everything of such a large topic, so dispersed in a lot of book, sources, official or not.
I'm glad to read what the people write here. I'm learning some little things, and I hope I help other to do the same
I have another question, if I may
Years ago, I played Neverwinter Nights 2 and its expansion, Mask of the Betrayer.
I remember that all the Hatrans wore a mask, but I cannot remember why.
Can you please tell me anything you know about this custom (origin, meaning, type of masks and so on)?
Thank you very much!
I remember reading the description of the prestige class on the FR campaign setting years ago. I did not remember the reason Rashemi witches wear masks, so I had to look it up. Apparently, it's to conceal their face when travelling outside of Rashemen. No sh*t...
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Hathran. Lorewise, it makes more sense what I found here:
http://www.realmshelps.net/magic/items/thayan.shtml
In short, Rashemi masks can be imbued with magical powers, be it True Seeing, Disguise self or other useful spells. Basically it should be able to hold any spell a regular helm would.
It is interesting to observe though, that Dynaheir does not wear a mask, likely because gnolls stripped it from her, but to my knowledge she never refers to the mask or makes any remark on wanting a new one. Strange woman.
Edit, from the bastion of Knowledge: http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8519
"[...] the more elaborate and Hathran-specific masks are often worn only within the borders of Rashemen by Hathran, as part of the sisterhood. Whereas, when travelling outside Rashemen and to other places across the Realms, the Hathran rely more on simple masks with only slight magical abilities, or just simply as means concealing their identities [...]"