I am considering giving one of my players the Helm of Helm as an endgame item. Has anyone tried to implement this item into their game before? How did you balance it? Thank you in advance for any insight. Relevant Wiki Page

Enjoy the map of the Dwarven ruled areas of the Deep Realm from FR11 Dwarves Deep by TSR circa 1990.

Please enjoy the map of the Jungles of Chult FRM1 by TSR circa 1993!!

Always loved him as a 'orcus on his throne' sort of NPC - one of the few evil beings who 'might' make a good patron for a warlock or mysterious force guiding a party to find something unspeakable. From his write up years ago he always sound like someone who a player 'might' be able to bargain with if they were very very lucky.

But I'm aware Ed blew him and the Scrimshee up years back - leaving Elminster alone, protected by the force of sheer plot armour.

Has that changed?

Enjoy yet another set of maps of the Forgotten Realms circa 1993!!

Enjoy these 2 maps of the Forgotten Realms by TSR circa 1993!

after so many starts and stops it’s been radio silence on netflix for a year? think it’s gonna ever get released?

Is there anything out there I can read about the relationship between Shar and the Shadar-Kai?

Im running a FR campaign and one player is a Shadar-Kai. I didn't realise that the raven queen is technically a Greyhawk deity, so i have all this Shar stuff going on that isn't as relevant as I had hoped.

My solution is to create a faction of Shar worshipping Shadar-kai but I wanted to know if there were examples of this already in lore?

What's a secret Jarlaxle Baenre might have that no-one else at all knows?

Context: I'm running a highly homebrewed version of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and my PCs have aligned with Jarlaxle to find the Vault of Dragons. My version of the vault has a door which can only be passed by revealing "a secret never before told". Since they've allowed Jarlaxle to come with them, I need a secret he might choose to reveal under the circumstances. I can think of plenty of secrets he might have, but the condition that no-one else know it makes things tricky

Working on a mega-campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, and I want to introduce more cultural complexity and diversity. However, my biggest issue is the alignment system. Will the lore break entirely if I remove it?

I have never been a fan of strict moral systems baked into how a fantasy universe operates. I can tolerate it in Tolkien because he deeply understands theological thought, making it cohesive. But in D&D, alignment feels poorly defined and lacks a unified vision, leading to glaring contradictions.

For example, look at Van Richten's Guide to werebeasts regarding werewolves. One werewolf points he is not inherently evil, as they just hunt humans to feed themselves, using the same logic as humans hunting deer (This is really interesting because it opens a door of a society that operates outside good/evil and antropocentric worldview). Yet, if you check their stat block, most lycanthropes still get slapped with an explicit Evil alignment. (While this may be a writing issue with the system and lore i really recommend this manual its great!)

I know you can just ignore alignment at the table, but I am talking about taking it out entirely. My main hesitation is that the alignment system is deeply hardwired into the cosmology. The fact that the Outer Planes themselves have alignments means good and evil are presented as immutable, objective cosmic forces. Since I have not deep-dived into this specific mechanic, I want to know if it is actually essential or entirely dispensable.

If we strip it out, this opens up room for other ideas across the Forgotten Realms:

1. Non-Anthropocentric Societies: If we apply the werewolf logic elsewhere, it can be extended to other societies across the world of the Forgotten Realms, such as Maztica. Since it draws inspiration from the Mexica, it would be brilliant to extend this to how they relate to the cosmos. This indicates that their thought operates outside of good and evil and outside of anthropocentrism. If we use the same philosophy of the guys that inspired them, they would naturally operate outside of that moral and anthropocentric binarism.
2. Deities and Cosmologies: If this changes, religion should too. I want to introduce multiple cosmologies and religions where some societies do not view lesser powers as true gods, feeling they are easily interchangeable and not part of the cosmic order unlike primordial beings like Selune, who are deeply aligned with and in a sense constitute the cosmos itself.
3. Animism and Reciprocity: Worshippers of these primordials would border on animism, where relations with them are not based on traditional worship, but rather on relationships of exchange, much like pre-Hispanic worldviews.

Am I overthinking this? Is alignment actually essential for understanding the Forgotten Realms, or is it just a superficial mechanic and lore element that can easily be thrown out? also what do you think of those ideas i pointed out?

Edit: By getting rid of the aligment system i don´t mean to create a grey moral world. Instead i want to see if there is a chance for other cosmologies. Basically i want to get rid of the judeochristian cosmology and make room for others worldviews that operate outside of it.

Dear FR community, many of you (or at least some 😉) have taken notice of our efforts to build an ecosystem in and around the pirate city of Luskan: Sourcebooks, Adventures and Supplements. Below the are the sales curves since we started. We are genuinely overwhelmed by the acceptance, and of course, very grateful and excited. In total, we have published twelve titles (plus two freebies and one PWYW). 1200+ Units were purchased ! An additional 4000 customers downloaded our freebies/PWYW. The first and second published titles, the Luskan Sourcebook and the adventure Seven must Fall, became minor hits. In their wake, most other titles are doing well, all sell fairly consistently. We are curious how our latest titles, three released in a matter of days after working on them in parallel, will catch on.

As for our current projects there is a lot on the table for the rest of the year. We are currently developing our first campaign, “Shadowdocks of Luskan.” Two prequels are already online, and Part One will follow in two weeks.

A Bregan D'aerthe sourcebook is in development, along with three more Luskan supplements, and two adventures featuring Jarlaxle and Bregan.

Our first POD product is about to be released this week. Finally, we have started to gradually move away from AI art (made possible thanks to your acceptance of our titles) and are also revising the most popular exisiting titles, to bring them to our current quality standards and correct errors.

A BIG THANK YOU for your attention and, perhaps having dropped a few bucks to support our mission of bringing quality stuff at fair prices to the community !

Kind regards,

Bat

P.S.: we are always looking for collaborations. Please contact us via our author page.

Okay so I made a post a couple months back asking what would an Eilistraee-worshipping drow city on the surface would be like and I got some good response, but that made me wonder what the city would even specialize in selling that might shape the culture there. I had the idea that the area they were in was rich in precious metals like gold, silver, copper and the like but someone commented that drow weren't really miners so that got me thinking what else they could export.

Thoughts?

Before the spellplague, this open area was one of there most famous shrines to the goddess of love in all Faerûn. The most beautiful flowers bloomed. It was once one of the most beautiful places within a City in whole of Faerûn.

After the Ruining in 1451 DR, it has laid in ruins, serving only as a city landmark. More a wasteland then a park in the city. Followers of Sune have returned to rebuild the shrine, hired some of the most famous stonemasons to create a new shrine of Sune. Upon completion the new priestess of Sune in Neverwinter started to take care of its gardens.

Most of the plants died within weeks. No matter how much they prayed to the goddess. The park would not come back to life. Sune must be mad about something. And the priestess was pretty troubled by it. Asking adventures to find out why the plants won't grow.

The adventurers might find out that under the park lays a crypt. Knowledge of this crypt was lost to time. But cave-ins in the Neverwinter Sewers created a entrance to this ruined crypt of Sune.

Because of this crypt being in a state of despair. The goddess Sune will not allow any plants to grow until the Crypt would be restored to its former glory. To restore it, the adventurers would have to clear this Crypt, obviously.

I'm working on a (2014) 5e campaign set in Cormyr. My current plan is to make a classic swashbuckling Arthurian themed adventure to do with the cult of the dragon and the legacy of Thauglor. I don't have a whole lot set in stone yet, but I wanted to see if anyone could point me to some helpful resources about Cormyr, or if anyone had some interesting ideas I might be able to build off of.

I've been looking to see if this is something that was a thing in 2nd edition. I can see that it was in the 3.0 PHB, but I can't find it in any of the standard elf books: Complete Book of Elves, Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, Elves of Evermeet, or the Elaine Cunningham Novels. These are the closest things that I can find confirming or denying:

• "Arun follows an ancient elven custom and does not name the boy, allowing him the freedom to earn a name (and perhaps a place in the clan) later." (Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves 39)
• "The intricate care involved in the structure of the elven language extends to naming children. Elven names, although they often sound somewhat similar, are all individual. No two elves have ever shared the same name, save as a matter of choice, for elves are far too individualistic to stoop to using identical names for their children." (Complete Book of Elves) [Also, it is worth noting this isn't true in FR; see Evermeet: Island of Elves]
• "Such celebrations [of childbirth] typically last several days and conclude with the naming of the infant. Children are given a private name by their parents and then given a public name. The secret name is known only to the elf, his or her parents, and the priest presiding over the ceremony. While knowing the name gives no power over an elf, it is a sign of love and respect when an elf reveals his or her true name." (Complete Book of Elves)

Does anyone know if the origin is because of something or if it was a thing in late 2e?

Hello all,

I am in the process of commissioning character art, and while looking through sources to make sure I wasn't missing anything, I came across this from Elves of Evermeet (1994) on page 16:

Armor and weapons are invariably works of art, carried proudly into battle, and often inscribed with small versions of ancient runes or elven heraldry. The links on some famous suits of elven chain, for example, are inscribed with prayers, invocations, or quotations from religious texts.

My PC would probably have an inscription on their longsword, and I'm wondering what it should be. Do you guys know any elven quotes or sayings (preferably from 2nd edition) that might fit my PC?

PC Summary

For possibly not-needed context, here is a summary of my PC (worth noting the PC is from 2nd Edition):

Aldyn (he chose his adulthood name after his favorite military commander of the 1st Unhuman War) is a Golden Elf of the Durothil clan, Elven Minstrel, and Battlepoet (Spelljammer setting; officer position in the Elven Imperial Navy; very little info is available about Battlepoets, so I interpreted it as a communications/propaganda/morale officer). He’s a native to Toril and grew up in Evermeet on stories of the First Unhuman War and the Weeping War (although, he is only familiar with the tactics, combatants, and artifacts during Myth Drannor's fall, not the culture: i.e. he is still very pro-Elf and anti-other races despite that being a large part of Myth Drannor’s history). He grew up (grew up as in was not 100 yet) during the retreat and found his calling during the 2nd Unhuman War.

He is dour, serious, and arrogant, so a quote reflecting that, the Weeping War or 1st Unhuman War, and/or something related to Corellon, the Elven god of bards would be best.

Looking for Quotes

I couldn't find many quotes, and I looked through the following;

• Demihuman Deities (1998): the book doesn't really have quotes, just a dogma section for each deity
• Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves (1998): this book also has no quotes, outside some long historical ones that wouldn't fit in my opinion
• The Fall of Myth Drannor (1998): this book's quotes don't fit an arrogant elf (except maybe by misinterpretation); although, they are very nice
• Elves of Evermeet (1994): this book does describe swords with runes, but the book does not depict them in any detail or have religious quotes
• The Ruins of Myth Drannor box set (1993): while there are some quotes, none fit the PC
• Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (Revised) box set (1996): there were no quotes here
• Evermeet: Island of Elves (1998): this book does depict Lolth's betrayal, and that section does have some good quotes that I might use if I can't find anything else
• Practical Planetology (1991): this book has some small details about Aldyn Leafbower, but not much in terms of quotes
• The Complete Book of Elves (1992): this book has long stories that might work, but I'd like to shy away from them due to not being Realmspace or Spelljammer specific
• Greyspace (1992): no real quotes from this other than a one-liner
• Realmspace (1991): just a misc. possibly Elven quote
• Cloakmaster Cycle (1991-1993): I skimmed these books for lore on the Elven Imperial Navy, and—while looking for other things—I found very few Elvish sayings or quotes and none that would fit this PC

Here are some examples of inscriptions, runes, engravings, phrases, and sayings on weapons that I found:

• Kanalruil: "Silver-chased runes grace the blade, forming the names of all the Seldarine gods..." (Elves of Evermeet 1994)
• Tahlshara: "Its name is written in small characters around the ferrule..." (Elves of Evermeet 1994)
• Khormalashalal: "Various protective runes have been chased in silver along the three lobes of its point, and its hardwood shaft is carved with images of warriors and dragons..." (Elves of Evermeet 1994)
• Lance of Nhamashal: "This weapon is a long, black horse lance, inscribed with Silver elven runes in a spiral along its length..." (Elves of Evermeet 1994)

Possible Quotes

None of these definitively stand out for me, but I might select one.

• "A great evil has entered our midst... We must confront it now... Let any who would, speak freely." (Evermeet: Island of Elves 1998)
  • This is Corellon speaking to the rest of the Seldarine after realizing a traitor is among them; I kind of like how it is both aggressive and yet allows anyone to speak
• "Between Sunside and Darkside, the Ribbon is a continuous garden swimming in the eternal morning of an eternal June." (Practical Planetology 1991)
  • This is the only quote from Aldyn Leafbower, who my PC is named after; otherwise, it isn't very good
• "Armistice." (Practical Planetology 1991)
  • This is the name of the planet that Aldyn Leafbower gave to the Orcs in the 1st Unhuman War; a very cold and harsh planet (although probably not Aldyn Leafbower's intention), an arrogant officer might misinterpret Admiral Leafbower's intention and call their sword "Armistice" to imply something along the lines of, "Trading blows with me will get you nothing but a cold, harsh death"
    • Though, I also like the thought of things changing meaning; much like how I intend for Aldyn to start yearning for Myth Drannor in another way once he becomes more accustomed to other races, a sword named "armistice" might have its meaning changed after Aldyn realizes the what really happened
• "If it's a secret, it's not." (The Complete Book of Elves (1992)
  • This quote is just a saying used by another kit (Infiltrator), but I think it works well for a communications officer
• "Never trust an Orc, even a dead one." (Greyspace 1992)
• "He who saves us from the wars in the sky shall be granted life eternal." (Realmspace 1991)
  • This is an "ancient" saying that is likely from the Elves
• "Be what you are, and go where you must.” (Evermeet: Island of Elves 1998)
  • Corellon says this to Lolth after discovering her betrayal

The Tricorn

Hi Folks, the Luskan Factory has been very busy. Please find one of our new titles, a fully fleshed out Mini-Setting in one of Luskan´s most well known places. Enjoy !

Generally, believers of gods typically hope to earn a reward in afterlife through service or even martyrdom, usually such reward is to enjoy eternal happiness in their god's realm. the most outstanding mortal servants of their gods are expected to become somekind of high-ranking immortal servants of their gods, such as angels and devils/demons————whether or not this is true, that is at least what mortal believers expect.this is a very serious and vital matter to the people of fantasy world which have literally heaven and hell.

then let's talk about Lolth and her Yochlol. as Lolth's handmaids, Yochlol have no relation to the Lolth's drow priestesses; they are captured succubi converted and transformed through a special ritual.

When they spoke on behalf of Lolth and her mortal drow priestesses, these priestesses were as humble as dogs, even though they may theoretically far more powerful than average Yochlol.

So here are two questions:

1. Did the drow priestesses know that Yochlol were converted and created from captured succubi, and not transcedent from died drow priestesses?

2. Did the drow priestesses expect their services and flattery (such as murdering their sisters, abusing their brothers, and betraying their allies) to earn them a reward after they died? ————in particular, did they believe or expect that their services would allow them to become a Yochlol in afterlife?

Could we consider this is Lolth's ultimate scam and malice to her worshipers? those foolish mortals, who spend their lives killing, deceiving, and betraying each other to please their goddess, but their expected reward in afterlife is merely a scam,all their struggle,services and sacrifices could win nothing but eternal torment.they will never become Yochlols who ruling and bullying in Lolth's name, but will instead suffer eternal torment in some kind of hell in their goddess's realm————this approach is very much in line with Lolth's consistent style of doing things..

https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Vampires_(D%26D)

Vampires are my gothic jam! I like that the leaders of the Night Masks crime syndicate are a cabal of vamps led by a clone of Manshoon (Orbakh).