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Yossarin wrote:

I am not clear on what a person's level of education has to do with anything, Iron, and I am disappointed that you would use that kind of attack when someone disagrees with you. I am a highly educated person and while I agree with a lot of points you make, I also disagree with some, and disagreement alone does not make me uneducated.

I suggest you leave those kinds of personal insults out from the beginning rather than stating them to get a rise and then editing them out afterwards. Now get back to the purpose of this entire topic.

I was not referring to you or just anyone. I was referring specifically to Tormak, who I personally believe is incapable of intelligent conversation due to his lack of education, limited mental capacity, and most of all his attitude of romanticizing crude bluntness. In other words, I think he is an uncultured, unintelligent dolt. His ability to take part in conversation, comprehend arguments and present counter-arguments is surprisingly feeble for someone who clearly does give a damn and contributes quite some time to posting, as opposed to your typical internet troll. His disagreeing with me doesn't make him stupid or uneducated; it's just that I've known him long enough to know he is both, and draw the likely conclusion that it's the reason for our difficulties. He has his redeeming qualities, but at times like these they seem quite small in comparison. I make no aplogy for my opinion, I just thought it would distract the already fucked-up digression more and was better edited out. Personal comments are inappropriate, but you know the driving force behind his posts is just as personal. Nonetheless, if you think it's important I am happy to elaborate.

I don't care if you disagree with me. (Well I do care, but I don't get offended.) What I do expect is that your answer shows you've read and understood my points. Tormak hasn't, and that's obvious to everyone who reads the topic. He is simply repeating a blatantly obvious point I had already twice agreed to but dismissed as irrelevant in the context. Either he needs to specify why it's relevant after all, or he needs to stop using it.

Tormak insisted that DMs are free to change the reality of the setting as they wish. I agree, and that's so obvious it need not be said. But you, me and him also know that the status quo is not due to a great story you have in mind, nor is it the result of careful contemplation on the genre of RP you wish to promote on Amia. It's simply an arbitrary fact produced by human imperfection, without any great meaning or justification. It's just the way it is, just because. So stop trying to defend it with banalities and be honest: either say you don't care enough to do anything, counter me with an actual lore argument, or make the change. Stop insulting me with excuses.

Stop caring so much about being "right" on the internet, and quit with the personal shit. That goes for everyone in reading distance, and across all topics.

Back to the topic please.

So... back on topic

If you think there should be a drow monk order, then invent one. As was said, a monk isn't a divine class and isn't restricted by the 1-step rule. Every monk order on Faerun was started by some guy somewhere who just woke up one morning and decided that X, Y, and Z would be a great foundation for a monk order, called himself the Grand Master of So-and-So, and started trying to collect disciples. Invent an ethos and do the same thing, why not?

Not certain this question belongs here, but it's relevant... is there a lore sourcebook for druids?

Depending on how you mean there could be a couple:

Faiths and Pantheons would cover ground about Gods (including Druidic Gods and similar), Complete Adventurer or Divine (not sure which as I've not touched em' in a while) covers Druids, and any of the Forgotten Realms books might be relevant.

Could you be a bit more specific Heurodis?

Masters of the wild is good as well. 3rd edition ranger, druid, barbarian book.

I was wondering if there was one that covers all grounds, like spells (pnp spells too), faiths, orders, general druidic lore, and things like that. I think I may have to research multiple books, though, based on what you said. I just want to get my druid lore down, so I don't make any mistakes in RP.

Masters of the Wild (3.0edition Druid, Ranger, Barbarian Sourcebook)
Complete Divine (3.5edition Druid, Cleric, Paladin Sourcebook incorporating much of the info from above book)
Quintessential Druid (1&2)

They all contain spells, feats, prestige classes, etc. All fairly generic sources. I dont believe any are FR specific so will have many mentions of the incorrect worship of nature rather than a deity.

There will be some smaller mentions in things like Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

As for specific orders, there is a major one called the Emerald Enclave. Druids of Silvanus. They were fluffed up in a book called Vilhon Reach. Thats the part of the world where they're from. I don't know any others that will have as much detail, but there's probably a list of orders somewhere. Gunz will know.

You need to look up several books, yes. There is a 2e book called The Complete Druid's Handbook, but it's core material and more like ideas to work on than actual lore. For more ideas and game-mechanical details, there's the 3.5e Masters Of The Wild. Again, not specific to FR and thus not very useful lore-wise, but inspirational nonetheless.

For FR, I suggest reading the druid entries in the 2e books (Revised) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Faiths & Avatars. They have the most complete introduction of druidic tradition and organization in the Realms. They are slightly outdated, though, because the concept of the druid class has become looser in 3e: Malarites can be druids, for example, when before they were specifically anti-druid. So look up some deity details from Faiths & Pantheons as well. Other than that, though, there's not much new druid lore in the 3e books that I know of. Other than some druidic orders. I believe two druidic circles are introduced in Champions Of Valor, and one in Unapproachable East (or was it Shining South?). There's also something on druids of the North in the 2e The North box set, available as a free download from WotC if you can only find the link these days. I think, anyway.

Edit: Also what Cloak and Dagger said. Emerald Enclave is in Champions of Valor IIRC, and there should be another one too.

IronAngel wrote:

Emerald Enclave is in Champions of Valor IIRC, and there should be another one too.

The Druids of the Tall Trees are living in there.

Nice to see a comparison between two orders. How they differ, what they have in common...

Unfortunately, there really isn't a one-stop book for Druid lore. You have to dig through multiple books to find things.

The best books for in depth information on Druids are:
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Magic of Faerun
Masters of the Wild
The Complete Druid's Handbook
Players Handbook

For the deities:
Faiths and Pantheons
Faiths and Avatars
Powers and Pantheons
Demihuman Deities
Monster Mythology

For organizations:
Champions of Valor
Vilhon Reach
Unapproachable East
The Savage Frontier
The Jungles of Chult
Silver Marches
Shining South
Moonshae
Lands of Intrigue

And really, most books that detail parts of Faerun will have some sort of local Druidic organization. There are many different types of organizations, you'll find. Many within the same faiths too. The vast differences between Silvanite/Mielikkian/Eldathyn organizations are pretty interesting. At least to me.

Also, just so there's no confusion, the Emerald Enclave isn't a Silvanite only organization. It's also not a Druid only organization.

Quintessential Druid I & II are nothing you should use as sure lore by any means. It's not canon D&D material, let alone canon FR material. So if you read it and decide to use some of it, only use it to spice up your character in little ways.

Quote:

Quintessential Druid I & II are nothing you should use as sure lore by any means. It's not canon D&D material, let alone canon FR material. So if you read it and decide to use some of it, only use it to spice up your character in little ways.

Thats the same problem with Fey... there isn't much canon lore to help your RP except for Monster Mythology and a few small references in some other source books... the book that Peeves uses in the races section of the Lore: Races thread isn't canon... its from the D20 system but it works still if you pick through it and go with the more reasonable parts for the "fluff" of your RP.

Wow, there are a lot of books. Thanks everyone! I'm going to have to do some digging.

About the Brogendstein Orc Caves, Portal

It comes from the Underdark. Unless you play a Drow, you probably see it and go "wtf?" I personally think it's rather silly and makes no sense whatsoever.

TormakSaber wrote:

It comes from the Underdark. Unless you play a Drow, you probably see it and go "wtf?" I personally think it's rather silly and makes no sense whatsoever.

Oh, I know where it leads and such, But not if there's lore about who implemented it and if there is not - Which DM Is best suited to get into contact with to determine that in an In character manner?

It has GREAT potential for a certain group of bloodthirsty elves, y'see

It only works one way, last I knew. And we're not changing thta so you can go PvP the underdark.

TormakSaber wrote:

It only works one way, last I knew. And we're not changing thta so you can go PvP the underdark.

Actually it works both ways. =)

With the Mainland Underdark on the server, what surface settlement is it near on the Mainland?

Burningoutbright wrote:

With the Mainland Underdark on the server, what surface settlement is it near on the Mainland?

Afaik - L'Obsul is Underneath frosenfar

Up in the top, One of the isles.

Edit - I re-read your question and i don't understand it actually?

Burningoutbright wrote:

With the Mainland Underdark on the server, what surface settlement is it near on the Mainland?

L'Obsul and Edonil are probably closest to the southern part of the ICewind Dale region, or in east aways from the coast of the Frozenfar. I don't know for precise certain. Let me get back to you on that (or another DM can answer).

It was a clunky question, but you understood it the first time just fine, Svensk.

Thanks for the fact checking, you two.

Do all dogs go to heaven?

What I mean by that is what happens to animals when they die? Creatures with a super low Intelligence modifier incapable of really choosing a deity for worship, do they just get crammed into the wall of the faithless? Do tiny insignificant insects have souls? What happens to them in the afterlife? This may be a stupid question but it's been bugging me lately lol

That depends entirely upon whether a portfolio exists related to that creature. Most lack the investiture of souls and so return to the Chauntean/Silvanite cycle of life, but certain beasts are probably devoured in the afterlife by Malar, just as some oozes, molds, slimes, and puddings rejoin the collective primordial birthing pool of Ghaunadaur.

A few notable exceptions may include animals who, through fluke, providence, natural instinct, or near-sapience distinguish themselves from other animals by having some relationship to or impact upon a major event. In death, these creatures may be smiled upon by a certain deity and provided a constellation in their memory (courtesy of Selune, Shar, Mystra, and possibly Lathander), an immortal form of symbolism hence in art, literature and heraldry (courtesy of Oghma in particular), or become cave drawings (Shar), battle cries or have their species captured and trained as beasts of war (Tempus), become the pets of decadent nobles or violent overlords (Siamorphe and Bane), or just have an imaginative bard/really great liar spin a convincing response to the great question, "Red Rover, Red Rover, will my puppy cross over?" (Yossarin)

So I noticed that Amia has one of the arch-devils listed as acceptable deities, and a few of the demon lords. Are other arch-devils/demon lords also acceptable? Or only those listed. I just found it strange that Mephistopheles was acceptable and yet say, Asmodeus wasn't.

All the archdukes are acceptable, we ust currently only have Meph.

TormakSaber wrote:

All the archdukes are acceptable, we ust currently only have Meph.

Thank you Tormak for the quick response.

O, all demon lords as well, figured it was implied, but just in case.

Mind that in our cosmos, Baalzebul is dead, and has been replaced by a new Lord of the Seventh, "The Rider Beyond".

So, I have a cleric of Jergal who adventures with a Paladin of Jergal. I'm wondering, since it is stated on the FR wiki at least that Jergal does have paladin followers, and also sanctions the creation of undead from time to time, would a Paladin of Jergal be able to tolerate the presence of undead sanctioned by the church of Jergal despite it being in contravention to the generic paladin code?

Also, just any general tidbits about the worship of Jergal and how paladins fit into that worship would be much appreciated.

Dont use the forgotten realms wiki here on amia. Its good,but a lot of it is 4e, whereas amia i 3.0 and 3.5

Jergal sanctions the control of Undead but not the creation, and they must be destroyed after, i believe. The reasons a Jergalite would control undead is to kill other unnatural beings or necromancers and the like. Paladin codes dictate that undead must be laid to rest, so i would assume that if you let undead live, you would fall. Jergalite or not.

I have always been curious to know:

Tieflings with demonic blood are by nature Chaotic Evil. Tieflings with devil blood are by nature Lawful Evil. Therefore, is it possible for a Tiefling of either bloodline be aligned outside of their bloodline or must they ALWAYS be one of the other, depending on their bloodline?

I have a CN devilkin. She's way more CN human than she is LE devil.

P Three wrote:

I have a CN devilkin. She's way more CN human than she is LE devil.

So then I am assuming lore does allow Tieflings to aligned outside of their bloodline.

Now next question! Tieflings can never be LG, NG, or CG. Ya or nien?

Tieflings 'can' be anything, but they always feel a strong pull toward whatever influence their planar bloodline is. It's not easy for a tiefling to be good, just like it's not easy for an aasimar to be evil.

Pawsome. Thanks for the answers!

I'm assuming the closest I can get to alien intellects beyond time and space, etc., is probably Ghaunadar (too bad Cthulu is unavailable). That being said, I remember mention at some point (it may have been in 2nd edition only?) of wizards tapping into the 'great abyss beyond' (aka space) or some such and conferring with alien powers that drove them mad...or something to that effect. Wondering if that ever had a 3rd edition translation or not.

Arcadence wrote:

... conferring with alien powers that drove them mad...or something to that effect. Wondering if that ever had a 3rd edition translation or not.

Check out the Alienist prestige class, from Complete Arcane.

Do the Far Realms even exist in Faerun? I thought that was just a stock D&D setting thing.

The Far Realm exists. That's where Aberrations are said to originally come from, so it's only natural that FR has one. Or should I say... pseudonatural.

YEAAAAAAAAAH!

Yeah, I believe the Far Realm is considered a part of the FR cosmology, just not one you hear about very often. I seem to recall something about an elven city that got destroyed because it's inhabitants opened a planar gate to the Far Realm in FR, way back in it's past.

Yea, hate to link this, but it's pretty interesting.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Far_Realm

Far Realm AKA the mind of HP Lovecraft.

Some things on Time Stop:

First, has this been fixed: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=51521&view=unread#unread

Second, can you use Time Stop and then Push a party member into a portal (or get them into the portal by some means as an escape method)? I don't think the description is clear on that.

Also, to clarify, the only offensive spell that you can use that would do anything really is dispelling/breech/mord's, correct?
Or is it when you cast the offensive spells they do not take effect until Time Stop wears off?

Basically, how the heck does this crazy spell really work in combat and such lol

1: Yes.

2: No, because you can't affect the physical world while Time Stopped.

3: Purely Pnp/lore standpoint: No entity is able to be affected other than yourself during timestop. No spell that affects anything other than yourself happens until timestop goes off. Were you to summon 3 things during timestop they would all apear simultaneously when the duration ended.

PnP wise you arent doing anything with time you are simply accelerating yourself to the point where your movements and actions are all happening so fast it is as if the worlds standing still, this period of extreme speed allows for actions, as tormack said, with yourself and other such things but the world itself wont react until you synch back into the normal flow of things. I.E Grevious wounds appearing on foes, monsters appearing from thin air, acid rain spells etc.

Firstly time stop does not stop time at all, rather it speeds up the caster to the point of the illusion of time being stopped. By that understanding it kinda explains how spells and other items react once they leave your person, returning to the normal time flow.

Though the foundation of the spell in a sense is just an augmented haste spell.

Oh yeah I know all about the uber hasteness (to put it simply) of Time Stop. Just wasn't sure if the spells just didn't happen or if everything didn't occur until you were back in the flow of things.
ie a Wail will not actually trigger until after Time Stop is over.

Now, curious question to clarify:
Can you open a port during Time Stop to escape? Obviously if there is hostiles you can't, but can you just be a dick and port out (basically disappearing)? I ask because it would seem that the porting wand might technically affect the outside world. Or is the port/ley system unaffected?

Or even something I should ask IG?

You cannot use a Portal Wand while Time Stopped or Time Stopping.

Cool that's what I thought.

Thanks all!

serbiris wrote:

I have a question! The "Soul Bind" spell, it requires a black sapphire of incredible value. Is this gem created alchemically (or bought cheaply, and then treated alchemically - acquiring its value in that way), or does one simply have to find and buy a really rare and valuable rock?

Thoughts? Feelings? Rulings? Offerings of roasted duck?

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