AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

Unicorn Hair:

Does unicorn hair have any use as spell components or is used in any other fashion in the FR?

More than likely.

Though were any of them ever specified in the books or is it just a qualified assumption?

I can't find any reference to unicorn hair in the PHB, but I'd imagine so since unicorn horn is so valuable.

You're going to be looking at Spell Compendium, Complete Divine, and Book of Exalted Deeds.

::Ahems:: Does Kelemvor support Blackguards?

Make one and find out.

Looking for lore on Shadow Mastiffs. Basic info, life expectancy(if they're even considered living since they are shadow subtype?), intelligence, are they considered corporeal, etc.

Shadow Mastiffs are corporeal, slightly more than 2ft high and weigh about 200 lbs. They have an intelligence of 4 (on par with a griffon) - this means that they have 'human-like' intelligence (an animal has 1 or 2 int). Since they're Outsiders, I doubt they age, since they don't need to eat or sleep either (they do, however, need to breath).
Essentially, they're Extraplanar dogs with the Outsider trait, and they're always neutral evil.

This info was from the MM (p. 222).

Edit: I'm copying it out of my book just before classes, so if you wish to know more, please ask.

Would like some info on Shadow Demons; Their types, behavior, alignment, look, and anything that deals with them. A link would be nice IF possible.

thanks!

You mean the things in Darkhold? Homebrew thingits, I believe.

Tormak's right, I think. Shadow demons are homebrewn. I'd think of them as being possibly a variety of negative-energy charged being, perhaps similar to a lesser version of a negative energy elemental commingled with shadowstuff. Sorta like a very weak nightstalker.

Nay, you can read about Shadow Demons in "Book of Vile Darkness." I don't have a copy though, so that's as far as I can help ya!

Are there any canon famous bardic villains anyone can point me to? Doesen't need to be a badass villain. A manipulative thief, conman or such is perfectly acceptable.

Sure. Ashenford Torinbow, the Chosen of Silvanus, Mielikki and Eldath isn't evil, but because he's one of the three leaders of the Emerald Enclave, many people view him as a villain or even evil. He's not a thief or a conman though. He's an Ex-Harper who was abducted by the Zhentarim, before being rescued by the Harpers, leaving the Harpers and joining the Emerald Enclave.

Here's a list of different famous bards, some of whom are evil: NPC's of the Realms: Bard

It lists sources where you can read about them too.

T... Torin-bow?!

Yes; perhaps a distant cousin of another Torin *sage nod*

I've got a question about the rest of the Realms in the Amia Campaign Setting. What is the average wealth of a commoner (are they still chucking around coppers for some ale, or are they throwing around gold pieces)? Is this the same on the isle as it is on the mainland?
Furthermore, on the isle we can quite readily see that all the NPCs and monsters are fairly high levels ... does this extend to the mainland too? Similarly, is the availability of magical equipment on the Isle mirrored on the mainland?

I just want to get a sense of scale, whether the island is a lone place of phenomenal power and wealth, or whether the whole campaign setting has been scaled up to meet it.

I think things would have to be scaled up. I do seem to recall someone telling me once that on Amia, Elminster would be about a level 60.

The easy answer is that the entire campaign is scaled up. The real answer is that it depends on the event and function at the time. But for the most part, it is scaled up for the things that matter. Elminster is only what, level 24? But if one were to meet the Old Sage on Amia, he would likely be about level 50 to properly represent him.

Even Amia's commoners are fairly close to the standard FR thing. You have seen DM responses to various topics where commoners will balk at adventurer held displays because there is an entry fee of ten thousand gold, or such and such, and they only have a few coins. I imagine the standard of living is much higher in Cordor these days, but still, the average commoner is ot even throwing out 100 gold.

The food in a restaurant in Cordor does not cost hundreds of gold pieces, of course. This is an unavoidable sideeffect of the bioware system and of creating the items: They have cure minor wounds added to them for the most part, and since it's a magic spell (though only there to show you are "Eating") bioware assigns a hundreds of GP cost to the item.

As for the monsters this is mostly a case of game mechanics clashing with the setting. For the most part on Amia Island you do alright. If you wander around the island you mostly notice that the things near cities are CR8 or less, well within the range of the generally CR 10-15 'normal' guards to handle. Actand is the exception. But n the end in a PW as things get "Farther away from home" you're going to run into that ort of effect since it''s simply nt feasible to create a "CR 0" zone around every city and then marge that into an outwardly expanding "CR 1-30" progression as you get further away, since eventually you are getting closer to another city. You can assume that for the most part unless otherwise stated, a city has only moderate issues dealing with the monsters directly outside of their borders. Cordor easily handles goblins, Bendir Dale handles the occasional Troll, Orc, or Mylock attack, Kohlingen potentially regularly skirmishes with the beastment, the Quagmire mercentary camp is in battle between the Red and Green tribes, Uhm and Wharftown deal with pirates as a regular thing, and Guldorand by necessity has staked out specific logging areas and makes judiciously short trips due to the roaming bands of mountain giants that prevail in the Skull Crags.

I don't think that entirely answers your question and in the end it wasn't really ment t, since there is no solid answer beyond "it is whatever the DM makes it at the time". Generally speaking we pruposefully shy away from using the mainland so it's never something you need to worry about. But, quite clearly, we are not going to let a level 30 waltz into Neverwinter and raze the place simply because they are "Not On Amia Anymore", or etc. The Forgotten Realms is a place where there is always half a dozen people bigger than you. Always.

Kind of a Russian Doll syndrome... But you get eaten by the doll, instead of given birth to by it.

Lore request on the Duir Tree and how it's effected by outsiders being near it. I looked in my d&d books and couldn't find references to it.

Duir Tree is sacred. Touch it and expect arrows in your back from the local Druid commune.

That much I know... but I heard a triadic paladin complaining about outsiders in the forest harm the Duir... is that true and if it's the case then wouldn't all outsiders not be welcome*aasimar and tieflings included*?

In a realm set of Druidic Orders - Outsiders are never welcome to close to a Duir tree, because their presence causes, assumedly, an inbalance in the way of life that they serve to preserve.

So technically, that's correct - but then again I'm not a lore monkey. So I will refrain from spreading the seed of lies.

The Duir is Amia specific. It is not affected by Outsiders being near it, otherwise there would have been a lot of problems considering one o f the Archdruids was Aasimar. But there is no proof of his Aasimardom, nor is there any proof that Outsiders being near the Duir doesn't affect it. Or does. Maybe it does. Maybe an Aasimar just happens to not.

A character sIC stance is the IC stance, of course, and if the Paladin wishes to say that outsiders near the Duir harms it then he may say as he pleases, and I am not sure why you are looking for OOC confirmation or condemnation of that roleplay except to go "HA! YOU ARE WRONG!" as if you expect him to change his character's view because of it.

Quote:

A character sIC stance is the IC stance, of course, and if the Paladin wishes to say that outsiders near the Duir harms it then he may say as he pleases, and I am not sure why you are looking for OOC confirmation or condemnation of that roleplay except to go "HA! YOU ARE WRONG!" as if you expect him to change his character's view because of it.

Not at all... I was just interested in knowing. I didn't even say anything when I heard it though it might make for interesting RP.

Yeah, have fun and find out if it's true ICly -- but I suppose it's too late for that at this point. People saying things IC doesn't make it so. But, many Druids don't like outsiders, that much is true. On Amia though, Druids either don't care or they have an altered and less damning stance. From my experience anyway.

So i'm thinking of properly returning playerside and I figured I'd make a Durpari Adamite Cleric. Except I can't find crap on the Durpar except in the books which reference the Mulhorandi. I know there are dieties which collectively represent different aspects of the Adama and grant Adamite clerics spells in their stead. I just don't know which dieties those are.

There's a 2 page description of Durpari in Shining South

Edit: "Most revered deities are Gond, Oghma, Selûne, Torm & Waukeen"
Dno whether that helps

I have Shining South.. . .I am so stupid.

You are a scholar and gentleman (or woman) cheers.

Adamite cleric seems a bit weird though, as it's more of a believe system it seems.
I'd rather go for a cleric of a deity which best represents the values important in the Adama, and preaching those values.

Though that's just me and I'm sure others have differing opinions

If i was going to make it he'd follow the way and worship the aspect of Gond or Torm. . .to an Adamite believer they are exactly the same force I suppose.

Durpar Jedi for the win. . .

Well, I think they do usually devote themselves to one aspect. It's much like Hinduism (surprisingly...) in that, cosmically, all gods are indeed of the same origin but Brah-, uh, I mean Adama, manifests in many forms. Like some Hindus are devotees of Siva and others of Visnu, and some worship the Goddess, Durpari do have churches for the different gods but it's not as tightly seperated as elsewhere. There's a set of popular gods that make up the core of the Adama worship, but technically any and every god is considered a manifestation of the world spirit.

But yeah, I'd say it's valid to worship two or more of the locally popular gods as a priest. Or you could focus on one, like many Hindu holy men do. Look up both the 2e and the 3e Shining Souths if you can, they complement eachother.

I looked, but I may be dumb. I have little bits and pieces I've put together on the Shadovar.. but is it actually given any real information anywhere - short of a novel series?

Samantha has been spending time in the various libraries of Cordor and Mystra's Mololith looking for lore on "Blackmoor Keep" there doesn't seem to be much out there... does anyone have any lore on this?

You are unlikely to find any mention of Blackmoor Keep on Amia Island proper, as for the most part is is an insular thing and doesn't concern itself with other nation-states like Ruathym beyond the Monolith connection.

TormakSaber wrote:

You are unlikely to find any mention of Blackmoor Keep on Amia Island proper, as for the most part is is an insular thing and doesn't concern itself with other nation-states like Ruathym beyond the Monolith connection.

What about at the monolith? Samantha ask Ulrik to show her where tombs of that nature would be kept and she spent time there reading through that section.

Ooc: Nivo wasn't sure what may or may not be there.

brooksthegreat wrote:

I looked, but I may be dumb. I have little bits and pieces I've put together on the Shadovar.. but is it actually given any real information anywhere - short of a novel series?

I did a little bit of research on the Shadovar... and one book in particular had almost two pages on them, their history, and stuff like that. Races of Faerun or something like that... Various Dnd sites out there have other bits and pieces about them. There doesn't really seem to be much consensus what the Shadovar are actually doing -right now- though. If anyone knows whats books have good information on them (besides races of faerun) I would be interested in doing further research myself.

msheeler wrote:

TormakSaber wrote:

You are unlikely to find any mention of Blackmoor Keep on Amia Island proper, as for the most part is is an insular thing and doesn't concern itself with other nation-states like Ruathym beyond the Monolith connection.

What about at the monolith? Samantha ask Ulrik to show her where tombs of that nature would be kept and she spent time there reading through that section.

Ooc: Nivo wasn't sure what may or may not be there.

Not likely, imo.

Correction to my post above. I did some more looking today on the shadovar and somehow I came across a bunch of information I missed earlier... It's out there alright. It just takes some digging to get to it sometimes. I am certainly no expert on them but If you have any questions about them I would do my best to help.

Oh and I came accross this interesting statment while doing some research....

"Archliches are a type of lich that has a non-evil alignment.[1]They can be of any type of spellcaster and devote their existence to whatever noble purpose motivated their transformation into lichdom"

Is this right? It seems a bit of a paradox to me... a none evil undead.

They exist, yes. As for Shadovar, ask Mahtan.

Just wandering, what would be the offspring of two dragons of different kind, say Blue and Red. Or Silver and Black?

Doubt they mate.

Pretty sure Svensk is right.

Especially those pairing you gave won't mate.

Dead wrote:

Just wandering, what would be the offspring of two dragons of different kind, say Blue and Red. Or Silver and Black?

It can't happen, and if I or any other DM sees you playing a silly dragon crossbreed you will be forced to pick one color, most likely the color closest to your alignment. It doesn't, and physically cannot happen.

Good Giant Kin. . .its really a development question for an idea I'm having, but I'm wondering the Good Giant dieties exist in FR canon?

MoshingChris wrote:

Good Giant Kin. . .its really a development question for an idea I'm having, but I'm wondering the Good Giant dieties exist in FR canon?

Stronmaus

He's one of the few good giant gods. He's worshiped by Storm giants and non-evil cloud giants. But hes revered as a weather deity by the others apparently too. Any giant kin that follow him seem like they would be about as good as giantfolk can get.

Especially storm giants, given this quote from FRwiki:

Quote:

In storm giant society, any act of mercy or charity towards a sentient being is seen as good.

Good Giants do exist, yes. Storm and Cloud are the msot common good giants and Frost and Fire the most common evil ones along with Rock, Mountain and Hill.

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