D&D 5E 5th Edition and Cormyr: Flexing My Idea Muscle and Thinking Out Loud

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Magic Items: Inherited Traits and Accidental Enchantments

I just love Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (XGtE). It’s got something for everyone. And unlike a lot of other sourcebooks, each dose of “something for everyone” is big, not small. That is, there’s a lot of crossover value (i.e., value for Dungeon Masters and Players) to the rules and information in the book.

Pages 136-140 provide a list of Common Magic Items. Nice thing about a short and sweet list of new magic is that the door is wide open for creating backstories and histories for each item.

So, let’s assume there is at least one version of every magic item in XGtE that was made unintentionally. Now, we just have to go down the list and figure out the how and why for each item.

Ten ideas to break it down. Here we go.

Item the first: Armor of Gleaming.

• Fledgling war wizards don’t just learn to cast spells. On the contrary, they are trained to investigate and ferret out lies.

• War Wizard trainees are guarded by veteran Purple Dragon soldiers. Otherwise it would be easier for foes of Cormyr to slay groups unguarded magelings than to hunt down and assassinate experienced members of the Brotherhood of the Wizards of War one at a time.

• As such, when war wizard trainees fail to discern when a lie is told during class (such as when a pair of Purple Dragons roleplay the part of inspector and merchant, respectively, who have met at the city gates of one of Cormyr’s major cities—where all goods and wagons are inspected before entry), the trainees are given cleaning duty: clean the guard Dragon’s armor and clothes—all of it.

• An hour of dirt, dung and stench duty (i.e., doing laundry) is a humbling experience (and teaching humility to nascent Wizards of War is a good thing as far as the Mage Royal of all Cormyr is concerned), and not a task that most war wizards look forward to.

• Generally speaking, Wizards of War are smart, not wise. Experience is the best teacher here, though for some war wizard trainees no amount of drudgery helps.

• Sometimes, day after day, the same poor trainee can be found behind piles of armor, stormcloaks, boots, socks and clouts, carefully casting Prestidigitation before wading into their work.

• One such trainee, Feldran “Doraunk” Durvorkar, simply could not tell a lie from the truth, even when it was obvious. Possessed with half a helping a wits, the poor fellow would look to the sky in wonder if you told him all the clouds had turned into anvils that were just now floating overhead.

• Worse, Feldran enjoyed the work of removing the stench of sweat from armor and cleaning clothes. Gift him with a pile of sodden clothes and he would gift you with a smile. Soon Feldran was doing the laundry of his fellow students, in addition to that of the Dragons.

• Feldran favored the armor of Dragon officers most of all. Each piece he meticulously cleaned, sometimes casting Prestidigitation ten times before moving from one gauntlet to the next, even though one casting would suffice.

• Upon Feldran's departure from Stormhaven House (an academy where would-be war wizards come for training and instruction, located within sight of the farming village of Espar), a pair of junior Purple Dragon officers found their armor to remain unsoiled and never carry a stench, even after a tenday spent on patrol, for Feldran had unwittingly enchanted their armor.

One down, 47 to go!

 

[akr71]

Exclusively on the DMs Guild.

Just bought your 'In the Year of the Nameless One' from DM's Guild. I think its gonna be invaluable as our next campaign starts in Cormyr (gonna see how they do with a sandbox - I think they're ready for it). I'll write a review as such on the DMGuild as soon as I've finished reading.

I'm skipping to 1494, so I can pick and choose what I want as far as 'canon' goes. However I have a question - anyone who knows canon, please feel free to answer. On the Forgotten Realms Wiki (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Cormyr) It has a list of 8 laws, number 5 of which is "Harming cats is forbidden."

Is there a reason for this? Is somebody trolling? One of the characters is a tabaxi, so I could have some fun with this, but it seems like a rather ridiculous law.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Just bought your 'In the Year of the Nameless One' from DM's Guild. I think its gonna be invaluable as our next campaign starts in Cormyr (gonna see how they do with a sandbox - I think they're ready for it). I'll write a review as such on the DMGuild as soon as I've finished reading.

Glad to hear it! Sandbox-style play is what Cormyr In The Year Of The Ageless One is all about.

I'm working on a revision and expansion of that product, too, so please plan on having access to a lot more content in a few months.

However I have a question - anyone who knows canon, please feel free to answer. On the Forgotten Realms Wiki (http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Cormyr) It has a list of 8 laws, number 5 of which is "Harming cats is forbidden."

Is there a reason for this? Is somebody trolling? One of the characters is a tabaxi, so I could have some fun with this, but it seems like a rather ridiculous law.

I don't think anyone is trolling.

The idea of Cormyr having a law against harming cats rings a bell, but I just checked Volo's Guide to Cormyr and found no references to such a law.

Were I you, I'd ignore the law (especially since the Wiki offers no citation).

I'll keep checking around in the meantime. If I find the reference, I'll let you know.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Is there a reason for this? Is somebody trolling? One of the characters is a tabaxi, so I could have some fun with this, but it seems like a rather ridiculous law.

The reference is from the adventure Four From Cormyr, which lists eight laws, including that cats may not be harmed.

The idea behind this is the belief that cats are the eyes of the gods, so to harm a cat is to invite bad luck on yourself.

 

[akr71]

Glad to hear it! Sandbox-style play is what Cormyr In The Year Of The Ageless One is all about.

I'm working on a revision and expansion of that product, too, so please plan on having access to a lot more content in a few months.

I don't think anyone is trolling.

The idea of Cormyr having a law against harming cats rings a bell, but I just checked Volo's Guide to Cormyr and found no references to such a law.

Were I you, I'd ignore the law (especially since the Wiki offers no citation).

I'll keep checking around in the meantime. If I find the reference, I'll let you know.

The reference is from the adventure Four From Cormyr, which lists eight laws, including that cats may not be harmed.

The idea behind this is the belief that cats are the eyes of the gods, so to harm a cat is to invite bad luck on yourself.

Thanks a million! I think I'll have it more of a tradition or superstition than an actual law.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

Item Backstories: Item the Second: Bead of Nourishment

Continuing along with the idea of Inherited Traits and Accidental Enchantments for magic items, we have next on our list the Bead of Nourishment from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, p.136.

This one took more than ten bullet points to lock down.

• In Cormyr, the Wizards of War aren’t effective as they once were.

• The Mage Royal, Ganrahast, has been forced to find other ways to spy and to glean information—methods less preferable to his predecessor (and father), Vangerdahast, who cultivated a reputation for leaving disloyal nobles drooling and witless after he pried into their minds with his magic.

• After all, Mind Reaming is now forbidden in Cormyr. The Suzail Writ grants some minor protections from spell-based eavesdropping, too. Ganrahast had one hand tied behind his back, and his job wasn’t about to get any easier.

• The common people have long placed their trust in war wizards, for Cormyr’s mages have served as a check on the power of Cormyr’s nobility. This trust absolutely had to be maintained.

• Thus, the Wizards of War needed to learn how to spy by means other than magic, how to craft and wear disguises, and take on roles as persons other than mages. To do this, they had to cooperate and learn from the Purple Dragons and select Highknights, who’ve long had to spy the old fashioned way.

• Because so much of the spell research and planning done by the Brotherhood takes place within the Royal Palace and Court, the work of reshaping the war wizard’s tactics started there, too.

• The Palace and Court are also the scene of failures in spell research and magic item creation. The dross from countless crafting attempts lay heaped in sturdy wooden crates placed in chambers divided from each other by thick walls of stone, and locked away behind iron-shod doors.

• One such chamber held a much-used copper frying pan from the kitchens of the palace. Twice the handle from this pan snapped on the Royal Cook of the Low Kitchens at an inopportune time; he vowed there would not be a third.

• The pan was rescued by a war wizard before it could be melted down and recast. The mage desired to craft a cooking pan that could purify whatever food or drink was placed in it, no matter how rancid—a useful item for anyone needing to spend days or weeks at a time away from ready access to provisions. The gods had other plans, however, for all the war wizard succeeded in doing was crafting a not quite magical pan that absorbed edibles and drinkables, leaving no trace.

• Failures in item crafting, just like successes, must be recorded by the crafting war wizard. These reports are submitted to a superior and then filed away with other Dark Documents (i.e., documents not meant for public consumption or review). The pan was disposed of in a crate with other recent failures.

• The report was read by another war wizard, who was convinced the copper pan held the essence of the food and drink. After retrieving the pan from its crate, she spent two long tendays of her free time experimenting. Finally, she coaxed something out of the pan by means of her magic: grey, lumpy gelatin that slowly congealed into little beads.

• “Tymora hates a coward,” as the saying goes. The Wizard of War said as much, them plucked a bead out of the pan and ate it.

• Her tongue did not grow the length of her arm. Her teeth did not fall out. She did not empty the contents of her morningfeast all over the floor. She felt quite fine. It wasn’t until the next morning that she realized she’d had no desire to eat for most of the prior day.

• As much as possible, Highknights and Wizards of War plan their activities in advance. If a spying mission will last for a tenday or more, requisitions for supplies are made and orders issued by the Clerk of Vigilance (the seniormost Highknight of all Cormyr).

• One set of orders finds its way to a certain war wizard, who is tasked with retrieving a much-used copper pan from a heavily defended part of the Royal Palace. Another order finds its way to the Royal Cook of the Low Kitchens, that he may order his assistants to pile leftovers onto carts for delivery elsewhere in the palace.

• The war wizard, along with carts laden with food fit for a King, converge on another heavily defended part of the Royal Palace. Here she crafts Beads of Nourishment by means of the pan and her spellwork, so that the Cormyrean spies the Beads are intended for need not be encumbered by supplies of food and water, nor fear going hungry.

And there you go.

 

[Swordsage]

The reference is from the adventure Four From Cormyr, which lists eight laws, including that cats may not be harmed.

The idea behind this is the belief that cats are the eyes of the gods, so to harm a cat is to invite bad luck on yourself.

The reference to cats was originally in the 2E Cormyr sourcebook by Eric Haddock.

The Swordsage

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

XGtE Magic Item Backstories set in Cormyr. Item the Third: Bead of Refreshment

Continuing along with the idea of Inherited Traits and Accidental Enchantments for magic items, we have next on our list the Bead of Refreshment from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, p.136.

• Well, we’re going to need a name for the war wizard who figured out how to make something useful out of the partially enchanted copper pan (see my last post in this series).

• As it happens, I’ve got the perfect candidate: Imcharla Darphon. Also known as “Windy Robes.”

• Don’t let the unfortunate nickname fool you. Imcharla is a loyal and dedicated war wizard. She prevented the assassination by poison of no less a personage than Crown Prince Irvel (she still carries that poison within her body), and is a fixture within the Royal Palace in Suzail.

• So, Imcharla figured out that the spongy little bits of gelatinous somethings (Beads of Nourishment) produced with the aid of a special copper frying pan could keep someone fed for a day, just by eating one.

• But there remained the matter of storing them. Did the beads spoil? Would they grow stale or become inedible? Most importantly: could they be made to actually taste good? Experimentation was required.

• There were new orders for Imcharla, too. This time from the Lord Warder (and de facto second in command of the Wizards of War), Vainrence: figure out how to standardize the process of creating Beads of Nourishment. No small task, that.

• One of the advantages to working in a place like the Royal Palace and Court is that nearly anything a wizard might need can be had.

• Over the objections of the Senior Cellarer (one Jamaldro by name), Imcharla procured several fine wines from deep within the lowest level of the palace cellars.

• Into bottles of Charsalace, Dragonslake and Arrhenish she placed one of her gelatinous beads. Imcharla recorked the bottles and placed them on a shelf next to more beads left out in the open.

• From the Low Kitchens Imcharla obtained a copper pot. With the notes of war wizard who’d first tried to enchant palace cookware in hand, she set to work recreating his experiment.

• Two tendays later, Imcharla’s workroom was covered in black soot and smelled of burnt food and hot metal. She was on her third copper pot, the first two having spontaneously melted down to lumpen slag, with the threatening words of the Royal Cook fresh in her mind (one Nestur Laklantur, who’d promised to arm every last one of his undercooks with knives and forks and send them after her if she took yet another of his favored cooking pots). No progress, yet.

• Fortunately, her Beads of Nourishment experiments were going well. She’d determined the beads remained just as effective, whether left out in the open or after being soaked in fine wine. Unfortunately, they tasted the same—which is to say the beads didn’t taste like anything at all.

• Short of supplies and in no mood to venture forth to the Low Kitchens, Imcharla poured the last of the Arrhenish into her newest copper pot, cast her spells and waited. This time the liquid slowly disappeared. A few moments later, beads the size of pearls appeared in the pot.

• Delighted, Imcharla didn’t hesitate to pour the bottle of Charsalace into the pot. Before she could cast her spells, the sparkling liquid turned clear as expensive glass. Half the beads were gone.

• The Dragonslake went into the pot. The ruby red liquid became transparent. The remaining beads were gone.

• Further experiments showed the liquid was pure, clean water.

• The war wizard had failed, yet succeeded in creating something new: Beads of Refreshment

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

XGtE Magic Item Backstories set in Cormyr. Item the Fourth: Boots of False Tracks

Continuing along with the idea of Inherited Traits and Accidental Enchantments for magic items, we have next on our list Boots of False Tracks, from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, p.136.

• In Eveningstar, there live a handful of war wizards keep watch over the Blueleaf Gate.

• This magical portal links to the Royal Gardens in Suzail.

• The Blueleaf Gate is not unguarded. War Wizards watch over the gate in pairs, on both sides.

• These wizards—called Blueleaf Sentinels—report to a senior war wizard, one Jorbril Rammastar, who lives in a small cottage south of Eveningstar.

• As the Blueleaf Warden, Jorbril collects reports on any arrivals or departures via the gate from his subordinates.

• The Sentinels cover their tracks by means of a simple spell—one that transforms their footprints into that of animals native to the King’s Forest. This is because of the nature of the gate’s creation, and the fact that it draws animals to the vicinity.

• Save your spells, is a maxim among the Wizards of War. Learning to not waste spells isn’t easy for junior wizards, who prefer to cast at the drop of a hat. But the skill must be learned.

• Minor magic items that duplicate simple spells help in this regard. Jorbril hoped to craft magical boots that left behind animal tracks in the wearer’s wake, that his subordinates might have one less spell to memorize and so room to keep another useful spell handy.

• He succeeded, four times over. The boots went to his subordinates. Jorbril traveled through the gate to Suzail, there to meet his counterpart on the other side and deliver his report of the items’ creation.

• Upon his return through the Blueleaf Gate, he found two of his subordinates naked and dead, their blood pooled at the base of the tree from which they kept watch over the gate, their bodies hanging from branches of the tree, their belongings all taken.

• No humanoid tracks. No trace of the killers. They were wearing the magical boots.

• Few Wizards of War know that it’s possible to attune to the Blueleaf Gate. The duty of the Blueleaf Warden requires it, however, despite the danger to one’s sanity.

• Jorbril called on the raw power of the gate, saw in his mind’s eye the magical boots he’d made by means of his own magic, and willed the enchantment laid over the boots to change.

• The gate spit crimson fire that settled over its edges, leaving a clear pool of magic in which Jorbril saw the mage killers. As well their footprints, one after the other lined in fire that only he could see.

• He turned from the gate, his own eyes lit by magical fire, and tracked the killers down.

• The two pairs of boots Jorbril recovered no longer function the same. The magical boots are still classified as Boots of False Tracks in the archives of the war wizards. These, however, leave behind humanoid tracks and not animal tracks.

• Jorbril gave the boots over for storage in the Royal Palace, even though he could now track anyone wearing them by a simple act of will, for the remainder of his days.

• His debt to Meilikki had grown. He could feel her presence in his dreams. Sometimes he saw a giant stag in the corner of eye, but observed nothing when he turned to look for it. Soon the goddess would call on him to repay her favor. He hoped she required something less than his life in payment.

 

[Jeremy E Grenemyer]

XGtE Magic Item Backstories set in Cormyr. Item the Fourth: Candle of the Deep

Continuing along with the idea of Inherited Traits and Accidental Enchantments for magic items, we have next on our list Candle of the Deep, from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, p.136.

• Among the temple ruins still standing in the vicinity of Monksblade, in Cormyr, one may find the remnants of the House of the Sea.

• Few stones remain to mark where the grand façade of the House of the Sea looked south, towards the coast and the Dragonmere beyond. Rare is the worshipper of the Queen of the Deeps who visits the old temple ruin.

• The cornerstones of the temple remain, as do lines of broken stone walls north of the façade. Within this space the ground alternates between sodden brown soil and grey, broken flagstone. White patches surround the base of mangroves and other saltwater plants that flourish in the ruin, obscuring the wet ground and dangerous footing underneath.

• As the tide comes in along the Dragon Coast to the south, saltwater appears along the north face of the temple façade and begins to pool on the ground. At high tide, all the ground where the temple once stood is covered in water a foot deep.

• Local legend holds that the true temple to Umberlee lay beneath the ground. Likewise, that the entrance to the True Temple appears somewhere within the boundaries of the old temple when water covers the ground.

• The temple ruin stands on (relatively) high ground. It’s said adventurers have used magical means to fly over the temple to spy the entrance to the True Temple (the Company of the Bottled Fiend is thought to have done this). If such an entrance exists, it’s likely to be obscured by the tangled nest of saltwater plants that grow in the ruin.

• Within the True Temple, no saltwater may be found so long as the tide to the south is high. As the tide recedes, water begins to pool within the maze of chambers below ground.

• The water pools slowly, but its elevation rises quickly as low tide approaches. Finally, the water fills the cellars immediately below the temple ruin, where one may find a pair of secret doors that open into spiraling stairways that lead down to the True Temple.

• Just before low tide, the cellar entrance disappears. The ground above remains sodden. It is impossible to hear the cries of anyone trapped below ground before water steals their ability to speak forever.

• The bodies of such unfortunates can be recovered, but Umberlee looks coldly on anyone that defiles her sacred places or fails to leave proper tribute. Such persons will have become Sea Spawn (Volo’s Guide to Monsters, page 189) in the time that the entrance is closed.

• These Sea Spawn exist only to choke the life out of invaders despoiling the True Temple, and so add to the ranks of its guardians.

• Among the treasure one may recover from the Sea Spawn are whatever gear they carried in life. If any lanterns, torches or candles are found, these all operate as Candles of the Deep if submerged under water of any kind, but for no more than twelve and one half hours.

• A handful of sages are aware of the rumors surrounding the Temple of the Sea and the True Temple beneath it. Speculation abounds as to what other Inherited Magical Traits the True Temple confers.