Faerzress 4e?

[MerricB]

One of my contacts has asked me what has become of faerzress in 4e. First time I'd ever heard the word, as I've only paid passing attention to the Realms since early 2e.

Can anyone tell me if it exists in 4e yet? Has it been deliberately removed? Or is it just waiting in the wings until we get an Underdark book?

Cheers!

 

[PoeticJustice]

The effect has not been defined in 4th Edition yet. However, as you point out, underdark is coming and will likely rectify the omission.

Faerzress, for the unaware, is a weirdo radiation/forcefield that permeates Faerun's underdark and interferes with teleportation, making that mode of traveling hazardous.

 

[Derulbaskul]

It dates back to 1E with D1-3, although it wasn't called faerzress (sp?) then. Remember how EGG used "weird underdark radiations" as the reason the party couldn't teleport back to the surface.

 

[Henry]

...AND the reason why those +4 and +5 drow weapons and equipment became nonmagical when you carted them back to the surface.

Despite the perfectly logical and reasonable reasons why you wouldn't want that in a default game, I still miss it from default D&D.

 

[Henrix]

The teleportation business is hardly relevant in 4e, I'd say, as it's harder to do long-range teleportation back and forth all the time.

And if drow weapons no longer disintegrate in sunlight - well, why do we need faerzress?

 

[Scribble]

The teleportation business is hardly relevant in 4e, I'd say, as it's harder to do long-range teleportation back and forth all the time.

And if drow weapons no longer disintegrate in sunlight - well, why do we need faerzress?

My guess is it will come out like others said in the underdark book as a hazard.

Areas that penalize anything with the teleportation keyword. Probably cut the number of squares someone can move himself or others.

Maybe it will even penaliz the arcane power source.

 

[Nymrohd]

The Lady Penitent series (crap novels crapping lore all over) made some changes to Faerzress I think. They did explain what exactly it was (it is the actual effect of the ritual cast that caused the Descent, and what binds the drow to the Underdark and grants them power).

 

[MerricB]

Thanks for all the replies!

I found the reference to it in the FRCG, so it still exists in 4E Realms, but we don't know what it does mechanically yet.

Cheers!