Basic Info

[Zappy]

Races:

HUMANS
Most humans are the descendants of pioneers, conquerors, traders,
travelers, refugees, and other people on the move. As a result,
human lands are a mix of people—physically, culturally, religiously,
and politically. Hardy or fine, light-skinned or dark, showy or
austere, primitive or civilized, devout or impious, humans run the
gamut.

Personality: Humans are the most adaptable, flexible, and
ambitious people among the common races. They are diverse in
their tastes, morals, customs, and habits. Others accuse them of
having little respect for history, but it’s only natural that humans,
with their relatively short life spans and constantly changing
cultures, would have a shorter collective memory than dwarves,
elves, gnomes, and halflings.

Physical Description: Humans typically stand from 5 feet to a
little over 6 feet tall and weigh from 125 to 250 pounds, with men
noticeably taller and heavier than women. Thanks to their penchant
for migration and conquest, and to their short generations, humans
are more physically diverse than other common races, with skin
shades that run from nearly black to very pale, hair from black to
blond (curly, kinky, or straight), and facial hair (for men) from
sparse to thick. Plenty of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood,
and they may demonstrate hints of elven, orc, or other lineages.
Humans are often ostentatious or unorthodox in their grooming and dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, body
piercings, and the like. Humans have short life spans, achieving
adulthood at about age 15 and rarely living even a single century.
Relations: Just as readily as they mix with each other, humans
mix with members of other races. Among the other races, humans
are known as “everyone’s second-best friends.” They serve as
ambassadors, diplomats, magistrates, merchants, and functionaries
of all kinds.

Alignment: Humans tend toward no particular alignment, not
even neutrality. The best and the worst are found among humans.
Human Lands: Human lands are usually in flux, with new ideas,
social changes, innovations, and new leaders constantly coming to
the fore. Members of longer-lived races find human culture exciting
but eventually a little wearying or even bewildering.
Since humans lead such short lives, their leaders are all young
compared to the political, religious, and military leaders among the
other races. Even where individual humans are conservative
traditionalists, human institutions change with the generations,
adapting and evolving faster than parallel institutions among the
elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings. Individually and as a group,
humans are adaptable opportunists, and they stay on top of changing
political dynamics.


DWARVES
Dwarves are known for their skill in warfare, their ability to
withstand physical and magical punishment, their knowledge of the
earth’s secrets, their hard work, and their capacity for drinking ale.
Their mysterious kingdoms, carved out from the insides of
mountains, are renowned for the marvelous treasures that they
produce as gifts or for trade.
Personality: Dwarves are slow to laugh or jest and suspicious of
strangers, but they are generous to those few who earn their trust.
Dwarves value gold, gems, jewelry, and art objects made with these
precious materials, and they have been known to succumb to greed.
They fight neither recklessly nor timidly, but with a careful courage
and tenacity. Their sense of justice is strong, but at its worst it can
turn into a thirst for vengeance. Among gnomes,
who get along famously with dwarves, a mild
oath is is “If I’m lying, may I cross a
dwarf.”

Physical Description: Dwarves
stand only 4 to 4 1/2 feet tall, but
they are so broad and compact
that they are, on average,
almost as heavy as humans.
Dwarven men are slightly
taller and noticeably heavier
than dwarven women.
Dwarves’ skin is typically deep tan
or light brown, and their eyes are
dark. Their hair is usually black,
gray, or brown, and worn long.
Dwarven men value their beards
highly and groom them very
carefully. Dwarves favor simple
styles for their hair, beards, and
clothes. Dwarves are considered
adults at about age 50, and they
can live to be over 400 years old.
Relations: Dwarves get along
fine with gnomes, and passably
with humans, half-elves, and
halflings. Dwarves say, “The
difference between an
acquaintance and a friend is
about a hundred years.”
Humans, with their short life
spans, have a hard time
forging truly strong bonds
with dwarves. The best
dwarf-human friendships
are between a human and a
dwarf who liked the human’s
parents and grandparents.
Dwarves fail to appreciate elves’ subtlety and art, regarding
elves as unpredictable, fickle, and flighty. Still, elves and dwarves
have, through the ages, found common cause in battles against orcs,
goblins, and gnolls; and elves have earned the dwarves’ grudging
respect. Dwarves mistrust half-orcs in general, and the feeling is
mutual. Luckily, dwarves are fair-minded, and they grant individual
half-orcs the opportunity to prove themselves.
Alignment: Dwarves are usually lawful, and they tend toward
good. Adventuring dwarves are less likely to fit the common mold,
however, since they’re more likely to be those who did not fit
perfectly into dwarven society.
Dwarven Lands: Dwarven kingdoms are usually deep beneath
the stony faces of mountains, where the dwarves mine gems and
precious metals and forge items of wonder. Trustworthy members of
other races are welcome here, though some parts of these lands are
off limits even to them. Whatever wealth the dwarves can’t find in
their mountains they gain through trade. Dwarves dislike water
travel, so enterprising humans frequently handle trade in dwarven
goods when travel is along a water route.
Dwarves in human lands are typically mercenaries,
weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, jewelers, and artisans. Dwarf
bodyguards are renowned for their courage and loyalty, and they are
well rewarded for their virtues.

Religion: The chief deity of the dwarves is Moradin, the Soul
Forger. He is the creator of the dwarves, and he expects his followers
to work for the betterment of the dwarven race.

Adventurers: A dwarven adventurer may be
motivated by crusading zeal, a love of excitement, or
simple greed. As long as his accomplishments bring
honor to his clan, his deeds earn him respect and
status. Defeating giants and claiming powerful magic
weapons are sure ways for a dwarf to earn the respect of
other dwarves.

ELVES
Elves mingle freely in human lands, always welcome yet never at
home there. They are well known for their poetry, dance, song, lore,
and magical arts. Elves favor things of natural and simple beauty.
When danger threatens their woodland homes, however, elves
reveal a more martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and
battle strategy.

Personality: Elves are more often amused than excited, more
likely to be curious than greedy. With such long lives, they tend to
keep a broad perspective on events, remaining aloof and unfazed by
petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether an
adventurous mission or learning a new skill or art, they can be
focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies,
and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with
disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.

Physical Description: Elves are short and slim, standing about 4
1/2 to 5 1/2 feet tall and typically weighing 85 to 135 pounds, with
elven men the same height as and only marginally heavier than
elven women. They are graceful but frail. They tend to be paleskinned
and dark-haired, with deep green eyes. Elves have no facial
or body hair. They prefer simple, comfortable clothes, especially in
pastel blues and greens, and they enjoy simple yet elegant jewelry.
Elves possess unearthly grace and fine features. Many humans and
members of other races find them hauntingly beautiful. An elf
achieves adulthood at about 110 years in age and can live to be over
700 years old. Elves do not sleep, as members of the other common races do.
Instead, an elf meditates in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. An elf
resting in this fashion gains the same benefit that a human does
from 8 hours of sleep. While meditating, an elf dreams, though
these dreams are actually mental exercises that have become
reflexive through years of practice. The Common word for an elf’s
meditation is “trance,” as in “four hours of trance.”

Relations: Elves consider humans rather unrefined, halflings a
bit staid, gnomes somewhat trivial, and dwarves not at all fun. They
look on half-elves with some degree of pity, and they regard halforcs
with unrelenting suspicion. While haughty, elves are not
particular the way halflings and dwarves can be, and they are
generally pleasant and gracious even to those who fall short of elven
standards (which, after all, consists of just about everybody who’s
not an elf).

Alignment: Elves love freedom, variety, and self-expression.
They lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. Generally,
they value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they
are more often good than not.

Religion: Above all others, elves worship Corellon Larethian, the
Protector and Preserver of life. Elven myth holds that it was from his
blood, shed in battles with Gruumsh, the god of the orcs, that the
elves first arose. Corellon is a patron of magical study, arts, dance,
and poetry, as well as a powerful warrior god.

Adventurers: Elves take up adventuring out of wanderlust. Life
among humans moves at a pace that elves dislike: regimented from
day to day but changing from decade to decade. Elves among
humans, therefore, find careers that allow them to wander freely
and set their own pace. Elves also enjoy demonstrating their
prowess with the sword and bow or gaining greater magical powers,
and adventuring allows them to do so. Good elves may also be rebels
or crusaders.

GNOMES
Gnomes are welcome everywhere as technicians, alchemists, and
inventors. Despite the demand for their skills, most gnomes prefer
to remain among their own kind, living in comfortable burrows
beneath rolling, wooded hills where animals abound but hunting is
a very bad idea.

Personality: Gnomes adore animals, beautiful gems, and jokes of
all kinds. Gnomes have a great sense of humor, and while they love
puns, jokes, and games, they relish tricks—the more intricate the
better. Fortunately, they apply the same dedication to more practical
arts, such as engineering, as they do to their pranks.
Gnomes are inquisitive. They love to find things out by personal
experience. At times they’re even reckless. Their curiosity makes
them skilled engineers, since they are always trying new ways to
build things. Sometimes a gnome pulls a prank just to see how the
people involved will react.

Physical Description: Gnomes stand about 3 to 3 1/2 feet tall
and weigh 40 to 45 pounds. Their skin ranges from dark tan to
woody brown, their hair is fair, and their eyes can be any shade of
blue. Gnome males prefer short, carefully trimmed beards. Gnomes
generally wear leather or earth tones, and they decorate their clothes
with intricate stitching or fine jewelry. Gnomes reach adulthood at
about age 40, and they live about 350 years, though some can live
almost 500 years.

Relations: Gnomes get along well with dwarves, who share their
love of precious objects, their curiosity about mechanical devices,
and their hatred of goblins and giants. They enjoy the company of
halflings, especially those who are easygoing enough to put up with
pranks and jests. Most gnomes are a little suspicious of the taller
races—humans, elves, half-elves, and half-orcs—but they are rarely
hostile or malicious.

Alignment: Gnomes are most often good. Those who tend
toward law are sages, engineers, researchers, scholars, investigators,
or consultants. Those who tend toward chaos are tricksters,
wanderers, or fanciful jewelers. Gnomes are good-hearted, and even
the tricksters among them are more playful than vicious. Luckily,
evil gnomes are as rare as they are frightening.
Gnome Lands: Gnomes make their homes in hilly, wooded
lands. They live underground but get more fresh air than dwarves
do, enjoying the natural, living world on the surface whenever they
can. Their homes are well hidden, by both clever construction and
illusions. Those who come to visit and are welcome are ushered into
the bright, warm burrows. Those who are not welcome never find
the burrows in the first place.
Gnomes who settle in human lands are commonly gemcutters,
mechanics, sages, or tutors. Some human families retain gnome
tutors. During his life, a gnome tutor can teach several generations
of a single human family.

Religion: The chief gnome god is Garl Glittergold, the Watchful
Protector. His clerics teach that gnomes are to cherish and support
their communities. Pranks, for example, are seen as ways to lighten
spirits and to keep gnomes humble, not ways for pranksters to
triumph over those they trick.

Adventurers: Gnomes are curious and impulsive. They may take
up adventuring as a way to see the world or for the love of exploring.
Lawful gnomes may adventure to set things right and to protect the
innocent, demonstrating the same sense of duty toward society as a
whole that gnomes generally exhibit toward their own enclaves. As
lovers of gems and other fine items, some gnomes take to
adventuring as a quick, if dangerous, path to wealth. Depending on
his relations to his home clan, an adventuring gnome may be seen as
a vagabond or even something of a traitor (for abandoning clan
responsibilities).

HALF-ELVES
Humans and elves sometimes wed, the elf attracted to the human’s
energy and the human to the elf’s grace. These marriages end
quickly as elves count years because a human’s life is so brief, but
they leave an enduring legacy—half-elven children.
The life of a half-elf can be hard. If raised by elves, the half-elf
grows with astounding speed, reaching maturity within two
decades. The half-elf becomes an adult long before she has had time
to learn the intricacies of elven art and culture, or even grammar.
She leaves behind her childhood friends, becoming physically an
adult but culturally still a child by elven standards. Typically, she
leaves her elven home, which is no longer familiar, and finds her
way among humans. If, on the other hand, she is raised by humans,
the half-elf finds herself different from her peers: more aloof, more
sensitive, less ambitious, and slower to mature. Some half-elves try
to fit in among humans, while others find their identities in their
difference. Most find places for themselves in human lands, but
some feel like outsiders all their lives.

Physical Description: To humans, half-elves look like elves. To
elves, they look like humans (indeed, elves call them “half-humans”).
Half-elven height ranges from under 5 feet to almost 6 feet tall, and
weight usually ranges from 90 to 180 pounds. Half-elven men are
taller and heavier than half-elven women, but the difference is less
pronounced than that found among humans. Half-elves are paler,
fairer, and smoother-skinned than their human parents, but their
actual skin tone, hair color, and other details vary just as human
features do. Half-elves’ eyes are green, just as are those of their elven
parents. A half-elf reaches adulthood at age 20 and can live to be over
180 years old.
Most half-elves are the children of human–elf pairings. Some,
however, are the children of parents who themselves are partly
human and partly elven. Some of these “second generation” halfelves
have humanlike eyes, but most still
have green eyes.

Personality: Most half-elves have the curiosity, inventiveness,
and ambition of the human parent, along with the refined senses,
love of nature, and artistic tastes of the elven parent.
Physical Description: To humans, half-elves look like elves. To
elves, they look like humans (indeed, elves call them “half-humans”).
Half-elven height ranges from under 5 feet to almost 6 feet tall, and
weight usually ranges from 90 to 180 pounds. Half-elven men are
taller and heavier than half-elven women, but the difference is less
pronounced than that found among humans. Half-elves are paler,
fairer, and smoother-skinned than their human parents, but their
actual skin tone, hair color, and other details vary just as human
features do. Half-elves’ eyes are green, just as are those of their elven
parents. A half-elf reaches adulthood at age 20 and can live to be over
180 years old.
Most half-elves are the children of human–elf pairings. Some,
however, are the children of parents who themselves are partly
human and partly elven. Some of these “second generation” halfelves
have humanlike eyes, but most still
have green eyes.

Relations: Half-elves do
well among both elves and
humans, and they also
get along well with
dwarves, gnomes, and
halflings. They have
elven grace without
elven aloofness, human
energy without human
boorishness. They make
excellent ambassadors and
go-betweens (except between
elves and humans, where each
side suspects the half-elf of
favoring the other). In human lands where
elves are distant or not on friendly terms,
however, half-elves are viewed with
suspicion.
Some half-elves show a marked
disfavor toward half-orcs. Perhaps
the similarities between
themselves and half-orcs
(both have human lineage)
make these half-elves
uncomfortable.
Alignment: Half-elves share
the chaotic bent of their elven
heritage, but, like humans, they
tend toward neither good nor evil.
Like elves, they value personal
freedom and creative expression,
demonstrating no love of leaders
nor lust for followers. They chafe at
rules, resent others’ demands, and
sometimes prove unreliable, or at least
unpredictable.

Adventurers: Half-elves find themselves drawn to strange
careers and unusual company. Taking up the life of an adventurer
comes easily to many of them. Like elves, they are driven by
wanderlust.

HALF-ORCS
In the wild frontiers, tribes of
human and orc barbarians live in
uneasy balance, fighting in times
of war and trading in times of peace.
The half-orcs who are born in the frontier may
live with either human or orc parents, but they are
nevertheless exposed to both cultures. Some, for whatever reason,
leave their homeland and travel to civilized lands, bringing with
them the tenacity, courage, and combat prowess that they developed
in the wilds.

Personality: Half-orcs are short-tempered and sullen. They
would rather act than ponder and would rather fight than argue.
Those who are successful, however, are those with enough selfcontrol
to live in a civilized land, not the crazy ones.
Half-orcs love simple pleasures such as feasting, drinking,
boasting, singing, wrestling, drumming, and wild dancing. Refined
enjoyments such as poetry, courtly dancing, and philosophy are lost
on them. At the right sort of party, a half-orc is an asset. At the
duchess’s grand ball, he’s a liability.

Physical Description: Half-orcs are as tall as humans and a little
heavier, thanks to their muscle. A half-orc’s grayish pigmentation,
sloping forehead, jutting jaw, prominent teeth, and coarse body hair
make his lineage plain for all to see.
Orcs like scars. They regard battle scars as tokens of pride and
ornamental scars as things of beauty. Any half-orc who has lived
among or near orcs has scars, whether they are marks of shame
indicating servitude and identifying the half-orc’s former owner, or
marks of pride recounting conquests and high status. Such a half-orc
living among humans either displays or hides his scars, depending
on his attitude toward them.
Half-orcs mature a little faster than humans and age noticeably
faster. Few half-orcs live longer than 75 years.
Relations: Because orcs are the sworn enemies of dwarves and
elves, half-orcs can have a rough time with members of
these races. For that matter, orcs aren’t exactly
on good terms with humans, halflings,
or gnomes, either. Each half-orc
finds a way to gain acceptance
from those who hate or fear
his orc cousins. Some are
reserved, trying not to draw
attention to themselves. Others
demonstrate piety and goodheartedness
as publicly as they
can (whether or not such
demonstrations are genuine).
Others simply try to be so
tough that others have no
choice but to accept them.

Alignment: Half-orcs inherit
a tendency toward chaos from
their orc parents, but, like their
human parents, they favor
neither good nor evil. Half-orcs
raised among orcs and willing to live out their
lives with them, however, are usually the evil
ones.

Adventurers: Half-orcs living among humans are drawn almost
invariably toward violent careers in which they can put their
strength to good use. Frequently shunned from polite company,
half-orcs often find acceptance and friendship among adventurers,
many of who are fellow wanderers and outsiders.

HALFLINGS
Halflings are clever, capable
opportunists. Halfling
individuals and clans find
room for themselves wherever
they can. Often they are
strangers and wanderers, and
others react to them with suspicion
or curiosity. Depending on the clan,
halflings might be reliable, hard-working (if clannish) citizens, or
they might be thieves just waiting for the opportunity to make a big
score and disappear in the dead of night. Regardless, halflings are
cunning, resourceful survivors.

Personality: Halflings prefer trouble to boredom. They are
notoriously curious. Relying on their ability to survive or escape
danger, they demonstrate a daring that many larger people can’t
match.
Halflings have ample appetites, both for food and for other
pleasures. They like well-cooked meals, fine drink, good tobacco,
and comfortable clothes. While they can be lured by the promise of
wealth, they tend to spend the gold they gain rather than hoarding
it. Halflings are also famous collectors. While more orthodox
halflings may collect teapots, books, or pressed flowers, some collect
such objects as the hides of wild beasts—or even the beasts
themselves. Wealthy halflings sometimes commission adventurers
to retrieve exotic items to complete their collections.

Physical Description: Halflings stand about 3 feet tall and
usually weigh between 30 and 35 pounds. Their skin is ruddy, their
hair black and straight. They have brown or black eyes. Halfling
men often have long sideburns, but beards are rare among them and
mustaches almost unseen. They like to wear simple, comfortable,
and practical clothes. Unlike members of most races, they prefer
actual comfort to shows of wealth. A halfling would rather wear a
comfortable shirt than jewelry. A halfling reaches adulthood in her
early twenties and generally lives into the middle of her second
century.

Relations: Halflings try to get along with everyone else. They are
adept at fitting into a community of humans, dwarves, elves, or
gnomes and making themselves valuable and welcome. Since
human society changes faster than the societies of the longer-lived
races, it is human society that most frequently offers halflings
opportunities to exploit, and halflings are most often found in or
around human lands.

Alignment: Halflings tend to be neutral and practical. While
they are comfortable with change (a chaotic trait), they also tend to
rely on intangible constants, such as clan ties and personal honor (a
lawful trait).

Religion: The chief halfling deity is Yondalla, the Blessed One,
protector of the halflings. Yondalla promises blessings and
protection to those who heed her guidance, defend their clans, and
cherish their families. Halflings also recognize countless small gods,
which they say rule over individual villages, forests, rivers, lakes, and
so on. They pay homage to these deities to ensure safe journeys as
they travel from place to place.

Adventurers: Halflings often set out on their own to make their
way in the world. Halfling adventurers are typically looking for a
way to use their skills to gain wealth or status. The distinction
between a halfling adventurer and a halfling out on her own looking
for “a big score” can get blurry. For a halfling, adventuring is less of a
career than an opportunity. While halfling opportunism can
sometimes look like larceny or fraud to others, a halfling adventurer
who learns to trust her fellows is worthy of trust in turn.

[Kiki]

Equipment:

Armor Types
Armor is grouped into categories. These categories can
help you decide what armor is best for you.
Your class tells you what kinds of armor you’re proficient
with. You can take feats to learn the proper use
of other kinds of armor. If you wear armor you’re not
proficient with, it makes you clumsy and uncoordinated:
You take a –2 penalty to attack rolls and to your
Reflex defense.
Putting on a suit of armor always takes at least 5
minutes, which means that it’s an activity you can
undertake only outside combat (likely while you’re
taking a short rest).
Armor is defined as either light or heavy. Light
armor is easy to move in if you’re proficient with it.
Cloth armor, leather armor, and hide armor are light
armor. When you wear light armor, you add either your
Intelligence or your Dexterity modifier to your Armor
Class, whichever is higher. Heavy armor is more
restrictive, so your natural agility matters less. When
you wear heavy armor, you don’t add an ability score
modifier to your AC. Chainmail, scale armor, and plate
armor are heavy armor.
Certain kinds of armor are made according to
arcane and esoteric methods that involve weaving
magic into the substance of the armor. These masterwork
armors never appear except as magic armor
(see page 227), and even then only at the highest levels
(16th and above). The various kinds of masterwork
armor fall into the same categories as mundane armor
and have similar statistics, but they have a higher
armor bonus than their mundane counterparts. The
cost of masterwork armor is included in the cost of
magic armor.
Cloth Armor: Jackets, mantles, woven robes, and
padded vests don’t, by themselves, provide any significant
protection. However, you can imbue them with
protective magic. Cloth armor doesn’t slow you down
or hinder your movement at all. All characters are
proficient with cloth armor. Feyweave armor is woven
with techniques perfected by the eladrin. Starweave
armor is fashioned after patterns created in the divine
dominions of the Astral Sea.
Leather Armor: Leather armor is sturdier than
cloth armor. It protects vital areas with multiple layers
of boiled-leather plates, while covering the limbs with
supple leather that provides a small amount of protection.
Feyleather armor is cured by an elven method
that leaves the armor supple but tougher than normal
leather. Starleather armor is infused with the raw spiritual
matter of the Astral Sea, making it light and strong.
Hide Armor: Thicker and heavier than leather,
hide armor is composed of skin from any creature that has a tough hide, such as a bear, a griffon, or a dragon.
Hide armor can bind and slightly hinder your precision,
but it’s light enough that it doesn’t affect your
speed. Darkhide armor is a superior tiefling armor
cured in fire and infused with shadow. Elderhide
armor involves scouring with elemental forces.
Chainmail: Metal rings woven together into a shirt,
leggings, and a hood make up a suit of chainmail.
Chainmail grants good protection, but it’s cumbersome,
so it reduces your mobility and agility. Forgemail
armor is made with superior metallurgy and a chainmaking
technique mastered by dwarves. Spiritmail armor is made with techniques from the divine dominions
of the Astral Sea.
Scale Armor: Overlapping pieces of highly durable
material, such as steel or even dragon scales, make up
scale armor. Despite its heaviness, scale is surprisingly
easy to wear; its straps and buckles make it adjustable
and able to fit snugly on the body, allowing flexibility
and agility. Mundane scale armor uses metal plates.
Wyrmscale is made using ancient techniques the
dragon born invented to mimic the strength of overlapping
dragon scales, and elderscale is a similar armor
scoured with elemental forces.
Plate Armor: The heaviest type of armor, made up
of shaped plates of metal or similarly resilient material,
plate provides the most armor protection. The cost for
its superior fortification is mobility and agility. Legend
holds that Moradin made the first godplate armor, and
ancient dwarf smiths copied his patterns imperfectly
to make warplate armor.
Shield Types
As with armor, you need the proper shield proficiency
to use a shield effectively. When you use a shield, you
strap it to an arm and sometimes use the hand on that
arm—your shield arm and shield hand. Shields grant
a shield bonus that you add to your AC and to your
Reflex defense. If you’re not proficient with a shield, you don’t gain the shield bonus to your AC or Reflex
defense.
Light Shield: You need to use your shield hand
to wield a light shield properly. You can still use that
hand to hold another item, to climb, or the like. However,
you can’t use your shield hand to make attacks.
Heavy Shield: When you use a heavy shield, you
gain a greater bonus to your AC and Reflex defense,
but you can’t use your shield hand for any other task.

Weapon Categories
Weapons fall into four categories. Improvised weapons
aren’t weapons you train with—they’re objects
you pick up to hit someone with. Punching or kicking
someone is also considered an improvised weapon.
Simple weapons are basic, requiring little more
skill than lifting and hitting with the business end.
Military weapons are designed for skilled users. Balance
and precision are important factors when using
military weapons, and someone without the proper
training can’t use them effectively. Superior weapons
are even more effective than military weapons
but require special training to use. You can learn to
use a superior weapon by taking the Weapon Proficiency
feat.
Weapons in all four categories are further categorized
as melee weapons, which you use to attack
foes within reach of the weapon, or ranged weapons,
which you use to fire at more distant enemies. You
can’t use a ranged weapon as a melee weapon. A melee
weapon with the heavy thrown or the light thrown
property counts as a ranged weapon when thrown and
can be used with ranged attack powers that have the
weapon keyword.
Finally, weapons are classified as either onehanded
or two-handed. A one-handed weapon is
light enough or balanced enough to be used in one
hand. A two-handed weapon is too heavy or unbalanced
to use without two hands. Bows and some
other weapons require two hands because of their
construction.
Some one-handed weapons are light enough for
you to use in your off hand while holding another
one-handed weapon in your other hand. Doing this
doesn’t let you make multiple attacks in a round
(unless you have powers that let you do so), but you
can attack with either weapon. Other one-handed
weapons are large enough that you can keep a good
grip on them with two hands and deal extra damage
by using them as two-handed weapons.
Weapon Groups
Weapon groups are families of weapons that share
certain properties. They’re wielded similarly and are
equally suited to certain kinds of attacks. In game
terms, some powers and feats work only when you’re
attacking with a weapon in a specific group.
If a weapon falls into more than one group, you
can use it with powers that require a weapon from
any of its groups. For example, the halberd is both an
axe and a polearm, so you can use it with powers that
give you an additional benefit when you wield an axe
or a polearm.
Axe: Axes are weapons that have bladed, heavy
heads and deal vicious cuts. An axe’s weight makes it
fine for delivering crushing blows.
Bow: A bow is a shaft of strong, supple material
with a string stretched between its two ends. It’s a
projectile weapon that you use to fire arrows. Bows
take training to use effectively, and they can be
extremely deadly in expert hands.

Crossbow: Essentially a small metal bow
mounted on a stock and equipped with a mechanical
trigger, a crossbow is a point-and-shoot projectile
weapon. Crossbows are popular because they require
little training to master, yet the heavy pull of the
metal bow gives them substantial power.
Flail: Weapons in the flail group have a flexible
material, usually a length of chain, between a solid
handle and the damage-dealing end of the weapon.
Hammer: A hammer has a blunt, heavy head with
one or more flat striking surfaces attached to a haft.
Heavy Blade: Blades are balanced edged weapons.
Heavy blades share some of the precision of light
blades and some of the mass of axes. Heavy blades
are used primarily for slashing cuts rather than stabs
and thrusts.
Light Blade: Light blades reward accuracy as
much as force. Pinpoint attacks, lunges, and agile
defenses are the strong points of these weapons.
Mace: Much like hammers, maces are blunt weapons
that have a heavier head than handle, but they’re
more balanced than hammers. They’re useful for
delivering crushing blows.
Pick: Weighted toward the top like a mace or an
axe, a pick has a long, pointed head made to pierce
and create deep wounds.
Polearm: Polearms are weapons mounted at the
end of long hafts. All polearms also fall into another
category of weapon, usually axe, heavy blade, or
spear. Polearms are reach weapons.
Sling: Slings are leather straps used to hurl stones
or metal pellets. They are projectile weapons.
Spear: Consisting of a stabbing head on the end of
a long shaft, a spear is great for lunging attacks.
Staff: In its most basic form, a staff is a long piece
of wood or some other substance, roughly the same
diameter along its whole length.
Unarmed: When you punch, kick, elbow, knee,
or even head butt an opponent, you’re making an
unarmed strike. A simple unarmed attack is treated
as an improvised weapon. Creatures that have
natural weapons such as claws or bite attacks are proficient
with those natural weapons.

Adventure gear

From meals to torches, adventuring gear is essential to
your party’s success. You’re assumed to start with basic
clothing, and before your first adventure, you should
equip yourself with weapons, armor, and other gear.
Standard Adventurer’s Kit: This kit includes all
the items grouped beneath its entry on the table: a
backpack, a bedroll, flint and steel, a belt pouch, two
sunrods, ten days’ worth of trail rations, 50 feet of
hempen rope, and a waterskin.
Ammunition: Arrows come in a quiver that holds
thirty, crossbow bolts come in a case that holds twenty,
and sling bullets come in a pouch that holds twenty.
Ammunition is used up when you fire it from a projectile
weapon.
Arcane Implement: Wizards use orbs, staffs, or
wands as focus items for their spells, while warlocks
use rods or wands. Using a nonmagical implement
confers no benefit. You can purchase a magic implement
to gain an enhancement bonus to attack rolls and
damage rolls with your arcane powers. A staff implement
can also function as a quarterstaff.
Climber’s Kit: This kit includes all the items
grouped beneath its entry: a grappling hook, a small
hammer, and ten pitons. When you use a climber’s kit,
you gain a +2 bonus to Athletics checks for climbing.
Everburning Torch: This torch never stops burning.
It sheds magical light but no heat, so you can stow
it in a bag or a pouch. You can’t set fire to anything
with it.
Holy Symbol: This is a finely crafted symbol of precious
metal that clerics and paladins use as a focus for
their prayers. Using a nonmagical holy symbol confers
no benefit. You can purchase a magic holy symbol to
gain an enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage
rolls when using your divine powers.
Journeybread: This magic bread fills the stomach
and provides all necessary nutrients with only a few
small bites, so you can carry food for a long journey
without weighing yourself down.
Ritual Book: Ritual casters use a ritual book to
store the rituals they have mastered.
Ritual Components: These items are needed by
ritual casters. You purchase as many gold pieces worth
of components as you need or can afford. See Chapter
10 for more information.
Spellbook: Wizards keep the daily spells, the utility
spells, and the rituals they’ve learned in a spellbook.
Sunrod: This minor magic item sheds bright light to
a radius of 20 squares for 4 hours before burning out.
Thieves’ Tools: To use the Thievery skill properly,
you need the right picks and pries, skeleton keys,
clamps, and so on. Thieves’ tools grant a +2 bonus to
Thievery checks to open a lock or to disarm a trap.

[Zappy]

Classes:

THE MULTICLASS CHARACTER
As your character advances in level, he or she may add new
classes. Adding a new class gives the character a broader range
of abilities, but all advancement in the new class is at the
expense of advancement in the character’s other class or
classes. A wizard, for example, might become a combination
wizard/fighter. Adding the fighter class would give her
proficiency in more weapons, better Fortitude saving
throws, and so on, but it would also mean that she doesn’t
gain new wizard powers when she adds this second class
and thus is not as powerful a wizard as she otherwise would
have become if she had chosen to continue advancing as a
wizard.

BARBARIAN
From the frozen wastes to the north and the hellish jungles of the
south come brave, even reckless, warriors. Civilized people call them
barbarians or berserkers and suspect them of mayhem, impiety, and
atrocities. These “barbarians,” however, have proven their mettle and
their value to those who would be their allies. To enemies who
underestimated them, they have proved their cunning,
resourcefulness, persistence, and mercilessness.
Adventures: Adventuring is the best chance barbarians have of
finding a place in a civilized society. They’re not well suited to the
monotony of guard duty or other mundane tasks. Barbarians also
have no trouble with the dangers, the uncertainties, and the
wandering that adventuring involves. Barbarians may adventure to
defeat hated enemies. They have a noted distaste for that which they
consider unnatural, including undead, demons, and devils.

BARD
It is said that music has a special magic, and the bard proves that
saying true. Wandering across the land, gathering lore, telling
stories, working magic with his music, and living on the gratitude of
his audience: such is the life of a bard. When chance or opportunity
draws them into a conflict, bards serve as diplomats, negotiators,
messengers, scouts, and spies.
A bard’s magic comes from the heart. If his heart is good, a bard
brings hope and courage to the downtrodden and uses his tricks,
music, and magic to thwart the schemes of evildoers. If the nobles of
the land are corrupt, the good bard is an enemy of the state,
cunningly evading capture and raising the spirits of the oppressed.
But music can spring from an evil heart as well. Evil bards eschew
blatant violence in favor of manipulation, holding sway over the
hearts and nds of others and taking what enraptured audiences
“willingly” give.

CLERIC
The handiwork of the gods is everywhere, in places of natural beauty
and in mighty crusades, in soaring temples, and in the hearts of
worshipers. Like people, gods run the gamut from benevolent to
malicious, reserved to intrusive, simple to inscrutable. The gods,
however, work mostly through intermediaries—their clerics. Good
clerics heal, protect, and avenge. Evil clerics pillage, destroy, and
sabotage. A cleric uses the power of his god to make his god’s will
manifest. And if a cleric uses his god’s power to improve his own lot,
that’s to be expected, too.
DRUID
The fury of a storm, the gentle strength of the morning sun, the
cunning of the fox, the power of the bear—all these and more are at
the druid’s command. The druid however, claims no mastery over
nature. That claim, she says, is the empty boast of a city dweller. The
druid gains her power not by ruling nature but by being at one with
it. To trespassers in a druid’s sacred grove, to those who feel the
druid’s wrath, the distinction is overly fine.[Druid's get animal companions]

FIGHTER
The questing knight, the conquering overlord, the king’s champion,
the elite foot soldier, the hardened mercenary, and the bandit
king—all are fighters. Fighters can be stalwart defenders of those in
need, cruel marauders, or gutsy adventurers. Some are among the
land’s best souls, willing to face death for the greater good. Others
are among the worst, those who have no qualms about killing for
private gain, or even for sport. Fighters who are not actively
adventuring may be soldiers, guards, bodyguards, champions, or
criminal enforcers. An adventuring fighter might call himself a
warrior, a mercenary, a thug, or simply an adventurer.

MONK
Dotted across the landscape are monasteries—small, walled cloisters
inhabited by monks. These monks pursue personal perfection
through action as well as contemplation. They train themselves to be
versatile warriors skilled at fighting without weapons or armor.
Monasteries headed by good masters serve as protectors of the
people. Ready for battle even when barefoot and dressed in peasant
clothes, monks are able to travel unnoticed among the populace,
catching bandits, warlords, and corrupt nobles unawares. By
contrast, monasteries headed by evil masters rule surrounding lands
through fear, as an evil warlord’s castle might. Evil monks make
ideal spies, infiltrators, and assassins.
The individual monk, however, is unlikely to care passionately
about championing commoners or amassing wealth. She cares for
the perfection of her art and, thereby, her personal perfection. Her
goal is to achieve a state that is, frankly, beyond the mortal realm.

PALADIN
The compassion to pursue good, the
will to uphold law, and the power to
defeat evil—these are the three
weapons of the paladin. Few have the
purity and devotion that it takes to
walk the paladin’s path, but those few
are rewarded with the power to
protect, to heal, and to smite. In a land
of scheming wizards, unholy priests,
bloodthirsty dragons, and infernal
fiends, the paladin is the final hope
that cannot be extinguished.

RANGER
The forests are home to fierce and
cunning creatures, such as
bloodthirsty owlbears and
malicious displacer beasts. But more
cunning and powerful than these
monsters is the ranger, a skilled hunter
and stalker. He knows the woods as if
they were his home (as indeed they are),
and he knows his prey in deadly detail.

ROGUE
Rogues share little in common with each other. Some are stealthy
thieves. Others are silver-tongued tricksters. Still others are scouts,
infiltrators, spies, diplomats, or thugs. What they share is versatility,
adaptability, and resourcefulness. In general, rogues are skilled at
getting what others don’t want them to get: entrance into a locked
treasure vault, safe passage past a deadly trap, secret battle plans, a
guard’s trust, or some random person’s pocket money.

SORCERER
Sorcerers create magic the way a poet creates poems, with inborn
talent honed by practice. They have no books, no mentors, no
theories—just raw power that they direct at will.
Some sorcerers claim that the blood of dragons courses through
their veins. It may even be true—it is common knowledge that
certain powerful dragons can take humanoid form and even have
humanoid lovers, and it’s difficult to prove that a given sorcerer does
not have a dragon ancestor. Sorcerers even often have striking good
looks, usually with a touch of the exotic that hints at an unusual
heritage. Still, the claim that sorcerers are partially draconic is either
an unsubstantiated boast on the part of certain sorcerers or envious
gossip on the part of those who lack the sorcerer’s gift.

WIZARDS
A few unintelligible words and a fleeting gesture
carry more power than a battleaxe, when they are
the words and gestures of a wizard. These
simple acts make magic seem easy, but they
only hint at the time the wizard must spend
poring over her spellbook preparing each
spell for casting, and the years before that spent in
apprenticeship to learn the arts of magic.
Wizards depend on intensive study to create their
magic. They examine musty old tomes, debate
magical theory with their peers, and practice
minor magics whenever they can. For a
wizard, magic is not a talent but a difficult,
rewarding art.

Alignment:

ALIGNMENT
In the temple of Pelor is an ancient tome. When the temple recruits
adventurers for its most sensitive and important quests, each
adventurer who wants to participate must kiss the book. Those who
are evil in their hearts are blasted by holy power, and even those
who are neither good nor evil are stunned. Only those who are good
can kiss the tome without harm and are trusted with the temple’s
most important work. Good and evil are not philosophical concepts
in the D&D game. They are the forces that define the cosmos.
Devils in human guise stalk the land, tempting people toward
evil. Holy clerics use the power of good to protect worshipers.
Devotees of evil gods bring ruin on innocents to win the favor of
their deities, while trusting that rewards await them in the afterlife.
Crusading paladins fearlessly confront evildoers, knowing that this
short life is nothing worth clinging to. Warlords turn to
whichever supernatural power will help them conquer, and
proxies for good and evil gods promise them rewards in return for
the warlords’ oaths of obedience.
A character’s or creature’s general moral and personal attitudes
are represented by its alignment: lawful good, neutral good,
chaotic good, lawful neutral, neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful evil,
neutral evil, and chaotic evil. (See Table 6–1: Creature, Race, and
Class Alignments to see which creatures, races, and classes favor
which alignments.)
Choose an alignment for your character, using the
character’s race and class as a guide. Standard characters are
good or neutral but not evil. Evil alignments are for villains
and monsters.
Alignment is a tool for developing your character’s identity.
It is not a straitjacket for restricting your character. Each
alignment represents a broad range of personality types or
personal philosophies, so two lawful good characters can be
quite different from each other. In addition, few people are
completely consistent. A lawful good character may have a
greedy streak, occasionally tempting him to take something
or hoard something he has even if that’s not the lawful or
good thing to do. People are also not consistent from day to
day. Good characters can lose their tempers, neutral
characters can be inspired to perform noble acts, and so on.

GOOD VS. EVIL
Good characters and creatures protect
innocent life. Evil characters and creatures debase or
destroy innocent life, whether for fun or profit.
“Good” implies altruism, respect for
life, and a concern for the dignity of
sentient beings. Good characters make personal
sacrifices to help others.
“Evil” implies hurting, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil
creatures simply have no compassion for others and kill without
qualms if doing so is convenient. Others actively pursue evil, killing
for sport or out of duty to some evil deity or master.
People who are neutral with respect to good and evil have
compunctions against killing the innocent but lack the
commitment to make sacrifices to protect or help others. Neutral
people are committed to others by personal relationships. A neutral
person may sacrifice himself to protect his family or even his
homeland, but he would not do so for strangers who are not related
to him.
Being good or evil can be a conscious choice, as with the paladin
who attempts to live up to her ideals or the evil cleric who causes
pain and terror to emulate his god. For most people, though, being
good or evil is an attitude that one recognizes but does not choose.
Being neutral between good and evil usually represents a lack of
commitment one way or the other, but for some it represents a
positive commitment to a balanced view. While acknowledging that
good and evil are objective states, not just opinions, these folk
maintain that a balance between the two is the proper place for
people, or at least for them.
Animals and other creatures incapable of moral action are neutral
rather than good or evil. Even deadly vipers and tigers that eat
people are neutral because they lack the capacity for morally right or
wrong behavior.

LAW AND CHAOS
Lawful characters tell the truth, keep their word, respect authority,
honor tradition, and judge those who fall short of their duties.
Chaotic characters follow their consciences, resent being told what
to do, favor new ideas over tradition, and do what they promise if
they feel like it.
“Law” implies honor, trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and
reliability. On the downside, lawfulness can include closemindedness,
reactionary adherence
to tradition, judgmentalness, and a
lack of adaptability. Those who
consciously promote lawfulness say
that only lawful behavior creates a
society in which people can depend on
each other and make the right decisions
in full confidence that others will act as
they should.
“Chaos” implies freedom, adaptability,
and flexibility. On the downside, chaos can
include recklessness, resentment toward
legitimate authority, arbitrary actions, and
irresponsibility. Those who promote chaotic
behavior say that only unfettered personal
freedom allows people to express themselves
fully and lets society benefit from the potential
that its individuals have within them.
People who are neutral with respect to law and
chaos have a normal respect for authority and feel
neither a compulsion to obey nor to rebel. They are
honest, but can be tempted into lying or deceiving
others.
Devotion to law or chaos may be a conscious choice,
but more often it is a personality trait that is recognized
rather than being chosen. Neutrality with respect to
law and chaos is usually simply a middle state, a
state of not feeling compelled toward one side
or the other. Some few neutrals, however,
espouse neutrality as superior to law or
chaos, regarding each as an extreme with its own
blind spots and drawbacks.
Animals and other creatures incapable of moral action are neutral.
Dogs may be obedient and cats free-spirited, but they do not have
the moral capacity to be truly lawful or chaotic.

THE NINE ALIGNMENTS
Nine distinct alignments define all the combinations of law vs.
chaos and good vs. evil. Each description depicts the typical
character of that alignment. Remember that individuals vary from
this norm, and that a given character may act more or less in accord
with her alignment from day to day. Use these descriptions as
guidelines, not as scripts.
The first six alignments, lawful good through chaotic neutral, are
the standard alignments for player characters. The three evil
alignments are for monsters and villains.

Lawful Good, “Crusader”: A lawful good character
acts as a good person is expected or required to act.
She combines a commitment to oppose evil with the
discipline to fight relentlessly. She tells the
truth, keeps her word, helps those in need,
and speaks out against injustice. A lawful
good character hates to see the guilty go
unpunished. Alhandra, a paladin who fights
evil without mercy and who protects the
innocent without hesitation, is lawful good.
Lawful good is the best alignment you can
be because it combines honor and
compassion.

Neutral Good, “Benefactor”: A
neutral good character does the best that
a good person can do. He is devoted to
helping others. He works with kings and
magistrates but does not feel beholden to
them. Jozan, a cleric who helps others
according to their needs, is neutral good.
The common phrase for neutral good is
“true good.”
Neutral good is the best alignment you can be
because it means doing what is good without bias
toward or against order.

Chaotic Good, “Rebel”: A chaotic good
character acts as his conscience directs him with
little regard for what others expect of him. He
makes his own way, but he’s kind and
benevolent. He believes in goodness and
right but has little use for laws and
regulations. He hates it when people try to intimidate
others and tell them what to do. He follows his own moral
compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society.
Soveliss, a ranger who waylays the evil baron’s tax collectors, is
chaotic good.
Chaotic good is the best alignment you can be because it
combines a good heart with a free spirit.

Lawful Neutral, “Judge”: A lawful neutral character acts as law,
tradition, or a personal code directs her. Order and organization are
paramount to her. She may believe in personal order and live by a
code or standard, or she may believe in order for all and favor a
strong, organized government. Ember, a monk who follows her
discipline without being swayed by the demands of those in need
nor by the temptations of evil, is lawful neutral.
The common phrase for lawful neutral is “true lawful.”
Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means
you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot.

Neutral, “Undecided”: A neutral character does what seems to
be a good idea. She doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other when
it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most neutrality is a lack of
conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a
character thinks of good as better than evil. After all, she would
rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, she’s not
personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal
way. Mialee, a wizard who devotes herself to her art and is bored by
the semantics of moral debate, is neutral.
Some neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves
philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as
prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way
of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run.
The common phrase for neutral is “true neutral.”
Neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act
naturally, without prejudice or compulsion.

Chaotic Neutral, “Free Spirit”: A chaotic neutral character
follows his whims. He is an individualist first
and last. He values his own liberty but doesn’t
strive to protect others’ freedom. He avoids
authority, resents restrictions, and challenges
traditions. The chaotic neutral character does
not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of
a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have
to be motivated either by good (and a desire to
liberate others) or evil (and a desire to make those
different from himself suffer). Devis, a bard who
wanders the land living by his wits, is chaotic
neutral.
The common phrase for chaotic neutral is “true
chaotic.”
Remember that the chaotic neutral character may
be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally
random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to
cross it.
Chaotic neutral is the best alignment you can be
because it represents true freedom both from society’s
restrictions and from a do-gooder’s zeal.

Lawful Evil, “Dominator”: A lawful evil villain
methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his
code of conduct without regard to whom it hurts. He cares
about tradition, loyalty, and order, but not about freedom,
dignity, or life. He plays by the rules, but without mercy or
compassion. He is comfortable in a hierarchy and would
like to rule, but he is willing to serve. He condemns others
not according to their actions but according to race, religion,
homeland, or social rank. He is loath to break laws or
promises. This reluctance is partly because of his nature and
partly because he depends on order to protect himself from
those who oppose him on moral grounds. Some lawful evil
villains have particular taboos, such as not killing in cold blood
(but having underlings do it) or not letting children come to
harm (if it can be helped). They imagine that these compunctions
put them above unprincipled villains. The scheming baron who
expands his power and exploits his people is lawful evil.
Some lawful evil people and creatures are committed to evil with
a zeal like that of a crusader committed to good. Beyond being
willing to hurt others for their own ends, they take pleasure in
spreading evil as an end unto itself. They may also see doing evil as
part of a duty to an evil deity or master.
Lawful evil is sometimes called “diabolical” because devils are the
epitome of lawful evil.
Lawful evil is the most dangerous alignment because it represents
methodical, intentional, and frequently successful evil.

Neutral Evil, “Malefactor”: A neutral evil villain does whatever
she can get away with. She is out for herself, pure and simple. She
sheds no tears for those she kills, whether for profit, sport, or
convenience. She has no love of order and holds no illusion that
following laws, traditions, or codes would make her any better or
more noble. On the other hand, she doesn’t have the restless nature
or love of conflict that a chaotic evil villain has. The criminal who
robs and murders to get what she wants is neutral evil.
Some neutral evil villains hold up evil as an ideal, committing evil
for its own sake. Most often, such villains are devoted to evil deities
or secret societies.
The common phrase for neutral evil is “true evil.” Neutral evil is the most dangerous alignment because it
represents pure evil without honor and without variation.

Chaotic Evil, “Destroyer”: A chaotic evil character does
whatever his greed, hatred, and lust for destruction drive him to
do. He is hot-tempered, vicious, arbitrarily violent, and
unpredictable. If simply out for whatever he can
get, he is ruthless and brutal. If he is committed
to the spread of evil and chaos, he is even worse.
Thankfully, his plans are haphazard, and any
groups he joins or forms are poorly organized.
Typically, chaotic evil people can only be made
to work together by force, and their leader lasts
only as long as he can thwart attempts to topple
or assassinate him. The demented sorcerer
pursuing mad schemes of vengeance and havoc
is chaotic evil.
Chaotic evil is sometimes called “demonic”
because demons are the epitome of chaotic evil.
Chaotic evil is the most dangerous
alignment because it represents the destruction
not only of beauty and life but of the order on
which beauty and life depend.

[Kiki]

Rituals

The ritual descriptions use the words “character” and
“creature” interchangeably.
Animal Messenger
You whisper to the animal before you, and it bounds off in
the direction you point to carry your message.
Level: 1
Category: Exploration
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Special
Component Cost: 10 gp
Market Price: 50 gp
Key Skill: Nature
You target a nonhostile Tiny animal, such as a sparrow,
a raven, a fox, or a carp. The animal must remain within
5 squares of you for the time necessary to perform the
ritual. Once the ritual is complete, you whisper a message
of up to 25 words to the animal and name a recipient and
a location. The animal bounds off toward the location, in
search of the recipient. The animal avoids danger along its
path. Upon finding the recipient, the animal approaches
until it is adjacent to the recipient, and then your whisper
issues from the animal’s mouth, conveying the message.
When the animal delivers its message or the ritual’s duration
ends, your influence ends and the animal reverts to its
natural behavior.
Your Nature check determines how long the animal is
affected by the ritual.

Arcane Lock
You bind a door so that intruders can’t easily pass. The door
is limned with amber light, which fades to a soft glow, marking
it as impassible to anyone other than you and your allies.
Level: 4
Category: Warding
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 150 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
You lock a door, a window, a gate, a portcullis, or some other
means of ingress. You can open the door normally, but those
who don’t have your permission to use it find it locked.
Your Arcana check, with a +5 bonus, sets the DC for
Thievery checks or Strength checks made to open the
door.
When you perform the ritual, you can allow for certain
other creatures or types of creatures to pass through the
door normally, ignoring the ward’s effect. You can choose
any or all (or none) of the following options:
Password: You can set a verbal password. If uttered
within 5 squares of the portal, the speaker can ignore the
ward for the next minute.
Individuals: You can designate up to ten other specific
individuals who can ignore the ward at all times.
Descriptions: You can describe one or more categories
of creatures who can ignore the ward at all times, using
specific, observable characteristics such as species, type,
size, or equipment carried or worn.
The Arcane Lock remains until you dismiss it, the door
is destroyed, or until the ward is defeated, such as by the
Knock ritual or a successful Strength or Thievery check.
Wherever you are, you instantly know if your Arcane Lock
is defeated by one of these methods.
Brew Potion
Liquids brew and bubble, coalescing the raw substance of
magic into a form you can drink.
Level: 5
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent until
consumed
Component Cost: Special
Market Price: 75 gp
Key Skill: Arcana or Religion
(no check)
You create a potion or an elixir (see page 255) of your level
or lower. The ritual’s component cost is equal to the price
of the potion or the elixir you create.

Commune with Nature
By communing with the spirits of the land, you know exactly
where to find food, shelter, or a clue to the location of the
thing you seek.
Level: 6
Category: Divination
Time: 30 minutes
Duration: 10 minutes
Component Cost: 140 gp
Market Price: 360 gp
Key Skill: Nature
By communing with primal spirits of nature, you can learn
a number of facts about your immediate environs (within 1
mile of you).
You can ask a number of questions, based on the result
of your Nature check, about the terrain features, plants,
minerals, bodies of water, creatures, and other aspects of
your surroundings.
The primal spirits you communicate with are honest but
sometimes can be elusive. Most questions are answered
with a yes or a no. Rarely do the spirits elaborate further,
and when they do, their response is cryptic.
Comprehend Language
As you finish the ritual, the guttural language of the creatures
before you clarifies into something you understand.
Level: 1
Category: Exploration
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 10 gp
Market Price: 50 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
When beginning the ritual, choose a language you have
heard or a piece of writing you have seen within the past
24 hours.
Using this ritual on a language you have heard allows
you to understand it when spoken for the next 24 hours
and, if your Arcana check result is 35 or higher, to speak
the language fluently for the duration.
Using this ritual on a language you have seen as a piece
of writing allows you to read the language for the next 24
hours and, if your Arcana check result is 35 or higher, to
write the language in its native script or in any other script
you know for the duration.
Using this ritual on a language you have both heard and
seen as a piece of writing within the past 24 hours allows
you to understand it in both forms for the next 24 hours,
and an Arcana check result of 35 or higher allows you to
speak and write the language.
Consult Mystic Sages
You enter a trance in which you commune with the spirits
of long-dead sages and otherworldly loremasters, seeking
answers to your esoteric questions.
Level: 10
Category: Divination
Time: 30 minutes
Duration: 10 minutes
Component Cost: 400 gp
Market Price: 1,000 gp
Key Skill: Religion
You ask a single question of mysterious, extraplanar presences
about matters beyond your ken. Make a Religion
check with a +10 bonus instead of an Arcana or a History
check to uncover a clue, remember a bit of lore, or otherwise
gain information about the world around you.
The ritual grants you a single piece of information. That
information can take the form of a word, a name, a phrase,
or even a brief story, depending on what exactly you’re
looking for. You can learn the name of the usurper who
ended the Katerran Dynasty a thousand years ago, the
burial rites of the Crimson Wolf clan, or the weaknesses of
the shadow assassins who have been dogging your steps.
The ritual can’t uncover information beyond the ken of
the most learned sages. It’s of no use if you’re trying to find
the magic word that unlocks the vampire’s crypt, because
only the vampire knows the word. Nor can the ritual tell
you definitively where great stores of treasure are, but the
mystic sages could tell you where a specific empress kept
her treasury in ancient times or whether the treasure was
looted when her empire fell.
Consult Oracle
A ghostly, shrouded figure with glowing eyes appears before
you, offering brief, cryptic answers to your questions.
Level: 16
Category: Divination
Time: 1 hour
Duration: 10 minutes
Component Cost: 3,600 gp
Market Price: 9,000 gp
Key Skill: Religion
You coax forth an oracular spirit from the space between
the planes. Oracles have no tangible presence and no
agendas; they exist only to observe events. This makes
them unparalleled sources of information because they
have the potential to have seen and heard everything, even
information otherwise known to only one creature.
Make a Religion check to determine how many questions
you can ask an oracle before it vanishes.
Each question is answered immediately, so you know the
answer to one question before asking the next. You must
phrase your question so that the oracle can answer it with
a single word or a brief phrase. For the oracle to know the
answer to a question, the answer must be known to at
least one creature, even if that creature is no longer alive.
The oracle has no foreknowledge and only a limited ability
to judge what it sees. The oracle can tell you the order
in which to activate the glyphs in front of the Gate of the
Black Drake, but it can’t answer the question “Will we do
well if we venture through the gate?”
Ten minutes after you finish performing the ritual,
the oracle leaves, even if you have unasked questions
remaining.
Cure Disease
Even the most horrid affliction disappears in response to
your healing touch.
Level: 6
Category: Restoration
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Instantaneous
Component Cost: 150 gp
Market Price: 360 gp
Key Skill: Heal
The Cure Disease ritual wipes away a single disease
afflicting the subject, whether the disease is active or still
incubating. The subject is completely cured and loses any
negative side effects and symptoms of the disease.
This ritual is physically taxing to the recipient; if used
on an injured character, it can even kill him or her. Upon
completing this ritual, make a Heal check, using the level of
the disease as a penalty to this check. The result indicates
the amount of damage the character takes. Assuming the
character survives, this damage can be healed normally.
If you know that your subject is suffering from multiple
diseases, you must choose which one this ritual will cure.
Otherwise, the ritual affects whichever single disease you
knew about. You learn the disease level when you begin
the ritual, and at that point you can choose not to continue,
without expending any components.

Detect Object
Lifting your finger, you point confidently at a blank stone
wall. Twenty feet past it, you can sense the prince’s stolen
scepter.
Level: 10
Category: Exploration
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 5 minutes
Component Cost: 400 gp
Market Price: 1,000 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
Name an object. For the duration of the ritual’s effect,
you can detect the direction and distance to the nearest
example of that object, as long as one is within the range
defined by your Arcana check result. When attempting to
locate a specific object, apply the modifiers below.
Detect Secret Doors
With a smile and a wink, you show Soveliss the outline of the
trapdoor he missed.
Level: 3
Category: Exploration
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: Instantaneous
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 125 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
Make an Arcana check. Use the result as a bonus to a Perception
check you immediately make to find any secret
or hidden doors in your line of sight. If anyone aided you
while performing this ritual, they can’t help you make the
resulting Perception check.
Discern Lies
His lies quiver through the ether like water thrown on a hot
griddle. The suspect doesn’t even know he’s giving off this
signal, but to you it’s clear as day.
Level: 6
Category: Divination
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 5 minutes
Component Cost: 140 gp
Market Price: 360 gp
Key Skill: Religion
Make a Religion check. Use the result as a bonus to your
Insight checks to discern any untruths spoken in your
presence during the duration. If anyone aided you while performing this ritual, they can’t help you make the resulting
Insight checks.
Disenchant Magic Item
The item ignites in a brief flash of brilliant light, then crumbles
to golden dust in your hands.
Level: 6
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Instantaneous
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 360 gp
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)
When you finish performing this ritual, you touch a magic
item and destroy it, turning it into a quantity of residuum
valued at one-fifth of the item’s price. The item must be
your level or lower and must be something that can be created
using the Enchant Magic Item ritual.
Drawmij’s Instant
Summons
You snap your fingers, and a sword appears in your hand.
The dragon’s nostrils flare in irritation as it realizes you’re
now armed with a vorpal blade.
Level: 12
Category: Travel
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Until discharged
Component Cost: 500 gp
Market Price: 2,600 gp
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)
Use this ritual to attune one weapon, implement, or shield
to yourself. At any time in the future, you can summon
that object to your hands as a minor action, at which time
the ritual is discharged. Through this ritual, you can have
only one weapon, implement, or shield attuned to you at
a time.
Enchant Magic Item
Magic drawn from the warp and weft of the universe infuses
the item you hold in your hands.
Level: 4
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: Special
Market Price: 175 gp
Key Skill: Arcana (no check)
You touch a normal item and turn it into a magic item of
your level or lower. The ritual’s component cost is equal to
the price of the magic item you create.
You can also use this ritual to resize magic armor (for
example, shrink a fire giant’s magic armor to fit a halfling).
There is no component cost for this use.
Endure Elements
Neither the biting cold nor the searing heat troubles you anymore.
You travel in arctic or desert wastes as comfortably as
in temperate climes.
Level: 2
Category: Exploration
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 20 gp
Market Price: 100 gp
Key Skill: Arcana or Nature
(no check)
The Endure Elements ritual lets you designate up to five
ritual participants, including yourself, who ignore penalties
associated with extremes of nonmagical weather.
An affected creature suffers no ill effects from ambient
temperatures between –50 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit,
and the creature’s equipment is likewise protected from
the ravages of these temperatures and of precipitation.
Eye of Alarm
You conjure forth a phantasmal sentry—a slender pillar
6 feet tall, topped with a floating, unblinking eye. The eye
watches over your camp as you sleep and cries out an alert if
danger approaches.
Level: 2
Category: Warding
Time: 30 minutes
Duration: 24 hours (special)
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 100 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
This ritual creates watchful eyes that you place in any
square within 10 squares of where you perform the ritual.
Each eye is located in a particular square; it is intangible
and can’t be interacted with physically. The eyes are nearly
invisible and have a Stealth check result of 20 + your level
to avoid detection.
Your Arcana check determines how many eyes you
can place and what type of vision or sensory ability they
possess.
The eyes do not hear, but they see well. Each uses your
Perception modifier, with a +5 bonus.
If an eye sees an intruder, it emits a loud warning sound
defined by you during the ritual. This sound could be anything
from a stentorian “Enemies approach!” to an owl’s
screech to a fanfare of trumpets. The Perception DC to
hear the eye’s sound is 0 (modified by distance as normal).
The eyes never consider you an intruder. In addition,
you can designate any number of other ritual participants
as nonintruders. When you perform the ritual, you can
also designate one or more categories of creatures that the
eyes will ignore. You can define these categories by obvious
physical characteristics (such as height, weight, or body
shape), creature type (such as humanoid), creature race
(such as hill giant), or obvious equipment (such as a creature
carrying a shield with a flame emblazoned upon it).
The ritual’s effects last for 24 hours or until you move
more than 20 squares from all the eyes.
Optional Focus: You can extend the duration of this
ritual indefinitely by using a focus of a small, jeweled eye
made of silver and ruby, worth 100 gp. The ritual’s effects
last as long as the focus remains within 20 squares of any
of the eyes. You can hide or protect the ritual’s focus in
any way you like, as long as it remains within 20 squares of
the eyes.
Eye of Warning
You conjure forth a phantasmal sentry—a slender pillar 6
feet tall, topped with a floating, unblinking eye. The eye protects
you from your enemies’ efforts to scry on you, watches
over your camp, and cries out an alert if danger approaches.
Level: 14
Category: Warding
Time: 30 minutes
Duration: 24 hours (special)
Component Cost: 800 gp
Market Price: 4,200 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
This ritual works the same as Eye of Alarm.
In addition, an eye of warning automatically detects any
scrying sensor that appears or moves within 10 squares
of it, treating the sensor as an intruder. Furthermore, the
eye destroys the sensor immediately after warning you
unless the creator of the scrying sensor succeeds on an
Arcana check (DC 20 + your level). Wherever you are, you
instantly know if the eye encounters a sensor. Each round
the sensor remains within 10 squares of an eye, the eye
attempts to destroy it again.
Optional Focus: As with the Eye of Alarm ritual,
you can extend the duration of this ritual indefinitely by
keeping a focus in the vicinity. This ritual focus is a small,
jeweled eye made of gold and ruby, worth 1,600 gp.
Forbiddance
A powerful invisible ward protects you from your enemies’
efforts to magically spy on you and from enemies who try to
teleport into your presence.
Level: 20
Category: Warding
Time: 30 minutes
Duration: 24 hours (special)
Component Cost: 5,000
gp, plus 5 healing surges
Market Price: 25,000 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
No scrying sensor can enter the area of Forbiddance and
no creature can teleport into it, unless the sensor or the
creature is higher level than the ritual caster who performed
the ritual.
Your Arcana check determines the size of the warded
area, which is a burst (see “Areas of Effect,” page 272).
The warding effect lasts for 24 hours, but the ritual caster
(not any assistants) can extend this duration by expending
a healing surge every 24 hours to sustain it. The caster
does not need to be in the same area or even on the same
plane to sustain the effect. If the ritual’s effect is sustained
without interruption for a year and a day, the effect
becomes permanent.
Gentle Repose
Your practiced hands perform the ritual fast enough to preserve
the body for a later casting of Raise Dead.
Level: 1
Category: Restoration
Time: 1 hour
Duration: Special
Component Cost: 10 gp
Market Price: 50 gp
Key Skill: Heal (no check)
This ritual is performed on an adjacent corpse. It quintuples
the time the corpse can lie dead and still be affected
by Raise Dead or a similar ritual. Gentle Repose also protects
the corpse from being raised as an undead creature
for 150 days.
Hallucinatory Creature
A few words of description, some arcane gestures, and a
fearsome image appears before you.
Level: 12
Type: Deception
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 500 gp
Market Price: 2,600 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
You create the illusion of a single creature, of any size from
Small to Large. It looks and smells like the creature in question.
If the creature can speak or emit sounds, the illusion
can do so as well, but on a limited basis (subject to the
DM’s judgment)—it’s not possible, for instance, for the illusion
to engage in an extended conversation.
You can give the illusion simple instructions, such as
having it wander a set area, appear to chew on local plants,
and the like. Your Arcana check determines the number of
actions you can instruct the illusion to take.
The illusion can perform these actions in a specific
sequence, such as moving, taking a standard action, and
then moving again, either in an endless loop or starting in
response to a specific trigger, such as a door opening.
You can also match each action to a specific trigger. An
illusion might move when a creature moves next to it or
cower and scream when it is attacked.
Creatures that view or interact with the illusion are
entitled to Insight checks to detect the fact that it is false.
This check’s DC equals your Arcana check result. A creature
is allowed a check the first time it sees the illusion and
each time it interacts with it. A creature that touches an
illusion automatically determines that the image is a fake.
The illusion cannot travel more than 20 squares from
the spot where it first appeared.
Hallucinatory Item
At your command, a phantasm of the item you’ve pictured
in your mind shimmers into being before you. It wavers once,
twice, and then seems to take on solid form.
Level: 5
Type: Deception
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 24 hours
Component Cost: 25 gp
Market Price: 250 gp
Key Skill: Arcana
You create the illusion of a single inanimate object that
appears, to all intents and purposes, to be real. You can use
this ritual to create an illusory wall, door, weapon, or other
object.
Your Arcana check result determines the illusion’s maximum
size.
Once you create the illusion, you cannot move it, and it
can’t include moving parts.
Creatures that view or interact with the illusion are
entitled to Insight checks to detect the fact that it is false.
This check’s DC equals your Arcana check result. A creature
is allowed a check the first time it sees the illusion and
each time it interacts with it. A creature that touches an
illusion automatically determines that the image is a fake.
Hand of Fate
A ghostly apparition appears to give you basic guidance
about a course of action.
Level: 4
Category: Divination
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: 10 minutes
Component Cost: 70 gp
Market Price: 175 gp
Key Skill: Religion (no
check)
When you perform the ritual, ask up to three questions
about possible courses of action. A translucent blue hand
appears and indicates with a gesture what the most
rewarding course of action is.
If you describe courses of action that refer to directions
or specific objects, then the hand points toward the choice
that bears the greatest reward. If you ask the hand, “Should
we head down the stairs or through the doors?” then the
hand responds by pointing either to the stairs or the doors.
If you ask the hand, “Which of these three levers should
we pull first?” then the hand responds by pointing to a
lever.
If you describe only a single course of action, the ritual
assumes that inaction is your other option. The hand either
beckons you (to indicate that you should proceed) or gestures
for you to halt. For example, the question “Should we
explore the ruins of Solitronia?” results in the hand either
beckoning you or gesturing for you to halt.
The hand can’t assess events in the far future; its judgment
extends only to likely events in the next hour. If the
hand can’t indicate a preference, the ritual has no effect
and expends no components.
There are two drawbacks to using the ritual to aid your
decisions. First, fate values rewards over risk, and this ritual
provides guidance accordingly. It points you toward a high
risk, high reward option before pointing you toward a low
risk, low reward alternative. For example, if one tunnel
leads to a dragon and great wealth and the other tunnel
leads back to town, then the hand points toward the
dragon. However, a high risk, low reward alternative is considered
less rewarding than a low risk, low reward option.
Second, the hand can choose only the most rewarding
course of action relative to the alternatives provided.
That doesn’t mean that the indicated choice is necessarily
a good idea, only that it’s a better idea than the other
options you’ve indicated. In the example above, if all three
levers activate traps, then the hand points toward the lever
that triggers a trap less lethal than the others.

[Zappy]

Religion:

RELIGION
The gods are many. A few, such as Pelor, god of
the sun, have grand temples that sponsor mighty
processions through the streets on high holy
days. Others, such as Erythnul, god of slaughter,
have temples only in hidden places or evil
lands. While the gods most strongly make their
presence felt through their clerics, they also have lay
followers who more or less attempt to live up to their deities’
standards. The typical person has a deity whom he considers to be
his patron. Still, it is only prudent to be respectful toward and even
pray to other deities when the time is right. Before setting out on a
journey, a follower of Pelor might leave a small sacrifice at a wayside
shrine to Fharlanghn, god of roads, to improve his chances of having
a safe journey. As long as one’s own deity is not at odds with the others in such an
act of piety, such simple practices are common. In times of
tribulation, however, some people recite dark prayers to evil
deities. Such prayers are best muttered under one’s breath, lest
others overhear.
Deities rule the various aspects of human existence:
good and evil, law and chaos, life and death,
knowledge and nature. In addition, various
nonhuman races have racial deities of their
own (see Table 6–2: Deities by Race). A
character may not be a cleric of a racial
deity unless he is of the right race, but
he may worship such a deity and live
according to that deity’s guidance. For
a deity who is not tied to a particular
race (such as Pelor), a cleric’s race is
not an issue.
Deities of certain monster types are
named in the Monster Manual. Many more
deities than those described here or
mentioned in the Monster Manual also exist.
Your character may or may not have a
patron deity. If you want her to have one,
consider first the deities most appropriate to
her race, class, and alignment (see Table 6–2:
Deities by Race and Table 6–3: Deities by Class).
If a cleric selects a deity, which one she selects
influences her character’s capabilities. Players with
cleric characters should read Deity, Domains, and
Domain Spells, page 31, before picking a deity,
though the information below describing the various
gods and goddesses can help them make a decision.
DEITIES
Across the world, people and creatures worship a great number of
varied deities. Those described here are the most common deities
worshiped among the common races, by adventurers, and by
villains. Each entry includes the deity’s name, pronunciation, role,
alignment, titles, and general description. These deities’ holy (or
unholy) symbols are shown accompanying their descriptions. (See
Table 3–7: Deities, page 31, for a summary of the most common
deities, their alignments, the domains they are associated with, and
their typical worshipers.)
Boccob
The god of magic, Boccob (bock-obb), is neutral.
His titles include the Uncaring, Lord of All
Magics, and Archmage of the Deities.
Boccob is a distant deity who
promotes no special agenda in the
world of mortals. As a god of magic
and knowledge, he is worshiped by
wizards, sorcerers, and sages. The
domains he is associated with are
Knowledge, Magic, and Trickery. The
quarterstaff is his favored weapon.
Corellon Larethian
The god of elves, Corellon Larethian (Coreeh-
lon lah-reth-ee-yen), is chaotic good.
He is known as the Creator of the Elves,
the Protector, Protector and Preserver of
Life, and Ruler of All Elves. Corellon
Larethian is the creator and protector of
the elven race. He governs those things
held in highest esteem among elves, such as magic, music, arts, crafts, poetry, and warfare. Elves, half-elves, and
bards worship him. The domains he is associated with are Chaos,
Good, Protection, and War. His favored weapon is the longsword.
Gruumsh is his nemesis, and it is because of Corellon’s battle
prowess that Gruumsh is called “One-Eye.”

Ehlonna
Ehlonna (eh-loan-nuh), goddess of the woodlands, is
neutral good. Her most commonly encountered
title is Ehlonna of the Forests. Ehlonna
watches over all good people who live in
the forest, love the woodlands, or make
their livelihood there. She is pictured
sometimes as an elf and sometimes as a
human. She is especially close to elves,
gnomes, half-elves, halflings, and brownies.
She is also worshiped by rangers and some
druids. The domains she is associated with
are Animal, Good, Plant, and Sun. Her favored
weapon is the longsword.

Erythnul
The god of slaughter, Erythnul (eh-rithnull),
is chaotic evil. His title is the
Many. Erythnul delights in panic
and slaughter. In civilized lands,
his followers (including evil
fighters, barbarians, and rogues)
form small, criminal cults. In
savage lands, evil barbarians, gnolls,
bugbears, ogres, and trolls
commonly worship him. The
domains he is associated with are Chaos,
Evil, Trickery, and War. His favored weapon is a morningstar with a
blunt stone head.

Fharlanghn
Fharlanghn (far-lahng-un), the god of
roads, is neutral. His title is Dweller
on the Horizon. Fharlanghn’s
wayside shrines are common on
well-used roads, for he is the god
of travel, roads, distance, and
horizons. Bards, other wandering
adventurers, and merchants favor
Fharlanghn. The domains he is
associated with are Luck, Protection, and
Travel. The quarterstaff is his favored weapon.

Garl Glittergold
The god of gnomes, Garl Glittergold (garl gliht-er-gold), is neutral
good. He is known as the Joker, the Watchful Protector, the
Priceless Gem, and the Sparkling Wit. Garl Glittergold discovered
the gnomes and led them into the
world. Since then, he has been
their protector. He governs
humor, wit, gemcutting, and
jewelrymaking. The domains
he is associated with are Good,
Protection, and Trickery. Garl’s
favored weapon is the battleaxe.
He is renowned for the jokes and
pranks he pulls on other deities,
though not all his victims laugh off his jests. Garl once collapsed the
cavern of Kurtulmak, the god of the kobolds. Since then, the two
deities have been sworn enemies.


Gruumsh
Gruumsh (groomsh), god of orcs, is chaotic evil. His titles are One-
Eye and He-Who-Never-Sleeps. Gruumsh
is the chief god of the orcs. He calls
on his followers to be strong, to cull
the weak from their numbers, and
to take all the territory that
Gruumsh thinks is rightfully
theirs (which is almost
everything). The domains he is
associated with are Chaos, Evil,
Strength, and War. Gruumsh’s
favored weapon is the spear. He harbors a
special hatred for Corellon Larethian, Moradin,
and their followers. In ages past, Corellon Larethian put out
Gruumsh’s left eye in a fight.

Heironeous
The god of valor, Heironeous (high-roe-nee-us), is lawful
good. His title is the Invincible. Heironeous promotes
justice, valor, chivalry, and honor. The domains he is
associated with are Good, Law, and War. His favored
weapon is the longsword, and he is worshiped by
paladins, good fighters, and good monks. His archenemy
is Hextor, his half-brother.

Hextor
The god of tyranny, Hextor (heks-tore), is lawful
evil. His titles are Champion of Evil, Herald of Hell,
and Scourge of Battle. Hextor is the six-armed god of
war, conflict, and destruction. Hextor’s worshipers
include evil fighters and monks, and his favored
weapon is the flail. The domains he is associated with
are Destruction, Evil, Law, and War. He sends his
followers to commit evil, and their special purpose is
to overthrow the followers of Heironeous wherever
they are found. Heironeous is Hextor’s half-brother.

Kord
Kord (kord), god of strength, is chaotic
good. He is known as the Brawler.
Kord is the patron of athletes,
especially wrestlers. His
worshipers include good fighters,
barbarians, and rogues. The
domains he is associated with are
Chaos, Good, Luck, and Strength.
Kord’s favored weapon is the
greatsword.

Moradin
The god of dwarves, Moradin (moar-uhdin),
is lawful good. His titles include
the Soul Forger, Dwarffather, the All-
Father, and the Creator. Moradin
forged the first dwarves out of
metal and gems and breathed life
into them. He governs the arts and
sciences of the dwarves: smithing,
metalworking, engineering, and war. The
domains he is associated with are Earth,
Good, Law, and Protection. His
favored weapon is the warhammer.

Nerull
The god of death, Nerull (nare-ul), is
neutral evil. He is known as the
Reaper, the Foe of All Good, Hater of
Life, Bringer of Darkness, King of
All Gloom, and Reaper of Flesh.
Nerull is the patron of those who
seek the greatest evil for their own
enjoyment or gain. The domains
he is associated with are Death, Evil, and
Trickery. His worshipers, who include evil
necromancers and rogues, depict him as an
almost skeletal cloaked figure who bears a
scythe, his favored weapon.

Obad-Hai
Obad-Hai (oh-bod-high), god of nature,
is neutral. He is known as the Shalm.
Obad-Hai rules nature and the
wilderness, and he is a
friend to all who live in
harmony with the natural
world. Barbarians, rangers,
and druids sometimes
worship him. The domains
he is associated with are Air,
Animal, Earth, Fire, Plant, and
Water. Because Obad-Hai strictly
adheres to neutrality, he is a rival
of Ehlonna. Obad-Hai plays a
shalm (a double-reed woodwind
musical instrument, also spelled
“shawm”) and takes his title from this
instrument. His favored weapon is the quarterstaff.

Olidammara
The god of rogues, Olidammara
(oh-lih-duh-mar-uh), is chaotic
neutral. His title is the Laughing
Rogue. Olidammara delights in
wine, women, and song. He is a
vagabond, a prankster, and a master
of disguise. His temples are few, but
many people are willing to raise a glass
in his honor. Rogues and bards are
frequently among his worshipers. The
domains he is associated with are Chaos,
Luck, and Trickery. The rapier is his favored
weapon.

Pelor
Pelor (pay-lore), god of the sun, is neutral
good. His title is the Shining One. Pelor
is the creator of many good things, a
supporter of those in need, and an
adversary of all that is evil. He is
the most commonly worshiped
deity among ordinary humans,
and his priests are well received
wherever they go. Rangers and
bards are found among his
worshipers. The domains he is
associated with are Good, Healing,
Strength, and Sun. The mace is his
favored weapon.

St. Cuthbert
The god of retribution, St. Cuthbert (saint
cuhth-burt), is lawful neutral. He is
known as St. Cuthbert of the Cudgel.
St. Cuthbert exacts revenge and
just punishment on those who
transgress the law. Because evil
creatures more commonly and
flagrantly violate laws than good
creatures do, St. Cuthbert favors
good over evil, though he is not
good himself. (His clerics cannot be
evil.) The domains he is associated with
are Destruction, Law, Protection, and
Strength. His favored weapon is the mace.

Vecna
Vecna (veck-nuh), god of secrets, is neutral
evil. He is known as the Maimed Lord,
the Whispered One, and the Master of
All That Is Secret and Hidden. Vecna
rules that which is not meant to be
known and that which people wish to
keep secret. The domains he is associated
with are Evil, Knowledge, and Magic. He
usually appears as a lich who is missing his left
hand and left eye. He lost his hand and eye in a
fight with his traitorous lieutenant, Kas. Vecna’s
favored weapon is the dagger.

Wee Jas
Wee Jas (wee jass), goddess of death and magic,
is lawful neutral. Her titles are Witch
Goddess, Ruby Sorceress, Stern
Lady, and Death’s Guardian. Wee
Jas is a demanding goddess who
expects obedience from her
followers. Her temples are few
and far between, but she counts
many powerful sorcerers and
wizards (especially necromancers)
among her worshipers. The
domains she is associated with are
Death, Law, and Magic. Her favored
weapon is the dagger.

Yondalla
The goddess of halflings, Yondalla (yon-dah-lah), is
lawful good. Her titles include the Protector and
Provider, the Nurturing Matriarch, and
the Blessed One. Yondalla is the creator
and protector of the halfling race. She
espouses harmony within the halfling race
and stalwart defense against its enemies. Her
followers hope to lead safe, prosperous lives by
following her guidance. The domains she is
associated with are Good, Law, and Protection.
The short sword is her favored weapon.