Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mad Mage 02-20-07, 01:47 AM	For those of you who haven't seen this yet, behold (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070214)! Sure, it's only about Beguilers and Dragon Shamans at the moment, but who knows where else it will go in the future? :cool:
Aldareth 02-20-07, 02:46 AM	I bet Ninjas are Shou expatriate, maybe some of the shou merchant houses had a tradition of training ninjas for spyiing - oh and maybe they are not even rare...fear the enemy you dont know!
bitter thorn 02-20-07, 03:44 AM	It will be interesting to see how he addresses Scouts and (my favorite) Marshals.
Valgard 02-20-07, 09:40 AM	I liked the beguiler tale, not quite sure I feel the same for the dragon shaman's. I think the dragon shaman has a greater potential even than that told in the Player's Handbook II itself. I think it should be not limited only to tribal or savage communities, it should be more like the ranger in that is a class of nature power (the dragons) pursued even by cities' people. Or even going beyond... Do you imagine an urban Steel Dragon Shaman?
Khaelieth 02-20-07, 11:17 AM	I think we've got more than enough classes already. If you can't customise it enough already, bad boos to you.
Diffan 02-20-07, 01:22 PM	I think we've got more than enough classes already. If you can't customise it enough already, bad boos to you. I dunno, what's wrong with a little variety. All these classes makes it easier with the balancing problems of customizing your own class. I mean, I know it's a ploy for WotC and Hasbro to make more and more $$ off of us, but there's no use denying it, might as well roll with it.
GothicDan 02-20-07, 03:24 PM	Rolling with change without reason is just as silly as holding to ironclad traditions for the same...
Diffan 02-20-07, 06:01 PM	Rolling with change without reason is just as silly as holding to ironclad traditions for the same... LoL, Touche......:duel:
BadCatMan 02-20-07, 06:56 PM	Woohoo! New Realmslore! The class description and even the name point the Dragon Shaman to a tribal nature. As dragons tend to be feared and hated, the concept of worshipping them is odd in the Realms, bar some odd cases usually on the outskirts of civilisation. But there some others. One could also imagine a Dragon Shaman as a priest of Tchazzar, a member of the Blood Of Morueme, or an agent of Neverwinter's Softclaws, or a worshipper of Maldraedior in Unther. With Dragons Of Faerun, it shouldn't be hard to make up all kinds of places for Dragon Shamans in the Realms. It would be fun to make up some variants for Realms dragons.
MerrikCale 02-22-07, 11:34 PM	I hope he tackles some of the more difficult/obscure classes such as spirit shaman, warlock, incarnates and the tome of battle classes. I'm also curious to see what he does with the duskblade if anything.
MarkusTay63 02-23-07, 01:33 AM	Rolling with change without reason is just as silly as holding to ironclad traditions for the same...Wow, thats almost PROFOUND, I'm impressed. ;)
Aldareth 02-23-07, 02:31 AM	I hope he tackles some of the more difficult/obscure classes such as spirit shaman, warlock, incarnates and the tome of battle classes. I'm also curious to see what he does with the duskblade if anything. spirit shamans are not that difficult , they replace druids/clerics in the regions of narfell and rashemen , the witches allready communicate with the spirits of the land on a arcane basis, the shamans just take the more "divine" aspect of them. spirit shamans can take the role of clerics for the uthgardt barbarians , they allready have the clan spirits/totems so its easy to assume that there are spirit shamans , as is for many more tribal folk , maybe in chult, the shaar or the hordelands
MerrikCale 02-23-07, 01:57 PM	spirit shamans are not that difficult , they replace druids/clerics in the regions of narfell and rashemen , I was thinking more obscure, like Osse. They could be the main religious figures there.
Kurama Youko 02-23-07, 10:03 PM	I don't know nearly as much about the realms as I would like to. Though it was the first campaign setting i was introduced to. Still, as far as the ToB classes go I thought depending on the primary discipline a person focuses on, should in term maybe explain his cultural/race selection. Bare with me im not sure if im explaining it the way I intentionally thought about it. Like for example The Warblade strikes me as a any place type of class (in that any culture could have one.) but the discipline/manuvers that are that could be learned is based on the culture in where the warblade is being trained. The Stone Dragon Discipline quickly comes across as a earthly based martial school, so Dwarves, Gnomes and other closely tied earth favoring races/cultures would know the manuvers of that discipline so a Dwarven Warblade would unless well traveled known prodominately Stone Dragon manuvers as this are the manuvers his people have developed or were taught. This might sound limiting, but I think it could be flavor wise uplifting, to know that certain societes have contributed to the sublime way. How to chose who did what, of knows what I guess would be the harder part.
bitter thorn 02-28-07, 03:12 AM	:bump:
Valgard 02-28-07, 10:26 AM	Guys! Have you read the new article this week? I loved the Duskblade story... That was great! I think they have passed the hand in front of (literal translation from a Spanish expression) all who said that class was a cheap copy of the bladesinger. Of course, not all of you will agree, but I think they made a great work. :censored: how I love the Realms... The knight story was not a story at all. They simply said that all orders named "Knights of ..." (such as the Knights of the Flying Hunt or the Knights of the Eternal Order) had knight-classed characters. They also name lawful good, neutral and evil organizations to make use of them.
MerrikCale 02-28-07, 10:34 AM	Guys! Have you read the new article this week? I loved the Duskblade story... That was great! I think they have passed the hand in front of (literal translation from a Spanish expression) all who said that class was a cheap copy of the bladesinger. Of course, not all of you will agree, but I think they made a great work. :censored: how I love the Realms... The knight story was not a story at all. They simply said that all orders named "Knights of ..." (such as the Knights of the Flying Hunt or the Knights of the Eternal Order) had knight-classed characters. They also name lawful good, neutral and evil organizations to make use of them. they are very good articles I can't wait for his take on swashbucklers, spirit shamans, favored sould and the tome of battle classes. At least, I hope he does those.
BrianCritchley 02-28-07, 04:57 PM	the duskblade fluff was just GREAT
BadCatMan 02-28-07, 06:49 PM	These articles are actually making me want to play these new classes with all the interesting new flavour, rather than just going "meh" at the stuff in the PHB2. And that's a great reason for them to be called Duskblades. (I suspect the original was just a random word combo.)
boggler65 02-28-07, 06:59 PM	Why oh why must they make it official? Most normal DM's already allow thier players to use just about any class, and then explain it thier own way... that's an implied core rule in DnD, that you can tweak things to your liking and the game will still work. Sigh... why did WotC have to make it official. You all realize that this move is just paving the way for some ridiculous "PrC's of the Realms" sourcebook, which will just be a 30 dollar mishmash of stuff taken straight from other books which you may or may not already own.
The Livewire 02-28-07, 07:33 PM	I dislike how they made the Duskbade so a) obscure and b) seemed to make it elf only. I do like Fey're duskblades though. already my brain's humming with ideas
Mad Mage 02-28-07, 07:34 PM	Why oh why must they make it official? Most normal DM's already allow thier players to use just about any class, and then explain it thier own way... that's an implied core rule in DnD, that you can tweak things to your liking and the game will still work. Sigh... why did WotC have to make it official. You all realize that this move is just paving the way for some ridiculous "PrC's of the Realms" sourcebook, which will just be a 30 dollar mishmash of stuff taken straight from other books which you may or may not already own. Or they may just post an online article for it, or even a web enhancement. ;)
MerrikCale 02-28-07, 08:52 PM	These articles are actually making me want to play these new classes with all the interesting new flavour, rather than just going "meh" at the stuff in the PHB2. And that's a great reason for them to be called Duskblades. (I suspect the original was just a random word combo.) I agree. All of a sudden the duskblade is cool.
Dark Wizard 03-01-07, 01:58 AM	The latest article was great, not only just tying duskblades to existing history, but creating new lore as well. This laid some good groundwork, with a little more help (mentions in other sources, perhaps a novel cameo), the duskblade can potentially gain a permanent and respected place in Realmslore. I could almost see it now, ten years down the road, someone new to the Realms and perhaps a future incarnation of these boards will ask -- Noob: Hey, what's this Duskblade I hear you old timers talk about. Us: (Spends a few moments reminiscing about the glorious good old days, then proceed to go into pages long history of Duskblades, place in the Realms, notable examples, common tactics, bladesinger vs. duskblade flame wars, etc.) Noob: Oh... so he was a 3e warrior-mage. Weird, they actually needed a class to do that back then. Us: (Grumble, moan, and whine. Go into pages long discussion on the merits of 3e vs 4/5/6e and how the original Duskblade hR0xXoRz compared to the multitudes of garbage the new system comes out with, especially the new "Duskblade" prestige class or some future derivation thereof.) Seems the pattern for these articles is one fairly good to great writeup of a class (Beguiler, Duskblade) with a second class tagged on with some pretty obvious suggestions (Dragon Shaman, Knight). I'm looking forward to Eytan's take on the Warlock (and similar classes), the Favored Soul, and some of the stranger stuff like Incarnum, ToM and ToB.
boggler65 03-01-07, 01:51 PM	The realms have already got enough half-a**ed PrCs. I can't recall whether or not the dusblade and beguiler are core classes... but it matters not. They are still annoyingly powerful and just don't fit that well into the realms.
Dark Wizard 03-01-07, 11:42 PM	These new base classes seem to perform about as well as any class with decent spellcasting, less so in some cases compared to main PHB caster classes like the Wizard, Druid and the Cleric. The recent articles just counter your statement about how all of them don't fit into the Realms. They aren't perfect fits, but I could make a convincing argument that the standard wizard doesn't fit most of the sages of the Realms (wizards sure, but not sages who tend to have plenty of wizard levels anyway). Or how the fighter doesn't really do justice to the swashbuckler style of some of Ed's NPCs or even come close to the skill Salvatore portrays in his warrior characters. Though you are right on one thing, lots of bad PrCs in the Realms, and few of the ones they should have.
GothicDan 03-02-07, 10:47 PM	I really can't say that I approve much of the Vyshaanti connection to the Duskblades. In the Realms, Moon Elves were always the foremost practitioners of bladesong; Sun Elves focused more on one path or the other (or that of the cleric), seeking to perfect it rather than find an amalgamation of the two. That's something that I REALLY like about Sun Elven culture (specialized perfection, contributing overall to a harmonious whole), and coupled with previous lore saying that bladesong was always more common among Moon Elves.... Yeah. It could have been -worse-, I guess. But it really takes something away from the Sun Elves and makes the more like standard, core D&D elves (who were from the start fighter/mages). Tying what is basically a slight variation of bladesong to the Sun Elves seems almost the antithesis of what previous lore seemed to be getting across about them, culturally (and professionally) speaking. Even the (only truly famous) sun elf bladesinger Josidiah Starym was, oddly enough, in an almost all Moon Elf House (by the end).
Dark Wizard 03-03-07, 01:45 AM	On a positive note, the Duskblade being a base class means no multiclassing. ;)
BrianCritchley 03-03-07, 04:34 PM	I really can't say that I approve much of the Vyshaanti connection to the Duskblades. In the Realms, Moon Elves were always the foremost practitioners of bladesong; Sun Elves focused more on one path or the other (or that of the cleric), seeking to perfect it rather than find an amalgamation of the two. That's something that I REALLY like about Sun Elven culture (specialized perfection, contributing overall to a harmonious whole), and coupled with previous lore saying that bladesong was always more common among Moon Elves.... Yeah. It could have been -worse-, I guess. But it really takes something away from the Sun Elves and makes the more like standard, core D&D elves (who were from the start fighter/mages). Tying what is basically a slight variation of bladesong to the Sun Elves seems almost the antithesis of what previous lore seemed to be getting across about them, culturally (and professionally) speaking. Even the (only truly famous) sun elf bladesinger Josidiah Starym was, oddly enough, in an almost all Moon Elf House (by the end). maybe so GD but to claim the duskblade is silly because as a general rule sun elves eprfer specalization is silly. I'm sure that a realm primarily made up of sun elves is still going to have blade singers. and dureing a time of war may well experiment about. also remember the crown wars where, even as elves reckon things, a LONG time ago, sun elven culture may have been differnt then
johnkretzer 03-04-07, 03:16 AM	The realms have already got enough half-a**ed PrCs. I can't recall whether or not the dusblade and beguiler are core classes... but it matters not. They are still annoyingly powerful and just don't fit that well into the realms. Sorry what? 1)You don't know about the classes being discussed here so why comment? These aren't even close to powerful. Or you haven't ever seen a core only Druid, wizard or cleric can do. 2)Actualy I find that a Beguiler is very easy to fit into the Realms. Also Duskblade is easy as well.
GothicDan 03-04-07, 09:35 PM	maybe so GD but to claim the duskblade is silly because as a general rule sun elves eprfer specalization is silly. Not at all. When an entire CULTURE is against something, then having that cultural spawn a variant of another CULTURE'S specialty is silly. Just my opinion, of course. I'm sure that a realm primarily made up of sun elves is still going to have blade singers. Why are you sure of that? and dureing a time of war may well experiment about. Experimentation wouldn't result in an entirely different core class. also remember the crown wars where, even as elves reckon things, a LONG time ago, sun elven culture may have been differnt then It was a long time ago, yes, but about 10 times shorter ago than it would have been for humans. And it may have been different, yes, but I don't like things being created in a vacuum "just because things were different" back then. We can still trace cultural archetypes from Europe all of the way back to ancient Sumeria, ourselves.
Dark Wizard 03-04-07, 09:45 PM	Well, there are sun elven bladesingers, less common than moon elven ones but not exactly rare. The idea probably isn't as foreign to them as we think.
GothicDan 03-04-07, 10:04 PM	Yes, it is. ;) In my opinion. 'A few' sun elf bladesingers is NOT the sort of cultural cohesion behind an idea you need to spawn an entirely new base class. A PrC I could have seen, possibly - but not a base class. Then again, in my game, base classes only come up after centuries, at least, of dedication and specific preparation and training, or direct divine aid. I mean, martial arts forms and sciences weren't 'mastered' in one, two, or even ten generations.
Dark Wizard 03-04-07, 11:10 PM	Could be that your perspective on what a base class represent differs from WotC's interpretation. I have a feeling WotC has changed their stance on base classes after the sudden increase in them starting with the Complete books and continuing even now in books like PHB 2 and Dungeonscape. Also, in stories, it's not uncommon for an accomplished and talented individual to originate something like a martial arts discipline/style. Of course they didn't do it in a void, they were trained in other forms but drastically changed and adapted what they knew, sometimes creating entirely new things, to fit a specific and pressing need. This seems to be what happened with the Duskblades in the Realms write up, with it being derived from Bladesinger techniques amongst others martial and magical disciplines.
GothicDan 03-05-07, 03:33 PM	It's the case of "possible but not very probable," if you ask me. It would have been MORE probable to make the fit with the Ilythiiri - since Dark Elves were never described as being focused (almost obsessed) with specializing in one path, and the Ilythiiri were every bit as harsh and directly militaristic as the Aryvandaari; moreso, in fact, considering their culture as a whole had fallen to demonic patronage.
MerrikCale 03-05-07, 03:50 PM	It's the case of "possible but not very probable," if you ask me. It would have been MORE probable to make the fit with the Ilythiiri - since Dark Elves were never described as being focused (almost obsessed) with specializing in one path, and the Ilythiiri were every bit as harsh and directly militaristic as the Aryvandaari; moreso, in fact, considering their culture as a whole had fallen to demonic patronage. i do like the idea of duskblades being drow, I must admit.
GothicDan 03-05-07, 03:56 PM	And it would help to end the "Are there any Drow bladesinger?" discussions. ;)
MerrikCale 03-05-07, 09:03 PM	are there any drow bladesingers?
Dark Wizard 03-05-07, 10:09 PM	I'm going to just consolidate my comments for the two similar threads into this one, since it is the longer running. I look at sun elven duskblades this way. It's possible but not probable, given normal conditions. However, are we talking about normal conditions during the Crown Wars? Most likely not. The article seemed to imply there was some need for elite arcane warriors. We've discussed how the overall rules of the game actually fit in with established lore. Wizards are vastly powerful and fighters plateau before mid-levels. The Duskblade fits somewhere in between. In a war where the sides often toss around copious amounts of magic, you need a fighter/mage style unit, you want something with more firepower than a fighter but you don't want to risk your wizards on the front lines. Bladesingers, being a PrC, are also too elite and valuable for some of these roles. Thus the hierarchy comes out to something like this NPC Warriors < Fighters < Duskblades < Bladesingers < Wizards, with certain individuals blurring the divisions depending on specifics. The Duskblade is also a full base class, so technically a sun elf duskblade isn't mixing any disciplines, not any more than he would if he were a ranger or a bard. Of course, if there was a Bladesinger base class things would be different, but WotC seems to dislike base classes being restricted to one or two races in the current system. I like the idea of Ilythiiri and drow duskblades and I think the article would have opened a lot more interesting opportunities if one line acknowledging that possibility (through parallel development, cross-fertilization, espionage, etc.) was added to the article. The major problem with making a solely Ilythiiri origin for duskblades is that it limits the already uncommon prevalence of the class on the surface. When the dark elves became drow, the duskblade techniques would have descended into the Underdark with them. At least with sun elves, there is a chance, however slim, that the odd moon elf, half-elf, or even human might have picked it up. Which is more likely to exist - an open minded sun elf willing to teach a non-sun elf or a drow willing to teach a non-drow, especially on the surface? You could say that nothing stated the duskblade had to be a class open to PCs. Though, I think the stronger point is that nothing about the original duskblade write up said it was reserved only for elves, certainly not in the way Bladesinging or High Magic are or should be. Though this is all just my opinion.
GothicDan 03-05-07, 10:19 PM	Which is more likely to exist - an open minded sun elf willing to teach a non-sun elf or a drow willing to teach a non-drow, especially on the surface? Honestly? Neither. I'd say both are about as equally improbable. The Duskblade is also a full base class, so technically a sun elf duskblade isn't mixing any disciplines, not any more than he would if he were a ranger or a bard. Both of which are highly unlikely for Sun Elves. They have always favored the 'traditional' classes of Wizard, Priest, or Fighter - the 'core' archetypes, one might say. That's why I don't see the Duskblade fitting that well; certainly not for a class that was supposedly spawned by the Sun Elves themselves! Moon Elves tend to be Bards - as well as Bladesingers, oddly enough...
Dark Wizard 03-05-07, 11:33 PM	I guess I just see this along the lines of "possible but not probable" though in regards to them favoring the core classes. The tendencies described just don't seem like the near absolutes I think you're implying. Though that doesn't even matter, the article never claimed the duskblade had even a large minority of practitioners. It was developed under specific conditions, by a subset of sun elven warriors (not dissimilar to how such ideas often form). Once the Crown Wars ended, the society and history did not provide the necessary support to keep the tradition thriving, it never really caught on. I feel that the history laid out in the article more than covered the sun elves favoring of the major core classes. One points that popped out at me was the quiet continuation of the tradition by masters passing the discipline down to the next generation. It's certainly not popular or widespread, but just enough to keep the tradition going. It felt properly reverent of an ancient if nearly forgotten and unjustly ill-reputed martial art form, something that seemed very sun elven, to me at least. I suppose it helps that the remnants of my 2e indoctrination automatically converted the class to older terminology, a specialized fighter kit using the higher paladin/ranger experience progression in exchange for limited spellcasting and no arcane spell failure in certain elven made armors. It seems like a more reasonable class/kit for sun elves to take, than even the Bladesinger perhaps, which required multiclassing even in 2e. Given the cultural significance of the Bladesinger but also the dilemma of multiclassing, I'd say the numbers of sun elf bladesingers and duskblades are about even, if it weren't for the tainted history of the duskblade tradition.
GothicDan 03-06-07, 03:58 PM	I guess I'm thinking about it more ideaologically, more thematically. I'd much rather have seen a Vyshaanti War Wizard PrC than a Duskblade, for example.
Dark Wizard 03-06-07, 07:52 PM	The transmission and network simulations I got a chance to play around with in cultural evolution took theme/ideology, tendencies, into account, those topics might have screwed with my outlook more than I thought.
Khaelieth 03-06-07, 08:07 PM	The Vyshaanti war mages were just High Mages I think, which we've already got a PrC for, no matter how bad it is. I don't think Faerūn needs any of the classes from PH2, we've got sooooo many prestige classes and ways of customizing our character only powergamers with bad DM's actually need them. Don't ask me to defend this view, as I'm drunk.
GothicDan 03-06-07, 10:28 PM	The Vyshaanti War Magi were NOT just High Magi. There are very few High Magic Rituals that have anything to do with war, and the current High Mage PrC is terrible for ANY High Mage.
The_Shaman 03-09-07, 08:02 AM	I suppose the article ties most classes fairly well to the Realms. Actually I'm quite happy at how the duskblades are made rare and mostly elf-oriented, because applied magic is imo an elven thing. Of the other races, I could imagine only the dwarves having a similar traditions for those with sorcerous blood. However, orc or halfling duskblades is something I have more than a little trouble imagining. Also, the argument that they don't fit sun elven culture is imo a bit misplaced. While sun elves today may value specialization (oh, and by the way - so do the drow), that doesn't mean that a forefather civilization that existed tens of thousands of years ago and whose influence the elves have tried to purge of themselves ever since would have similar values. Of course, anyone could try to get in the Knights of the Weave PrC/order, and I could imagine some of those eventually coalescing their specialized training into a more general regimen that could work for duskblades. Still, I like the PrC and not the duskblade class, so I would rather not have that.
GothicDan 03-09-07, 01:08 PM	While sun elves today may value specialization (oh, and by the way - so do the drow), that doesn't mean that a forefather civilization that existed tens of thousands of years ago and whose influence the elves have tried to purge of themselves ever since would have similar values. A) The Drow do not do so as much as the Sun Elves do. Check the class stats on the various NPCs. B) A forefather civilization tens of thousands of years ago isn't nearly as far separated from modern culture among Elves as it is among the humans, and there is no evidence we have seen from printed lore (historical timelines or the novel Evermeet; Aryvandaar was founded by Prince Durothil) to indicate they were different.
boards 03-09-07, 07:39 PM	Durothil was hardly a specialised character as it was. He starts as a Fighter (pulling his sword to defend against the dragon), learns to become a powerful mage and also casts at least 2 priest spells (alright 1 spell twice). Since then there has been number of fighter/mage combos for Sun Elves, a group of blade singers in Cormanthor, Kymil Nimesin, Coronal Eltargrim (if only after becoming Coronal), many of the guards of Amlaruil are Sun Elves, and if you use Elaith Craulnober as a base most of them would have learnt magic and fighting. So while specialisation may be the most common it is hardly unknown for them for them to branch out. So I have no problems with Duskblades being from Aryvandaar.
GothicDan 03-09-07, 09:55 PM	In 2E, ALL Elves were proficient in long swords; he had no need to be a Fighter. And I'm not sure that I would call what he cast a Priest-specific spell. The Bladesingers of Cormanthor were made up of both Silver Elves and Gold Elves. And Elaith Craulnober is a MOON ELF! Coronal Eltargrim HAD to become a Wizard to utilize the full power of the Crown Blade and the Sel'Kiira in it.
boards 03-10-07, 06:46 AM	In 2E, ALL Elves were proficient in long swords; he had no need to be a Fighter. And I'm not sure that I would call what he cast a Priest-specific spell. The Bladesingers of Cormanthor were made up of both Silver Elves and Gold Elves. And Elaith Craulnober is a MOON ELF! Coronal Eltargrim HAD to become a Wizard to utilize the full power of the Crown Blade and the Sel'Kiira in it. When he subdues the red dragon who's name escapes me he states that he got it from Ghaurnadaur and that it will require an elven soul in return for his help. That sounds like a priest spell to me. Then again I really dont know a great deal about spells so I may well be wrong. I used the Elaith example because Elaine Cunningham mentioned that he gained his magic from his training to be a Royal Guard, where all such guards need to learn both magic and weapons. Given that many members of the Guard are Sun Elves I presumed that they would recieve the same training.
GothicDan 03-10-07, 11:30 AM	No. That's a Wizard spell that's a dark pact with a demonic patron, silly! And it's in the Evermeet supplement itself (written around the same time as that novel) that states that Bladesingers are most often Moon Elves - which would include the Royal Guard. Remember, the Royal Family is Moon Elves; the NOBLE families are Sun Elves. Thus it would make sense for them to have Moon Elven guards.
Dargoth 03-10-07, 07:13 PM	As house rules for my campaign Ive allowed the some of the non core classes and given them the following background Knights: Are fairly easy, I view them as the 3ed successors to the old Cavalier class in 1st edition. There where several prominient Cavaliers in the FR including The Lord of Shadowdale, Azoun IV and one of the Lords of Waterdeep in 1st edition so I converted them to Knights. I also replaced Helms Paladin order and made them knights instead (The class abilities of the Knight gel much better with Helm teaching of the Guardianship and protection then the Paladin class does) Favoured Soul: Have only recently started to appear in the realms since the Time of Troubles and are ussually most common in the area where that god spent Avatar crisis. Favoured Souls are the result of a Non divine spellcasting being coming into prolonged contact with an Avatar. While a number of Favoured Souls where adults or children during Time of Troubles sages who have studied the subject have found that most Favoured Souls where either concieved or carried during the Time of Troubles. Favoured Souls are not a gods children but are mortal children who where exposed to an avatars before they where born Favoured Souls of Bane have appeared in Zhentil Keep, Scardale and Tantras Favoured Souls of Torm have been found in Tantras Favoured Souls of Helm have appeared in Northen Cormyr and Waterdeep Favoured Souls of Mykrul have appeared in Waterdeep (it is unknown who is granting there spells) Favoured Souls of Tymora have apeared in Arabel Favoured Souls of Mystra have appeared in Northern Cormyr Favoured Souls of Sune have appeared in Tezzir Favoured Souls of Talos have appeared in Tsurlagol Favoured Souls of Sharess have appeared in Calimport Favoured Souls of Selune have appeared in Waterdeep War mages: Most commonly found among the War Wizards of Cormyr where the War mage tradition has existed for hundreds of years. Recently Temples devoted to Tempus and to a lesser extent the Red Knight have opened arcane schools teaching the War mage tradition to those faithful who have the talent. Some sages believe that one day Tempus may try and claim the Evocation portfolio.
johnkretzer 03-12-07, 10:39 PM	No. That's a Wizard spell that's a dark pact with a demonic patron, silly! And it's in the Evermeet supplement itself (written around the same time as that novel) that states that Bladesingers are most often Moon Elves - which would include the Royal Guard. Remember, the Royal Family is Moon Elves; the NOBLE families are Sun Elves. Thus it would make sense for them to have Moon Elven guards. Just wondering would you accept that Sun Elves came up with Duskblade to shw those silly moon elves how to mix Sword and magic? I mean sure they like to focus which is what the Duskblade is pretty much does compared to Bladesinger... just throwing out a idea
GothicDan 03-13-07, 03:04 PM	While I think Sun Elves would have always had some rank among the Bladesingers, a small one (to see what's going on and make sure they're not left in the dark of anything), they're unique in the fact that they seem to base their opinions almost entirely on their own cultural standards, disregarding those of even other Elves (thinking that Angarradh is practically naught but a Moon Elven myth, for example). They don't need to show up the Moon Elves by doing what they do, because they would consider it an inferior dogmatic path to follow altogether.
BrennonGoldeye 03-13-07, 05:16 PM	Rolling with change without reason is just as silly as holding to ironclad traditions for the same... Hmm. Except holding takes energy while rolling doesn't. Hmm.