www.wizards.com/dnd/files/dungeon/155/15...
Why does it have Orcus changed to Shar? Does Orcus exist in the FR universe?
smiler to kelemvor replacing the raven queen for death, in lfr alot of the gods are replaced by other ones becouse its a diffrent relm then the rest of D&D, except some of the major ones stay, its kinda weird, you can see this on page 4 of this link wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LFR_CharGenGd...
I am currently running Keep On Shadowfell for a group of players new to the 4th edition. I haven't played since ADnD 2nd. Anyway, about halfway through the module I began to have an interested in using Forgotten Realms. So I found this nifty link to convert the Keep to FR:
www.wizards.com/dnd/files/dungeon/155/15...
Aye, I downloaded that as well and when I run H1, I definitly plan to use it.
Why does it have Orcus changed to Shar? Does Orcus exist in the FR universe?
Honestly, it's a quick fix and Shar is a well known deity that resides in the Shadowfell. Orcus does exist in the Forgotten Realms, though maybe no LFR (which is very strange to me), and has made some impact on the changes in Vaasa and Damara regions of Faerun.
Also, I think because the conversion places the Keep on the Shadowfell somewhere in Cormyr, it meshes well with previous adventures that heavily involved Shar and the 3e Plane of Shadow that took place in the same region as H1 does. So it just suits the adventure to re-name it to Shar, etc.
For as much as people dumb on the H1-H3 series, it can be alot of fun if you add in a lot of RP and regional lore with the adventure.
What the heck is LFR doing? Why would they ignore all the printed and FR material regarding Orcus?
Maybe as a god he doesn't exist, but he is still the demon Lord of undeath. I think that is the confusion.
Why does Orcus not exist in the FR?
What the heck is LFR doing? Why would they ignore all the printed and FR material regarding Orcus?
Maybe as a god he doesn't exist, but he is still the demon Lord of undeath. I think that is the confusion.
Well he does exist in FR, but maybe not as a Deity. I don't know how LFR is working it, but it hardly matters as nothing in the LFR community is considered Canon.
It's quite possible that he's still considered a demon lord and thus, doesn't have the Deity status, domains and so forth.
Why does Orcus not exist in the FR?
What the heck is LFR doing? Why would they ignore all the printed and FR material regarding Orcus?
Maybe as a god he doesn't exist, but he is still the demon Lord of undeath. I think that is the confusion.
Well he does exist in FR, but maybe not as a Deity. I don't know how LFR is working it, but it hardly matters as nothing in the LFR community is considered Canon.
It's quite possible that he's still considered a demon lord and thus, doesn't have the Deity status, domains and so forth.
Well if that is the case then I'm cool with that. That means the cult of Orcus is still active in Damara and Vassa.
I just wish every campaign setting had completely different names for each of their gods and lessor powers.
Why does Orcus not exist in the FR?
What the heck is LFR doing? Why would they ignore all the printed and FR material regarding Orcus?
Maybe as a god he doesn't exist, but he is still the demon Lord of undeath. I think that is the confusion.
Well he does exist in FR, but maybe not as a Deity. I don't know how LFR is working it, but it hardly matters as nothing in the LFR community is considered Canon.
It's quite possible that he's still considered a demon lord and thus, doesn't have the Deity status, domains and so forth.
I'm pretty sure Orcus is still just a demon lord / prince in Core D&D as well as FR. Doubtful that he would have any deity portfolios. Cults of Orcus in Core are pretty similar to those in FR, unless I'm missing some info.
Odd that they'd replace him with Shar, but who knows with LFR. What they do now is thankfully no longer canon.
I facepalmed quite a lot when I saw the description for one of the epic LFR events at DDXP... The description uses fluff for Arvandor straight from Plane Above.
You know, the 4E *CORE* setting. With a completely different Corellon and Arvandor. HURF.
*sigh*
Why does Orcus not exist in the FR?
Orcus exists in FR (and by extension LFR), but he is not a deity but a demon (just like Eldath - and Eilistraee according to some people - are archfey and not deities).
That Orcus isn't mentioned in LFR is because he isn't mentioned *yet*.
And with 'yet' I mean that it really depends on what time of the month you are reading this post :P
Note that descriptions for Epic LFR were written with some haste for DDXP and it may be a bit premature to judhe the book by its cover. Also note that Arvandor likely changed a bit in the past years as well, especially since the Stormstar Requiem.
Gomez
I had forgotten that there was a whole slew of crazy bizareness about Kiaransalee killing Orcus, taking over his realm, and using epic magic to erase his name from existence; but Orcus survived and changed his name to Tenebrous, became a minor deity, and went on a god-killing spree with the "Last Word" of uncreation (an ancient power word that insto-kills deities). Although some of his later plans are defeated, Orcus's final fate (as Tenebrous) is left uncertain. The Planescape adventure Dead Gods is responsible for a lot of this.
Then of course much later Kiaransalee gets her own name "erased" from the Realms, effectively shutting her out of the Realms forever.
Talk about using a bad plot device... twice, no less.
So that's probably why LFR people are saying Orcus "doesn't exist" in the Realms. It's not their fault, really. It's just a big pile of silly lore that unfortunately has been added to the canon list.
I suppose it all depends on whether or not you like the idea of a god-modding power in the hands of a former demon prince (or anyone, really). But this is exactly the kind of sheer nonsense that I leave out of my own version of the Realms. It's too convoluted for no reason, and the god-modding is ridiculous.
Just another stupid thing, in a long line of stupid things if you ask me...;)
Maybe as a god he doesn't exist, but he is still the demon Lord of undeath.
Well he does exist in FR, but maybe not as a Deity.
Well, he's not actually a god in core D&D either. MM p.206: "Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead, is one of the most powerful demons in the Abyss—powerful enough to threaten gods."
Note that descriptions for Epic LFR were written with some haste for DDXP and it may be a bit premature to judhe the book by its cover. Also note that Arvandor likely changed a bit in the past years as well, especially since the Stormstar Requiem.
GomezAll that's mentioned about Arvandor in 4E FR that I recall seeing mentioned is that the Gnome gods live there now too(And Corellon probably has a permanent headache from having both Garl Glittergold and Erevan Ilesere living in Arvandor). Certainly nothing to indicate that suddenly it's a string of islands and that there's recurring problems with abominations. Which is, again. Completely Core 4E fluff. Different Corellon. Different Arvandor. Carceri hasn't even existed in the Realms since 2E.
And have they ever actually detailed that thing anywhere? I've only ever seen it mentioned in passing in BRJ's timeline he did a while back.
Regardless, even if it's hastily done, which it really shouldn't be, it's just annoying as all hells and I'm glad that LFR isn't canon anymore.
And we all know that useless waste Eilistraee is dead. It's Vhaeraun who's still alive. He's actually moved back in with daddy and he's laughing his ass off at everyone who thinks he's dead.
In year -160 (page 55)
In Narfell, humans worshiped Orcus (page 81)
In the Darakh Dynasty, Orcus appear several time (page 81)
Gareth Dragonsbane [1373], future king of Damara has stolen the Wand of Orcus in 1359 (page 144)
So, Orcus is part of the history of the realms if we follow the idea behind GHotR
I remember in Lost Empires of Faerun there was a feat that let clerics of dead gods and Demon/Devil cultists cast Divine spells as if they followed a real diety, but it left it open to the DM to decide who was 'really' granting the spells.