ON THE COVER: What’s cooler than an illustration of a large, angry treant?

An
illustration of a large, angry treant smashing through
legions ofhohgohlins, as shown in Chris Seaman’s cover piece.

22 WINNING RACES:
BLADELINGS

Written and illustrated by Claudio Pozas

They slice, they dice, they shoot spikes

out of their skin! Find out what’s up with
bladelings in this full racial write-up.

28 ENGINES OF WAR

By Claudio Pozas

Killer treants? Deadly chariots? Equip your

game with the engines of war to give player
characters something to chew on, battle
against, or run from.

32 CLAN HARHUND AND

DEAD DWARF MINE

By Ed Greenwood

A dwarf long ridiculed over his dogged

quest for a lost mine has turned up with
proof that the mine actually exists. The
catch? The “lost” mine is actually just a
few feet beneath the cellars of buildings
in Saradush, and that information got the
dogged dwarf murdered.

3 THE FIRE-EYED MAID OF

SMOKY WAR

By Steve Winter
4 SENTIENT LIVING SPELLS

By Doug Hyatt and Robert J. Schwalb

They do not eat; they do not sleep; they do

not breathe. They are living spells, and
they exist to destroy and consume. Visit
the blighted landscape of the Mournland,
and discover the inner workings of these
sentient magical monstrosities.

10 WINNING RACES:
HOBGOBLINS

By Jim Auwaerter

Conquer the new year with a full racial

write-up of these goblinoid bad boys. Being
evil makes everything more fun, right?

15 THE FIRST WIELDERS

By Logan Bonner

Some worship the gods, while others bow

to devils or dragons. A few follow the Path
of Steel, devoting themselves
wholly to their weapons. Learn
about these weapons and the
people who choose this path.

EDITORIAL

jL^riPkiyiispri
V 419 /

DRAGON

Senior Producer
Producers
Managing Editors
Development and Editing Lead
Developers
Senior Creative Director
Art Director
Publishing Production Manager
Digital Studio Consultant
Contributing Authors

Contributing Editors
Contributing Artists

January 2013

Christopher Perkins

Greg Bilsland, Steve Winter

Kim Mohan, Miranda Horner

Jeremy Crawford

Chris Sims, Robert J. Schwalb

Jon Schindehette

Kate Irwin

Angie Lokotz

Daniel Helmick

Jim Auwaerter, Logan Bonner,

Ed Greenwood, Doug Hyatt,

Claudio Pozas, Robert J. Schwalb

Michele Carter, Jennifer

Clarke Wilkes

Jason Juta, Claudio Pozas,

Chris Seaman, Beth Trott,

Mark Winters

Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, D&D Insider, their

respective logos, D&D, Dungeon, and Dragon are trademarks of
Wizards of the Coast LLC in the USA and other countries. ©2013
Wizards of the Coast LLC.

This material is protected underthe copyright laws ofthe United States

of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use ofthe material or
artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written
permission of Wizards of the Coast LLC. This product is a work of
fiction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events
is purely coincidental.

The Fire-eyed Maid

of Smoky War

By Steve Winter

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead.

If we are mark’d to die, we are enow

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

Lay on, Macduff,

And damn’d he him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”

Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeomen!

Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!

Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;

Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!

War is our nominal theme this month, and no one

does war like Will Shakespeare.

Once upon a time, war was seen as a great adven¬

ture. We know better now-mostly-but it isn’t only us
that’s changed. War itself is different.

Before it became a 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year

industry, war was intermittent. Soldiers spent most
of a campaign marching from place to place, stand¬
ing guard, tending to gear and animals, foraging for
supplies, and occasionally skirmishing with their
opposing numbers who were up to the same things.

If the camp wasn’t ravaged by dysentery, malaria,

food poisoning, or a hundred other maladies, if the
weather wasn’t too wet or dry or hot or cold, if the
countryside wasn’t stripped of forage, and if the com¬
manding general wasn’t an idiot or a drunkard-big
ifs, for sure-then being at war could be easier on sol¬
diers than on civilians.

Until the day of battle, that is. That could be an ugly

day for everyone, but especially for the losers. The
idea that any enemy-man, woman, or child-should
be left alive is a relatively recent advance in civiliza¬
tion. We have a long and ghastly relationship with
slaughtering everything that breathes, and only a few
centuries of practice at clemency.

When war makes the jump to movies, to young

adult adventure books, and to D&D, we strip out most
of the horror and instead shine a spotlight on the hero
who shouts, “Sound trumpets! Let our bloody colours
wave! And either victory, or else a grave.” We can do
that because the grave is only make-believe, while
our thrill at imagined danger and our admiration for
courage are real.

War isn’t the only thing on our minds, though. We

also have fresh looks at hobgoblins and bladelings,
an evolutionary new development in living spells, the
secret location ofthe lost Harhund mine, and the lore
of the first magical weapons ever fabricated.

Oh, and one other thing: I’m delighted to be back

in the saddle here at Dragon and Dungeon online. The
next few months look very exciting.

Sentient Living Spells

Magic with a Mind of its Own

By Doug Hyatt and Robert J. Schwalb

Illustrations by Mark Winters

From sheets of roiling flame to spheres of crack¬

ling lightning, from howling snowstorms to clouds
of flying daggers, living spells haunt the blighted
landscape of the Mournland. Remnants of the
apocalypse that destroyed the nation of Cyre, these
magical effects chase any prey foolish enough to cross
their paths.
Most living spells encountered in the Mournland,
although technically alive, have little in the way of
motivation; they do not eat, sleep, or breathe, and,
other than being drawn to pockets of arcane magic,
they exhibit no behavior other than sheer aggression.

A few living spells behave in unusual ways. They

avoid conflict, make efforts to communicate, and
even gather in small communities. These living spells
stand apart from others, because they have an attri¬
bute that no ordinary spell possesses: sentience.

Arcane Powers
Given Life

Years ago, a magical catastrophe leveled the nation

of Cyre and reduced its territory to a haunted waste¬
land now known as the Mournland. The cause of this
event remains unknown to the people of Khorvaire,
and the bleak and twisted landscape casts a shadow
across the entire continent for fear that it might
happen again. The Last War, a century-long conflict
responsible for the fall of the Kingdom of Galifar,
sputtered to a halt. Whatever magical force swept

away the nation’s citizens and reduced its land to a

poisonous desert was the same force that created one
of the deadliest threats to those who dare brave these
lands-the living spells.

All living spells are arcane powers given life,

becoming entities in their own right. A spell’s
essential function gives definition to a living spell,
determining its form, its capabilities, and the meth¬
ods it uses to destroy any living thing it encounters.
From the dreaded living cloudkill, with its heavy poi¬
sonous mist creeping across the broken landscape,
to the spinning and clashing living cloud of daggers,
a storm of blades made from magical force, nearly
all living spells present grave danger to those caught
unprepared.

Living spells have few common features because

they evolved from powers used by those who study
the arcane traditions, and arcane magic varies from
one user to the next. What they do share is the magi¬
cal nature they retained after their creation. They
have no need for food, water, sleep, or any other basic
need of living creatures. They do not reproduce and
have little affinity for others of their kind, though
circumstance can throw them together. They are dan
gerous and violent, hurling their undulating masses
against anything they find.

TM & © 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Communication

Their heightened intelligence and self-awareness

makes it possible for sentient living spells to com¬
municate with each other and sometimes with other
creatures. These creatures can hear others and can
learn languages, as evidenced in their understand¬
ing of Common and other tongues—but although all
sentient living spells have the intellectual capacity
to communicate, many lack the means to do so in a
reliable fashion. A sentient spell’s physical form lacks
the necessary organs to produce speech, so these
creatures often rely on unconventional methods to
exchange ideas.

The communication method of a particular sen¬

tient living spell depends on its nature. Some spells
develop complex lexicons based on changing their
colors, their forms, and the sounds they make.

Other sentient living spells, even those of different

natures, can easily interpret these messages and often
replicate them. The ease with which they commu¬
nicate with each other does not, however, extend to
exchanges with other creatures. Such creatures have
to first recognize that a spell’s odd behavior is some
form of communication and then have the where¬
withal to deduce the intent from the display. Since not
everyone has the patience or perceptiveness to under¬
stand these facts, encounters with humanoids and
other beings often do not end well for those creatures,
even if the contact began with peaceful intentions on
the part of the living spell.

For example, a sentient living spell that evolved

from color spray or hypnotic pattern might commu¬
nicate through flashing colored lights or displays of
swirling hues. A different illusion-based spell might
alter its appearance and shape in specific ways, com¬
municating through images that best describe the
information it hopes to share. Some sentient spells
can develop rudimentary speech if the original

spell had an auditory aspect, such as ghost sound or

focused sound.

Other sentient spells use more direct methods of

communication. A sentient living animate dead, for
example, could animate a corpse and use its vocal
cords to speak. A living bewitching gaze could domi¬
nate a creature and speak through it.
Getting Along
with Others

With sentience comes an existential crisis. Sudden

awareness of self, place, and identity result in myriad
questions. Finding no reliable answers in themselves,
sentient living spells set out to find others of their
kind. And when many gather, they might, in time,
form societies.

Three significant groups of sentient living spells

have emerged in the Mournland—the Builders, the
Teachers, and the Annihilators, all of which are
described in the following section.

Few sentient living spells have use for the reli¬

gions of other species. Many of these entities believe
they are all fragments of a single Great Spell, which,
after becoming angered at humans’ pathetic efforts
to control it, struck down the vain nation of Cyre. In
accomplishing this deed, the Great Spell shattered
into many pieces that became the individual living
spells. Worshipers of the Great Spell seek to gather
and unite all living spells, and they believe the magic
that empowers each could one day allow them to join
and recreate the Great Spell.

Sentient living spells view mundane living spells

in much the same way that humans view animals.
Some sentient spells hunt them for sustenance, others
gather and protect them in the belief that they will
one day be joined to re-form the Great Spell, and
others still keep them for labor, companions, guards,
and sport.

Sentient Living Spells

Other races are of little interest to most sentient

living spells. Humanoids and other creatures are
seen as interlopers, meddlers, and thieves, and thus
explorers and adventurers might be subject to suspi¬
cion or even hostility from sentient spells. A few more
enlightened spells venture out into the world, either
in borrowed vessels or in their native form, to get a
better understanding of the world in which they live.

Factions

Three major societies of sentient living spells have

formed since the Day of Mourning.

The Builders

The most gregarious, curious, and industrious of the

sentient living spells are the Builders, so named for
their desire to build a place for themselves in the
Mournland, to become a true people with a culture,
a civilization, and a purpose beyond survival. Living
spells that identify themselves as Builders arise from
the same spells used to create warforged, to animate
objects, and to create and control other constructs.

In their native form they appear as streams of dark

mist, either black or gray. These spells awoke in
the aftermath of the great cataclysm and roamed
the mist-filled wasteland as clouds of black energy,
scouring the landscape for constructs to inhabit. The
warforged remains that littered the old battlefields
proved to be suitable vessels.

Most Builders can enter and animate only a dead

warforged body. A few can dominate even a living
warforged. When the ebon stream of a Builder occu¬
pies the body of a slain construct, the warforged
seemingly returns to life, its eyes aglow once more.

Travelers and Explorers: Animating the remains

of a warforged provides a Builder with many advan¬
tages. It can use the body’s sturdy form to work,
repair, and create. Through its physiology, the Builder
can speak. Best of all, Builders that occupy warforged

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Sentient Living Spells

Builder Level 5 Lurker

Medium aberrant magical beast (blind, ooze) XP 200

HP 54; Bloodied 27 Initiative +7

AC 19, Fortitude 18, Reflex 17, Will 16 Perception +3

Speed 5 in warforged form; Blindsight 10

0, fly 6 (hover) in ooze form

Immune blinded, disease, gaze effects, poison

Traits
Insubstantial

In ooze form, the Builder takes half damage from any

damage source, except force damage and psychic damage.
Whenever the Builder takes psychic damage, it loses this
trait until the start of its next turn.

Ooze

While squeezing in ooze form, the Builder moves at full

speed rather than half speed, it doesn’t take the -5 penalty
to attack rolls, and it doesn’t grant combat advantage for
squeezing.

Regeneration

While in warforged form, the Builder regains 5 hit points

whenever it starts its turn and has at least 1 hit point.
When the Builder takes force or psychic damage, the
regeneration does not function on the creature’s next turn.

Standard Actions

© Slam + At-Will

Requirement: The Builder must be in warforged form.

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +10 vs. AC
Hit: 2d8 + 4 damage.

© Psychic Touch (psychic) + At-Will

Requirement: The Builder must be in ooze form.
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +8 vs. Will
Hit: 3d6 + 2 psychic damage.

I Animate Objects + Recharge [X] [TT]

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature carrying equipment); +8 vs.

Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + 4 damage, and the target’s equipment ani¬

mates (save ends). While the target’s equipment is
animated, the target is slowed and takes a -2 penalty to
attack rolls.

I Possess Warforged + At-Will

Requirement: The Builder must be in ooze form.

Effect: Melee 1 (the intact body of one dead warforged); the

Builder’s ooze form disappears into the target, and the
Builder takes on warforged form.

Requirement: The Builder must be in warforged form.

Effect: The warforged body the Builder occupied falls prone
in the Builder’s space, and the Builder takes on ooze form
and shifts up to 2 squares.

Trigger: While in warforged form, the Builder is first

bloodied.

Effect (Free Action): The Builder uses leave body, gains 10

temporary hit points, and the warforged body it inhab¬
ited turns to dust.

Skills Arcana +9, Diplomacy +7

Str 14 (+4) Dex 12 (+3) Wis 12 (+3)

Con 18 (+6) Int 15 (+4) Cha 10 (+2)

Alignment unaligned Languages Common

bodies can travel in a form that lets them interact

with other peoples and learn more about the world in
which they have found themselves. Builders explore
the world, learning all they can from the people and
creatures they meet. As a group, they know a wide
range of languages and customs, and they are hungry
for lore about architecture, the arts, magic, history,
and anything else they can learn. After a time, each
possessed warforged returns to the Builder commu¬
nity and shares the knowledge it has learned.

False Warforged: Builders that inhabit warforged

bodies can pass for living warforged in most places.

Most people of the world, especially those in rural

communities, consider warforged strange and alien
to begin with, so if the awkward behavior of a Builder
is close enough to the way a living warforged acts, the
Builder’s true nature might go unrealized. Anyone
who has lived, fought, and worked alongside war¬
forged might pick up on the difference right away, as
do other warforged. More experienced Builders learn
to disguise themselves better, but there’s no escap¬
ing the fact that the bodies they inhabit are merely
puppets, and insightful individuals have little trou¬
ble seeing through this deception. For this reason,

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Sentient Living Spells

Builders do not stay in one place for very long so that

they can avoid arousing suspicion.

Strange Edifices: Travelers in the Mournland

have reported finding bizarre structures rising from
the blasted terrain—buildings made from iron, stone,
glass, and a variety of other materials, with no pat¬
tern or apparent logic in their design. Stairways
lead nowhere, mazes of tiny corridors connect vast
chambers, and organic shapes cut from crystal gleam
with mysterious light. The structures embody a
myriad of architectural styles, fused together to make
something new.

The Builders are responsible for these works and

raise them up using whatever materials they can find.
They do not build them for shelter or to serve any
functional purpose other than to express themselves
and represent or contain the knowledge they have
acquired. Many Builders, freed from the vessels they
inhabit, stream through the twisting passages in their
native form, savoring the pleasure and the security of
what they have built.

Encounters: Builders can be encountered in the

bodies of warforged, or in their native forms as float¬
ing clouds of black mist. In warforged form, they
might be lone travelers or accompanied by other crea¬
tures. Builders who accompany other creatures in
warforged form are highly skilled at hiding their true
nature, so when one streams out of its host body, that
event is often a surprise to its companions.

Sample Builder: The Builder presented here was

once a spell that animated objects.

Builders in Combat: Builders avoid violent con¬

frontation when possible. They prefer to use words to
settle disputes rather than brute force. When com¬
pelled to fight, a Builder controls its warforged body
with great skill, slamming opponents and tangling
them up in their gear. A Builder typically stays in
warforged form long enough to drive off its foes or to
escape. If a Builder’s warforged body is severely dam¬
aged, the Builder slips away in a stream of smoke,
fleeing by the safest available route until it can find a
new body to inhabit.

The Teachers

In the Last War, arcanists frequently used magic to

spy on their enemies. Some of that magic survived
Cyre’s destruction in the form of sentient living spells.
Just as the wizards did in the Last War, these spells
hunger for knowledge, often retaining many of the
mental characteristics of the individuals who cast
them. Their natural inquisitiveness contributes to
their near obsession with uncovering the source of
the destruction that created the Mournland, learning
why they were made and how they gained sentience,
and, above all, how to help other living spells gain
sentience. Their efforts so far have involved seeking
lost lore, artifacts, and relics from Cyre, hoping some¬
thing in them will give them the answers they seek.

These sentient living spells call themselves the

Teachers because they work to instruct other living
spells in how to awaken to sentience and to spread
word about the Great Spell they strive to restore.

The Glass Plateau: A shimmering plain dotted

with crystalline rock formations that jut from its sur¬
face rises from the heart of the Mournland. Pockets
of wild spell energy bubble up here, drawing living
spells from all over the wastes to this place. The
Teachers believe that the magical power may be tied
in some way to the mystery of the cataclysm. For this
reason, the Teachers have established a settlement at
the Glass Plateau and have begun carving out tun¬
nels and venturing into the depths to discover what
lies below. Progress has been slow due to the discov¬
ery of strange magical barriers and hazards that can
unravel living spells, destroying them instantly. If the
Teachers would uncover the secrets that they are cer¬
tain lie beneath them, they must gain the aid of other
people and creatures.

Natural Magicians: Teachers have qualities not

possessed by other living spells. They can memorize

the text of scrolls and tomes and can recite the words
(if they can speak) or communicate the message using
a language of flashing lights that only other Teachers
can understand. In addition, most Teachers develop
magical abilities beyond the spell that gave them
life, and many know several cantrips. They put these
cantrips to great use, using mage hand to manipulate
objects, or ghost sound to speak.

A New Religion: Some Teachers act as priests.

They espouse the theory that all living spells are
fragments of a single powerful sorcery known as the
Great Spell. The Teachers believe the Great Spell is
mightiest of living spells to have ever existed, a magic
so powerful that wizards of the Last War sought to
tame it in order to bring victory to their side. Some
Teachers assert that the Great Spell was respon¬
sible for the Mournland’s creation, as it struck out
to punish the wizards and sorcerers for their hubris.
Doing so, however, shattered itself into many pieces-
pieces that would become the living spells. Although
many Teachers already believe these stories with
unwavering certainty, they also hope that what’s
buried beneath the Glass Plateau will give them the
proof and the means that they need to unite all sen¬
tient living spells.

Central to this growing religious movement is the

goal of recombining all living spells to restore the
Great Spell. To this end, Teachers see themselves as
shepherds, with ordinary living spells as their flock.
They capture, herd, and contain living spells atop the
Glass Plateau so they can be preserved until the day
when the Great Spell can be re-formed. The Teachers
have made great strides in this area, but have run up
against opposition from the Annihilators, who can¬
nibalize other living spells in order to increase their
own strength.

Universal Potential: The Teachers believe that

all living spells have the potential to become sentient.
They subject captive living spells to all manner of
magical effects they have learned, hoping to unlock

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Sentient Living Spells

Teacher Level 2 Controller

Medium aberrant magical beast (blind, ooze) XP 125

HP 38; Bloodied 19 Initiative +2

AC 16, Fortitude 14, Reflex 16, Will 12 Perception +1

Speed 0, fly 6 (hover) Blindsight 10

Immune blinded, disease, gaze effects, poison

Traits

Arcane Insight
The Teacher rolls all Arcana checks twice and takes the
higher result.

Insubstantial

The Teacher takes half damage from any damage source,

except force damage and psychic damage. Whenever the
Teacher takes psychic damage, it loses this trait until the
start of its next turn.

Ooze

While squeezing, the Teacher moves at full speed rather

than half speed, it doesn’t take the -5 penalty to attack
rolls, and it doesn’t grant combat advantage for squeezing.

Standard Actions

© Psychic Touch (psychic) ♦ At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +5 vs. Will
Hit: 2d6 + 3 psychic damage, and the Teacher can slide the
target 1 square.

Ghost Sound (illusion) + At-Will

Effect: Ranged 10 (one object or unoccupied square); the

Teacher causes a sound as quiet as a whisper or as loud
as a yelling or fighting creature to emanate from the
target.

Storm of Possibilities (psychic) + Recharge E IB

Attack: Close burst 1 (enemies in the burst); +5 vs. Will
Hit: 1d4 + 3 psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save
ends).

Skills Arcana +9, History +9

Str 10 (+1) Dex 12 (+2) Wis 10 (+1)

Con 14 (+3) Int 17 (+4) Cha 11 (+1)

Alignment unaligned Languages understands Common

the consciousness they believe lurks inside the crea¬

ture. Despite their efforts, they have yet to awaken a
single living spell.

Encounters: The Teachers treat peacefully with

creatures they encounter when they can, and flow
away from those who intend them harm. Adventur¬
ers who find the Glass Plateau are welcomed by the

Teachers, which express interest in whatever magical

treasures the characters might carry. The Teachers
have acquired many magic relics from their scouring
of the Mournland, and thus they often have a surplus
of magic items for trade. The Teachers are interested
only in items that can help them tame the captured
living spells or uncover the secrets they know lie
below. Adventurers who seek a particular prize but
have nothing of value to trade can strike a deal for
that prize in exchange for undertaking an expedi¬
tion into the tunnels below the Glass Plateau—an
endeavor that has spelled the end of many an incau¬
tious explorer.

Sample Teacher: Teachers are evolved from

spells designed to gather information, to spy on far
places, and to make predictions about the future. This
Teacher evolved from an arcane insight spell.

Teachers in Combat: Every living spell that is

lost or destroyed diminishes the Teachers and their
work to restore the Great Spell. Teachers flee confron¬
tation, preferring to lure attackers into magic traps,
hazards, and other monsters when possible. If cor¬
nered, they warp their magical nature, buffeting their
foes with psychic assaults.

The Annihilators

Most living spells rose amid the slaughter of thou¬

sands on the battlefield, and the battle spells cast in
those final moments cling to the purpose for which
they were made: destruction. Sentience did little to
dampen these spells’ enthusiasm for slaughter and
actually gave the spells new ways to hunt down and
kill their prey. Among these ruthless spells, the most
dangerous perceived an even greater purpose: to con¬
tinue the destruction that created the Mournland and
spread it to all of Eberron.

Known as the Annihilators, these sentient living

spells have a society of opportunity, one suited to
the harsh reality of the Mournland. Might makes
right. Only the strong survive, and the weak deserve

Armihilator Level 18 Brute

Large aberrant beast (blind, ooze) XP 2,000

HP 212; Bloodied 106 Initiative+16

AC 30, Fortitude 30, Reflex 31, Will 29 Perception +14

Speed 8 Blindsight 10

Immune acid, blinded, disease, gaze effects, poison

Traits

Insubstantial
The Annihilator takes half damage from any damage
source, except force damage and psychic damage. When¬
ever the Annihilator takes psychic damage, it loses this
trait until the start of its next turn.

Ooze

While squeezing, the Annihilator moves at full speed

rather than half speed, it doesn’t take the -5 penalty to
attack rolls, and it doesn’t grant combat advantage for
squeezing.

Standard Actions

© Caustic Slam (acid) + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d6 + 15 acid damage, and ongoing 10 acid damage
(save ends).

® Acid Rain (acid) + At-Will

Attack: Ranged 10 (one creature); +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d6 + 15 acid damage, and ongoing 10 acid damage
(save ends).

V Corrosive Wave (acid) + Recharge El IB

Attack: Close blast 5 (creatures in the blast); +21 vs. Reflex
Hit: 3d6 + 15 acid damage, and ongoing 10 acid damage
(save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends).

Str 14 (+11) Dex 25 (+16) Wis 21 (+14)

Con 22 (+15) Int 14 (+11) Cha 10 (+9)

Alignment evil Languages understands Common,

telepathy 5

subjugation or death. When two Annihilators meet

for the first time, they inevitably battle to prove
which of them is stronger. These contests are seldom
fought to the death, for the Annihilators would rather
enslave other sentient living spells than reduce the
number of their own kind. Annihilators measure
each other’s power and status by the number of sen¬
tient living spells they have bound. A living spell

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Sentient Living Spells

with a large collection of spell slaves is a force to be

reckoned with.

Allies in Destruction: Annihilators work with

the Lord of Blades and his warforged army, because
they share a common goal—to bring about the end of
all mortal life. The Annihilators despise other sen¬
tient living spells, seeing their objectives as being at
odds with their own.

Power from Consumption: The Annihilators

alone among living spells can consume arcane magic
to increase their power. They hunt living spells for
sport, in much the same way that a human would
flush out and chase a wild boar. Annihilators hunt
in packs as a group of wolves might, with the stron¬
gest leading the pack and consuming the majority of
the prey’s magical energy, leaving a little to feed the
lesser members.

Mind to Mind: Along with all the spells they con¬

sume, Annihilators acquire some of the mental traits
of their victims. Perhaps as a result of this expanded
consciousness, Annihilators have developed tele¬
pathic abilities. They use telepathy to taunt their
victims, hounding them with the mad whispers of the
Annihilator pack.

Superior Forms: The Annihilators see human¬

oids as weak and unworthy of attention. Unless
another creature impresses an Annihilator with
its strength and skill, the living spell is unlikely to
bother communicating with the creature. Arcane
spellcasters, such as bards, wizards, and sorcerers,
are exceptions. Annihilators see them as food sources
and attack without mercy to consume them as they
would any living spell. A powerful spellcaster can
sometimes master an Annihilator, compelling its ser¬
vice after defeating it. Such service lasts only as long
as the spellcaster appears powerful enough to main¬
tain the situation.

Encounters: Annihilators hunt in packs, their

telepathic whispers eating at the minds of the crea¬
tures they pursue. A wizard or a sorcerer might lead
(or become subjugated into) an Annihilator pack.
Annihilators sometimes ally with warforged that are
in service to the Lord of Blades. Otherwise, these
living spells do not usually form alliances with other
creatures.

Sample Annihilator: These sentient living spells

always evolve from attack spells. The Annihilator
described here is based on the acid wave spell.

Annihilators in Combat: An Annihilator flows

toward its foe, its mocking laughter echoing in its vic¬
tim’s thoughts. From its shuddering form, it launches
glistening droplets that chew their way through
armor and flesh. When enemies converge to fight
back, it rises up and crashes down on top of them
with its corrosive wave.

NPC Companion:
Living Storm Pillar

Sometimes, a sentient living spell allies with human¬

oid creatures. The spell might be curious about the
world beyond the Mournland, but fears traveling
alone in unfamiliar lands. Or, having failed to find
another sentient spell, it might seek out companion¬
ship from anyone it meets who can understand it.

The companion described here was once a storm

pillar spell. The player characters might befriend
this creature during a foray into the Mournland. A
living storm pillar appears as a tiny spark of elec¬
tricity that crackles as it flits from ally to ally. In
battle, it expands into a fearsome pillar of lightning.
Sentient living storm pillars most likely associate
themselves with the Builders, and thus seek knowl¬
edge they might bring back to aid other living spells
in the Mournland. A living storm pillar understands
Common, but it cannot speak; it communicates by
making electrical buzzing and hissing noises.

Living Storm Pillar Level 1 Striker

Small aberrant magical beast (blind, ooze)

HP 24; Bloodied 12; Healing Surges 7 Initiative +3

AC 16, Fortitude 13, Reflex 15, Will 14 Perception +0

Speed 0, fly 5 Blindsight 5

Immune blinded, disease, gaze effects, lightning, poison

Traits
0 Storm Pillar (lightning) ♦ Aura 1
Any enemy that willingly enters a square in the aura takes
5 lightning damage. A creature can take this damage only
once per turn.

Insubstantial

The pillar takes half damage from any damage source,

except force damage and psychic damage. Whenever the
pillar takes psychic damage, it loses this trait until the start
of its next turn.

Ooze

While squeezing, the pillar moves at full speed rather than

half speed, it doesn’t take the -5 penalty to attack rolls,
and it doesn’t grant combat advantage for squeezing.

Standard Actions

© Arc Lightning (lightning) + At-Will

Attack: Ranged 5 (one creature); +6 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d6 + 3 lightning damage.

Str 8 (-1) Dex 16 (+3) Wis 11 (+0)

Con 12 (+1) Int 10 (+0) Cha10(+0)

Alignment unaligned Languages understands Common

About the Authors

Doug Hyatt is the author of several recent articles in Dragon

and Dungeon, including “Twisted by Darkness” in Dragon
416 and “Unfriendly Skies” in Dungeon 205. He is a compu¬
tational biologist living in Tennessee. You can follow him on
Twitter as @doug_hyatt.

Robert J. Schwalb has contributed design to or developed

nearly two hundred roleplaying game titles for Dungeons &
Dragons®, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, A Song of Ice and Fire
RPG, Star Wars RPG, and the d20 system. Some of his more
recent work for Wizards of the Coast can be found in Book
of Vile Darkness™ and Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental
Chaos™. For more information about the author, check his
website at [Link] or follow him on Twitter
(@rjschwalb).

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races:

Hobgoblins

By Jim Auwaerter

Illustration by Jason Juta

Hobgoblins exemplify the dark side of civilization,

where adherence to the law is more important than
justice. They expand their power through military
conquest wherever they can, and they have little care
for the fate of those swept aside or crushed under¬
foot. Though it can be easy to disdain or even hate the
hobgoblins for their excesses, their immorality is tem¬
pered by pragmatism that keeps them from plunging
into absolute evil.

Because hobgoblins are the most intelligent and

civilized of goblinkind, a few of them suppress or
deny their baser urges and embark on adventuring
careers. This article explores the use of hobgoblins as
player characters in a campaign.

Physical Qualities

Hobgoblins stand slightly taller than humans, though

their military bearing makes them appear to tower
over others more than their actual height would sug¬
gest. Hobgoblins are also more likely to wear heavier
armor even when out of combat, giving them a stocky
appearance. Their skin tone varies from dark yellow
to brown, with brick-red or orange coloring being
most common. Their hair is black or dark brown, and
it frequently begins to go gray by the age of 30. Many
hobgoblin males cultivate well-trimmed beards,
though few grow mustaches with them.

Hobgoblin ears are long, pointed, and mobile.

Although most hobgoblins have good control of their

facial expressions, giving them a reputation for being

emotionless, it’s harder for them to keep their ears
from lying back when they are upset or angry. Their
shining yellow eyes and overdeveloped canines give
them a wolfhke appearance.

Hobgoblin males are taller and broader than

females, but both sexes are capable of sustained physi¬
cal activity. Hobgoblins can march for 20 miles per
day over rough terrain for a week and still arrive in
fighting condition at the end.

Hobgoblins’ lives are slightly shorter than those of

humans. Few hobgoblins live to be much older than
seventy, and the rare hobgoblin who reaches eighty
years or more is considered venerable and favored by
luck and the gods.

Hobgoblin Discipline Hobgoblin Racial Utility

You steel yourself against a harmful effect, and that malady

disappears.

Encounter

Free Action Personal

Trigger: You start your turn subjected to an effect that a

save can end.

Effect: The triggering effect ends.

x(™)

TM & © 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races: Hobgoblins

Racial Traits

Average Height: 6"l'-6'5'

Average Weight: 190-240 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Constitution; +2 Intelligence or +2

Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Low-light vision
Languages: Common, Goblin
Skill Bonuses: +2 Athletics, +2 History

Battle Ready: You gain a +2 racial bonus to initiative

checks.

Phalanx Soldier: You gain a +1 racial bonus to AC while

you and at least one ally stand adjacent to each other
and each wield a shield.

Hobgoblin Discipline: You have the hobgoblin discipline

power.

Attitudes and
Beliefs

There is no denying that hobgoblins are strict by the

standards of most races. Those who make mistakes
are punished swiftly, and poor excuses for dishonor¬
able behavior are not tolerated. From a young age,
hobgoblins are taught that untruths weaken the one
who speaks them, making that individual unworthy
of being trusted in the future. Conversely, a hobgob¬
lin who takes responsibility for errors and accepts
the punishment without flinching may receive some
amount of acclaim for doing so.

Hobgoblins worship two gods above all others:

Bane and his exarch Maglubiyet receive great respect
within hobgoblin society. In particular, Bane’s
doctrine of seizing power over the undeserving is
accepted unthinkingly by most hobgoblins.

The warriors in the ranks of a hobgoblin army

typically have proficiency with shields and flails. The

advocacy of “defense, and an offense that overcomes

it” is an important part of the doctrine of hobgoblin
warfare. The combination of flail and shield, aside
from being effective on the attack, also provides a
built-in defense against others turning the hobgob¬
lins’ weapons against them, since both items are
difficult to use effectively without training. In addi¬
tion, many hobgoblins are adept in using flails to
strike around inexpertly wielded shields.

Hobgoblins greatly prefer being in control to any

sense of indecision or chaos. This mindset has led
them to organize themselves and their kin, goblins
and bugbears, into an orderly society in an attempt
to civilize the wilderness. The thought of “untamed
nature” is likely to cause a hobgoblin to curl a lip in
distaste. The main exception to this attitude among
hobgoblins is in the art of beast handling, where
tamer is not necessarily better. Hobgoblins (and to
a lesser extent, goblins) have reputations for being
excellent riders, using horses and sometimes more
exotic mounts such as dire tigers as steeds. These
mounts cannot be considered domesticated, but the
hobgoblins do know how to channel the creatures’
aggression to work against the hobgoblins’ foes. In
this way, the mounts resemble the hobgoblins them¬
selves-far from tame, but tightly controlling their
behavior to achieve their goals.
Hobgoblin History

Hobgoblins have a great deal of reverence for the

history of their people, and hobgoblin loremasters
hold an honored place within the clans. Due to their
reliance on oral tradition, loremasters must have
exceptional memories and exemplary honor, because
any minor gloss or change could be passed down for
generations. At the same time, most hobgoblins dis¬
trust written histories: Who can be certain who wrote
them? This distrust has led to few histories being
written down by hobgoblins, thereby indirectly justi¬
fying their point of view.

According to the loremasters, the hobgoblins were

the first people from the natural world to cross into
the Feywild. The people there were fractious and
wild, attacking the hobgoblins’ scouts. The clan chiefs
realized that order would need to be imposed. The
next scouting parties were better protected, and they
focused on mapping out the corresponding sides of
fey crossings. As the attacks on the scouts dropped off
due to the improved defenses, the hobgoblin armies
massed on the other side of the fey crossings. The fey
creatures’ lack of interest in the natural world proved
to be their downfall when the hobgoblins invaded
simultaneously from a variety of positions. This was
the start of the hobgoblins’ Feywild empire.

The hobgoblins’ rule continued on for many gen¬

erations, but the history grows vague during this era.
Stories speak of brother turning against sister, the
poisoned words of the fey whispered in their ears,
until finally the empire split apart. The loss of their
empire, along with the loss of face, continues to drive
the revulsion that most hobgoblins feel toward elves
and eladrin.

Since the fall of the empire, hobgoblins have

spread out throughout the natural world, though
some pockets still remain within the Feywild, fight¬
ing a guerrilla war against their foes. Every century
or two since that time, a leader has arisen from one
of the tribes, and this leader seeks to unite his or her
people and reclaim past glory. These attempts have
ended in failure-sometimes the unity lasts as long
as a decade, but most such uprisings are put down
within a couple of years.

Hobgoblin Society

Hobgoblin society is organized into clans consisting

of several extended families. Loyalty to one’s clan
comes first, then to the hobgoblin race, and then to
the goblinoid races, including goblins and bugbears.
That being said, much honor is accorded to those
who balance these obligations, or better still, bring

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races: Hobgoblins

them to a common purpose. Even their greatest

enemies cannot deny that hobgoblins have consider¬
able ability in training and leading armies against
their foes. These armies consist primarily of their
goblin and bugbear cousins, as well as the hobgob¬
lin officer corps and heavy cavalry, but on occasion
include other races. Kobolds, ogres, and even bands of
humans have all been part of hobgoblin armies.

From an early age, young hobgoblins are encour¬

aged to determine their greatest strengths, and then
make use of them. Although their society places more
value on some kinds of jobs than others, it’s better to
do a less honored job well than to be merely mediocre
at a more honored job. Those professions involved in
producing—farming, mining, and the like—garner the
least respect, and those involved in creating some¬
thing—smithing, building, and so forth—gain more.
The most honored professions are those relating to
war and territorial expansion, so while a silversmith
is respected, an armorer is revered. This means that
most political leaders have been involved in the mili¬
tary, and no noble is separate from the other classes.
Although the children of great leaders are more likely
to have the opportunity to distinguish themselves
(and thereby rise to the nobility themselves), such
honor is by no means guaranteed-it must be earned.

Slavery is a fact of life in most hobgoblin societ¬

ies, and many clans have at least a small number
of slaves. Some of the people and other creatures
that outsiders see as hobgoblin slaves are actually
indentured servants, serving out ten- and twenty-
year terms. This practice is not done out of kindness.
Rather, hobgoblins have found that most slaves
provide poorer labor when they have no hope of free¬
dom, and such slaves are also much more likely to try
to escape or revolt. By giving their laborers a chance
to earn their freedom earlier through good behavior,
the hobgoblins see substantially better results and
have cut down on slave revolts considerably. Indeed,
they encourage servants to inform their masters of
any revolts or escapes being planned in exchange for
a reduction in their terms. In this way, they breed dis¬
trust, greatly reducing the likelihood of a large-scale
slave uprising.

Hobgoblins’ lives revolve around two kinds of

honor, though “honor” is a poor translation from the
original Goblin, which actually encompasses two
words. Atcha is honor obtained through glorious
deeds, such as the subjugation of new lands or the
development of powerful new magic weapons and
armor. Muut is honor obtained through doing one’s
duty well, whatever that duty is. Young hobgoblins
focus on atcha when they jostle for rank among their
peers, and this is encouraged to some degree by their
parents and clan elders. But a common saying states
that “A blade without a hilt cuts its wielder”: a warn¬
ing to those who seek atcha at the expense of muut
that their failings will catch up with them one day.

Hobgoblin

Adventurers

Despite the strong pressure to conform within hob¬

goblin society, some hobgoblins rebel and leave their
families and clans. Others are banished for a per¬
ceived weakness or personal failing, and still others
believe that they will find atcha more easily by seek¬
ing out new lands alone. Even though they have left
their society, their society never truly leaves them.
These hobgoblins often seek to replace the void left by
the loss of clan by bringing together a band of fellows.

Bard

Hobgoblins’ love for history and tales of martial

combat lends itself to making them exceptional bards
and skalds. Their words serve a key role in uniting
goblin and bugbear tribes as parts of a hobgoblin-
led army. Their words are not the only things others
should fear, however, because their fighting style

draws upon all the greatest warriors in hobgoblin

history.

Battlemind

Psionic powers are no more common among hobgob¬

lins than they are in most other races. Hobgoblins
who awaken their psionic potential and channel their
wilder sides make excellent battleminds. Training
with shields and heavier armor serves them well as
they draw attackers away from vulnerable allies.

Blackguard
Although hobgoblins do not make great outward
signs of faith as dwarves and elves do, their piety for
their dark gods runs deep. The greatest reverence is
expressed by those who draw upon the darkness of
their own souls to weaken and overwhelm their foes.
These blackguards have iron control of their own
minds and bodies but sow the seeds of discord while
they fight, turning ally against ally and kin against
kin.

Warlord

The image of hobgoblin as warlord has been

ingrained in the minds of civilized races after count¬
less incursions. Whether they choose to focus on
their tactical acumen or to inspire their comrades
to fight all the harder, hobgoblins excel in leading at
every level from small four- or five-person units all
the way up to an army. Perhaps their greatest skill on
the battlefield is ensuring that everyone maintains
the proper position to gain the maximum tactical
advantage. Few sights inspire such fear as ordered
ranks of hobgoblins and their allies marching in per¬
fect unison.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races: Hobgoblins

Roleplaying a
Hobgoblin

When creating a hobgoblin adventurer, here are a

few points to consider.

The lone wolf starves, but the pack feasts. You

know that a single person going up against any real
threat faces a grave disadvantage. After all, in a fair
fight, you’re just as likely to lose as to win. By join¬
ing a group, or better still, organizing one yourself,
you become more capable of achieving your goals.

It’s your duty to ensure that the party is prepared for

battle and to know what each member is capable of.

The end can justify the means. It’s not always

pleasant, but you will do what it takes to get the job
done. This isn’t an excuse for cruelty without purpose.
When the situation is grim and someone has to make
the hard choice, you’re the leader who steps forward
and makes it. Let others keep their consciences clean.
You’re keeping them alive.

Honor extends both ways. When you pledge

yourself to follow another’s banner, it is your duty
to obey all orders to the best of your ability. When
others pledge themselves to you, it is your duty to pro¬
vide for them and use them to their best potential.
These duties do not require mindless devotion from
followers; honest opposition has its time and place.
The people and the leader must work as one.

Hobgoblin Characteristics: Brusque, coura¬

geous, disciplined, inspiring, meticulous, militaristic,
pragmatic, proud, unforgiving

Hobgoblin Male Names: Dagii, Drazen, Galtai,

Haruuc, Oaan, Rhaano

Hobgoblin Female Names: Bauchana, Ekhaas,

Maazike

Hobgoblin Clan Names: Dar Kuun, Fel’marsh,

Naan Yen, Taikhaal, Vra’taash

Hobgoblin Feats

These feats enhance the capabilities of hobgoblins.

Goblinoid Mount Training

None doubt the goblinoids’ ability to form tight bonds

with mounts.

Prerequisite: Goblin or hobgoblin

Benefit: When you ride a friendly mount, the
creature can use your defenses in place of its own (not
including any temporary bonuses or penalties).

In addition, the mount can make Acrobatics,

Athletics, Endurance, or Stealth checks using your
modifier (not including any temporary bonuses or
penalties) in place of its own.

Hobgoblin Beast
Companion

Your ability to brush aside effects that would harm

you extends to your companion animal.

Prerequisite: Hobgoblin, ranger, Beast Compan¬

ion class feature, hobgoblin discipline racial power
Benefit: When you use hobgoblin discipline and
your beast companion is adjacent to you, you can also
end one effect a save can end affecting your beast
companion.

In addition, your beast companion gains a +1 feat

bonus to all defenses while it is adjacent to you.
Hobgoblin Phalanx Soldier

Hobgoblins favor the phalanx formation above all

others. Wielding spear and shield, hobgoblins can
protect themselves and their neighbors while march¬
ing forward to impale their enemies.

Prerequisite: Strength 13, hobgoblin

Benefit: You gain proficiency with all shields.

In addition, you ignore the check penalty for wear¬

ing a shield.

Hobgoblin Weapon Training

The focus on mastery at arms, warfare, and conquest

gives hobgoblins ample opportunity to hone their
weapon skills. Of all the various weapons hobgoblins
use, flails and spears are the most common.

Prerequisite: Hobgoblin

Benefit: You gain proficiency with all flails and

spears.

In addition, you gain a +2 feat bonus to the

damage rolls of weapon attacks that you make using
flails and spears. This bonus increases to +3 at 11th
level and +4 at 21st level.

Phalanx Advance

On the battlefield, hobgoblin bards beat drums and

bark chants to help soldiers march at the same pace
and maintain their formations.

Prerequisite: Hobgoblin, bard, Virtue of Valor

class feature

Benefit: When you use your Virtue of Valor class

feature, you and each ally adjacent to you can shift 1
square as a free action. Your allies must end the shift
in a square adjacent to you.

Warcaster Tactics

Hobgoblin warcasters employ magical attacks to

destroy and scatter their enemies. A warcaster’s
destructive spells sometimes cause casualties among
allied soldiers. You learn better control over your
magic and can bend its effects away from an ally.
Prerequisite: Hobgoblin, any arcane class
Benefit: You can omit one square adjacent to you
from the area of effect of any arcane close blast or
burst power you use.
January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Warrior’s Sacrifice

Hobgoblin warriors eat together, rest together, fight

together, and die together. A shout and a shove is
enough to remind their fellow warriors of the cause
for which they fight.

Prerequisite: Hobgoblin, hobgoblin discipline racial

power

Benefit: As a free action on your turn, you can

expend your hobgoblin discipline power to allow an ally
adjacent to you to make a saving throw.

Hobgoblin Utility
Powers

When your hobgoblin character gains a class utility

power after 1st level, you can forgo taking a power
granted to you by your class. Instead, you gain a hob¬
goblin utility power of the same level or lower.

Rousing Battle Cry

You shout with the authority gained from your battle

experience, ensuring allies regain their feet and
defend themselves when enemies attack.

Rousing Battle Cry Hobgoblin Utility 2

You loose a stirring shout that rouses injured allies to fight

once more.

Daily

Minor Action Close burst 3

Target: Each ally in the burst

Effect: The target gains 5 temporary hit points. If the

target is asleep, it wakens. If the target is prone, it can
stand up as a free action.

Hold Formation

Any break in the battle lines can turn a fight into a

rout. You know to hold firm your resolve and keep
your position no matter what.

Hold Formation Hobgoblin Utility 6

When a foe tries to move you from your position, you brace
yourself to keep the battle line intact.

Encounter

Immediate Interrupt Personal

Trigger: An enemy’s attack pushes, pulls, or slides you.
Effect: The forced movement does not affect you, and
you gain combat advantage against the triggering en¬
emy until the end of your next turn.

Plug the Gap

Veteran hobgoblins know the best way to defeat their

enemies is to control their movement. You spring into
motion when an enemy tries to escape.

Plug the Gap Hobgoblin Utility 10

When a foe tries to escape, you move to intercept it or block

its path.

Encounter

Immediate Interrupt Personal

Trigger: An enemy within 3 squares of you moves
without shifting.

Effect: You shift up to 3 squares to a square adjacent to

the triggering enemy. You then mark that enemy until
the end of your next turn.

Winning Races: Hobgoblins

Superior Discipline

A hardy and determined people, some hobgoblins

strengthen their internal discipline even further.

Superior Discipline Hobgoblin Utility 16

Calling upon your extensive experience in battle, you improve

your ability to fight on through hardship.

Daily
No Action Personal

Trigger: You use hobgoblin discipline.

Effect: You regain the use of hobgoblin discipline.

Tactical Deployment

You have seen hundreds of battlefields. Each has

taught you the value of quickly moving yourself and
your allies to better positions.

Tactical Deployment Hobgoblin Utility 22

You shout orders and gesture to your allies, sparking them to

move to a more advantageous position.

Encounter

Move Action Close burst 5

Target: Each ally in the burst

Effect: The target can shift up to half its speed.

About the Author

Jim Auwaerter is the author of several D&D Insider articles,

including “Monk Basics” and “Bazaar of the Bizarre: From
the Attic of Alluvius Ruskin.” He would like to thank Don
Bassingthwaite for his excellent portrayal of hobgoblin cul¬
ture in the Legacy of Dhakaan trilogy. Raat shan gath’kai dor.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

In Their
Weapons,

They Live On

The First
Wielders

By Logan Bonner
Illustration by Beth Trott

I know my weapon’s past. Its history goes back further than

your family line and it speaks ancient words of wisdom. But
it still cuts as true as the day it was made. So come try me,
little fool. Duel with one of the First Wielders!

Some worship the gods. Others bow down to devils,

dragons, or other powerful monsters. The First
Wielders believe only in the steel of their ancient
weapons-and the former owners still contained
within them. These First Weapons trap the mind of
their last owner when that owner dies.

The First Wielders adhere to a philosophy or war¬

rior code called the One Path. It tells them to fight
and kill, to respect their unique weapons, and to
crush those weaker than themselves. The First Wield¬
ers have a sort of twisted honor, but they’re also cruel,
vicious, and bloodthirsty. It’s difficult to tell whether
their code and weapons are keeping them from
becoming remorseless villains or are what brought
them so close to darkness in the first place.

TM & © 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

The First Wielders

The First Weapons

Each of the First Wielders carries a weapon or

implement crafted from the metals of the moun¬
tain Koskorak. According to lore, these are the First
Weapons—the oldest magic weapons that still exist.

A First Wielder seeks out any history he or she can

find about the First Weapons, especially the item that
individual personally carries.

Every First Weapon is an intelligent item that

contains the mind of its previous wielder. A First
Wielder who dies in battle lives on as a part of the
First Weapon that the wielder carried. At the moment
of death, the previous intelligence in the item is extin¬
guished and replaced by the mind of the newly dead
First Wielder.

Once infused into the weapon, the consciousness

of the old owner bears no ill will to the new owner.
This natural progression is simply the consequence of
being defeated.

The One Path

First Wielders follow a philosophy called the One

Path. Some believe these rules have existed since the
creation of the First Weapons, but there are no actual
records from that time; others think the philosophy
was created and expanded upon later.

The One Path consists of seven tenets that dictate

how to conduct oneself in battle and in relation to the
First Weapons. How a First Wielder behaves in other
areas of one’s life is of no interest to the other wield¬
ers. The Path is silent on the issue, and so are they.

Tenets of the One Path

+ Weapons are made to be used. Carry your

First Weapon proudly into battle and use it to
draw blood.

+ Seek the sternest tests. Show the superiority of

your First Weapon by dueling formidable warriors.

+ Be true to one weapon. A First Wielder must

carry no more than one First Weapon. If you come
into possession of another First Weapon, you
must find another who deserves the weapon and
pass it on.

+ Fight as your weapon demands you fight.

A warhammer can shatter bone and smash

armor, but a dagger is meant to be hidden—and
to kill silently. There is no dishonor in using it
as intended.

+ Spare no thought or tear for the weak. The

world bends to the will of the great and strong,
and the power you carry puts you above the rest.

+ Respect your predecessor. Every First Weapon

contains the intellect of its previous owner inside
it. Show the intellect proper respect and listen to
its counsel when it speaks.

+ Find the mountain of creation. The First

Weapons come from the metal of the mountain
Koskorak. If you find the mountain, you must
spread word to the other First Wielders to make a
pilgrimage.
Current Wielders

The known First Weapons and the First Wielders

who carry them at present are described below. The
wielders don’t know for sure if any other First Weap¬
ons might be out there—hidden in treasure hoards
or carried by people who keep their distance from
the others—and they have better things to do than
search for them.

Each First Wielders entry starts with a descrip¬

tion of the character. The next section goes into more
detail about the character’s personality. The final
paragraph, called “Walking the Path,” describes how

that wielder interprets and applies the principles of

the One Path.

The First Weapon descriptions follow the char¬

acter description with a brief introduction to the
weapon and its legacy. All First Weapons function as
existing magic items of a particular level, as noted in
the item’s description. The DM might choose a differ¬
ent level for the item from among the available levels
as suited to his or her campaign. The “Item Fevels as
Treasure” guidelines presented in Adventurers Vault
provide a handy way to keep these distinctive items in
the game for longer than they would normally last.

After the item’s description, the entry presents its

“sign of power,” a unique manifestation that proves
the item’s magical nature. The “Initial Persona” entry
tells you the personality of the first person to have the
item and how that personality manifests in the hands
of the item’s current wielder. The “Intelligent Item
Attributes” entry describes the item’s alignment, the
languages it knows, its method of communication,
its current personality, and under what circum¬
stances the item’s personality might aid you when you
make checks.

INTELLIGENT WEAPONS

The First Weapons use the guidelines for cre¬

ating intelligent item described in the article
“Intelligent Items: Smart Swords.” It appears in
both Dragon 367 and in the Dragon Magazine
Annual.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

The First Wielders

Jaspyr Stonebreach

The dwarf assassin Jaspyr Stonebreach travels

between the largest dwarven settlements, kill¬
ing anyone who has enemies willing to part with
enough coin. Jaspyr sows discord wherever he goes.
He falsifies evidence to convince dwarf leaders
that their subordinates are plotting against them so
he can score new assassination contracts. Jaspyr’s
been known to take on jobs killing the enemies of
the dwarves, too. He became something of a minor
legend when he climbed a bare rock face to sneak up
on a young hill giant that had been leading ore raids
against the dwarves of the Lofgren Pass.

Personality: With his cunning mind, Jaspyr

easily tricks his marks into doing what he wants.
Jaspyr can adopt a facade that makes him seem trust¬
worthy and helpful. His talents work best against
dwarves, so he sticks mainly to his own kind. When
he’s not putting up a false front, Jaspyr displays his
greedy, conceited side.

Walking the Path: Jaspyr has no qualms about

taking advantage of his people. If they were truly
strong, they wouldn’t fall for his schemes. In fact,
those few who resist his machinations are the only
ones he truly respects. Jaspyr rarely turns down an
assassination contract, even if the odds are stacked
against him. The Path tells him that he should use
Throat-Slitter boldly.

Throat-Slitter

The thin, razor-edged dagger called Throat-Slitter has

claimed countless lives. Its owners defy the riskiest
situations and live to tell the tale. They kill from the
shadows or distract their enemies with flashy displays
while dragging the blade across their victims’ throats.
Throat-Slitter is the most mysterious of the First Weap¬
ons, and several times it has disappeared from history
for a decade or more. Whose blood did it spill in
those unrecorded days?

Jaspyr Stonebreach Level 5 Lurker

Medium natural humanoid, dwarf XP 200

HP 52; Bloodied 26 Initiative +10

AC 19, Fortitude 17, Reflex 18, Will 16 Perception +8

Speed 5 Low-light vision
Traits

Combat Advantage

If Jaspyr hits with an attack against a target granting combat

advantage to him, he deals the target 2d6 extra damage.

Stand the Ground

Jaspyr can move 1 square fewer than the effect specifies

when subjected to a pull, a push, or a slide.

Steady-Footed

Jaspyr can make a saving throw to avoid falling prone when

an attack would knock him prone.

Standard Actions

© Throat-Slitter (weapon) + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +10 vs. AC
Hit: 3d4 + 5 damage, or 2d8 + 17 on a critical hit.

® Thrown Throat-Slitter (weapon) + At-Will

Attack: Ranged 5 (one creature); +10 vs. AC
Hit: 3d4 + 5 damage, or 2d8 + 17 on a critical hit.

Effect: Throat-Slitter returns to Jaspyr’s hand,

i Blessing of Hidden Steel (weapon) + At-Will
Requirement: Jaspyr must be in an obscured square.

Effect: Jaspyr becomes invisible until he hits or misses with

an attack or until he is no longer in an obscured square.
While invisible as a result of this power, Jaspyr gains a +2
power bonus to attack rolls.

Move Actions

Stick and Move + At-Will

Requirement: Jaspyr must have hit this turn with an attack

using Throat-Slitter.

Effect: Jaspyr shifts up to his speed.

Triggered Actions

Try Your Luck + Daily

Trigger: Jaspyr makes an attack roll and dislikes the result.

Effect (Free Action): Reroll the attack roll. Use the second
roll, even if it’s lower.

Skills Athletics +7, Stealth +11, Thievery +11

Str 10 (+2) Dex 18 (+6) Wis 12 (+3)

Con 16 (+5) Int 12 (+3) Cha 14 (+4)

Alignment evil Languages Common, Dwarven

Equipment leather armor, Throat-Slitter, 4 daggers

Throat-Slitter is a +2 luckblade dagger (see Heroes of

the For gotten Kingdoms, page 348).

Sign of Power: The person holding Throat-Slitter

can hear the heartbeat of the nearest living person
through the dagger.

Initial Persona: The owner before Jaspyr was

his grandfather, Gardain Stonebreach. The old
dwarf had become the leader of his clan before his
grandson assassinated him, and the old man keeps
pressing Jaspyr to take on leadership roles rather than
spending all his time alone and stalking victims. Gar¬
dain rarely talks to anyone but Jaspyr, and never to
non-dwarves.

Intelligent Item Attributes: Throat-Slitter is evil.

It knows Common and Dwarven and communicates
telepathic ally with any creature touching it.

The mind of Jaspyr Stonebreach, a dwarf assassin,

lurks inside Throat-Slitter. Jaspyr offers advice on how
to kill enemies quickly and effectively. Sometimes
he gives good tactical advice or exposes weaknesses
of monsters. Other times he urges his wielder to kill
obstinate diplomats or rob from the weak.

At the DM’s discretion, Jaspyr Stonebreach might

grant you a +2 bonus to checks related to dwarven
cities, assassinations, and the First Wielders.

Sister Ulvina

For most of her life, Ulvina followed Bahamut. Clois¬

tered among other devotees of the Platinum Dragon,
she studied holy texts and improved her body and
mind so she could defend weaker people against
tyrants and killers. She had her chance when Sawgin
the Cold-Blooded laid siege to the prestigious Plati¬
num Academy where she had become headmistress.
Ulvina strode forth in her gleaming platinum armor
and challenged Sawgin to a duel. The warlord code
of honor as a First Wielder drove him to accept.
But he lost.

Sister Ulvina kept Sawgin’s mace as a trophy. At

first she ignored his disembodied words, but over

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

The First Wielders

time she became more and more curious about the

One Path. Two years after the battle, Ulvina disap¬
peared from the Academy, her pockets filled with a
great share of their treasury. She fell from grace with
Bahamut and became a First Wielder. With her new
weapon in hand, Ulvina took on the life of an adven¬
turer and mercenary.

She also took on the task of researching the history

of the First Wielders and sharing it with the others.
She keeps a book that holds the most complete his¬
tory of the wielders, their weapons, and the deeds
of both. Ulvina protected the book with wards, and
it bears strict orders to deliver the book to a First
Wielder upon her death. She rarely stays in one
place for long.

Personality: Sister Ulvina’s grim, tough atti¬

tude seems in contrast with her past as a religious
scholar. Some of her mannerisms echo the rites of
the devout: She lowers her head as in prayer when
she’s thinking, and she treats her mace and gear with
reverence. Sister Ulvina rarely chooses to steal, kill,
or rob on her own. Instead, she seeks out mercenary
work with no regard to whether it involves killing or
theft. She’s crossed the line into evil several times,
but she returns to a more balanced approach again
and again.

Walking the Path: Ulvina’s conversion from the

servant of a lawful good to an amoral mercenary and
thrill-seeker has never been smooth. Through all her
study (and practical experience), she has never been
able to give herself over entirely to the One Path. A
part of her still wants to protect the weak, or at least
avoid mistreating them any more than she must. She
accepts most mercenary jobs but avoids ones that
would force her to target innocents-and she’s never
taken a job against a temple or adherent of Bahamut.

Sister Ulvina Level 8 Soldier

Medium natural humanoid, human XP 350

HP 88; Bloodied 44 Initiative +6

AC 24, Fortitude 21, Reflex 18, Will 21 Perception +8

Speed 5

Traits

0 Blessing of Guardian Steel + Aura 1

Enemies in the aura take a -2 penalty to attack rolls against
creatures other than Ulvina.

The Prince’s Reward

When she drops an enemy to 0 hit points with The Prince

Who Thirsts, Ulvina gains 5 temporary hit points.

Standard Actions

© The Prince Who Thirsts (weapon) + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +13 vs. AC
Hit: 2d8 + 7 damage, or 23 damage plus 1d6 necrotic
damage on a critical hit.

® Crossbow (weapon) + At-Will

Attack: Ranged 15 (one creature); +13 vs. AC
Hit: 2d8 + 7 damage.

*1* Echo of the Dragon (thunder) + Encounter

Effect: Ulvina uses The Prince Who Thirsts. On a hit, each
enemy adjacent to her also takes 2d6 thunder damage
and falls prone.

*1* Forced Duel + At-Will

Requirement: Ulvina must be wielding The Prince Who

Thirsts.

Trigger: An enemy willingly leaves a square adjacent to

Ulvina.

Effect (Immediate Interrupt): Ulvina uses The Prince Who

Thirsts against the triggering enemy. On a hit, the enemy
also falls prone.

Skills Religion +10

Str 18 (+8) Dex 10 (+4) Wis 18 (+8)

Con 16 (+7) Int 13 (+5) Cha14(+6)

Alignment unaligned Languages Common

Equipment plate armor, The Prince Who Thirsts, crossbow,

10 bolts

The Prince Who Thirsts

The business end of this hefty mace is shaped like

a young prince’s head cast in steel, with a hawkish
nose and curling hair. Atop the head is a steel crown
studded with gems. The flanges of the crown make a
strike with the mace especially painful.

The known history of this item reveals that the

mace was designed in the image of a dead prince as
a tribute, and that his warlike father carried it into
battle. Their names have been lost to time. Most of
those First Wielders who owned The Prince Who
Thirsts were especially brutal and warlike.

The Prince Who Thirsts is a +2 lifedrinker mace (see

Dungeon Masters Kit, page 258).

Sign of Power: The prince’s face contorts when

no one’s looking. Sometimes the steel face smiles
broadly, and other times it’s wracked with sorrow.
When the mace steals life force for the wielder (when
it drops an enemy to 0 hit points), blood runs from
the corners of the prince’s mouth.

Initial Persona: Sawgin the Cold-Blooded tore a

swath of destruction wherever he went. He led a com¬
pany of thieves and killers called Hell’s Six Dozen,
and he still wants to find the ex-members to see what
trouble they’ve gotten up to since his death. As the
mind within The Prince Who Thirsts, he urges Ulvina
to be merciless. If she allows surrender, he bellows
his disapproval. For her part, Ulvina often denies
Sawgin’s demands.

Intelligent Item Attributes: The item is

unaligned. It knows Common and communicates
telepathic ally with any creature touching it.

The mind of Sister Ulvina, a follower of Bahamut

turned morally ambivalent mercenary, speaks from
inside the weapon. If asked, she rambles on in great
detail about the history of the First Wielders or the
religious tenets of Bahamut’s worshipers. She rarely
offers opinions on her wielders actions unless the
wielder is about to take a morally abhorrent action.

In this case, she tries talking the wielder into taking a

less gruesome option.
At the DM’s discretion, the item might grant you
a +2 bonus to checks related to Bahamut, religious
study, and the First Wielders.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

The First Wielders

“Spellblood” Oneshoi

Gifted with mysterious magical power but unsure

how to use it, the half-elf Oneshoi has been search¬
ing for a purpose and duty since he came of age. He
has the ability to innately channel magic, but he can’t
control it very well. Since his power first manifested,
others whispered that he had the blood of demons or
dragons in his veins. Some elves claimed his human
mother made a deal with devils, and some humans
blamed his elf father for bringing down a curse upon
the child from the capricious fey. The family were

GETTING WEAPONIZED

What if a player character is killed while wield¬

ing one of the First Weapons? Like any other
wielder of one of the weapons, the adventurer’s
mind is pulled into the item. If the party has ways
to cheat death (such as the Raise Dead ritual or
epic destiny features that help escape death),
give them a way to delay the transfer so they can
exercise their options.

If an adventurer does get stuck in a First

Weapon, look for ways to make it a part of your
campaign story. You might have the enemy who
killed the character take the weapon (as is sup¬
posed to happen when a First Wielder is slain)
and run off with it. Give the adventurers the
option of chasing down the killer. They might
undertake a quest to restore their trapped ally
by pulling the soul from the blade and raising
the dead-or maybe putting the consciousness
into a golem body. Depending on who kills the
wielder, you might allow the player to replace
the slain character with that enemy, playing both
characters at once from now on.
outcasts wherever they went, and Oneshoi continues
to act like an outsider wherever his travels take him.

Oneshoi gained Horizons Span —his First Weapon—

when he was still young, and holding it and hearing
the counsel of its former owner gave him a better sense
of purpose. More than most other wielders, Oneshoi
allowed his life to be shaped by the tenets of the One
Path. Its dictates drove him to seek out great challenges
and blaze his path across the world. Few townsfolk or
even rulers know of Oneshoi, but he’s famous among
battle-hardened mercenaries and adventurers. He has
challenged and defeated scores of prominent warriors
who were unprepared to face his unbound magic.

Perhaps most impressive is the sheer number of

dragons Oneshoi has slain. He can’t resist testing his
mettle against the greatest physical and elemental
threats in the land. Oneshoi doesn’t care whether a
dragon menaces people or helps them, just whether
it’s strong and has a vast hoard of treasure. In one
case, a green dragon had captured the workers from
a town and forced them to serve as slaves. The towns¬
folk rejoiced when the half-elf hero arrived and slew
the dragon, but the next day they received a letter
saying the workers were now his, and demanding the
town pay a ransom to free them.

Personality: Oneshoi calls very few people “friends.”

His life has largely been a solitary one, only teaming
up with others to make a profit or conserve resources
during a long or difficult journey. He communicates
with the mind inside Horizons Span more often than
he does with living people. Mundane matters concern
him little. Even though he’s become wealthy from his
battles and adventures, only the next challenge and the
next step along the One Path seem to matter. Oneshoi
expects to die valiantly one day, fighting a great dragon
that’s beyond his capability to defeat.

Walking the Path: The One Path guides Oneshoi’s

actions, and he follows its tenets to the letter. He
reveres and cares for his blade like a precious idol;
Horizons Span is always clean and sharp, and he

never allows anyone else to transport or touch it. He

never makes a significant decision without consulting
Tolanna, the consciousness inside his First Weapon.

“Spellblood” Oneshoi Level 11 Brute

Medium natural humanoid, half-elf XP 600

HP 139; Bloodied 69 Initiative +6

AC 23, Fortitude 24, Reflex 21, Will 23 Perception +7
Speed 6 Low-light vision

Resist 5 acid, 5 cold, 5 fire, 5 lightning

Traits

Unbound Arcana

When he rolls initiative and at the end of each of his turns,

roll a d20. Until he rolls again, Oneshoi can use the power
corresponding to the result at-will: 1 -1 0 , cold steel; 11-17,
spellblood teleport ; 18-20, lightning rod.

Standard Actions

© Horizon’s Span (weapon) + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +16 vs. AC
Hit: 2d12 + 9 damage. On a critical hit, Horizon's Span deals
33 + 2d12 + 3d10 damage and another 2d12 + 3d10
damage to the target at the start of Oneshoi’s next turn.
© Leaping Fire (fire) + At-Will
Attack: Ranged 10 (one creature); +14 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d8 + 10 fire damage,
i Lightning Rod (lightning) + See unbound arcana
Effect: Oneshoi uses Horizon's Span, and then makes a sec¬
ondary attack.

Secondary Attack: Close burst 10 (one creature in the

burst); + 14 vs. Reflex

Hit: 1d8 + 5 lightning damage, and Oneshoi repeats the

attack with the burst centered on the target who was hit.
He continues repeating the attack until he misses.

Move Actions

Spellblood Teleport (teleportation) + See unbound arcana

Effect: Close burst 1 (allies in the burst). Oneshoi and each
target can teleport up to 10 squares as a free action.

Minor Actions

Cold Steel (cold) + See unbound arcana

Effect: If Oneshoi’s hits with his next melee attack, the
target takes 1d6 extra cold damage.

Str 22 (+11) Dex 12 (+6) Wis14(+7)

Con 19 (+9) Int 16 (+8) Cha 20 (+10)

Alignment unaligned Languages Common, Draconic, Elven
Equipment leather armor, Horizon's Span

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

The First Wielders

Horizon’s Span

The history of the enormous fullblade Horizon’s Span

causes many to consider it the greatest of the First
Weapons. Everyone who possessed it had some sort of
superhuman might or monstrous blood. It seems it’s
impossible for a normal person to wield-or at least it’s
impossible for a normal person to defeat the caliber of
wielder who carries the blade. Every warrior who car¬
ried Horizon’s Span went on to become a legend.

Horizon’s Span is a +3 bloodiron fullblade (see Adven¬

turer’s Vault, page 65).

Sign of Power: Magical energy has left strange

patterns-similar to tarnish-on the blade. They shift
and move, appearing vaguely like a vast horizon and
a sun tracing a path across the sky.

Initial Persona: Tolanna the Cold’s mother gave

birth to her while held captive by a white dragon.
After her mother died during childbirth, Tolanna
miraculously survived for several days on her own.
The dragon, Brillkar, was intrigued by the tough little
creature and raised her. A white dragon’s parenting
turned Tolanna into a vicious, cruel creature. She
impresses the power and majesty of dragons upon
Oneshoi, along with the eat-or-be-eaten outlook they
take. Tolanna’s guidance was the main impetus for
his quest to battle greater and greater dragons.

Intelligent Item Attributes: The item is

unaligned. It knows Common, Draconic, and Elven,
and it communicates telepathic ally with any creature
touching it.

Oneshoi isn’t content if his wielder has few ambi¬

tions. He was a slayer of dragons and made this
weapon proud with the blood he offered it. He con¬
gratulates his wielder after a victorious battle and
quietly seethes if he senses cowardice.

At the DM’s discretion, the item might grant you

a +2 bonus to checks related to dragons or to the
First Wielders.

UPGRADING FIRST
WEAPONS

An adventurer carrying one of the First Weapons

might discover that it becomes more power¬
ful over time. In other words, a player might
receive a higher enhancement bonus on the First
Weapon instead of gaining a new magic item for
his or her character. Use the “Item Levels as Trea¬
sure” rules from Appendix 3 of Mordenkainen’s
Magnificent Emporium ™ to increase the power of
a First Weapon.

Pri’eska Vilgraff

Stolen from the Feywild and imprisoned in the Nine

Hells, Pri’eska freed herself from slavery to become
a commander of infernal legions. She is a winter
nymph-one of the most beautiful creatures in exis¬
tence. Her original life and name were taken from
her by Fierna, the patron of fire and pleasure. This
devil co-rules Phlegethos, one of the Nine Hells, and
she captured a great many nymphs from the Feywild
to give as gifts and trophies to her loyal servants.
Pri’eska ended up in a possession of a lesser vassal
named Ontrikaz.

Trapped in Ontrikaz’s fiery realm, the blue¬

skinned wood nymph stood out. Ontrikaz’s servants
gave her the name Pri’eska, which roughly translates
to “icy flower.” The greater devils had taken away her
natural wood nymph powers, and she saw little hope
for an escape. Fortunately for her, Ontrikaz owned
another prize-a steel wand called Messenger of Flame.

Pri’eska noticed that Ontrikaz frequently left the

wand unattended. When she touched it, she sensed
the intelligence of a First Wielder within. The weapon
believed Ontrikaz was a poor steward-too lazy and

Pri’eska Vilgraff Level 12 Controller (Leader)

Medium fey humanoid, winter nymph XP 700

HP 118; Bloodied 59 Initiative +1 2

AC 26, Fortitude 22, Reflex 26, Will 24 Perception +1 0

Speed 7 (forest walk), fly 10 Low-light vision
Resist 5 fire

Traits

0 Hell’s Mandate (fire) + Aura 2

If an ally in the aura hits with a melee or ranged attack, the
target takes 3 extra fire damage.

Fire Critical

If Pri’eska scores a critical hit with an implement power,

the target takes 10 extra fire damage.

Standard Actions

© Coldfire Touch (cold, fire, implement) + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +17 vs. AC
Hit: 2d8 + 11 cold and fire damage.

® Winter Flame (cold, fire, implement) + At-Will

Attack: Ranged 20 (one creature); +15 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d8 + 11 cold and fire damage, and the target is
slowed (save ends).

V Nettling Wind + Recharge '•*[] \fj\

Attack: Close blast 5 (enemies in the blast); +15 vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d6 + 8 damage, and the target is immobilized (save
ends).

V Infernal Blizzard (cold, fire, implement) + Recharge

when first bloodied

Attack: Close burst 3 (enemies in the burst); +13 vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d6 + 8 cold and fire damage, or 2d6 +15 cold and fire
damage if the target is slowed or immobilized.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Pri’eska flies up to 10 squares. This movement does

not provoke opportunity attacks.

Triggered Actions

Devastating Flame + Daily

Trigger: While using Messenger of Flame, Pri’eska hits with a

fire implement power.

Effect (No Action): The attack’s damage is maximized

against the target Pri’eska hit.
Skills Arcana +16, Bluff+15, History +16

Str 14 (+8) Dex 22 (+12) Wis 19 (+10)

Con 14 (+8) Int 20 (+11) Cha19(+10)

Alignment evil Languages Common, Elven, Giant,

Supernal

Equipment robes, Messenger of Flame

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

The First Wielders

dependent on others to be a true wielder. With the

wand’s guidance, Pri’eska learned she could chan¬
nel a part of the magic she had long ago lost by doing
so through the wand. She challenged Ontrikaz and
killed him in front of his troops. They fell under her
command, and she led the devils to the world instead
of remaining in the Nine Hells.

Pri’eska found the abandoned Castle Vilgraff and

claimed it as her own, then adopted its name as her
own during her travels in the world. She commands
the devils to loot and plunder in her name, but she
rarely travels with them. Instead, she searches for
Koskorak, the mountain of creation.

Personality: Winter nymphs are aloof and enig¬

matic at the best of times, and Pri’eska’s time in the
Nine Hells made her merciless and unsympathetic.
She controls or kills those weaker than her, avoids
the attention of those more powerful than her, and
ignores anyone who doesn’t have something she
wants. Pri’eska’s voice is beautiful and graceful, but
unless she’s trying to trick someone her words are
harsh and unforgiving.

Walking the Path: Though Ontrikaz’s mind is

stuck in the wand, Pri’eska learned about the First
Wielders and the One Path from the previous con¬
sciousness. She sought out other wielders when she
returned to the world from the Nine Hells. From
them, she learned the tenets of the path. To her, the
most intriguing goal is finding Koskorak, the moun¬
tain of creation. She continues to research its location,
tracing the origins of various weapons to try to find
a place that seems to create an abundance of magic
weapons. If she can find Koskorak, Pri’eska plans
to claim it as her territory and allow only the other
wielders to come there freely.

Messenger of Flame

The steel wand called Messenger of Flame always ends

up in the unlikeliest of hands. Some wielders were
leaders. Others just got in a lucky shot and claimed
the wand even though they had little skill with magic.
The wand has traveled across every plane, been held
by numerous types of creatures, and been used by
both the most devout First Wielders and those who
were ignorant of its special powers.

Messenger of Flame is a +3 wand of fire (see Morden-

kainen’s Magnificent Emporium, page 55).

Sign of Power: The wand casts light as though

it were rippling with multicolored fire, though no
flames can be seen.

Initial Persona: Ontrikaz hurls insults at Pri’eska

constantly when she wields Messenger of Flame. To her,
nothing could sound sweeter. It’s poetic justice that
her devil captor is now imprisoned by her hand, and
every curse serves as a reminder of his misery.

Intelligent Item Attributes: The item is evil.

It knows Common, Elven, Giant, and Supernal and

communicates telepathic ally with any creature
touching it.

Pri’eska Vilgraff acknowledges the bearer of Mes¬

senger of Flame as the new ruler of Castle Vilgraff and
of the devils she commanded. She advises the wielder
willingly, but waits for a perfect opportunity to give
bad advice that will get him or her killed. Pri’eska
spent too much time imprisoned, and she wants her
consciousness to be pushed out of the wand so she
will be free.

At the DM’s discretion, the item might grant you a

+2 bonus to checks related to devils, the Nine Hells,
or the First Wielders.

About the Author

Logan Bonner’s 4th Edition credits include The Slaying

Stone™ and Monster Vault™, among many others. He lives in
the Seattle area and now works at Paizo Publishing. You can
follow him on Twitter, where he’s @loganbonner.
<ms

OFFICIAL

MERCHANDISE

|L

DU80E0HS & DMGOMS

V G,'J.

ASK YOUR

LOCAL RETAILER
FOR DETAILS

™ & © 2012 Wizards of the Coast LLC.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races:

Bladelings

Written and illustrated by Claudio Pozas

Bane, the god of war and conquest, shaped mortal

humanoids into bladelings to fight in the interminable
wars raging across his astral dominion, Chernoggar.
Since that time, bladelings have spread across the
planes, making their homes anywhere they can, be it
the grimy streets of Sigil, the pristine towers of Hesta-
var, or the fiery precincts of the City of Brass.

Bladelings support themselves by selling their skills

to whoever can keep them supplied with gold and
glory. With their military experience in high demand
almost anywhere, they not only survive but thrive.

This article explores the use of bladelings as player

characters in a campaign.

Physical Qualities

Bladelings stand a bit taller than humans, and most

have chiseled and athletic bodies. They weigh more
than one might expect due to the dense, metallic
nature of their skeletons and skin. Bladelings’ color¬
ation ranges from pale green to a dark, bruise-like
purple. Many also have rust-colored freckles. A blade-
ling’s eyes range from silver to pitch-black.

These qualities alone would not set bladelings apart

from the countless humanoid variations encountered
in the planes. What makes them distinct are the blades
and spines that sprout from their flesh. The spurs on
their brows and most of their bodies reach about a half¬
inch to an inch, while longer blades, typically growing
on the shoulders and legs, can be more than two feet

TM & © 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races: Bladelings

long. These blades grow continually, much like a fish’s

scales, and damage to or removal of one offers only
the slightest discomfort to a bladeling. A broken spur
crumbles to rust in a matter of minutes.

Through careful pruning and their innate abil¬

ity to guide the blades’ growth, bladelings can shape
their appearance much as humans cut their hair or
grow beards. A few of the more radical or antisocial
individuals let their blades grow wild, hampering the
use of most armor, but these are a minority. The aver¬
age bladeling is more practical than that, preferring
to cultivate shapes designed to impress or intimidate.

Attitudes and
Beliefs

Bladelings wall off their emotions, presenting a stoic

facade to everyone they meet. Dour and humorless,
they approach even the most innocent situations with
shrewd and calculating minds. Their ability to focus
in complex and chaotic situations makes bladelings
ideal soldiers, and their ingenuity helps them find the
solution to almost any problem. Every bladeling sees
the world through a strategist’s eye and takes nothing
lightly, not even idle conversation.

Bladelings take pride in their fighting skills and

have a hard time backing down from a challenge. No
matter how slim the odds, no matter how desperate
the situation, they acquit themselves without fear,
coldly doing what must be done to emerge victorious.
They believe in themselves foremost, not because they
lack faith in their allies, but out of an almost patho¬
logical need to prove themselves capable.

The bladelings’ connection to Bane and the

estrangement that persists between them and their
maker give these people a perspective that poisons
their views of all gods. They know that Bane shaped
them to suit his purposes, but rather than seeing him
as a benevolent creator, many bladelings have come to
regard him as a tyrant, an opportunist, and a meddler.

Even those with a more forgiving view can be cynical

and suspicious when it comes to the divine powers, or
anyone in authority for that matter. The few bladelings
who do follow a divine path see their deities as part¬
ners in a mutually beneficial relationship, producing
fewer clerics and more avengers among them.

Although the bladelings have largely parted from

their maker, many remain in Bane’s service. Those
who still serve him regard the others as misguided
rebels, while those who have escaped Bane’s tyranny
see their kin on Chernoggar as narrow-minded syco¬
phants. Predictably, meetings between the different
factions almost always end in violence.

Forging of the
Bladelings

The creation of the mortal world heralded the great¬

est war the cosmos has ever witnessed, pitting the
gods of the Astral Sea against the primordials of the
Elemental Chaos. Yet the Dawn War didn’t ignite
immediately. Chaotic and dispersed, the primordials
did not immediately notice the gods’ meddling with
the middle realm. By the time the elemental lords
mounted their assault, the world had already been
blessed with some of the Astral Sea’s stability, and
life found what it needed to thrive. Whether sponta¬
neously or through divine guidance, sentient beings
arose there. And among those primeval mortals the
gods found their first followers.

One such god was the stoic Achra, the Iron Gen¬
eral, brother of cruel Tuern and thunderous Kord.
Achra’s martial teachings found purchase within a
few primitive mortal tribes, providing them the tools
to bring order into an age of anarchy. According to
most scholars, these primitive mortals were humans.
A few dissidents claim that they were actually from
the same racial stock that would eventually give rise
to the githyanki and githzerai. Whatever they were,
these mortals became the first of Achra’s followers,

Racial Traits

Average Height: 5'8"-6 y 4"

Average Weight: 210-310 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom; +2 Strength or Dexterity

Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal
Languages: Common
Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Intimidate
Acid Resistance: You have acid resistance equal to
5 + one-half your level.

Barbed Body: Your body has the barbed armor prop¬

erty. Whenever you escape a creature’s grab on your
turn, or a creature escapes your grab, it takes damage
equal to 2 + one-half your level. If you’re wearing
barbed armor or carrying a barbed shield, the creature
takes this damage only once.

Razor Storm: You have the razor storm power.

Razor Storm Bladeling Racial Attack

Spikes and blades leap from your body to tear through your
foes.

Encounter

Minor Action Close burst 1

Target: Each creature in the burst

Attack: Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity vs. Reflex.

You gain a +2 bonus to the attack roll.

Level 11: The bonus increases to +4.

Level 21: The bonus increases to +6.

Hit: 1 d6 + Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity modifier

damage.

Level 11: 2d6 + Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity

modifier damage.

Level 21: 3d6 + Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity

modifier damage.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

dedicated to his teachings of battle and strategy to an

extent that rivaled even the god’s angels. This dedi¬
cation, coupled with their own mortal initiative and
ingenuity, made them paragons of martial prowess.
Through strength of arms, they tamed the wilderness
around them and established some of the earliest
city-states of the mortal world. So pleased was Achra
with his worshipers that, when the Dawn War broke
out, he offered them a place in his own divine legions.

When the gods’ armies marched on the forces of

the primordial Tabrach-Ti, the Queen of Bronze, they
counted many of Achra’s mortal followers among
their numbers. It is said that the mortals fought with
unmatched fervor and efficiency, slaying archons, ele-
mentals, and giants alike in the name of their divine
general. As the battle reached its end, Achra slew the
Queen of Bronze, the first primordial to die in the
war, and was acclaimed as the General of Heaven by
the other gods. His elemental enemies, on the other
hand, began fearfully calling him by another name,
which would identify him forevermore: Bane. And in
this aspect the war god gazed approvingly upon his
surviving mortal champions and elevated them to the
status of favored servants.

Rise of Achra’s Favored

After uncounted ages, the forces of the Astral Sea pre¬

vailed. It was a pyrrhic victory for the Iron General,
though. His ambitions of being instituted as the com¬
mander of a single, unified pantheon were frustrated.
Bane looked upon the other gods and found them to
be too narrow-minded and unfocused. They needed
proper guidance, and Bane realized he was the only
one in a position to do it. Looking for a new seat of
power from which to launch his campaign to con¬
quer the other divine realms, he decided to take over
Tuern’s domain in Chernoggar, for he remembered
how often his brother had attempted to undermine
his leadership.

Quarrelsome and undisciplined as he was, Tuern

was still a formidable opponent, and Bane needed
soldiers to seize the iron fortress of Tuer-Chern. His
angels were too evenly matched with those of his
brother, but the Iron General had something Tuern
lacked: his mortal champions. Through his divine
power, Bane molded his favored servants into the per¬
fect warrior race, melding them with the blades they
used in battle. The war god gave each of them a body
as strong as a greats word and as agile as a flashing
dagger. As their skin bonded with iron and steel, the
mortals gained the ability to grow razors and spikes
from their bodies. And knowing that a blade is only
as strong as the thought that guides it-something
his brother never seemed to grasp-the Iron General
sharpened his followers’ minds, granting them the
willpower, insight, and determination to make them
the perfect soldiers. Whatever they had been before,
Bane’s servants became an entirely new race. Pleased
with his work, he christened his children bladelings,
a name they carry to this day.

Tuern’s forces were crushed underneath the

boots of Bane’s armies, and the Iron General was
enthroned as the lord of Chernoggar. The bladelings
considered themselves natives of the newly con¬
quered domain, having shed their blood to win this
homeland. They stood by Bane’s side when the other
gods united to discourage their lord from waging war
against them. When one-eyed Gruumsh crashed his
own domain of Nishrek into that of Bane, they fought
valiantly to repel the ore hordes of the slaughter god.

Throughout these battles against Tuern and then

Gruumsh, the bladelings followed the Iron General’s
every order. Devoted as they were to martial disci¬
pline, they had complete trust in their maker. But
everything changed when the goblins came.

Goblin Migration

Unknown to the bladelings, other worshipers of Bane

began proselytizing among the hobgoblins of the

Winning Races: Bladelings

middle world. The hobgoblins were resistant at first

but eventually accepted the teachings of the Iron
General to gain the upper hand against the more
numerous goblins and the stronger bugbears. In what
at first seemed to be another military excursion, Bane
marched on the domain of the goblin god Maglu-
biyet. His absence left only the bladelings to keep
Gruumsh’s forces at bay. Perhaps the ore god knew of
Bane’s movements, for he mounted an overwhelming
offensive against Tuer-Chern. Only through great sac¬
rifice did the bladelings repel the assault. They fought
fiercely, hoping to further prove themselves to the
Iron General.

But the bladelings were appalled when Bane

returned, with Maglubiyet in tow as his newest
exarch and thousands of goblins migrating to settle in
Chernoggar under his banner. The uncouth, unruly

THE LADY OF PAIN

Though no sane person would suggest that the Lady

of Pain is related to the bladelings-especially not
within earshot of Sigil’s ruler-the physical similarities
are remarkable. Some chalk this resemblance up to
simple coincidence, since blades aren’t exactly unique
in a cosmos that has known war since its earliest age.
But a few scholars from the Athar faction, always
eager to prove that the gods aren’t all-powerful, have
suggested that the Lady of Pain might have been
Bane’s inspiration for the final form of the bladelings.
Of course, this theory suggests that the Lady is much
older than the gods are willing to admit. For their
part, the bladelings claim no common ancestry and
certainly don’t attempt to worship the Lady of Pain
in any way. They do take special pride in their shared
attributes, however, and enjoy the wider berth other
people give them in the streets of Sigil.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races: Bladelings

creatures brought chaos to the realm the blade -

lings had given so much to defend. And still the Iron
General spoke of discipline and valor, even when
the goblins knew nothing of these things. Like elder
children replaced by younger, spoiled siblings, the
bladelings grew resentful, and they began to yearn for
independence from their dark god.

Diaspora of Blades

A schism formed between the undisciplined gob¬

lins and Bane’s veterans, who prided themselves on
their loyalty, devotion to duty, and obedience to their
maker. Dissent spread through the ranks of blade¬
lings, eroding their dedication. In what some have
come to call “Tuern’s revenge,” the bladelings began
to question their creator’s judgment, as if the origi¬
nal master of Tuer-Chern were still undermining
his brother’s authority. What had long been a mono¬
lithic force quickly fractured into several factions.
Some remained loyal, remembering their vows to
their master’s cause. Others defied their maker and
fled into Chernoggar’s wilderness, where they would
spend generations in hiding. Most left the dominion
altogether, spreading out across the Astral Sea and
beyond to find new lives for themselves free from
oppression’s yoke.

These emigrant bladelings were at first exhilarated

by the prospect of exploring the cosmos and finally
living on their own terms. Soon, though, the novice
planewalkers chanced upon the planar metropolis of
Sigil, the City of Doors. Although lacking the military
structure of Tuer-Chern, Sigil’s bladed battlements,
ever-present razor vine, and acidic smog gave the city
an eerie similarity to the bladelings’ former home.
Most of all, they were struck by the serene coun¬
tenance of the Lady of Pain etched on arches and
doorways. Seeing her bladed image as a sign, many
bladelings decided to settle in the Cage.

Bladeling

Adventurers

Combat prowess and an innate thirst for glory make

bladelings well suited to the adventuring life. They
form the iron core of any adventuring group, remind¬
ing allies of their purpose and making everyone
accountable for their actions. A bladeling’s influence
can transform the most willful band of individualists
into an effective fighting unit with all the discipline of
a military squad.

Avenger

Few bladelings seek service to a god, seeing any such

act as replacing one divine tyrant for another. Yet
for all their skepticism about the gods, some recall
the old tales with more than passing fondness and
feel driven to pledge their swords to a cause higher
than themselves. Such a bladeling enters a cautious
arrangement with a god, agreeing to fight on his or
her behalf in exchange for divine power.

Fighter

Bane made the bladelings for one purpose: to fight.

This nature remains, even though few bladelings have
ties to the war god. Many of them become weapon-
masters (see Dragon 398), usually favoring swords,
spears, and similar weapons. Bladelings make excep¬
tional brawling fighters.

Monk

The militaristic roots of all bladelings are revealed in

their discipline. Since they can control their warring
emotions and achieve focus no matter the situation,
bladelings are well suited to monastic traditions.

Many seek out githzerai masters in the Elemental

Chaos in hopes of attaining ultimate self-control.
Bladeling monks favor the Centered Breath tradition.

Ranger

Freed from Bane’s service, many bladelings have

spent centuries seeking a home in the infinite
expanse of the Astral Sea. Some found new lives in
service to factions, powers, and organizations, but
many still roam the planes, searching for something
to fill the hole left by their god’s absence. These
wanderers are well equipped to survive hostile
environments, and they have developed skills and
capabilities that make them exceptional scouts and
hunters. Many bladeling rangers put these talents to
use as bounty hunters and give chase to some of the
most dangerous fugitives in the cosmos.

Runepriest

Bladeling runepriests harness divine power with¬

out having to serve any god directly. They might not
respect the gods, but they do appreciate their power,
especially that gained from studying the Defiant
Word and Serene Blade traditions. Bladeling rune-
priests sometimes work as master weaponsmiths and
armorers, working to keep their fellows supplied with
superior equipment. The arms and armor they pro¬
duce are festooned with images memorializing fallen
champions and grotesques depicting their enemies.

Roleplaying a
Bladeling

When creating a bladeling adventurer, here are a few

points to consider.

You live in Bane’s shadow. You were molded

by the gauntleted hand of the war god, and there’s
no denying your origins. You were born for war,
but how do you face that predestination? You might
embrace your warrior nature and block out all other
aspects of your life, or you might search for a pur¬
pose outside the battlefield. But if you do fight, what
do you fight for?

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Winning Races: Bladelings

Your homeland is lost. Your people have no

homeland to call their own. By leaving Chernoggar
behind, you forfeited all claim your people had to
it, and it now is overrun by goblins and ores. Do you
seek a new place you can belong to, or do you con¬
sider your own body to be your homeland?

You are a child of the planes. You belong to the

endless cosmos. As befits such a well-traveled race,
you are used to seeing the big picture and putting
things in perspective. You know that joy and pain, life
and death are fleeting things, so you make the most
of the present and try not to worry about what you
can’t control.

Bladeling Characteristics: Calculating, cold,

disciplined, domineering, focused, grim, severe,
reserved, withdrawn

Bladeling Names: Adamok, Calamir, Damerik,

Edimgar, Fazgarok, Ozerin, Razirin, Urlezar

Bladeling Surnames: Coal, Dim, Ebon, Gloom,

Jet, Pitch, Sable, Soot

Bladeling names are used equally by males and

females, while their family names are variations of
the word “black,” a nod to their creator’s title as the
Black Hand.

Bladeling Feats

You can use the following feats to enhance your char¬

acter’s racial traits and powers, further defining your
unusual nature.

Bladed Fists

You cultivate the blades growing on the backs of your

hands, keeping them honed to ensure that you are
never without a bladed weapon.

Prerequisite: Bladeling

Benefit: Your unarmed attack deals ld6 damage.

In addition, you gain a +2 proficiency bonus to attack
rolls you make with unarmed attacks.

Bladed Stalker

Through subtlety and underhanded strikes, you can

make the most of your natural weaponry.
Prerequisite: Bladeling, Bladed Fists feat
Benefit: Your unarmed attack gains the high crit
weapon property.

Brutal Blades

You keep the blades on your body razor-sharp.

Prerequisite: Bladeling, razor storm racial power

Benefit: Your unarmed attack gains the off-hand
weapon property.

In addition, the damage dice for your razor storm

power increase from d6s to d8s.

Improved Razor Storm

You achieve such a mastery over the blades covering
your body that you can cause them to burst outward
with greater force.

Prerequisite: Bladeling, razor storm racial power

Benefit: The size of the burst created by your razor
storm power increases by 1.

In addition, whenever you score a critical hit using

your razor storm power, the target also takes ongoing 5
damage (save ends).

Bladeling Utility
Powers

Bladelings know many ways to put the spines and

blades sprouting from their bodies to good use. As
well, their extensive travel across the planes gives
them insight into finding hidden portals and astral
pathways.

When your bladeling character gains a class util¬

ity power after 1st level, you can forgo taking a power
granted to you by your class. Instead, you gain a
bladeling utility power of the same level or lower.

Rending Spines

Concentrating on the blades that bristle on your

body causes them to grow at an accelerated rate until
long spines cover you from head to toe. Enemies that
would attack you risk impaling themselves on your
spines. When you stop concentrating, the excess
crumbles away to rust.

Rending Spines Bladeling Utility 2

Your body spines lengthen to rake and tear any creature that
attacks you.

Daily + Stance

Minor Action Personal

Effect: You assume the rending spines stance. Until the

stance ends, the following effects apply.

+ You are slowed.

+ You take a -2 penalty to all defenses.

+ Any creature adjacent to you that hits or misses you

with a melee attack takes damage equal to 3 + one-
half your level.
Gouging Blade

You learn to focus your concentration on a single

blade, causing it to grow into a jagged spike from your
hand that gouges enemies. At any time, you can snap
it off to deliver a bleeding wound.

Gouging Blade Bladeling Utility 6

A jagged spike sprouts from the back of your hand. Each time
you strike in melee, the barb delivers a grisly injury.

Daily

Minor Action Personal

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, when you hit

a creature adjacent to you with a melee attack, that
creature takes 1 d6 extra damage.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Improvised Portal

You might have explored the City of Doors or just

heard stories, but you have heard and learned enough
to turn an otherwise unremarkable door into a tem¬
porary gateway to somewhere distant.

Improvised Portal Bladeling Utility 10

You scribble a glyph on a door and add a mental push so it

opens to someplace it shouldn’t.

Encounter

Minor Action Melee 1

Target: One door, gate, or similar object

Effect: The target becomes a magical portal to a square
within 20 squares of you. The portal lasts until the
end of your next turn. Until the effect ends, the target
and the square you chose are considered to be adja¬
cent to each other for movement purposes.

Planar Jaunt

You learn how to attune your body to an existing

teleportation circle, allowing you to become a living
gateway to another plane.

Planar Jaunt Bladeling Utility 16

Although doing so is painful and exhausting, you can whisk

yourself and your companions to a destination you have com¬
mitted to memory

Daily ♦ Teleportation
Standard Action Close burst 5

Requirement: You must use this power at the end of an

extended rest.

Target: You and each ally in the burst

Effect: You lose three healing surges. Each target then
teleports to a permanent teleportation circle to which
you have memorized the sigil sequence.

Special: When you gain this power, you learn the sigil
sequences of two permanent teleportation circles in
locations determined by the Dungeon Master.

Bred for Battle

Bane created bladelings for war. You can tap into the
divine spark that transformed your people to become
a living weapon on the battlefield. Your spines and
blades lengthen to protect you, and the strikes you
make rend your enemies.

Bred for Battle Bladeling Utility 22

You cause the blades all over your body to lengthen and tear
your foes, while your awareness of nearby danger heightens.

Daily + Stance

Minor Action Personal

Effect: You assume the bred for battle stance. Until the
stance ends, you gain the following benefits.

+ You gain a +2 power bonus to AC.

+ You cannot be marked.

+ Your melee weapon attacks that hit deal 2d6 extra

damage.

+ At the end of each of your turns, you can spend a

healing surge and regain no hit points. If you do so,
you regain the use of your razor storm power.
About the Author

Claudio Pozas is a freelance artist and writer whose recent

design credits include Heroes of Shadow™, Heroes of the Fey-
wild™, and numerous Dragon and Dungeon articles. He lives
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with his wife, Paula; his son, Daniel;
and his pet dire tiger, Tyler. His art can be seen at claudiopo-
[Link].

Winning Races: Bladelings

-T

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

kI * J

Engines
of War

By Claudio Pozas

Illustration by Chris Seaman

From the Dawn War between gods and primordials,
through the destructive conflict between Arkhosia
and Bael Turath, all the way to the current incursions
of the Iron Circle, war has been a constant through¬
out the history of the world. It is little wonder that
some mortals, no doubt inspired by the dark whispers
of Bane himself, seek more efficient ways to wage
the bloody business of warfare. This article presents
living siege engines that many of the D&D world’s
major races have devised.

Clockwork Rookery

Clockwork rookeries are masterpieces of engineering

and artifice. Though they look similar to regular siege
towers at first glance, they are not only more resilient
than the nonliving versions, but also self-propelled,
easier to maintain, and sentient. In battle, enemies
see ephemeral rooks swarming from the tower to
harry them, but these celestial illusions are invisible
to the tower’s allies. The rookery relies on such allies
for direction in battle, acting like the lowest-ranking
soldier among them. A rookery that has no com¬
mander does its best to fulfill what it understands to
be its duty or mission.

A clockwork rookery is 35 feet high (Athlet¬

ics DC 20 to climb). It has three levels, each with
a 10-foot-high ceiling, plus a crenelated rooftop
set with animate arbalests—much like arbalester

TM & © 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Engines of War

homunculi—all around. The lower level features a

reinforced iron door that its crew can bar from the
inside. The middle and upper levels have arrow slits,
and a ladder that runs through the middle of the
rookery connects all levels. A trapdoor, which can
also be barred from either side, allows access to the
roof. Creatures inside the tower or on its exterior
move with it as if it were a vehicle.

By Hook or By Crook: The sturdy construction

of a clockwork rookery keeps it from collapsing when
rendered inoperative. Once inert, a rookery becomes
stationary like any regular tower, but with enough
resources and expertise, a salvaged rookery can be
made operational again. The difficulty of repairing
a damaged rookery makes rulers very protective of
these prized siege engines, so it is typical for a squad
of soldiers to accompany a clockwork rookery into the
field.

Built for Civilization: A cadre of artificers and

clerics devoted to Erathis, goddess of civilization,

CLOCKWORK ROOKERIES
IN EBERRON

In the Eberron® setting, House Cannith’s skilled

artificers create clockwork rookeries-fortifica-
tions related to the floating fortress of Argonth.
The forces of Breland and Aundair frequently
field such towers. Warforged usually make up
the crew of a Brelish clockwork rookery.

A variant of the clockwork rookery is the bone

belfry, which the forces of Karrnath use. Undead
troopers man the Karrnathi belfries, and the
harrier rooks are shadowy bats. Some belfries
fire bolts of necrotic energy rather than arbalest
bolts.

Clockwork Rookery Level 15 Solo Brute

Gargantuan natural animate (construct) XP 6,000

HP 600; Bloodied 300

AC 27, Fortitude 29, Reflex 25, Will 27

Speed 6

Immune disease, poison

Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2

Traits

0 Harrier Rooks + Aura 5

The aura is lightly obscured to enemies.

All-Around Vision

Enemies can’t gain combat advantage by flanking the rookery.

Juggernaut
The rookery ignores difficult terrain and provokes no
opportunity attacks. It cannot squeeze or grab.

Instinctive Warfare

A rookery that starts its turn dominated ignores the condi¬

tion long enough to use trample as a free action. A rookery
that starts its turn stunned ignores the condition long
enough to use arbalest volley as a free action.

Living Vehicle

Creatures can enter the rookery’s space by climbing onto

it (DC 20) or moving through any of its entrances (one at
the base and one on top). Creatures in the rookery’s space
move with the rookery as if it were a vehicle.

Standard Actions

V Arbalest Volley (weapon) ♦ At-Will

Attack: Close burst 20 (enemies in the burst); +20 vs. AC
Hit: 2d10 + 7 damage.

Move Actions

i Trample + At-Will (1/round)

Effect: The rookery moves up to its speed and can move

through enemies’ spaces during the move. Each time the
rookery enters an enemy’s space for the first time during
the move, it makes the following attack against that
enemy. Enemies already in the rookery’s space when it
uses this power cannot be targets of the power.

Attack: Melee 0 (enemy in the space); +18 vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + 7 damage, and the target falls prone.

Miss: The rookery slides the target up to 4 squares to a

square adjacent to the rookery.

Str 25 (+14) Dex 10 (+7) Wis20(+12)

Con 22 (+13) Int 4 (+4) Cha 5 (+4)

Alignment unaligned Languages understands Common

Initiative +7
Perception +12
All-around vision

created the first clockwork rookeries to expand the

civilized domains in the aftermath of Nerath’s fall. A
clockwork rookery has only the faintest trace of sen¬
tience, so it needs a crew to direct and maintain it. In
addition to its magical mechanisms and the supplies
its crew requires, a rookery usually carries ladders,
planks, ropes, and grappling hooks for use in a siege.

Roving Sentry Towers: As design of the rooker¬

ies progressed, their primary use shifted from siege
toward securing dangerous borders. In particular, a
lord who can afford a clockwork rookery may send
it to reinforce a garrison until a permanent fortifica¬
tion can be built. As an added benefit, the spiritual
rooks of a clockwork rookery can carry messages as a
homing bird might.

Infernal Embassy

Few war machines inspired greater fear in the hearts

of the dragonborn of old than an infernal embassy.
These enormous, flying tetrahedrons bear the fiery
mark of Asmodeus upon their faces, heralding not
only physical destruction, but also corruption of the
soul.

Portals to the Nine Hells: An infernal embassy

isn’t exactly a building. A more accurate description
would be that it is a living portal containing a rip in
reality that leads straight into the Nine Hells. Once
summoned, the embassy relies on conflict to bring
forth more devil legionnaires, increasing the hold
of the Nine Hells upon the world as long as enemy
forces exist to fight. The embassy is a one-way portal,
so devils brought to the Material Plane are stranded
here. Having nothing to lose, they fight as zealots.

When an infernal embassy is destroyed, it col¬

lapses in upon itself, leaving no trace behind aside
from a lingering evil that can taint the immediate
area for generations.

Legacy of Bael Turath: Only an extremely dif¬

ficult and bloody ritual known to a select few of Bael
Turath’s leaders can bring one of these edifices to the

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Engines of War
natural world. Rumor holds that the Grandmaster
of the Iron Circle is scouring the former holdings of
Bael Turath in search of this ritual. If the secret of
the infernal embassies falls into the hands of the Iron
Circle’s forces, they might become unstoppable.

Infernal Embassy Level 22 Solo Artillery

Huge immortal animate (construct) XP 20,750

HP 840; Bloodied 420 Initiative +18

AC 36, Fortitude 34, Reflex 33, Will 33 Perception +18

Speed 4, fly 4 All-around vision, blindsight 10

Immune disease, dominated, poison; Resist 15 cold, 15 fire

Saving Throws +5; Action Points 2

Traits

0 Baleful Presence (fire) + Aura 5

Enemies in the aura take a -2 penalty to saving throws.
Devil allies that drop to 0 hit points in the aura explode,
dealing each creature adjacent to the devil 15 fire damage.
Action Recovery

Whenever the embassy ends its turn, any dazing or stun¬

ning effect on the embassy ends.

All-Around Vision

Enemies can’t gain combat advantage by flanking the

embassy.

Juggernaut

The embassy ignores difficult terrain and provokes no

opportunity attacks. It cannot squeeze or grab.

Living Vehicle

Creatures can enter the embassy’s space by climbing onto

it (DC 20). Creatures in the embassy’s space move with the
embassy as if it were a vehicle.

Standard Actions

Hellish Meteor (fire, force) ♦ At-Will

Attack: Area 2 within 20 (creatures in the burst); +25 vs.
Reflex
Hit: 2d12 + 18 fire and force damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Four legion devil legionnaires appear in unoccu¬

pied squares in the area and act immediately after the
embassy in the initiative order.

Str 20 (+16) Dex 24 (+18) Wis 24 (+18)

Con 26 (+19) Int 6 (+9) Cha 6 (+9)

Alignment evil Languages understands all

Legion Devil Legionnaire Level 21 Minion Soldier

Medium immortal humanoid (devil) XP 800 each

HP 1, a missed attack never damages a minion. Initiative +13

AC 37, Fortitude 33, Reflex 32, Will 32 Perception +11
Speed 7, teleport 3 Darkvision

Resist 15 fire

Traits

Squad Defense

The legionnaire gains a +2 bonus to all defenses while it is

adjacent to at least one other legion devil.

Standard Actions

© Longsword (weapon) + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); + 26 vs. AC
Hit: 14 damage.

Str 14 (+12) Dex 12 (+11) Wis 12 (+11)

Con 14 (+12) Int 10 (+10) Cha 12 (+11)

Alignment evil Languages Supernal

Equipment plate armor, heavy shield, longsword

Predator Chariot

Goblins are consummate beastmasters who breed

animals and monsters for their vile purposes. One
such experiment warped steel predators into living
vehicles known as predator chariots. The chariot con¬
sists of an enclosed carriage with two doors that its
crew can bar from the inside. The carriage has two
arrow slits, plus space for warriors to ride atop it.

Inspired by War: According to hobgoblin war-

casters, the first predator chariots were created deep
within the Chernoggar breeding pits in honor of
Bane. Specially bred steel predators, stunted by magic
and tinkering, were attached to metal carriages cov¬
ered in vile runes. Their chariots turned out to be far
more maneuverable than any similar, horse-drawn
vehicle.

A Predator’s Mind: The steel predator is only

faintly aware of the predator chariot to which it is
attached. Constant handling is needed to keep the
chariot in line. If left unattended for too long, it
begins to act like a savage beast.

Predator Chariot Level 16 Elite Soldier

Huge immortal animate (construct) XP 2,800

HP 320; Bloodied 160 Initiative +15

AC 32, Fortitude 29, Reflex 28, Will 27 Perception +12

Speed 7 Darkvision

Saving Throws +2; Action Points 1

Traits

Juggernaut

The chariot ignores difficult terrain and provokes no

opportunity attacks. It cannot squeeze or grab.

Living Vehicle

Creatures can enter the chariot’s space by climbing onto it

(DC 15) or entering through one of its two doors (one on
each side). Creatures in the chariot’s space move with the
chariot as if it were a vehicle.

Standard Actions

© Slashing Fury + At-Will

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +21 vs. AC

Hit: 2d10 + 7 damage, and the target falls prone,
i Predatory Dash + At-Will
Effect: The chariot moves up to its speed. Each time the
chariot moves adjacent to an enemy for the first time
during the move, it makes a slashing fury attack against
that enemy.

V Resonant Roar (thunder) + Recharge [X] 53 or if the char¬

iot takes lightning or thunder damage
Attack: Close burst 3 (creatures in the burst but not in the
chariot’s space); +19 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d8 + 15 thunder damage, and the target is deafened
and dazed (save ends both).

Str 24 (+15) Dex 21 (+13) Wis 19 (+12)

Con 24 (+15) Int 8 (+7) Cha 6 (+6)

Alignment evil Languages understands Goblin

War Willow Treant

A few treants agree to carry allies into battle. Regard¬

less of the type of tree it resembles, such a treant is
called a war willow.

Blood-Rooted: War willows root near humanoid

and elven villages. They prefer the elves, who treat
them as honorary elders.

Sylvan Team: A war willow develops strong rap¬

port with the soldiers who ride into war among its
branches. Most are masters of ranged attacks.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

War Willow Treant Level 17 Elite Soldier

Huge fey magical beast (plant) XP 3,200

HP 336; Bloodied 168 Initiative +11

AC 33, Fortitude 30, Reflex 27, Will 28 Perception +15

Speed 8 (forest walk) Low-light vision
Saving Throws +2; Action Points 1

Traits

0 Wrathful Roots + Aura 3

The aura is difficult terrain for nonflying enemies. Enemies

must make a DC 23 Acrobatics or Athletics check to stand
up in the aura.

Living Vehicle

Creatures can enter the treant’s space by climbing onto

it (DC 15). Creatures in the treant’s space move with the
treant as if it were a vehicle.

Threatening Reach

The treant can make opportunity attacks against enemies

within 3 squares of it.

Wooden Body

Whenever the treant takes fire damage, it also takes ongo¬

ing 5 fire damage (save ends).

Standard Actions

© Slam ♦ At-Will

Attack: Melee 3 (one creature); +22 vs. AC

Hit: 2d8 + 16 damage, the treant slides the target up to 2

squares, and the target falls prone.

I Trample + At-Will

Effect: The treant moves up to its speed and can move

through enemies’ spaces during the move. Each time the
treant enters an enemy’s space for the first time during
the move, the treant makes a slam attack against that
enemy.

Str 26 (+16) Dex 12 (+9) Wis25(+15)

Con 24 (+15) Int 14 (+10) Cha 10 (+8)

Alignment unaligned Languages Common, Elven

About the Author

Claudio Pozas is a freelance artist and writer whose recent

design credits include Heroes of Shadow™, Heroes of the Fey-
wild™, and many contributions to Dragon. He lives in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, with his wife, Paula; his son, Daniel; and his
pet dire tiger, Tyler.

Engines of War

ONLINE

ONUNB v

Customize and Play a Unmue Hero from

[Link]

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Ed Greenwood’s

Eye,he Realms

Clan Harhund and

Dead Dwarf Mine

By Ed Greenwood

Illustration by Beth Trott

A tavernmaster in the city of Saradush who was

enlarging his wine cellar just made a grisly discovery.
He unintentionally broke into the cellar of a vacant
tallhouse next door, whose longtime tenants had
just departed (hurriedly and without warning), and
stumbled on the possible cause of their flight: the rot¬
ting, bloated body of a recently murdered dwarf, face
down in the cellar with a row of three daggers driven
quillons deep into his spine.

The dwarf was a local adventurer, long ridiculed

because of his dogged quest for the lost mine of the
extinct Harhund dwarf clan—but on his body was
proof that he found the mine, and that it contains
riches many may desire.

Jorlthro Malankh,

Dwarf Adventurer

The dead individual found in the cellar was known

as Jorlthro Malankh, a young, energetic, restless local
dwarf born somewhere in the mountains around

Tethyr, and long a resident of Saradush. Not known to

have any living close kin, Jorlthro has always claimed
to belong to the Malankh family, dwarves scattered
throughout cities and market towns across Amn and
Tethyr working as traders and metalcrafters. 1 He fur¬
ther claimed that the Malankh family is descended
from the “fallen clan” of Harhund, never-numerous
dwarves who formerly dwelt in and under the lands
immediately west of the Vilhon Reach. The last Har¬
hund holds there were Hundelve and Irthgarl, and
both were found abandoned in the 1320s DR. 2 Irth¬
garl showed clear evidence of having been violently
overrun by goblins.

Other Malankh dwarves, such as the chestmaker

Orlo Malankh of Crimmor and the manymetals
caster Keldorl Malankh of Athkatla, support these
claims, recalling that their own now-dead parents
considered themselves Harhund dwarves (and
“Malankh” was used merely as a branch name, denot¬
ing descendants of Malankhar Harhund).

TM & © 2013 Wizards of the Coast LLC. All rights reserved.

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

Jorlthro Malankh came to Saradush alone, appren¬

ticed himself to a maker of sheaths and scabbards
as a dresser, 3 and acquired a reputation as a fast and
capable worker who all too often disappeared for a
few days, or as much as a tenday, on what he called
“adventures.”

It’s known that Jorlthro first fell in with a local

human and halfling adventuring band known as the
Farblades, who were shattered in a disastrous expedi¬
tion in the spring of 1341 DR, when they blundered
into a rendezvous between beholders and unsa¬
vory human traders and brigands serving those eye
tyrants, deep in a wilderness ruin. Jorlthro was one of
only three survivors, out of the dozen-some Farblades.

Jorlthro next tried to form his own adventuring

band, the Bold Delvers, a handful of treasure-seekers
and wandering blades gleaned from the taverns
of Saradush, but treachery over the division of the
meager spoils of their first foray led to the Delvers
battling each other through the alleys of Saradush
in a nasty feud that ended only when all the Delv¬
ers except Jorlthro were dead or fled from the city.
Jorlthro promptly joined the Kickers of the Duke’s
Teeth, a newly arrived Tethyrian band of rogues,
murderers, and ale-lovers who stole every coin they
could find in Saradush until exasperated wealthy
citizens hired mercenaries to exterminate them.
Jorlthro escaped death because he was abed with a
broken leg, and when he could walk again, he loudly
protested that he had renounced his membership
“months aback.”

Jorlthro’s ill luck continued, as one adventuring

band after another that he joined got badly bloodied
during their expeditions 4 -though most folk in Sara¬
dush would say the dwarf had “shining-good luck”
rather than bad fortune, because time and again he
survived these debacles.

Jorlthro’s last foray was with Baerizaun’s Banners,

a newly formed, motley band of novice adventur¬
ers and semi-retired pirates hailing from Velen who

got embroiled in a war between monster-smuggling

merchants trying to establish a way-hold in Saradush,
and The Daggerfingers, a gang of brigands relocating
from the Vilhon Reach to the city. The Banners were
swiftly reduced to Jorlthro and a hedge-wizard calling
herself Ornarnla “Firehands,” and both had to go into
hiding as the Daggerfingers hunted them tirelessly
through the city.

Ornarnla dropped out of sight, but it seems the

Daggerfingers caught up with Jorlthro, because three
daggers driven through the spine is their signature
way of slaying, when they want to leave an example to
others (in this case, probably the occupants of the tall-
house where Jorlthro’s body was found).
All this lore about Jorlthro Malankh was pro¬
vided to the authorities of Saradush by a sage of the
city hight Glaspaero Vhallamond, who befriended
Jorlthro some years back. 5

Saradush is a busy crossroads trading city of

rumors and broken secrets, and it didn’t take long
after the discovery of the dwarf’s body for word to
leak out that although Jorlthro’s coin purse had been
taken (presumably by his murderers), magical gems
were found on his body—as well as the murdered
dwarf’s diary, detailing where treasure was hidden!

To locals, the most sensational news was that Jorlthro

had evidently found the gems in the Hardhammer
Mine, legendary for being “right underneath” Sara¬
dush and for being roamed by deadly monsters—and
widely held to be the tomb of the last Harhunds.

Vhallamond confirms that Harhund dwarves

carved out the Hardhammer Mine (named for the
unusually hard stone that had to be worked, and that
Saradush stands on), that they fought many monsters
of the Underdark down the years they held the mine,
and that in the end they had to depart it hastily—but
he suspects few dwarves died there, that none are for¬
mally entombed there, and that the dwarves who left
were by no means the last Harhunds.

Eye on the Realms

An anonymous source (almost certainly a member

of the Guard of Saradush, its police force) says that
Jorlthro’s diary is a tiny, slender book full of brief,
cryptic entries-in Thorass or Common, not a runic
script-rather than detailed accounts coherent to any
reader. The diary appears to contain coded directions
to treasure caches established by Jorlthro and the ill-
fated adventuring bands he belonged to.

Other sources say that Jorlthro’s codpiece was

stuffed with enchanted gems. Both the Guard and
Vhallamond have refused to confirm this specific
fact, but done so in words that suggest the dead dwarf
was indeed carrying magical gems.

No one will comment on rumors that the Dagger¬

fingers are lurking to pounce on anyone who follows
the diary’s directions and braves traps to recover the
loot hidden by the various ill-fated adventuring bands
Jorlthro belonged to. 6
Jorlthro’s Jewels

It seems someone in the Guard of Saradush owed

Elminster a favor—or had a weakness that the Sage
of Shadowdale didn’t hesitate to exploit. According
to a report Elminster perused (without anyone in
Saradush officially being aware of his doing so), the
following gems were found in Jorlthro’s codpiece, all
of them mounted in sturdy—rather than decorative—
neck-chain fittings: two bloodgem shards, a hero stone, a
stalwart stone, and three kindlestones.

+ A bloodgem shard 7 is a blood-red crystal that

absorbs the life force of defeated foes to (briefly)
magically augment its wearer.

+ A hero stone is any heat-treated gem that has been

augmented by a master forger and a spellcaster to
give it the powers of a dauntless champions ring. 8

+ A stalwart stone is a heat- and magic-treated

gemstone, usually a moonstone or a whitish trans¬

lucent gem that, when worn, lessens damage. 9

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

+ A kindlestone may be any sort of igneous stone

or crystal (gem). When grasped and ordered, it
causes flames to appear in the air immediately
around it. These flames are cool to the touch, and
the stone itself remains so at all times, but the
flames can ignite anything a fire hot enough for
brisk cooking could, and the fire they cause will
become and remain intensely hot so long as it has
handy fuel, and can be used for forging. The same
words that ordered it to activate can be used by
anyone close to such a stone, not just the activator,
to turn it off, though the fire it created will burn as
long as fuel is available.

What is most interesting about these gems is that

Jorlthro’s diary clearly states each was found in
an upper passage of the Hardhammer Mine, “just
beneath the cellars of present-day Saradush.” It seems
the departing Harhund dwarves filled these passages
with wet clay (that over the years since has become
rock-hard), encasing the gems in widely separated
locations—and that the end faces of these clay in fills
were graven with runes that translate as “Magic Gone
Wild. Stay Away Unless Desperately Needed.”
All this may have something to do with an old
dwarven tale Elminster recalls, about illithids master¬
ing a way to “improve” gemstones mined by dwarves
and enchanted by elves (in return for a share in the
gems), changing them from magics that just aided
wearers to effects that aided and allowed a far-off
illithid master to influence or even firmly control the
minds of wearers.

Hardhammer Mine

The Harhund dwarves are believed to have begun

carving out the Hardhammer Mine in the 660s DR,
following veins of very pure, abundant silver in a cap
(uppermost rock layer between the Underdark and
the surface Realms) so hard that it had been little tun¬
neled before then.

The veins are mainly vertical, and exist as horizon¬

tally thin (narrow), curving snakes. 10 They underlie
what is now the city of Saradush, a crossroads trading
center that expanded greatly in the latter 1300s, and
the uppermost chambers of the mine are mere feet
beneath the floors of the deepest city cellars.

The silver was worked out by the late 880s, prov¬

ing so rich and abundant that it enabled some of the
Harhunds to resettle and live well among humans in
the growing mercantile centers that are now Athkatla
and the other wealthy cities of Amn and northern
Tethyr. Though the hard rock made the passages and
caverns stable and therefore always a good home to
someone, the Harhunds tired of fighting off constant
intruders from the deeper Underdark (various mon¬
sters, and both drow and illithids seeking a secure
surface connection in the area), and gradually aban¬
doned Hardhammer.

The doomstroke 11 came when someone—dwarven

rumors say an illithid skilled in the Art—found a way
to turn the magic borne by gems worn by senior Har¬
hund dwarves against their wearers, slaying those
dwarves or turning them against their fellows.

The surviving Harhunds entombed the gems

in clay and fled to elsewhere in the Realms, leav¬
ing Hardhammer Mine to prowling monsters, the
boldest cellar-enlargers of modern Saradush (often
smugglers, fences of stolen goods, cultists, and other
evildoers), and ever wilder legend.

Until, that is, Jarlthro Malankh started chip¬

ping away at the hardened clay to find the gems. He
almost certainly had the help of Ornarnla (whom
Elminster suspects found more magic than she
shared with Jarlthro), and of some hirelings who,
unknown to the dwarf, were members of a recently
founded local beholder cult. 12

Elminster doesn’t believe that Jarlthro managed

to excavate much of the hardened clay before being
murdered. Presumably the Daggerfingers and the
beholder cultists are now warring with each other for

Eye on the Realms

control of what hasn’t yet been dug out—with citizens

of Saradush whose cellars impinge on the hardened
clay soon to be caught in the middle.

Some novice adventurers newly arrived in Sara¬

dush are eager to explore what the citizens (amid
the buzz of lively rumors) have now redubbed “Dead
Dwarf Mine,” so Elminster expects further mayhem.

Harhund’s History

The founding of Clan Harhund has been lost to pass¬

ing time, like the histories of so many minor dwarven
houses. It certainly existed by 338 DR, when the
Harhunds negotiated a trading pact with Clan Riven-
forge, but its members have never been numerous or
powerful. It has, however, always been widely scat¬
tered across (and mainly beneath) western Faerun,
so it can’t be deemed near-extinct with any certainty.
The Malankh family is not the only surviving branch;
others include dwarves of the Tashalar with the sur¬
name Thultaun, and dwarves of Chessenta who call
themselves House Hundalar.

Clan Harhunds rune or symbol could be

described as a capital letter “K” of our real-world
English script, its arms down and its long “back”
uppermost but horizontal, with an arc joining both
ends of that line in a half circle atop it.

Except among themselves, few Harhund dwarves

are anything near famous or even memorable. One
of the few who could be considered so is Yeldur Har¬
hund, known as the “Haunted Beard” because of a
magical curse cast upon his hair that swirled about
him in battle as a bright, pulsing glow. This feature
made stealth impossible, but apparently deflected
some magics and prolonged his vigor. He was young
in the 340s DR, and is thought to still be alive, some¬
where far east and south of Faerun’s Sword Coast.

Among dwarves, legend and current gossip both

agree that Harhund dwarves are hardy and intrepid
explorers of the Underdark, tirelessly exploring the
deep places beneath the earth to find new veins of

January 2013 | DRAGON 419

ore, establish new and well-hidden Harhund strong¬

holds, and when they need funds, hiring themselves
out as expert Underdark guides. Weapons at the
ready, Harhund dwarves stalk the tunnels of the
Realms Below every day.

Elminster has heard of a local legend in western¬

most Impiltur that mentions a “Harhund little man”
(presumably a dwarf) who will “rise from enspelled
sleep” if a certain now-ruined castle is rebuilt. He has
no idea if this is mere fancy, or a reminder of a Har¬
hund dwarf trapped in magical stasis in or near the
castle, or something stranger.

What is fairly certain is that the unfortunate

Jarlthro Malankh was the last Harhund dwarf in
Saradush... for now.

Notes

1. “Metalcrafters” is a Heartlands term for smiths

who make and repair small daily items, inlays and
chest fittings, and jewelry settings.

2. The discoveries were made by various explor¬

ing adventurers, notably the Six Swords of Arrabar
and the all-female, mixed-race Blackened Helms of
Tashluta.

3. A “dresser” is a maker and fitter of ornamental

metals—buckles, loops, stop-heads, hooks, clips, grom¬
mets, and mere ornaments—to scabbards, sheaths,
pouches, and the belts they ride upon. The maker
Jorlthro Malankh apprenticed to was Irynthal Wim-
merstone, of the long-established Wimmerstone
gnome family, makers of tool and weapon sharpeners,
containers, and “harnesses" (belts and such).

4. These groups included the Stormswords, of Star-

mantle; the Adventures Arising, out of Crimmor; and
Landeluck’s Doomarrow, of Selgaunt, among other
lesser-known, shorter-lived ones. All three of these
bands went too deep into the Underdark, in various
places in the Heartlands.

5. Glaspaero Vhallamond of Maerhuld Street in

southern Saradush is a quiet, nondescript, rather
Eye on the Realms

homely man with an unruly thatch of blond hair that

sticks out straight in all directions. He specializes in
local history and genealogy, with a sideline in locally
known magic items, and is fond of Tashlutan wines
and all sorts of spicy foods.

6. Except Elminster, who said flatly, “Of course they

are.” He warns that although the Daggerfingers seem
to be a formidable array of veteran human evildoers,
more than one is actually another sort of creature
seeming to be human by means of magical disguises.

7. Found in Adventurer’s Vault™ 2.

8. Found in Adventurers Vault 2.

9. Whenever any attack would harm the wearer of

a stalwart stone, three attack rolls must be made, and
the lowest-damage result is the one that applies.

10. Faerunian miners call veins “snakes” when,

after being dug out, they would leave cavities or pas¬
sages an observer hovering above them and looking
down could see as having the shapes of giant undulat¬
ing serpents.

11. “Doomstroke” is local (eastern Amn and

Tethyr, western Vilhon, and spreading steadily thanks
to traveling merchants) slang for what we might call
“the last straw.”

12. This cult, which calls itself the Faithful ofXarl-

houn, worships—and serves, in various acts of covert
villainy—a very real beholder lurking under Saradush,
that calls itself Xarlhoun. Elminster suspects this

to be an alias used by a young, small, and weak eye

tyrant that fled the beholder battles for dominance in
Undermountain and the Underdark near Waterdeep.

About the Author

Ed Greenwood is the man who unleashed the Forgotten

Realms® setting on an unsuspecting world. He works in
libraries, plus he writes fantasy, science fiction, horror, mys¬
tery, and romance stories (sometimes all in the same novel),
but he is happiest when churning out Realmslore, Realms-
lore, and more Realmslore. He still has a few rooms in his
house in which he has space left to pile up papers.
*

I s 4 / 1 :

/ •&**** ■ %

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January 2013 | DRAGON 419

COMING NEXT MONTH

THE CARRION KING

FEY OF WOOD AND WIND

By Steve Townshend

In old cupboards and walls, beneath the thick

underbrush of Faerie forests, in enchanted crystal
caves, wee fey make their homes in places the big
folk do not tread. We put some wee, and some not-
so-wee, fey under the magnifying glass.

THRUMBOLG, FIRST LORD

OF MAG TUREAH
By Jeff Doug an and Tim Eagon

Tread lightly through the subterranean kingdom of

Mag Tureah, for the king is insane and his court is
filled with miscreants and malcontents.

By Jeff LaSala

The Carrion King, master of all myconids,

strives tirelessly for the benefit of its subjects.
Unfortunately, it is also unequivocally mad.

By Robert J. Schwalb and Andrew Schneider

Death need not be an end for your character; it can

be a beginning. The potential to become a ghost
lies in every mortal creature-even adventurers.
The optional rules in this article let players and
DMs explore the world between life and death.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

AND MORE!