| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Nov 2023 : 14:05:37
Since starting up his own Discord server (https://discord.onl/greenwoods-grotto/), Ed Greenwood has been answering Realms-related questions in the #q4ed channel. Although it's free to join the Discord and view his answers, but I believe it requires a subscription to Ed's Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/EdGreenwood) to be given access to ask him questions there.
So since his answers are free to view by anyone on his Discord and for the benefit of those who are not on Discord, I'm starting and updating my compilation of his answers in this scroll. I'll leave it to the wisdom of moderating scribes if anything should be changed or removed.
I won't be able to put down everything (I already have 300+ answered questions to put down), so consider updates here will be intermittent, and will take a while before it catches up to the latest questions answered. (Or just join the Discord if you want the latest  )
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| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 18:38:15
On fuwflander
Kokopelli — 24/12/2025 9:10 AM
Friend @Ed Greenwood, re-reading the old "Moonrise Over Myth Drannor" piece, I have to wonder... What in Lurue's name is roast fuwflander? I'm inclined to think it a typo, though I'm not sure what the correct word would have been...
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:51 AM
Nope, “fuwflander” is correct. It’s a nigh-brainless ground bird, like a grouse but unable to fly (only flap its wings and “speed-run” along the ground, squawking). So it’s easy to catch and kill (children with sticks and stones can fill a family stewpot if they get lucky). When spatchcocked and roasted, the skin peels off, feathers and all, so it doesn’t have to be plucked and is easy to prepare. It has a taste very like breaded chicken (home-breaded, not “11 different herbs and spices;” so, saltier but less strongly spiced), and is popular with rural cooks and hungry wayfarers. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:50:47
On what do gods smell like
Night Fang — 22/12/2025 1:36 AM
@Ed Greenwood howdy this is s bit of an odd question but… what do all of the gods smell like?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:43 AM
Personally? Only a few select mortals (such as Elminster, when asked about Mystra or Azuth) can tell you.
What most mortals smell, when an avatar or a manifestation of a deity is close to them, is an clear, minty/menthol-like ozone-like “tang” in the air that overwhelms anything else.
There are exceptions: Moander smells like festering rot (a very powerful rotting compost or landfill reek), Chauntea and Silvanus and Mielikki smell like green growing things, Eldath smells like wet moss and falling clen, clear water, and Malar smells like freshly-spilled blood and animal musk.
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| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:32:27
On theurglass
Zonesylvania — 21/12/2025 9:56 AM
Dear friend @Ed Greenwood , what's the market like for theurglass objects and curios these days in major city states and kingdoms of the Realms, and could you kindly add anything about a maker and/or reseller of the same? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:38 AM
Theurglass is far less known than glassteel, and is far rarer and more expensive, so its market is small.
Some rulers have used it for “sally-ports” in fortresses: if a stronghold or castle is large enough to accommodate a walled paddock in which a sally-force (warband arrayed and prepared to emerge from the fortress in formation) can muster and form up, having a theurglass “gate” with a curtain or screen set up within it to block vision, that can be abruptly “taken away” by magic to allow the force to burst out, can be useful—and Amn, Tethyr, and the Vilhon now feature a handful of such installations, though mostly for bragging rights by the rulers who’ve had them constructed, rather than “everyday-useful military installations.”
At least one mercenary band, the Lawful Blades of Saradush (led by the human male veteran warrior Aldeglond Eraskabro), has experimented with using theurglass weapons and armor that can then be “vanished” so the mercenaries can blend in with “crowds of commoners” to get away from the site of the attack they were hired to make, but the notion hasn’t spread to others.
Folk who can make theurglass don’t tend to advertise their talent, but Volo knows of two: the human finesmith Halvun Ordrel of Athkatla (the man who employs over forty gnomes in his always-bustling smithies, who increasingly make cast-metal vent grates and window frames), and the one-eyed dwarf Yuskul Delvarr of Mirabar.
As for obtaining existing theurglass, the best sources familiar to Volo are: the busy manygoods traders Voebryn Dreer of Waterdeep (a quiet, serious human male best contacted via any of the taverns along The High Road in Trades Ward), Freskral Lancetree of Scornubel (a sly, handsome scoundrel of a rogue with a scar down his face from a wound that turned his right eye milky; ask for him at the tavern known as Truskan’s Talltankard), and Nuldur Zeskarl of Westgate, best reached by asking for “the Old Eye” at the Fairwagon tavern, which moves often from rented location to rented location along the westernmost inner edge of the walled city). Volo knows there are multiple theurglass sources in Saerloon and Selgaunt, but can’t name them as he’s unfamiliar with them. He also believes there’s a source in Nethjet (in Thay), but warns that this must be illicit, and Red Wizards are ever watchful. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:21:26
On why diamonds have an affinity for divination magic
cuddlypooface — 12/12/2025 4:59 AM
Well met @Ed Greenwood, I was wondering why diamonds in the realms have an affinity for divination magic? Are they related to the gods in a historic way? Do the dwarves know and protect this knowledge?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:38 AM
The gods intend divination spells to be expensive to cast, to decrease the frequency with which mortals seek guidance rather than taking responsibility for their own decision-making and actions. So these spells require an expensive material component that the magic consumes. Diamonds were chosen partly for features, and partly for reputation: the diamond must be “flawless” (perfectly cut, and free from inclusions and variable hues, which are seen as imperfections). The reputation of the hoped-for guidance is to be perfect, and provide clarity of sight—matching the features of suitable diamonds.
Note that in a pinch, flawless (free of inclusions and hue variations, and perfectly cut) gemstones of high value can be used in divination castings, in lieu of diamonds. Doing so is simply riskier than “the way we know works.”
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| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:10:27
On the dangers of The Ride
LukasJP — 7/12/2025 4:01 PM
Hey @Ed Greenwood! Curious about the region known as the Ride north of the Moonsea - what is its fauna and flora like, and what are the hallmark 'dangers' of the region? Nearby Thar has its rather insidious creatures, and I have noted that goblinoids and orcs regularly attack towns such as Whitehorn, and that the barbarians are a notable threat as well, but I would love to hear if you have any additional information to share!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:37 AM
“The Ride” gained its name because it’s open, rolling country suitable for mounted travel if one knows what terrain to keep to—not quite tundra, but trees (mainly pines) are few and stunted, long grasses give way to short grasses (heather and gorse-like bushes and ground cover), and there are frequent rock tors and outcrops: places where hillsides have fallen away to expose rock faces (where birds nest on ledges and small, furry ratlike local beasts make their homes in crevices and tiny caverns).
Cold winds are everpresent, and in the past, now-vanished dragons once hunted herds here, and the ogres (“beast-men”) of Thar when the herds were gone, so it’s largely uninhabited land.
Which doesn’t mean it’s empty. Caravans cross it constantly, carrying trade-bars and rough-smelted blocks of metal from the ores dug out of mines to the North, and orc and hobgoblin raiding bands and brigands (mainly outlaws from the Moonsea port cities, but also from the Vast, Sembia, and Cormyr) prey upon them, and when such pickings are lean (meaning: when caravans bolster their guards so attacking them becomes a near-certain death sentence), attack settlements within reach.
The Ride doesn’t lack water, but much of each year it lacks running water; ice and snow must be melted to drink (the result will taste unpleasant due to iron and other dissolved minerals in the water, but will not be unhealthy).
Thar is colder and rockier; the rolling hills and grasses become rarer than in the ride, and the trees rarer still.
Both regions have small but deep ravines where the winds don’t reach and—if there are also springs—trees and plants of all sorts are abundant. These provide the best cover and camping-places. Only idiots (and those seeking to lure foes) light big fires in either land. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 16:57:33
On silver dragon sauce
Zonesylvania — 22/11/2025 10:09 PM
dear saer @Ed Greenwood , what ingredients go into, and how does silver dragon sauce taste like (as served over sausage rolls in Braundlae's Best at Suzail from the cormyr novel)? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:36 AM
Silver dragon sauce is a thick, lumpy, silvery-hued sauce ladled over sausage rolls.
Despite its colour, it’s what cooks call a “white sauce” (a roux of milk, flour, and butter seasoned with salt, sage, crushed dill and mustard seeds, white wine vinegar, powdered almonds, and a pre-prepared, precise “drake mixture” of lime juice, quince juice, crushed acorns, and distillate of silverfin skin; that is, the roasted “skin” or scales of the common silverfin fish).
If the drake mixture is made in the right proportions and simmered until the scales dissolve, it turns a bright, metallic silver, which gives the sauce its colour and its prevalent taste, which is like a gently spicy, savory roasted sharp cheese akin to real-world Stilton, with an aftertaste of mingled dill and almonds. (If this mixture is wrong, no silver results, and the taste is like a nutty cheese sauce; it might be served, but never as “silver dragon sauce.”)
Legends say that in olden times, real silver dragon scales were used to make this sauce, not fish. But then, legends say a lot of things… |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 16:39:49
On mortalborn gods and ageless lifespans
Kim Kimera Kimes — 4/12/2025 2:23 AM
Hey @Ed Greenwood ! In your books you examine what happens to characters such as the Chosen of Mystra who have a very long lifespan beyond their mortal limits. The various characters get a bit of insanity. Now I wondered if this is also true with the once mortalborn gods and any celestial servants born from the souls of a mortal. Do they also suffer from their ageless lifespan?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:35 AM
Oh, yes. They either grow bored and listless, or bored and whimsical (often dangerously so, doing reckless things just to enliven their lives; see Klorr, the Darklord of Klorr—and watch LEGACY OF WORLDS for a confrontation between Elminster and Klorr).
Most gods aren’t sane by mortal standards, simply because they see life, the multiverse, and existence so differently.
Mortalborn who become gods have their minds “stretched” by their new worldview, and some minds break when so stretched. Minds that don’t, and minds that already had enough self-awareness to be able to objectively analyze themselves, tend to patch up any mental instability or depression/despair/ennui troubles by fiercely embracing an ethos or aims to become “the ultimate” god of war, or justice, or whatever: the epitome of whatever portfolios they hold or aspire to hold. They “get busy” to move on from dwelling on their broken state, and often successfully drag themselves up by the bootstraps.
In doing so, some of them become power-mad menaces, such as Bane, Lolth, and Shar (who happened to head in the very worst direction—seeking to spread and sew loss and despair—for keeping oneself stable). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 12:47:33
On Runny Luiren cheese
Juniper Churlgo — 4/12/2025 7:33 AM
Ed, what’s “delightful Runny Luiren” cheese? Is it related to cheeeeese? Churlgo cheeses? Brie? Blue?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:34 AM
Runny Luiren cheese is a soft-rind, brine-ripened cheese that looks very like Brie (and is usually made and sold in “handwheels,” flat circular discs ranging in size from about ten inches across to “three human hands” across, and in thickness from about two adult human fingers (the biggest two on a hand) to the width of an entire hand.
In consistency and colour, Runny Luiren also resembles Brie, but imagine Brie that’s spiced with cumin, pepper, and ginger, and already had a subtle “mushroom” taste before spices were added to the mix.
The result tastes almost like a very mild curry. It has a strong smell, but it’s not “stinky cheese” like Limburger. Most halflings love it when they can get it (which isn’t easy, the farther one gets from Luiren, with the exception of the ports of Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, Athkatla, Zazesspur, and along the Tashalar), and although it’s an acquired taste, it’s a taste that many humans and elves have acquired, down the years. To almost all drow, it’s a mouth delight that they rave about, nigh-foodgasm over, and will do almost anything to taste more of. (Can’t afford certain drow professionals in Baldur’s Gate? Offer them a palm-sized piece of Runny Luiren, and that will be more than payment enough.)
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| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 12:08:22
On cheese that blends with herbs
Zonesylvania — 23/10/2025 4:22 AM
Good saer @Ed Greenwood , are there any cheeses in the Realms that use blends of herbs in their manufacture? Or any cheese with spices other than Calishite Green? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:33 AM
There are many, of both sorts. In fact, most Faerûnian cheeses use particular herbs, or two to three herbs in combination, in their making. Stronger-flavoured spiced cheeses are rarer, but they exist, from Runny Luiren to Stronkh (from Ashanath) to Ualacontur (“Oo-AL-ah-kaun-turr” from Murghôm). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 11:35:32
On merchants using bags of holding
BlissfulSavant — 3/12/2025 4:49 AM
Hello Ed. Hope you are doing well
Per base 5e, the cost of a bag of holding tends to be around 500 gp. What stops merchants from using as many bags of holding as they can to maximize returns on long voyages, esp. considering that the bags would greatly reduce the weight of the cargo, this freeing up room for security and crew. Or, say, hiring a decently competent caster to teleport between two teleportation circles, carrying multiple bags of holding on their person laden with jewels and spices
I also wonder if specialized bags of holding exist for various purposes, e.g. "password protected" / user-imprinted bags that only open for the right person
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 2:53 AM
There’s a well-known peril to concentrating multiple bags of holding in a small area: there’s a surprisingly strong chance of opening a tiny, temporary planar rift that can suck the bags, and anyone holding them or very nearby, through the rift.
There’s also the possibility of attracting a Bagman (a notorious danger of Ravenloft) to inhabit one of the bags, and devour or teleport to unknown other locations, anything inside that bag.
An even stronger possibility is: attracting the attention of an Astral Dreadnaught if in the Astral Plane, and attracting the attention of hags seeking to modify the bags of holding for their own soul-storage uses, who come to seize the bags in coven strength.
Zonesylvania — 24/12/2025 4:27 AM
around how many bags in a small area would be enough to cause this?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:28 AM
Three, if ambient conditions are bad. Four or five, if they're good.
Moon On The Horizon Etherdell — 24/12/2025 1:34 PM
Does that also include similar but different items such as a Heward's Handy Haversacks? For example, if conditions were bad but a party only had two bags of holding, but one member also has a Heward's Handy Haversack or a portable hole, would that be enough to attract danger?
Ed Greenwood — 25/12/2025 2:53 AM
Oh, yes. Handy Haversacks are themselves SLIGHTLY more secure than Bags of Holding, one of each compared, but for purposes of rifts and general shenanigans, portable holes, Heward's, and Bags of Holding are all "perils if clustered."
Zonesylvania — 25/12/2025 4:56 AM
Are there or were there ways to ward extradimensional containers that allowed use of them en masse? Did any of the older magical empires and civilizations have such means?
Ed Greenwood — 25/12/2025 5:31 AM
No. Like battery technology in our real world, such things were much talked about and experimented towards, but not achieved. What the Netherese and the olden-times elves and Imaskari managed were various (hazardous) ways of "chaining" a "wild" rift into a gate/portal that they had some measure of control over. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 10:54:49
On communal sleeping in the Realms
mAc Chaos — 11/12/2025 6:31 PM
Hi @Ed Greenwood! Do people in the Realms use communal sleeping, or are they more modern in their sleeping habits and all have their own private beds and bedoroms? Or is that more of a rich person thing?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 2:42 AM
Sleeping habits in the Realms vary widely depending on culture, locale, climate, and current situation (camping out, traveling, or at home).
In general, inns provide communal bedrooms (often the attic of the building) to the lowest-paying/overflow=latecomers (with the hayloft of the stables being the overflow for the attic, though the likelihood of fires makes innkeepers reluctant to use these lofts for this purpose), and if taverns offer overnight sleeping at all, beyond drunks in the taproom who can’t be moved, it’s communal.
For everyone else traveling, one pays for the security of a room with a door that can be locked, bolted, and/or barred; such rooms may be small, but it’s expected that two people (plus, perhaps, children ) can share them, and they will be fitted with two beds, likely rope-and-straw mattress raised platforms of about what we would call “queen-sized”). The custom is to charge a base room rate for two people, plus so much more “per head” for anyone else crammed in.
Household sleeping habits vary widely.
The wealthy and nobility always have a private bedchamber for the head of the house that’s reached through a servants’ “ready room” that has a servants’ bedchamber opening off of it. Similar arrangements will exist for dowagers and other important family members. A step down (lesser family members and senior servants such as chatelaines, stewards, and castellans) will be private bedchambers with adjoining jakes and robing rooms. The next step down will be shared-by-two-servants bedchambers (with communal, shared with several such rooms jakes and robing rooms), and the step below that is shared sleeping dormitories for the lowliest servants, and for visiting servants who won’t be sleeping handy to those they serve.
A farmer may have the entire family sleeping in the same room, but with curtained-off areas for couples.
And just about anything in between can be found. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 10:28:06
On spear bows in the Realms
returnip — 12/12/2025 11:18 PM
Hello Ed. Hope you are well. Today I learned that spear bows (in effect a bow with a spear tip fitted to one end) were a thing historically in both Scandinavia, Japan and North America. Are spear bows used in the realms, and if so by whom?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 2:30 AM
In the Realms, spear bows are weapons used by many non-military archers (for example, wilderland hunters), so the archer has a means of defense if they miss, or if their arrow doesn’t bring down a target that is now angrily charging at the archer. Wild boar, for instance, charge and gore whether hit or not, and having a spear without having to fumble for it, or carry and plant it (ruining stealth) whenever one wants to loose an arrow, can be crucial to survival. (Organized military forces—not including mercenaries—avoid spear bows because of the increased likelihood of “injuring a friendly” when operating in groups, when an outfitted/“uniformed” archer will be carrying multiple weapons.) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 10:24:15
On magic from a devil pact
mAc Chaos — 18/12/2025 5:19 PM
Hi @Ed Greenwood A question about Hell. When a devil makes a pact with a supplicant and grants it power, like say magic, is that magic like a cleric, where the god is providing it like a pipeline, or is it more like the devil gave them a gift and now it's in control of the receiver?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 2:18 AM
In almost all cases, it’s like clerical situations: the devil as patron provides it like a pipeline, and may fall silent (provide nothing), bestow something other than what’s asked for, or “twist” what the supplicant thinks they’re getting into a variant or even something else.
For example, they think they’re getting a Flame Strike they can precisely control the “ground zero” of (center of the cylindrical column of flame), but what they unleash is instead a circular or oval “net” of flame, 10 feet high and of 40 radius rather than vice versa. Or, they think they’re hurling a Flame Strike but instead get a 40-foot-square area effect Evard’s Black Tentacles.
Such “twists” are almost always the result of the devil’s annoyance or anger at the supplicant’s behaviour or competence, but sometimes are sheer mischief or an attempt to aid a supplicant with something more effective in the situation.
mAc Chaos — 24/12/2025 2:20 AM
Thank you! So there isn't a case where a former pactee could take their devil bestowed power and fight their patron? The patron can just turn it off?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 2:28 AM
That's right: they can just sever the bestowal connection (any not-yet-used spells/powers will be retained by the supplicant, and could be used against the former patron). However, just as with gods slyly sidling in to bestow spells in answer to prayers to other deities, ANOTHER rival devil might step in to power the supplicant temporarily, to harm or irk the rival devil, or just out of mischief (despite the lawful nature of devils, there's a strong streak of "shake up authority" mischief in all devils). |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 10:20:03
On Spellfire card with Carrie Bebris
Juniper Churlgo — 22/12/2025 12:05 AM
Ed, in this Spellfire card image, who is the character played by Carrie Bebris and what is the book she is casting read languages on?
<https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1072136642162343986/1452331173781966898/589.png?ex=6953f84e&is=6952a6ce&hm=d6b60085a138508bb97e4bd4408dc84c7c025c926b56ac91e119678c63eb9532&>
Ed Greenwood — 22/12/2025 1:10 AM
A fun little game played by TSR staffers at bestowing joke names, identities, and activities to each other’s Spellfire card portraits resulted in many answers to your question. The one of mine I like best for Realmslore purposes is: Carrie is portraying Ardranatha Sheiltalah, a young lady of Zazesspur who relocated to Candlekeep to become an Avowed. At the time of this image, she’s a novice, and is learning the proper careful and respectful handling of tomes by means of a “practice” book, a traveling spell workbook (containing notes on the results of experimentations to craft new spells, and various versions of those spells) penned by Reltar Yannatranter, a minor mage of Rauthil (in Mulhorand) who assumed various new names and identities as he fled repeated assassination attempts (Red Wizards were sent out to “prune” Thay’s traditional rivals of wizards, early in Szass Tam’s reign).
Yannatranter headed west, ending up in Athkatla in Amn until Red Wizards struck at him there, whereupon he disappeared in rural Tethyr and hasn’t been identified since. He was last known to be using the name Albaerus Phondryn, to be working as a scroll and book maker (blank surfaces for purchasers to write upon), and to have mastered many shapeshifting spells.
For her part, Ardranatha Sheiltalah is now a quiet, learned and respected Avowed, not a senior monk but well on the way to becoming one. Her specialties are dragontaming magics and the history of trade flows in the Vilhon Reach. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 09:09:14
On Implitur's climate in the Ed's Realms
Marco Volo — 21/12/2025 4:13 PM
Hi @Ed Greenwood ! Just a quick question: in your original Realms, how is it climate wise to live in Impiltur with the Sea of Fallen Stars south and east, mountains west and the Great Glacier north? What is Impiltur climate in your Realms? Any help appreciated.
Ed Greenwood — 22/12/2025 12:52 AM
I have always seen Impiltur as temperate climate of about the same weather and temperature ranges as real-world Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, and upstate (northern) New York (note: over my 60-odd years, things have gotten markedly milder, with shorter winters and lighter snowfalls; I'm aiming "in the middle" of this, in my mind). The local microclimate is damp (and the land itself well-watered, with many creeks, streams, ponds, and small lakes) but not oppressive because breezes blow constantly; night rains and morning fogs are frequent. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 08:54:50
On Zelraun Roaringhorn in the Dessarin and what he is up to nowadays
Reedhalloran Duskfellow — 25/6/2025 2:03 PM
Dear Saer @Ed Greenwood I've noted that the Waterdhavian noble Zelraun Roaringhorn has shown up in a few adventures including OotA, CoS and curiously on the cover of Princes of the Apocalypse. But the Harper is not mentioned at all the book except by name on the title credit. Since you were a designer on that adventure I was wondering if you had any insight into his presence in the Dessarin and/or what he might be up to nowadays.
Ed Greenwood — 19/12/2025 2:19 PM
Zelraun is a handsome man and a very successful diplomat (so, superb actor) as well as an accomplished spy; he has a knack for noticing and precisely remembering all sorts of details without ever seeming to look, let alone pry. Although he’s had a lifelong love of travel and adventure, he’s “now” (that is, in 1501 DR) retired to raising a family: three very independent-minded, bold “handfuls” of daughters and a younger son.
He’s doing this in the remote castle of Spellgard, where he settled down with his bride Rueahkla Telressen (a remarkably tall, black-haired, thoughtful-looking woman of silent grace and huge dark blue eyes, who is a superb singer and mimic, and a hf CG Bard16; a sometime adventurer and the granddaughter of the Harper Sharanralee Crownstar) with the full permission of Lady Saharel (who appears to them from time to time, usually to one of the three daughters when they are alone and want to talk something over or decide something).
The daughters are Qelqotha Nune (born 1487 DR); Kahadralee Tashahl (born 1488 DR); and Zeeamvea Irindra (born 1490 DR).
Qelqotha hates her name, and prefers to be known as “Shamra,” her mother’s childhood nickname (when her siblings want to goad or rebuke her, they call her “Kel”). She’s a quiet, inquisitive “deep thinker” who’s becoming increasingly restless to find out more about Toril (ideally by travel and seeing it all for herself, but she’ll settle for access to good sages and a superb library—for now). Beneath her quiet manner is a stubborn will of iron and a surprising amount of determination, but she’s practical, never a “hurl herself at a stone wall” sort. She looks like a thinner, shorter, less buxom version of her mother, and is currently a hf CG Ftr1.
Kahadralee is an agile, endlessly energetic “tomboy” who likes to climb, sword-fence with her father, dance (formal court dances) with her mother, and ride (horses and ponies; she’s skilled at leaping up into their saddles, and leaping safely and accurately from their saddles). She likes weapons and armor, climbing cliffs, and (when parental backs are turned) exploring caves and ruins. She’s currently a hf CG Rogue1.
Zeeamvea is a tiny, beautiful “elegant doll” girly girl, and has the Gift. She has a fierce determination underneath an “see my big, big eyes? I’m such a needy, sad child; won’t you let me do what I want to, so I can be happy?” act that no longer fools her family in the slightest. She’s currently a hf CG Sor1 who’s managed a handful of wild magical effects, but no controlled, precise spells yet.
The son is Raunavel (an old family name among the Roaringhorns), born 1492 DR, and is a handsome, almost beautiful brown-haired boy who’s a very accomplished actor and a fair mimic. He still devotes his waking hours to play, but is increasingly curious about the natural world around him, and exploring it. He’s currently a hm NG Ftr1, but that’s very much a “placeholder” class; he hasn’t chosen his approach to the world yet.
As to what Zelraun was doing in the Dessarin at the time of Princes Of The Apocalypse: he was spying on the four elemental cults to see if they had tangible connections to the Zhentarim, any Szass Tam-loyal or maverick Red Wizards of Thay, the Arcane Brotherhood, or the Cult of the Dragon. That is: were weapons, mercenaries, money, or anything else flowing between the cults and any of these sinister organizations in any substantive way, meaning they might swiftly become a big problem? (The answer, so far as he could ascertain at the time, was no.) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 08:47:42
On gods appearing in their true form without any negative things happening to mortals
Yukonau — 25/6/2025 6:49 PM
Can gods appear in their true form to Mortals without any negative things happening to the mortal?
Ed Greenwood — 19/12/2025 1:59 PM
Yes, if they want not to do harm to the mortal (not terrify or awe them). If, however, they tell others about meeting the god, or there were witnesses who talk, other mortals may do negative things to that mortal. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 08:19:31
On dwelves different from other half-dwarves
Kokopelli — 9/7/2025 5:52 AM
Friend @Ed Greenwood, I know that Dwarves Deep says that half-dwarves are just dwarves, regardless of the non-dwarven parent. But we've also had multiple references to dwelves, suggesting that there is a difference between half-dwarves with an elven parent and half-dwarves with parents of other races. So was there more to dwelves than there was to other half-dwarves, or did dwelves simply (and incorrectly) consider themselves different? On a related note, if dwelves are different, does it matter which parent is the dwarf? (I ask because I know some real-world crossbreeds can be different based on what critter is the mother; like ligers and tigons)
Ed Greenwood — 19/12/2025 1:58 PM
“Dwelves” exists as an (unofficial) term because some dwarves who had one elven parent inherit some elven genes that manifest in their offspring or later descendants as elven “wild talents” for magic, and elven traits linked to forests and green growing things that “just dwarves” very, very seldom have. Dwelves who exhibit such talents and traits are very rare, but are more likely to happen when they’ve resulted from a dwarf father and elf mother. The specific powers and abilities of a dwelve aren’t different depending on which species is which parent, though. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 29 Dec 2025 : 18:12:14
On the Knights of Mystic Fire
Razzelmire — 14/12/2025 10:47 PM
Dear @Ed Greenwood; I have questions concerning the Knights of Mystic Fire. What more information can be given? Was quite surprised at how little there is currently especially for an order devoted to Mystra.
What are their goals and missions like? Who are their leaders? Who else is important in the order? Where are their headquarters? What locations are other branches of the order founded in? What's their ranking system among members? How far is their reach in Toril? And since it's an order of Paladins (or Paladin/Wizards), is it only Paladins in the order or are other professions allowed to be members?
(Commoners, Fighters, Sorcerers, non-paladin Wizards, Warlocks etc.?) And if any secrets can be told or teased about it as well?
Thank you for your time in answering our questions as best you can.
Ed Greenwood — 19/12/2025 1:56 PM
There are some old NDAs around this topic, as There Were Plans. And there may be half-written lore files from the TSR days that I haven’t seen. However, I can share some of what I’ve written and compiled:
All Knights of the Mystic Fire are paladins. Their missions are whatever Mystra (usually speaking through one of her servitors, such as one of her Chosen or Voices in the Weave such as Magisters who live on in this manner, rather than directly; when she does want to communicate directly with individual Knights, dream-visions is her usual way of doing so) assigns them to do, which is either temple guard or bodyguard (for Mystran clergy or individuals of all sorts who are important to the goddess for any reason; though this is rare, such an individual can be a commoner or secular ruler who lacks the Gift and doesn’t even regularly venerate Mystra).
The Knights don’t have a headquarters, but do have arsenals (fortresses crammed with weapons and supplies) and chapter houses (rest and recuperation and training facilities) across Toril, usually located “next door to” a temple of Mystra (and/or Azuth). Their reach (defined as where they will go, on duty bound) is all of Toril. Where they are “present or nearby, all the time” tends to be temperate zones of Toril, most heavily in Faerûn.
Over the years, Mystra has tended to use the Knights as either strike forces or deterrence “muscle” when someone or some organization has decided to run roughshod over “doddering old wizards who can’t swing a sword.” For example, when the Zhents start to use Zhentilar warriors to bully or assassinate, Knights show up to remedy the balance, usually by challenging and slaying until the Zhents either withdraw and rethink such tactics—or are all dead, with spells cast (for Knights of this order are furnished with such spells) to prevent any of them rising as undead.
Mystra doesn’t believe in clear-cut military ranks or that sort of authority, so Knights are ranked (in ascending order) thus:
Squire (novice); Knight; Star Knight (one star is lowest, seven is highest, stars being individually awarded for service, so it’s a measure of achievement); Mantled Knight (roughly akin to a general), and Marshal (nominal head of the order, who oversees discipline, trials of Knights, and all disputes between Knights and Mystran clergy). There are usually about 500 Knights at any one time, around 300 squires, between 30 and 40 Mantled Knights, one Marshal, and one to three Envoys (of the Marshal).
Knights usually operate in small strike forces or mission “rides,” with the most senior Star Knight as the leader unless another ride/force member has more local experience/specific expertise. This is what I meant about “that sort of authority;” in this order, a senior Knight willk often willingly defer to a junior Knight if they’re better suited to command in a specific locale, or mission.
We’re getting to the end of what I can reveal about the order, other than to say that the never-officially-mentioned but vital role they serve is as spies (including on Mystran clergy, seeking signs of corruption or magical mania [minds blasted or fading due to magical use/exposure/misuse, particularly in the immediate wake of the Spellplague]) and go-betweens (message and errand- and small-item- runners) between temples and shrines of Mystra, and other Mystran spies (such as friendly sages, innkeepers, and crafters).
If a problem—such as profaning—is reported about a shrine or temple of Mystra, the investigators showing up to find out what happened are often a sizeable number of Knights plus a few powerful Mystran clergy and wizards.
I can share four Star Knights from my files, and two Mantled Knights. (The current Marshal is a human female, by the way.)
Star Knights: Halatharr Tulbright (hm Pal14; a laconic, scarred “old trusty blade”); Rehlovyr Ambrand (hm Pal15; a notorious joker and flirt; a veteran of whom many tales are told); Skelarra Hightuth (hf Pal 12; a quiet, precise, rather prim stickler for details and discipline); and Imbrelra Oulim (hf Pal 16; a calm, capable, unreadable veteran).
Mantled Knights: Tethra Varandrar (hf Pal 19; an easygoing, patient commander who forgets nothing at all, no matter how small) and Garlgus Bolingrake (halfling male Pal 20; known for his sarcasm, his quips, and his agility). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 29 Dec 2025 : 18:04:18
On shops along Moonway North in Silverymoon
GAMEtatron — 19/12/2025 2:03 AM
Hi Ed, welcome back! #128578;
Looking at the Moonway North, going from The Moonbridge in Silverymoon, up to Many Cats Lane. this street seems to be the main street south to north in Northward. But despite Moonway North being prime real estate for shops with lots of foot and wagon traffic, no shops are marked here. Is this because they are all residential buildings, or are there shops not marked on the map?
Ed Greenwood — 19/12/2025 1:48 PM
There are shops not marked on the map, on the ground floors and in the cellars of buildings that are residential above. I'll hunt around for my lore notes to tell you what a few of those shops are, but it may take a while to find them... |
| questing gm |
Posted - 15 Dec 2025 : 16:18:38
On which deity controls the domain of Alchemy
The God of Alchemy Heydan Seegil —8/12/2025 10:46 PM
@Ed Greenwood you're killing me! No, Realms Lore newsletters on #8288;#127805;#65073;maztica or Alchemy?! #128557;
Seriously though, which deity controls the domain of Alchemy? The way I see it:
Gond, would control mundane Alchemy like Alchemist Fire, Tanglefoot Bags, and Perfumes etc.
Mystra, would control potions which would reproduce spells like a Potion of Climbing or Potion or Fire Breath etc.
Sylvanus or Meliekki (sp?), would control healing potions and anti-toxins as these are made with a Herbalism kit.
Tolona, would control Poisons becasue these require a poisoner kit.
Not only does Alchemy span the mundane and none mundane but it also requires several different tools sets or proficiencies. We've also lost a ton of potions as we only have 55 in 5e/5.5e counting oils, powders, and salves in 2e there were 78 and in 3e/3.5e there were over 115 not counting powders, salves, and oils.
I have been blaming Tasha since she wants to make every thing about Alchemy into a lame spell: Tasha's Caustic Blast, would have been better as a potion. Tasha's Bubbling Cauldron, would have been a better potion. You know she is probably the worst alchemist I can think of.... Anyway, I think the great loss of Alchemical knowledge we're seeing in the Realms is due to lacking a deity to oversee the Domain.
Is this correct or is there a better explanation?
Ed Greenwood — 9/12/2025 6:20 AM
Maztica is so heavily NDAed that I'm waiting on it. There were plans... As for Alchemy, no deity controls it. As you've correctly pointed out, many deities want a piece of alchemy. Portfolios aren't formal things (no matter how much mortal priesthoods want to claim they are), they're facets of mortal life that deities try to influence and are usually fighting other deities constantly over. Divine matters are like human relationships: they're never static. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 15 Dec 2025 : 15:56:52
On Christmas gift for Ed and Ivan
Allan S (The Undead Historian) — 8/12/2025 4:46 AM
@Ed Greenwood Hey Ed! If we here in the community could gift you and Ivan something for Christmas, what would it be?
Ed Greenwood — 8/12/2025 3:04 PM
More time and sleep for both of us. Our lives are crazy busy, and have been for months.
returnip — 8/12/2025 7:46 PM
You're taking a proper holiday break now though, right?
Ed Greenwood — 9/12/2025 6:16 AM
I'm going to Cambridge to film more Legacy of Worlds liveplays with Tommy Gofton, Devin Wilson, Keith Baker, Elisa Teague, and more folks, as we try to escape Ravenloft...and get some Fate Of The Norns design writing done, and more for the Daring and Dread campaign setting, and, yes, more Realmslore. I WILL enjoy some holiday get-togethers. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 15 Dec 2025 : 15:24:58
On how long would a dragon's lair terraform its surroundings
Spellslamzer — 7/12/2025 3:46 AM
Good day, @Ed Greenwood. If I am understanding correctly, a dragon's magic seeps into the land around it's lair, creating it's regional effects but also shaping the surrounding area into a dragon's preferred environment. Effectively allowing them to essentially terraform the geography if they can't lair in their natural habitat (e.g if a white dragon for whatever reason decided to lair in the middle of a desert, the part of the desert immediately surrounding the lair would become extremely cold and begin to resemble the dragon's preferred tundra terrain). If I am correct, how long would it take for such a dramatic transformation as my example to take place? And also, gem dragons cause an unusual amount of their respective gems to form around their lairs. How much faster would it take for the magic to create them, compared to the natural gem forming processes?
Ed Greenwood — 7/12/2025 8:34 AM
Temperature changes can be noticeable in a tenday, and really take hold after a month or so. Lasting moisture alterations (beyond simple condensation) take 3-4 months, and physical alterations to the geography take about 8 months if they’re drastic; shifts in plants and trees flourishing in whatever the dragon’s new desired conditions are take months unless the dragon actively “seeds” by transplanting and harvesting and then bringing seeds.
Natural gem formation processes take heat, pressure, and time; often decades. A gem dragon’s deliberate will can cut this to as little as 2 years; its casual, subconscious, “automatic” gem forming will not be noticeable until 4-6 years have passed.
All of what I’ve said here assumes no mythals or opposed magic is present; if other magic is at work, all times are increased. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Dec 2025 : 16:06:53
On Ed writing a setting based on the wild west with six shooters
Night Fang — 2/12/2025 12:24 AM
@Ed Greenwood Howdy Ed! I was curious if you have ever written a setting or universe based on the wild west with six shooters and everything?
Ed Greenwood — 3/12/2025 2:51 AM
I've written for Boot Hill, Sixguns & Sorcery, and Deadlands down the years, and a GenCon D&D adventure in which a PC party from the Realms blundered through a gate into a Wild West-like setting, but I haven't crafted a Wild West setting of my own, no. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Dec 2025 : 16:02:28
On preventing the oversaturation of magic items
Ninjanurse29 — 1/12/2025 9:08 AM
@Ed Greenwood with magic users ability to create magical items what prevents an oversaturation of magical wares for sale causing economic impacts (good and bad) for the nations of Faerûn?
Ed Greenwood — 2/12/2025 12:10 AM
There's never been an oversaturation of magical wares for sale, because making magic items is expensive, time-consuming, and if done anywhere at all public makes the maker a target for kidnappers and local rulers wanting to "lock up" a personal supply of magic. Little things like sleeping and eating (daily life) consume time, and most wizards who have time enough prefer to spend it on perfecting new (or new to them) spells, to protect themselves. The way the game is written makes us think magic items are plentiful, but that's not the case. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Dec 2025 : 16:00:13
On melting down foreign currencies
returnip — 30/11/2025 8:53 PM
Hello again Ed! In the parts of Faerûn that have their own currency, is it common to melt down foreign currency and remint it as your own currency? The reason I'm asking is that in large parts of Cormyr you're required to exchange your currency for the local currency so I was curious as to what they do with the foreign currency that they collect.
Ed Greenwood — 2/12/2025 12:05 AM
They don't "collect" outland currency, they spend it. As in, it's in general circulation (which is why almost all coins across Toril have an inherent metal value: gold pieces are fairly pure gold, and so on). Melting down coins to make new ones is highly frowned upon by "just plain folks" everywhere, so no, if someone accepts a coin from afar, they spend it, not saving it (except as a memento of someone they love or think is famous that they got it from).
returnip — 2/12/2025 12:11 AM
Why does Cormyr require you to exchange your foreign currency for domestic currency then?
Ed Greenwood — 2/12/2025 12:14 AM
It's a rule deriving from the War Wizards being overly suspicious of Zhentarim (and, in their minds, later on Red Wizards and others) using enspelled coins as ways of importing and transporting magical mischief around the realms. Which was far more of an "urban legend" (our term, not FR) than fact, on the ground, but it was a real fear at one time. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 24 Nov 2025 : 13:58:36
On the Phylunds in 1501 DR
Reedhalloran Duskfellow — 7/11/2025 11:44 PM
Dearest @Ed Greenwood any update on the Phylunds in 1501 DR?
Ed Greenwood — 20/11/2025 5:50 AM
What’s left of House Phylund in 1501 DR are the two youngest sons of Urtos II and Lythis, and their spouses and descendants:
The eldest son, now patriarch of the house, is Garvros, a big brute of a man, coarse and “roaring” of voice and manner. He was once described by a neighbour as a “swaggering lion” of a man. Garvros loves brawling, isn’t afraid to wrestle with beasts, and is aggressive; he loves a fight. He considers “beasts” better for the world than people, as they are cunning but not evil schemers (like his younger brother and far too many fellow nobles he must deal with). Once a carefree brawler ruled by his fleeting rages and joys, he’s now elderly and increasingly unable to continue his formerly active lifestyle. He’s down to three mistresses, all of them gentle and shy, and two of them almost as old as he is. He’s never married and has produced no heirs. Spies hired by his younger brother say he has a secret passion for a certain (male) guildmaster.
The younger son is the drawling schemer Relavoar, a now-aging-past middling years former rake who is thoroughly evil and unrepentant about it. (In looks, height, voice and manner, he’s very like Lord Cutler Beckett from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.) If he was half as clever as he thinks he is, he’d be a real threat to the Lords of Waterdeep and any other ruler in Faerûn he took an interest in.
Relavoar has had many lovers down the years and currently maintains four mistresses. He recently took a wife from one of the wealthier Athkatlan families, the short, petite, graceful Aszmarra Velrouthar, who is a superb actress and cunning social tactician. She can be cuttingly icy when she wants to be, but most of the time sunnily steers and manipulates everyone around her—even Relavoar, who knows quite well what she’s doing but humors her because he loves her. Aszmarra knows all about his mistresses, and has secretly—that is, her husband doesn’t know about it—arranged with two of them, Chelarra Vrelhand and Elvaerae Wynter, to bear sons and heirs for Relavoar (in return for sufficiently large payments of coin that they can retire and live off this wealth). Her plan is that the sons be presented to the wider world as her own, and the two mistresses then conveniently “vanished” (quietly murdered in the wilderlands). Aszmarra’s problem is that she’s barren, and knows it, not that she wants to be evil—but she takes what she sees as her “duty” very seriously. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 18 Nov 2025 : 15:50:31
On Damascus forging on adamantine
Ed Greenwood — 13/11/2025 12:41 PM
I was asked this Realmslore question: My character would like to craft a weapon as a gift for his deity through the campaign. Is it possible to perform a Damascus forging process with Mithril?
Could other metals like Adamantine be used in this process?
And my response is.... Adamantine is the flexible/durable alloy made from the brittle, super-hard pure metal adamant (derived from the ore adamantite). Neither adamant, in any of its forms, or mithril can serve well in the Damascus forging process/pattern welding/layering and hammering; the extensive reworking involved destroys both adamantine and mithril. On the other hand, both adamantine and mithril can be cast, and “worked thrice,” and dwarves who know how can make adamantine and mithril items have edges that can be hammered and ground repeatedly to keep them sharp and true. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 18 Nov 2025 : 11:38:39
On detailed Ironfang Keep
Ed Greenwood — 13/11/2025 12:41 PM
I was asked: Have you (or anyone else) ever detailed/mapped out Ironfang Keep? ...and my reply is: No, because TSR very early on (1986) declared it off-limits, for use in a third-party licensed computer game. Which so far as I know either never happened, or used Ironfang not at all, or only peripherally. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 18 Nov 2025 : 09:17:51
On vanilla cordial or liquers
Zonesylvania — 18/7/2025 10:33 PM
Good saer @Ed Greenwood , are there any liqueurs or cordials in the Realms that have vanilla as a primary flavoring or somehow taste like it? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 13/11/2025 12:30 PM
Most Faerûnians know the taste of vanilla through drinking Athkatlan clarry, a ruby-red wine made in Athkatla, the capital of Amn. It’s a fortified, spiced wine in which sweet (thanks to honey) vanilla is the predominant flavor.
However, there’s also a cordial enjoyed in Tashluta (and throughout the Tashalar, by those aspiring to the customs of Tashluta) as an after-supper “delight,” in very small quantities (usually served in the equivalent of what we in the modern real world would call “shot glasses”). It is VERY sweet, vanilla-flavored, and known as “unicorn tears” (though this is a fanciful name; it has nothing at all to do with unicorns, and is simply a cordial someone concocted in the 1200s DR that caught on, locally).
And finally, some families in Chessenta, back in the 1100s DR, made and enjoyed olortharr, a heavy, oily red liqueur that is more peppery than sweet, but has a vanilla-like “undertaste.” It’s derived from secret family recipes, and is still made today all over Faerûn (wherever descendants of those Chessentans relocated to), but is an acquired taste. And has no vanilla in it at all, just a taste akin to vanilla derived from its mixture. |
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