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TBeholder
Great Reader
2513 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Aug 2025 : 19:22:55
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quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On dualism in AD&D 2nd edition
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1953887003264921811
Aug 9, 2025
@AstralMangudai
Hey @TheEdVerse how does dualism work in aD&D 2e mechanics? We know elves are barred from most of specialist wizard classes. Is dualism a kit or W/W multiclass or a special class like Alunakkar, Dijakkar, Encikkar, Nelluonkkar? Would they need requirements of both base classes?
@TheEdVerse
As a never-TSR-staffer, I can't give you any "official" rules answers, but I did design a lot of 2e via Realms products, and I handle it thus: most players ran generalist all-in wizards.
Anyone can dual class, but yes, must meet requirements of both base classes. #realmslore
Dual classes
So, any bets?
- The elven dualist was a curious experiment, but did not go anywhere and was quite forgettable.
- Alas, "memoria fractalia est".
- These answers are typed and sometimes "helpfully" given by a press-secretary who knows FR as deep as the blurbs and "cannot into" search engines. |
People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 29 Aug 2025 : 11:08:20
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On order of clerics or a group that would respond to disasters like the salvation army or red cross
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1959663308874658167
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1962627743301931478
Aug 25, 2025
@armrdporcupine
@TheEdVerse sorry to bother you, however since you are the learned wizard perhaps you know, in the d&d universe is there an order of clerics or a group that would respond to disasters like the salvation army or red cross would do in our world?
@TheEdVerse
In the Realms, temples of every faith will respond with aid to local disasters.
Priests of Tempus follow armies on the march to tend wounded combatants and harmed civilians.
The priests of Ilmater rush everywhere, a la the Red Cross, to deliver humanitarian aid.
@armrdporcupine
How well do you think Ilmater would work with this cleric domain?
<https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GzmuXsCb0AAm4EY?format=jpg&name=large>
@TheEdVerse
Very well. :}
As long as the feast and abundant food is for other people, not the cleric themselves (Ilmater embraces personal suffering).
-Edited on 9/9/2025 to add new tweets |
Edited by - questing gm on 09 Sep 2025 10:55:43 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 29 Aug 2025 : 11:30:03
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On Lyonsbane Keep's location
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1959788457036849333
Aug 25, 2025
@RadicalRollo
Hi @TheEdVerse, do you know roughly where Lyonsbane Keep, the long since abandoned keep where Kelemvor's clan once resided, is located? I've found forums asking about it since 2004, but no one's ever gotten an answer. Thanks in advance!
@TheEdVerse
Yes. It stood in westernmost Chessenta, due south of the southern end of the Akanapeaks, in a verdant valley within sight of the river that drains from them into the Akanamere.
Today, Lyonsbane Keep no longer exists, as it was shattered in warfare and rebuilt several times, but ultimately its stones were “robbed” from its site to make many new stone buildings.
The trouble is that the map of Chessenta changed constantly throughout the 1200s and 1300s DR, as petty baronies and self-styled dukedoms rose and fell. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2025 : 11:04:13
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On traveling by land from Daggerford to Waterdeep during the month of Hammer
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1964152987430883730
Sep 6, 2025
@rwgs76
Dear @TheEdVerse, given the harsh Winters in the Sword Coast, would it be possible to travel by land from Daggerford to Waterdeep during the month of Hammer? Is the Trade Way open during Hammer, or the snow prevents any travel between them? Thanks in advance.
@TheEdVerse
In most winters, large armed parties (because of wolves) can almost always make this trip trudging on snowshoes. What can't happen is caravan travel: i.e. bringing lots of stuff. Bringing personal gear is done by each person towing the equivalent of a loaded toboggan. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 09 Sep 2025 : 11:23:54
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On Manshoon as Chosen of Mystra
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1964476466168811596
Sep 7, 2025
@DecryptedTech
@TheEdVerse Something I have always wondered. How does Manshoon (and his seemingly endless supply of clones) remain a chosen of Mystra? How does each clone keep that, especially the one that became a Vampire?
@TheEdVerse
He's not a Chosen. He rejected Mystra (see the relevant scenes in my Sage of Shadowdale trilogy). He is an (unwitting and unwilling) Weave anchor. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 05 Oct 2025 : 02:24:03
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On native tropical fruits in Baldur's Gate
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1967741443151454654 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1967795729344368661
Sep 16, 2025
@ItalianKarsus
@mikemearls Hello, Mr. Mearls! I know you're not Sage Advice any more, but might as well try - any chance you remember the question to this answer?
quote:
@TheEdVerse
@nlghty @DPennyway @mikemearls The monks grow some tropical fruits in building-south-wall-shed giant growing frames they call "warmbreaths."
@TheEdVerse
This was a question from Larian designers regarding the availability of locally-grown fruit in Baldur's Gate (for lore, as BG3 was being designed). #realmslore
quote:
Critical #Dragonspear lore question: are pears native to the Sword Coast? @mikemearls
— Dee Pennyway (@DPennyway) September 1, 2015
@DPennyway that's a great question for @TheEdVerse
— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) September 1, 2015
@mikemearls @DPennyway Hi! Pears are native to the Lake of Steam and Border Kingdoms areas, but were long ago farmed into Tethyr. Wine expt.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 1, 2015
@TheEdVerse @mikemearls That was very enlightening. Thanks, Ed!
— Dee Pennyway (@DPennyway) September 1, 2015
@DPennyway @mikemearls A pleasure! Pears don't travel well, so exported as pear wine. Most pears grown inland in Tethyr; vineyards seaside.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 1, 2015
@TheBadCatMan
We've worked out it was for the development of Siege of Dragonspear, an expansion for Baldur's Gate 2, and that it was probably pears (but seems to have been cut from the game). Now we're just trying to work out which monks where, and if you were describing greenhouses? Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
They would be monks of Chauntea, and they are using greenhouse equivalents: against the south, sunbaked stone walls of grain-barns, one builds growing frames (house-sized lean-to growing frames of timbers and enchanted "spellglass") to raise crops that really need a warmer climate. Just as real-world gardeners do in northern cold climates, to extend growing seasons or preserve magnolias, lime trees, and other growing things that would otherwise perish over winters.
The "spellglass" is a clerical spell that creates large sheets of clear, strong, durable glass (without many small leaded panes, or use of mica sheets, or anything else that would mar the reach of the sun's rays). Quite a few priesthoods now know and use variant spells (also for grand temple windows). |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 05 Oct 2025 : 02:44:01
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On regions half-drow frequent in the 3.5e and earlier rulesets, not including Dambrath
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1969968810770968784
Sep 22, 2025
@V_For_Vall
And - Can you elaborate on the regions half-drow frequent in the 3.5e and earlier rulesets, not including Dambrath? Would you consider them an underdark or surface race?
@TheEdVerse
They are both, because sunlight harms them not and increasingly they dwell on the surface of Toril, in remote areas (as Lolth-worshipping drow tend to persecute them). |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 27 Oct 2025 : 08:10:16
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On state of maths in the Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1981533797150593129
Oct 24, 2025
@RpgMatch
Hey @TheEdVerse I have a bizarre Realmslore question: what’s the state of math across the realms? Are states using “Roman” numerals or have they discovered the place system? Any 10-base number sets? Has calculus been discovered and/or is it a closely guarded secret.
Finally, a question more esoteric than whether there are toilets in Waterdeep.
@TheEdVerse
Thorass (written Common Tongue) records numbers thus: draw a box, and fill it with vertical strokes for each ten in a number. Encircle the box with dots for each of the leftover values in a numerical total. So 81 is a box holding 8 strokes, with a dot above it, and 87 is a box of 8 strokes with a ring of 7 dots around it. For hundreds, use horizontal strokes floating atop the box, so 349 is a box of 4 strokes with three lines atop it, all encircled by 9 dots. Most calculus is a Waukeen temple secret. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2025 : 02:43:04
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On Dalamar and Ed
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1981534571456835588 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1981570265726533751
Oct 24, 2025
@TheEdVerse
Realms fans trying to reach me: hopefully temporary computer difficulties have left me unable to access, let alone post to, Discord and Patreon. So I'm neither dead nor ignoring you; I'm battling the Tech Dragon! More Lost Lore posts as soon as I can!
@PeterRHann1
Dalamar getting revenge on you for spying on his meetings with Mordy and the old mage?
@TheEdVerse
Can't be. Dalamar and I are close friends now. Ever since I introduced him to certain ladies of my neighbourhood. (Not kidding!) He smiles a LOT, these days. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 11 Nov 2025 : 03:49:13
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
On cannabis in the Realms:
@FnordKyuss
Hello Ed. I have a few questions about flora in the realms. Since many plants from earth grow on Toril, I wonder, does Cannabis grow there? Is it smoked recreational or is it a religious sacrament? What places/churches cultivate it and where does it grow naturally?
@TheEdVerse
Heh. This was actually officially decided back in the early TSR days. They wanted it not to be in Toril, but I pointed out we already had printed lore of "hempen" ropes, woven bags, etc. Sooooo...various plants exist, their uses and prep are jealously-guarded herbalist/temple "secrets," cannabis has almost no effect on dwarves and gnomes, none at all on halflings, is nothing more than a painkiller for orcs, and makes elves violently ill (cramps, vomiting, feels like their blood is on fire). So most folk in the Realms employ other (fantastical/invented; see the Amarune's Almanacs on DM's Guild for a LOT of invented flora of the Realms) plants for recreational or even soothing purposes. Cannabis and several invented plants slow blood-flow, clear the head, and quell nausea. Most of my invented plants require the presence in a concoction (drink or poultice) or mix (line a pipe bowl with one, then smoke the other in the pipe) to derive hallucinations, or euphoria, or pain-free bliss.
[Of course, none of this was published.]
Whoops! Almost forgot your last question: almost all of these plants grow wild everywhere in the temperate zone of Faerûn (= the Heartlands), but there are a few (e.g. Quilaeya/"the Desert Flower") that grow in Raurin and other southern and eastern arid regions.
Oh, just one more thing (channeling my inner Columbo): the various creatures known as "hags" know all about the many uses of various plants, and make extensive use of this. My hag lairs are full of trap-bladders that release gases on intruders.
#Realmslore
@FnordKyuss
Was their reluctantance based on the illegal status of the plant? Who at TSR back in the day was a cannabis user, and did that have any impact on the decision?
@TheEdVerse
This was during the "Satanic panic" days, when TSR was mindful of preachers thundering about "witchcraft" and "demons and devils" being in the game, and Angry Mothers From Heck forbidding their kids buying or playing D&D. So having DRUG USE in the game was, yes, a red flag of illegality that could legitimately have been used to ban/suppress the game.
Much easier to just sidestep all that trouble by leaving it out.
Gamers are creative enough; they always morph the game to fit their own play styles and interests, if including it is wanted.
#Realmslore
@Smol_Bear69
Pls kind sir i have been searching for the answers for ages, what is the reason for the elves becoming so terribly ill by the plant?
@TheEdVerse
An inherent ingredient, THC laulaera ("Lawl-LAIR-rah") in the Realms, reacts chemically with the blood of elves, "searing" them (hence their "blood on fire" sensation). As a result, elves regard the plant as poisonous. All with part elven heritage MAY feel this. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 13 Nov 2025 : 06:45:58
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On Damascus forging of mithril and adamantine
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1988828807487242309
Nov 13, 2025
@raschura
@TheEdVerse 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?
@TheEdVerse
Sorry for the delay! Life has been BUSY.
Here we go (this lore reply applies only to the Realms)...
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. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1755 Posts |
Posted - 13 Nov 2025 : 06:49:39
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On detailed Ironnfang Keep
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1988829133791518807
Nov 13, 2025
@NathanSaylor20
@TheEdVerse Have you (or anyone else) ever detailed/mapped out Ironfang Keep?
@TheEdVerse
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. |
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Ed Greenwood on Twitter
