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DESIGNERS: Thomas M. Reid, Sean K ReynoldsADDITIONAL DESIGN: Eric L. Boyd, Brian Cortijo

DEVELOPER: Andy CollinsEDITOR: John Thompson

EDITING MANAGER: Kim MohanDESIGN MANAGER: Christopher PerkinsDEVELOPMENT MANAGER: Jesse Decker

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR RPG R&D: Stacy LongstreetDIRECTOR OF RPG R&D: Bill Slavicsek

PRODUCTION MANAGERS: Josh Fischer, Randall CrewsFORGOTTEN REALMS ART DIRECTOR: Mari Kolkowsky

COVER ARTIST: Tomás GiorelloINTERIOR ARTISTS: Kalman Andrasofszky, Wayne England, Jason Engle,

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GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Dee BarnettCARTOGRAPHER: Christopher West

GRAPHIC PRODUCTION SPECIALIST: Angelika LokotzIMAGE TECHNICIAN: Bob Jordan

Some material in this book was taken from or derived from the following products: Book of Exalted Deeds by James Wyatt, Christopher Perkins, and Darrin Drader; Magic of Faerûn by Angel McCoy, Duane Maxwell, and Sean K Reynolds; Monster Manual II by Ed Bonny, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Skip Williams,

and Steve Winter; Races of Faerûn by Eric Boyd, Jason Carl, Matt Forbeck, James Jacobs, and Sean K Reynolds; Player’s Guide to Faerûn by Richard Baker, Travis Stout, and James Wyatt; Planar Handbook by Bruce R. Cordell and Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel; and Expanded Psionics Handbook by Bruce R. Cordell.

Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® rules created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and the new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game

designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.

This product uses updated material from the v.3.5 revision. It is designed for use with the FORGOTTEN REALMS® Campaign Setting

by Ed Greenwood, Sean K Reynolds, Skip Williams, and Rob Heinsoo.

This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit www.wizards.com/d20.

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DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN REALMS, d20, d20 System, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, Champions of Valor, Player’s Handbook,

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4What You Need to Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4How to Use This Book in Your Campaign. . . .5

Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Chapter 1: The Valorous Hero. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Good and Evil in Faerûn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Rewarding Valorous Behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6How to DM for Valorous Heroes . . . . . . . . . . .7Creating Valorous Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8Valiant Hero Archetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

The Imperfect Champion of Good . . . . . . . .10How Do You Atone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Vengeance versus Compassion . . . . . . . . . . . .14Kill or Capture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Character against Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Good versus Good: When Beliefs Collide . . . 15

Law versus Chaos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Neutral versus Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Law versus Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Chaos versus Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Races from Other Supplements . . . . . . . . . . . .17Goliaths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Illumians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Raptorans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Valorous Racial Archetypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1850 Things for Valorous Characters to Do . . 19

Chapter 2: Character Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Regional Backgrounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Bardic Tutelage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Bastard of Azoun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Celestial-Attended Birth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Child of the Unicorn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Chosen-Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Church Acolyte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Circle-Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Enlightened Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Harper Protégé . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Holy Realm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Knight Squire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Martyr’s Progeny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Monastery Orphan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Mulhorandi Royal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Orphan of the Yellow Rose . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24Secret Moon dancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Selûnite Foundling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Ward of the Triad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Feats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Broken One’s Sacrifi ce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Carmendine Monk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Defender of the Homeland . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Detect Shadow Weave User . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Druuth Slayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Duerran Metaform Training . . . . . . . . . . . 29Duerran Stealth Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29From Smite to Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Initiate of Anhur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Initiate of Arvoreen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Initiate of Baravar Cloakshadow . . . . . . . . 30Initiate of Eilistraee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Initiate of the Holy Realm . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Initiate of Horus-Re . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Initiate of Milil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Initiate of Nobanion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Initiate of Torm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Initiate of Tymora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Knight of the Red Falcon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Knight of the Risen Scepter . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Knight of Tyr’s Holy Judgment . . . . . . . . . 32

Knight of Tyr’s Merciful Sword . . . . . . . . .33Mark of the Triad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Overcome Shadow Weave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Paladin of the Noble Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Silver Blood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Silver Fang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Smiting Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Sword of the Arcane Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Sun Soul Monk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Substitution Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Berronar Valkyrie (Paladin). . . . . . . . . . . . . .35Broken One (Monk). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Claw of the Sun and the Ankh (Paladin) . . 36Crescent Moon Knight (Paladin) . . . . . . . . 37Darksong Knight (Fighter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Dukar (Wizard) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Eternal Order (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39Fangshields Barbarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Fangshields Druid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Fangshields Ranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41Golden Cup (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Golden Lion (Paladin). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43Holy Judge (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Lion Legionnaire (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Mystic Fire Knight (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . .45Noble Heart (Paladin). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Phoenix Disciple (Monk) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Purple Staff (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Red Falcon (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Ruby Rose Knight (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Shadow Sword (Ranger) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Shooting Star (Ranger). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50Vigilant Eye of Helm (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . 51Wary Swordknight (Paladin) . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Sanctifi ed Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Animate with the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Benign Projection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53Celestial Fortress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53Convert Wand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53Create Lantern Archon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Dawn shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Disk of Solar Vengeance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Dispel Silence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54Eilistraee’s Moonfi re. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Favor of Tymora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Faith Healing Wand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Fleeting Fortune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Golden Dragonmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Holy Fire Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55Horrible Taste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Invisibility, Swift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Lionheart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Love Bite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Portal Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Rend Shadow Weave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Runic Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Shard Blessing Aura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Silver Dragonmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Skin of the Steel Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Spellsong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Spellsong, Lesser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Spiderbind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Stars of Arvandor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Stars of Mystra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Stars of Selûne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Stormvoice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Thunderstroke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59Vision of Punishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Weapon Special Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Homeland Champion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Sacrifi cial Smiting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Albruin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Chalsembyr’s Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Dornavver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62Dukar Hand Coral. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63Faith Token . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Flying Hunt Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Glassteel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Hadryllis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65Harper Token . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Oath-Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Reluctant Four . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67Ring of Truth-Telling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69Storm Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69Tabard of the Nimbral Herald . . . . . . . . . . .69Zundaerazylym’s Nevertokens . . . . . . . . . . . 70Crown of Narfell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Redeemed Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Chapter 3: Valorous Organizations . . . . . . . . . 73What Makes an Organization Valorous? . . . 73

Not Every Organization Qualifi es . . . . . . . .74Valorous Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Organization Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74The Druids of Tall Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Fangshields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Fellowship of the Purple Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Guardians of the Weave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Knights of the Flying Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85The Knights of Imphras II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88The Knights of the North. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92The Soft Claws. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Minor Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Chapter 4: Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Knight of the Flying Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Knight of the Weave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Moonsea Skysentinel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Triadic Knight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Chapter 5: Places of Valor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Cave of Brother Luiman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Chapel of Resounding Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Cullrin Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Darkmaiden’s Leap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Planar Touchstones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Mholor Durinhal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Teumyshaaril . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137The Weeping Garden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Chapter 6: Agents of Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142NPCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Bakra Hispul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Brenvol Whitebrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Breyarg Stonebreaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Dalthyria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Dorgafal Shiverock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Kerri Talindras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Ramas-Teth Ankh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Rindon Wasatho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Sarade Gedreghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Stormwing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Battle Effi gy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Equines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

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Champions of Valor is for players and Dungeon

Masters who want to incorporate great heroism

into their campaigns. This is more than simply

a list of good deeds and good traits, for a lowly peasant can do

good deeds or embody good traits, intentionally or accidentally.

The use of the word “valor” in the book title is signifi cant; it

means “courage and boldness,” “the qualities of a hero,” and

“exceptional courage when facing danger.” Compare these means

to the contextual meaning of the word “good;” a thief might be

good at picking a pocket, an assassin good at murder, and a black-

guard good at cowing his enemies, but none of those things are

valorous or heroic. This book is about valorous characters—those

who might be good or in some cases merely neutral, but are

great and heroic in facing down the greatest dangers of Faerûn.

Most valorous characters are good, but a signifi cant fraction of

them are indifferent to good and evil, and a rare few are evil

but recognize that some evils must be challenged (even the mad

Halaster has battled on Mystra’s behalf).

It’s worth noting that if you look at the ratio of good, neutral,

and evil deities in Faerûn, there are a disproportionate number

of good-aligned deities compared to neutral or evil deities. You

see this if you compare the thirty fully described deities in the

FORGOTTEN REALMS® Campaign Setting, or just the greater and

intermediate deities of Faerûn, or all the deities described in

Chapter 5 of that book: Good-aligned deities outnumber those

with a neutral aspect, and they outnumber evil deities as well.

This means there are more good infl uences in the world than

evil or neutral ones (though the evil ones tend to be more overt

and careful in their infl uence). There are more good-aligned

adventurers in Faerûn than neutral or evil ones, not just because

of divine infl uence but because Faerûn calls out for good heroes.

From the earliest version of the setting to the latest incarna-

tion, FORGOTTEN REALMS books assume that player characters

are usually good and will sometimes do things just because it’s

the right thing to do, not for a reward. However, it is unfair to

expect the PCs to always behave this way; part of the enjoyment

of playing D&D is seeing your character become more powerful,

and when the rewards are lacking it detracts from the experience.

One of the goals of this book is to provide DMs ways to motivate

valorous characters and reward them in atypical ways.

If you’re a DM, use this book for ideas on how to encourage

your players to play valorous PCs, create valorous adventures for

those PCs, and build a campaign based on heroic deeds. You can

even use this material to guide the behavior of your villains and

villainous organizations, for one of the pinnacles of valor is chal-

lenging your evil opposite with the fate of the world at stake.

If you’re a player, this book presents you with new options

for your characters, whether you want them to have humble

beginnings and aspire to great heroism of be born destined for

greatness and aware of it from the very start. Read this book and

talk to your DM about what he expects from valorous heroes;

this book can help establish common ground so your character

doesn’t stumble in mid-campaign over confl icting perceptions of

what is valorous behavior.

What You Need to PlayTo use this supplement, you also need the DUNGEONS & DRAG-

ONS® Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster

Manual, plus the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting. Many

references are also made in these pages to Races of Faerûn,

Player’s Guide to Faerûn, and Magic of Faerûn.

We also recommend Book of Exalted Deeds, Races of Stone,

Races of Destiny, and Races of the Wild. Though you don’t

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INTRODUCTION

need any of those books to use this one, some specifi c ideas and

game concepts presented in those books appear here in a limited

form, and you can fi nd more details in the appropriate book.

For example, this book suggests ways to incorporate the goliaths

(a new race from Races of Stone) into a FORGOTTEN REALMS

campaign, but only includes the briefest amount of information

on the goliath race; if you want more information on goliaths,

refer to Races of Stone.

Several other books are referenced herein. In many cases,

this reference is in the form of a superscript abbreviation of

the book’s title, which is tacked onto the end of the name of a

spell, monster, or some other piece of information. The books

(including some of those mentioned above) and their abbrevia-

tions, when applicable, are as follows: Book of Exalted Deeds

(BE), Champions of Ruin (CR), Complete Warrior (CW), Lost

Empires of Faerûn (LE), Magic of Faerûn (Mag), Player’s

Guide to Faerûn (PG), Races of Faerûn (Rac), and Unapproach-

able East (Una).

How to Use This Book

in Your CampaignThis book gives you many options for running a valorous

campaign, running valorous PCs or NPCs, and making heroics

a critical part of your FORGOTTEN REALMS campaign. Whether

it’s new options for building a character, inspirational organi-

zations a character can join, places of power tied to heroism

and sacrifi ce, or new allies and companions for valorous PCs,

Champions of Valor is the key supplement for Faerûn’s heroic

characters. Alternatively, much of this book can be used with

minor adjustments in any setting.

Introduction: What is the difference between good and valor?

Why are there are so many heroes in Faerûn?

Chapter 1: The Valorous Hero has advice for DMs and

players about valorous campaigns, valorous challenges, and

valorous archetypes by class and race. It addresses the idea of

fl awed heroes, atonement, and confl ict between different kinds

of good.

Chapter 2: Character Options details new regions, feats, spells,

magic items, and substitution levels tailored for Faerûnian deities

and organizations.

Chapter 3: Valorous Organizations covers several valorous

organizations, including information on how to join and the

benefi ts of joining each group. Following that are short descrip-

tions of many valorous knighthoods, monk orders, and other

organizations.

Chapter 4: Prestige Classes introduces four new prestige classes

for valorous heroes, from the Knight of the Flying Hunt to the

Triadic Knight.

Chapter 5: Places of Valor gives sample locations associated

with good, from a holy temple to the site of a great battle.

Chapter 6: Agents of Good describes several new NPCs

and monsters with descriptions and game statistics, suitable for

cohorts, allies, or contacts.

TimelineThis book assumes that the current year is the Year of Lightning

Storms (1374 DR).

Some of the rules and features described in Champions of Valor

use two action types not described in the core rulebooks: the

swift action and the immediate action. A description of how

each works follows.

Swift Action: A swift action consumes a very small amount

of time, but represents a larger expenditure of effort and energy

than a free action. You can perform one swift action per turn

without affecting your ability to perform other actions. In

that regard, a swift action is like a free action. However, you

can perform only a single swift action per turn, regardless of

what other actions you take. You can take a swift action any

time you would normally be allowed to take a free action.

Casting a quickened spell is a swift action (instead of a free

action, as stated in the Quicken Spell feat description in the

Player’s Handbook). In addition, casting any spell with a casting

time of 1 swift action (such as divest essentia) is a swift action.

Casting a spell with a casting time of 1 swift action does

not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Immediate Action: Much like a swift action, an immediate

action consumes a very small amount of time, but represents

a larger expenditure of effort and energy than a free action.

However, unlike a swift action, an immediate action can be

performed at any time—even if it’s not your turn. Casting

feather fall is an immediate action (instead of a free action,

as stated in the spell description in the Player’s Handbook),

since the spell can be cast at any time.

Using an immediate action on your turn is the same as

using a swift action, and counts as your swift action for that

turn. You cannot use another immediate action or a swift

action until after your next turn if you have used an immediate

action when it is not currently your turn. You also cannot use

an immediate action if you are currently fl at-footed

Swift and Immediate Actions

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Book of Exalted Deeds addresses the concepts of

good and evil in the D&D universe. This chapter

examines those issues in the context of the FOR-

GOTTEN REALMS campaign setting, providing advice for DMs and

players who want more valor and heroics in their campaigns.

Good and Evil

in FaerûnFaerûn is an interesting place, to be sure, when viewed in terms

of good and evil. The goddess of magic is good, so all magic

ultimately comes from a good source, and while she can restrict

magical access to only good creatures, she does not do so or risk

upsetting the balance of power in the world. The god of the dead

is neutral, seeing death as an inevitable thing but not something

he wants to promote or encourage before its due time. Several

nongood deities allow paladins in their service, promoting only

the most lawful and good aspects of their faith. The god of

knowledge is neutral, while the gods of literature and song are

good. The protector of caravans is neutral, while the goddess of

festhalls is good. While the D&D game views good and evil in a

more black-and-white sense than what exists in the real world, it

is clear that in Faerûn, these concepts are not so cut-and-dried.

That said, we can use the godly portfolios to determine

there are some things in Faerûn that are defi nitely good or

evil. Nature, rather than being an indifferent or neutral force,

is often good (Chauntea, Eldath, and Mielikki are good, while

Silvanus is neutral). Hereditary rule by qualifi ed nobles is associ-

ated with good—Cormyr is the only true human monarchy and

is considered a good nation; Mulhorand is ruled by lawful good

hereditary priest-kings; Evermeet and the Great Rift clans are

good monarchies. Light, whether sunlight or moonlight, is good

(Lathander, Selûne, Horus-Re, Eilistraee, and Sehanine Moonbow

are good deities of light, dawn, or the moon). Undeath, wanton

killing, and destruction are evil (Bhaal, Myrkul, Velsharoon,

Kiaransalee, Cyric, Talos, Set, and Malar). Oppression, conquest,

and infl icting suffering are evil (Bane, Loviatar, Lolth, Gruumsh,

Urdlen, Deep Duerra, and Talona), as are darkness and thievery

(Mask, Shar, and Vhaeraun).

When viewed in this way, the deities of the setting help defi ne

the borders of Faerûnian morality. In short: Life, concern for

others, and respect for nature are good, while disruptions of the

natural cycle and abuse of power are evil. Thus it is quite possible

for a powerful good government to act in an evil manner by

abusing its power, destroying nearby lands, or engaging in war

for the sake of glory or territory.

Rewarding

Valorous BehaviorFaerûn is a well-developed campaign world, with an established

history and connectivity between its countries, organizations, and

powerful individuals. When something happens, others are sure

to fi nd out about it and respond. The mage who destroyed the

dire doppelganger’s hold on Westgate gains a reputation elsewhere

along the Dragon Coast. The Rashemi barbarian who held off

a charge of Thayan knights long enough to enable a hathran to

heal her wounded sister and escape is spoken of in Thesk and

Aglarond as well as his homeland. The heroic thief who stole the

Bloodstaff of Arkhoun from a Banite temple—the night before

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