VoLo's Gcifoe toALL Things Magical

As Edited and Amendedby ELrm'nsteR of Snaoocooate

(Hotoeuen Hand He Might Cane to Deny It)

bywith Erzic L. Boy d

Do you always turn to the exciting bits in any book you open? The "Andthen the dragon breathed fire, and the tower toppled slowly, screamingmages plunging to their death" scenes? No?

Well, what then? Oh. You look for the deep, insightful passages that laybare the secrets of All That Is?

Dear, dear. You've got hold of the wrong book. This is one of the othersort, and the dragon's just about to . . .

—Sylune of Shadowdale,Slumbertime Stories For Sprigs

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DedicationTo Julia Martin, Steve Schend, and Eric Boyd for keeping the flame bright.And to Eric, again, for unlocking more shining secrets of the Realms for us all.

CneditsDesign: Ed GreenwoodArtifacts and original Magic in My Hand Design: Eric L. Boyd (additional design by Ed Greenwood)Editing: Julia MartinArt Director: Robert J. GalicaCover Art: Ciruelo CabralInterior Art: Tony Crnkovich, Ned Dameron, and Valerie ValusekTypesetting: Nancy J. KerkstraProduction: Heather Le May and Dee Barnett

Of hen Related Socitzcebooks in Che VoLo's Guide SemesVolo's Guide to WaterdeepVolo's Guide to the NorthVolo's Guide to the Sword Coast (includes information on the Western Heartlands)Volo's Guide to CormyrVolo's Guide to the Dalelands

ADVANCED DUNGEONS &. DRAGONS, AD&.D, DUNGEON MASTER, FORGOTTEN REALMS, MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM, and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.ENCYCLOPEDIA MAGICA, MONSTROUS MANUAL, and PLANESCAPE are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.e1996 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for English language products of TSR, Inc.Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd.Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein isprohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc.

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Elminster's Introduction 4Volo's Introduction: The Secrets Laid Bare 5

The Mage Fairs 5The Well of Spells 5Hideaways 6The Sorceress in Gray 7

The Magic of Guardianship 8Construction Materials 9Spells 9

Wizard Guardianship Spells 9Priest Guardianship Spell 11

The Magic of Items 12The Effects of Overenchantment 13Item Entrapment 13The Enchantment of Items 14

Beginnings 14Primary Casting 14Shell Creation 15Enstarment 16Mastering 17Awakening 17Veiling 17The Random Element 17Wizard Item: Andratha's Wand of Battle 18

Wizard Item Enchantment Spells 20Priest Item: Mace of Reaving 24

Priest Item Enchantment Spells 27Collected Words of Activation 32

Suspected Words of Activation 32The Universal Material Component 33Raw Materials: Gemstones 34Raw Materials: Metals 54

Treatments 58Raw Materials: Woods 59Latheebree's Librams 64

Latheebree's Folio of Reversal 64Lathebree's Pantograph Pages 65

Magic in My Hand 65The Seven Lost Rings of Mhzentul 66

Ring of Burning 67RingofColdfire 67Ring of Night 67Ring of Scribes 67Ring of Stone 67RingoftheTshala 67Ring of Wayfaring 68Ring Spells 68

HelmofZulae 69Luck Medallion of Tyrnora 69Thunderstaff 69

ThunderstaffSpells 70The Magic of Movement 74

Some Collected Notes and Thoughts 75Movement Magics 75

Wizard Spells 75Priest Spells 77Magical Items 78

Weirdstone 78Wonderful Throne 78Zarangan 79

The Magic of the Person 80Innate Talents 82Elixirs 83

Annath's Draft 84The Flame Elixir 84Halaster's Quaff. 85The Great Elixir 86

Special Powers 86Spellfire 87

The Nature of Spellfire 87Empowering Energy 87Spellfire Experience 88Immunities to Spellfire 88Body Effects 88Spellfire Overloading 89Spellfire Unleashed 89

Wizshades 92Wizshade (Spellshade) MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM® Sheet 93

Artifacts of the Realms 94Beacon of Light 95Blood of Lathander 96Chessmen of Ultham-Urre 97Crenshinibon the Crystal Shard 99Crown of Horns 101Cyrinishad 102Dawnstone 103Death Moon Orb 104The Dragonking's Eye 105Gatekeeper's Crystal 106Guardian's Tear 108Iron Helm of Heroes 109Living Gem 110Ring of Winter 112Scepter of Savras 113Starym Moonblade 114Thakorsiis Seat 116TearofSelune 118Windwalker Amulet 120Wyvern Crown ofCormyr 121Yuthla the Eye of the Beholder 123Zeladazar the Ghost Sword 124

Appendix I: Gemstone Tables 126Gems of the Realms 126Gem Variations 126Ornamental Stones 126Semiprecous Stones 126Fancy Stones 126Precious Stones 127Gems 127Jewels 127Hardstones 127Shells 127

Appendix II: Spell and Magical Item Index 128

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hat a pretentious title. Not even / would dare toI pen something that purported to be a guide to allthings magical. Volo did not even try. What hefoisted upon Faerunians hungry for enough

I secrets of magic to make them rulers of theRealms was a grab bag full of odds and ends about the Art:notes about this and that, gossip, and distorted fragments ofspells and processes copied from spellbooks on the sly or mis-remembered from brief glimpses snatched in places and onoccasions when he dared not write anything down.

In the interests of reader safety, I was forced to spearheadan exhaustive search for every last copy of his masterpiece ofhorrors—I think we got them all—and then convince him ofthe error of his ways. Just about every other mage who hadseen the work offered to help in this little task. After due pas-sage of time, I agreed that something called Volo's Guide to AllThings Magical (that title—what an arrogant longnose!) shouldbecome available across Faerun, if only to stop greedy adven-turers from getting themselves killed in the defenses of everymage's tower between Evermeet and Kara-Tur in an attemptto gain a copy of the work rumored to yet to survive.1 Yet—mark ye—it was not going to be the same opus Volo fondlythought of as his great gift to all seekers after magic. I set towork on the only copy of the text remaining (safely kept up tothat point in my library) to expunge the worst of his distortionsand just plain errors in order to keep Faerun from being over-run with uncontrolled elementals and worse summonedextraplanar beasts—to identify just one consideration.

And then, of course, a little minor surgery was necessary onwhat he got right. I really do not think the Realms would bebetter off without any wizards around to keep the beholders,dragons, drow, ore hordes, petty sword-swinging tyrants,insane Baneliches, and other evils at bay—and that is whatwould have happened if Volo's little list of carefully pilferedcommand words, phrases of activation, truenames, and thelike had fallen into the hands of the inhabitants of widerFaerun. Some things only the magically enlightened, whetherwizards or priests, are meant to know—really! Accordingly, Iconsidered just what delicate deletions to make and then wentout and got a good sharp meat axe.

When a small pile of tattered scraps of parchment were allthat remained of Volo's opus, I set to work restating his fum-bling prose into understandable terms2 and chopping themost irresponsible blow-up-all-Toril spells. What emerged isthat which ye hold in your hands: a few fragments of usefulmaterial about magic. These are only the bones of Volo'scolossus of magical revelation, but at least they are now theright bones to keep the thing standing up.

Spells found in other recently released volumes of Realms-lore,3 by the way, for the most part are not repeated hereinunless substantial amplifications or corrections of earlieraccounts are also included. With that said, the reader iswarned that to act on much of the information in these pagesis inherently dangerous and may even earn the dabbler someperilous foes. Moreover, much of the information herein" isdangerously wrong!

On the other hand, the revised work in your hands doeshave value as a source of ideas—a spur to the sorcerously cre-ative, if ye will. A crucial part of the Art and any understandingof it is to recognize that there are many ways to achieve adesired effect or result, just as many cooks prepare the samedish in different ways. What Volo says herein may be a way ofdoing thus or so, but bear in mind that it is often (nay, usually)not the only way of doing it.

Priests will find some lore of practical use to them in thisbook, and mages who follow other paths to mastery of magicwill find that what appears herein is almost wholly concernedwith magic as practiced by humans dwelling in Faerun.Thankfully, Volo resisted the temptation to set down wizardjokes in print, so none of them are perpetuated here.5

For all my work, this tome is still a grab bag of this and thatand not a comprehensive guide at all. That is something thatcan probably never be written. Only the beings known to us asMystra and Azuth could possibly encompass the subject, and Ican conceive of nothing that would induce them to write awork that lays bare in a few pages what should take mortals alifetime of careful study and experimentation to learn the pal-try beginnings of.

To readers who trust in the sword or the dagger and hopeto find in these pages a guide to how to lay mages low, I tenderthe following piece of very good advice: "Wizards? Avoid 'em.Life's better when ye're not a frog." That anonymous trail say-ing of the Sword Coast lands has been around a long, longtime, but it is best never forgotten—if ye take my point.

Happy reading, then, dabblers in magic—and fry to leave alittle of the Realms still standing when ye are done, will ye not?

'There aren't any left. Really. They're all gone. Elminster says he destroyed the last original after composing this work. Vellum burns remarkably well.2Elminster's terminology has, of course, been translated into ADVANCED DUNGEONS &. DRAGONS8 game terms.3Such as Pages From the Mages and The Seven Sisters.4How much? Just as much as each Dungeon Master desires!5It's not likely that Elminster would have let them survive to the final edition, in any case.

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'V

Tbe SecRets Lafr> Baneolumes such as this one come along but once in a life-time. You are wise indeed to have opened this tome—after, I hope, laying down good coin for it—for your eyesnow look upon more lore useful to spellcasters than canbe found anywhere else in all Faerun. Oh, there are more

powerful spells, and books that bristle with more of them, but this is theplace where lore about the use of such magic appears. The reader ofVolo's Guide to All Things Magical can gain a brief taste of the rich vari-ety and manyfold complexity of the Art of wielding magic—at least, ashuman mages outside of secretive Thay and Halruaa practice it.

Writing this book almost got me killed—or worse, transformed into ahelpless shape and placed in a spell-governed situation of endless tormentwhere death would remain forever elusive, but the raw pain would make itdesirable (or so a certain Catanarla the Crimson Cloaked, a sorceress ofTelflamm, promised me). Many mages, it seemed, objected to my revela-tions of their pet spells, past peccadilloes, secret words, and names ofpower. Elminster and Khelben between them saw to it that I lived—thoughnot before amusing themselves by delivering me into the claw—er, gracefulhands of the Simbul, Witch-Queen of Aglarond, who demonstrated uponmy person what the consequences of future unauthorized sorcerous jour-nalism would be. It is not much fun to be thrust into bird form and forcedto fly full-tilt into a stone wall, not to mention smelling all the hair burnt outof my head, along with other more—horrific—experiences.

I will not even open the subject of all the curses that are riding uponme as we speak, ready to strike if I do delve further into any means ofrevealing the secrets of sorcery. Suffice it to say that I am going to be avery good boy where dealings with wizards are concerned for a longtime to come. They have promised me that.

This book of mine, however (suitably butcher—er, revised and embel-lished by the vigilant Elminster), will now see a wider audience than I hadever hoped it would, and some, at least, of the juicy secrets I uncoveredwill be shared with readers who are not all (I hope) crotchety old arch-wizards or liches already. So welcome, and read on: magnificent powerand fascinating lore about it awaits thee, as old Elminster might say.1

This spot is perhaps the best place to touch on a few odd topics that donot fit anywhere else in this dissertation. They are but a few of the fascinat-ing things I have learned about sorcery in Faerun. Read on, and discover awhole book of them. It is my hope that my Faerunian readers find thiswork both enjoyable and practical and that it goads them into at leastinvestigating magic. Life for all in the Realms can only become richer andbetter if there are many folk who can wield a modest amount of magicrather than a few stunted old graybeards2 who wield a lot!

The Mage FamsMany wild legends and tavern tales across the Realms mention thesewild, spell-hurling occasions, and only a few of these stories exagger-ate what goes on at a Mage Fair. These gatherings are open only towizards, and the usually remote sites at which they are held areguarded by heavily spell-shielded guardian mages (often levitating)

who permit entry only to those who demonstrate an ability to castspells.

Initially held once a decade, then every five years, and for a brieftime every three summers, Mage Fairs are now annual affairs, theirincreasing frequency driven by the enormous rise in the numbers ofcompetent mages in Faerun during the current century. At a Mage Fair,mages of all backgrounds meet under the safety of an agreed-upon setof rules3 to conduct business. They negotiate and sign contracts, nonag-gression and territorial agreements, and research pacts, and they sellservices, spells, training, enchanted items, rare material components,potions, and information. Young mages lusting after a reputation andelders desiring to attract followers or pupils show off their mastery ofdifficult or powerful spells, and would-be masters and would-beapprentices take their measures of each other, trying to find the rightmatch. Several well-known mages in cities up and down the SwordCoast sell complex spell disguises (for 1,000 gp per layer, with the sim-plest having eight layers and most running to at least double that) foruse by wizards who dare not attend a Mage Fair as themselves. (Wizardsof any age or accomplishment seem to acquire enemies, or at leastunscrupulous rivals, as easily as most of us breathe.)

Most readers will be unsurprised to learn that duels are common atMage Fairs, and magical pranks even more numerous. Due to the natureof magic, both duels and pranks are apt to get out of hand, and MageFairs are therefore usually held in remote meadows or valleys, ruins,abandoned castles, and similar places where few folk dwell who might beterrorized—or driven to attack attendees of the fair. The only recent MageFair to be held in a settlement of any size took place over a dozen yearsago in Derlusk, a port city in the Border Kingdoms. I do not know wherethe next Mage Fair will be held, but the Heralds will begin to spread theword a good year before the event, once the Magister decrees the site. Acouncil of senior wizards organizes and decides the location of the fairs,but how one gets onto that governing body—or even who is on it—aresecrets guarded, I am told, by no less than divine Azuth himself!4

The WeLL of SpeLLsThis legendary site seems to move about from place to place in Faerun atthe will of Mystra.5 It is always found in a large cavern, but the cavern maybe deep in Undermountain or the Underdark, high up in the heart of alofty mountain, beneath the crumbling ruins of Myth Drannor, or half ahundred lesser fallen places. Apprentices in the Art and readers in Candle-keep who do not care to get any closer to magic than reading about itwhisper excited tales of the Well of Spells to each other as they comeacross them in their readings, for it truly seems like a paradise for mages.

The Well is not a shaft or pit filled with water at all, but rather a verti-cal, cylindrical field of glowing golden light that marks the boundaries ofits magic. Its diameter has varied from appearance to appearance, but itseems able to assume any diameter. Any wizard who finds and enters it isborne up by its enchantment, flying very slowly at MV 3 (A) in a randomdirection and for a random distance until the Well stops providing lift forhim or her; the wizard floats slowly along, driven by force of will, butneed not concentrate unduly on this movement so as to affect his or herother actions.

'Elminster: But, ye'U notice, had the good taste not to.zElminster: Ahem. Pay no attention to the ranting man behind the curtain.. ..2Volo: Among other stipulations, the rules ban the use of teleportation and any casting of a combat spell outside of a formal demonstration or duel.4EIminster: Correct. Overcoming my astonishment at witnessing Volo cleaving to the truth, I'm bound to add that a rather fanciful account of a visit to one fair appears

in the TSR anthology Realms of Valor in the tale "Elminster at the Mage Fair."sElminster: This is true, but why the Well exists in the first place is something I've never managed to learn from Mystra.

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Lord Secotha Amraster Lionsfriend, protected from scrying, investigates a magical cache in his hideaway.If this is the mage's first visit to the Well, she or he is confronted in its glow-

ing heart by a monster materialized by the Well. All sorts of beasts have beenreported to have shown up, but neither they nor the mages they attack canemploy magic or psionics while inside the Well. If a wizard flees from the Well,this monster pursues, but if the mage slays the beast within the Well by physi-cal means, she or he is instantly granted full knowledge and use of a spell newto him or her. The spell is never be one that is wished for, but seems to bealways determined randomly—it may even be of a level or school normallydenied to the mage and still be successfully used by him or her at no penalty.This mystically granted spell is gained as an extra spell and carried in additionto the wizard's usual roster. Its casting never requires material components.

Note that if a mage flees or is hurled forth from the Well and defeatsthe monster outside it, no spell is gained. Reentry into the Well callsforth another monster for the wizard to face. The Well lands the wizardand ceases to allow him or her to fly if the wizard leaves the Well whilefleeing the monster or after the wizard gains the random spell.

The Well has no top or bottom. A wizard reaching its uppermostreaches is transported instantly to the bottom, and vice versa. Any num-ber of sorcerers can be in the Well at the same time and can see andspeak to each other, but they cannot strike at or pass items to each other,since each wizard and all of his or her possessions seem intangible toother wizards in the Well. Missiles fired into the Well reach its edges andstop, hanging frozen in its radiance, but they can readily be retrieved byanyone reaching into the radiance.

If a wizard has entered the Well before, all that is gained by reenteringit is a vision of a being, place, or item of importance to the mage. This sub-

ject is not necessarily something the mage is interested in or desires to see,and the vision is often cryptic in its relevance. Beings who are not wizardsare not affected by the Well or its monsters. They can see its radiance, butit does not cause them to float or affect them in any way, except to removecharm spells, curses (including lycanthropy), geas spells, and other magi-cal controls and compulsions existing upon them at the time of contact.This power of the Well can affect the same nonwizard beings again andagain if they find and enter the Well repeatedly.

Across Faerun, many scores of extradimensional chambers or complexesof rooms known as hideaways or safeholds exist. Here I recount onlydescriptions of a few of these hidden places, but it should be noted thatChessenta and Turmish are said to be positively riddled with them. Theyare said to feature so many of these hideaways that a military invasion ofeither country would be imperiled from the outset by the ability ofdefenders to hide away in the heart of an invading army, striking atleisure from concealment.

The construction of such hidden lairs was evidently greatly in fashionin the dangerous days of human dominance in Faerun in the centuriesafter the fall of Myth Drannor, but many of the spells used to constructthese areas, which typically have magically concealed and operatedentries, have since been lost or become secrets hoarded carefully byliches and perhaps a few living mages.6 Some of these safeholds areclearly retreats for desperate warriors to hide in, but others are just as

"Elminster: Let it be known here and now that I am not one of them. I suspect that—aside from a few wizards who have passed into a lich state—the secrets of makingsafeholds died with those human mages who perished after the fall of Myth Drannor. Certain elves in Evermeet may still know the necessary castings, but no one in Hal-ruaa or Thay does (despite what they may pretend to be able to do).

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