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''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' is a campaign setting for the ''[[
It is the default setting for fifth edition, contrasted with third edition's stripped down ''[[Greyhawk]]'' and fourth edition's original ''[[Points of Light]]''. 5E's dedication to having the default setting goes beyond either of the previous two, which used it largely to have a default pantheon, with all published splatbooks also being setting books on the Realms. 5E's slow release schedule seems to give credence to the persistent claims that TSR/Hasbro must publish a sourcebook for the setting with significant contributions by Ed Greenwood each year to avoid ownership of the setting reverting to him, since that matches the rate and content of 5E books that aren't purely pre-written adventures.
In the [[Planescape]] and [[Spelljammer]] settings, The [[Forgotten Realms]] setting is part of a [[The Multiverse|larger universe]] that also includes [[Greyhawk]] and [[Dragonlance]].▼
* Moreover, the spheres of Toril, Oerth and Krynn are neighbours in [[Spelljammer]] space; in ''[[Side-Story Bonus Art|The Wizards Three]]'' articles. Elminster, Mordenkainen and Dalamar have parties together... ''[[Literary Agent Hypothesis|in our world]]''.▼
▲In the ''[[Planescape]]'' and ''[[Spelljammer]]'' settings, The
* The Realms are also a major source for darklords and other imported NPCs of the [[Ravenloft]] setting.▼
▲* Moreover, the spheres of Toril, Oerth and Krynn are neighbours in ''[[Spelljammer]]'' space; in ''[[Side-Story Bonus Art|The Wizards Three]]'' articles. Elminster, Mordenkainen and Dalamar have parties together... ''[[Literary Agent Hypothesis|in our world]]''.
▲* The Realms are also a major source for darklords and other imported NPCs of the ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting.
Has [[Expansion Pack World|sub-settings]]:
* Arcane Age: The same, but half a thousand to several thousands of years before "contemporary" version, with a lot of Magitek.
* Al-Qadim: The Land of Fate is placed on the continent Zakhara. Arabian Nights style fantasy mixed with slightly tweaked Muslim Arab culture. Genies, magic carpets, Evil Viziers, secret societies, Sacred Hospitality, haggling and fame. Peculiar magic (tied to genies, astrology, magical weaving, and so on - Complete Sha'ir's Handbook is a whole sourcebook dedicated to variants of magic and practitioners thereof). Extra details for genies. More connected to [[Planescape]] than the rest of Toril, and even more loosely to Spelljammer.
* The Sea of Fallen Stars (Serōs): The interior sea of Faerûn - surface and depth. Described mostly in the sourcebooks ''Sea of Fallen Stars'' and ''Pirates of the Fallen Stars'' and trilogy ''The Threat from the Sea''.
* Maztica: Central & South American style setting. Very peculiar magic (feather vs. fang), utility- and artifice- oriented, with [[Magic Knight]] class for each.
* Kara-Tur / Oriental Adventures <ref>the first OA - later OA is d20 version of ''The Legend of Five Rings''</ref>, originally separate, but then welded on. Martial arts and all. Peculiar magic (based on oriental five elements, of course).
* Living City: Ravens Bluff, a city-state on the north-east side of the Sea of Fallen Stars, recently revitalized and just shy of becoming a new nascent civilization, built on the place riddled with planar portals (mostly closed), above two long abandoned (for good reasons) underground settlements. One of RPGA campaign settings. Later published in a series of FR sourcebooks.
* Living Jungle: Malatra, wild "India" to Kara-Tur's [[Far East]]. A little Lost World area somewhere closer to Kara-Tur, but separated from it. Has about as much of connection to Spelljammer. One of RPGA campaign settings. Later picked up by the fans.
According to Ed Greenwood himself, the very first FR work is a short story ''One Comes, Unheralded, to Zirta'' written back in 1967 (yup, he was 8 years old - that's good reading for you... and ''[[Conan]]''). It shows off a few characters who later became iconic. You can read it [http://www.candlekeep.com/library/articles/zirta.htm here].
Series that are set in the Forgotten Realms include:
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Has a [[Forgotten Realms/Characters|character sheet]], which is by no means near complete. Also [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/ its own wiki] (not quite comprehensive either) and "official" [http://candlekeep.com/ fan site] (where [[Word of God]] usually can be obtained, whether from archives or present writers and game-developers).
* The 2023 film ''[[Dungeons Dragons: Honor Among Thieves]]'' clearly takes place in the Realms, as frequent references are made to cities and organizations from the setting.
----
{{tropelist
* [[The Alliance]] - Lords' Alliance on the North-West.
* [[Alternative Calendar]] - The Calendar of Harptos, Elven Rysars...
* [[And Man Grew Proud]] - Most famously Netheril, but also Imaskar and Jhaamdath.
* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]] - The higher levels frequently attributed to individuals in positions of authority.
* [[Background-Based System]] - Elements of this were added in AD&D2 as regional kits (from ''Wizards & Rogues of the Realms'', ''Warriors & Priests of the Realms'', ''Demihumans of the Realms''), and in 3.x Regional Feats (from 3.0 ''Campaign Setting'', 3.0 ''Races of Faerûn'', 3.5 ''Player's Guide to Faerûn'', etc).
* [[Balance Between Good and Evil]] - The reason why various evil entities haven't taken over the world, and why various good entities don't control the world.
* [[Barbarian Hero]]: Uthgar Gardolfsson, who raised an army, destroyed a corrupt mageocracy, and united several towns and settlements under his rule. Eventually he was killed in battle against a giant, but he was such a badass that the god of battle, Tempus, raised Uthgar to godhood after his death.
* [[Bastard Bastard]]: An ''absurd'' amount of Cormyrean young nobles look [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rl/20061101a embarrassingly alike], due to the [[Handsome Lech|attitude and habits]] of Azoun IV. Some have joined coups, some are loyal to the official Obarskyr line's rule.▼
** Quoth [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/duad/20100319 Ed Greenwood],▼
{{quote|the nobles of Cormyr--including the royal Obarskyrs--were notorious for having many bastard offspring. Most of these turnshields, as they were called in polite company, were sent away [...] Some became skilled artisans loyal family retainers, or even "[[Spare to the Throne|heirs in reserve]]". But too many became coinless wastrels wandering distant realms as forgotten kin, hating their noble connections and without the means to reap revenge.}}▼
* [[Big Bad]] - The Rage of the Dragons, The Time of Troubles, The Shadovar, et al.
* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: [http://www.candlekeep.com/fr_faq.htm#_Toc16090539 According to Ed Greenwood], the Realms actually runs on this, and it's merely intended to ''appear'' like a conventional fantasy world.
{{quote|'''Ed Greenwood''': Part of my writing goals have been to underscore the following things: "do-gooders" often [[What the Hell, Hero?|do more harm than good]], for the best of motives (Elaine's also been playing with this one); 'good' to one party is not 'good' to another (the old saying, "for one man to gain freedom, another must lose it"); and the best meddlers are those who can see farthest, not the brute-force-right-now brigade (which is what most PC parties of necessity are, and therefore their punishments/reward are immediate).
One postscript I almost forgot: with Elminster in particular and all of the Chosen, Steven and I (at least) are delving into "how insane do you go from living so long with godly power and gods messing with your mind?" Everything El and the other Chosen do should be read in this light; they're NOT sane. I've been hinting at this for a long time, but you have to catch the hints (like the good/happy endings, this was a Code of Ethics thing, which is why we can't show villains poisoning, or succeeding, or telling you their detailed plans that someone in the real world might copy or claim as inspiration, etc.). }}
* [[Blood Magic]] - Mostly elven, mostly forgotten, partly [[The Dark Arts|forbidden]], sometimes suicidal, usually quite impressive. 'Blood Dragon' is a [[Vengeance/last Stand|last Stand]] spell ''requiring'' [[Taking You with Me|the caster's death]] that sends at the target a big, nearly unstoppable, flesh-dissolving magical construct. 'Bloodstars' turns seven droplets of the caster's blood into sharp projectiles that ''explode'' if they hit and draw blood.
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** As Chansrin (who accompanies the Watch when bored, hoping for a chance to hurl spells) put it, she remains in Scornubel because
{{quote|All the adventure in Faerun will come to ''me''!}}
** Hill's Edge. It sits between the Zhentarim of Darkhold, the Free Traders of Westgate, Lords' Alliance and Harpers'
* [[Cloak and Dagger]] - See [[Gambit Pileup]]. There's even a [[Sourcebook]] named "Cloak and Dagger". Which covers only the most important handful of such groups.
* [[Comet of Doom]] - The "King-Killer Star" ({{spoiler|chosen as the trigger for the Dracorage Mythal}}).
* [[Cool Airship]] - Those famous Halruan skyships.
** As to the "Cool" part, skyships undoubtedly look great and raise Halruaa's reputation [[Incredibly Lame Pun|to the skies]], but are mostly kept at home for a reason. While their levitation system is a big magocracy's state secret, its
* [[Cool but Inefficient]] - Most folk's opinions on firearms in the Realms.
* [[Cool Horse]] - Never a shortage of this. After all, there are three regions full of horse nomads or semi-nomads plus multiple horse-breeding centers famed over half of the continent.
** [[Horse of a Different Color]] - Drow ride wall-climbing [[Raptor Attack|raptor-like lizards]], duergar ride spiders, Far Hills dwarves ride giant bats, sea elves ride giant seahorses, some humans ride hippogriffs or griffons, Shadovar ride vaserabs (lean and mean
** [[Sapient Steed]] - Pegasi, Asperii, Nightmares, elven Moon-horse (teu'kelytha).
* [[The Commandments]] - It's unreasonable to expect common standards
* [[Corpse Land]]: The "Battle of Bones" area, named after an event that changed it forever. Due to drought and expanding Anauroch desert, a lot of goblinoids (more than a quarter million ''combatants'') had to migrate, humans and allies (more than half of that) were determined to stop them in a convenient pass and much slaughter ensued.
* [[Corrupt Church]] - Selûne's church in Memnon.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] - Merchants band together all the time, openly or secretly, and as often as not don't care much whether they act decently, or even legally. So merchant cabals include mafia-like ones like Men of the Basilisk, or Rundeen who set pirates against their rivals and dabble in slave-trade.
{{quote|'''[http://wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x{{=}}dnd/dueotr/20101203 Ed Greenwood]''': It has been said that most merchants die not of lawbreaking or lack of coin but of running afoul of a cabal--one they belong to, two or more they belong to that end up having conflicting aims or activities, or just one they happen to be in the way of.}}
** Volo's Guide to the North mentions that the Kraken Society started as one of such cabals. Slarkrethel (the eponymous kraken) with his illithid and aboleth allies took over and expanded the organisation later, turning it into the infamous nest of knowledge brokerage, extortion and assassination it became.<ref>According to Elminster, one of the founding reasons for the Kraken Society was the need of the bargewrights for constant employment. For years, certain agents of the merchants of Yartar have carried on a practice of destroying barges up and down the Three Rivers. They'd do their work at night, [[False-Flag Operation|leaving orc bodies or weapons to suggest that the deed was done by raiders]].</ref>
**
* [[The Corruption]]: [[Averted Trope|Averted]] with the Spellplague. It's just [[Toxic Phlebotinum]] that can be used for good or evil.
* [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check]] - Thay has Researcher and Imperialist parties. Imperialists prevailed and led conquests, constantly failing mainly because ''everyone knows'' this is what they're trying to do and are constantly on guard against them. After several failed campaigns,
** A few Red dragons more greedy than
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]] - Realms has ''a lot'' of [[Undead]], including new ones. But since "negative energy" (un-life force) is a primal force much like elements, [[Undead]] as such aren't obliged to be [[Stupid Evil]]. ''[
{{quote|But vampires have helped travelers and battlefield survivors. Liches have trained, advised, or chatted amiably with adventurers. Skeletons have marched out of crypts in besieged cities to snatch up children -- their descendants -- and bear them to safety. The great paladin Ralgorax, the "Sword of Tyr"...}}
** Ralgorax wasn't unique. Tyr also has Miltiades (''The Heroes of Phlan''). "[[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right|I have a duty to attend to, and screw the natural order of things]]" is a normal attitude for his faithful.
** There's a Faerûnian proverb “black as a black opal", meaning sort of darkish, but not really black (or in figurative sense, evil) at all.
* [[Dead-Man Switch]]: Setting various contingency spells to one's death is such an obvious solution that there's a special kind of undead ('[[Infernal Retaliation|Blazing Bones]]') created when a spellcaster protected with such magics is killed by fire while casting something. Also, dragon magic includes 'Death Matrix' spell, which does nothing until the dragon is dead, then explodes in an inferno of scales, bones, flesh and
* [[Death World]] - Some of the [[Another Dimension|outer planes]], especially places like the Abyss, the [[Mordor|Barrens of Doom and Despair]], and so forth. Changed in 4E.
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]] - The various deicides that have happened over the settings history.
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* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]] - The fates of multiple ''nations'' and even a continent in the transition to 4E.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]] - A few local monsters are borderline cases. Phaerimm, [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong|parasitic]] "spell-grubs". Sharn - even weirder, but [[Chaotic Neutral|mostly benign]] ones, trying to keep Phaerimm in check (and [[Sealed Evil in a Can|sealed]] them to begin with), usually don't mess with anyone else even if invited to and repay if they think they owe to someone.
** ...Until the Spellplague hit. Now they're the helpful (if [[Mad Oracle|inherently cryptic]]) leaders of an (admittedly [[Anti-Villain|sympathetic and playable]]) group of [[Evilutionary Biologist
* [[The End of the World as We Know It]] - The Spellplague, the [[Applied Phlebotinum]] excuse for the 4th Edition changes.
** Also the Time of Troubles, which was the excuse for the AD&D ''2nd'' edition changes back in the day.
* [[Enemy Civil War]] - The Zhents hate the Netherese (Shade), Cyric hates Bane, The Red Wizards hate both (not to mention each other), and the Netherese hate everyone. Cult of the Dragon raids Zhents, who retaliate. Applies to most Underdark denizens as well, especially phaerimm. Who also hate Netherese. And this feeling is reciprocated.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Followers of the
* [[Evilutionary Biologist]]: The Order of Blue Fire. While they ''claim'' to be a support group for the [[Mutants|spellscarred]], they actually want to send the Spellplague back into full bore, thus spellscarring everything and everyone. Interestingly, [[Anti-Villain|they aren't inherently evil]], [[Hero Antagonist|and in fact are often good]].
* [[Eyes of Gold]] - A rare drow feature, notable but not dominant in Baenre (first house of Menzoberranzan).
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* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] - most of them.
** Explicitly, if ''very'' obscurely, averted for Unther and Mulhorand, who (before the Spellplague, anyway) ''looked'' like blatant counterparts to Mesopotamia and Egypt... but they are the descendants of slaves taken from another world, and buried in all the still technically canonical fluff the setting has acquired over the years is a confirmation that that world was ''[[Transplanted Humans|Earth]]''.
* [[Fantastic Drug]] - The "cheeeese". Works only on
** ''Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue'' offers (with limitations) Luiren Spring Cheese, a mild version that has effect "similar to strong wine" on halflings and is eaten as "aperitif" (no strong intoxication or side effects from doses
* [[Fantastic Racism]] - some humans are inclined to it; many powerful species deem everyone else inferior; but in pure xenophobia elves beat everyone around more often than not. Theirs is the "honor" of forming both the church of Shevarash dedicated mostly to hatred of the Drow and Eldreth
** Shevarash himself, on the one hand, preaches hatred, but on the other, has the clear purpose of proactively defending elves from their archenemies (unless or until Shar will succeed in corrupting him, that is). He expanded the list to illithids and more; conversely, he's in peace (if uneasy) with Eilistraee. Of course, just how much this affects their followers in the field is an open question: obviously, the prime reason to become a "drow-hunter" is [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|indiscriminate vengeance]], the oath sounds simply "until the last drow is dead", and Sword Dancers tend to be converted
** The Drow are just as haughty, but mostly [[Hates Everyone Equally|hate everyone equally]] (except holy/unholy wars) starting with their kin; due to their extreme pragmatism, traders work fine with humans, illithids, duergars, deep gnomes or whatever.
** The Golden Dwarves of the East Rift believe themselves to be superior to most races, even other dwarves, and look down particularly on creatures of an abhorrent origin. They however possess a very positive opinion of humans, impressed by the role they have carved into the world for themselves.
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* [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] - "Everything" has a place in the Forgotten Realms.
* [[Fantasy World Map]] - Much better than most.
** [[Left
▲* [[
▲** Quoth [https://web.archive.org/web/20130622142359/http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd
▲{{quote|the nobles of Cormyr--including the royal Obarskyrs--were notorious for having many bastard offspring. Most of these turnshields, as they were called in polite company, were sent away [...] Some became skilled artisans loyal family retainers, or even "[[Spare to the Throne|heirs in reserve]]". But too many became coinless wastrels wandering distant realms as forgotten kin, hating their noble connections and without the means to reap revenge.}}
* [[Fictional Document]] - at least Volo's guides and ''Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue'' are supposed to be actual books printed in the Realms. Some others, like ''Elminster's Ecologies'', are based on in-world texts to a lesser degree.
** "Quentin's Monograph" (a treatise on the nature of alignment and paladinhood by a retired paladin), known only in excerpts.
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** {{spoiler|Until it ended.}}
* [[Functional Magic]]
* [[Gambit Pileup]] - whole organizations like the Cult of the Dragon, Zhentarim, Red Wizards and suchlike all try to snake or claw their way to top via large-scale schemes, which practically ensures they clash with each other when least expected. [[Word of God]] states that sometimes Zhents rolled their [[Idiot Ball]] due to being used as [[Unwitting Pawn
* [[Gender Bender]]: There are spells for that. Also, Mystra had [[The Elminster Series|young Elminster]] walk as "Elmara" for some years and
{{quote|'''[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID{{=}}5812&whichpage{{=}}67#159733 Ed Greenwood]''': "One cannot truly feel the Divine Dance of Eilistraee PROPERLY except as a female, and so her (still very rare, few, and generally secretive about it) male priests must spend some time as a female (not just for the duration of a ritual, but they must do some everyday living as a female)."}}
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]] - There sure were a lot of brothe-
** "Festhalls" is a catch-all category, not limited to "lowcoin lasses", but covering a wide range of entertainment. Some are called "nightclub" in the lore, but generally this would be a misnomer, if only because they're not always limited by time of day. Typically it combines "escorts" with rooms, dancing scene (not necessarily of the sort they couldn't do on the street) and restaurant, but may lack any of these and act as anything between plain brothel, [[Love Hotels|love hotel]]<ref>according to ''Volo's Guide to Cormyr'', one notorious place keeps a giant spider to maintain "Spiderweb Room" popular among "adventuresome couples"</ref>, [[The Matchmaker|matchmaking service]], cosmetics shop, beauty parlor (visiting a "festhall" just for barber or massage is fairly common), wannabe-high-society<ref>''proper'' nobles usually arrange parties for peers in ''their own'' estates</ref> club, and concert hall. Though rooms+meals+massage house or a "trysting place" that ''only'' rents rooms still fall under "inns". So yes, it's one of those cases when censorship makes the authors think some more:
{{quote|'''[http://grubbstreet.blogspot.de/2010/03/realms-and-remembrance.html Jeff Grubb]''': I contributed Festhalls to the Realms. Ed’s original city maps had a high population of brothels, which made them inadvisable to publish. Our choices were rename them or rekey all the maps. I came up with the festhall name, which by definition spread out to handle a multitude of sins (feasts of both foods and flesh, and a bit of day spa added as well). }}
* [[God]] - Ao's boss makes His only appearance thus far in the Avatar Trilogy. Maztica and Al-Qadim sub-settings feature their own overgods (who may or may not be the same).
* [[God-Emperor]] - The God-Kings of Mulhorand.
** King Obould was known among his subjects as 'Obould-Who-Is-Gruumsh' after he was [[Super Empowering|blessed by said god as his champion]].
* [[God's Hands Are Tied]] - Gods cannot act ''against'' their portfolio at all (Oghma in Avatars cycle stood on a razor-edge when he hid a location of the pile of misinformation and Mystril presumably was unable to prevent the casting of ''Karsus's Avatar''), and the rules limit them even in withholding their boons.
** [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5812&whichpage=74#163956 Gods play by the rules], understanding that breaking them is ultimately to everyone's detriment. With a few exceptions like
** The original Mystryl was [[Chaotic Neutral]], her successor Mystra was [[Lawful Neutral]], then she was killed by another god and replaced with a [[Neutral Good]] mortal who ascended to her office and found the hard way she's bound by the same rules. So she allows everyone equal acess to the "weave" (which controls magic) she controls, including those of 'Evil' alignment.
*** Contrasting with the Shadow Weave, where people who attempt to use it without worshiping the controling goddess usually go insane.
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** [[God Is Evil]] - Every god (Even the "good" ones) forced Kelemvor to return to ''holding the souls of every single mortal creature hostage in order to keep their power intact (see one above)''.
*** So, having a survival instinct makes gods evil?
*** Kelemvor tried to claim ''all'' petitioners without patron "his by default"
* [[Good Guy Bar]] - The World Serpent Inn mentioned in several sourcebooks was built in its own demiplane by an archmage from
* [[Good Witch Versus Bad Witch]] - The Witches of Rashemen: The Hathran and the Durthran.
* [[Gotterdammerung]] - Also known as "Karsus's Folly", the only incident of reaching godhood through the spellcasting. While borrowing the divine status from a deity doesn't look like a safe endeavour as it is, the guy's worst mistake was choosing the goddess of magic, which left her choice of [[Better to Die Than Be Killed|killing them both immediately or dying together]] a bit later and leaving the world without useable magic at all. Thus most powerful magic became impossible or dangerous to use and [[The Magocracy]] Karsus tried to save was utterly destroyed.
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* [[Hate Plague]] - Dracorage.
* [[Hero Secret Service]] - Harpers are generic meddlers, but there are also personal hero-centric organisations, like Moonstars (Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, Mystra's Chosen) and Soft Claws (Zundaerazylym "the Laughing Wyrm", ancient steel dragon).
* [[Hero with Bad Publicity]] - Due to his killing of Mystra in the Time of
* [[Hidden Elf Village]] - Evermeet, Evereska. Cormanthor before it became Myth Drannor.
* [[High Fantasy]]
* [[Hobbits]] - The Halflings of Lurien.
* [[Holy City]]: Generally, [http://www.candlekeep.com/fr_faq.htm#_Toc16090488 places visited by the gods during Times of Troubles] became holy sites of their followers. There are more traditional places of worship, though:
** Skuld where residences of Mulhorandi pantheon's manifestations are located. Menzoberranzan, the sacred city of Lloth/Lolth from the start (named after her prophet and the city's founder Menzoberra the Kinless). Athkatla is a pilgrimage site for followers of
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[Mad God|Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the pantheon. He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' is a book of epic propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[Oh Crap|They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[Dirty Coward|most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[Lawful Good|Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a [[Mad God]] is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
* [[Improbable Species Compatibility]] - Humans, Elves and Dragons being able to reproduce with just about anything.
* [[Hybrid Monster]] - Fey'ri.
* [[In Name Only]] - Many 2e sourcebooks, that had 'Forgotten Realms' on the cover, but weren't very setting-specific or relevant.
* [[Irrevocable Order]]: Happened in ''
* [[The Juggernaut]] - [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Tarrasque Tarrasque].
* [[Kudzu Plot]] - So many plot lines that were mentioned and alluded to over the course of the years never materialize into anything. Roleplaying purpose and [[Shared Universe]] nature of setting add up to this. The same for interesting secondary
** According to some authors, [[Executive Meddling]] trend was [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1888&whichpage=7#36407 in favour of making of new characters instead of development of existing ones], with few obvious exclusions
** According to the [[Word of God|Lady Herald of Realmslore]], it was Ed's own guideline keeping the [[Shared Universe]] from turning into the stage of limited stories:
{{quote|"[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID{{=}}11313&whichpage{{=}}1#229210 For every one of my loose ends you tie up or explain, create three new ones and weave them into the Realms]".}}
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{{quote|'''Elminster''': And now, look ye, that rascal, rogue, and jackanapes Ed of the Greenwood's been at it again--passing on precious lore (words I spoke in confidence, mind ye) to folk at TSR, who've promptly published it for all to view. Has he no shame? (''Pages from the Mages'', introduction)}}
* [[Living Shadow]] - even aside of standard D&D undead, and transformation spells. Some (mostly shadow mages) get infused with essence of Demiplane of Shadows as a comfortable form of semi-undeath. Advanced shadow magic can be used to animate one's shadow as an independent sentient creature (and usually promptly make it less independent). Shadow is defined as "it ''is'' what you ''aren't''" and remembers everything it could see during the life of those who cast them, so they tend to be personal [[Nightmare Fuel]] for "owners". {{spoiler|When Melegaunt Tanthul had to do it, spell's subject wasn't happy at all, even though his shadow was rather good guy.}}
* [[Loads and Loads of Races]] - Played straight, even though most of the rarer ones are geographical isolates, no
** Shaar has
* [[Lost Colony]] - Shade was an evil one of these, to the Empire of Netheril
* [[Lost Technology]] - Mostly lost [[Magitek]]. The Imaskari Empire, the Netherese Empire, Ancient Elven Empires...
* [[Luck Manipulation Mechanic]]: During 2nd Edition certain clerics of Tymora, the goddess of luck, have the granted power to re-roll a die once per day. Similarly some clerics of Beshaba, goddess of misfortune, have the ability to force enemies to re-roll their dice.
* [[Mad God]] - Cyric.
* [[Magic Dance]] - Variant magic users known as Spellsingers (AD&D2 ''[
* [[Magic Knight]] - Elven Bladesingers, Eagle Knight and Jaguar Knight of Maztica.
* [[The Magocracy]] - Both Thay and Halruaa ([[Dropped a Bridge on Him|until it exploded]]) were these. Netheril
* [[Mayincatec]]: Maztica. ([[Refuge in Audacity|Even the name!]])
* [[Medieval European Fantasy]] - The Sword Coast (
* [[Medieval Stasis]] - Somewhat averted, (until 4th Edition). There's a literal god of technology and invention, and the setting was really more early Renaissance than medieval. [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|And then they blew it up,]] ignoring this element in favor of [[Floating Continent|floating islands]].
** There was Netheril trilogy and [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13961 campaign] lo-o-ong ago. It has flying enclaves and [[Magitek]]; it just wasn't mixed with "modern" Realms.
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* [[Mix-and-Match Critters]] - Bhaal creating Owlbears and Perytons.
* [[Moral Guardians]] - The Zhentarim and occasionally other evil organizations began to be portrayed as Keystone Kops, at times, because evil was not allowed to prevail.
* [[Mordor]] - Thay (though the worst part is ruled by the nicest of them), Zhentil Keep... Played with in Netheril's
* [[Multilayer Facade]] - According to ''Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical'',
{{quote|Several well-known mages in cities up and down the Sword Coast sell complex spell disguises (for 1,000 gp per layer, with the simplest having eight layers and most running to at least double that) for use by wizards who dare not attend a Mage Fair as themselves. (Wizards of any age or accomplishment seem to acquire enemies, or at least unscrupulous rivals, as easily as most of us breathe.)}}
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* [[Music for Courage]] - what bards are supposed to do.
* [[The Necrocracy]] - Skullport, named after its unusual rulers -- ''flying skulls''. Also, Thay as of 4E after the takeover by the lich Szass Tam, its long-time Zulkir of Necromancy.
* [[No Biochemical Barriers]] - As for diseases, sometimes played straight, but ''should'' be averted by in-depth DM's. For instance
** Canonically, many poisons are selective. Varrakas and orvas affects all mammals. Huld works on non-humanoids, and even then with exclusions. Some poisons don't affect dwarves, but there's "Dwarfbane"
** Also, [[Fantastic Drug|cheeeese]] is halflings-only.
** [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5812&whichpage=72#162748 From Ed Greenwood's answers]: ''most'' critters are immune to rabies, but some of them still can be carriers, 'which is why human lore insists orc and goblin bites “carry poison”'.
** In a novel, one idealistic lady tried "humans but not elves" substance on a wrong target, though by this time she ''could'' get more wise to his little quirk (Chosen of Mystra are immune to poisons)... if she'd bothered with data acquisition for merely "unwashed human beast".
{{quote|'''Lady Laurlaethee Shaurlanglar''': ...That moonwine you drained oh so elegantly was laced with enough srindym to kill a dozen overambitious human magelings.
'''Elminster Aumar''': Well, that's certainly blunt enough. Being a thirsty beast
* [[Non-Mammal Mammaries]] - Most notably, yuan-ti purebloods, but they're [[Squick|bred from captured human stock]].
** As of the 4e transition, [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Dragonborn Dragonborn]. They're even functional, apparently.
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{{quote|'''[[Eldritch Abomination|Ilsensine]]:''' There are so many gods worshiped in that world it's hard to keep track of them all. We wouldn't be surprised to find they have a god there with dominion over the tableware and ale mugs. (''Finder's Bane'')}}
** Especially since...
{{quote|'''[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID{{=}}5812&whichpage{{=}}79#166235 Ed Greenwood]''': ALWAYS remember that except for fanatics, clergy, or the oppressed (such as, many drow in cities dominated by Lolth-worship), all intelligent beings in the Realms worship
* [[Oh My Gods]] - "By Mystra's Lost Spell!". ''"Mask and mother-bitching Tymora, [[Nightmare Fuel|they]] ARE [[For Halloween I Am Going as Myself|real]]!"''. Time of Troubles added "By the first Mystra and the second".
* [[Older Is Better]] - varies: sometimes you get a [[Flawed Prototype]]. E.g. some protective magical rings from Myth Drannor were prone to explosive overloading. Netherese magic was (and what remained, is) very powerful, but mostly very crude and straightforward.
* [[Only the Chosen May Wield]] - meets [[Comes Great Responsibility]] in [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Blade-rite blade-rite], most
* [[Our Orcs Are Different]] - In addition to the standard barbaric mountain orcs, the Realms is also home to two other subraces, the highly spiritual (but equally savage) gray orcs and the more powerful and advanced subterranean deep orcs (also known as orogs), who are basically a race of [[Elite Mooks]].
* [[Physical God]] - One of the most common tropes of the setting. This is literally true during the Time of Troubles.
* [[Pirate]] - Whenever salt water is in sight
* [[Portal Network]] - Extensive, though not open for public. There are even a [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archfr/pg series of articles] each describing a group of such gates in several parts. And a [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mc/mc20010829f stable Ethereal pathways network].
* [[Portal to the Past]] - Three are exactly three of these, and all are closely watched by the elven [[Time Police|Knights Paradoxical]], as well as the deities of magic.
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** As a less important noble (!) in Cormanthor described the situation in elven civilization before its fall--
{{quote|'''Lady Evendusk''': we'd better work as hard as we can to see that Eltargrim is still our Coronal, and not [...] one of the oh-so-noble sons of our three highest houses. They may consider humans and the like no better than snakes and ground-slugs, but they look upon the rest of us elven Cormanthans as no better than cattle.}}
* [[Private Military Contractors]] - Oh, yes. There was a chapter on them in the old boxed set and even a separate supplement for 2nd edition, ''Gold and Glory''
** The
* [[Religion of Evil]] - Bane, Bhaal, Cyric, Shar, [[Xtreme Kool Letterz|Iyachtu Xvim]] et al.
* [[Retcon]] - All unexplained continuity differences between editions.
* [[Saintly Church]] - Torm, Bahamut, et al.
* [[Sand Worm]] - Purple worms and related creatures; you probably don't want to waltz through the Raurin Desert for a weekend picnic.
* [[Screw You, Elves]] - Realms' elves tend to be either xenophobic [[Noble Savage
* [[Shared Universe]] - Over the years, multiple designers and authors have come and gone, all of them leaving some kind of mark on the setting, for good or for ill.
* [[Side-Story Bonus Art]] - "Wizards Three" articles, spin-a-yarn stories.
* [[Signature Device]]: The [[Hero Secret Service|Harpers]] don enchanted pins and they used them. For example, Cormyr has mainly enchanted common items for the army (i.e. Purple Dragon's ring, Commander's ring, etc), the War Wizards have their cloaks which can multitask as a "badge" that displays their rant and a "pass card". Witches of Rashemen got enchanted masks which comes through a variety and they're very recognizable.
* [[Silver Has Mystic Powers]]: Silver is the metal most associated with and suitable for magic. Magic items that involve moon-related magics, electricity/lightning and energy discharges (e.g. Magic Missile) will automatically make all saving throws related to item creation magic if they're 60% (or more) silver by weight.
* [[Soul Jar]] - Liches are masters of this sort of thing.
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** This being a highly magical setting, a law not applicable to all priests, adepts of the [[Psychic Powers|Invisible Art]], people who just got a nifty magic item and so on doesn't instill order too much. But it does: a) help to compile lists of Cormyrean resident mages so that the War Wizard recruiters (or draft notices) know where to go, and b) gives an extra measure of control on adventuring parties, because any of them that didn't stop to register their wizard can be kept in town simply by arresting their arcane caster and forcing the rest to either abandon him or pay his bail.
* [[The Syndicate]] - The Zhentarim, The Twisted Rune, The Knights of the Shield, Iron Throne et al.
* [[Time Abyss]] - lots of people outlived everyone and everything they saw, several times. Honorary prize goes to Labelas Enoreth, elven god of time who detached from the living so much that when forced to incarnate during Time of Troubles he gone mad. Top prize goes to The
{{quote|I'll be all right. Stop soaking my robes with tears, look ye! They cost me three silver pieces, they did, in -- ... Well, in a place gone now. (''Shadows of Doom'')}}
* [[Too Much for Man to Handle]] - Dragonmagic is said to involve channeling enough power to instantly kill several times over any little two-legged creature trying to do the same. Elven High Magic is likewise inherently inaccessible for anyone else. Karsus' inability to work as the guardian of the Weave even for few seconds proved that either it's a female-only position, one needs to ascend normally, or both.
* [[Toxic Phlebotinum]] - the Shadow Weave magic.
* [[Transplanted Humans]] - It's implied (the "Forgotten" part refers to from Earth's standpoint) that the Mulhorandi and Utheric peoples are descended from Egyptian and Mesopotamian people the Imaskari "forcibly" imported, umpteen-thousand years ago.
* [[Truce Zone]] - Some trade cities. Ravens Bluff was an interplanar trade center and though most gates are closed long ago, it was shaped into current form and steered behind the scene by an archpriestess of
** Ravens Bluff ''was'' the setting of the Living City campaign (The first Living-style campaign from the RPGA) and lots of weird PC races were allowed as special characters.
* [[Up to Eleven]] - The Arcane Age. Magic wasn't bound by [[Vancian Magic|Vancian]] rules and the maximum spell level instead of 9 was, well, '''11''' (there was 12-level spell cast once, but that being ''[[A God Am I|Karsus's Avatar]]'', [[Gotterdammerung|they would be better off without this one]]).
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** Finder Wyvernspur managed to become a demigod after defeating Moander, God of Decay. Unfortunately for him, becoming a god by defeating one means taking on that god's portfolios. Since he was [[Chaotic Good]], he dropped all of Moander's evil-based domains, which left him with dominion over...rot. Yippie. He managed to parlay this into change and renewal of art and music, an exceptionally narrow portfolio that has left him with a grand total of two clerics and maybe a hundred lay worshippers, most of whom he assisted when he was mortal and thus worship him more out of thanks than any real devotion to his principles. Along with the lack of [[Gods Need Prayer Badly|a fanbase]], his portfolio is constantly being nibbled at by other deities, even good ones like Lathander, who has dominion over rebirth in a more general sense and wants to make Finder subservient to him or downright steal his portfolio entirely. On the plus side, he managed to [[Intercontinuity Crossover|score]] [[Dragonlance|Fizban]] as an even-more-divine mentor, so good for him.
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Many, many examples.
* [[Affably Evil]] - Jarlaxle. The kind of acceptance Drizzt took several decades of good deeds and angst to accomplish, Jarlaxle can reach in about five minutes because of how much of a nice guy he comes across as. In the Sellsword Trilogy, he manages to win over a bar full of semi-xenophobic mercenaries with his wit and charm. Those who don't approve of his [[
** Lauzoril, Zulkir of Enchantment.
** The city of
* [[A God Am I]] - Many Netherese archwizards gone beyond [[Flat Earth Atheist]] state
* [[Agony Beam]] - Nybor's line of pain spells (Gentle Reminder / Mild Admonishment / Stern Reproof / Wrathful Castigation).
* [[Animated Tattoo]] - One of the splatbooks provides rules for Living Tattoos.
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** Waterdhavian nobles are just as prone to "nobility decay" and even less law-abiding: lots of them are or were smugglers at best and slave-traders at worst.
** Doesn't really affect Dark Elves. While Drow nobles are indeed vicious and cruel, commoners are usually just as evil and only lack the power and resources to cause as much damage.
*** Still ones from the merchant clans are safer to their own and partners than ones from the noble houses. And it seems that lower-status drow are more likely to form stable teams and save each other (making a ''[[Makes Us Even|sport]]'' of it) even if they are just as eager to claw their way up. By necessity, of
* [[Artifact of Doom]] - The Crown of Horns, Crenshinibon (The Crystal Shard), Cyrinishad, Kezefbane...
* [[Attack Animal]] - Wyverns originally were weapons made by Aearee (a [[Precursors|creator race]]) to use against Lammasu (according to ''The Grand History of the Realms''). The stream of wizardly projects involving some or other custom-made weaponized [[Hybrid Monster]] reemerged in the human era and shows no sign of drying up. [[Counselors and Kings|Akhlaur]] experimented with "cat-man warrior" idea and later created laraken. Red Wizards make "chosen ones" (these are [[Turned Against Their Masters|unstable]], though) from slaves and darkenbeasts (these work well... outside of direct sunlight) from any normal animals. Then there was a project of perfect assassins as "Living Construct" described in ''The Finder's Stone Trilogy'' (it [[Turned Against Their Masters|messily backfired]], of course).▼
* [[Automaton Horses]] - Not a common aspect, but one NPC in the book ''Power of Faerûn'' has one.
* [[Backstab Backfire]]: Subverted in "The Silent Blade" by R.A. Salvatore. Drizzt Do'Urden and Artemis Entreri have engaged in a duel to the death to determine once and for all who is the better fighter. Entreri ultimately loses, although even Drizzt acknowledges that his loss has more to do with bad luck than any lack of skill on his part. Entreri doesn't care, and tells Drizzt to finish him since he cannot live with the knowledge that he was beaten. Drizzt refuses, and begins to walk away. Entreri runs at him from behind and cries out in rage—his goal, as it turns out, is to alert Drizzt to his attack so that Drizzt will be forced to kill him. And Drizzt does defend himself by turning around and stabbing Entreri. However, a protective spell cast on Entreri without his knowledge protects him and mortally wounds Drizzt instead.
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* [[Battle Couple]] - Most known are [[Sword and Sorcerer]] pairs. For obvious reasons we didn't see Elminster and Alassra "The Simbul" Shentrantra, or even Khelben and Laeral (save non-described killing of Sammaster) fighting together.
** Drizzt and Catti-brie as well.
* [[Becoming the Mask]] - Vangerdahast's brilliant scheme to blackmail noble lady Shaerl Rowanmantle with her "[[Classy Cat Burglar|theft against boredom]]" to become a Cormyrean agent in Shadowdale. After adventures together and a romance with the Dale's lord she became a co-ruler there (and he perfectly knows how his wife met him), she didn't care much about what War Wizards may tell anyone. In ''Shadow of the Avatar'' one of Vangey's subordinates told her that he thinks it's the time for Shadowdale to "join"
* [[Bizarre Alien Biology]] - Mind flayers, for starters. Anything with the creation type "aberration".
* [[Black Sheep]] - Drizzt Do'Urden is the Black Sheep of House Do'Urden. Zaknafein Do'Urden as well, to a degree.
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* [[Characters As Device]] - Many characters, in sourcebooks and novels, seem to only exist to further a specific plot, and then are never mentioned ever again. A [[Kudzu Plot]] reinforces this trend.
* [[The Chessmaster]] - a lot of them, from Zhentarim to Harpers.
* [[Chivalrous Pervert]] - Guess who? It became a running gag. Just from memory: scoring ''innumerable'' human, elven and half-elven ladies (half of whom at some time before or after either were villainesses or just tried to kill him), several ''avatars of a goddess'', daughters of the same goddess who attacked him before; having daughter from a dragon (polymorphed into human, but he ''knew'') [[Foe Yay|who served the enemy]] of the abovementioned goddess; flirting with ''watchghost'' ({{spoiler|in ''Elminster's Daughter''}}), ''archlich'' ({{spoiler|in ''Shadows of Doom''}}) and ''lich'' ({{spoiler|in ''Temptation of Elminster''}})... ''The Drow of the Underdark'' starts with narrator
** Jarlaxle.
* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] - Cyric, in his days as a mortal.
* [[Classy Cat Burglar]] - Bored noble lady Shaerl Rowanmantle indulged in thievery for amusement. And even though she underestimated the guard's vigilance, an attempt to blackmail her into service just made her co-ruler of the place she was supposed to spy upon and [[Hilarity Ensues|brought Cormites some hilarity]] later. Narnra Shalace the "Silken Shadow" ({{spoiler|in ''Elminster's Daughter''}}).
* [[Cloning Blues]] - The basic spell [[Only One Me Allowed Right Now|has limitations]], but there are twists. The unique ''Manshoon's Stasis Clone'' spell circumvents this, and according to ''[
** The conspiracy in ''Azure Bonds'' as the most devious and overcomplicated case.
** "The Night of Fourteen Magisters" was the nastiest straight example (dozen of Zunroun's clones, ''nine'' of whom lived to get Magister's powers at
** "Manshoon Wars", the result of Manshoon's Stasis Clone being finally broken. Lord Orgauth and Fzoul Chembryl killed Manshoon, expecting one clone with non-updated memory (thus not knowing of their treachery) to reappear. Instead, ''four'' Manshoons teleported in, trying both to get their master spellbook and avenge themselves. Soon ''at least'' 40 normal (and very desperate) clones of him were runing around. [[Hilarity Ensues]], as well as trading spells,
** Deepspawn can create copies of whatever creature it devoured. Unlimited, as long as it got enough of food.
*** [http://www.candlekeep.com/fr_faq.htm#_Toc16090581 The Spawn Wars] - Wars between dwarven kingdoms circa -9000 DR involved lots of deepspawn-bred troops. Which had aftereffects on dwarven spirit immediately (what with having lots of "second-class citizens") and vitality later
* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]] - [[Unperson|What]] the Harpers did to Finder Wyvernspur. Also, in "[
* [[Cool Pet]] - In [[Great Big Book of Everything|Groonpeck's Field Guide to Terrifying Denizens of the Air, with special appendices for Acheron, the Elemental Planes, and the Abyss]] the [[Non-Human Sidekick]] of {{spoiler|[[Rebellious Princess|Miliana]] da Sumbria}} was called ''"[[You Have Been Warned|sacred, untouchable, and extremely dangerous; avoid at all cost]]"''. And when a book on critters like dragons, invisible stalkers and vrocks rates some silly bird like that, it ''[[Musical Assassin|is]]'' cool. Shopscat manages to fit it being just a normal raven.
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] - Guilds (and Knights of the Shield) overthrew the monarchy in Tethyr. And then things quickly rolled downhill, for everyone. Including themselves (in the long run, smoldering civil war isn't good for business).
* [[Crossover]] - Sometimes happens (it's a [[Kudzu Plot|well-interwoven]] world), sometimes is [[Hilarity Ensues|hilariously]] averted with two characters ''from the same city'':
{{quote|'''Elaine Cunningham'''
** [http://www.elfwood.com/
** Despite this, it's alluded in the text and later [[Word of God|confirmed]] that the guy who "deflowers Liriel and teaches her to throw knives, both at her request, and not necessarily in that order" was {{spoiler|Jarlaxle}}.
*** Just pointing out the {{spoiler|[[Squick]] involved, as he's her [half-]uncle.}}
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* [[Dark-Skinned Blond]] - Occurs semi-regularly in the Calishite human ethnicity. And, of course, dark elves. And their descendants, Crinti.
* [[Deal with the Devil]]- Erevis Cale's deal with Mephistopheles during the Twilight War trilogy.
* [[Defeat by Modesty]] - It varies. Some (e.g. elves) just rarely give a damn, some (mostly humans) do. Inverted in ''Laeral's Disrobement''
* [[Defeat Means Friendship]] - Aside from warriors resolving their issues, xenophobic elves forced Elminster to play this game with them ''ad nauseam''. Some didn't make it through, however.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]] - The [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]] visited on Finder was ''a bit'' too much. And never mind collateral damage, like robbing thousands of people (including yet unborn) of mighty fun, or the [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|inevitable result]]. Harpers are good guys, right?
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* [[Free the Frogs]]: "Leave Chitines Alone!" <s>movement</s> notion of some Ched Nasad drow, mentioned in ''War of the Spider Queen''. That wouldn't be so utterly mind-boggling... if the main argument wasn't that they follow the same [[Religion of Evil]] which ''approves'' [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]] of drow so much. No wonder [[Chaotic Neutral|Pharaun]] just laughed at a question whether he's one of those.
* [[Genre Savvy]] - Drizzt does not bother chasing after the crystal shard because he knows that as soon as he destroys it something else evil will pop up.
* [[Ghost Shipping]] - ''[
* [[God Was My Co-Pilot]] - ''Finder's Bane''
* [[Grammar Nazi]] - Interprete this little footnote from ''Volo's Guide to All Things Magical'' as you want:
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* [[Great Big Book of Everything]] - The Leaves of One Night.
* [[Half the Man He Used To Be]] - Dorn Graybrook lost much of the left side of his body to the red dragon, and for this reason was turned into half-golem. And took [[The Hunter|some issues with dragons]].
* [[Handsome Lech]] - Obarskyrs tend to be very charismatic and a bit too... passionate which generally is regarded as a "fact of nature" and assurance that the dynasty isn't going to either lose contact with the people around or die out causing a fight for the throne. Azoun IV was "[http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3684&whichpage=15#73653 just the most randy of a long line of lusty Obarskyrs; their ‘rutting reputation’ was part of the lore of the realm long before Azoun IV was born]", so Cormyr got ''lots'' of [[Royal Bastard
** Volo's indiscretions are not limited to gathering and dispensing information. For one:
{{quote|''' Elminster'''
* [[The Hat Makes the Man]] - The Horn of Crowns makes its wearer crazed and violent.
* [[Heel Faith Turn]] - Something like this implied to be a part of the past Shield of Innocence (''orog paladin'') was reluctant to talk about. Since Thamdarl "the Wizard Unseen" named his memoirs ''Tyrant's Throne to the Arms of a Goddess: My Road To Mystra'', this seems to be his case too.
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** Elminster was a 'human dust catcher' in an old Netherese tomb for a century or so at the beginning of ''Temptation of Elminster''. And [[Late to the Party|found out]] that {{spoiler|Myth Drannor became a fiend-ridden ruin, surprise}} (though either Mystra or Azuth cared to soften impact by sending visions).
* [[I Gave My Word]] - Elminster swore to never kill Fzoul nor Manshoon in an agreement [[Enemy Mine|with one of their common foes]], in favour of stopping yet another common foe. "So high a price", indeed.
* [[I'm a Humanitarian]] - An interesting twist. Creators of [http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mc/mc20010829e one mythal] instead of specifically listing a few nasty critters blocked "any being that had consumed the flesh of men", a rite of passage in nearby orc tribes. Thus ghouls, most evil dragons and fiends, and so on are straight out too. But the Nethertusk Horde did walk
* [[Identity Amnesia]] - Kheil of Sentinelspire.
* [[Indian Burial Ground]] - Played with. Elven tombs attract thieves, but are not safe at all, even if not patrolled by armed forces (like in vicinity of Evereska). Or, Battledale farmers thought, if backed up by few mercenaries and wizards, they could fill and use a swamp even after mold men neighbours told them it's their burial ground. It turned out that both "their" and "burial" should be understood rather broadly. Less than in one year farmers who ran away quickly enough thought they were damn lucky to survive at all.
* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]] - used really well in ''The Wizards Three'' from 'neighbour' crystal spheres (see above). More canonically,
{{quote|While it is suspected that Elminster has visited Oerth and Bigby has visited Toril, it is known that Mordenkainen and Vangerdahast both competed magically for the hand of a young extra-planar beauty (both lost, by the way).}}
** Blackstaff had an encounter with Bigby "apparently not on the best of terms" resulting in a mention that "the old goat comes up with [[Helping Hands|one good gimmick]] and [[When All You Have Is a Hammer|beats it to death with a rock]]"
* [[Interspecies Romance]] - Half-Elves in most place don't even cause a lifted eyebrow, but it's not the only case. Myth Drannor was named after an elf who loved a dwarven lady (and yes, on Toril female dwarves got beards, male elves don't).
** [http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5812&whichpage=69#160874 Here]'s clarification from Ed Greenwood on all those half-orcs.
* [[In the Blood]]:
** Zaknafein Do'Urden is a "good guy", and skilled with the blade. Thus, so is his son, Drizzt. To a lesser extent, Vierna, Drizzt's full sister, is noticeably gentler and more reasonable than their half-sisters...until she goes through the ''advanced'' brainwashing techniques of the Church of Lolth.
** "Silken Shadow" (in {{spoiler|''Elminster's Daughter''}}) ended up with [[Loveable Rogue|much the same occupation]] as so-called "Eladar the Dark" before he cast his first cantrip. For that matter, {{spoiler|Tanalasta Obarskyr}} was a bookworm and after conversion to Chauntea [[Took a Level
** [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|Dornal Silverhand]] and [[Hot Amazon|Storm Silverhand]], both being rangers and playing complete [[You Must Be Cold]] on strangers, though in different circumstances.
* [[It Got Worse]]: In the Avatar Crisis, the forced descent of all the gods into mortal bodies caused havoc with the
** Happens all the time.
* [[Jerkass]] - Mostly heroic incarnations are Vangerdahast (at least until retirement), Khelben (a bit less, mostly due to [[Morality Pet]] effect).
* [[Jerkass Facade]] - sometimes Elminster (e.g. fun with slug sandwiches he remembered in ''Elminster in Hell''), but usually Lhaeo does this for him. Liriel played this with Xzorsh up to [[Knife Outline]] level to keep him from being [[Too Dumb to Live|unguarded around any other drow he could meet]].
* [[Karma Houdini]] - Artemis Entreri. For all of the evil stuff he has done, he is still many people's favorite character.
** He ''is'' an [[Career Killers|assassin]]
*** Most of his evil actions tend to be justified or overshadowed by the evil that the people around him do, and he has paid for a lot of it, knocked off a cliff, stuck in menzoberran and forced to ally with Jarlaxle, and then is mindscrewed somewhat by Jarlaxle
* [[Killer Rabbit]] - Several, including literal ones (according to ''Elminster's Ecologies'').
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* [[Lawful Stupid Chaotic Stupid|Lawful Stupid]] - Knights of Samular [[Good Is Not Nice|aren't very nice people]] as it is (see [[What the Hell, Hero?]]), but in ''Thornhold'' a young knight right from the monastery was given a mission requiring some understanding and diplomacy, which helped him to quickly make himself look a bigger [[Jerkass]] than Khelben and end up as a [[Butt Monkey]] for everyone including a little girl.
* [[Let Me Tell You a Story]]: In ''Daughter of the Drow'', a human warrior amuses a drow mage (who saved him from carnivores and tried to claim as a slave) with a folk tale about how "old favors are soon forgotten". Then {{spoiler|managed to get away and added the same phrase to his "farewell" as he ran off}}.
▲* [[Living Weapon]], [[Attack Animal]] - Wyverns originally were weapons made by Aearee (a [[Precursors|creator race]]) to use against Lammasu (according to ''The Grand History of the Realms''). The stream of wizardly projects involving some or other custom-made weaponized [[Hybrid Monster]] reemerged in the human era and shows no sign of drying up. [[Counselors and Kings|Akhlaur]] experimented with "cat-man warrior" idea and later created laraken. Red Wizards make "chosen ones" (these are [[Turned Against Their Masters|unstable]], though) from slaves and darkenbeasts (these work well... outside of direct sunlight) from any normal animals. Then there was a project of perfect assassins as "Living Construct" described in ''The Finder's Stone Trilogy'' (it [[Turned Against Their Masters|messily backfired]], of course).
* [[Love Triangle]] - all variants, notably one around Galaeron Nihmedu which transformed several times, including [[Tenchi Solution]] and ended up {{spoiler|better than one could suspect, though it was sort of foreshadowed}}.
* [[Loveable Rogue]] - lots of, including Eladar the Dark {{spoiler|a.k.a. Elminster Aumar}} and {{spoiler|his daughter}}.
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* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] - Karsus tried to become a god by using the first 12-level spell to borrow some divine power from the only deity he should have left alone. The result is: destroyed Netheril, killed goddess, no 11-level and higher spells on Toril anymore and 10 level working only when relevant gods are ''sure'' it's a good idea, Karsus being a god just long enough to understand how much he screwed up everything and then [[And I Must Scream|trapped for ages]] as almost-dead almost-god.
** The Harpers' great idea to imprison an irresponsible and arrogant artificer off-plane where he can't do anything and [[Unperson|remove him from the history]]. Quickly became less than safe when one of the few last traces of the evidence fell into hands of wrong guys who forced him to work with them.
** The Dracorage Mythal. Free the world from the dragons' domination by disorganizing them: a good idea. [[Neglectful Precursors|Leave behind]] the device with nigh-unlimited service life not only making dragons aggressive every few years, but capable of making one big nightmare of the whole world just by failing to turn off: not very good idea. This one had ''two'' very close calls. First the dragons not knowing what exactly got them tried to destroy the visible
** In "The Pirate King", Captain Deudermont leads an army to overthrow the ruler of Luskan, the evil lich archmage Arklem Greeth. Despite the best efforts of Drizzt to help him, he ultimately winds up [[It Got Worse|making things worse]].
* [[Noble Demon]] - Lauzoril.
** ''Some'' Princes of Shade: while flooding large part of the desert they found time to warn locals and offer their help with
* [[Noodle Incident]]: It's not known ''what'' Aerilaya (green elf druidess referenced in a few elf-related Realmslore sources) did that she had to leave the continent - except [[Noodle Implements|a few bizarre details]] .
* [[Not So Harmless]] - Cyric in 4th edition.
* [[Nude Nature Dance]] - The Good-aligned female Drow worshippers of Eilistraee dance nude outdoors in the moonlight.
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] - As Elminster's scribe Lhaeo played little obnoxious [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]. After he covertly turned into Haedrak III he plays less than bright lordling and dabbler in magic absent-mindedly playing with his familiar instead of listening to any [[Serious Business]] discussed before him. While his personal power isn't great, he has [[Seen It All]], have an ideal memory, is very observant, good enough investigator to tell nosy ''Khelben'' something new about the events under Blackstaff's own nose and as deft with his spells - including a few Elminster developed personally for him - as it can be expected from a guy apprenticed to the Old Mage for two dozens years.
* [[Older Than They Look]] - Fyodor takes some time to get accustomed to the idea of Liriel being mature enough for a relationship. For one, she's small for a drow. For two, as a drow, at the age of 39
** In ''The Bargain'' by Elaine Cunningham the true age of Arilyn "Moonblade" rather shocked {{spoiler|Hasheth}}. Calishites usually marry very young, so...
{{quote|'''Arilyn''': I'm a ''half-elf'', remember? I'll probably outlive your grandchildren. [...] For as many years as you ''and'' your mother have lived, I've been a hired warrior.}}
* [[Ominous Floating Castle]] - Netherese Enclaves, Flattery Wyvernspur's castle, Temple in the Sky.
* [[Our Elves Are Better|Our Dark Elves Are Better]]: Carried out to extremely aggravating levels by R.A. Salvatore, who takes great pains to show how dark elves can effortlessly see through the most complicated [[
** Averted with Berg'inyon Baenre. Like most drow, he thinks himself greatly superior to humans. But he {{spoiler|meets his end in a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] against Artemis Entreri.}} Also averted with Matron Baenre and her insistence on attacking Mithral Hall after the Time of Troubles. That really wasn't very smart of her, and Menzoberranzan was significantly weakened after taking great losses against Mithral Hall's defenders.
** Elves were too, but they became mostly useless relicts long ago, which led them to The Retreat: turning Cormanthor into Myth Drannor was the last strong attempt to counter the consequences of the decadence. And it held water only as long as the Coronal lived.
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** Make one permanent extradimensional pocket, and you have a very secret stash. [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rl/20060628a Make few hundreds in one city, and they turn the continuum into old rag], and then some ugly fiend jumps in and bites off your head before you can say "Hey, it's supposed to be a totally teleport-proof place!". Eek.
** In the Heroes of Phlan trilogy, we are treated to a case of Foetal [[Phlebotinum Overdose]] : one pregnant spellcaster used so much magic during her pregnancy that her son ended up immune to all magic. [[Blessed with Suck|Including healing spells.]]
* [[The Pollyanna]] - Lathander is the god of optimism in all but name ("there is always another morning") and there seems to be more of obliviousness than defeating the circumstances. Many his followers are like this too: Muragh Brilstagg, Rod of Lathander, was cursed to have his awareness stuck in his body after dying and soon reduced to a skull able only to talk and roll around using his jaw. The priest remained [[Talkative Loon]] loudly preachful about others' faults he
* [[Precursors]] - Before humans, Toril was dominated by elves. Who in turn broke the dragons' rule. Before dragons there were Creator races.
* [[Purple Is Powerful]] - The Knights called the Purple Dragons.
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* [[Razor Wings]]: The 'Sharpwings' spell. It gives a dragon's wing buffet double the damage of a claw attack while keeping its knockdown efect. Without any visual changes.
* [[Rebellious Princess]] - [[Meganekko|Miliana]] Da Sumbria (''The Council of Blades''). Liriel Baenre, technically, counts too. Alusair "[[Lady of War|The Steel Princess]]" of Cormyr had a loud dish-breaking disputes with her father just about every time she returned to the palace.
{{quote|'''Queen Filfaeril'''
'''King Azoun''': (snorting) If he tries, he'd better lash up Tana's tongue and Luse's sword hand, first, or he'll have the shortest reign of any -
'''Queen Filfaeril''': (giggling) Hold that thought, my lord. That's a mind-view I can savor. }}
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* [[Secret Test of Character]] - Harpers sometimes do such things. [[Jerkass|Vangerdahast]] at least once used Secret Test Of Loyalty - those who answered his proposal with an attempt to kill him on the spot were deemed truly loyal to Cormyr's crown.
* [[Shout-Out]] - A lot.
** ''Volo's Guide to All Things Magical'' even has a mocking reference to the ''[[The Anarchist Cookbook]]'' of all things.
** The original ''Forgotten Realms'' sourcebook included the spell "Spell Engine", which was almost identical (given the differences between the two works' underlying magic rules) to the "Warlock's Wheel" from [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[The Magic Goes Away (novel)|The Magic Goes Away]]'' series.
* [[Sinister Minister]] - The priest in charge of Selûne's church in Memnon.
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{{quote|The "joyful" nature of Nybor's voyage refers to the joy of the spell's caster rather than that of its target.}}
* [[Super Registration Act]]: The kingdom of Cormyr requires all adventurers within their borders to register with the government.
* [[Sword and Sorcerer]]: As [[Battle Couple
* [[Tactile Script]]: The Elves got this, but the only known use is tradition of bidding via ''yulthaari''. It's an IOU note in the form of small platinum tube with "writing" on the inner surface that must be read with one's finger, and as such can't be accidentally read from the outside.
* [[Take That]] - In ''The Simbul's Gift'': Lauzoril became Zulkir by [[Klingon Promotion|killing his predecessor]] and mentor in a duel. Then he found an old guy's granddaughter locked away on the estate and soon married her. Granddaddy turned her into [[Cloudcuckoolander]], [[For Your Own Good|trying to protect her]] and/or because later she would constitute a danger. Lauzoril later swore his magic will never touch his daughter, even to straighten her crooked tooth, and if this will be his demise, so be it. That's one of ''major villains''. Thing is, it was printed soon after [http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Robin_Borne_(Earth-9500) Hobgoblin 2211] story, Hasbro-to-Hasbro missile.
* [[Taking You with Me]]: aside of specific incidents there are at least two spells that involve the caster's own death: Red Wizards' ''Gur's spell-lash'' (exploding for the wizard's own hit dice worth of damage) and Elven ''Blood Dragon'' (someone's get hounded by a near-unstoppable magical construct with flesh-dissolving touch).
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* [[Throw It In]]: Where did Drizz't come from? R. A. Salvatore's editor called while he was working on ''The Crystal Shard'' and said he needed to add a sidekick. He came up with him on the spot.
* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]: Lots, perhaps most (in)famously, the Nether Scrolls (though they're harmless for reader) and Cyrinishad (not a real lore, just a sheet of bullshit, but it can brainwash a ''deity'').
* [[Too Much for Man to Handle]]: In ''Elminster's Daughter'' Caladnei was bold enough to demand from Elminster ''and'' Simbul to talk the way everyone can hear instead of a mindlink they obviously used. It turned out that there were more than two participants and when Mystra agreed with this request, Caladnei (and everyone present) learned the hard way why exactly direct contact with deities is rarely used even by priests strong enough to do it every day. They were barely able to move after this
* [[Trapped Behind Enemy Lines]] - Drizzt Do'Urden in The Lone Drow.
* [[Tropes for Dummies]] - [[Canon
** During the introduction to ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Storm of Zehir'', Volo mentions that Elminster decided that ''Volo's Complete Guide to the Behavior of Nymphs'' was "too naughty for print."
* [[Unperson]] - While the Harpers imprisoned {{spoiler|Finder}} they [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|also removed him from all records and suppressed his songs]]. Not a small task, given that the target was a noble, widely known bard and great artificer at once. They even make him forget his own name. Of course, later it [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|backfired]]. In the end they "restored" him when not only the cat was out of the bag, but {{spoiler|he ascended to the demipower status}}, and the story ended up rather embarrassing for both sides.
* [[Unrelated Effects]] - according to the ''[
* [[Van Helsing Hate Crimes]] - it seems anyone who can be presented as an "acceptable target" dealt with this. Of protagonists, Jander Sunstar (vampire) and Liriel Baenre (drow). And let's not start on the whole [http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Bhaalspawn Bhaalspawn] problem... Flavour text of ''The Seven Sisters'' features a wizard who ran into the dell where followers of Eilistraee (including Qilué) danced - it goes ''"aww... how cute... ''firestorm''! [[Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh|Oops.]]"''. Dark Ladies obviously have to deal with such things time and again, and most are neither protected by Mystra's daughter and her wards, nor deterred by her from answering in kind. It was limited to a mild annoyance in Ravens Bluff - in a hardy [[Seen It All]] city only local drunks made a nuisance of themselves.
* [[Vestigial Empire]] - Unther
* [[Villain Protagonist]] - The ''[[War of the Spider Queen]]'' series is a [[Story Arc]]-spanning adventure for the sake of [[Religion of Evil]]. Though ''some'' of them were quite decent even by non-drow standarts {{spoiler|or "got better" later}}.
** Artemis Entreri. Although he eventually turned out to be something like an [[Anti-Hero]] x 10, his stats should still read [[Character Alignment|Lawful]] [[Lawful Evil|Evil]].
* [[Voice Changeling]]: Giogioni Wyvernspur was known among his peers for a good imitation of his
* [[We Could Have Avoided All This]] - it happens, but when it's subverted... The rumors of Charisma being the [[Dump Stat]] in AD&D have been rather exaggerated (see [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]).
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] - Paladin orders have unfortunate tendency to go over the top. Knights of Samular (see [[What the Hell, Hero?]]) proved themselves as [[Lawful Stupid Chaotic Stupid|Lawful Anal]].
** Golden elf Kymil Nimesin formed "Elite Guard" conspiracy, they planned a coup and managed to kill the king of Evermeet - which fact most gold elves consider their collective shame. Why? Out of oblivious utopism.
{{quote|'''Elaine Cunningham'''
** Khelben Arunsun ''is'' a great and mighty hero when there's some or other immense threat. When there are none, he will find something anyway. Blackstaff shows signs of this in most novels by Elaine Cunningham, but it's not a [[Armed with Canon|disagreement on board]]: according to Ed Greenwood, [http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/wn/20021218a seeing a polymorphed steel dragon on a revel] is enough for him to "casually toss a ''wyrmbane'' spell her way". Or his old obsession with smoke powder. He usually balances on the border of this, slipping back and forth, with Laeral [[Morality Pet|holding him back]].
* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]] - Once a group of adventures including a ''very'' easy on the eye [[Lady of War|female human fighter]] entered a monsters-infested castle. Pretty typical? She has two exotic assets: a [[Whip Sword]] and a [[Psychic Powers|wild talent]]. Not ''[[Brainwashed|Domination]]'', not ''[[Stuff Blowing Up|Detonation]]'', not even ''[[Palantir Ploy|Clairvoyance]]''. ''[[Telepathy|Mindlink]]''
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]] - Knights of Samular while hunting for demon Vladjick attacked an elven community that denied them passage due to "[[With Us or Against Us]]" thinking. Now for ''some'' inexplicable reason many elves have very, very dim view of ''some'' paladins. Strange people, aren't they? The same paladin order on a lesser scale:
{{quote|I have no love for orcs, but I know what is happening, and I do not place all the blame on the monsters who attacked. What choice do the displaced orcs have when their hunting grounds are taken from them? They must raid towns and farms in order to survive, and so they do.| '''a woman from Gladestone''', ''Thornhold''}}
** Let's not discuss Elminster's brilliant idea of ''letting'' the Tuigan Horde rampage across the Heartlands, because God forbid that Cormyr actually do anything horrible like allying with other good and neutral nations to form a temporary mutual defense pact. Fortunately, in perhaps the only example in the setting of Elminster not getting his way, everybody ignored him and went with Azoun's plan instead.
*** Tuigans attacked Thay, were let go alive on condition of joining the next war on Thay's side. Which is how they were "invading Thesk": got kicked out of Rashemen so hard that Red Wizards had to part a lake to save them. Still dangerous, but after two meatgrinders like this in a row, there was a reasonable doubt whether to panic. On the other hand, Zhents got an excellent chance to infiltrate a great area, and used it.
**** Indeed, the Zhentilar managed to infiltrate Thesk so hard that all the troops they stationed there went native and they and their children are now living happy new lives as Theskian militia, miners, and farmers.
*** Cormyr is frequently seen as a domineering and grasping state and isn't trusted much, especially in Dales ''and'' after the "inclusion" of Tilverton. [[Properly Paranoid|For good reasons]], as ''Shadow of the Avatar'' shows. Obarskyrs themselves tend to act as a redeeming feature, but still. And of course...
{{quote|Never before in the history of this fair realm have so many owed so much to the coffers of the king. Never fear but that he'll come collecting in short order...and his price shall be the lives of his debtors, in some foreign war or other. He'll call it a Crusade or something equally grand: but those who die in Cormyr's colors will be just as dead as if he'd called it a Raid To Pillage, or a Head Collecting Patrol. It is the way of kings to collect in blood.| Albaertin of Marsember, ''A Small But Treasonous Chapbook''}}
**** Of course, this chapbook entirely fails to explain why the king's allegedly imperialistic adventure collected no tribute, colonized no new lands, didn't even collect any loot, and was funded almost entirely by donations and volunteers. Cormyr didn't even ''conscript'' for the Tuigan Crusade; everybody who went along was either a volunteer, a hired mercenary, or from the military forces provided by various allies. IIRC, Azoun didn't even levy a war tax.
*** Plus, it then turns out the whole thing was actually Amaunator being "reborn" as Lathander, which changed back right after the Spellplague...
** What a certain order of [[Knight Templar|Helmites]] (the Companions of the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|One True]] [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Vision]]) [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|did in Maztica]] not only ruined the ([[Hero with Bad Publicity|already tarnished]]) reputation of their deity, it caused the paladins themselves to have to spend a number of years making amends for their racist slaughter, create new orders dedicated to preventing such atrocities in the future as well as pass laws forbidding it - and they [[Reformed but Rejected|''still'' are]] distrusted and closely watched by some Faerunians even today.
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* [[Whole-Plot Reference]] - Some of the novels do this, including one trilogy that was [[The Fountainhead]] [[Recycled in Space|in Forgotten Realms]]. Not that it was bad.
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]] - Lark of Suzail panically feared snakes. Guess ''where'' Elminster sent her to do research for ''Ecologica''? Right, into Serpent Hills (the foreword is titled "That's not a stick"). Now guess ''whom'' he recommended her as a guide...
* [[With Due Respect]] - there hardly will be any larger case than a greater god confronted by his own paladin. Of course, Lathander ''is'' rather irresponsible by nature. Labelas
* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]] - Elminster, Halaster, The Simbul, and others.
* [[Wizard Classic]]: Elminster follows in this venerable tradition.
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