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    Canonfire :: View topic - Alternative name for faerzress in Greyhawk campaigns
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    Alternative name for faerzress in Greyhawk campaigns
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    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sun Nov 19, 2006 3:51 pm  
    Alternative name for faerzress in Greyhawk campaigns

    I was wondering if anyone had come up with an alternative name for faerzress as featured in the FR book "Underdark".

    Faerzress is that "energy" in the Underdark that confounds such things as scrying and teleporting. It is also the energy that infuses the drowish weapons and armour that spoil in sunlight.

    This "energy" has been around since the 1E module Vault of the Drow but has only recieved attention for 3E in the FR book mentioned above.

    At the moment, I'm just calling it "Oerth-energy".

    Has anyone come up with a more fancy name?

    "Faerzress" is obviously a derivitive of "Faerun" so I'm not keen on using it.

    Thanks Happy


    Last edited by dead on Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
    Master Greytalker

    Joined: Jun 29, 2001
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    From: Bronx, NY

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    Sun Nov 19, 2006 4:12 pm  

    Oerthblood.

    We've discussed it several times in the chat, and it most likely that Oerthblood should be treated the same as Faerzress. Indeed, if -zress is taken as -blood, then other than the world name, they are the same.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sun Nov 19, 2006 5:20 pm  

    Samwise wrote:
    We've discussed it several times in the chat, and it most likely that Oerthblood should be treated the same as Faerzress.


    Is there a link or info on what exactly Oerthblood is?

    Which product did it first appear in?

    I was flicking through The Return of the Eight and saw a reference there. Something about Tenser mining for it from his castle. I haven't read the adventure yet, though.

    Thanks Smile
    GreySage

    Joined: Aug 03, 2001
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    Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:32 pm  

    How about "Flaezress?"
    Master Greytalker

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    Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:22 pm  

    dead wrote:
    Is there a link or info on what exactly Oerthblood is?


    Not that I recall offhand.

    Quote:
    Which product did it first appear in?


    From the Ashes I think, with more in Ivid the Undying.

    Quote:
    I was flicking through The Return of the Eight and saw a reference there. Something about Tenser mining for it from his castle. I haven't read the adventure yet, though.

    Thanks Smile


    Yes, there's a strong reference there about it.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:11 am  

    I believe there is info about how Drow equipment is created with its bonuses in part due to the influence of the "strange radiation" of the Underdark on adamantine during the forging process.

    Which begs the question, "Why don't dwarf weapons work the same way?"
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    From: Pretoria

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    Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:46 am  

    Oh nice one Andy!
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Mon Nov 20, 2006 7:33 am  

    I believe all of that is in either G3, the D-series, the Fiend Folio or all of them.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Mon Nov 20, 2006 8:25 am  

    Why don't the Dwarves used Oerthblood? Damned good question. A couple of possible answers:

    Because Dwarven culture respects the Oerth, while Drow culture exploits it. Oerthblood is not to be used for anything as mundane as weapons or armor.

    Or maybe Dwarven culture considers Oerthblood "unclean" with magic, so they treat it as we'd treat uranium ore.

    Or they recognize its limitations (items created with it must remain underground, and occasionally in the presence of Oerthblood), and just aren't interested in it.

    Telas
    Master Greytalker

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    Mon Nov 20, 2006 11:39 am  

    The Drow weapons thing was retconned in the FR accessory Underdark, which also has a section on Faerzress.

    They have a special weapon and armor enhancement called, conveniently enough, "Drowcraft." It gives a luck bonus to the weapon or armor in areas of Faezress or earth nodes, but requires the item to make a save when taken into the sunlight or disintegrate. The obvious benefit being as a luck bonus, it will stack with the ordinary enhancement bonus of the item.

    As for why dwarves don't use it, the answer is simple: the bonus only works in certain areas. Leave those areas and your stuff becomes a lot weaker. Dwarves prefer items that are always good instead of selectively good.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Nov 21, 2006 5:42 pm  

    Can someone please give me a brief description of what Oerthblood is?

    Thank you Happy
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:45 pm  

    dead wrote:
    Can someone please give me a brief description of what Oerthblood is?


    It's what folks on this thread are calling "faerzress", which is what the Drow in the Forgotten Realms call an underground radiation that messes with magic, primarily divination (scrying) and teleportation. It also "powers" Drowcrafted items, which are the 3.5 version of the old AD&D Drow items (disintegrate in sunlight, etc).

    Personally, I'm going to muck with its properties and effects when I include it in my campaign.

    Telas
    Adept Greytalker

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    Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:23 am  

    rasgon wrote:
    How about "Flaezress?"


    Sounds as if the drow would eat too many white beans... Laughing Embarassed
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    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:36 pm  

    Telas wrote:
    dead wrote:
    Can someone please give me a brief description of what Oerthblood is?


    It's what folks on this thread are calling "faerzress"

    Telas


    Thanks.

    I guess when I heard the term "Oerthblood" I took it quite literally and envisioned some kind of viscous dark blood oozing deep under the earth's crust - not so much an intangible radiation like faerzress.

    Or is there a blood in a literal sense like I'm thinking that eminates the radiation?
    Adept Greytalker

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    Mon Nov 27, 2006 3:43 pm  

    My PCs have just enterred the UnderOerth as part of the Queen of SPiders campaign. I know that teleportation wont transport anyone further than half a mile into the UnderOerth but how about Planeshifting? The party is quite fond of using this method. I'm not sure if it would allow entry into the UnderOerth but if not how do the denizens of the UnderOerth get about? Maybe they must rely on specific portals? ANy thoughts?

    Also does anyone impose any rules regarding spending long periods of time out of the sunlight....this must cause problems with surface dwellers after a while...depression, clautrophobia, rickets from lack of VitaminD?

    My PCs are quite powerful already and very cocky, I'd like them to be brought to heel by some of the more simpler dangers of travel and adventure...especially as overconfidently they didn't even bother to provision themselves.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:30 pm  

    If you have access to it, the FR Underdark book has any number of hazards and dangers in it.

    I'd also hit the original description of Drow abilities and tactics in the D modules. Basically, they always attacked from ambush, and faded away before being vanquished. Repeat as needed.

    Check this page...
    http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20050602b&page=1

    Add in getting lost, running out of rations, repeated attacks interrupting the casters rest before they can regain spells, and suddenly it's a really bad place to be.

    Finally, Kobolds. Traps, swarmfighting, missile weapons, cave-ins, spells (favored class Sorcerer), etc. Nothing takes the fight out of a party like getting its **** handed to it by short lizard-dog thingies.

    EDIT: Plane Shift works like Teleport, and this stuff would block it, too. If you're playing 3.5, then Plane Shift is accurate to within "5 to 500 miles of your intended destination".

    Telas
    GreySage

    Joined: Aug 03, 2001
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    Tue Nov 28, 2006 7:43 pm  

    Here's a Paizo thread on Oerthblood, which I just found through the modern miracle of Google.

    I couldn't find any reference to the stuff in From the Ashes or Ivid the Undying, so it may be that Return of the Eight was the first mention of it by that name. However, Ivid the Undying mentions:

    Quote:
    The second wild card comes in the form of deposits of rare magical ores in Oerth's crust. The dweomerstones and related magical gems around the Nyr Dyv (see Iuz the Evil) are one example of these, but Oeridian mages and priests proved to be of unequalled excellence in tracking down fragments of magical meteorites, stones, or crystals—some magically shaped by the of powers and avatars when they still walked Oerth's lands.

    In some places, such as The Causeway of Fiends, whole blocks of such ores could be extracted and enchanted. The most fell and dire of these magical deposits, of course, is the Cauldron of Night from whence the malachite throne itself was crafted.


    And from Iuz the Evil:
    Quote:
    The Horned Lands are unique in having very rare deposits of a unique magical gem: dweornite. Small clusters of dweornite gems, tear-shaped, semi-opaque, blue-white stones, are found in totally unpredictable subterranean locations. The gems have diverse magioal powers. Those which have been documented include spell gems, gems which yield magical potions when crushed and dissolved, gems with empathic effects, gems with teleport, dimension door or extra-planar travel properties, and gems of a divinatory nature. Of special note are the spell gems, which when crushed in the hand of a mage allows memorized and already-cast spells to he regained. These are similar to the dweomerstones of the Cairn Hills, and some sages suggest a common origin for both these and the reputed ioun stones Rary seeks in the Bright Desert.

    These properties are not, truly, so terribly exciting, but what draws some very powerful creatures to take an interest in them is that some 1% of them have very powerful magical qualities. Both wish and longeerity magic
    are found with such rare gems.


    Anyway, I think Oerthblood is actually a mineral of some kind. It may be that it is radioactive, and that Oerthblood or something similar to it is responsible for the "faezress" radiation.
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