Dugmaren Brightmantle

The Gleam in the Eye, the Wandering Tinker, the Errant Explorer

Lesser Power of the Outlands CG

PORTFOLIO: Scholarship, invention, discovery
ALIASES: None
DOMAIN NAME: Outlands/Dwarvish Mountain (Soot Hall)
SUPERIOR: Moradin
ALLIES: Brandobaris, Cyrrollalee, Deneir, Erevan Ilesere, Garl Glittergold, the Morndinsamman (except Abbathor, Deep Duerra, Laduguer), Nebelun/Gond, Oghma, Shaundakul, Thoth, Tymora, Urogalan
FOES: Gargauth, llsensine, Maanzecorian (dead), Urdlen
SYMBOL: Open book
WOR. ALIGN.: LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN

Dugmaren Brightmantle (DUHG-mah-ren BRITE-man-tuhl) is the patron of dwarven scholars and the embodiment of the chaotic and exploratory spirit that consumes some of the Stout Folk. He is venerated by dwarves and a few gnomes, all of whom are scholars, inventors, engineers, tinkers, and fiddlers. His worshipers are consumed with the acquiring of knowledge simply for its own sake rather than for any practical purpose. Whereas Moradin draws smiths and other craftsfolk to his forge, Dugmaren attracts those free-thinkers who want to create something truly new, not a variation on an old theme.

Dugmaren is thought to be a child of Moradin - a chaotic element split off from his father's stern lawfulness and nurtured by the favor of his mother Berronar. In fact the All-Father relates well to Dugmaren's creative and explorative instincts, but the Wandering Tinker often drifts away from projects before they are completed and usually before he has found a use for the knowledge he has gathered - a trait that irritates Moradin to no end. Dugmaren is always getting himself enmeshed in one exploit or another, and his regular accomplices include Haela or Marthammor of the Morndinsamman and Brandobaris, Erevan Ilesere, Nebelun/Gond, or Shaundakul from the other human or demihuman pantheons. Aside from Gargauth, who embodies everything corruptive and malevolent in the discovery of lost or undiscovered knowledge, the gods of the illithids, who seek to hoard knowledge for themselves, and Urdlen, who hates everyone and everything, the Wandering Tinker has no true foes. However, Dugmaren finds the company of Abbathor, Deep Duerra, Laduguer, and the goblin and evil giant gods trying at best. The Wandering Tinker is tolerated by the lawful members of the dwarven pantheon because his inventions and innovations have proven to have had beneficial aspects.

Dugmaren is a benign, inquisitive, cheerful, and optimistic deity concerned with discovering the unknown. He is an inveterate acquirer of trivia and little-used knowledge, an experimenter and a fiddler. Although he dwells within the Dwarvish Mountain in the Outlands, he often ventures into the planes of Arborea, Elysium, and Bytopia. The Wandering Tinker sometimes dispatches an avatar to act as an unseen guide for dwarven scholars and travelers, protecting them in their searches and providing hints on where to look for knowledge.

Other Manifestations

Dugmaren rarely manifests in an obvious or direct fashion. Instead, the Wandering Tinker prefers to guide his followers to new discoveries as subtly as possible. For example, he might manifest by causing a book to open to a page of particular interest or by causing a secret door to shift slightly, revealing its existence to a determined searcher.

When he does find it necessary to manifest his presence directly, Dugmaren typically envelops a worshiper or object in a bright nimbus of bluetinted light. The effect of such an aura varies according to the situation. Dugmaren typically manifests through the actions of sentient creatures by giving them the ability to use a single divination spell, such as detect magic, ESP, identify, legend lore, or true seeing, or a single defensive spell, such as anti-magic shell, ironguard, magical vestment, minor globe of invulnerability, protection/rom evil, or shield. The Wandering Tinker sometimes manifests by transforming a follower's mental picture into a physical object in a fashion similar to the effects of the spell major creation.

Dugmaren is served by archons, aasimon, einheriar, electrum dragons, feystags, and gynosphinxes. He demonstrates his favor through the discovery of king's tears, pearls, unlooked-for scraps of lore of any sort, and faint, long-forgotten melodies with no apparent source. The Wandering Tinker indicates his displeasure by temporarily preventing a tome from opening, by causing a device to seize up and stop working, or by blocking one or more forms of sensory input (usually hearing) for a time. He also provides cryptic omens in the form of riddles, puzzles, and impossible objects.

The Church

CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: NG,CG,N,CN
TURN UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No

All clerics (including fighter/clerics) and specialty priests of Dugmaren receive religion (dwarven) and reading/writing (Dethek runes) as bonus nonweapon proficiencies. Clerics of Dugmaren (as well as multiclassed clerics) cannot turn undead before 7th level, but they always strike at +2 on all attack and damage rolls against undead creatures. At 7th level and above, clerics can turn undead as other clerics do, but as a cleric of four levels less than their current level. These modifications apply only to the cleric class. Until the Time of Troubles, all priests of Dugmaren were male dwarves or male gnomes, but females of both races are now accepted into the clergy.

The followers of Dugmaren are viewed with a certain measure of distrust and suspicion by most dwarves. While Dugmaren's apostles are well regarded for their learning and inventiveness, few dwarves are willing to spend a great deal of time in the company of the Wandering Tinker's faithful. There are two reasons for such reticence: the fear of getting caught up in the spectacular failure of yet another experiment, and the fact that the quixotic behavior of Dugmaren's followers is tiring to the orderly mindset common to the children of Moradin. Other human and demihuman races tend to be more tolerant of Dugmaren's followers than their fellow dwarves are. Temples of Dugmaren are found both above ground and below.

They are usually sprawling complexes crammed full of the detritus of countless experiments as well as artifacts collected on extended sojourns to distant locales. At the center of each such house of worship is a huge library housing a large collection of rune stones plus the tomes and scrolls of other races. Altars of Dugmaren consist of a simple block of granite (or some other hard stone) upon which sits a single ever-burning candle symbolizing the quest for knowledge. Novices of Dugmaren are known as the Curious. Full priests of the Wandering Tinker are known as Seekers of Truth and Mystery. In ascending order of rank, the titles used by Dugmarenite priests are Questing Wanderer, Avid Fiddler, Philosophical Tinker, Seeking Scholar, Searching Sage, and Errant Philosopher. High Old Ones have unique individual titles but are collectively known as the High Savants. Specialty priests are known as xothor, a dwarvish word that can be loosely translated as those who seek knowledge. The clergy of Dugmaren includes shield dwarves (53%), gold dwarves (46%), and a handful (1%) of gray dwarves, jungle dwarves, and gnomes. Dugmaren's clergy is dominated by specialty priests (85%), but does include a few clerics (12%) and fighter/clerics (3%) as well. The priesthood is unevenly divided by gender: 96% male and 4% female.

Dogma: The secrets of the world are waiting to be revealed. Travel widely, broaden your mind at every opportunity, and pursue the life of a scholar. Cultivate the spirit of inquiry among the young and be a teacher to all. Seek to recover the lost and/or arcane knowledge of ages past and apply it in the world of today. Try new methods of doing things just for the joy of experimenting. Learn a little of everything, for you never know what might be of use down the road.

Day-to-Day Activities: Priests of the Wandering Tinker spend their days in scholarly pursuits, seeking to learn, teach, and advance nearly every field of knowledge even marginally interesting to the dwarven race. Many Seekers of Truth and Mystery serve as instructors to the young, while others record and archive current dwarven practices for future generations. Dugmaren's clergy members travel widely, seeking new experiences, new ideas, and the recovery of lost dwarven lore.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies The church of Dugmaren has little in the way of formal ritual or ceremony. Priests of the Wandering Tinker whisper a prayer of thankfulness to Dugmaren when they discover a piece of forgotten lore or whenever they make a significant discovery of any sort. Greengrass and Higharvestide are the only holy days regularly celebrated by Dugmaren's faithful. Such days begin with several hours of private early-morning introspection, usually spent staring into the heart of a single lit candle. These personal meditations are followed by a day-long convocation of scholars in which the results of scholarly investigations since the last such symposium are presented, defended, and discussed.

Major Centers of Worship: With the founding of Luruar in the Year of the Gauntlet (1369 DR) and the elevation of Alustriel to rule it, Silverymoon's role as the preeminent center of learning within the Moonlands of the North has continued to expand. With the blessing and encouragement of King Harbromm and the Bright Lady, 40 dwarven scholars from Citadel Adbar, under the direction of Savant of Mysteries Daurant Tomescribe, emigrated to Silverymoon in the first few months of the Year of the Tankard (1370 DR). There they founded a temple of Dugmaren alongside the other colleges, temples, and libraries of the Gem of the North. Both rulers saw this development as a way to ensure that the dwarves of the emerging nation of Luruar contributed to and benefited from the scholarly work and intellectual ferment already underway in the capitol city.

Since its inception, the Athenaeum of Philosophy, located east of the Market and northwest of Alustriel's Palace, between Fortune Hall and the Temple of Silver Stars, has been the home of invention, experimentation, philosophical and scholarly debate, and seminars on a wide range of topics - these last being open to the general public. Although the worshipers of Tymora and Selune have uttered more than a few fervent prayers to their goddesses after alarming explosions emanating from the experimental laboratories beneath Dugmaren's house of worship, the introduction of two score dwarven inventors and sages to Silverymoon's scholarly circles has been a great success and is starting to draw more dwarves from the lands of fallen Delzoun, as well as scholars of other races based in Silverymoon, to share in the intellectual ferment.

The Athenaeum itself once served as a training facility for the Knights of Silver based in the nearby palace, and halls that were once employed for dining, sleeping, and weapons training are now occupied by sprawling laboratories and great libraries filled with obscure knowledge of questionable usefulness. The temple is always ablaze with light as its residents experiment, tinker, and invent night and day. Visiting scholars of any race are welcome to reside in the temple for a night or even a tenday, but few find the ever-present chaos conducive to a good night's sleep.

Affiliated Orders: The Order of the Lost Tome is a loosely structured fellowship of errant dwarven scholars dedicated to the recovery of lost dwarven lore for the benefit of kingdoms and clan holds throughout the Realms. Individual Knights of the Lost Tome usually work alone or in the company of dwarven and nondwarven adventurers unaffiliated with the order. They combine their passion for knowledge and investigative abilities with the martial skills necessary to defeat the current occupants of fallen dwarven strongholds thought to contain examples of and treatises on lost dwarven lore.

Priestly Vestments: Dugmaren's priests tend to eschew formal religious garb aside from plain, homespun white garments with vibrant sashes the width of a hand. High Old Ones of the faith wear simple silver circlets to denote their status. The holy symbol of the faith is a silver locket Grafted to resemble an open book. Many of Dugmaren's followers keep small bits of lore - riddles, puzzles, command words, etc. - inside such lockets in homage to the god - and also to keep them readily available in unexpected situations.

Adventuring Garb: Members of Dugmaren's clergy dress practically when exploring dangerous or unknown territories. Most favor light armor and weapons, preferring maneuverability over defense. Many carry unique weapons; most also have items with defensive capabilities of widely varying usefulness and reliability, which they have invented and wish to field-test.

Specialty Priests Xothor

REQUIREMENTS: Intelligence 10, Wisdom 13
PRIME REQ.: Intelligence, Wisdom
ALIGNMENT: NG, CG
WEAPONS: Any
ARMOR: All armor types up to and including chain mail; no shield
MAJOR SPHERES: All, astral, charm, divination, guardian, numbers, protection, thought, travelers, wards
MINOR SPHERES: Chaos, creation, healing
MAGICAL ITEMS: Any
REQ. PROPS: Engineering
BONUS PROFS: Ancient or modem languages (pick any two), ancient history, two skills from: artistic ability, brewing, carpentry, cobbling, fishing, leatherworking, pottery, rope use, seamanship, seamstress/tailor, stonemasonry, weaving, blacksmithing

• While most xothor (the plural form of xothar) are shield dwarves or gold dwarves, members of nearly every subrace are called to be specialty priests of Dugmaren's clergy.
• Xothor are not allowed to multiclass.
• Xothor may select nonweapon proficiencies from the rogue group with- out penalty.
• In addition to the bonus proficiencies for ancient or modern languages listed above, xothor gain an additional language every two levels (that is at 3rd level, 5th level, etc.). This ability tops out at 20th level.
• Xothor have a limited ability to use magical wizard scrolls and priest scrolls containing spells beyond their current ability. A xothar's understanding of magical writings is far from complete, however. The xothar has a percentage chance (equal to 100 - 5 x [level of the priest - level of the spell to be read]) to read the scroll incorrectly and alter (which sometimes involves reversing) the spell's effect. This sort of malfunction is not always detrimental to the xothar and his or her party, but it never functions exactly the way the xothar intended. For example, if a xothar reads a fireball scroll incorrectly, it might have a burst radius of 3 inches, igniting an opponent's shirt or an ally's beard, or it might become a frost-ball, coating everyone within the normal area of effect in ice. The exact effect of any flubbed scroll reading is up to the DM, but roughly one-third of the time it is helpful in an unexpected way, and one-third of the time it is neutral in its impact.
• Xothor can cast mending (as the 1st-level priest spell) or brightmantle (as 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 3rd level, xothor can cast augury (as the 2nd-level priest spell) or idea (as the 2nd-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 5th level, xothor can cast Alimir's fundamental breakdown (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) or tongues (as the 3rd-level wizard spell) once per day.
• At 7th level, xothor can cast divination (as the 4th-level priest spell) once per day.
• At 10th level, xothor can cast commune (as the 5th-level priest spell) or magic missile (as the 1st-level wizard spell) once per day.
• At 13th level, xothor can cast legend lore (as the 6th-level wizard spell) once per day.
• At 15th level, xothor can cast teleport without error (as the 7th-level wizard spell) once per day.

Dugmarenite Spells

1st Level

Mending (Pr 1; Alteration)
Sphere: Creation
Range: 30 yards
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 4
Area of Effect: 1 object
Saving Throw: None

This spell repairs small breaks or tears in objects. It will weld a broken ring, chain link, medallion, or slender dagger providing but one break exists. Ceramic or wooden objects with multiple breaks can be invisibly rejoined to be as strong as new. A hole in a leather sack or wineskin is completely healed over by a mending spell. This spell does not, by itself, repair magical items of any type. One turn after the spell is cast, the magic of the joining fades, and the effect cannot be magically dispelled. The maximum volume of material the caster can mend is 1 cubic foot per level.

The material components of this spell are two small magnets of any type (usually lodestones) or two burrs.

2nd Level

Brightmantle (Pr 2; Abjuration)
Sphere: Protection
Range: Touch
Components: V,S,M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: Creature touched
Saving Throw; None

This spell envelops the recipient's head in a nimbus of faint, flickering blue light. While under the influence of a brightmantle, the target can think perfectly clearly with no impairment. Intelligence checks are made with a +2 bonus. Alcohol, drugs, and poisons are not removed from the recipient's system, but their side effects, which muddle the brain, temporarily abate.

Spells from the school of enchantment/charm and the spheres of charm and thought that impede the ability of the target to think clearly, such as chaos, charm monster, charm person, command, confusion, delude, feeblemind, friends, forget, magic jar, mental domination, scare, or suggestion, have no effect while the target is protected by a brightmantle. It may, at the DM's option, provide a lucid period for an individual afflicted with insanity. The duration is 1 hour per caster level when cast on dwarves; otherwise, it is 1 turn per caster level.

The material components of this spell are the priest's holy symbol and a pinch of smelling salts (or any restorative whose preparation is based on spirits of ammonia).

7th Level

Guardian Mantle (Pr 7; Abjuration, Invocation)
Sphere: Protection
Range: 0
Components: V,S,M
Duration: 1 turn+1 round/level
Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: The caster
Saving Throw: None

The guardian mantle spell creates a blanket of translucent bluish energy that encases the priest's body as protection from melee and missile attacks. Those attempting to attack the priest must roll a successful saving throw vs. spell at a -4 penalty or find the attack foiled by the mantle. Attackers using magical weapons can add the weapon bonuses to the saving throw.

Maintaining this defensive enchantment requires no concentration on the part of the caster, who can cast spells or choose to ignore attackers. The mantle does not protect against spells or spell-like powers and cannot be made permanent. While the mantle is in effect, it suppresses all the priest's protective magics for its duration except armor (including armor, shields, and helms). For example, neither bracers of defense nor an amulet of life protection will operate while this spell is in effect, but leather armor +2 is not affected.

The material components are the priest's holy symbol, a piece of blue velvet, and a gem of at least 500 gp value.