Soap

Soap was a cleaning substance created and used throughout the realms, even though was sometimes hard to find. When lathered it created foam that removed dirt and smell from kin, clothing, adventuring gear, or hair.

"Until you've been bathed by a cheerful, skillful, beautiful maid who wears white gloves as she soaps you, you haven't lived."

- Volothamp Geddarm

Description
Soaps were often molded into bars and scented with aerobatic oils or herbs like chamomile.

The daily soaps from Selgaunt popular in the 14 century DR came in bars of several varieties: plain lye for 1 cp, mild for 1 sp, and scented for 1 gp. There were many available scents, but most popular Sembian imported ones were Moonshae Spring, Elven Wild, Unicorn's Horn, and Shining Sea.

Usually soaps were created using tree oils, but goblins of Grodd used fungus of similar properties to create soaps, detergents, and scented perfumes and aerobatics.

Usage
Soaps were useful in everyday life for their cleaning properties, as well as during adventuring. Soap and wine could be used to dissolve slime produced by aboleths that gets lodged in creatures' throats if inhaled.

Due to its high oil content, soap could be used as lubricant or for temporary waterproofing or sealing.

Soap was often a standard piece of equipment found in healing and medical facilities.

Special type of leather conditioner called saddle soap was used in the Dalelands together with leather oil.

Priests of Azul used pumice soap to scrape themselves clean as the part of their faith's rituals.

Soap bubble-wetted piece of paper was one of the material components for the lighten load spell. A small piece of soap was the material component for the very rare remove smell spell. Cleanse spell could be cast using a piece of soap. And a soap bubble or a blown egg shell were needed to cast the sound bubble bardic spell.

Availability

 * Arabel's Cheth Zalbar was a merchant that traded in perfumes, lotions, soaps, and dyes circa 1367 DR.


 * Calimport's guild House of the Veil Gizara, was the Headquarters of the Aromatic Order of Perfumists, Apothecarists, and Soap-Makers.


 * Castle Naerytar's Cult of the Dragon residents circa 1480s DR used soaps and scented waters.


 * Durpar was a nation of traders that crafted many goods, including soap, and solid them across the Realms.


 * Mantol-Derith, a trade outpost in Underdark had soap among its many trade goods that were used and passed through.


 * Maztican priests of Azul used painfully abrasive pumice soap to ritually clean themselves, displaying their skin abrasions proudly.


 * In Melvaunt, Moonsea region, soap was part of the scions' kits they assembled prior to heading out to Thar circa 1372 DR.


 * Newfort's small training post, Narm's Exchange, bought locally produced goods, including soaps, and sold them at Sundabar circa 1372 DR.


 * Ravens Bluff's Chandlers' Guild represented crafters and sellers of various goods, including soaps.


 * Suzail's citizens commonly produced and used soaps. One variation of an enchanted item keychain of domestic propriety used by many maids of Suzail, could summon a soapy cleaning brush.


 * Svardborg in Thrym was inhabited by the frost giant who stockpiled trade goods, including crates of soap.


 * Undermountain civilized residents such as werebats, used soap and stored bars.


 * Waterdeep residents used a lot of soap, often scented. The city's Launderers' Guild used copious amounts of soap in their daily business.


 * Waukeen's Rest inn in the Western Heartlands provided its guests with camomile-scented bars of soap.


 * Zakharan trade caravans often carried soaps as trade goods.

Beyond Toril, soap could be found in Strahd von Zarovich's Domains of Dread and the demiplane of Grodd.

Notable Owners

 * Martine, an experienced ranger and a Harper who kept her personal items and treasures in her enchanted rucksack, Smerznik's Super Satchel. One of the items she always kept in the Satchel was soap.

Trivia

 * Bedine folk of Anauroch knew a way of creating soaps and considered the recipe to be a grave secret only known to their people. If a traveler were too mention they knew how to make soap, Bedine human would simply murder them to keep the "secret".
 * When Elminster Aumar introduced an exotic delicacy from another world, called root beer float, Dalamar of Krynn aggravatingly compare its taste to that of soap.
 * Ghul-kin of Zakhara adored all perfumes, pleasant aromas, scented waters, and scented soaps. The creatures often used them to cover their own ghoulish stench.
 * Wizard lice, tiny parasitic creatures, were impervious to soap and could only be removed by a cure disease spell.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Nightmare Keep (adventure) &bull; Caravans &bull; Four from Cormyr &bull; Into the Dragon's Lair &bull; Sons of Gruumsh &bull; Hoard of the Dragon Queen &bull; Storm King's Thunder &bull; Out of the Abyss &bull; Curse of Strahd &bull; Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage &bull; Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden


 * A Dozen and One Adventures &bull; Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate III
 * Gamebooks


 * Knight of the Living Dead