Gondsman (specialty priest)

Gondsmen were the specialty priests of the Church of Gond in the 14 century DR.

Abilities
The major spheres that Gondsmen had access to for spells were all, astral, combat, divination, elemental, numbers, protection, sun, and wards. The minor spheres that they had access to for spells were charm, creation, guardian, healing, and necromantic. Some particular spells they knew how to cast included animate object, probing arm, stoneskin, thunder staff, tree steed, and unseen servant.

Unlike the specialty priests of some faiths, Gondsmen could neither command nor turn undead.

Beyond their magical abilities, Gondsmen were often proficient armorers, blacksmiths, carpenters, engineers, gemcutters, leatherworkers, miners, potters, stonemasons, or weaponsmiths. They also all had an aptitude for all manner of devices, including mechanical locks.

Possessions
Gondsmen often included lockpicks on the crimson sashes they wore, which were adorned in various tools and equipment. The armor they wore ranged as good as plate mail, though they never wielded shields. In terms of weaponry they favored bludgeoning weapons, crossbows, and firearms if they were available, such as the arquebus.

History
Following the Time of Troubles, Gondsmen were chiefly the ones responsible for the manufacture and proliferation of firearms across Faerûn, shipping them to western ports. Over time they created and introduced the arquebus, blunderbuss, and ribald.

Circa 1370 DR, the proportion of Gondsmen on the island nation of Lantan was about twenty for every cleric, while throughout the rest of Faerûn the proportion of clerics to Gondsmen was typically 15 to 1. The majority of Gondsmen found in Faerûn were merchants from Lantan. Around this time gnomes were also beginning to take up this vocation, though it was frowned upon in most gnomish communities.

Following the Spellplague, "Gondsmen" became the preferred term for both worshipers and members of Church of Gond's clergy.