Goldeye

A goldeye was a special priest of the goddess Waukeen, the Merchant's Friend. They served as agents and promoters of trade.

Description
The touch of Waukeen caused the pupils of their eyes to turn a blazing golden hue. It was for this they were named goldeyes.

History
Specialty priests of Waukeen were unnamed around 1358 DR, and indeed, with the goddess's disappearance, could not cast more than low-level divine spells and they had few powers. The name "goldeye" was in use by 1369 DR, by which time the goddess Lliira oversaw the church, and they had gained a full suit of spells and powers. Goldeyes comprised 60% of the Waukeener clergy at the time.

By 1479 DR, however, all priests of Waukeen were called "goldeyes".

Activities
Goldeyes were interested in enhancing the wealth of their communities, countries, and the church of Waukeen, through either encouraging trade or engaging in adventuring. Most goldeyes operated in big cities, where they ran mercantile consortiums or trade costers and also lobbied to lift cultural, political, or religious restrictions on trade. They were often members of merchant nobility, and very rich and very influential via their wealth and connections.

Some goldeyes, usually when young, were adventurers who delved into ancient dungeons or ruins, looking for treasure to invest and use to create a real fortune, or to liberate forgotten and unused hoards. Other goldeyes focused on keeping treasure hoards—especially their own and those of the church—out of the hands of thieves and the unworthy. Some of the most successful prospectors and treasure hunters in Faerûn were goldeyes.

Possessions
Goldeye learned to wield bludgeoning weapons and could wear any armor.

After the Time of Troubles
Goldeyes were required to be wise, intelligent, and charismatic. They also needed to be skilled in etiquette.

Upon admission to the priesthood, goldeyes were granted money totaling 180 gp and three magical items: one container, one convenience, and one miscellaneous item. Containers were either a Heward's handy haversack, a girdle of many pouches, or a pouch of accessibility. The available conveniences were a crystal parrot, an everbountiful soup kettle, fur of warmth, mist tent, Murlynd's spoon, sheet of smallness, wind fan, wand of Prime Material pocket, Reglar's gloves of freedom, and Skie's locks and bolts. The miscellaneous items were jewel of flawlessness, Murdock's insect ward, Nolzur's marvelous pigments, oil of slipperiness, oil of etherealness, powder of coagulation, sovereign glue, and universal solvent. These were paid for by the church but not replaced if broken or spent.

Goldeyes could learn current languages and could train in the skills of a priest or a thief. and in cutting gems and appraising the value of items. In particular, by hefting a metal object in hand and thinking of what material it ought to be made of, they could distinguish true and false metals. While they couldn't exactly identify any given metal, they could for example tell real gold from gold-plated lead forgeries or even magically created gold, or tell if gold was a significant part of an alloy. A little later, once a day for up to twenty minutes, they could detect metals and minerals, similar to a wand of metal and mineral detection.

Once a day while in conversation, a goldeye could cause people to become confused and forgetful about numbers, similar to a brooch of number numbing. Those who succumbed lost sense of the relative values of numbers, struggling to realize if eight was bigger than two or tens less than hundreds. Moreover, they didn't even realize it. Instead, all numbers seemed about the same, any claim based on numbers was taken as true, and any trade offered was acceptable. They could recall the relative values of items, knowing gold pieces were better than silver pieces, but not any conversion rates. It lasted so long as conversation continued and for half-an-hour to an hour afterwards, after which regained their capacity for numbers and their memory, but not necessarily understand what had happened.

Goldeyes of some experience could boost their charisma and enhance the quality of their existing clothing and armor to seem of the highest quality and cleanliness, similar to the power of a rod of splendor. This lasted for twenty-four hours each tenday. Later, they could create new fine clothes (not armor) once a tenday. While the items of clothing could not be chosen specifically, they suited the intended occasion and fitted perfectly, and were made of quality fabrics and furs, as well as jewelry. The attire appeared on their body and could be removed, stored, and reused as required, and was effectively permanent. However, the entire ensemble would vanish when dispelled by the goldeye or if they tried to sell it, or another tried to steal it.

Even more experienced goldeyes could create a palatial tent, comprising a sizeable silk pavilion covering some 1,500​–​3,000 square feet (140–​280 square meters) and including temporary furniture. It also included good food, enough for a hundred people. The tent suited the climate and weather; canvas, waterproof sealskin, bark, furs, or rushes were created for less clement conditions, all well made and decorated. These were smaller to resist winds and rain, and held less people, down to fifty in rain or twenty-five in cold. The tent could be created once a tenday and lasted for one day, or longer for even more experienced goldeyes, up to a full tenday.

The greatest goldeyes could inflict a curse on those who offended the goddess or the church, by touching them or throwing a coin at them. Waukeen's curse caused great misfortune and bad circumstances to the victim, suffering loss of riches, theft, heavy taxation, a struggle to sell things, and even outright disaster. They would never profit or success, but only break even at beast. The curse could only be lifted by the goldeye who laid it or a higher-ranked Waukeenar priest (the latter with remove curse). If the curse was unfairly laid, then Waukeen herself blocked it and the goldeye prevented from using any spells or magical powers until they atoned to the goddess.

As divine spellcasters, goldeyes could gain major access to the spheres of Astral, Charm, Creation, Divination, Guardian, Healing, Necromantic, Protection, and Weather, with Travelers following later. They could also gain minor access to the spheres of All, Elemental, Summoning, and Sun,  with Wards added later. In particular, outside these spells, once a day each, they could learn to cast shocking grasp; know customs; probability control, addition, or fire purge (one only per day); and cloud of purification, grounding, or shrieking walls.

As clerics, goldeyes could turn or command undead creatures.

Lock lurkers would never hurt a goldeye, instead refusing to attack and avoiding them if they could. A goldeye could even tame and train a lock lurker if they caught one and had the skill for training beasts.

After the Year of Wild Magic
Goldeyes typically began as clerics of Waukeen, and some were also rogues. Either way, they needed a diverse range of skills, talents, and investments. They needed to have Waukeen as their patron deity, be capable of divine spellcasting in her name, and have a generally neutral approach. They must have training in appraising, deception, and diplomacy, and a relevant profession such as bookkeeping, innkeeping, or scribing. They needed to be alert and dedicated to diplomatic solutions. They must know two languages spoken by humans from outside their homeland. Furthermore, they needed to be proficient in the nunchaku, Waukeen's favored weapon. In particular, they must amass a fortune in currency, gems, jewelry, or investments in businesses totaling no less than 5000 gold pieces in value, with none of it borrowed.

A goldeye could learn an eclectic range of skills, magic, and lore, as suited their occupation, and advance their prior spellcasting. Thus, they were a literal jacks-of-all-trades, but all were masters of communication, the acquisition of knowledge, and the evaluation and security of riches.

First, not letting language barriers impede business, a goldeye could pick up the basics of any new language after hearing it for only a minute. With this trade pidgin, they could understand and communicate simple concepts and numbers up to 20, typically sufficient for bargaining. This knowledge faded away after a day, but it was easier to relearn if encountered again within a month.

However, all goldeyes also innately knew Abyssal, the tongue of demons, as a blessing or perhaps curse of Waukeen's captivity by the demon prince Graz'zt.

Furthermore, a goldeye could sense the thoughts of someone with which they were engaged in conversation. They could do this for a few minutes in each day, according to their experience.

A goldeye fought all the harder to defend any valuables belonging to them or to the church of Waukeen, attacking more courageously and resisting assaults more firmly. Such valuables must be a store of riches (and not things held on their own person or by another), a building, or a business, of no less than 5000 gp in value.

In addition, a goldeye could create one secret, extra-dimensional storage space in which to hide valuables. It existed somewhere on their person and moved with them, rather like a belt pouch and accessed in a similar way. A dispel magic or an antimagic field suppressed their ability to access it. If the goldeye was slain, the items within reappeared on them.

A goldeye could appraise goods with almost a dragon's eye for value. In addition, without the aid of magic, they could identify basic powers of magic items, after eight hours' examination and sufficient knowledge of spell-craft.

A goldeye could scry, as with a scrying spell, using the polished surface of a piece precious metal, such as a coin, amulet, or plate, rather than a divine focus. However, small items like coins and amulets made scrying more difficult.

Experienced goldeyes could magically give themselves a set of rich, fancy clothing once a day. Once a tenday, the goldeye could also magically create a palatial tent for their personal use. Both were similar to the powers of a rod of splendor, but no other powers of that item were gained.

With a power called coinshock (similar to heat metal), a goldeye could cause metal around them to generate an electrical field to damage their enemies.

Finally, with a power called hoardfind, the greatest goldeyes could sense metals and minerals from a distance. Similar to a rod of metal and mineral detection, they could this whenever they wished, for so long as they concentrated on it.

Notable Goldeyes

 * Goldeye Istor of Sembia, who rose rapidly through the hierarchy of the Goldspires temple.