Moon blade (also rendered as moonblade[6]), was a spell that created a sword fashioned from pure moonlight.[5][1][4]
Users[]
Specialty priests of Selûne, namely silverstars and guides of Lucha, had a special ability to cast moon blade.[5] Clerics and others who commanded the Moon domain could cast the divine moon blade, while the hathrans of the Witches of Rashemen knew an arcane version.[1][2][4] A variant was available only to clerics, druids, and rangers initiated into the greatest secrets of the Selûnite church.[2][3][note 1] Inside the House of the Moon temple, any Selûnite priest of sufficient rank could freely conjure a moon blade among other spells.[7]
The goddess Selûne herself could wield a long-lasting form of the moonblade spell, treating it as a permanent magical weapon.[6][8]
Powers[]
Once cast, the spell created a magical, sword-like construct in the caster's hand, 3–4 feet (0.9–1.2 meters) long, taking the form of a blazing beam of moonlight. The moon blade was noiseless, weightless, and immaterial, but it could not be broken, dropped, nor passed to another. The caster fought with it as a magical sword; although the caster was inherently proficient in it, one trained with a sword could wield it at their own skill.[5][1][4]
Only a touch from the moon blade was required to injure. Its strike drained vitality or life energy without inflicting any visible wounds. Undead were especially harmed, their dead matter boiling away on contact.[5][1][4]
A strike from the moon blade scrambled magic for a brief period. This nullified existing spells on the target and prevented the one hit from casting new spells. Their magic items also stopped functioning. The caster could only cast another if it only required a verbal component.[5][1][4] However, after 1372 DR, a person struck could overcome this with an act of concentration.[1][4]
The moon blade lasted but a short time, disappearing sooner only if the caster was killed or if they cast another spell requiring material or somatic components.[5]
The spell had no relation to the moonblade swords associated with elves.[5][1][4]
Components[]
It required verbal and somatic components.[5] After the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, the divine version required a divine focus while the arcane version required a material component: a small candy made of wintergreen oil.[1][4]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Two versions of this spell were printed for 3rd edition: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition presents one that any of these classes can cast, while Player's Guide to Faerûn presents it as only available through the Initiate of Selûne feat, with hathrans removed in errata. The rules for Initiate feats state that these spells replace the existing spells if the feats are allowed in one's game. This wiki considers both to exist in the setting.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo (June 2001). Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 72. ISBN 0-7869-1836-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player's Guide to Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 61, 81–82, 88, 94. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Player's Guide to Faerûn Errata (Zipped PDF). Wizards of the Coast. p. 4. (2004-07-16). Archived from the original on 2017-10-28. Retrieved on 2018-09-05.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Matthew Sernett, Jeff Grubb, Mike McArtor (Dec 2005). Spell Compendium. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 143. ISBN 0-7869-3702-5.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Julia Martin, Eric L. Boyd (March 1996). Faiths & Avatars. (TSR, Inc.), p. 137. ISBN 978-0786903849.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Julia Martin, Eric L. Boyd (March 1996). Faiths & Avatars. (TSR, Inc.), p. 135. ISBN 978-0786903849.
- ↑ Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 158. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ slade, Jim Butler (October 1996). “The Winds of Netheril”. In Jim Butler ed. Netheril: Empire of Magic (TSR, Inc.), p. 51. ISBN 0-7869-0437-2.