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Magic of Menzoberranzan

Menzoberranzan, like any drow city, is teeming with magic.  It can even be purchased from certain vendors in town and magic-users, alchemists, savants, and clergy are all available for hire and to sell their wares.  The hiring of mercenary spell casters is covered on the hirelings page.

Learning Spells:  Magic-users, death masters, alchemists, illusionists, drow bards, and witches all use the intelligence-based magic-user chances to learn spells and maximum number of spells known (there is no minimum number of spells learnable).  These classes can learn spells from scrolls and spellbooks (death masters and witches also occasionally gain spells in other manners, such as divine inspiration or a servant of their god).  Note that the chance to learn a spell and maximum number of spells knowable doesn't apply if the spell is researched instead (see below).  Clerics, druids, shamans, specialty priests, dwarven loremasters, and bards can all learn new spells from scrolls and some holy texts.  Deity specific spells (not necessarily faith-specific spells) cannot be learned by the followers of other deities and sphere limitations usually apply to specialty priests.

Potions:  Potions are fairly common in Menzoberranzan, at least the following varieties are:  healing, extra-healing, fire breath, longevity, vitality, magic resistance, climbing, and water breathing.  Potions can be created by any spell caster of any level.  To do so without the aid of an alchemist requires the alchemy NWP but a skilled alchemist can make this unnecessary.  In fact, since an alchemist can create potions on their own, the addition of another spellcaster is usually unnecessary.  For this reason alchemists are usually hired to make potions, potions are purchased, or an alchemist is hired to aid the spell caster so they can learn to make a potion type.

Drow Runes:  The process and requirements for learning to produce house defense glyphs, drow way-marker runes, and sacred glyphs is given on the Noble Houses page as this knowledge is limited to the nobles.

Scrolls:  Scrolls are also fairly common in Menzoberranzan, being churned out by spell casters for money and purchased by other spell casters as emergency supplements, to gain or replace spells (the latter if a spell book is destroyed and there is no copy), to be able to use a normally unavailable spell, or to be able to use a spell at a more powerful level than the caster currently can.  Spellcasters can only use spells of their own type.  There are several types of scrolls:  alchemist, clerical, death master (for obvious reasons these are not generally available for purchase and even openly seeking them can draw unwanted attention), druidic (rarely seen in the city and then held for sale to visiting surface dwellers), illusionist (generally captured from svirfneblin and held for sale to surface merchants), magic-user, and witch.  Drow bards use magic-user scrolls and shamans, dwarven clerics, and dwarven loremasters use clerical scrolls.  Specialty priests can only use spells they normally have access to (or a new spell they can learn), whether clerical or druidic spells from spheres they have access to or faith-specific spells.  A minimum of a 6th level spell caster is required to scribe a scroll.   Common spells found on scrolls sold in the city are minor divinations (detect magic, read magic, detect charm, detect life, detect evil, locate object, etc.), minor healing spells (cure light wounds and slow poison), any cantrip or orison, certain minor useful spells (especially preserve), and minor defensive spells (alarm, shield, protection from evil, invisibility to undead, resist fire, etc.).  The drow generally don't concern themselves with the selling of charm person, sleep, grease, wizard mark, and similar spells that are no threat to them and have valuable common usage (including controlling slaves) though seeking more dangerous spells (hold person, haste, silence, magic missile, etc.) usually leads to some attention being drawn.  Of course nobles and known powerful spellcasters can get away with such without problem but even a minor priestess of Lloth should take care asking around for poison or flame strike as paranoid superiors wonder why.  In general seeking any spell of 3rd level or higher other than cure blindness, cure disease, and remove curse is likely to attract attention (and the latter will for anyone looking to find who set off the curse they set up for defense of some item or area).

Spell Casting:  Spell casting rates for spells are the same as noted in the DMG and UA.  Openly seeking the casting of some spells can be very dangerous, however, as it attracts unwanted attention.  Surprisingly few people seek out the ever present clergy of Lloth for healing spells, instead they prefer to purchase potions or find one of the few clergy of other deities available for such services.  Such clergy have to maintain a low profile but since even low ranking clergy of Lloth seek them out they are generally not bothered too much so long as they stick to simply casting spells for fees and not attempting to proselytize.  This danger makes the purchasing of priest spells from clergy more expensive than usual unless they are purchased by a worshipper of the deity or from a priestess of Lloth.  Some of the notable (i.e., better known) clerical spell casters in the city are Drugar the Lame, a duergar priest of Ladaguer, Farthing Onslet, a human priestess of Loviatar, and Helsinth Noglory, a human priestess of Shar.  Durk "the Terrible" (to some known as "the Terribly Drunk") is a half-orc priest of Garagos that ministers only to humanoids and those who can prove they worship Garagos (actually saying a prayer to Garagos or displaying his symbol in front of Durk is enough) though under no circumstances will he ever cast spells for a dwarf (including duergar but not derro).

Spell Components:  Many common spells have easily located material components, even in the underdark.  Those with expensive components usually also have a similar level of frequency to the surface.  Unfortunately, a number of other components are not available in the underdark.  In these cases it is sometimes necessary to acquire components from the surface (several merchants specialize in these items) or to find an alternate material component, which sometimes doesn't function as well.  For instance, most spells requiring wood as a material component that have funguswood substituted lose up to 1/2 their duration or effectiveness (this is not true with all such spells, in some cases funguswood is just as effective as surface wood and in a few cases it can't be used at all).  A variety of means of handling these issues have been developed and most drow houses assign mages to produce and preserve necessary spell components of all sorts.  Certain cantrips and material spells are the most common methods of acquiring many simple components with certain other cantrips and preserve spells used to protect them in storage.

Spell Research:  Any spell caster can attempt to research new spells of any level they can cast.  This process varies heavily in chances of success.  Any spellcaster that uses the magic-user chances to know spells and limits on spells known (see above) does not have a researched spell counted against their maximum number of learnable spells and doesn't roll against their chance to learn spells to learn the spell.  Possessing a copy of a spell gives a +40% chance to be able to develop it and can cut down considerably on costs.  Thus a magic-user who has already reached the limit of 3rd level spells that he can learn who wants to learn fireball might have a scroll of fireball and then research the spell, gaining a +40% modifier to his chance to successfully develop the spell himself (and thus have learned it).

Treated Items:  Treated items are items that have undergone special treatment to make them more resilient.  While not usually magical themselves, the treatments can give them magical-seeming properties.  The best known treatment is the dwarven everbright.  Any everbright treated item of metal is immune to any sort of rust or corrosion, even from a rust monster.  Another common treatment is blueshine.  Blueshined metals are more resistant to acids, bases, and other effects that would eat them away as well as being immune to [normal] rust (rust monsters and spells are still effective).  There are many other treatments as well, most known only to a single clan or small number of people.  One clan of Menzoberranzan's duergar neighbors in Gracklstugh have developed a unique treatment of their own for metals.  Darkforge makes a forged item of ferrous metal (usually iron or an alloy like steel) dark and lusterless.  Close examination shows tiny red speckles in the metal and even when enchanted such blades cannot be made to glow with their own light.   Darkforge items are treated as though cold forged (so a steel or iron mace would be treated as cold iron) for purposes of creatures able to be hit and any additional damage done.  More importantly, darkforged items are always slightly below room temperature and do not conduct heat, even if a heat or chill metal spell is thrown on them (the spell takes effect but the user suffers no ill effects and won't even notice).  They automatically save against all but prolonged magical fire and cold effects.  Darkforged blades are preferred for use in making flame blades and frost brands due to these properties.  Everbright and blueshined items cost 10 times the usual price and darkforged items cost 20 times as much as usual.  Treatments cannot be combined.

True Magical Items:  Other types of true magical items (not drow pseudo-magical items) are naturally rare in the city and highly valued.  Even a lowly sword+1 that is truly magical offers many benefits over the more common drow version including better saving throws, immunity to the effects of sunlight, protection against some forms of attack, and, of course, prestige.  Items like wands and rings offer powers all their own as well and so these items are always very expensive and in high demand.  Most merchants who purchase these items already have standing agreements with multiple noble houses to allow them the first chance to buy the item.  As well, just as with scrolls and potions, items can be made to order if the seeker has the money up front.  Such work is not guaranteed (it's subject to all the usual chances of failure) but there are enough spellcasters in the city willing to do the work provided money, materials, and so on can be found that any basic magical item can usually be made for anyone seeking something specific.

New Spells:

Several new spells are common in Menzoberranzan.  Some are full spells while others are minor cantrips and orisons.  The powers of all priest orisons are listed below as well for reference.

Cantrips:  Many new cantrips deal with conjuring a variety of creatures.  The only commonly known cantrip that is reversible (i.e., its reverse is not a separate cantrip) is the hairy cantrip.  Exactly why is not clear.  Additionally, I have adopted some cantrips from this website.  These cantrips are marked with an asterisk (*) as well as being presented here (since I usually made some changes). Orisons:  Generally the orisons listed here should not be considered unique to Menzoberranzan, they are merely listed here since orisons were never fully dealt with in 1st Edition Dragon Magazine articles (the orisons given were often poorly balanced and limited in both number and scope).  Some orisons exactly mirror various cantrips.  As with cantrips, 4 orisons can be memorized in place of a single 1st level spell. Spells:  The following spells are common in Menzoberranzan and most other drow enclaves.

Spell Alterations and Clarifications:

General Notes on Alchemist Spells: Alchemists cast their spells at their level, not their HD.  Alchemists cast all versions of glyph of warding as a 4th level spell, they can use electrical and fire glyphs at 9th level and higher and paralyzation and blindness glyphs once they reach 10th level.  Alchemists in Menzoberranzan also have access to the spells firewater (MU1), melt (MU1), and wizard mark (MU1) from UA as well as continual faerie fire (D3) from FOR2.

General Notes on Death Master Spells: I have decided not to follow the article's rule on casting times for death master spells and have stayed with the casting times for the original spell where applicable as these [usually] make a lot more sense.  New death master spells have a casting time of 1 segment/spell level unless otherwise noted.  Death masters cast spells at their actual level, not 3 levels less.  Many death masters in the area of Menzoberranzan know the spell revenance (MU3) from REF5.

General Notes on Witch Spells: Most witch spells are not limited by alignment despite the listings in the article in Dragon #114.  For instance, any witch can cast cure wounds, give wounds, and purify food and drink, regardless of alignment.  Witches in Menzoberranzan also have access to the spells alarm (MU1), protection from cantrips (MU2), wizard mark (MU1), alter self (I2), and preserve (MU2) from UA and spidereyes (C1) and continual faerie fire (D3) from FOR2.

Cancelling spells:  Some spells can be cancelled at the will of the caster, this requires an active attempt to do so and during that round no spellcasting can occur.  This act is equivalent to activating an innate ability.  Triggered spells, spells with a permanent duration, and some other spells, at the discretion of the DM, cannot be cancelled in this manner.  Spells with a set duration or sequence of events usually cannot be cancelled early (for instance, heat metal) and spells that take a hold on others (such as charm person and feeblemind) usually can't be cancelled either.  Likewise, most spells do not end prematurely with the caster's death, except certain personal spells that affect only the caster (e.g., shield) and some spells that hold another creature (e.g., charm person).

Spell Negation:  Some spells are complete opposites, such as darkness and light.  Of these spells, many coexist easily together (e.g., an area affected by both protection from good and protection from evil causes penalties to those of both alignments, they do not negate each other) while some actually negate each others affects.  The most notable of these are the various light spells (light, darkness, continual light,, and continual darkness).  These spells, when cast against each other, continue to coexist but seem to not be functioning until one of the spell's duration ends.  Thus, a light spell cast to negate a darkness spell leaves both spells in existence.  Once one of the spell's duration ends, the other appears to begin functioning normally once more (in fact, it was functioning normally all the time, it just couldn't be seen due to the other spell--though both will radiate magic at their source if detected for).  When one of these is cast in the area of its opposite but the two spells do not target the same position as their source, each operates normally to one side with a zone between them filled with shadow as each negates the other.  Continual chill and continual heat act in a similar manner.

Spell Suppression:  Some magics, most notably globe of invulnerability and minor globe of invulnerability, suppress certain magic in their area of effect.  Spell effects suppressed by these spells become fully active once more once outside the area of effect, though their durations continue to run down while in the area of effect so they may end before they reemerge.  These spells affect even the caster's own defenses and so are often considered spells of last resort by most drow mages who use them as they cripple too many other magical defenses the mage would employ.  As these spells only suppress the effects of such spells, those spells can even be cast while in their confines, though they can only have effect as usual when completely clear (e.g., fireball cast inside a minor globe of invulnerability is wasted as it must form inside the globe and move outward, with its formation suppressed it cannot move and with such a short duration it appears to fail entirely).  Anti-magic shell suppresses all permanent magics, whether items or spells made permanent in the area or on the user.  Generally, effects with durations are disrupted, not simply suppressed (so entering with a non-permanent protection from evil will cause the protection from evil to end instantly, regardless of how soon the person leaves the anti-magic shell).  Spells cannot be cast and innate abilities used within the anti-magic shell.  In fact, they cannot be called upon at all (spells cannot be recalled while innate abilities seem to be "just out of reach").  Triggered spells, even if not permanent, are merely held dormant and, since they are dormant, they will not trigger while within the anti-magic area.   Effects that are not magic (though they may have been caused by magic), such as metal treatments and drow quasi-magical items, are unaffected by anti-magic shells.  Magical items with a limited number of uses per day (or other time period) will "recharge" while within the anti-magic, even though they can't be activated.  The beholder's anti-magic ray is weaker than an anti-magic shell, and so only suppresses active spells, it won't sunder them.  The spells begin again without loss of duration once they are out of the anti-magic ray.  The beholder's ray does have advantages, however, since it's not a spell.  For instance, it will suppress a black blade of disaster rather than being disrupted by it.

Use of Innate Abilities:

  Innate abilities can be used once/round.  They require the concentration of the caster and thus preclude spellcasting and some other activities during the same round.  Most minor innate abilities (like those possessed by drow and svirfneblin) can be activated even while engaged in melee or missile combat (though the DM may rule penalties occur as the person splits their attention depending on the situation).  More specific or powerful abilities, such as polymorphing, releasing a cone of cold, and so on will prevent anything else from being done during the round, except possibly defending oneself.  The use of an innate ability usually doesn't hinder the user's defense the way casting a spell in melee does (again, situational modifiers may apply at the DM's discretion).

Spell casters can download the following MS Word Documents for spell reference:

Use the following links to learn more about Menzoberranzan, the city:


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