Character Creation

Although players in Forgotten Realms: Silverymoon have a great many options available to them during the character creation process, there are a number of factors involved in the game which may make some characters more suitable for play than others. A brief collection of these factors are discussed below, and should be reviewed by players before the character creation process begins.

Alignment

Forgotten Realms: Silverymoon is a game about heroic forces struggling to overcome the rising tide of evil in the Faerûn's North. As such, evil alignments will not be appropriate for player characters. Characters who are neutral in regards to good and evil will be permitted, but they should have some sort of motivation for behaving in a heroic fashion. This is not a game for characters who look out for themselves first, their party second, and everyone else not at all. Although a good alignment is not required, it is preferred. In regards to law, chaos, and neutrality between the two, any selection would be appropriate, so long as the player feels that their alignment will not be overly disruptive to party harmony.

Story Focus

The following themes and situations will be commonly encountered during the Forgotten Realms: Silverymoon campaign. Players are advised to have at least one member of the party who is capable of dealing with these matters.

• Covertcy: Very often, forces for good in the North find themselves vastly outnumbered by the savage demihuman races. In order to survive, Forgotten Realms: Silverymoon characters will most likely find it necessary to be able to avoid detection and misdirect foes, both physically and socially.
• Diplomacy: The Silver Marches aren't a single, unified nation, and their politics reflect this. Adventurers operating in the Silver Marches must be able to function in the courts of kings, at the council tables of trade alliances, before the altars of the various gods, and in the study halls of the magocracy. The ability to make friends and influence people serves just as well in the lowliest tavern as it does in the highest court in the land. In the Savage Frontier, where people must rely so heavily upon one another to survive, a lack of allies may amount to nothing less than a death sentence.
• Survival: The farther one travels from the great cities of the North, the greater one finds the need to know how to live off the land. Even characters possessing a good supply of food face dangers in the form of the harsh climate, to say nothing of the problems that can quickly arise from becoming lost in the wilds.
• Travel: The Silver Marches are a big place, and players should expect their characters to be required to travel over a great deal of them. With that in mind, characters who have the ability to get the party quickly from one place to another (as a result of magic, great skill, or some other factor) will play a vital role in the party.

Deities

To the gods of Faerûn, mortal worshippers are a useful and sadly finite resource. As such, clergy are directed to carefully cultivate the ranks of their followers, and to vigilantly guard against any that would seek to sway the faithful towards the worship of other deities. While the elves, dwarves, and other non-human races worship their own pantheons, the gods listed below are the most commonly worshipped by humans in Silverymoon, and their clergy would most likely view those openly preaching the virtues of outsider deities as a threat to be discouraged.

• Azuth: Lawful neutral god of spellcasters
• Helm: Lawful neutral god of protectors and guardians
• Lathander: Neutral good god of athletics and new life
• Lurue: Chaotic good goddess of intelligent beasts
• Mielikki: Neutral good goddess of forests and rangers
• Milil: Neutral good god of music and poetry
• Mystra: Neutral good goddess of magic
• Oghma: Neutral god of knowledge and lore
• Selûne: Chaotic good goddess of the moon and travellers

Races

The North is a diverse place, and numerous peoples have congregated there from across the face of Faerûn. The races found below are available for play in Forgotten Realms: Silverymoon. Players wishing to play a character of a race not found here should consult the DM, but should be advised that the DM will most likely refuse requests for overly exotic player characters.

• Dwarf, Shield: Shield dwarves have long been one of the primary powers of the North, and the Citadal Kings are a potent bloc on the Marches Council. A shield dwarf character in the party would be able to act as a representative when the party must deal with the occasionally xenophobic dwarves, and the legendary skills at fighting orcs and giants that shield dwarves possess could give the party a much-needed edge.
• Elf, Drow: Any drow elf seeking acceptance from the good races of the North will be facing an uphill battle, as years of experience have taught people to fear the dark elves. Still, with hard work, the matter is not entirely hopeless, and the talents that a drow could bring to a party might just make it worth enduring the animosity that a member of such a notorious race brings out in people. Players should consider themselves fully warned; the drow may be quite a powerful race, but they are nearly universally reviled in the North, particularly in areas where dwarves and surface-dwelling elves hold sway.
• Elf, Moon: Elves raised the first of the great empires in the North, and although their mighty realms have fallen, their descendents have integrated themselves into the societies that have risen up atop the ruins of Aryvandaar and Eaerlann. Of all of the elven peoples, the moon elves have the greatest numbers in the Silver Marches, which may be unsurprising, given their long tradition of interacting peacefully with other races. Moon elf adventurers balance their understanding of wild lands with a keen knowledge of the civilizations of their neighbors, moving effortlessly between wilderness and urban environments.
• Elf, Sun: Although sun elves were once quite common in the North, their numbers have fallen significantly since many of them departed for Evermeet during the Retreat. Still, most residents of the Silver Marches know at least one sun elf, and sun elf adventurers do occasionally make names for themselves, usually as extremely talented wizards. In recent years, the Silver Marches have seen an unexpected increase in the sun elf population, as elves disappointed with the results of the Retreat have made their way back to mainland Faerûn.
• Elf, Wood: When the Retreat was called, the wood elves were the least inclined to follow it. Even before the Retreat, however, they had always been a sparse people; few humans living in the North today can claim to have had much, if any, contact with them. Wood elf adventurers are extremely useful in the Silver Marches; they understand the ways of the wilderness, and are supremely skilled at guerilla warfare.
• Gnome, Rock: Gnomes are quite nearly an afterthought in the Silver Marches; their numbers are small, and they have too few outstanding individuals to make any great impression upon the more populous races. The gnomes that do make the Marches their home tend to be competent, if somewhat unremarkable; they must be skilled enough in their chosen fields to survive without the benefits associated with being backed by a strong racial community, but not so skilled that they draw the jealous eyes of those forces that the absent community would ordinarily help to protect them from.
• Half-Elf: Perhaps as a result of their mixed heritage, half-elves are some of the most skilled diplomats in all of the Forgotten Realms, seeing each side of a situation and blending all of the otherwise opposing views into an attractive whole. Despite this, many half-elves find themselves never entirely belonging to any given society, and so a life of wandering and adventure calls to a larger portion of their populace than many other races.
• Half-Orc:
• Halfling, Lightfoot:
• Human: For better or for worse, humans are the dominant race in the Silver Marches, and are commonly the default race for player characters. Despite lacking any great innate magical ability or specialized talent for fighting demihuman enemies, humans are rightfully seen as the most generally skillful race currently living on Faerûn. No other race can be said to be nearly as successful, and no other race has the diverse potential to succeed in as many fields as humanity has. In an adventuring party, a humans are well equipped to succeed in nearly any role that they put their minds to.
• Planetouched, Aasimar:
• Planetouched, Tiefling: Tiefling characters in the Silver Marches are most likely descended from the demons of Hellgate Keep. With pedigree like that, it should come as little surprise to players to learn that tiefling characters can expect to be met with (initially, at least) a great deal of fear and suspicion. On the other hand, there are few better at covert action than the tieflings, and harnessed for good, this talent could be a powerful weapon in the hands of the party.
• Planetouched, Genasi: Even moreso than aasimar and tieflings, genasi in the Silver Marches are rare, and reactions to them will range from curiousity to fear, depending on the nature of the communities that they encounter. Players wanting to play genasi characters must have a good explanation for their parentage, but are otherwise free to use the considerable powers of the elemental-kin to aid the party as they see fit.

Classes

• Barbarian:
• Bard:
• Cleric:
• Druid:
• Fighter:
• Monk:
• Paladin:
• Ranger:
• Rogue:
• Sorcerer:
• Wizard: