Baelnorn

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Baelnorn is an undead creature; a spellcaster who seeks to defy death by magical means

Elves who choose a path of Realms-bound duty beyond death can be turned into baelnorn, and these undead defenders unswervingly protect their clan and its holdings for centuries. The majority of baelnorn were spellcasters, and they maintain their mental and magical abilities in this state, though exceptions occur.

Ecology
A baelnorn converts itself into an unded creature by means of necromancy, storing its soul in a magical receptacle called a phylactery. In some sources the method of becoming a baelnorn is a High Magic or divine ritual.

Unlike most other forms of undead creatures, the baelnorn retains all of the memories, personality, and abilities that it possessed in life - but it has a virtual eternity to hone its skills and inevitably becomes very powerful. Like other powerful forms of undead (such as a vampire or mummy), a baelnorn has unnatural powers owing to his state. For example, he can put mortals in a paralyzed state of hibernation with a touch, making them seem dead to others, and can, through their typically powerful magical spells, summon other lesser undead to protect him. Unlike liches, baelnorn do not radiate an aura of horror which can send weak-willed would-be foes to flight. The baelnorn is capable of sustaining tremendous physical damage, and is immune to disease, poison, fatigue and other effects that affect only the living. However, despite all his undead "gifts", a lich's most valuable resources are his vast intellect, his supreme mastery of wizardry and limitless time to research, plot and scheme.

Since a baelnorn's soul is mystically tied to its phylactery, destroying its body will not kill it. Rather, its soul will return to the phylactery, and its body will be recreated by the power keeping it immortal. Thus the only way to permanently destroy a baelnorn is to destroy the phylactery as well. Therefore, the baelnorn will generally be extremely protective of the priceless item. The phylactery, which can be of virtually any form (usually appears as a valuable amulet or gemstone), will often be hidden in a secret place and protected by powerful spells, charms, monsters and/or other servants; the phylactery itself is usually of magical nature, meaning its destruction will generally be little easier than attaining it.

These choice to embrce undead are allowed and considered only on rare occasions, when a clan or settlement has Gold Elves need of defenders beyond the norm. Even if an elf truly wants to become a baelnorn for his clan's benefit, the Coronal, the High Mages, and the elders of the particular clan must all be of one mind to allow this sacrifice to be made. To the surprise of some elves, these transformations have occurred a few times in the past trhee millennia at the will of the Seldarine.

Baelnorn, the willing undead elves, are the elven equivalent of liches, though they are hardly as disturbingly 'wrong' as the corrupt undead and they do not project the fearsome aura of those wicked creatures. Sustained by magic and granted life of a sort beyond nature, baelnorn appear largely as they did in life, though an immediate clue as to baelnorn is the existence of shriveled and wrinkled skin turning slightly translucent over time. Some of the oldest of baelnorn seem little more than the hint of body, hair, and skin around their skeletons. Unlike liches, this is the extent of their degeneration, and they do not fall into loose piles of bones; of course, elven unlife is similar to their lifespans, and as human liches live for centuries, no witnesses have ever reported a millennia-old baelnorn. . ..

Roles
Some choose to identity baelnorn by their motivations and occupations chosen in undeath. Thus, some baelnorn are titled Watchnorns (for lurking observers and lesser guardians of public places or family lands, especially Castle Cormanthor), Lorenorns (for those choosing to act as tutors, librarians, or merely students of Art beyond their normal span of years), Guardnorns or Wardnorns (for powerful guardians of crypts and other secret places or as the sole protector of particularly powerful items). In truth, the baelnorn are all capable of as much action and activity as a live elf, though their personal attitudes and motivations (and the social unease over the continued public presence of baelnorn) limits them to particular activities. In her time as a baelnorn, the Srinshee has acted as Wardnorn of the Vault of Ages and as the Lorenorn for the armathors and Court Magi, a great amount of activity despite her relatively hidden existence.

Alignment
A baelnorn can be of any non evil (mainly Lawfull Good) alignment, retaining whatever alignment it had in life.

Generic Baelnorn
become baelnorn). hold (and related), insanity, and sleep spells. full hit points through which communication and spellcasting is possible. Sendings are barely corporeal and cannot hold items or deal chill touch damage. course, individuals can stray beyond the mere guidelines. At least 10 random items off the Magical Items Table (DMG Table 88) and 2 items of artifact level belonging to House or Coronal, primarily of spellcasting nature, with 1 or 2 of martial nature and at least 1 is a magical weapon.
 * Game Information: Inteligence As in life (17-25); Aignment Lawfull Good (85%) or Lawull Neutral (15%); AC 0; MV 9; HD 9+6; THAC0 11; #AT 1; Dmg 1-10 (chill touch) or by spell or weapon type; SA 90' infravision, spell use, sendings (see below); SD +1 or better magical weapons (or creature of 6+ HD) to hit; MR 50%; Z M (5' + tall); ML Fearless (20); XP 10,000.
 * Spells: Wizard classes/kits of levels 1d8+12 (if elf in life was a spellcaster, though only nelluonkkar dualists will
 * Special Ability (Immunities): charm, cold-based, death (and related), disintegrate, electricity, enfeeblement, feeblemind,
 * Special Ability (Sendings): Three times per day for 5 turns each, create a sending image of AC0, MV Fl 9 (A) and
 * Standard Equipment: As usual, equipment and means are determined by the status and placement of the person. Of

Famous Baelnorn
Game Information: LN baelnorn moon elf W21; all standard baelnorn abilities with Armor Class -5 and immunity to The High Mages of Cormanthyr weapons of less than +2 enchantments Life/Death: -631 - 87 DR; 87 DR - Present (baelnorn) Braerinda was a far more stunning baelnorn than the standard, for she prefered to cloak herself in spell-fields and illusions and rarely appeard in physical form, prefered to use her sending to communicate or guard the lands above her lair. With this as a known tactic, few suspect that her primary form is her true visage, achieved by permanent spell effects: Appearing usually unclad, Braerinda's eyes were pits of shadow which wink with silver stars, and her skin and hair glistened and glowed a bluish-white as the result of her own unique mithrilskin spell. This baelnorn guardian rested within the Coronal's garden around Castle Cormanthor, her then-actual lair deep beneath the cellars of the keep. She was the final member of the longforgotten House Calauth, a moon elven House of Arcorar. Somewhat melancholic in nature, Braerinda the 'Lady of Moonlight' was longed for one with whom to chat and remember her once-great House of elven bards, and she was found that friend in Elminster Aumar in his early days in Cormanthor. Game Information: LN gold elf W30; High Mage; Int 25, Wis 24 Life/Death: ? - -712; -712 - 261 (as baelnorn); 261 - ? (as reborn elfmaid) In her time, she has been so many things: the Lady Oluevaera Estelda, Cor'Selu'taar (Grand Mage of the High Mages of Cormanthyr), leader of Srinshinnar (and thus her commonly known title), savior of Yrlaphon1s Survivors, the Wardnorn of the Vault of Ages, tutor of the Armathora, and (her current status) High Court Mage of Myth Drannor. Since the time of the Fourth Rysar of Cormanthyr, the Srinshee has been a fixture at Court and among those who frequent Castle Cormanthor. As the Coronals Miirphys, Tannivh, and Eltargrim all trusted her implicitly, so do the majority of Cormanthyrans; still, with all her mysteries, nearly all fear her (or at least her hidden power), especially those who worked intrigues against their Coronals from the alleged afety of noble Houses. As a survivor of countless machinations (some of her own making), the Srinshee merely fund these shadow plays either amusing (having seen over 3,000 plots to rise to power repeat themselves evermore) or exasperating (as one long-lived as she can see that elves are just as prone to rash and silly 'reasoning' as the humans they disdain). In her time as advisor to the Coronals, she has never been as close to her leader as she has to Eltargrim, whom she watched grow up as a warrior and later grow under her tutelage as a High Mage. While some newcomers hint that the young woman in the constant company of the Coronal must had be his mistress, she saw herself as a proud grandmotherly teacher with her one pupil who listened with care to what she had to teach. The true age of the Srinshee was virtually unknown, as is much about this mysterious and powerful woman; like many of great age and experience, misdirection and duplicity are essential for protecting her secrets. As many doubt her stories of being a young lass among the boughs of Sharrven as believe them. However, it was knowned and proven that one of her homes was among the elves of Yrlaphon before it fell to the orcs of Vastar, made her among the oldest elves ever to walk Toril. She was also the last matriarchal ruler of Clan Srinshee over the elven settlement of Srinshinnar in the northwestern forest; she was the sole survivor of her clan and among the few who survived the settlement's slaughter by drow during the Shadow Wars, and she was led them safely to Cormanthor. During much of the Coronal Eltargrim's rule, she was a baelnorn, guardian of the Coronal's most precious treasures, and teacher to many of the Court's mages. However, shortly before the Opening, she was inexplicably restored to life and youth (though rumors persist that the Lady of Mysteries, the human goddess Mystra, had a hand in this); within a few mere decades, she stood among the other mythal-casters as a fresh-faced (but still agedly wise) elven maid of only 200 winters! She walked Myth Drannor as an adult, her lustrous sapphire-blue hair nearly two feet longer than her own height and her ivory-skinned beauty in a fullness unseen in more than three millennia.
 * Braerindra Watchnorn of Castle Cormanthor
 * The Srinshee
 * Lady Arcana Elestar