Kalzareinad was a deity of magic mentioned originally in an adventure in FOR1 Draconomicon. For the last two millennia, he had one worshiper remaining, sustaining him and keeping him from deific death. This ended with him voluntarily merging with Kereska during the Time of Troubles in the Forgotten Realms, but need not be the case in other settings.

Kalzareinad (Dead) (PDF Version)

(Keeper of Dark Wonders, Lord of Dark Secrets)

Demipower of the Gray Waste, NE

Portfolio: Uncaring, evil, or selfish use of magic, dark secrets, hidden magic

Aliases: None

Domain Name: Pluton/Caverns of Mystery

Superior: Io

Allies: Faluzure, Garyx

Foes: Arcanic, Bahamut, Kereska, Lendys, Rais, Sardior, Tamara, Task, Tiamat, Zorquan

Symbol: Five pointed star encircled by a dragon grabbing its own tail in its mouth

Wor. Align.: LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE

Kalzareinad (kal-zah-RAY-nahd) was a secretive deity of magical creativity with no regards to the consequences it would bring. He hoarded magical objects and knowledge the way Task hoards material wealth, and is credited with participating in the creation of many horrible magics. Unlike the Wrester, however, he was known to share some of his knowledge with those whom he believed would make heavy use of that magic.

It is said Kalzareinad was once nearly as powerful as Kereska, and the two competed to be the prime entities governing magical creativity amongst dragonkind. However, his lack of concern with the consequences of the use and creation of magic prevented him from gaining any significant following amongst the more magically adept metallic dragons. Coupled with the secretive and selfish nature of his priesthood, Kalzareinad’s following slowly whittled away his following over the millennia as dragons failed to pass on their faith and knowledge to younger generations. It is said that for nearly two thousand years, his last remaining priest was a blue dragon named Maladraedior on the world of Toril, living well beyond his years through pure force of will and faith in his deity. When that world underwent the Avatar Crisis, forcing all deities to manifest an avatar in one of their followers, Kalzareinad joined with this last priest. At some point he encountered an avatar of his old rival Kereska, and voluntarily chose to merge his power with hers. Some sages speculate it was the lack of success in bringing the dragons of the region to his faith that made him realize his time in the multiverse was past, while others believe some additional threat, such as the danger of facing and being subsumed by Task or being destroyed by Zorquan that made the merger with the Wonderbringer preferable.

While he was still active, his magical research garnered him many enemies and few allies. His strongest ally was Faluzure, with whom the Keeper of Dark Wonders is said to have developed the means of transforming dragons into dracoliches in addition to a number of less well known necromancies. Kalzareinad valued the Night Dragon’s lack of concern for living creatures in the experimentation and application of magic, and Faluzure valued Kalzareinad’s vast expertise in the subtleties and intricacies of handling magical energy. Some sages speculate it was Kalzareinad, not Faluzure, who distributed the knowledge of dracolich creation throughout the planes, even sharing it with humanity, while the Night Dragon preferred to keep the knowledge restricted to his own followers. Garyx was also an ally of the Keeper of Dark Wonders, with the two developing a number of diabolical and destructive magics involving fire and heat. Kalzareinad was making overtures towards Set before his death, but it hadn’t gone beyond the early stages. Of his foes, by far the greatest was Zorquan. The High One found Kalzareinad’s alliance with Faluzure a betrayal of all things rightfully draconic, just as he was aghast at the indiscriminate damage the Keeper of Dark Wonders inflicted upon other dragons through his research and magic use. Kalzareinad’s portfolios were coveted by both Task and Tiamat, and Sardior considered secrets fully his own domain; Kalzareinad was able to keep his excursions and lairs hidden well enough that none of those deities ever felt confident enough to launch an attack against him.

Kalzareinad’s activity waned over the centuries, although even when he was more active most other deities failed to notice due to his extraordinarily secretive nature. When his status declined to that of a demipower, he virtually stopped leaving his lair in the Grey Waste entirely, using proxies and other servitor creatures the way he previously used avatars. The status of his domain today is a mystery, although more than one adventuring band from Sigil has tried to find it on Pluton, and it is said the arcanaloths would dearly love to get their hands on even a fraction of his vast stores of knowledge and magic. Most believe Kereska cleared out anything worthwhile shortly after the end of the Time of Troubles.

Kalzareinad’s Avatar (20-HD Great Wyrm Dragon, Wizard 25, Priest 20)

Kalzareinad appeared as a great dragon with scales of midnight blue and deep purple. He had two forward swept horns and two smaller horns sprouting from his nose. His eyes were a dull red that glow brightly when viewed with infravision. He favored spells from the schools of alteration and necromancy, and the sphere of necromantic, although he was able to cast spells from all schools and spheres.

AC −9; MV 12, Fl 39 (C), Jp 6; HP 210; THAC0 1; #AT 3+special

Dmg 1d10+12/1d10+12/3d6+12 (claw/claw/bite)

MR 80%; SZ G (260 feet—body 150 feet, tail 110 feet)

Str 19, Dex 22, Con 19, Int 24, Wis 20, Cha 20

Spells P: 12/12/11/10/7/5/2, W: 5/5/5/5/5/5/5/5/4

Saves PPDM 2; RSW 3; PP 4; BW 4; Sp 4

Special Att/Def: When engaging in combat, Kalzareinad favored his magic and special abilities over physical battle. The Keeper of Dark Wonders typically used magic to disable foes while keeping his distance; he favored collecting disabled creatures for use in later magical experimentation and research. If disabling magic appeared to be ineffective, he switched to using his most powerful offensive magic and his breath weapons. His primary breath weapon consisted of a cone of magical force that was 100 feet long, 5 feet wide at his mouth, and 30 feet wide at the base. All those caught within the cone suffered 24d4+12 points of damage, unless they made a successful save versus breath weapons for half damage. Spells that offered protection against magical force, such as shield, grant no special protection against this breath weapon. Those who failed their saving throw also had all temporary magical protections dispelled, and permanent magical protections, including Armor Class bonuses from magical armor, rings, cloaks, and the like, rendered inoperable for 1d10 turns. His second breath weapon was a cloud of unique gas that filled an area 75 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet high. Those caught within the gas were affected as if by the 3rd-level priest spell miscast magic unless they made a successful saving throw versus breath weapon with a −4 penalty.

The Keeper of Dark Wonders was able to cast Abi-Dalzim’s horrid wilting, defoliate, and death fog once per day each, as well as the Quest spell implosion/inversion once per day. For this latter spell, Kalzareinad never needed to make a Constitution check to keep the spell operating to the limit of three turns, and never suffered fatigue when it expired. Six times per day Kalzareinad was able to cast dispel magic, and could read magic and detect magic at will. He was permanently under the benefits of a true seeing spell.

Kalzareinad’s aura of dragon fear extended to a radius of 140 yards. Creatures of up to 5 HD/levels who caught sight of him were automatically affected (as well as all noncarnivorous, nonaggressive creatures with fewer than 25 Hit Dice) and fled for 4d6 rounds. Trained war mounts of 4 HD or more, organized military units, and single creatures with more than 5 HD or levels did not automatically flee. Rather, they were entitled to a saving throw vs. petrification at a −4 penalty. If they failed this saving throw, they fought with a −2 penalty to attack and damage rolls. No one save another deity was automatically immune to his fear effect.

The Keeper of Dark Wonders was immune to nonmagical weapons, as well as all spells below 4th level. He was immune to any damage from his own area of effect spells, even if those spells were reflected back upon him or altered in some manner, such as from a wild magic zone. He took half damage from all gasses and necromantic spells; in addition, he was immune to poison, paralysis, death magic, and mind-affecting and controlling spells and psionics.

Other Manifestations

Kalzareinad’s manifestations were subtle and often indirect. He preferred to use hints and fragments of information to lead his followers to desired discoveries. He believed that those not intelligent or wise enough to decipher his messages were not worthy of his rewards, although he was exceptionally delighted when they used his information to make unexpected discoveries. He was known to reward especially loyal and intelligent followers with spells and knowledge he himself had developed or found; some of the more powerful and rare dragon magics originated in this manner. He also occasionally granted followers powers that permanently enhanced their senses, such as the ability to detect magic, detect illusion, read magic, or see through falsehoods as the true seeing spell. In very rare cases where a follower was in grave danger while performing a service the Keeper of Dark Wonders considered especially vital, he would manifest his power as various area of effect spells that the follower was immune to. Such spells often included death fog, blade barrier, incendiary cloud, firestorm, and cloudkill. In virtually no case did Kalzareinad manifest his power to aid a dragon who was not at least Venerable and had served loyally for many centuries.

The Keeper of Dark Wonders was served primarily by crows, black panthers, and shadow hounds, as well as behir, disenchanters, guardian yugoloths, hordlings, magedooms, nightmares, observers, and spectators. He displayed his favor through the discovery of hidden gemstones that were almost black in hue, as well as magical items and ingredients of all sorts. His displeasure was shown through the discovery of magical items drained of their power and rendered brittle and useless, and black hued gemstones that cracked and shattered upon exposure to bright light.

The Church

Clergy: Dragon-priests, specialty priests, dragon-mages

Clergy’s Align.: N, LE, NE, CE

Turn Undead: PD: No, SP: No, DM: No

Cmnd. Undead: PD: Yes, SP: Yes, DM: No

All dragon-priests and specialty priests of Kalzareinad received religion (draconic) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency.

Kalzareinad’s clergy was little known to other dragons for the last few millennia, as they often kept worship of him a secret. This likely hastened his demise, however, for in keeping knowledge of Kalzareinad a secret, dragons who might have chosen to worship him often turned to other deities, such as Kereska or Garyx. His worship was almost exclusively drawn from chromatic dragons, with the faith typically only passed from parent to offspring.

Temples of Kalzareinad were always rare due to the secretive nature of his followers. Minor shrines were much more common, being found in most lairs of his followers. Such shrines consisted of a recessed alcove bearing a torch or brazier enchanted to burn with a dark blue or purple flame. Above this flame and embedded in the wall was the symbol of the Keeper of Dark Wonders.

On most worlds, dragons do not form organized priesthoods, as there are too few of them and they are far too individualistic. Only worlds with very dense dragon populations or very structured dragon cultures will develop hierarchical priesthoods, and the form they take are likely to be unique to those worlds. Kalzareinad’s specialty priests were known as wiccewurms. Any dragon species capable of casting wizardly magic were allowed to become a priest of Kalzareinad, although it was functionally restricted to naturally evil dragons. When it was still a thriving faith, the priesthood of the Keeper of Dark Wonders consisted primarily of specialty priests (65%), with minorities of dragon-priests (20%) and dragon-mages (15%). No half-dragons are known to have ever worshiped Kalzareinad, although the possibility exists that isolated wizards did so.

Dogma: The furtherance of magical research is an admirable end unto itself. It is never a question of whether one should create new magic, but whether one can. Magical secrets need not be shared while one is alive; secrets give one an edge against foes. Magic is a means to power, and the ends of gaining power and magic are paramount.

Day-to-Day Activities: Kalzareinad’s followers spend much of their time researching new magic or hunting for long lost spells and items. They also try to gain mundane secrets, either for the joy of knowing something others don’t, or to gain an advantage against others. Especially old dragons are often the functional equivalent of sages for their region, although they’d never let their knowledge go for free. They are rarely concerned with repercussions of their magical research or with harm caused by letting secrets become known, unless it would adversely affect themselves.

Important Ceremonies/Holy Days: Total solar eclipses were considered holy events to followers of the Keeper of Dark Wonders. On these days worshippers of Kalzareinad hold a private ceremony called the Revealed Darkness, where they pray for aid in the creation of new magic and the discovery of old magic. The prayer must last for the duration of the eclipse; at the end of their prayer, the follower must make a sacrifice of a permanent magical item. The sacrifice can be made using their breath weapon, extreme natural heat such as lava, or some other magical destructive force.

Major Centers of Worship: The only concretely known holy site dedicated to the Keeper of Dark Wonders was a shrine in Maladraedior’s lair on Toril; with the absorption of Kalzareinad’s power by Kereska, it has been rededicated to the Wonderbringer, however. Other long forgotten shrines or temples may still exist, hidden away in remote mountains or deep beneath Faerûn, however. It is likely one lies deep beneath Everlund, as drow records dated three to four millennia ago document an encounter with a hostile deep dragon that bore the symbol of Kalzareinad. Similarly, it is likely that ancient sites dedicated to him might be found somewhere in Io’s Blood Isles, and somewhere on the worlds of Oerth and Golot, forgotten and untouched for well over two millennia.

Affiliated Orders: None.

Priestly Vestments: The holy symbol used by the clergy of the Keeper of Dark Wonders was a small reptile, bird, or mammal magically sealed alive inside a gem or crystal or a disc of amethyst or garnet magically inscribed with a five sided star inside. The former was typically used by Kalzareinad’s evil priests, while the latter was typically used by his neutral priests.

Adventuring Garb: None.

Specialty Priests (Wiccewurms)

Requirements: Intelligence 16, Wisdom 12

Prime Req.: Intelligence, Wisdom

Alignment: N, NE

Weapons: Any, but normally a dragon’s natural weaponry

Armor: Any, but normally a dragon’s natural armor

Major Spheres: All, astral, combat, divination, necromantic (reversed), numbers, protection, thought, wards, weather

Minor Spheres: Charm, elemental, healing (reversed)

Magical Items: Same as dragons, clerics, wizards

Req. Profs: Arcanlogy (PO:S&M)

Bonus Profs: Spellcraft

Wiccewurms were able to be any dragon naturally capable of casting wizard spells.

Wiccewurms were not allowed to multiclass.

Unlike most draconic priests, wiccewurms retained access to their natural wizardly spellcasting ability. However, they had to learn magic as wizards do, by keeping a spell book and researching new spells. Spells learned required normal memorization as well as all components listed in the spell description. Wiccewurms were only able to learn spells from all schools (including universal) except conjugation/summoning and enchantment/charm. Because of their intense magical study, both priestly and wizardly, their natural magic resistance was halved.

Wiccewurms were able to select nonweapon proficiencies from the wizard group without penalty.

Wiccewurms could cast read magic and detect magic (as the 1st-level wizard spells) once per day per age category.

At the 2nd age category, wiccewurms could cast mindrip (as the 1st-level priest spell) or locate object (as the 2nd-level wizard spell) once per day.

At the 3rd age category, wiccewurms could cast dispel magic or miscast magic (as the 3rd-level priest spells) once per day.

At the 4th age category, wiccewurms could cast nondetection or identify (as the 3rd-level wizard spells) once per day.

At the 5th age category, wiccewurms were immune to damage caused by intentionally being caught within the area of effect of their own spells. This did not apply to accidentally catching themselves within their spells’ areas of effect, or from unexpected spell alterations such as caused by a wild magic zone. For example, they would have been immune to a fireball they targeted ten feet in front of themselves, but not a fireball that was reflected back upon them with a ring of spell turning. This did not extend to magical items such as wands or staves, but it did affect spells cast from scrolls.

At the 6th age category, the Intelligence of a wiccewurm was permanently increased by 1 point; up to the racial maximum.

At the 8th age category, wiccewurms could cast death fog or legend lore (as the 6th-level wizard spells) once per day.

At the 10th age category, wiccewurms permanently gained the benefits of true seeing (as the 6th-level wizard spell).

At the 12th age category, the Intelligence of a wiccewurm was permanently increased by 1 point; even exceeding the racial maximum.

Kalzareinadite Spells

In addition to the spells listed below, priests of the Keeper of Dark Wonders could cast the 3rd-level priest spell miscast magic, detailed in the Tome of Magic.

1st Level

Aura of Kalzareinad (Pr 1; Alteration, Necromantic)

Sphere: Necromantic

Range: 0

Components: V

Duration: 1 rd./level

Casting Time: 1 rd.

Area of Effect: Special

Saving Throw: None

By means of this spell, the casting dragon is surrounded by an aura of flickering purple light that extends out to the limits of its fear aura. For the duration of the spell, the dragon can choose to draw energy from living things within the area of effect to power magical spells. This energy can be used to cast spells that the dragon currently has memorized; if cannot be used to cast spells known but not currently in memory, either because it has already been cast normally or because it was not memorized. This magical energy can be used to power regular dragon magic, as well as priest and wizard spells.

Below wyrm status, this aura can only draw energy from plants and microorganisms. For every ten feet of fear aura the dragon has, they can power one spell level of magic; for example, if the dragon has a 20 foot fear aura, they can use this spell to power spells of either first or second level without expending them from memory. All plants within the aura immediately wither and die, and the surface soil is rendered dry and lifeless. The soil regains its health within a month or two, but until then it is subject to extreme wind and water erosion. In order to make use of the power of this spell again, the dragon needs to move to another area on the following round. The majority of the area must have full coverage of grasses or larger plants; mosses, lichens, and sparse scrub grass does not provide enough energy to power spells. At wyrm or great wyrm status, the dragon can choose to draw energy from animals and monsters within the area of their aura instead of plants. All creatures in the area of effect suffer 3d4 points of damage automatically, and for every 10 hit points drained, the dragon can power one spell level worth of energy. If more than 10 points of energy remains after the dragon casts a spell, he must use it the following round or suffer damage equal to whatever is left over.

Mindrip (Pr 1; Alteration)

Sphere: Thought

Range: Touch

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Casting Time: 1 rd.

Area of Effect: 1 creature

Saving Throw: Neg.

With this spell, the caster is able to rip a random spell from a wizard’s mind and place it into his own memory. The caster must touch the wizard’s head for the duration of the casting time for the spell to function; as such, they prefer to use it on those who are held or put to sleep. After successfully casting the spell, the target wizard loses one spell he currently has memorized if he fails a saving throw versus magic, and it is transferred into the caster’s memory. This is incredibly painful for the wizard, however, dealing 1d6 points of damage per spell level if the transference is successful.

The caster need not have the spell in his spellbooks in order to then cast it. However, if the spell is a higher level than the caster is able to cast, the spell dissipates entirely, neither transferring to the caster nor staying in the wizard’s memory. The caster can choose to cast a spell transferred into his memory, or he can use the memorized spell to try and learn it by writing the details into his spellbook. If he chooses to try to copy the spell into his spellbook, he suffers a −20% penalty to the chance to learn roll, but a failure does not prevent him from attempting to learn it in the future through normal means.

This spell can only be cast by dragons with the ability to cast both priest and wizard spells. In addition, the caster must have an empty wizard spell slot for the transferred spell; for example, if the caster transfers a 3rd-level spell from the target, they must have an empty 3rd-level wizard spell slot for it to occupy. This spell functions for all dragons who can cast both wizard and priest spells, even though normal dragons do not memorize their spells. A transferred spell will occupy a normal spellcasting slot for a dragon, although it must be used within 24 hours or it will be replaced by their usual spell power.

5th Level

Greater Mindrip (Pr 5; Alteration)

Sphere: Thought

Range: 30 yds.

Components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Casting Time: 1

Area of Effect: 1 creature

Saving Throw: Neg.

Like the mindrip spell, this dweomer transfers a spell from a target wizard’s memory into the caster’s own. This spell operates by all the same restrictions as the lower level version, except it can be cast at a wizard up to 30 yards away and has a casting time of only 1. In addition, the caster always receives a spell he has an available slot for, unless the target wizard has none available he can use; results otherwise are rerolled. Like the lower level spell, only dragons capable of casting both wizard and priest spells may use this spell.