Oghma (Forgotten Realms)

Forgotten Realms Deity|fgcolor=#fff


bgcolor=#000
fgcolor=#fff
name=Oghma
title=The Lord of Knowledge,
Binder of What Is Known
home=Outlands/Tir na Og/House of Knowledge (D&D); House of Knowledge (3e FR)
power=Greater
alignment=True Neutral
portfolio=Knowledge, invention, inspiration, bards
domains=Charm, Knowledge, Luck, Travel and Trickery
alias=
super=

:"For the Irish mythological being, see Ogma."

Oghma, also known as "The Lord of Knowledge, Binder of what is known", is the Neutral Greater power of Bards, Inspiration, Invention, and Knowledge, of the Celtic pantheon and also within fictional world of the "Forgotten Realms" "Dungeons & Dragons" campaign setting.

Publication history

Ed Greenwood created Oghma for his home Dungeons & Dragons game.Fact|date=August 2008

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

Oghma first appeared within Dungeons & Dragons as one of the deities featured in Ed Greenwood's article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in "Dragon" #54 (October 1981). [Ed Greenwood, Dragon magazine #54 - "Down-to-earth divinity" (October 1981)]

Oghma later officially appeared as one of the major deities for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, in the "Forgotten Realms Campaign Set"'s "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987). [cite book | id =ISBN 0-88038-472-7 | title = Forgotten Realms Campaign Set | author = Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb and Karen S. Martin | year = 1987 | publisher = Wizard of the Coast]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

Oghma was described in the hardback "Forgotten Realms Adventures" (1990), the revised "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting" (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet, [cite book | title=Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting | author = Ed Greenwood | year = 1993|id = ASIN B000K06S2E ] and "Faiths & Avatars" (1996). [Martin, Julia, and Eric L Boyd. "Faiths & Avatars" (TSR, 1996)]

His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in "On Hallowed Ground" (1996). [McComb, Colin. "On Hallowed Ground" (TSR, 1996)]

Oghma is described as one of the good deities that celestials can serve in the supplement "Warriors of Heaven" (1999). [Perkins, Christopher. "Warriors of Heaven" (TSR, 1999)]

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

Oghma appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting" (2001), [cite book | title = Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting | author = Ed Greenwood et al. | year = 2001 | publisher = Wizard of the Coast | id = ISBN 0-7869-1836-5 ] and is further detailed in "Faiths and Pantheons" (2002). [Boyd, Eric L, and Erik Mona. "Faiths and Pantheons" (Wizards of the Coast, 2002)]

History and description

Within the "Forgotten Realms" he is an interloper deity, who like Silvanus, is active in more than one plane of existence.

He is leader of the "Deities of Knowledge and Invention" (including Milil, Deneir and Gond), and his homeplane in the 3rd Edition world is the House of Knowledge. His symbol is a Scroll and his favourite weapon is Mortal Strike (a longsword).

He grants the domains Charm, Knowledge, Luck, Travel and Trickery. His worshippers are artists, bards, cartographers, inventors, loremasters, sages, scholars, scribes and wizards — archivists (a generalist cleric prestige class) as well as erudites (variant-psion embracing all psionic knowledge) might pray to him, too. They can be of any alignment, unlike most neutral gods.

After the debacle in Zhentil Keep that saw Cyric take a blow to his power, he entrusted Rinda with the "Cyrinishad", a book Cyric had her pen that converted anyone who read it or heard a reading of it to a fanatically loyal follower of Cyric. He also gave her a diamond amulet to render her invisible to all the gods, even Oghma himself.

Oghma's allies are the "Deities of Knowledge and Invention". His most common foes are Mask, Cyric and Bane. His old archnemesis, Leira, is now dead and an aspect of Cyric.

Orders

*Companions of the Silver StringThe Companions of the Silver String are heroic bards who actedvaliantly at risk of their own lives in the service of the church ofOghma.

References