Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
I’m really getting into some of these magical items from the Forgotten Realms.
Many of these haven’t made their way into D&D 5e but you could easily convert them from
older editions.
Today I’d like to talk about one of my favorite deities of the realms Savras, and the greater
artifact the “Scepter of Savras.”
I’ve talked about the Scepter in previous videos but the information was scattered.
So let’s consolidate it here in this video and see if you can incorporate this Legendary
artifact into your campaign.
Savras is the god of divination in the Forgotten Realms, he was in the service of Mystra the
goddess of magic and was considered the god of mages and wizards.
His symbol is a crystal ball with numerous eyes, peering across the planes and perhaps
into the future.
Before we get into the artifact we need to understand the history of Savras and his rival
deity Azuth.
Savras was originally a wizard back in early Faerun.
In -339 DR some Netherese wizards foresaw the end of their empire, aka Karsus’ Folly
(links down below and in the top right corner for information on the Fall of the Netherese
Empire) and fled south to a region known as Halruaa and created a settlement.
Halruaa grew and over the years became a nation of wizards.
Savras was one such wizard that lived here.
Halruaa grew and because of their magic wielding population were relatively safe from outsiders.
They had to fend off a few attacks over the years but prospered overall.
The spellplague hit the whole kingdom hard.
In 1385 DR Halruaan wizards divined the death of Mystra and the destruction of the Weave,
so being prepared they used the energy of the blue fire from the spellplague and shifted
it to Abeir.
This act protected Halruaa but also moved it to Abeir where it hung out for all of 4th
edition.
The surrounding area became a magical wasteland, to explore this region there was a chance
you could contract “Halruaan Consumption.”
A magical disease that lowered the effects of healing magic on the affected, but increased
some of their arcane spells.
The end result was always death, disintegration into a luminous pile of blue dust.
It wasn’t until the Second Sundering that Halruaa returned to Toril and is now part
of Faerun again.
Halruaa was a strong magically inclined civilization, with academies and colleges dedicated to the
magical arts.
A bit like a magical Lantan the Halruaan people crafted skyships which assisted in trade and
exploration.
After returning to Faerun these skyships were seen venturing out from the old wastelands
of Halruaa.
So Savras, a wizard of Halruaa eventually became a demi-god under Mystra the goddess
of magic.
When exactly and how this was achieved is not known.
Unless it’s in a novel that I’m not aware about.
Savras came into conflict with Azuth, who was a very strong wizard and also a favored
of Mystra.
Azuth’s life as a mortal wizard is not well known, his story is the stuff of myth and
legend.
Hungry for power Azuth went in search of lost empires to find magical secrets that would
propel him farther in wizardry than any other.
At some point he became a Chosen of Mystra, which made him more powerful.
Azuth, a near-divine mortal wishing to achieve deity status, battled the demi-god Savras
in hopes of taking his spot and becoming the deity of wizards.
This battle lasted several years.
Azuth crafted a magical weapon to assist him in his fight.
A staff that later became known as the Scepter of Savras.
The final battle between Azuth and Savras shattered a mountain and created a deep lake,
but Azuth landed the last blow and using his magically crafted scepter imprisoned Savras
within it.
Which is why it became known as the Scepter of Savras.
Four feet long and fashioned from a gray-hued length of duskwood, the same wood that the
famous “Blackstaff” is made from.
It has nine star sapphires along the length of the staff.
The bottom has a smaller diamond with the symbol of Savras on it, and the top had a
much larger diamond with 1,000 facets and the symbol of Azuth.
It could be used as a +5 quarterstaff, but the main feature of the scepter was it’s
imprisonment ability.
Built to hold the essence of a god inside the large top diamond if said creature was
physically struck by the staff.
With this scepter Azuth hit Savras and he was taken inside the magic artifact.
Once imprisoned Savras was cut off from his worshipers, and his clerics could not receive
power from him.
This was scary because a deity cut off for their worshipers could essentially starv,
as gods depend on their worshipers for power.
Without them a deity could fade away never to return.
Now Azuth could potentially utilize the power of Savras via the scepter, and draw on the
deity’s strengths.
However Savras had enough divine energy and control that he was able to teleport the scepter
away and keep it hidden from Azuth’s divination and location magics.
The scepter passed from hand to hand throughout the realms.
None able to free Savras as only another deity of a being which contained a portion of divinity
could release him.
It was a simple process if you met those requirements, speaking the imprisoned creature's true complete
name three times while striking the ground.
The scepter of savras eventually came into the possession of Sylune Silverhand the Witch
of Shadowdale who is the eldest of the Seven Sisters.
(Seven Sisters of who?
More info in the description or the top right corner).
She oddly enough did not release Savras and instead returned the scepter to Azuth.
Azuth, who had now gained divinity and was a deity under Mystra, regretted his actions
imprisoning Savras and after the Time of Troubles released him.
Under the condition that Savras would follow Azuth and serve him.
After the release of Savras the scepter teleported again and stayed out of Azuth’s reach.
It is unclear if this was Savras’ doing, or if the scepter had just inherited this
magical fluctuation from Savras.
Non-divine creatures who were imprisoned in the scepter would not age and could not communicate,
but were aware of the outside world.
Savras was imprisoned for centuries and his divine energies leaked into the scepter.
This gave the scepter new magical powers of a divinatory kind.
By stating the name of Savras and a desired spell you could cast any cleric or wizard
spell from the school of divination.
The diamond at the top acted like a crystal ball to perform scrying with and the range
of those divination spells extended to any of the inner or outer planes.
A creature being viewed by the scepter of savras could also have it’s mind read.
These effects did not work on deities though.
Destroying the scepter is a mystery, but there are theories.
It is said that if you were to ever use it against Azuth and imprison him, the scepter
would break apart.
Some sages believe that the answer was much simpler and an avatar of Mystra could snap
the staff with their fingers.
Azuth is now the deity of spellcasting, worshiped by wizards; and Savras serves under him as
the deity of divination.
Mystra is the goddess of magic, but Azuth is the deity of learning and understanding
magic.
Divine spellcasters or Sorcerers would not worship Azuth, there is no study in innate
sorcerer magic.
But perhaps an Arcane Cleric with the wizard Magic Initiate Feat.
That could be fun.
If you want to learn more about Azuth or Savras there are links in the description to some
Faerun Pantheon videos I did a while back.
I’ve also linked videos related to Mystra and the Netherese empire, which was the original
home of the Halruaa peoples.
If I was going to make the Scepter of Savras for fifth edition D&D I’d make it a +3 Quarterstaff,
cause that seems in line with other magical artifacts.
Probably advantage on initiative rolls because of the divination aspect.
The wielder could make a melee attack with the staff and on a hit the enemy would have
to make a charisma save, maybe a wisdom saving throw or be imprisoned within the staff.
You can use the staff as a scrying device.
It has 9 charges allowing you to cast any wizard or cleric divination spell of 1st through
9th level.
Using appropriate charges which would recharge at dawn.
For fun I created this in D&D Beyond, you should be able to use it in your game.
Check at the link below.
Could be a fun item to magically appear in your game.
Items with a unique history are always more interesting than just a +1 longsword.
Thanks for watching everyone, check out the videos below for more Forgotten Realms information.
I’d love to have you subscribe, thank you so much to those of you who already are.
Let me know if you plan on using the Scepter of Savras in your game.
I’ll see you all in the next video!