[Balanor]

This is the following list of all factions that are currently joinable in the Thay PW. This list is continually updated as new factions become available. If you have an interest to create a faction not on this least, see the bottom of this page for details about how you can make it a reality.

Temples 

Temples are joinable by any class, however in most cases only those with divine powers can become true temple clergy. Progression within a temple consists of several ranks attained by achieving the necessary level of notoriety in addition to any class requirements listed. 

 

Temple Initiate - New PC of any class. Receives a small discount to temple healing and stores if they exist. Discount increases as new temple ranks are attained 

Lay Member - Temple Initiate of any class. Receives faction item and may access restricted areas of the temple 
Clergy Initiate - Lay Member who has at least 1 Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Blackguard, or Divine Champion level. Note that not all faiths allow Druids, Paladins, or Blackguards so review the in-game list of Forgotten Realms gods in the Player Guide for clergy alignment restrictions. May begin using faction item to request aid from other members of the temple and extraplanar servants of their god, and to freeze or unfreeze faction advancement of a lower ranking member 
Clergy - Clergy Initiate who has at least 5 Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Blackguard, or Divine Champion levels and the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to kick lower ranking members from the temple 
Respected Clergy - Clergy member who has at least 10 Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Blackguard, or Divine Champion levels and the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to provide Clergy Initiates and below a one-time promotion to the next rank 

 

Alaor Isles 

House of Holy Tides (Temple of Istishia) 
Temple of Valkur 

Bezantur 

Crypt of Imminent Death (Temple of Jergal) 
Flaming Brazier (Temple of Kossuth) 
House of Cyric 
House of Entropy 
Ilmater’s Cathedral 
Loviatar's Manor 
Orcish Temple - Orcs and Half-Orcs only 
Temple of Auril 
Temple of Bane  
Temple of Beshaba 
Temple of Garagos (Santhro's Rooming House) 
Temple of Gargauth 
Temple of Gond 
Temple of Helm 
Temple of Juiblex 
Temple of Leira 
Temple of Lliira 
Temple of Lolth - Only Drow females may become clergy members 
Temple of Malar 
Temple of Mask 
Temple of Myrkul 
Temple of Mystra 
Temple of Oghma 
Temple of Shar 
Temple of Sharess 
Temple of Sune 
Temple of Talona 
Temple of Talos 
Temple of Tempus 
Temple of Tyr 
Temple of Umberlee 

Chur Gathos

Temple of Shaundakul 

Eltabbar 

Temple of Cyric 
Temple of Loviatar 

Gauros Keep

Garrison of War (Temple of Tempus) 

Gold Mines of Thay

Bastion of the Morndinsamman (Temple of all Dwarven Gods) 

Keep of Sorrows

Temple of Hoar 

Moszabbar

House of Snakes (Temple of Set) 

Murbant 

Temple of Nesharia 

Nethjet 

Chauntea’s Shrine 

Nethwatch Keep 

House of Eloquence (Temple of Milil) 

Pyarados 

Cathedral of the Dead (Temple of Myrkul/Cyric/Kelemvor) 
Temple of Tymora 

Ruins of Delhumide 

Temple of Tiamat 

Smoking Keep 

Citadel of Stratagem (Temple of the Red Knight) 

Sunrise Mountains

Oak Hearth (Temple of Silvanus) 

Surthay 

Pinnacle of the Firelord (Temple of Kossuth) 
Temple of Moander 
Temple of Talona 

Thasselen 

Shrine by the Sea (Temple of Umberlee)

 

Thazar Keep

Temple of Selune 

Thossos 
Temple of Talos 

Thralgard Keep 

House of the Hand (Temple of Torm) 

Tyraturos 

Burning House of Kossuth 
Temple of Waukeen 

Umratharos

Halls of Enlightenment (Temple of Deneir) 

Undrek'Thoz - House of Webs (Temple of Lolth) - Only Drow females may become clergy members 

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 Guilds 

Each guild has different restrictions as to who can join it. See the list of available guilds below for requirements. Progression within a guild consists of several ranks attained by achieving the necessary level of notoriety in addition to any class or alignment requirements listed. 

Recruit - New PC who meets guild requirements to join. Receives a small discount to guild stores if they exist. Discount increases as new ranks are attained 

Associate (Junior) Member - Recruit of the guild who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. Receives faction item and may access restricted areas of the guild 
Member - Associate Member of the guild who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to summon and request aid from other members of the guild, and to freeze or unfreeze faction advancement of lower ranking members 
Veteran (Senior) Member - Member of the guild who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to kick lower ranking members from the guild 
Officer - Veteran Member of the guild who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to provide guild Members and below a one-time promotion to the next rank 

Nationwide 

Cult of the Dragon 

The Harpers - Joinable by Bards, Rogues, Rangers, Wizards, Sorcerers, or Harper Scouts. Non-evil alignments only 

Monastery of the Long Death - Monks only 

Bezantur 

Assassin’s Guild - Non-good Rogues or Assassins only 
Thieves’ Guild - Non-good alignments only 

Eltabbar 

Thieves’ Guild - Non-good alignments only 

Sunrise Mountains

Eldreth Veluuthra - Elves only 

Surthay 
Criminal Underground 

Tyraturos 

Hinhome - Halflings only 
Iron Throne 
Thieves’ Guild 
Tower of Swift Death - Worshippers of Bhaal (or Cyric after 1370 DR) or non-good Rogues or Assassins 

Undrek'Thoz 

House of the Lightless Truth - Drow Monks only 
Arcane Academy - Drow Wizards or Sorcerers only 

----------------------------------------- 

Legions 

Legions for the 11 tharchs of Thay, as well as certain non-tharch legions, are joinable by PCs of any class by speaking to one of the legion’s recruiters - typically a Master Sergeant. Progression within a legion consists of several ranks attained by achieving the necessary level of notoriety. 

Legionnaire - New PC who has achieved the necessary level of notoriety to join the legion. Receives access to legion quartermasters. Receives a legion cloak and access to the various quarters, barracks, watchtowers, keeps and castles within the respective Tharch 
Sergeant - Legionnaire who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to summon other legionnaires or imprison criminals to a pre-chosen set of prison shackles. Receives a small discount from the legion quartermasters. Discount increases as new ranks are attained 
Lieutenant - Human, Half-Orc, Half-Elf, or Tiefling Sergeant who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to freeze or unfreeze faction advancement of lower ranking members 
Captain - Human Lieutenant who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to kick lower ranking members from the legion 
Tribune - Human Captain who achieves the necessary level of notoriety. May begin using faction item to provide Lieutenants and below a one-time promotion to the next rank 


Tharch Legions of Thay

Alaor Legion 

Delhumide Legion 

Eltabbar Legion 

Gauros Legion 

High Thay Legion 

Lapendrar Legion 

Priador Legion 

Pyarados Legion 

Surthay Legion 

Thazalhar Legion 

Tyraturos Legion 

Non-Tharch Legions of Thay 

Black Unicorn Legion - Evil Human or Drow women only 

Griffon Legion - (Joinable after 1359 DR) Gnolls, Orcs, and Goblins not allowed 

Other Legions 

Undrek'Thoz Legion - Note that only Drow can rise above the rank of Sergeant 

--------------------------------------------------------------
Other
Red Wizards of Thay
Thayan Knights
Thayan Gladiators

[Balanor]

I also encourage interested PCs to form their own factions with the options available to you. For example, you can band together or start on your own by purchasing a building, and even place a merchant within the building if you want. Furniture you can buy from various merchants throughout Thay will allow you to set it up as a Temple, Guild, or whatever else might be most appropriate. Use tailor models to customize guild outfits, and so on. If you do take the initiative and get a player guild/faction started, I recommend letting the HDM and/or DMs know its goals, rules, membership, etc.

I want to stress that if you have an existing PC who will be involved with a faction you want to see made permanent, please work with the DMs using in-game tools first to make it a reality and build a foundation for it, first. Once a proper foundation using in-game tools and action has been laid, or if you would like to create a permanent faction for the Thay PW to expand the variety of what's available, the following steps are something I'll willing to give a trial run at this point to give the community the option to create permanent factions in Thay. This may not remain permanent if it turns out not to be working as intended, so we’ll see how things go. The *entire* point of this opportunity is to give you (the players/community/staff) control over creating an official and permanent faction of Thay, while requiring from me the *absolute minimum* amount of work, time, and effort to add the faction to the gameworld.

The following steps must be completed for a permanent faction of the Thay PW:

1. Faction Name and Background (especially if not an ‘official source’ Forgotten Realms faction). I *really* prefer to see official factions of the Forgotten Realms – such as temples to the various gods or other organizations that have background information, but at this time especially non-religious factions too.
a. If this is not an official Forgotten Realms faction, stop here before doing anything else and send me the background information, faction details, and the reasons you think this should become an official faction of Thay. It will need to get approval before moving on to any additional steps
b. If someone(s) approaches me to work on a faction and gets approval to do so, I will put the faction and the name of the individual(s) leading its creation in the list of factions below. They will be my primary points of contact regarding the faction, and the ones I will work with to implement it. I'd encourage anyone else interested to contact the faction lead, not me, if you'd like to help to work on a faction.
c. The following is a list of official Forgotten Realms factions or those of official neighboring nations, that appear from source materials to have, or are likely have, a presence in Thay. I’d highly recommend working to implement one of these before coming up with a homebrew faction:
- Shadowmasters of Telflamm (Bezantur) - The Temple of Mask doubles as the headquarters of the extremely powerful thieves' guild. Its leader, Guildmistress Shabella the Pale, struggles to maintain her position against an incursion by the Shadowmastens of Telflamm. The guild here controls nearly all of the illegal activities in and around Bezantur, making it too juicy a target for the Shadowmasters to pass up. The thieves in the city are choosing sides, and an alarming number have thrown in their lot with the Theskians, weary of Shabella's tyranny.
Thavar Shom, CE male human shadow-walker rogue 9/fighter 2/Telflammar shadowlord 4 (leader of the Shadowmasters moving into the city)
- Zhentarim
- Iron Throne
- The Masquerade
- [Spy Network of Mulhorand]
- [Spy Network of Aglarond]
- [Spy Network of the Wychlaran (Witches of Rashemen)]

2. Faction Headquarters and Location
a. This will be one interior area created in the toolset, and possibly an exterior area if the faction is not based in an existing town/castle/city. Under rare circumstances it can be more than one area. However contact me first if you think more than one is needed. I keep a close eye on overall module resources, I’ll be pushing very hard for faction headquarters to be in one physical area.
b. These faction areas should be less than 100 total tiles (10x10 or less). The smaller and more compact – the better. Even the center of the popular Kossuthan faith in Thay, the Burning Brazier of Tyraturos, is only 100 tiles in size.
c. Creation of this area will need to be done primarily by the individual(s) interested in seeing it existing in the Thay PW. Click here to download the Thay PW Base Module and Area Design Guidelines. Those guidelines must be followed or the area will be sent back for revision.

3. Faction Leader(s)
a. The faction leader(s) need to be placed in the faction headquarters area and then modified there (not in the toolset palette). They need to be given appropriate inventory items (including customized-looking armor/clothing), alignment, levels, feats, spells, attributes, and skills for their level, race, class, and position
Tip: I recommend placing a human/dwarf/elf/etc creature from the Standard palette within the faction area, change its faction to Defender, and then modify that creature there to suit your needs for this NPC.
b. A fairly detailed description for each of the faction leader(s) is required

4. Faction Contact
a. The faction contact needs to be placed in a public area of the faction headquarters area and then modified there (not in the toolset palette). They need to be given appropriate inventory items (including customized-looking armor/clothing), alignment, levels, feats, spells, attributes, and skills for their level, race, class, and position
Tip: I recommend placing a human/dwarf/elf/etc creature from the Standard palette within the faction area, change its faction to Defender, and then modify that creature there to suit your needs for this NPC.
b. A fairly detailed description for the faction contact is required
c. A conversation following the standard faction-joining conversation template is required for this person. Click here to download that conversation template and examples of completed templates

5. Faction Item
a. In most cases this should be something visible like a cloak, helm, or clothing/armor. This should be created and exist in the custom palette for the item category. That is so when it is imported to the Thay module it shows up as a resource categorized in the correct palette.
b. The item can have properties applicable to its faction. It automatically gets an AC bonus, so most other properties are OK, however it must remain under a level 5 ILR item.
c. A fairly detailed description for the faction item is required

6. Any additional things/abilities the faction may have
I would first like to mention that all factions are not (initially) created equal. Certain factions will have benefits over others. While the Red Wizards are probably the most obvious example, other factions on this list may also have some combination of special/secret areas, special quest givers, discounts to available stores, unique items, and useful equipment - like enchantment forges on premise so you don't have to travel to a far-away 'public' forge. Not all will get, nor deserve 'special' features.
Merchants
a. A faction can have a special merchant - but this is not always necessary OR required. Temple faction leaders automatically have a store with potions and scrolls and other items based on their alignment (good temple goods, evil temple goods, etc), but another merchant is a possibility for factions that do not have a standard merchant as well.
b. The merchant NPC should be created by you using the same guidelines to complete necessary details as any other Faction NPC. This is one area of faction creation in which I will need to setup the actual merchant store/inventory with certain items that have already been created.
c. If there are custom items you want the merchant to sell, those need to be created in the palette and MUST include a detailed description of at least a paragraph. I reserve the right to modify or choose not to include custom items if I deem them inappropriate for the PW.
d. I need a short paragraph or couple sentences written that the merchant NPC will say when the PC talks to them. This is what occurs whenever any merchant is talked to as that merchant's greeting.
Misc
a. Other special ‘things’ like an enchantment forge, portal to XYZ, secret/hidden exits and entrances, etc. These will be very rare however and I may likely veto them unless there is an outstanding reason for having a special ‘thing’ for the faction

If someone wants to start design work to create a permanent faction, please let me know and then take the initiative to do as much of this work by yourself or with other interested community members. Note that I will be holding any faction requests and submissions to extremely high standards, so it’s very likely I may send back any initial submissions for more details, cleanup, etc.

[Langilear]

All the Druid Deities are evil? =O

[TheSupremeForce]

All the Druid Deities are evil? =O

According to the most recent update posting, the Shrine to Chauntea in Nethjet is now joinable.

[Balanor]

Not all Druid Deities are evil either. Here's a list of all the Forgotten Realms Deities and basic info on what alignment they allow for their priests/druids -
http://thaypw.7th-sphere.net/showthread.php?tid=22

[Langilear]

Yes, I know that there are non-evil Druid Deities, however, there is not a player joinable temple/grove for anything but evil, with the exception of what TheSupremeForce mentioned.

[Balanor]

Updated as of 10/31/10 (Happy Halloween!) to reflect major changes as to how temple factions accept new recruits, and temple hierarchies and promotions.

[PsyDruid]

How would one go about becoming a Thayan Knight?

[Githzerai Monk]

To the best of my knowledge there is currently no scripted support for PC TKs (Thayan Knights). PC Red Wizards cannot take PC TKs (but can have followers who will serve a similar purpose, just without the title). Because of issues such that arise when a PC red wizard leaves/dies for the TK, PC TKs will likely never be able to officially follow PC masters.

[PsyDruid]

Thank you Githzerai, that should help. Kinda unfortunate, i was starting to like the Thayan Knight armor... Ah wells, perhaps in the future.