Author: Manicmidwife

As a Greyhawk and as a D&D fan I confess to enjoying the Baldur's Gate Computer RPG saga. It details the ongoing story of a character (generated by as you) as he or she becomes aware of a great destiny. As you adventure through the saga, more and more of the destiny is revealed to you and you have a chance to ascend to godhood (should you so wish). The action takes place over the course of Baldur's Gate (BGI, and its companion Tales of the Sword Coast), Baldur's Gate II, Shadows of Amn (BGII, and its expansion Throne of Bhaal BGToB - the conclusion to the saga). It is thrilling to see a manifestation of fighting skills and spell effects as controlled by the player. It is also fun when surviving a prolonged real life gaming drought. I am unsure if this will see me branded a heretic or a class traitor as this saga is set in the Forgotten Realms, and it uses 2nd edition rules.

Baldur's Gate fans who frequent this site will know how immersive and thrilling this game series is. It literally takes weeks of solid and continuous play to get through the original game (BGI) alone, and fans have expressed joy at the detail and the subtle in-jokes and references that have found their way into the game. Hence this article: not to sell the game but to catalogue the influence of the 'Hawk on the game. It is reasonable to conclude that a number of the game designers are hard-core gamers of old...

Spells:
Greyhawk fans can cast the following spells (presuming that they find the appropriate scrolls):
- Melf's Acid Arrow (BGI)
- Melf's Minute Meteors (BGII)
- Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (BGI)
- Tenser's Transformation (BGII)
- Mordenkainen's Sword (BGII)
- Bigby's Clenched Fist (BGToB)
- Bigby's Crushing Hand (BGToB)

Magical Items:
Not so easy to find (for sure!), but players who delve hard enough may find...

- The Golden Girdle of "Urnst" (obtainable in BG I and BG II), an item that provides +3 protection against slashing weapons;
- The "Robe of Vecna" (found in BG II as a item to purchase in an adventurers' market!), a handy item for a wizard, this robe provides protection for harm (AC5), 10% resistance to magic and rapidly reduces casting time by half. This item is only available on the BGII Collectors disc;
- The Ring of Gaxx (an ancient artifact from the original DMG and believed by many to be a Greyhawk artifact, this item is obtained if you can defeat a supremely powerful demi-lich in BGII by name of Kangaxx. The author had to morph his NG archer into the Slayer to do this...). This version of the ring adds +2 to AC and Saving Throws, +10 to Magic Resistance, regeneration of 1 HP per 3 seconds, Immunity to poison and disease, Invisibility 1/day and Improved Haste 3/day;
- The Machine of Lum the Mad (another artifact of old, this one certainly gets around! Also believed to be housed near Rauxes and also believed lost in Limbo. Learning how to activate the powers of this item is a quest in itself). It may be found beneath an unnamed keep in ToB;
-The Equalizer Sword ("The Sword of Neutrality") - A very powerful sword that players must create by assembling three seperate pieces throughout BGII (and then having the item forged by a singularly skilled smith). This one first appeared in the Greyhawk Adventures Hardcover (page 87 to be precise) as the Equalizer of Gran March. The Equalizer longsword does no damage to true neutrals, and increasing damage against those of more extreme alignments. It also protects against charm and confusion;
- "The Answerer" (not known in the game as Fragerach, and not known by alignment). The Answerer longsword is the possession of an army general in ToB, and he will not surrender it willingly (especially since it is a +4 sword that lowers a target magic resistance by 15% and will reduce AC as well);
- A forged halberd called "Wave" and a longsword called "Blackrazor" (the author is still looking for an item known as "Whelm". It has to be there somewhere...). Wave does 1d10+4 damage (with a 15% chance of doing +15) and slays fire elementals, efreet and salamanders; Blackrazor does 1d8+3 and regenerates (with a 15% chance of draining 4 levels from the target. It also provides immunity to charm and fear

Greyhawk Monsters:
Firstly, 2nd edition players (and 3rd ed as well) will be well familiar with the range of monsters that look to cut you down in the game. The monsters range from orcs, hobgoblins and kobolds at low levels right up to dragons, beholders and liches at higher levels. The truly dedicated player must also contend with vampires, mind flayers, githyanki, pit fiends, kuo-toa and drow! If you can survive to ToB then solars and devas become allies!

The concept of "Greyhawk Unique" monsters is a debatable one, but for those who have the 2nd edition Greyhawk MC5 appendix ("Here we detail the creatures unique to Greyhawk"), you can see (and hopefully defeat) a Shadow Dragon and Vampiric Mists. Do you regard the Xvart as unique to Greyhawk following the 3rd ed. conversion in the LGJ 1? Well, in BGI, you can go berserk in a hidden village and wipe out a whole villagefull of the little blue critters!

More recently in Dragon 290-291, the history and motivation of the Death Knights of the Great Kingdom were detailed. As suggested in the original Fiend Folio, they are connected in service to Demogorgon. In BGII a subterranean shrine to Demogorgon may be found, and looting the alter will summon six Death Knights. The author would like to suggest that just one Death Knight is enough of a challenge for any party...

Homage to the original Giant Series?:
While there is not a sequential similarity between the Baldur's Gate saga and the famed 1st edition Giant / Drow series, there are enough similarities to conclude that the game designers have been adventured in Greyhawk at some time of other.

- In ToB, nasty fire giants look forward to smashing you with great hammers and swords, and the adventure takes you to a great Hall of a Fire Giant King (complete with a thief who has been captured and imprisoned in chains);
- 'Ware the Underdark of BGII! Underground grottos and lairs feature such encounters as kuo-toa, sahuagin, liches, wyverns, undead, illithids, demons, spiders, elementals, myconids, slimes, puddings, trolls, svirfneblin, umber hulks and drow... lots of drow... in fact...
- An entire city of decadent drow must be explored whilst in disguise. The behaviour of the drow (especially the female nobles) is almost horrific to watch. Even more interesting is some of the names that crop up: House Despana, a male drow by name of Merinid, a potential drow party member by name of Viconia, a Male Fighters Society and a Female Fighters Society...

Other references to Greyhawk:
Am I through yet? Not by a long shot!

- Hidden in the slums of BGII is a functional organisation of Slave Lords. Among the leaders may be found a cleric by name of Stalmen and a thief by name of Ketta;
- A haunted keep in BG Tales of the Sword Coast features a chessboard area where the players will be struck with lightning if they move against what their piece position will allow (homage to Ghost Tower of Inverness) and an area where players may access 4 elemental nodes and their native denizens (homage to Temple of Elemental Evil);
- You can fight against a large Red Dragon in BGII. Nearby may be found items of dragon slaying to help, if you think to look (as is the case in Halls of the Fire Giant King);
- Players that survive to ToB can get to face and fight Demogorgon as well as the Elemental Princes of Evil (Cryonax, Yan-C-Bin, Imix, Ogremoch and Olhydra, though thankfully not all at once!) Druids with enough experience can actually randomly summon Elemental Princes of Good (Chan, Sunnis or Zaaman Rul). The game is mischievous enough to let you abuse your divine privilege and summon one to take care of a pesky little kobold that you would otherwise be too bored to kill - if you so chose.

Appendix - Icewind Dale:
The Icewind Dale series of games features less connection to Greyhawk (and is not nearly as fun as the BG saga, in the opinion of this author), but the game has some very interesting (and probably superior) spells not found in the BG series, and player wizards may cast the following:
- Melf's Acid Arrow
- Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
- Otiluke's Freezing Sphere (this is _Ice_wind Dale!)
- Tenser's Transformation
- Mordenkainen's Sword

The expansion pack (Heart of Winter) also features Mordenkainen's Force Missiles (the _ultimate_ evocation spell!)