Branding iron

A branding iron, or brand, was a device used to scorch an identifying mark into a material or the skin of a living creature.
==Description==
A brand was basically a long metal rod designed to be repeatedly heated and cooled with use. If intended to impart a specific design such as a symbol or letter of script, the head of it would have an elaborate shape that was pressed into the surface material.
==Availability==
Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue offered branding irons that marked each and every character of the Dethek, Thorass, and Espruar scripts for 8 gp, as well as custom-built sigils for 13 gp.
==Usage==
The most common use of branding was the marking of livestock and other animals with their owner's mark, making it harder to rustle and sell on the stolen animals thanks to the original owner's identity being plain.
Groups such as the Ashmadai and the cult of the Absolute branded their initiates with their god's symbol to ensure their loyalty, potentially marking the soul itself with their master's sigil.
Brands were also used as a means of indelibly marking a prisoner, criminal, or slave, usually in a highly visible part of the body. Branding irons could also be used as tools of torture, by the simple expedient of burning the victim's flesh.
A brand could be used as a bludgeoning weapon in a pinch, as it was still ultimately a large and solid piece of metalwork. If the brand was glowing hot at the time, the damage inflicted was much increased.
==Magic==
* A symbol could be created on a surface by the arcane mark spell, which was painless and temporary.
* A painful mark could be created by the brand spell, which burned a short set of script into a living or nonliving surface, and could not be removed or healed by most means. 
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===Gallery===
Absolute Brand-BG3.png|The brand of the Absolute.
Asmodeus Symbol-5e.png|The brand of Asmodeus.
===External Links===
* 
===References===
Category:Tools
Category:Farming tools
Category:Animal handling equipment
Category:Iron items
Category:Items from Faerûn
Category:Items from Toril
Category:Items from Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue