Riddlemaster

Riddlemasters were exceptionally intelligent bards that devoted themselves to intellectual pursuits, becoming masters at conceiving and solving all manner of riddles, puzzles, and rhymes.
==Activities==
All riddlemasters shared the view that daily life could be navigated like any puzzle. From this mindset they sought to advance their intellectual understanding and analyze the odds and probabilities in any given situation so as to determine the actions necessary for achieving a favorable outcome, such as what were the best questions to ask and who to focus on in a fight.
Evil-aligned riddlemasters sought to demean and put down others, good ones sought to educate people, and others simply reveled in poking fun at other people. In general, many riddlemasters liked to flaunt their intellectual skills by speaking in riddles or rhymes and they loved to pose questions to commoners in the form of carefully constructed riddles. These riddle questions would conceal either lessons or observations that applied to the those being questioned. It was also custom among riddlemasters to not explain what seemed obvious to them unless asked direct, specific questions, but instead only offer one or two observations so that those around them could work their way to the conclusion themselves.
Though most riddlemasters were too absorbed in intellectual pursuits to cultivate other skills, some became skilled in bartering, gambling, or the art of being a jeweler.
==Culture==
Some believed that the skills displayed by riddlemasters were nothing more than extraordinary luck, much like the luck commonly displayed by jesters. Also like jesters, many commoners labeled riddlemasters as being crazy due to their strange actions and behavior. Their way of living tended to irritate commoners and fellow adventurers alike, necessitating a mobile lifestyle.
==Abilities==
Riddlemasters were more proficient than the average bard in learning new spells and using spell scrolls or other other magic items that were in written form, such as books or maps.
==Equipment==
In terms of weaponry a riddlemaster favored those that required some level of finesse to use, such as blowguns, bows and crossbows, daggers, darts, hand axes, javelins, quarterstaves, slings and staff slings, spears, short swords, and whips.
==History==
By the , riddlemasters were considered to be relatively rare in Faerûn.
Some time during or prior to 1364 DR, the riddle-hoarding green dragon Grimnoshtadrano destroyed the village of Taskerleigh near Waterdeep and from it took the magical harp Morninglark, which he carried back to his lair in the High Forest. Soon thereafter, Grimnosh was approached by the spellsinger Iriador Wintermist, under the alias of "Garnet", with a proposition: if she could have the Morninglark, she would use it to issue a widely spread challenge for adventurers and riddlemasters to approach Grimnosh with their best riddles. Grimnosh agreed and received a scroll from Garnet to give to anyone who succeeded at the challenge.
Soon enough, a rag-tag army of adventurers, minstrels, and mercenaries led by Danilo Thann and Elaith Craulnober, accompanied by the riddlemaster Vartain, sought out the lair of Grimnosh in order to obtain the Morninglark for themselves.
==Notable Riddlemasters==
* Elvira of the Bluff, a Ravenian half-elf bard and mage, was referred to by some as being a riddlemaster.
* Vartain, a widely traveled human riddlemaster that hailed from Calimshan.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Bard kits
Category:Kits