Helm of supreme wizardry

A helm of supreme wizardry was a Netherese artifact that enhanced the powers of wizards.
==Description==
They were ornate fluted helms made of steel plated with an alloy of silver. While remaining sallet-style, the helms altered to fit the head of anyone who donned them.
==Powers==
When wearing such a helmet, a wizard could memorize at least two, and at most eight extra spells, depending on the tiers of spells they had already achieved. The artifact's additional spells were only from the uppermost tiers, and many wizards might not ever cast such a spell in their lifetimes. The additional spells memorized had to be spent within 12 hours, or else they were lost; their unleashing caused some severe damage to their user.
However, there was a severe risk of burnout; if used more than twice in a tenday, the helmet permanently impaired the user's intelligence and health. If used twice within the same month, no spell memorized the second time could be of the same schools to which spells memorized the first time had belonged; if so, the target suffered an even more severe decay of their mental faculties and health.
==History==
Dating back to the golden age of Netheril, the helmets were invented by the Terraseer, and allowed their users to recapture the power of the great arcanists of that age. But it came with drawbacks and allowed them to test their restraint and wisdom.
Between and , Raulothim was known to have sought one, expecting they'd aid him in casting stasis clone.Notably, the helmet does not allow the caster to cast spells they ordinarily could not. As the text explicitly mentions in both occasions that the helm in question is the same as the one possessed by Lady Gemcloak Saryndalaghlothtor, which explicitly does not have such powers, it is possible Raulothim was mistaken about their functions or that the helmets behaved differently in an earlier draft. Lady Gemcloak's entry in Dragon #254 explicitly says she hoards the object to prevent it from being brought to bear against her, while her entry in Dragons of Faerun p. 31 states instead that she is thought to be using the helmet to access other spells. As the versions of the helmet are separated by eight years and one edition while they consistently lack that power, the most likely proposition is that Raulothim was simply mistaken, and that Lady Gemcloak was in fact only thought of as making such use of the artifact.
==Reputation==
Few learned sages knew they were Netherese artifacts, but fewer still knew they exacted a terrible price from those who employed their powers anything other than very sparsely. Almost none knew of their creator, but those who did were also informed that the helmet's most famous users had disappeared suddenly in turn, suggesting he was testing them for some purpose.
The dragon Raulothim had read in records from Myth Drannor that such artifacts allowed a mage to employ spells beyond their ken. It was thought that Lady Gemcloak, the dragon Saryndalaghlothtor, could do this with her own helm of supreme wizardry.
==Notable Owners==
* Saryndalaghlothtor held such an item in her hoard.
==Appendix==
===External Links===
* Dragons of Faerun excerpt: Helm of Supreme Wizardry (Archived link)
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Artifacts
Category:Minor artifacts
Category:Helmets
Category:Items
Category:Items from Northwest Faerûn
Category:Items from Netheril
Category:Items from North Faerûn
Category:Items from Faerûn
Category:Items from Toril