Baravar Cloakshadow
| Baravar Cloakshadow | ||
|---|---|---|
 Dagger against a Hooded Cloak |
||
| Aliases | Bane of Goblinkind, Lord in Disguise, Master of Illusion, the Sly One | |
| Alignment | Neutral Good | |
| Divine Rank | Lesser God | |
| Pantheon | Gnome | |
| Portfolio | Illusions, Deception, Traps, Wards | |
| Domains | 3E: Gnome, Good, Illusion, Protection, Trickery 5E: Arcana, Trickery |
|
| Home Plane | Great Wheel: Golden Hills (Bytopia) World Tree: Hidden Knoll (Golden Hills) |
|
| Worshippers | Gnome Adventurers, Rogues, Illusionists, Deceivers | |
| Favoured Weapon | Nightmare (Dagger) | |
Baravar Cloakshadow is the Gnome God of Deception and Illusion in Dungeons & Dragons. He is the patron of gnomish illusionists and rogues of all stripes. However, he's also something of a gnomish war-god, albeit through weaponized illusion magic and stealth rather than the stereotypical "shining armor and clashing steel". This, and his particular loathing of goblinoids, shines through in the last of his common titles; Bane of Goblinkin.
Publication History[edit | edit source]
Baravar first debuted in Monster Mythology for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This marks him as a "third generation" gnome god, as he was part of the third batch of gnome deities to debut in D&D's history.
Jumping the Gender Barrier[edit | edit source]
When the gnomish pantheon was expanded upon for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition in "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes", there was something new about several of the gods. Whereas the gnomish pantheon had originally been an all-male pantheon, the new 5e version was sporting several new goddesses... all made by the quick and easy process of genderbending several of the traditional gods.
The goddess version of Baravar is credited with teaching all gnomes how to hide and to deceive, especially by means of magic. She is also attributed to being the source of the general gnomish resistance to magical mind-fuckery and to the mystical abilities specifically possessed by both forest gnomes and svirfneblin. Like her male counterpart, she has a particularly hostile reception amongst goblinoids, but she lacks his focused drive to war against them; she was once held prisoner by the hobgoblin god Khurgorbaeyag, and has been trying to avoid being held hostage by him ever since.