Power level Greater | Alignment Neutral | |
Title(s) Gnarly One, King of the Land Below the Roots, Boss of the Earth Elementals, Earthlord Home plane The Great Mountain (Elemental Plane of Earth) Portfolio Cavern, Earth, Metal, Time | ||
In many campaign settings for the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Grumbar (/ˈɡrʊmbɑːr/ GRUUM-bar) is the "Elemental Lord of the Earth."
Contents
Publication history
Ed Greenwood created Grumbar for his home Dungeons & Dragons game, inspired by the deity Grome, of Michael Moorcock's Elric stories.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)
Ed Greenwood initially used Grome, one of Moorcock's Elemental gods as found in the original Deities & Demigods, as the elemental lord of earth for his home Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the Forgotten Realms. As Greenwood indicated in his article "Down-to-earth Divinity" in Dragon #54 (October 1981), Moorcock's elemental gods "may later be replaced in [his] universe by "official" AD&D beings as these are published". Grumbar first appeared in the original Manual of the Planes (1987), and was featured as one of the elemental lords for the Forgotten Realms in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Set's "Cyclopedia of the Realms" booklet (1987).
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)
Grumbar was described in the hardback Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990), the revised Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (1993) in the "Running the Realms" booklet, and Faiths & Avatars (1996).
His role in the cosmology of the Planescape campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground (1996), and The Inner Planes (1998).
His relationships with the nonhuman deities in the Forgotten Realms was covered in Demihuman Deities (1998).
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (2000-2007)
Grumbar appears as one of the major deities of the Forgotten Realms setting again, in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2001), and is further detailed in Faiths and Pantheons (2002).
Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-Present)
Grumbar appears in the fourth edition as a primordial.
Description
He is closely associated with solidity, unchanging forms, and the earth. He is known for his insouciance to his devoted followers; thus, the Church formed in his name is heterogeneous and chaotic. His alignment is Neutral.
Grumbar's foe is usually Akadi, and he has dependable allies in Kurtulmak and Dumathoin. The holy symbol of Grumbar is a sardonyx combined with the symbol of Grumbar (mountains of earth) and is worn by priests of Grumbar.