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Recently Garl Glittergold has taken a larger than expected role in my game and I'm looking for artifacts related to him. After searching for awhile I've been unable to find any. I'm aware that I can design my own, and likely will, but I'm interested in if there are any established artifacts that are already tied in with him.

To keep this from being too broad or ending up with long list answers any artifacts should:

  • Explicitly mention Garl Glittergold in their description or history
  • Have been published in a D&D rulebook of any edition, or dragon magazine
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Following Wikipedia's Garl Glittergold publication history, I perused Deities and Demigods (1980) and the Dragon #61 (1982) article "The Gnomish Point of View" (28-30) for AD&D, Monster Mythology (1992) and Demihuman Deities (1998) for AD&D2E, Deities and Demigods (2002) and Faiths and Pantheons (2002) for D&D3E, and Complete Divine (2004) for D&D3.5. This is in addition to a handful of other sources. You needn't've worried about being overwhelmed; there ain't much.

Garl Glittergold's battleaxe Arumdina

The Encyclopedia Magica (1999) for AD&D2E lists Garl Glittergold's traditional weapon in Axes under Arumdina (112) and Garl Glittergold's Battle (118). In both entries Arumdina is given statistics to indicate that it's "a unique and potent item (often called an artifact or relic)" and that it "is so priceless that it is impossible to rate its true barter value."

Although Deities and Demigods for Dungeons and Dragons, Third Edition downgrades Arumdina to a nonitelligent (yet still epic) +5 dancing ghost touch speed battleaxe, Arumdina is said by multiple sources to be intelligent as well as capable of cleaving through stone as easily as air and, in most cases, once per day of fully healing the god of any damage that's been dealt him.

Further inspiration

Here're some things to consider if you want to homebrew your own.

  • Monster Mythology says that Garl Glittergold embarrassed Grankhul, hunter god of the bugbears, by masquerading as a deer. A quest for Garl Glittergold's sacred deerskin cloak or something isn't bad.
  • Faiths and Patheons says that Garl Glittergold has "the largest collection of jokes in the multiverse" (135). A copy of his jokebook would certainly be an entertaining basis for an artifact.
  • Complete Divine's gem of the glitterdepth (97) increases a devoted Garl Glittergold worshiper's Wisdom and gives him a sense of his surroundings while spelunking, alerting him to the location of floors, walls, and ceilings.
  • Complete Divine mentions offhandedly as a quest for Garl Glittergold worshipers "seeking the long-lost Ebondark Gem Mine on the Elemental Plane of Earth" (112). A map to it or the gems themselves could be artifacts.
  • Magic Item Compendium's hooked hammer of the hearthfire (52-3) is a combination hammer and pick that, when wielded by a devoted worshiper of Garl Glittergold, bursts into flames that damage those that are struck by it.
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  • \$\begingroup\$ I have a vague recollection of an artifact that mentioned both Garl and Kurtulmak. I think it was related more to Kurtulmak and only mentioned Garl in the flavor text. I was long enough ago that it was likely pre-3rd edition. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 8, 2018 at 17:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelRichardson So I just read, like, six Wiki articles on Kurtulmak (now knowing more than I ever wanted to about the kobold deity, so, yay, I guess?) and the only mention of an item like the one described is skewer-of-gnomes (Magic Item Compendium 59) (9,302 gp; 4 lbs.), a spear that deals extra damage against gnomes that to use it to its fullest requires the wielder to be a worshiper of Big K. If you can hunt down something concreter, I'd be happy to include it in this answer… or upvote your standalone answer about artifacts dealing with the kobolds' hatred of gnomes. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 8, 2018 at 18:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ I haven't had access to my older material in quite some time. I put in a comment because it might add something to your excellent answer. If I ever have time, I may try to dig up and through some digital copies I think I have on an external drive or CD. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 8, 2018 at 19:02

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