The Zhentarim
Beliefs
- The Zhentarim is your family. You watch out for it, and it watches out for you.
- You are the master of your own destiny. Never be less than what you deserve to be.
- Everything—and everyone—has a price.
Structure
The Zhentarim Advancement
| Rank | Renown | Other Requirements |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - Fang | 0 | None |
| 2 - Wolf | 3 | None |
| 3 - Viper | 10 | 5th level, 1 secret mission |
| 4 - Ardragon | 25 | 11th level, 3 secret missions |
| 5 - Dread Lord | 50 | 17th level, 10 secret missions |
Rank 1 - Fang
This is the rank you receive when first join the faction. It is available at character creation or any time the character wishes to join.Participate in Faction Activities
You can participate in any activities that are considered specific to the Black Network.Earn Renown
You earn renown points in your faction and advance in rank.Faction Assignments
As a Fang, you are eligible to take on faction assignments during adventures.Receive Your Faction’s Insignia
You receive an insignia of the Zhentarim, fashioned into a wearable or held item. Zhentarim Fraction Insignia - Gold coin (stamped symbol)Rank 2 - Wolf
You have shown that your are aligned with the Networks goals and can take on more responsibility.Secret Missions
During certain adventures, you may be given the opportunity to undergo a secret mission on behalf of the Black Network. Completion of these missions might earn you additional benefits or enable you to advance to higher ranks within the ranks.Apprenticeship to an Adventurer Mentor
You can serve as an apprentice to a higher-ranking adventurer from within your faction. See the Apprentice-Mentor Benefits section, below, for more details.Apprentice Activities
Each character in the relationship gains a story award, “Faction Mentor (Apprentice Name)” or “Faction Apprentice (Mentor Name)” and is eligible to participate in specific activities.Adventure Details
When an apprentice and mentor bond they reveal the locations of magic items and faction secret missions that they have participated into each other. There is no additional cost associated with this activity.Item Trading
When trading magic items between the apprentice and mentor, the cost is only 10 downtime days instead of the usual 15.Fighting Partners
By practicing fighting together before adventures, an apprentice and mentor can gain complimentary combat abilities. When both an apprentice and mentor are participating in the same adventuring group the apprentice and mentor may spend 5 downtime days before the start of the adventure. If they do, they gain the following benefits: • Any saving throw made by one participant to save against an effect created by the other is made with advantage. • Once per short rest, a participant may use the Help action to assist the other as a bonus action. • Neither participant acts as cover against ranged attacks made by the other.Apprentice Activities
Language and Tool Training
The apprentice may learn any language or tool proficiency that their mentor possesses for 125 downtime days (no GP cost).Word of Advice
Mentors grant their apprentice advantage on one check, save, or attack roll once during an adventure or chapter. This activity costs 5 downtime days to the apprentice, spent prior to the adventure and declared to the Dungeon Master prior to the start of the adventure.Faction Training
You can take advantage of accelerated training programs for tool kits most often used by your faction. This training comes at a lesser cost than usual tool training, taking half as long (60 downtime days), but you must pay an additional 125 gp as a training expense for each proficiency. Zhentarim Faction Training - Disguise Kit, Forgery kit, Poisoner's Kit Thieves' ToolsRank 3 - Viper
Vipers are reliable faction members, entrusted with many secrets and deserving of additional support during adventures.Faction Downtime Activity
You gain access to a Zhentarim downtime activity that gives you additional benefits when you use it.Item Procurement
With an expenditure of resources, you can acquire a magic item from the Black Network. To procure the item, you must go on minor adventures for the Zhentarim (represented by downtime days), and perform bribes, charitable acts, and provide provisions (represented by the expenditure of gold) in service of the Black Network. The item received in exchange for this increases your magic item count and is not tradeable. A character may purchase any number of items so long as they pay the associated downtime day and gold costs for each item. Additionally, you must be at least 5th level to acquire a rare item.Item Procurement Costs
| Rarity | Downtime | Gold |
|---|---|---|
| Uncommon | 50 days (-5 days for every point of charisma over 15) | 500 gp |
| Rare | 100 days (-5 days for every point of charisma over 15) | 5000 gp |
Item Procurement Options
| Uncommon Rarity | Rare Rarity |
|---|---|
| +1 Weapon or +1 Shield | +1 Armor |
| Slippers of Spider Climbing | Ring of Evasion |
Rank 4 - Ardragon
Ardragons are trusted voices within their given faction. They are looked upon as champions of the faction’s beliefs, and as mentors by those of lower rank.Become a Mentor
You can designate Agents or Stalwarts as your charge.Mentor Activities
Mentorship Renown
When a mentor takes on a new apprentice, they immediately gain the benefit of a successful Secret Mission for their faction. This can only be done once per character.Learn by Teaching
Mentors gain advantage on one check, save, or attack roll once during a module or hardcover chapter due to reflecting on their prior adventures with their apprentice. This activity costs 5 downtime days to the mentor, spent prior to the adventure and declared to the Dungeon Master prior to the start of the adventure.Faction Pedagogue
By taking on an apprentice you become approachable to other members of your faction who ask you for advice. As you dispense this advice you become better known in your faction. You may spend 30 downtime days in exchange for 1 renown. This can only be done once per character.Mentor’s Pride
As your apprentice grows in power their deeds reflect on you. Each time your apprentice gains a level that would put them into a higher tier (levels 5, 11, or 17), you gain 1 renown.Faction Philanthropist
As a Mentor of your faction, you may choose to pay for or cast raise dead, resurrection, or true resurrection spells for a member of your faction after an adventure is completed even if you were not adventuring together. In doing so, assuming you aren’t casting the spell yourself, you must pay the full cost of the spellcasting service plus 25 downtime days (to deliver the body and find a cleric)Rank 5 - Dread Lord
Dread Lords are deeply ensconced within the leadership of their faction and have a great degree of influence, guiding faction decisions.Become a Faction Exemplar
When you play this character along with other members of your faction, you can choose one lower-ranked member of your faction (Agent, at a minimum) to begin the game with Inspiration. This must be used by the end of the game session, or it is lost.Public Agenda
- Amass wealth.
- Look for opportunities to seize power.
- Gain influence over important people and organizations.
- Dominate Faerûn.
History
The Zhentarim have been a major element in the Forgotten Realms for hundreds of years, and have been at odds with the heroes of the Realms for a great deal of that history.
Zhentil Keep itself grew out of a small trading camp, expanded with fortifications in 747 DR and then purchased by a group of 12 Sembian merchants. In 751 DR, a powerful merchant named Elephstron invited the wizard Zhentar to come live in the city that had grown up around the keep. As part of their agreement, the merchants created a governing council and gave Zhentar a seat with equal status.
Zhentar soon took over the council, killing the merchants and replacing them with wizards and a merchant-priest named Brest who raised a shrine to Bane. Elephstron and Zhentar fought and killed each other, and the remaining council came to an agreement on how the keep would be governed going forward. They concocted a story that made Zhentar into a hero of the city, and renamed the hold Zhentil Keep.
Zhentil Keep continued to expand both militarily and economically. The council pursued their ambition to become the largest power on the Moonsea and control trade in the region.
1260 DR saw the ascension of Manshoon and Chess to the council, and they supported their friend Fzoul Chembryl’s rise through the ranks of Bane’s priesthood. By the following year, they had created the Zhentarim, or Black Network. Within three years, Fzoul Chembryl had declared his Black Altar in Zhentil Keep as the new head of the Banite church, and many priests of Bane became members of the Zhentarim.
Manshoon eventually made an alliance with the beholder Xantriph who lived in a floating rock near Teshendale. Manshoon convinced the Banite priests that the rock was a conduit to the gods, and the Banites flocked to the rock to speak with “Bane” and confess their sins. Xantriph provided the “voice” of Bane and learned of many plots from the priests’ confessions, which he reported back to Manshoon.
The Citadel of the Raven was rebuilt in 1276 DR and garrisoned by a force comprised of soldiers from each of the major cities on the Moonsea, including Zhentil Keep.
In 1312 DR, the Zhentarim took control of Darkhold after Manshoon defeated the lich-queen Varella and it became the third major base of operations for the organization. 25 years later, Manshoon declared himself to be the High Lord of Zhentil Keep.
Eventually, in 1355 DR, the Zhentarim betrayed the alliance of the Moonsea and their forces seized control of the Citadel of the Raven. However, three years later Bane was slain during the Time of Troubles. Cyric became the main god of the former Banites, and Fzoul assumed the position as Cyric’s high priest. Manshoon sheltered some Banites who refused to convert at Darkhold and the Citadel.
Manshoon continued to move the Zhentarim into the Citadel of the Raven, and by 1361 DR it was their main base of operations.
In 1370 DR, Fzoul Chembryl and Lord Orgauth (a pit fiend) combined forces and slew Manshoon. Fzoul consolidated his power and took control of the Zhentarim.
In 1372 DR, Bane re-emerged and Fzoul switched his worship back to his original god. Sememmon, the leader of Darkhold, fled from the Zhentarim as Fzoul established full control over the Zhentarim with the power of his god at his back. A clone of Manshoon returned to the Zhentarim and submitted fully to the rule of Fzoul Chembryl.
Fzoul continued to try to expand the influence of the Zhentarim, allying with the drow to invade Shadowdale, and eventually attempting to ally with the phaerimm. When the Netherese returned to Faerun, this second alliance led them to destroy both Zhentil Keep and the Citadel of the Raven, slaying Fzoul and shattering the Zhentarim organization.
In 1434 DR, the last remaining Manshoon clone (and a vampire lord) raised an army of undead and took over the citadel of Stormwatch. He gathered the remaining remnants of the Zhentarim to himself and again took control of the organization. Over the following years, he used Stormwatch and Darkhold as the main bases for the Zhentarim.
By 1489 DR, the Zhentarim have mostly become a mercenary organization, taking contracts for pay as Manshoon attempts to rebuild the Zhents into a major force once again.
Type
Secret, Brotherhood
Alternative Names
The Black Network
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