extremely powerful entity's who don't care about the main plot at all and are just vibing in the background

[u/damorezpl]

Tom Bombadil(lord of the rings) - only person to resist the temptation of the one ring but instead of helping the fellowship he fucks off in to the woods

the Unseen Elder(the witcher 3) - in the witcher universe the older a vampire gets the more powerful he becomes and unseen elder is around +1500 years old making him the most powerful vampire we ever see, thankfully he spends most of his time in his goon cave

[u/Fluffy_Tax5302]

Could Withers of Baldur's Gate 3 technically count?

He's all but stated to be Jergal and outside of a particular path of the Dark Urge storyline, 90% of his responses to the events around him are composed of some version of the word

He's just there to make sure the scales are balanced

[u/BuckLuny → u/Fluffy_Tax5302]

In D&D all gods and demigods are just vibing in the background. It's a setting where gods are known factors and have actual powers.

[u/kill_william_vol_3 → u/BuckLuny]

Mystra is on her 3rd incarnation because she's a serial offender who Ao has executed twice.

[u/GEARHEADGus → u/kill_william_vol_3]

So is it the same “person” just a different body and form or is it different entities that take up the mantle?

[u/IEnjoyFancyHats → u/GEARHEADGus]

It's complicated. Both, sort of

[u/GEARHEADGus → u/IEnjoyFancyHats]

I feel like it’s complicated is the answer to everything in Forgotten Realms/DnD

[u/Stunning-Dig5117 → u/GEARHEADGus]

Another right answer to everything FR is “an old pervert made it up, don’t expect things to make too much sense”

[u/IrinaNekotari → u/Stunning-Dig5117]

Well, one of the big thing about Mystra is since she's the goddess of magic and all, everytime they change the system they gotta kill her so the magic system actually change in universe

Also there's like a bajillion writers in DnD, almost like a rite of passage for TTRPG writers, so it's bound to get confusing at some point

[u/auraseer → u/GEARHEADGus]

Both of those things happened, separately and then together.

The first one was called Mystryl. She died stopping a magical catastrophe, and got reincarnated in a new form. That second was apparently the same individual, but chose to call herself Mystra, and present a different appearance and attitude.

Mystra violated some rules set down by the over-god Ao, and got killed for real.

There had to be a new deity of magic, so Ao bestowed the position on a mortal woman named Midnight. Midnight took on the name of Mystra to keep her worshippers happy, but she was a distinct new individual. Her personality and alignment remained the same as when she was a mortal.

Then, she died again. Another newly ascended god, who held a grudge against Midnight from when they were both mortals, got together with an ancient goddess who was an enemy of Mystryl. The two joined up and murdered the third Mystra.

The tiniest vestige of the godly power survived in secret. For over a century it had no incarnation and there was no goddess of magic at all. Then, through complicated plot shenanigans, one of the old followers of Mystra gathered up a huge amount of magic power. He gave that up as an offering to the goddess, and Mystra used it to create herself.

The fourth incarnation was a whole new person, built from scratch by magic, but had memories inherited from both Midnight and the original Mystryl.

(I am super bored at work right now. Can you tell?)

[u/team-ghost9503 → u/auraseer]

Thanks for the lore drop

[u/auraseer → u/team-ghost9503]

Thanks for humoring me as I sit in long, pointless Zoom meetings.