Innate talents

Many tales heard around tavern hearths or firesides in Faerun concern normal farm folk—or, sometimes, overworked merchants—who in a moment of great oppression exhibit some small magical power that even they never knew they possessed and thereby catch foes (evil, overbearing wizards, usually) by surprise to win the day. Such tales are mainly fan¬tasy—as are the claims often made after such a tale, about so-and-so knowing someone down in the next village who has this or that power, though they try to keep it hidden. If a quarter of such tellings are to be taken as truth, every third or fourth person in the Realms would have the sort of minor spell-like powers known to sages as innate talents. The true number of such folk is probably nearer one for every thousand-and-a- half—still an astonishingly high number, but then again, perhaps not so high as all that, given the amount of magic crawling and flashing around the Realms with each passing century—and even within easy memory, a time of wild magic when the gods themselves walked Faerun to touch mortals personally. Who is to say what powers they bestowed then?
What is certain is that from earliest known times a rare few folk have had natural, spell-like powers. Usually they were limited to only one ability per person, and such abilities always manifested in someone not able to master magic through study and aptitude as wizards do. Almost all of these gifted folk have kept their powers as secret as possible out of simple fear, for the incidence of innate talents does seem to be heredi¬tary, though the power gained by a son or daughter is always different from the one wielded by their parent. Most of them have also lived the majority of their lives in complete ignorance of their abilities, because their talents only awaken at the touch of magic—magic wielded by someone else, that is, or radiating from an enchanted item or in a spot that has just experienced the release of a powerful spell or that is hold¬ing a magic that has not yet been triggered. Sometimes contact with a healing spell or even drinking a potion awakens a slumbering inner power. All innate talents have been awakened by magical contact, with¬out exception—though many did not necessarily manifest the first time that a particular person felt the touch of magic.
This is another of the topics that most wizards want hushed away as much as possible, not just because of possible competition or the per-sonal danger posed by a wizard-slayer who has a minor magical power, but to keep legions of local villagers all wanting to be tested for innate talents away from their doors. I do not advocate that everyone rush out into the midst of sorcerous duels or to pay a wizard to test them, just to see if they have some wonderful, hitherto-unknown ability, but I do want to assure individuals who are shocked by the first, often explosive (as it is totally uncontrolled), release of their power that they have not been cursed or marked by “the dark powers," or caught some sort of wild magic disease. Folk have thought such things, and even taken their own lives in terror to avoid “tainting" loved ones or being shamed before their neighbors or battle companions.
So be aware that at any contact with magic there is a 1% chance (not cumulative) of awakening an innate talent if one is not a wizard. (Wiz¬ards always have a 0% chance of having an innate talent.) This chance rises to 2% if one is the sole target of magic delivered by direct touch or drinks a potion or elixir (see the Elixirs section that follows this one). Percentile dice should be rolled at a magical contact, and if an innate
talent is indicated, it erupts instantly, usually with unintended or unexpected results. There are no known ways to increase one's chances of revealing—or having—an innate talent, and some talents have been known to fade over time, usually disappearing in 1d6 + 1 years, if they are going to disappear at all.
Roll 1d20 and consult the table below to determine what sort of talent emerges, or select an ability from the Special Powers list at the end of the great elixir description in the Elixirs section that follows this one. Alternatively, the DM can create a power appropriate to game balance. The first manifestation of a power may not always be what it truly is: Many a startled merchant has spit out a magic missile bolt at a foe, only to levitate himself into the air whenever he tries to spit out a magic mis¬sile again. This is the reason that so many folk exhibit strange magical manifestations when slain by magic in battle—and not, as some wizards fear, that one or more widespread secret fellowships of mages exist who conceal their powers from the wider world.
1d20 Roll Innate Talent
0 Clairaudience once/day. Activation of the talent causes the user 1 point of damage, and continued use causes and additional point of damage at the end of the second round, another at the end of the third, and 1 per round thereafter. Duration of use is limited only by talented one's choice or hit points. This talent is otherwise identical to 3rd. level wizard spell.
1 Deflect mental magic or psionics (self only). The talent operates auto¬matically and without limit whenever the talented being is con¬fronted by an illusion or any magic or psionic power that seeks to influence the talented mind. Roll 1d6: On a result of 1, this talent fails to function; on a result of 2 or 3, the talent reduces the outside influ¬ence to a one-round duration or the minimum possible damage; on a result of 4, 5, or 6, the talent completely blocks the outside mental influence. When used against illusions, 1 is failure, 2 and 3 denote sensing something wrong with what is seen, and 4 or more is a clear view of what is really there with a ghostly image of the illusion super¬imposed over it.
2 Deflect spell. Unlike spell turning, this talent works on rays, beams, and aimed magic only, not magic missiles or area-of-effect magics. Roll 1d6: A result of 1 means the talent fails to function, but any other result means the magic missed and went off at a random location or target. The DM should determine what is affected, if anything.
3 Detect good and/or evil (some talents can feel only one, some feel both). This talent only works while the target of the talent is in line of sight and only functions when concentrated upon. One being per round can be determined and the talent cannot pierce magical cloaking or misdirection, though a feeling of “something wrong" is gained when these are in use. Using the talent is very tiring, and its use is limited in rounds of use per day to the number of Constitution points possessed by the talented one.
4 Detect snares, traps, and pits. The talent is usable without limit, but effective only 20% of the time. It has a 30-foot range.
5 Direction sense. This talent provides unerring knowledge of where the four cardinal compass directions are, not one's relationship to known features such as “home" or “Windstar Castle." It is usable without limit.
6 ESP (once/day). Activation of the talent causes the user 2 points of damage, and it lasts 6 rounds. The talent is otherwise identical to the 2nd-level wizard spell, but it can be used on one target being only, who must be seen and within 40 feet. 
7 Foresight. This talent can be tried without limit until successful, but can successfully be used only once per day. Roll 1d6: On a 1, the user knows what a single, specific creature will do or attempt during the next round. On a 5 through 6, use of the talent is unsuccessful.
8 Infravision. The talent is usable without limit, but function only when concentrated upon. It has a 40-foot range.
9 Ironguard. This talent is usable only once every three days for up to 7 rounds at a time; activation of the ability causes the talented one 1 point of damage. The talent functions similar to the ironguard spell detailed in Pages From the Mages. In short, metal objects pass through the user's body without doing any harm, though magical weapons with pluses do as many points of dam¬age as they have bonuses.
10 Levitate (self only, once/day). The talent allows 10 feet of vertical, horizontal, or diagonal movement per round. The talent can be used for up to 6 rounds, and it can be used as desired by the tal¬ented one. Its use causes 1 point of damage to the user per 10 feet moved after 30 feet.
11 Locate water (4 times/day). The talented one has an unerring sense of the nearest water. Use of the talent requires a round of concen-tration (whereupon the answer is known), and the talented one can choose between a large moving body of water and smaller, still amounts—in other words, can ignore a belt canteen, rain, mist, or a puddle to concentrate on finding an underground stream or con-cealed well. The talent has a 200-foot range and ignores water con¬tained in potions, liquor, food, or living things; it can also distinguish between enchanted water and unenchanted, and choose to ignore one or the other.
12 Object reading (once/day). If a single item is handled for a continu¬ous turn, 1d4 visions of its past uses, owners, creation, dramatic involvements, and the like may then be gained by the talented one. The talent has a 6 in 10 chance of operating, but even a failed attempt is considered that day's use.
13 Stone tell (once/day). This talent functions as the 6th-level priest spell of the same name, but its lasts for only 6 rounds. Its activa¬tion causes the user 1 point of damage.
14 Telekinesis. This talent works on nonliving matter only and does not affect undead creatures. It works on a single item plus what¬ever it contains or is attached to it of up to the talented user's own weight. The talent can move the object 10 feet vertically, horizon¬tally, or diagonally per round. Its use can last up to 8 rounds, and it can be used as desired. Its usage causes the talented on 1 point of damage per 10 feet moved after 40 feet.
15 Temporal stasis (self only). This talent works similar to the 9th- level wizards spell, but the talented one can leave temporal stasis at will and is free to think, hear, and receive magic or mental con¬tacts but is otherwise unaware of his or her surroundings. In other words, the talented one has no sight, smell, or feeling while in temporal stasis. The talent can be used as often as desired for as long as desired, but there is a 60% chance the amount of time desired to be in temporal stasis is overestimated or underesti¬mated; telling time when in temporal stasis is notoriously difficult. (DM's discretion as to whether too much time or too little and how much.)
16 Time stop (twice/year). This talent functions as the 9th-level wizard spell. Its activation causes the user 2d4 points of damage.
17 Tree (self only). The use of this talent has a silent and instant onset.
The type of tree shape the user assumes is appropriate to the terrain or random if no tree type is suited to the landscape. The talent func¬tions just as the 3rd-level priest spell does, but its duration is
1°Tfrey receive one roll at 4% at birth and the normal 1% or 2% chance thereafter.
11 Elminster: All extremely unethical and highly morally suspect acts.

unlimited. Each activation causes the user 1 point of damage, plus another 1 point of damage if tree form is maintained until the next sunrise, and another 1 point for each sunrise thereafter.
18 Water walking (3 times/day). This talent functions as the 3rd-level priest spell water walk; it can be used for up to 6 rounds at a time. Its activation causes the user 1 point of damage.
19 Two abilities are gained, but the talented being never knows which one is usable on any given day. There is a random chance which talent predominates or one talent tends to predominate over the other, as the DM determines.
If talented folk marry, any children are 4% likely to have a talent10 and 1% likely to spontaneously manifest it at birth, though it does not return until activated by a magical contact. (Unlike the innate talents of others, the first magical contact always awakens a talent that has mani¬fested at birth.) The chance is not cumulative from generation to gener¬ation and can never rise above 4% for any reason, and it is wise to remember that many talented folk, especially newborn babes, are branded as "fiendkin" or worse in many lands of Faerun and driven away or slain out of hand. The sage Eltrivyn of Candlekeep offers sanc¬tuary to all folk with innate talent who intend no harm to others; he studies all who come to dwell with him.