Getting the Most From the Harpers in Your Forgotten Realms Campaign

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The Harpers are a renowned faction in the world of Dungeons & Dragons that you may have encountered when adventuring in the Forgotten Realms or watching Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. This secretive organization operates behind the scenes to protect the common folk from tyranny and promote balance and harmony in the realms.

In this article, we'll dive into the lore behind this influential faction and how they can be used in your games!

Note: Some information in this article was drawn from earlier editions, as well as public statements and interviews with Forgotten Realms designers.

Who Are the Harpers?

A bard playing music in a tavern

In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Chris Pine’s character, Edgin Darvis, wears a pin in the shape of a harp inside a crescent moon. In the Forgotten Realms, that pin is more than a quirky accessory. This symbol denotes Edgin's allegiance to the Harper faction, but what does that mean?

The Harpers are good samaritans who work to oppose any abuse of power, magical or otherwise, throughout Faerûn. They are a decentralized organization, usually working alone or in small cells where they gather information and subtly influence events to help the weak and defenseless. Harpers act openly only as a last resort. Operatives usually bide their time and make their move when they can ensure their secrecy will be kept, rather than barging in and announcing their presence to the evildoers.

While Harpers sometimes use the guise of traveling bards to gather information and stay undercover, their ranks have infiltrated all aspects of society. Some are high-ranking officials who work to ensure the general population is looked after in policy decisions, while others are barkeepers who listen for rumors rolling into town.

Even though they're concerned with any transgression to the citizen of Faerûn, their primary focus is keeping powerful magic items out of the hands of evildoers. Like, for example, when the Red Wizards of Thay went searching for the horn of beckoning death (which you can claim for free with a D&D Beyond account).

Using the Harpers As Good Guys in Your Campaign

An undercover Harper in a tavern

Let’s face it. “The good guys” in D&D can seem corny to many players. But what if instead of uptight Boy Scouts, they were swaggery pop-star types with a secret?

Whether or not your players join the faction, Harpers make great NPCs. Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms, said, “I used them as mysterious Strider-like figures who walked the wilderlands alone and had friends in inns and taverns everywhere. They might murmur suggestions or secrets … and they might step out of the shadows to rescue characters who ran afoul of Zhentarim.

"I like to introduce the Harpers subtly in play, as watchers from afar the c`haracters may notice, who eventually step in to murmur advice, or who are singing and performing at a tavern or inn the characters are at, with songs and tales that have a message for the characters … if they notice. Sometimes it can unfold slowly, over many play sessions, before the players clue in.”

Harper NPCs

There are certain Harpers that have made appearances in official products, like the hard-partying wizard Zelraun Roaringhorn (who uses the archmage stat block) or the equally hard-partying swashbuckler Raenear Neverember. If your party attracts more sober-minded individuals, you could introduce them to Remallia Haventree and the monk Leosin Erlanthar. Some of these characters have deep roots. Mirt, from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, stars in Greenwood’s very first Realms story from 1967, One Comes, Unheralded, to Zirta.

Or, if you want to make your own Harpers NPCs, consider using these stat blocks:

  • Bard: At CR 2, this is a great start for a Harper agent.
  • Mage: This could represent a higher-up Harper agent, maybe as an advisor to a noble.
  • Noble: For when your Harper agent is more of a talker than a fighter.
  • Spy: This roguish CR 1 NPC is excellent if your players need sensitive information from a Harper informant.
  • Veteran: Even the Harpers have muscle for when push comes to shove.

Running Harper Campaigns

It’s easy to lose track of the musical angle and treat the Harpers like generic “good guy spies,” but you lose much of what makes them unique. Perhaps your players’ Harpers are all in a traveling troupe, putting on shows throughout the North. Maybe a Zhentarim caravan is running down the Sword Coast and the tour is secretly following them from town to town to discover their plans.

The show itself could be part of the mission. It might be intended to spread a message or drum up support for a cause. Nightly Charisma (Performance) checks against venue conditions might determine the troupe’s success. The goal might be to provoke a specific reaction from someone in attendance, as in Hamlet, or to draw an enemy into the open. This doesn’t mean everyone in the party has to be on stage. Less musically oriented Harpers can gather information during the show, whether undercover in backstage roles or hidden in the audience.

Add Rivals. Just as movie spies sometimes compete with rival agencies, the Sword Coast Adventurer's’Guide details an ancient offshoot of the Harpers called the Moonstars, founded long ago by Laeral Silverhand and her then-husband, the wizard Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunsun. They shared the Harpers’ general goals but were willing to use harsher methods to achieve them. Perhaps they have resurfaced to complicate the characters’ plans.

Use Official Materials. The published adventures Tyranny of Dragons, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, Rise of Tiamat, Out of the Abyss, Tomb of Annihilation, Princes of the Apocalypse, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, and Storm King’s Thunder all feature the faction and can be dropped into any Harper campaign. I recommend Dead in Thay to emulate the “sneaking into a massive secret base” sequence that ends many spy stories, and The Curious Tale of Wisteria Vale, where the party must rescue a fallen Harper wizard from a pocket dimension.

Provide Loot Worthy of a Harper. Reward your Harpers with the Forgotten Realms equivalent of spy gadgets. The masquerade tattoo, illuminator’s tattoo, and all-purpose tool are particularly useful for espionage. No campaign is complete without a wondrous artifact or two. The instruments of the bards make ideal quest objects for Harpers, especially the Fochlucan bandore.

Creating a Harper Character

A Harper informant walking through the rain

Per Hoard of the Dragon Queen, “The ideal Harper is a keen observer, persuasive, and able to go almost anywhere without arousing suspicion.” Suitable subclasses include the Inquisitive rogue, the College of Lore bard, the Fey Wanderer ranger, and the School of Illusion or Enchantment wizard. The Folk Hero and Entertainer backgrounds are perfect, though players might want to simply pick the Faction Agent background and skip the recruitment process. As for religion, any chaotic good or neutral good-aligned deity from the Forgotten Realms pantheon works well.

Inspiration for a Musical Character

For roleplaying inspiration, you might model your Harper on a favorite musician. Lizzo, Sturgill Simpson, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Prince, and Freddy Mercury would all make compelling Harpers. If you prefer not to attract attention, basing your Harper on a favorite cinematic or literary spy is another solid option.

When playing a Harper, it’s important to remember that bards are highly respected members of Forgotten Realms society. In a world without recording technology, musicians are indispensable, and bards infuse their performances with magic. Spells like thaumaturgy and major image, and items like the instrument of illusions, wand of conducting, and wand of pyrotechnics allow a bard to give a performance as impressive as a modern stadium show from the corner of the local inn, with only the stuff in their pack. They can expect a generous and enthusiastic welcome in any community, along with access to the powerful and influential.

As for conveying the feel of Forgotten Realms music, Greenwood suggests "Elspeth of Nottingham" and "House Of The King" by Focus, and "Overture to the Sun" by Terry Tucker as representative of the music you'd hear across the Sword Coast.

Harpers in the Forgotten Realms

A Harper mage casting a spell

The Harpers are over a thousand years old, and well established throughout the Realms. In the far northern city of Everlund, detailed in Storm King’s Thunder, lies Moongleam Tower, home to a teleportation network with links to five cities, allowing safe, instantaneous travel throughout the North.

In the treetop city of Silverymoon on the Sword Coast, elves, humans, and dwarves live together in harmony, exemplifying the values the Harpers hope to spread. The High Mage Taern Hornblade is a staunch supporter, and the Harper allied-College of Fochlucan can provide bardic knowledge and lore.

The Harpers have safe houses throughout Waterdeep, and beneath it in the subterranean town of Skullport. Their agents are embedded throughout the City of Splendors, and both the Open Lord and Warden of the Watch have a history of assistance. They will take Harper concerns seriously.

A thousand-year-old organization will collect enemies. The aims of the Zhentarim, The Red Wizards of Thay, and the Cult of the Dragon all run up against the Harpers’ vision, and their agents work tirelessly to oppose them.

Harp On, Adventurers

The Harpers have lasted over sixty years both because they are very cool and because the ideals they champion are worth fighting for—both with dice and paper and in real life. “No one should be too powerful,” says Greenwood, “and inequality has bad consequences within any group of people. People should be kind, understand others, and help each other—and if they do, society works.”

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Comedian and writer John Roy (@johnroycomic) has appeared on Conan and The Tonight Show and written for Vulture and Dragon Plus. He is the co-host of the comedy/war gaming podcast Legends of the Painty Men. His albums can be found on Apple Music and Spotify. He splits his time between Los Angeles and the Free City of Greyhawk.

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