Sand



"'Short and physically unassuming, Sand has a wry smile and a habit of chuckling to himself while making eye contact. Sand is extremely knowledgeable and he’s often visibly lost in thought or debating with himself under his breath. His sense of smell is quite powerful and he often pauses to sniff deeply.'"

Sand (male lawful neutral moon elf transmuter) is a companion in Neverwinter Nights 2 official campaign.

Gameplay
Sand is well-suited for crafting. With the feats Craft Magical Arms and Armor and Craft Wondrous Item, he can craft more items than any other character in the game. Due to his specialization in transmutation, however, he misses a few significant enchantments, specifically Bracers of Armor, Robe of the Archmagi, and the Acid Weapon enhancement.

Together with Zhjaeve, Sand is able to craft almost every recipe in the game, except Amulet of Natural Armor which requires the Barkskin spell.

In the earlier part of the games, Sand acts only as a merchant. He gives you better prices than other merchants, too. However, unlike other merchants, his overall money pool is limited and once you have exhausted it, the only way to do any more deals with Sand would be to buy something from him.

Original Campaign
Sand performed the first scrying on the silver shards many years ago when Daeghun and Duncan Farlong brought them to Neverwinter after the war with the King of Shadows. When the PC arrives at the Sunken Flagon for another examination, Sand arrives just in time to fend off the barrage of verbal insults from Duncan. Duncan and Sand shares some sort of friendship, although not entirely warm. Sand, seeing that the sudden resurgence of magical energy in the shards is beyond his expertise, advises the PC to take them to the sage Aldanon in Blacklake to learn more about them. Sand owns an alchemical shop in the Docks District of Neverwinter and makes a modest living selling magical scrolls and crafting supplies. When the PC first brings Qara into his shop, he immediately shows animosity towards her for he recognizes Qara as being the Magic Academy’s headmaster’s daughter.

When the PC is falsely accused of the massacre of Ember, Sand is revealed to be an agent of Sir Nevalle of the Neverwinter Nine and aids the PC in collecting evidence in order to prove their innocence. During the investigation, he proves himself to be rather unscrupulous when it comes to gathering as many clues and witnesses as possible, and his methods often upset Shandra. During the trial, he serves as the PC's attorney while Torio Claven served as the prosecutor. During the trial, Torio reveals that Sand was once in the employ of the Hosttower of the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan. In order to further his studies and have access to many the artifacts in the Hosttower’s possession, he went into their employ but eventually left because the things they asked him to do made even the greatest artifacts pale in comparison. He was marked for death and came to Neverwinter to seek protection. One of the conditions for protection was that he served as eyes and ears for Lord Nasher and Nevalle. He first had a shop in the Merchants District but opted to moved to the Docks to avoid unwanted attention. After the trial, Sand decides to join the PC in their quest, and often locked horns with Qara.

Sand’s fate depends on the PC’s influence with him and Qara. If the PC has higher influence with Qara, Sand joins Black Garius stating that Qara is a bigger threat than the King of Shadows if she continues to use her powers irresponsibly. He is killed along with anyone who sided against the PC. If the PC has equal or higher influence with Sand, Garius attempts to sway Sand with promises of knowledge but to no avail. He sarcasticaly comments that he sees no future in the Shadow Reavers, as the PC and his party have slain all but Garius. Qara will then leave the party out of her petty hatred for Sand and no longer wishing to be held back. Sand goes missing along with the PC after the defeat of the King of Shadows.

Mask of the Betrayer
If Sand did not betray the player at the end of the original campaign, Ammon Jerro stated that the last thing he saw or rather, heard, from Sand was he mumbling an incantation for a Transformation spell. Ammon speculates that if the wizard chose his form shrewdly (like an Iron Golem), then he probably survived the collapse of the Vale. Depending on how the player responded to Ammon Jerro's questions (usually by not mentioning Neeshka and stating that Sand remained true to the end), and if the player was freed of the curse (while not having any romances with neither Safiya or Gann), it is revealed that he or she would eventually be reunited with Sand along with Khelgar back at Crossroad Keep in the Sword Coast during the epilogue.

Deleted Content

 * Another deleted scene indicates that Qara is much more powerful than even Sand had suspected. The scene was suppose to take place before the fall of Highcliff and showed Qara sitting alone by a campfire surrounded by barrels.  Sand approaches and confronts her about her lack of restraint and control as usual, which provokes Qara into showing her true power. Her voice changed and the barrels around explode into flame. Sand, who had no idea that Qara was already holding back most of her power all this time, is shocked and retreats.  Unknown to Qara, Bishop is skulking in the shadows and witnessed everything. Sand approaches Bishop and says "She's dangerous. She needs to be stopped", foreshadowing his later position that Qara is an even greater threat than the King of Shadows if left unchecked.
 * A conversation that was removed from the final release of the game indicated that Qara's father had Sand removed from his teaching position at the Academy, explaining some of his animosity towards her.
 * Another conversation removed from the game shows that it was Sand who discovered a way to defeat the Qara Animus Elemental conjured by Sydney Natale. There were two ways to defeat it, either Qara learned to control her powers and show a little restraint to cut the Animus from its power source, or that she let loose and try to overload the Animus.

Tidbits

 * Sand is voiced by Fred Berman.
 * Sand's familiar is a cat named Jaral.
 * During the Rite of Tyr, if the PC has higher influence with Sand than Qara, Sand will visit the PC and give him potions to aid him in the Trial by Combat.