Sand (male lawful neutral moon elf transmuter) is a companion in Neverwinter Nights 2 official campaign.
"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."
Gameplay[]
Sand's starting attributes are well distributed: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 12, Cha 10 and, like most companions, above what a PC normally gets - his point buy is a 33 vs player's 32. The earliest Sand can legally be recruited is level 4, a very difficult and tedious undertaking which requires the player only obtain experience from completing quests - none from opponents. Normally, the player will encounter Sand at level 6 or greater, by which time he will have increased his intelligence to 18, chosen the feats Greater Spell Focus - Transmutation (at level 3), Brew Potion (as a bonus wizard feat at level 5) and Combat Casting (at level 6).
Should you somehow acquire Sand at level 4, consider taking the opportunity to select another bonus feat such as Craft Magical Arms and Armor or Craft Wondrous Item (instead of brew potion) at level 5 and empower spell (instead of combat casting) at level 6.
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 single character in the game. However, due to his specialization in transmutation he misses a few significant enchantments, specifically Bracers of Armor, Robe of the Archmagi, Amulet of Natural Armor, and the Acid Weapon enhancement.
Sand and Zhjaeve taken together are able to craft almost every recipe in the game, except Amulet of Natural Armor which requires the Barkskin spell (Zhjaeve can cast the Mage Armor spell required for Bracers of Armor via her Magic domain). However, the overlap of items Sand and Elanee can craft with the Craft Wondrous Items feat is so similar that, should the player have Elanee select it, Sand can probably take another more defensive feat in its place, such as Toughness, Shield Proficiency (for a Zalantar or Mithral Shield), Combat Expertise, or Improved Combat Expertise. This may help extend Sand's longevity potential in heated battles.
In Act I of the Original Campaign, Sand acts only as a merchant and is unique in this capacity in that all of his prices are roughly doubled - both for what he sells and what he buys. It may be more than mere coincidence that this pricing strategy lines up with a quote from Sand in the cut-scene where he is introduced to the PC during the first visit to the Sunken Flagon and he states, "... but just in case, bring a great deal of gold as well". Unfortunately, Sand is like most other merchants in that his overall money pool for purchasing items is limited (in his case to 100,000 gold). Once you have exhausted it, the only way for Sand to be able to buy more from the PC is to replenish it by buying something from him first - at about twice the normal price.
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 shows up just in time to fend off a 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 them potions to aid them in the Trial by Combat.
- During character creation the player may select "Male, Dramatic" for their PC to have the same voice as Sand.