Jarlaxle - Combat Tactics and Equipment

Combat Tactics and Equipment

In combat, Jarlaxle will throw an unlimited supply of magical daggers conferred to him by one of his bracers. About 4 in 10 of those daggers are illusions, but as he pointed out to the assassin Artemis Entreri, "an illusion can kill you if you believe it to be real". There are, of course, real daggers included among the illusory ones (prompting a comment from Entreri that "the real thing can kill you, whether you believe in it or not"), which magically disappear after a short period of time, returning themselves to his magic bracer. He is renowned for having a seemingly unlimited supply of magical tricks: an eye patch that prevents magical and psionic intrusion and enhances his vision; a hat with a large feather that can be used to summon a diatryma (a large flightless bird native to the Underdark), and is a nondimensional space to hide things (nondimensional means that he can put items which are many times the size of the hat in); a many-hued piwafwi that displaces projectiles, thus hindering ranged attacks and makes him invisible on his command; a varied array of magical wands; two artifacts (from a lich named Zhengyi), which have the power to raise humans from the dead and employ the help of a powerful dracolich, a ring which protects from fire or ice by choice,a dragon figurine that can summon the breath of chromatic dragons, a ring that tells when someone is lying, a necklace which gives him supernatural power and speed, a sword which can control the mind of weak people, another ring which basically makes a double of the user (once used by Dahlia to escape capture then again used by Jarlaxle to avoid being killed by a pit fiend), and many other unknown magical items.

Jarlaxle's belt is a snake, that will uncoil into a rope form for climbing when needed, extending to whatever length is needed. He also has a wide array of extra-dimensional devices, including a button on his vest that turns into a bag, and a black piece of cloth in the tip of his hat, a portable hole, that when pressed against a surface, will create a hole in it. Jarlaxle has trinkets that grant him immunities to many things. Jarlaxle also possesses a seemingly endless supply and variety of slender magical wands which are capable of releasing anything from a lightning bolt to a great blob of goo, powerful healing water, or illusionary and real fireballs. (He always seems to be prepared for any situation.)

Jarlaxle's endless supply of magical items is partially explained in one short story. It reveals that Jarlaxle regularly meets Kimmuriel and often receives an item procured by Bregan D'aerthe's considerable resources, even revealing that he will even change his trademark broad-brimmed purple hat, complete with enormous feather, out for one of identical appearance but different enchantment and in another short story it is reveal that Jarlaxle has a dragon with whom he makes regular deals for magical items.

In situations where his daggers are of no use, he can magically extend the blades, transforming them into long swords, not to mention the array of weapons (including a small iron maul, used in Servant of the Shard) that he keeps miniaturized in the sweat band of his outrageously large hat. He is extremely skilled in the two long-blade fighting style commonly used by the drow, though when mismatched with less skilled opponents he has been known to use the less effective but visually showy swashbuckling style to distract them—though his mastery and effectiveness of swashbuckling dispelled any doubts his companion Entreri had about the style.