|
Ansob. posted:The reasoning goes like this: House Orien runs the Couriers Guild, which runs the mail coach network. However, the Couriers Guild probably also handles urgent, sensitive messages that need to either be protected from parties interested in intercepting them (like the many secret services of Khorvaire), or need to be delivered to locations far off the grid (Xen'drik or some of the planes). So what does House Orien do when they're paid to make absolutely, totally, 100% sure that a message reaches its destination? They send in the SDS. What's to stop them from taking airships everywhere, if price is truly no object?
|
| # ¿ Oct 4, 2010 05:35 |
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 24, 2013 23:40 |
|
|
I just started running a 4e Eberron campaign. The PCs are all level 4, chilling in Xen'drik, killing some drow. Only one of my players is a goon and I doubt she reads this thread, so here goes. They've been hired to go find a missing archeological expedition. Tonight's the third session. They'll arrive at the camp where the hired hands are leaderless and distraught. See, the head archeologist went into the giant ruins three days ago and hasn't come out, and when they went in to find him, there were walls of force blocking the way. Oh, and giant undead. Those weren't there before. So now the PCs need to get the camp organized before a larger force of drow drop in (skill challenge leading into encounter), then make their way into the ruins to take care of the walls of force and undead; it's easy enough to drop the walls completely, and then get mobbed by undead, but if they do it carefully, they can deal with them a small group at a time (and completely bypass the Solo skeleton mage). They get to the archeologist just in time to see him struggling with another figure, who takes something from him and goes through a portal. If they follow the figure through the portal, they find themselves in Sharn, fighting agents of the Aurum. The lead agent will escape when it looks like the PCs are about to win, and they have to pursue him through the skies, defeat him and recover the keyshard, and return through the portal. (Technically they could also just take ship back to Xen'drik and hike through the jungle again to get to the camp, but that's less awesome.) The keyshard will turn out to unlock other giant ruins throughout Xen'drik, which will have bearing on some of the PCs' backstory. It will continue to be a macguffin probably through the entire heroic tier, as various organizations (Inspired, Cannith, the Aurum, etc) try to gain control of the ruins it unlocks. Edit: Xen'drik owns. inklesspen fucked around with this message at Oct 5, 2010 around 21:09 |
| # ¿ Oct 5, 2010 20:34 |
|
|
The PCs initially wanted to try to lure the drow into the ruins and let them be killed by the undead. Luckily they decided that was unfeasible, because I haven't prepped the ruins and undead yet. The drow were having a tough time hitting the warlord and paladin, and the squishies were wisely staying away and attacking from range, so it was kind of one-sided. I think I need to try mixing in some mobs of lower-level minion undead and a few higher-level undead bosses for next session, rather than keep them all at the same level as the PCs.
|
| # ¿ Oct 6, 2010 20:16 |
|
|
Well, the PCs nearly got their asses handed to them by the lvl7 Elite Odious Zombie. His nauseating aura reduces attack rolls by 2, he has a hell of a high AC, his attacks are strong too, and the only PC who could deal radiant damage was also the tank. They very nearly decided to sit down for six hours and recover daily powers before investigating the sounds of an ongoing scuffle downstairs. Luckily for my plot, they didn't. But they're low on healing surges and just about out of daily powers, and so I have to make this fight/chase with the Aurum agents seem exciting without being overwhelming. It is inconvenient to me that Linked Portal is an 8th-level ritual, since the PCs are still 4th level and I'm trying to do a globe-trotting adventure. Do you think it's suitable to Eberron to have it at a lower level? What adjustments might be required?
|
| # ¿ Oct 29, 2010 18:33 |
|
|
Gomi posted:How about making the chase scene a skill challenge? If they're being chased through hallways and rooms, you can turn a failure into a brief combat where they've been caught up by a forward group of agents, and some of the PCs have to barricade the door/hallway with conveniently placed junk while the rest of them disable the agents. Make the agents pretty chumpy -- they're not fighting the agents, but the clock. Tell 'em that if the fight is over in (some small number) of rounds, they resume the chase scene skill challenge with some bonus to the next N checks. If they take 1 or 2 more rounds, they resume the challenge without a bonus. Any longer than that, and more agents start tearing down the barricade and they resume the challenge with a penalty (the reinforcements never actually arrive, since the point is to provide a complication, not overwhelm the party -- the barricade is of Plot strength and gives out just when the PCs resume running). These are fantastic ideas and I'm noting them down for future reference. However, my plan was to have a showpiece of Sharn: a chase scene through the skies of the City of Towers: inklesspen posted:If they follow the figure through the portal, they find themselves in Sharn, fighting agents of the Aurum. The lead agent will escape when it looks like the PCs are about to win, and they have to pursue him through the skies, defeat him and recover the keyshard, and return through the portal. I can't have him escape completely with the keyshard, so I need the PCs to be able to catch up with him. But if they catch him in the air (succeed at the chase skill challenge), he's much easier to defeat. If they fail the skill challenge, they'll catch up with him just as he arrives at a second safehouse with more mooks. After they get the keyshard, I think they can go to ground and get back to the adventure without having to in turn escape the Aurum agents — Sharn is easy to get lost in if you're inconspicuous. Gomi posted:edit: As far as Linked Portal goes, you could provide them with a (fragile, experimental) magic item that replicates that functionality while providing you with story-ability to divert the party with a 'misfire'. The item could conveniently break midway through level 7, giving them a few sessions to remember how much it sucks to not have Linked Portal and then they level up and acquire it in some story-appropriate fashion. Not a bad idea, but I don't have a good feeling about introducing a magic item like that (in game, it would likely put them into conflict with the Oriens, too, and I don't need another group to pit against them). After talking with some other folks, I decided to make a Level 4 version of Linked Portal that only works going from one teleportation circle to another. This provides me with enough control based on where the teleportation circles are.
|
| # ¿ Oct 29, 2010 21:19 |
|
|
Superstring posted:My group is hitting the Eldeen Reaches and coming into contact with the Ashbound Druids. Does anyone have any ideas how I could make them more distinguished and memorable from bog-standard Druids? Roleplaying nature types have never been my forte. Ashbound druids are basically ecoterrorists. I don't know why you have your group going to the Reaches, but I almost think the Ashbound work best outside the Reaches. I'd have them plotting to make a district of Sharn erupt with uncontrollable plant growth, and if thousands die as the towers come crashing down, so much the better. Or perhaps Ashbound druids have been stalking and killing every student of a famed Aundairian archmage, and the PC's wizard is next on the list. They might even take warforged captive, bit by bit destroying their wooden parts and replacing them with livewood, and then awakening the warforged's bodies before turning them loose to wreak havoc in their former communities.
|
| # ¿ Oct 30, 2010 07:50 |
|
|
Superstring posted:God dammit I done hosed up. The party's supposed to be helping out friendly druids. The last session took place while I had a pretty miserable flu and I must've gotten groups mixed up. The Ashbound are vicious enemies of the Emerald Claw, and I expect they would also oppose the Aurum, so you could totally get a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" thing going on here.
|
| # ¿ Oct 30, 2010 08:17 |
|
|
My campaign is coming to an end prematurely, due to changing work schedules, so I decided to wrap things up with a bang. Last session, the PCs were sent into Darguun to recover a nobleman's son who went hunting too close to the border and was captured by slavers. They enjoyed the hospitality of a clan chief who is friendly to the Brelish crown, and he arranged an opportunity to win the lordling's freedom by fighting in the games of the Arena of Blood. The first battle was against some young fighters who had begged for the honor of fighting the visitors; it was to incapacitation, not death, so I made them minions. The second battle was against four bugbear gladiator slaves who had been promised their freedom if they won. As the announcer was proclaiming the might of the visitors after the second battle, his throat was slit and his corpse fell onto the arena floor. A shrill voice proclaimed "Death to the INFIDELS!" and the arena gates opened to reveal an overwhelming array of monsters. Angered by this breach of the arrangement, their host and his household guards jumped into the arena to fight by their side. And that's where we ended the session. I had been planning for the PCs to fight a dragon while the friendly goblins fought off the other monsters, but one of the east-coasters had to call it a night. Now I'm trying to figure out what to do for the final session. I still want to get a dragon fight in there somewhere, but I also want a bit of a mass battle. I think this should be a pulpy session where the evil goblins want to sacrifice the captives to the Mockery, and the PCs and their allies have to fight their way into the stronghold and recover them in time. As it gets closer to the appropriate hour, the weather will change and perhaps there will be other eldritch effects that boost or hinder various powers. I'd like suggestions if you have any ideas, though; my main concern is that this be a very pulp-cinematic final session.
|
| # ¿ Jan 21, 2011 19:44 |
|
|
MadScientistWorking posted:So... In the Mournland map for 4E there is a city marked off on the southern edge that actually isn't name. What city is this? This is a mystery city! It appears as an unnamed city in the 3.5 and 4E Eberron Campaign Settings, but in Five Nations and Forge of War (3.5E expansion books), the Mournland maps do not show a city there. (They do, however, name other locations which go unnamed on the 4E map.) I nominate we call it Rantmo Hill.
|
| # ¿ Jun 11, 2011 03:00 |
|
|
WotC made an entire sourcebook just for that, so I'd at least flip through it at my Friendly Local Game Shop.
|
| # ¿ Oct 21, 2011 15:47 |
|
|
It's complicated, because the Age of Giants is also bound up in the histories of the elves and warforged. I'd suggest reading up on what happened to the couatl who opposed the rakshasa. In canon, most of them ended up in the Silver Flame, iirc, but that's an easy thing to vary. Plus, the Silver Flame is (in my interpretation, at least) the most Christian-like religion on Eberron. Also, assuming you're reskinning a warlock pact, look into the Vestige pact. Should be pretty easy to reskin into Grigori pact.
|
| # ¿ Nov 18, 2011 15:34 |
|
|
homullus posted:It definitely mirrors the Catholic Church's successful crusades against lycanthropy -- no werewolves around anywhere today. Oh, there are some. Remember, Queen Victoria was infected with lycanthropy in 1879, and where better for werewolves to hide from the Catholics but under the protection of the supreme governor of the Church of England?  
|
| # ¿ Nov 18, 2011 17:22 |
|
|
Burnsaber posted:Yeah, the couatl are odd. I'm not really noticing much else Aztec influence in the setting, so they kind of seem to stick out. I think they're supposed to be angelic dragons or something.
|
| # ¿ Nov 18, 2011 19:38 |
|
|
Jedi are well-known for their opposition to wolfmen.
|
| # ¿ Nov 18, 2011 19:49 |
|
|
Yeah, they can show up later. What I'd do, in your case, is have the PCs all get caught in a storm of some sort. Dragonshards falling, earth rumbling, etc. And in the morning, they have the mark, and have to figure out what they're going to do about it.
|
| # ¿ Nov 19, 2011 12:49 |
|
|
3.5 but it's mostly fluff anyway.
|
| # ¿ Nov 22, 2011 19:40 |
|
|
Burnsaber posted:Btw, is there any official anwser for why Warforged have souls/consciousness, or is it a mystery like the whole mourning thing? I mean, MAGIC is sufficent but a bit boring anwser. I have couple of theories of my own but was just wondering if there is any "official" anwser that might be cooler? I believe the official answer is something along the lines of so the quori can control them in their war against the giants. Man, I was annoyed when I read that in (iirc) Secrets of Xen'drik.
|
| # ¿ Nov 23, 2011 16:15 |
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 24, 2013 23:40 |
|
|
Also remember that Dal Quor exists in cycles and the next one is gonna be super awesome for mortals, but the quori know this and are artificially prolonging the current cycle. And every mortal who dreams visits Dal Quor while they do. So at the final end of your campaign, if the PCs can force the cycle to advance, it's going to be literally worldchanging in ways that not even the restoration of Cyre could match.
|
| # ¿ Nov 25, 2011 11:29 |
|
