Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Werebat 07-02-07, 03:19 PM	Here is the writeup I will be sending along to my players for my next campaign -- I'm looking for constructive criticism of things I might have forgotten or might have gotten wrong. GoblinPride, I do hope you respond! ;) OK here it is: Background Eberron is an ancient world with a richly detailed history. There have been many ages, including a time when Demons ruled the world, a time when Dragons ruled the world, and a time when Giants ruled the world. About 20,000 years ago, there was a time when the main continent of Khorvaire was ruled by Goblins. These were united tribes of goblinoids, each made up of common Goblins as well as Hobgoblins and Bugbears. Together they formed the Dhakaani Empire, something vaguely resembling a mix of ancient China and Rome in the real world. In the Dhakaani Empire, equality of a sort was to be found for the goblinoids, at least among themselves. Each “caste” had its responsibilities and expectations, and while some castes might have been better suited to some goblinoid subgroups, no group was officially “above” any of the others and no goblinoid was ever made the slave of another. It was a bit different for non-goblinoids conquered by the Dhakaani, although even their fate was somewhat better than that typical of those subjugated by goblinoids today. Not technically slaves, conquered Dwarves, Halflings, and other peoples were generally allowed to keep their lands and their traditions as long as they obeyed Dhakaani laws and paid their taxes in a timely manner. The way ancient Rome treated her conquered territories is a fair analog. Of course, no one wants to be conquered, not even by a relatively civilized empire. The Dhakaani were met with much resistance in their quest to own all of Khorvaire, although the barbarians they typically absorbed were usually not capable of avoiding subjugation for long. Not so with the Orcs, however. While as uncivilized and disorganized as any other peoples encountered by Dhakaan, these proud savages were possessed of great strength as well as mystic knowledge imparted to them by the great black dragon Vvaraak. Orcish druids possessed mystic divine powers unfamiliar to the agnostic goblinoids, and their power to control nature itself often spelled disaster for invading Dhakaani armies. The unconquerable Orcs remained a thorn in the side of the Dhakaani for long after they were first encountered, and resentments on both sides ran deep. Then came real disaster – the invasions from Xoriat. In the course of its wide orbit through reality, the Plane of Madness became coterminous with Eberron, causing numerous gates to spontaneously open across Khorvaire leading to a dimension of horrid insanities. The worst of these were the godlike alien Daelkyr, and in their fevered genius they had foreseen the opening of the gates and marked their locations before they had appeared, assembling great armies of nightmarish aberrations set to pour through and conquer the lands beyond. Unprepared, Dhakaan suffered devastating losses, many of her people being captured and twisted by bizarre experiments into new beings, servants and footmen of the invading Daelkyr who used their knowledge of Khorvaire for the benefit of their new masters. In the end, the shattered remnant survivors of the Empire of Dhakaan were forced to seek aid from their old enemies the Orcs, whose druidic mystics had devised numerous ways to fight back at the unnatural aberrations from Xoriat. Putting aside their old differences, the Orcs and Goblins worked together and fought side by side, ultimately winning against the Daelkyr and their armies by the narrowest of margins. Druidic magic was used to seal the portals, and those Daelkyr left behind that proved too powerful to destroy were bound deep in Khyber, the realm beneath the world’s surface. In the 5,000 years that passed since those times, what was left of the Dhakaani Empire crumbled completely to infighting amongst the shattered tribes and uprisings amongst the conquered barbarian peoples, leaving behind nothing more than ruins scattered across Khorvaire. The Orc druids began calling themselves the Gatekeepers, after the vigil they began keeping over the seals they had created to keep the Daelkyr at bay, but over time they dwindled in number and influence due to the creation of new druidic sects focused more on the present and less on the past. Humans and other races that were not present during the Daelkyr war invaded the land and grew to dominate it, often ruling from old Dhakaani cities such as Sharn where local goblin traditions were suppressed for generations in order to make the native peoples more amenable to human ways. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost… * * * * * Overview This will be a campaign focusing on the resurgence of an ancient evil from Xoriat, the Realm of Madness. It will involve combat with aberrations and other enemies as well as diplomacy with ancient factions and groups who fought said aberrations in the past. Knowledge: History may actually prove useful here as it could provide clues as to the exact nature of your enemy and its plans. For those of you who read my original three campaign proposals, this is a sort of compromise between all three, focusing more on the second (I believe) that was set in modern-day Eberron. The campaign will begin in the major human city of Sharn, where many “city goblins” live in the slum areas known as Malleon’s Gate and the Cogs. * * * * * Races: If you’ve ever wanted to play an Orc or a Goblin, now’s the time… Because this game is set in the typical Eberron timeline, no one will be restricted from playing any of the typical Eberron races. However, the campaign will mostly deal with issues formerly faced by the Orc and Goblin peoples, so I would encourage people to play such characters and insist that they at least play characters willing to work with them. This isn’t actually all that unusual in Eberron, as most major cities like Sharn have sizeable Goblin populations as well as a few Orcs, and in some areas like the Shadow Marches Orcs and Humans seem to make love almost as much as war. That being said, humanoids like Goblins and Orcs are generally viewed as inferior peoples and treated to downtrodden minority status in the human-run cities that they find themselves in. Of course, your character wouldn’t need to have come from such a background – for example, there is a young goblinoid nation called Darguun, and a rare few tribes within Darguun (who call themselves the “Kech Volaar”) even follow the old Dhakaani traditions in many ways. Of the new Eberron races, Shifters, Changelings, and Warforged are the most likely to work willingly with Orcs and Goblins. Shifters are bestial enough to be considered even more monstrous than Orcs by some people, and in fact the Church of the Silver Flame once fought a crusade to eliminate all lycanthropes, including Shifters (for a time) – they can often be found in the rough-and-tumble areas inhabited by Orcs and Goblins. Changelings can look like anyone and take pride in being able to fit in with (and often swindle) all different sorts of people. For their part, the Warforged are a new race still looking to “fit in” and find a niche, and not often prone to prejudice against one group of flesh-folk over another. I will be changing some of the monstrous races subtly in order to make them work better as PCs. Here are the mechanics for each: Goblins: Common Goblins remain as presented in the Monster Manual. One of their biggest assets is that while they are Small, they still have a 30 foot movement rate. Like Halflings, Goblins make great rogues (better than Halflings in many ways), and also like Halflings they can make surprisingly good melee combatants if built properly. Hobgoblins: In 3.0, Hobgoblins were the best of the +0 LA races. 3.5 “corrected” this by making them the most sucktastic of the +1 LA races (Rich Burlew even makes a joke about this in “Start of Darkness”). I’m fixing this by lowering their LA back down to +0, eliminating their stat modifiers, and giving them a bonus feat at 1st level that can only be chosen from the list of Fighter bonus feats (to reflect their penchant for martial training). They retain their other abilities as described in the Monster Manual. Bugbears: Bugbears are technically not playable in 1st level campaigns because they are 3 hit dice humanoids with a +1 LA. However, I’d like to let people play them from the start of the campaign if they want to, so I’ve designed a “Bugbear class progression” similar to those found in Savage Species. A glance at the following chart will show how Bugbear PCs will progress from levels 1-4, at which point they will be effectively considered 3 hit dice humanoids with a +1 LA (which can later be bought off as per Unearthed Arcana): Bugbear class progression level HD Abilities Nat. AC BAB Fort Ref Will Skill Feats Special 1 1d8 Str +2, Cha -2 +1 +0 +0 +2 +0 (2+IntMod)*4 +1 Darkvision, +4 MS 2 2d8 Dex +2 +2 +1 +0 +3 +0 +2+IntMod 3 2d8 Con +2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Scent, Pwrfl Build 4 3d8 Str +2 +3 +2 +1 +3 +1 +2+IntMod +1 Note that I have also added the Powerful Build ability to the Bugbear race (this lets them use Large weapons and be treated as Large for most beneficial purposes other than having reach). I think it makes them more attractive as PCs, and they would have had it if PB had been around when they were statted up anyway. With their ability to track by scent and their roguelike racial skills, Bugbears make a good choice for anyone who wants a barbarian or other melee thug with some rogue levels (Powerful Build can make for a mean tripster with the Darguun Mauler feat, too). Orcs: Orcs remain as presented in the Monster Manual except that they don’t have a penalty to Wisdom (their stat mods still even out and they don’t really get much else in the way of racial abilities – besides, the first druids in the world shouldn’t really be saddled with a wisdom penalty). It’s worth noting that as per the rules, Orcs are only dazzled “in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell”, and there do exist slitted goggles that can be used to overcome even this deficiency (for a small price and a penalty to Spot checks, I believe). I don’t plan on screwing Orcs over because of light sensitivity, so please don’t avoid playing one just because of it. Mongrelmen: The various goblinoid races tend to breed exclusively among their own kind, partly because interbreeding results in outcast folk known as mongrelmen. These are detailed in the Fiend Folio, and while they are looked down on even by other goblinoids it would be possible to play one (probably a rogue) if you wanted to. Blues: There is an offshoot of the common Goblin that is known as the Blue. These are essentially nothing more than bluish goblins with a bonus to Intelligence instead of Dexterity and the “wild talent” feat for free. They were created long ago when Daelkyr experimented on captured common goblins, but unlike their other more “successful” experiments the blues were not changed so much that they became aberrations themselves. The story of their escape from their Daelkyr masters is lost to time, but at least some of them managed to mix back into the common goblin population and their genes occasionally produce new blues within goblin communities. Many goblinoids do not trust blues, being suspicious of their Daelkyr taint, which makes them capable of learning the psionic arts. I’ve changed Blues to be more worthy of their +1 LA – in addition to their abilities in the Psionics handbook, they also gain a +2 to Dex like normal goblins and a bonus psionic feat at 1st level. * * * * * Books: This is the list of books allowed for character generation and use: • PHB • DMG • MMI, MMII, MMIII, Fiend Folio, Miniatures Handbook • Complete Divine, Arcane, Warrior, and Adventurer • Complete Psionic and Psionics Handbook • Eberron Campaign Setting • Races of Eberron • Faiths of Eberron • Magic of Eberron • Player’s Guide to Eberron • Dragonmarked • Sharn: City of Towers • Magic Item Compendium • Spell Compendium • Lords of Madness • Draconomicon • Races of the Dragon That’s 25 books, folks, at least 8 of which have not been allowed in either campaign before. More than enough, I’d say. Two things, though. First, just because a book is on the list doesn’t mean that EVERYTHING in that book is allowed as is. As usual, if it looks like it’s too good to be true, then it probably is – I won’t be allowing Dragonborn, Planar Shepherds, etc., at least not as-is. Also, if you have an interest in playing something from a book not on this list, AND it is well balanced, AND it deals specifically with the theme of the campaign (humanoids fighting an ancient aberrant evil that time forgot), talk to me about it. * * * * * Class Recommendations: I’m sure everyone has their own idea of what they’d like to play, which is fine, but I thought I would point out a few suggestions that would work especially well with this campaign or be interesting options that might not usually fit in as much as they would here. I’ll handle this by going through the core base classes and offering suggestions about how each might be approached. Artificer: The Artificer is a new class in Eberron, and is basically a crafter of magical items. It is a complex class that can be very powerful in the hands of an experienced player. While Orcs have little real talent for artifice, goblinoids boast some of their own race as being the first artificers on the continent, and many ancient artifacts found in Khorvaire’s ruins were in fact crafted by Dhakaani goblins of ages past. Of course, few city goblins today have the educational resources to become artificers, but those that do (particularly common goblins) excel at crafting cheap and useful items, often taking the Extraordinary Artisan feat to reduce the cost of item creation (“Ha! Can you believe what some humans just THROW AWAY?!?”) Barbarians: Orcs and Bugbears. ‘Nuff said. Bards: Goblinoids in the old Dhakaani Empire were agnostic, and bards filled many of the roles traditionally filled by clerics. Even today goblinoids have a strong respect for their bards, some of whom retain great knowledge of the forgotten past. There is a prestige class from Lords of Madness called the Keeper of the Cerulean Sign that has special abilities useful in fighting aberrations. These Keepers can be seen as a goblinoid equivalent of the Orcish Gatekeeper druids, a class specialized to deal with the incursion of aberrations from Xoriat. Those that survive today are almost all hobgoblins of the Kech Volaar tribes in Darguun, although they might be willing to train even city goblinoids who come into contact with them over the course of the campaign. Cleric: Although the Dhakaani Empire was mostly agnostic, modern goblins have taken to religion like the other races. Many worship the evil Dark Six, but not all – even in Darguun, the Lhesh Haruuc has done much to encourage the worship of the Host. Many Orcs of the Demon Wastes worship an interpretation of the Silver Flame that they call Kalok Shash. Martial minded clerics might consider the Topaz Guardian prestige class from Lords of Madness. Druid: Orcish druids were the first druids, and the oldest druidic circles are still Gatekeeper circles held in the Shadow Marches. At first glance, Orc druids don’t have the most optimal stat modifiers for the class, because they take a hit Charisma, and their bonus to Strength doesn’t matter much while shifted into animal form. Even without the Wisdom penalty, Orcs aren’t the optimal race for the standard druid build. However, there are ways to alleviate this situation. Most Orc druids have a more martial build than average, sometimes even incorporating a level or more of barbarian. Combat-useful Wild Feats from the Complete handbooks, particularly Wolverine’s Rage, can help keep the Orc druid’s strength bonus an asset by giving him reasons to stay in his normal form during combat (in addition to being able to use magical weapons and armor). Finally, Unearthed Arcana has a variant druid class called the Druidic Avenger that grants barbarian abilities of rage and fast movement to druids (I would allow Orc druidic avengers to swap out loss of their animal companion for a loss of the ability to use wild shape for anything other than powering wild feats). Martial prestige classes incorporating Divine spellcaster levels are also attractive options for Orc druids. Two such PrCs are the Nature’s Warrior (I’ll allow use of Wild feats to count as being in wild shape form for purposes of this PrC) and the Abolisher (especially appropriate for Gatekeeper druids) from Lords of Madness, which grants druids some martial abilities such as Favored Enemy (Aberrations). Don’t forget to look at the Gatekeeper feats in the Eberron campaign book and elsewhere – there’s one that lets a druid turn aberrations like a cleric turns the undead. It’s also worth noting that Gatekeeper druids have a new type of animal companion available to them, specifically created to fight aberrations – Horrid Animals, who are foul-tempered versions of Dire Animals with various benefits including acidic secretions that enhance their attack damage. Fighter: It’s worth noting that goblinoids in Eberron are known to prefer chain and flail type weapons, and there are feats like Darguun Mauler that emphasize this. While Hobgoblins are more regimented and martially-minded than their larger Bugbear cousins, Bugbears can make truly impressive trip specialists due to their high strength and Powerful Build ability. Monk: Hobgoblins in particular do have martial art traditions, and I even have a pretty cool mini of a Hobgoblin monk. In addition, some prestige classes such as the Topaz Guardian from Lords of Madness may be appropriate for a monk in this campaign. Paladin: As mentioned earlier, there is a tradition of Orcish paladins in the Demon Wastes who worship their own version of the Silver Flame. Topaz Guardian and Sanctified Mind are PrCs from Lords of Madness that are worth looking into. Psion: As mentioned before Blues make excellent Psions (often mixing in levels of Rogue or going with a Psi/Rogue class like the Lurk). No other type of goblinoid is known for having psychic abilities. Kalashtar psions, psychic warriors, and soulknives may find that the Sanctified Mind class from Lords of Madness may help them fight psi-active aberrations. Ranger: Obviously aberrations will make the most effective species enemy for a ranger in this campaign. Goblins make good rangers, often taking wolf animal companions and riding them to good effect as mounted archers. In fact, the Halfling Outrider PrC from Complete Warrior can be easily adapted to “Goblin Wolfrider”, making for a maneuverable and effective archer. Bugbears can use their Scent ability to good effect while tracking, of course. Orc barbarians often take a level of Ranger in order to gain the Track feat and Species Enemy: Aberration. Good ranger PrCs include the Abolisher from Lords of Madness, the Eldeen Ranger (with affiliation with the Gatekeeper sect), and the Impure Prince (who utilizes bizarre aberrant symbionts in order to fight aberrations) from Magic of Eberron. There is a new race in Magic of Eberron called the Daelkyr Half-Breed, that is essentially a “tiefling” with Daelkyr heritage instead of fiendish blood. Such a character could conceivably take Aberrant feats from Lords of Madness and the Impure Prince PrC to be something of a “Blade” type character who hates and hunts aberrations while constantly fighting the side of his personality that IS one. Rogue: For many people, the words “goblin” and “rogue” are synonymous. Common goblins’ small size, 30 foot movement rate, racial bonus to move silently checks, and darkvision all combine to make them a very competitive rogue race. Blue rogues also have an Intelligence bonus, and many Blues take psionic feats that aid in their roguery. Bugbears can take several traditional rogue skills with their racial levels, and many choose to mix rogue and barbarian or fighter (or the “thug” fighter variant from Unearthed Arcana) levels. Even Hobgoblins get a bonus to Move Silently checks. Sorcerer: Orc sorcerers are more common than Orc wizards, although the race isn’t particularly known for either class. Kobolds, while not technically Orcs or Goblins, are forced into the same relative niche in Sharn and other human cities where they can be found, and actually do make very good sorcerers (often taking the Draconic template, which doesn’t provide the same stigma for them as it does for other races in Eberron) and/or dragonblooded feats). Wizard: Goblins and Hobgoblins both have as much wizardly potential as humans, although their social station in human lands as well as the martial-focused culture found in much of Darguun does limit their tendency to actually receive arcane training. When they get the opportunity, goblins in particular view wizard magic as a way to get a leg up on their larger fellows – even a small person can get respect when people know they are capable of shooting lightning from their fingertips!
Rerecros 07-02-07, 03:42 PM	This is very well thought out. It was a lot to read, so I just used speak :D Personally, I'd swap out the hobgoblin's cha penalty for a wis penalty. They tend to be bolsterous, and make decent bards. I'd also remove the orc wis penalty, they have so few racial features they'd still be LA+0. You might want to use the wild aspect druid varient from unearthed arcana for your orcs.
Werebat 07-02-07, 03:48 PM	This is very well thought out. It was a lot to read, so I just used speak :D Personally, I'd swap out the hobgoblin's cha penalty for a wis penalty. They tend to be bolsterous, and make decent bards. I'd also remove the orc wis penalty, they have so few racial features they'd still be LA+0. You might want to use the wild aspect druid varient from unearthed arcana for your orcs. Hmm... You know, the stat mod ideas you have are both good, I think I may use them. I'll check out the wild aspect druid variant. Thanks! - Ron ^*^
Belkar 07-02-07, 04:14 PM	Fantastic! Do you mind if I borrow bits of it? lolol I'm a goblin-lover, myself, and it's exciting to see an eberron campaign with that focus on it...!:D
Werebat 07-02-07, 04:18 PM	This is very well thought out. It was a lot to read, so I just used speak :D Personally, I'd swap out the hobgoblin's cha penalty for a wis penalty. They tend to be bolsterous, and make decent bards. I'd also remove the orc wis penalty, they have so few racial features they'd still be LA+0. You might want to use the wild aspect druid varient from unearthed arcana for your orcs. [Edit] Just checked out the druidic avenger from UA -- fantastic! I think I read it before but forgot about it. See, this is why I posted here before sending it along to my players! :) Think I'll give Orc druidic avengers the option to swap out loss of their animal companion for a loss of their ability to wildshape into animal forms, although they'd still gain "uses" per day to power wild feats if they had them. Also -- I'm just going to drop hobgob stat mods completely. That gives them +4 racial bonus to MS, Darkvision, and a bonus fighter feat for +0 LA. Honestly I think that makes them comparable to humans. Thanks! - Ron ^*^
GrimAlchemist 07-02-07, 11:39 PM	Very well done, I might just lift some of your ideas right into my own game, especially some of the racial variants (I always did hate the weakest of +1 LA's Hobgoblins). :D Also, I do not have the book to reference right now, but is your concept of agnostic Dhakaani Empire supported in the Eberron books, or a house variant? I thought I remembered reading that the Dhakaani revered a variant pantheon of the combined Sovereign Host and Dark Six (all by different names I believe), plus one extra and little know "16th" deity. I could of course be wrong, as my knowledge of Dhakaan is sketchy at best, and I don't have access to any of my Eberron books right now, so excuse me if I'm speaking out of an orifice other than my mouth here. :)
Alex_ 07-03-07, 12:22 AM	The GOBLINS had a pantheon at some point, but the Dhakaani were largely agnostic. This is mentioned in the ECS where they're described as being agnostic, and having no divine spellcasting traditions. The Goblin pantheon more than likely existed before the formation of the empire, or after its fall.
Werebat 07-03-07, 01:00 AM	is your concept of agnostic Dhakaani Empire supported in the Eberron books, or a house variant? I thought I remembered reading that the Dhakaani revered a variant pantheon of the combined Sovereign Host and Dark Six (all by different names I believe), plus one extra and little know "16th" deity. I could of course be wrong, as my knowledge of Dhakaan is sketchy at best, and I don't have access to any of my Eberron books right now, so excuse me if I'm speaking out of an orifice other than my mouth here. :) I'm curious about that 16th deity, where did you hear of him/her? The Dhakaani were agnostic, as has been revealed by several sources including Keith Baker himself. I don't think I added that much history here that can't be found elsewhere, mostly the bit about where the Blues came from, and that's vague at best. Oh, and the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign, but come on, that pretty much writes itself in as a connection to the hobgobs in Eberron. ;) - Ron ^*^
GrimAlchemist 07-03-07, 01:28 AM	Somewhere in the Faiths of Eberron (again, can't cite exact pages or quotes, don't have my book with me), in a sidebar of the Sovereign Host or Dark Six, there's mention of the early history of the host and the six, of the whole pantheon being "Nine and Six and One". Scholars speculated as to what the "One" referred to, whether it was the entirety of the pantheon, or a 16th forgotten god. Then, somewhere, I don't know if it was a sourcebook or a Dragonmark or just something that surfaced on the forums, there was mention of evidence that the goblins revered variations of the host, a pantheon of sixteen deities. Expeditions to Dhakaani ruins occasionally found enigmatic mentions of a god called "the Overthrown", but it's an extremely obscure knowledge, and the scholars of the Host often outright rejected it. Or at least, that's what I remember... could be so very wrong. [Edit]: A thought occurs... the largest events of Dhakaani's history were during the Xoriat wars. These outsiders from the Realm of Madness were terrible, empire shattering force with extremely powerful Daelkyr at their lead, who could shape creatures and things to their whim. To lowly goblins, that could seem like divine power... and eventually, the Daelkyr were 'overthrown'. Hmm.. something to mull over. Or, Overthrown, sounds like Over-throne.. a ruling force over the other fifteen? The one? Overthrown could be poorly translated Dhakaani... something else to ponder. I always seem to get good ideas when I've been up for 22 hours, running off of caffeine.
Werebat 07-04-07, 07:44 PM	Mentioned in another thread too, sorry for the overlap: Someone on another board suggested that my hobgobs were a bit too weak, so I considered giving them Toughness as a bonus feat at 1st level. Ideas? Similarly, it was suggested that my Orcs were too strong (too attractive as fighter types) without the Wis penalty, and I considered giving them a trait "Impulsive: -1 to Will saves". Ideas? Finally, I'm seriously considering just keeping the Blues as originally written but just dropping their +1 LA. Ideas?