Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The Law 01-17-07, 02:55 AM	Hey guys, This is a draft background for my artificer - Kyran d'Cannith - who's going to start at level 5 in a new campaign. I'd like his build to finish with Artificer 17 / Cannith Wand Adept 3. He'll be the "Blastificer" type of arty. Pulp intro paragraph. Rain, storm, the City of Towers, the City of Knives. A thousands secrets. Kyran runs down an alley in Sharn, with a half orc in pursuit. He stops as he reaches a dead end, half orc catches up and sneers. "Dead or alive, the reward is the same." Kyran takes out dragonshard wand, blasts orc, then makes a witty comment. Kyran goes to Cannith enclave in Sharn under the effects of a disguise spell, meets up with his former mentor. Dismisses the disguise. "You've been excorciated!" mentor says. "Consorting with excorciates could ruin my reputation..." "I've got no where to turn. I'm innocent!" Kyran says. "Well, mostly. Of the murder, at least. I need your help. I have bounty hunters on my trail." "What, exactly, happened?" Kyran explains how he broke into a Cannith Wand Adept's room (scroll of knock?), and "acquired" his journal with all his notes. The journal was hidden in a secret compartment in his room. Kyran spied on the Adept in the past (invisibility) and noted where he kept it. The intention was to copy some of the formulas for his own use and then replace it somewhere so the Adept thinks he "misplaced it." When he got into his room, the Adept was dead in a pile of blood on the floor. It looks like someone was looking for something, because the room was in disarray. Someone must have tipped off the guards, as they burst into the room at that point. Kyran fled the scene via the window and a token of feather fall, taking the journal with him. "Someone wanted *him* dead. I was just the fall guy - a likely suspect, considering our rather public rivalry..." "Take this key. My apartment in <Sharn district> is where I often do my experiments. You can stay there for the time being, until we figure out how to clear your name. Go! No one can see us together!" Mentor says. Pulp exit paragraph: "Fade the camera" to a scene high in one of Sharn's towers. A dark figure stands watching out of the window as the storm continues. A subordinate enters the room, bows, and then speaks. "Our bounty hunter hasn't reported back yet, my lord. And we haven't recovered Cannith Wand Adept's journal. We must assume the worst." "You know what needs to be done." Comments - We'll be playing the new Eberron super adventure (due in April) and typically, one can't stay in one place too long in such adventures. So to get around the mentoring process of becoming a Wand Adept, I've opted to steal a rival's journal - and use this as night time to further my own studies. This rival just happens to be a Wand Adept, of course. - What secret does the journal contain? A cyphered message that the Wand Adept wrote, telling of Merrix's secret creation forge? Or that Zorlan d'Cannith (head of Cannith East, see Dragonmarked) is sacrificing people in his Blood of Vol rights? I'll leave the details up to my DM, but wanted to point out the use of the journal as a roleplaying / plot tool as well.
Shady314 01-17-07, 04:53 AM	I like it. My one question is the half-orc though. Is he a bounty hunter or a thug for hire? Killing a legal Tharashk bounty hunter is a crime. So your PC is innocent of one murder and guilty of another. :) If it's just a thug for hire that's different but then how does he know that it's a thug and not a true sanctioned bounty hunter?
The Law 01-17-07, 04:58 AM	Thanks for the response Shady. Didn't know that its a crime killing a bounty hunter... :( Don't have my books with me, but could you please point out in what book it says so? Might need to make it a hired goon then... I really like the "goons following me" thing.
cancerousmango 01-17-07, 10:13 PM	TL;DR (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/b/b3/TL%3BDR.jpg) The only reason to become a cannith wand adept is to kill your DM's supervillains in one shot with your metamagic-dripping wands. JK, I read it, it's actually passable for something on the internet.
Shady314 01-18-07, 07:48 PM	Thanks for the response Shady. Didn't know that its a crime killing a bounty hunter... :( Don't have my books with me, but could you please point out in what book it says so? Might need to make it a hired goon then... I really like the "goons following me" thing. It's not specifically said in a book but one of the functions of House Tharashk is bounty hunting. Bounty hunting is interesting in that in our world it varies quite a bit from state to state in what powers/authority a bounty hunter has and rules on how they operate. But all bounty hunters are looking to take their marks alive and hunters have no right to kill their targets except in self defense. I imagine it's the same in Eberron that killing is always a crime unless it's self defense. It's never said in anything written about Tharashk that they kill people professionally. They aren't assassins. So that leaves your PC a wanted criminal being chased down by a half-orc (which made me assume Tharashk licensed) bounty hunter whom he kills. How in the world could that be legal? Now if the half-orc is a thug looking to do him egregious bodily harm then the killing is justified but how does the PC know he isn't a licensed law enforcement type? That's supposed to be part of the difficulty of being falsely accused. You can't just kill every person that tries to arrest you. Possible solutions: The Half-Orc is a goon and it is clear he is not acting in a legal fashion since he tries to kill you on sight (fires a crossbow at you and misses for example) and doesn't attempt to arrest you. No saying "Stop in the name of House Tharashk" or something.
Cifer 01-19-07, 08:24 PM	I see a massive problem in trying to use earthly laws (they aren't even earthly, but highly specific to certain parts of countries) with regards to Eberron. It's unknown what the exact status of bounty hunters in Eberron is - and whether defending oneself against them, killing them or evading them counts as a crime in itself.
Shady314 01-19-07, 10:07 PM	I see a massive problem in trying to use earthly laws (they aren't even earthly, but highly specific to certain parts of countries) with regards to Eberron. It's unknown what the exact status of bounty hunters in Eberron is - and whether defending oneself against them, killing them or evading them counts as a crime in itself. Well you bring up a good point about countries. American bounty hunters can only legally operate within the US. And there have been bounty hunters that have been extradited and punished for bringing in a bounty since it legally amounted to kidnapping. In which case defending yourself from a kidnapper would be legal. The same probably mostly holds true in Eberron. This is why the Sentinel Marshals exist after all. Though I'm curious to see how much a DM member of House Tharashk bounty hunting someone (what with their international status) could bend that rule. I'm sure evading them is "fine" in that they won't add "evaded bounty hunter" to your list of crimes. Actually my justification stemmed mostly from the fact part of HOUSE Tharashk's job is bounty hunting. It's pretty unbelievable to think the law wouldn't protect an institution filled with DM members. The edicts of Korth protect the Houses in allowing them to fulfill certain functions. The edicts say don't do this, this, this, etc. and in return we let you be giant mercantile empires with pretty much a total monopoly. Oh but House Tharashk if you want to keep bounty hunting know we're going to let criminals that kill you get a free pass. It's even more unbelievable to think the law would protect a criminal legally that killed someone for trying to arrest them. Usually governments WANT criminals caught. You honestly believe if even just some patriotic commoners (forget even a recognized law enforcement official) recognized a criminal and tried to arrest him he could murder them and not have those bodies added to his list of crimes? Eberron clearly has a sophisticated legal system under the Code of Galifar what with trials and legal representation etc. I'm curious to know by what logic you'd think the law would allow such leniency in murder for wanted criminals?
The Law 01-20-07, 12:31 AM	Any further comments on the background? Things to add, things to change, suggestions, etc? :D