Crime Syndicate [Archive] - Wizards Community

Crime Syndicate [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Karadur
02-04-06, 09:21 AM Confession: I do NOT own any Eberron material, nor have I read any that wasn’t in either A) Dragon Magazine B) These message boards. I do however plan on buying it and running a crime syndicate/mob(fantasy Sopranos) campaign for a small group (2-4).

My questions as I do a little pre planning is:
1. Is there any open source content available about any of the cities in Eberron?
2. What is the most highly populated/diverse city? What is this cities demographic breakdown?
3. Have any of you ran this type of session/campaign in Eberron already?
4. Are there any particular NPCs that will be important background info?
5. Are there any other books that would be particularly handy in designing this campaign?

And a separate question, how useful/necessary is the Players Guide to Eberron?

Thanks in advance.
RickVigorous
02-04-06, 09:51 AM Confession: I do NOT own any Eberron material, nor have I read any that wasn’t in either A) Dragon Magazine B) These message boards. I do however plan on buying it and running a crime syndicate/mob(fantasy Sopranos) campaign for a small group (2-4).

My questions as I do a little pre planning is:
1. Is there any open source content available about any of the cities in Eberron?
2. What is the most highly populated/diverse city? What is this cities demographic breakdown?
3. Have any of you ran this type of session/campaign in Eberron already?
4. Are there any particular NPCs that will be important background info?
5. Are there any other books that would be particularly handy in designing this campaign?

And a separate question, how useful/necessary is the Players Guide to Eberron?

Thanks in advance.1. There's a number of threads on the People and Places board about some of the cities in Eberron; the most well-developed is Stormreach. There have been a number of highly detailed treatments of the city in the thread Creating Stormreach (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=451167) and in the thread Stormreach: My Version, which is linked in my sig. There are other versions as well, but I don't have links to them on hand. There's also the regular Dragonshards (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/ds) feature on the main website.

2. The biggest city (and probably the most diverse) is Sharn. Sharn has its own Dragonshard (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040927a) but the best resource for the city is the book Sharn: City of Towers. The city's demographics, according to that book, are as follows: 33% human, 17% dwarf, 9% halfling, 9% goblinoid, 8% gnome, 7% elf, 5% half-elf, 4% shifter, 3% changeling, 2% orc and half-orc, 1% warforged, 1% kalashtar, 1% other races. The city's total population is just over 200,000.

3. My first Eberron campaign was a criminal campaign. It went well for the most part, but as things get to higher levels it becomes slightly harder to maintain an appropriate level of challenge. Eberron doesn't have many high-level characters of PC races, but the various PC races are the standard targets for criminal activity. That said, there's still plenty to do; train robberies, hijacking a airship, raiding House Kundarak's vaults, and gang warfare are all suitable activities.

4. Depends on where the campaign is based.

5. If it's going to be in Sharn, get Sharn: CoT. Five Nations might also be useful, as it does contain some information on law and order in each of the main countries in Khorvaire. I don't think you'll need anything else, but I would recommend the Player's Guide; it provides a good introduction to just about every salient topic in Eberron and helps flesh out those nations left out of other books.
Karadur
02-04-06, 10:44 AM Great info Rick. I think Sharn is more suitable to my style and what I want to do, though I think a visit to your version of Stormreach would be a good experience.
The following questions would be in regards to Sharn.
What is the likelyhood an NPC 'mobster' would bare a dragonmark? Would it be likely multiple members (maybe blood family) also bare a Dragonmark? What class would/did you use for entry level NPC thugs (im thinking warrior/expert)?
Naudachu
02-04-06, 01:51 PM Criminals could certainly have aberrant dragonmarks. Although an excoriate (banished member of a dragonmark house) family of mobsters would be interesting. This would definitely be the exception to the rule.

Sharn: City of Towers has good information on the crime families in the city and the maps of the city are invaluable if you're going to run a campaign there. There's definitely room to add another crime family, but it would be interesting to set up their relationship with the existing families.

Thugs with warrior levels makes sense. I was going to say make some warrior/rogues so they can actually "break and enter", but looking at the expert class, you can choose any ten skills. Hm. I guess you'd only need rogues for bypassing magical traps.
Rechan
02-04-06, 03:13 PM I advise getting the following books: The Eberron Campaign Setting, Sharn: City of Towers, and the Player's Guide to Eberron. The first two are primarily for you, and I wouldn't run without them. The last is for your PCs - hand them the book, let them read it, it will get them very familiar with the world of Eberron.

The Sharn book itself details a lot of crime families - namely there are a few bi ones:

The Boromar clan - Halfling mafia.
Daask - Monster gang (ogres and gnolls primarily). Generally fighting with the Boromars.
The Tyrants - A group of changelings and doppelgangers who do a lot of espianoge.
House Tarkanan - A group of assassins and otherwise very bad people, all of which have Aberrant dragonmarks.
Karadur
02-05-06, 05:54 PM Thanks for all the responses!
The Eberron CS and Sharn:CoT(couldn't afford to also get the Players Guide) are in the mail from Amazon, so in a few days or so I should have a better feel for what I want to do.

Since the setting is going to be compltely new to me AND to my players I was wondering what kind of race/class combinations I should pay extra attention to.
And also I was wondering what advice you experienced players and DMs of Eberron would give to keep from missing key parts of the setting (new rules, new features, etc.)
Rechan
02-05-06, 06:19 PM The biggest thing is to get the feel of the setting across, being it's action movie meets gritty dark/noir feeling. PCs should do action-packed stuff.

Next, don't be afraid to use the board resources. Here's some suggested threads to check out: Adventure Seeds (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=275225), Set pieces (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=287428) and Exciting Eberronian Encounters (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=569576). The latter two links should be helpful to you, as some of them deal with Urban encounters. In addition, I find The Houses (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=569576) an invaluable resource on putting a real face on the Dragonmarked Houses beyond what's in the books. Don't feel overwhelmed by all this information, though - it's not all important right away. :)

For info that's free, read Dragonshards (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/ds), online articles by the setting author. You might also want to print out some for your PCs - primarily Swashbuckling (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040803a), to get a feel for the action, and maybe Sharn (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040927a), to give them a tiny introduction. Also, to you the DM, I suggest Intrigue and Espianoge (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040809a), as there's always double crossing and the like with crime games.

Eberron has 4 new races. I would emphasize the Warforged, as they are the newest and most unique. Kalasthar the players likely aren't going to "get". Shifters and Changelings are either take or leave, depending on your players tastes.

Eberron has a new class - Artificers, whose focus is creating and using of magical items. Aside from Action Points (ways players can modify their dice rolls to do great, action-packed things), there's no new "rules" to learn. `
Karadur
02-05-06, 07:52 PM Thanks for the resources Rechan I'll be sure to check them all out (the ones I havn't read yet).
Me and my players have a good grasp on action points from D20 Modern, assuming they arn't too different.
Could you, or somebody, elaborate on what you mean by "Kalasthar the players likely aren't going to "get"?
My players are pretty mature and at least one of them likes to do things different.
Rechan
02-05-06, 08:27 PM Thanks for the resources Rechan I'll be sure to check them all out (the ones I havn't read yet).
Me and my players have a good grasp on action points from D20 Modern, assuming they arn't too different.
Could you, or somebody, elaborate on what you mean by "Kalasthar the players likely aren't going to "get"?
My players are pretty mature and at least one of them likes to do things different.

Kalasthar are just... weird. They have a very strange outlook, and their nature is just really Different. In a nutshell, they're sort've like the Jedi but they work secretly.

I'll try and give the Readers Digest version.

There are these things called Quori. The Quori are a race of outsiders from the Plane of Dreams. They're psionic, evil, and essentially want to invade Eberron and control everything. Long ago, they tried - they invaded, but the Empire of Giants (in Xen'Drik) fought them, long and hard, and managed to seal the door between the plane of Dreams and the Material Plane. However, several hundred thousand Quori escaped into the Material Plane before the door was slammed shut.

These Quori essentially went to Sarlona, possessed the Sarlonians, and began to take over. However, 65 Quori defected - they turned out to be "good", went against their evil race's ways, and mixed themselves with the souls of humans, creating the Kalasthar. The Kalasthar made it their mission, as a race, to stop the Quori's take over of Eberron.

The Kalasthar battle the Quori (known as the Dreaming Dark), generally in psionic combat - they are almost all psions, soulknives or monks, and generally try to keep their war with the Dreaming Dark secret from everyone else. Primarily because the Dreaming Dark has managed to hide itself so well that the Kalasthar, when they move against the DD openly, look like terrorists.

The Dreaming Dark have a decent foothold in Sharn. Their general means of operation is to use Psionics and various powers to gain control of people in organizations (government, nobility, dragonmarked house, etc etc etc), and slowly take over everything, influence it to their side, while probably prepping for some sort of invasion. They are great plotters, secret organizations that work in the shadows, and the best part is no one but the Kalasthar know about them.

But aside from that, I don't know how useful they would be in your particular campaign. And Most Kalasthar won't join a party unless they see it to further their goals against the DD somehow.

The best source of info on the Kalasthar is in Races of Eberron (and, aside from the Kalasthar chapter and the Crunch/various feats, prcs, etc in that book, it's terrible IMO). If one of your PCs is really gung-ho about the idea of playing a Kalasthar, have them get the book instead of you. :)
KP91
02-05-06, 08:37 PM To answer question 2 and 5. Sharn: City of Towers (NOTE: NOT THE NOVEL). They even include several mobs in the book that you could use. It is the largest and probably most diverse (or close to most diverse) city.
Rechan
02-05-06, 08:43 PM I will make another note.

Regarding the other two races, I'll give you a rundown on them:

Changelings' ancestors were humans and doppelgangers. They are natural shapeshifters (to the extent they can change to look like any humanoid). What this essentially does is give them an innate +10 to the Disguise skill, functioning like a Disguise Self spell they can use at will. They are naturally good at deception and intrigue, but everyone in Eberron knows about them, so they won't be THAT big of a problem.

These make perfect informants, spies, and assassins in your Crime game. :)

Shifters ancestors were lycanthropes. Now they are essentially humans with the ability to Shift, a racial power that's like a barbarian's rage - it gives them a stat increase (like +2 to Str or Dex), as well as a small ability (like growing claws that do 1d4 of damage, or being able to move +10 feet). They're slightly animalistic and "Wild", but integrate themselves into civilzation and there's a small number of them in Sharn. They could be natural bruisers, enforcers, or bounty-hunters employed by various crime families.
AvonRekaes
02-06-06, 12:53 AM I'll try and give the Readers Digest version.

Uhh, Rechan gets quite a few things wrong here....

There are these things called Quori. The Quori are a race of outsiders from the Plane of Dreams. They're psionic, evil, and essentially want to invade Eberron and control everything. Long ago, they tried - they invaded, but the Empire of Giants (in Xen'Drik) fought them, long and hard, and managed to seal the door between the plane of Dreams and the Material Plane. However, several hundred thousand Quori escaped into the Material Plane before the door was slammed shut.

No Quori has ever been said to survive the Giant-Quori war. That is to say, current Quori history begins AFTER the giant-quori war with an entirely new generation of Quori. No evil Quori has ever escaped to the Material Plane after Plane of Dreams was shut off from it. All of them are effectively shut off from the world.

These Quori essentially went to Sarlona, possessed the Sarlonians, and began to take over. However, 65 Quori defected - they turned out to be "good", went against their evil race's ways, and mixed themselves with the souls of humans, creating the Kalasthar. The Kalasthar made it their mission, as a race, to stop the Quori's take over of Eberron.

The Quori actually invaded the dreams of mortals (who still psychicly traveled to the Plane of Dreams to dream, but couldn't Plane Shift their physical bodies to it). Through these dreams they created a race of humans that they could more easily control and possess. This is how the Quori currently control things, possessing specifically engineered humans while on in Region of Dreams, not the material plane.

The 65 Quori who defected found the only means discovered to date to physically travel to the material plane, merging themselves with humans body, mind, and soul. (These humans were willing).

The difference here is that the evil Quori leave their physical bodies on the plane of Dreams when they possess their engineered humans, while the 65 good Quori left no physical body cause they merged with the humans completely.

The rest of Rechan's post is more or less accurate. (I realize it was a summary, but even summaries should be accurate.)
Rechan
02-06-06, 01:23 AM ...

Thanks for correcting me. It's been a year since I read the Kalasthar section of RoE. :)
Karadur
02-06-06, 11:53 AM I don't need specifics here (although it would be nice) but do Dragonmarks grant any stat bonuses or abilities?
Rechan
02-06-06, 12:03 PM I don't need specifics here (although it would be nice) but do Dragonmarks grant any stat bonuses or abilities?

Dragonmarks grant minor Spell-Like Abilities. For instance, a Least Mark of Detection (House Medani) grants either Detect poison or detect magic once a day. Lesser offers another ability, and Greater one more (and the former being the pre-requisit - Least (feat) > Lesser (feat) > Greater).

Also, some dragonmarks grant a +2 to one skill - the Medani least dragonmark, for instance, grants a +2 to spot.
Karadur
02-06-06, 07:51 PM Back to half-elves again, is there any major 'statistical' differencde between PHB half-elves and the Khoravar of Eberron?
Rechan
02-06-06, 08:33 PM Back to half-elves again, is there any major 'statistical' differencde between PHB half-elves and the Khoravar of Eberron?

Nope. The only difference is that half elves and half orcs "breed true". Meaning, half-orc + half-orc = half-orc child. So half-elves are no longer just 'the produt of a union between two races', but are a "race" unto themselves. Half-elves are swashbuckling, charismatic debonair types.

Also, just a few things to keep in mind:

Orcs aren't brutish evil monsters. The elves in Eberron aren't the tree-hugging hippies - they're either Necromancers or desert warriors venerating their ancestors. Orcs fill the "tree-hugger" role; they were the first druidic peoples, and have strong ties to nature.

Goblins aren't just standard cannon-fodder - the goblinoid empire was the first great empire in Khorvaire, a lot like Rome/China (had monks and samurai and the like), but it got destroyed, but the goblinoids still cling to their traditions. The goblins in Sharn live in the slums, but you could be dealing with a goblin monk, nasty rogue or ninja, or you could be looking at a hobgoblin chain fighter with a strong sense of "Honor".

All the "standard" races got turned on their head, so they're pretty different.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Karadur 02-04-06, 09:21 AM	Confession: I do NOT own any Eberron material, nor have I read any that wasn’t in either A) Dragon Magazine B) These message boards. I do however plan on buying it and running a crime syndicate/mob(fantasy Sopranos) campaign for a small group (2-4). My questions as I do a little pre planning is: 1. Is there any open source content available about any of the cities in Eberron? 2. What is the most highly populated/diverse city? What is this cities demographic breakdown? 3. Have any of you ran this type of session/campaign in Eberron already? 4. Are there any particular NPCs that will be important background info? 5. Are there any other books that would be particularly handy in designing this campaign? And a separate question, how useful/necessary is the Players Guide to Eberron? Thanks in advance.
RickVigorous 02-04-06, 09:51 AM	Confession: I do NOT own any Eberron material, nor have I read any that wasn’t in either A) Dragon Magazine B) These message boards. I do however plan on buying it and running a crime syndicate/mob(fantasy Sopranos) campaign for a small group (2-4). My questions as I do a little pre planning is: 1. Is there any open source content available about any of the cities in Eberron? 2. What is the most highly populated/diverse city? What is this cities demographic breakdown? 3. Have any of you ran this type of session/campaign in Eberron already? 4. Are there any particular NPCs that will be important background info? 5. Are there any other books that would be particularly handy in designing this campaign? And a separate question, how useful/necessary is the Players Guide to Eberron? Thanks in advance.1. There's a number of threads on the People and Places board about some of the cities in Eberron; the most well-developed is Stormreach. There have been a number of highly detailed treatments of the city in the thread Creating Stormreach (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=451167) and in the thread Stormreach: My Version, which is linked in my sig. There are other versions as well, but I don't have links to them on hand. There's also the regular Dragonshards (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/ds) feature on the main website. 2. The biggest city (and probably the most diverse) is Sharn. Sharn has its own Dragonshard (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040927a) but the best resource for the city is the book Sharn: City of Towers. The city's demographics, according to that book, are as follows: 33% human, 17% dwarf, 9% halfling, 9% goblinoid, 8% gnome, 7% elf, 5% half-elf, 4% shifter, 3% changeling, 2% orc and half-orc, 1% warforged, 1% kalashtar, 1% other races. The city's total population is just over 200,000. 3. My first Eberron campaign was a criminal campaign. It went well for the most part, but as things get to higher levels it becomes slightly harder to maintain an appropriate level of challenge. Eberron doesn't have many high-level characters of PC races, but the various PC races are the standard targets for criminal activity. That said, there's still plenty to do; train robberies, hijacking a airship, raiding House Kundarak's vaults, and gang warfare are all suitable activities. 4. Depends on where the campaign is based. 5. If it's going to be in Sharn, get Sharn: CoT. Five Nations might also be useful, as it does contain some information on law and order in each of the main countries in Khorvaire. I don't think you'll need anything else, but I would recommend the Player's Guide; it provides a good introduction to just about every salient topic in Eberron and helps flesh out those nations left out of other books.
Karadur 02-04-06, 10:44 AM	Great info Rick. I think Sharn is more suitable to my style and what I want to do, though I think a visit to your version of Stormreach would be a good experience. The following questions would be in regards to Sharn. What is the likelyhood an NPC 'mobster' would bare a dragonmark? Would it be likely multiple members (maybe blood family) also bare a Dragonmark? What class would/did you use for entry level NPC thugs (im thinking warrior/expert)?
Naudachu 02-04-06, 01:51 PM	Criminals could certainly have aberrant dragonmarks. Although an excoriate (banished member of a dragonmark house) family of mobsters would be interesting. This would definitely be the exception to the rule. Sharn: City of Towers has good information on the crime families in the city and the maps of the city are invaluable if you're going to run a campaign there. There's definitely room to add another crime family, but it would be interesting to set up their relationship with the existing families. Thugs with warrior levels makes sense. I was going to say make some warrior/rogues so they can actually "break and enter", but looking at the expert class, you can choose any ten skills. Hm. I guess you'd only need rogues for bypassing magical traps.
Rechan 02-04-06, 03:13 PM	I advise getting the following books: The Eberron Campaign Setting, Sharn: City of Towers, and the Player's Guide to Eberron. The first two are primarily for you, and I wouldn't run without them. The last is for your PCs - hand them the book, let them read it, it will get them very familiar with the world of Eberron. The Sharn book itself details a lot of crime families - namely there are a few bi ones: The Boromar clan - Halfling mafia. Daask - Monster gang (ogres and gnolls primarily). Generally fighting with the Boromars. The Tyrants - A group of changelings and doppelgangers who do a lot of espianoge. House Tarkanan - A group of assassins and otherwise very bad people, all of which have Aberrant dragonmarks.
Karadur 02-05-06, 05:54 PM	Thanks for all the responses! The Eberron CS and Sharn:CoT(couldn't afford to also get the Players Guide) are in the mail from Amazon, so in a few days or so I should have a better feel for what I want to do. Since the setting is going to be compltely new to me AND to my players I was wondering what kind of race/class combinations I should pay extra attention to. And also I was wondering what advice you experienced players and DMs of Eberron would give to keep from missing key parts of the setting (new rules, new features, etc.)
Rechan 02-05-06, 06:19 PM	The biggest thing is to get the feel of the setting across, being it's action movie meets gritty dark/noir feeling. PCs should do action-packed stuff. Next, don't be afraid to use the board resources. Here's some suggested threads to check out: Adventure Seeds (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=275225), Set pieces (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=287428) and Exciting Eberronian Encounters (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=569576). The latter two links should be helpful to you, as some of them deal with Urban encounters. In addition, I find The Houses (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=569576) an invaluable resource on putting a real face on the Dragonmarked Houses beyond what's in the books. Don't feel overwhelmed by all this information, though - it's not all important right away. :) For info that's free, read Dragonshards (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/ds), online articles by the setting author. You might also want to print out some for your PCs - primarily Swashbuckling (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040803a), to get a feel for the action, and maybe Sharn (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040927a), to give them a tiny introduction. Also, to you the DM, I suggest Intrigue and Espianoge (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20040809a), as there's always double crossing and the like with crime games. Eberron has 4 new races. I would emphasize the Warforged, as they are the newest and most unique. Kalasthar the players likely aren't going to "get". Shifters and Changelings are either take or leave, depending on your players tastes. Eberron has a new class - Artificers, whose focus is creating and using of magical items. Aside from Action Points (ways players can modify their dice rolls to do great, action-packed things), there's no new "rules" to learn. `
Karadur 02-05-06, 07:52 PM	Thanks for the resources Rechan I'll be sure to check them all out (the ones I havn't read yet). Me and my players have a good grasp on action points from D20 Modern, assuming they arn't too different. Could you, or somebody, elaborate on what you mean by "Kalasthar the players likely aren't going to "get"? My players are pretty mature and at least one of them likes to do things different.
Rechan 02-05-06, 08:27 PM	Thanks for the resources Rechan I'll be sure to check them all out (the ones I havn't read yet). Me and my players have a good grasp on action points from D20 Modern, assuming they arn't too different. Could you, or somebody, elaborate on what you mean by "Kalasthar the players likely aren't going to "get"? My players are pretty mature and at least one of them likes to do things different. Kalasthar are just... weird. They have a very strange outlook, and their nature is just really Different. In a nutshell, they're sort've like the Jedi but they work secretly. I'll try and give the Readers Digest version. There are these things called Quori. The Quori are a race of outsiders from the Plane of Dreams. They're psionic, evil, and essentially want to invade Eberron and control everything. Long ago, they tried - they invaded, but the Empire of Giants (in Xen'Drik) fought them, long and hard, and managed to seal the door between the plane of Dreams and the Material Plane. However, several hundred thousand Quori escaped into the Material Plane before the door was slammed shut. These Quori essentially went to Sarlona, possessed the Sarlonians, and began to take over. However, 65 Quori defected - they turned out to be "good", went against their evil race's ways, and mixed themselves with the souls of humans, creating the Kalasthar. The Kalasthar made it their mission, as a race, to stop the Quori's take over of Eberron. The Kalasthar battle the Quori (known as the Dreaming Dark), generally in psionic combat - they are almost all psions, soulknives or monks, and generally try to keep their war with the Dreaming Dark secret from everyone else. Primarily because the Dreaming Dark has managed to hide itself so well that the Kalasthar, when they move against the DD openly, look like terrorists. The Dreaming Dark have a decent foothold in Sharn. Their general means of operation is to use Psionics and various powers to gain control of people in organizations (government, nobility, dragonmarked house, etc etc etc), and slowly take over everything, influence it to their side, while probably prepping for some sort of invasion. They are great plotters, secret organizations that work in the shadows, and the best part is no one but the Kalasthar know about them. But aside from that, I don't know how useful they would be in your particular campaign. And Most Kalasthar won't join a party unless they see it to further their goals against the DD somehow. The best source of info on the Kalasthar is in Races of Eberron (and, aside from the Kalasthar chapter and the Crunch/various feats, prcs, etc in that book, it's terrible IMO). If one of your PCs is really gung-ho about the idea of playing a Kalasthar, have them get the book instead of you. :)
KP91 02-05-06, 08:37 PM	To answer question 2 and 5. Sharn: City of Towers (NOTE: NOT THE NOVEL). They even include several mobs in the book that you could use. It is the largest and probably most diverse (or close to most diverse) city.
Rechan 02-05-06, 08:43 PM	I will make another note. Regarding the other two races, I'll give you a rundown on them: Changelings' ancestors were humans and doppelgangers. They are natural shapeshifters (to the extent they can change to look like any humanoid). What this essentially does is give them an innate +10 to the Disguise skill, functioning like a Disguise Self spell they can use at will. They are naturally good at deception and intrigue, but everyone in Eberron knows about them, so they won't be THAT big of a problem. These make perfect informants, spies, and assassins in your Crime game. :) Shifters ancestors were lycanthropes. Now they are essentially humans with the ability to Shift, a racial power that's like a barbarian's rage - it gives them a stat increase (like +2 to Str or Dex), as well as a small ability (like growing claws that do 1d4 of damage, or being able to move +10 feet). They're slightly animalistic and "Wild", but integrate themselves into civilzation and there's a small number of them in Sharn. They could be natural bruisers, enforcers, or bounty-hunters employed by various crime families.
AvonRekaes 02-06-06, 12:53 AM	I'll try and give the Readers Digest version. Uhh, Rechan gets quite a few things wrong here.... There are these things called Quori. The Quori are a race of outsiders from the Plane of Dreams. They're psionic, evil, and essentially want to invade Eberron and control everything. Long ago, they tried - they invaded, but the Empire of Giants (in Xen'Drik) fought them, long and hard, and managed to seal the door between the plane of Dreams and the Material Plane. However, several hundred thousand Quori escaped into the Material Plane before the door was slammed shut. No Quori has ever been said to survive the Giant-Quori war. That is to say, current Quori history begins AFTER the giant-quori war with an entirely new generation of Quori. No evil Quori has ever escaped to the Material Plane after Plane of Dreams was shut off from it. All of them are effectively shut off from the world. These Quori essentially went to Sarlona, possessed the Sarlonians, and began to take over. However, 65 Quori defected - they turned out to be "good", went against their evil race's ways, and mixed themselves with the souls of humans, creating the Kalasthar. The Kalasthar made it their mission, as a race, to stop the Quori's take over of Eberron. The Quori actually invaded the dreams of mortals (who still psychicly traveled to the Plane of Dreams to dream, but couldn't Plane Shift their physical bodies to it). Through these dreams they created a race of humans that they could more easily control and possess. This is how the Quori currently control things, possessing specifically engineered humans while on in Region of Dreams, not the material plane. The 65 Quori who defected found the only means discovered to date to physically travel to the material plane, merging themselves with humans body, mind, and soul. (These humans were willing). The difference here is that the evil Quori leave their physical bodies on the plane of Dreams when they possess their engineered humans, while the 65 good Quori left no physical body cause they merged with the humans completely. The rest of Rechan's post is more or less accurate. (I realize it was a summary, but even summaries should be accurate.)
Rechan 02-06-06, 01:23 AM	... Thanks for correcting me. It's been a year since I read the Kalasthar section of RoE. :)
Karadur 02-06-06, 11:53 AM	I don't need specifics here (although it would be nice) but do Dragonmarks grant any stat bonuses or abilities?
Rechan 02-06-06, 12:03 PM	I don't need specifics here (although it would be nice) but do Dragonmarks grant any stat bonuses or abilities? Dragonmarks grant minor Spell-Like Abilities. For instance, a Least Mark of Detection (House Medani) grants either Detect poison or detect magic once a day. Lesser offers another ability, and Greater one more (and the former being the pre-requisit - Least (feat) > Lesser (feat) > Greater). Also, some dragonmarks grant a +2 to one skill - the Medani least dragonmark, for instance, grants a +2 to spot.
Karadur 02-06-06, 07:51 PM	Back to half-elves again, is there any major 'statistical' differencde between PHB half-elves and the Khoravar of Eberron?
Rechan 02-06-06, 08:33 PM	Back to half-elves again, is there any major 'statistical' differencde between PHB half-elves and the Khoravar of Eberron? Nope. The only difference is that half elves and half orcs "breed true". Meaning, half-orc + half-orc = half-orc child. So half-elves are no longer just 'the produt of a union between two races', but are a "race" unto themselves. Half-elves are swashbuckling, charismatic debonair types. Also, just a few things to keep in mind: Orcs aren't brutish evil monsters. The elves in Eberron aren't the tree-hugging hippies - they're either Necromancers or desert warriors venerating their ancestors. Orcs fill the "tree-hugger" role; they were the first druidic peoples, and have strong ties to nature. Goblins aren't just standard cannon-fodder - the goblinoid empire was the first great empire in Khorvaire, a lot like Rome/China (had monks and samurai and the like), but it got destroyed, but the goblinoids still cling to their traditions. The goblins in Sharn live in the slums, but you could be dealing with a goblin monk, nasty rogue or ninja, or you could be looking at a hobgoblin chain fighter with a strong sense of "Honor". All the "standard" races got turned on their head, so they're pretty different.