DM new to Eberron, questions. [Archive] - Wizards Community

DM new to Eberron, questions. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Lafarallin
08-25-06, 04:13 PM As the title states, I'm a DM new to Eberron. I've run campaigns in Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Birthright and Ravenloft. This is the first time I'll be running something in Eberron. I have a few campaigns questions.

1) The dragonmark houses appear to be almost nobility. If you are dragonmarked I assume you're a part of one of these houses. How many resources can you pull from your house generally? Lets say as a first level character with a least dragonmark?

2) Certain dragonmark houses appear to have cornered the market of some of the magic/technology. For example airships. Do people buy airships from this house and use them without the creator houses members to fly the ship? What stops someone from taking an airship and flying it, if anything?

3) Another dragonmark house seems to have the market on bodyguards and such. I assume other people can enter this market but will the house that controls bodyguards condone this?

4) Hunting for dragonshards seems to be a pretty easy way to make money. Now granted the places to find them aren't very friendly but is this a huge part of adventuring? Is there a conversion chart for what dragonshards you can find and what they are worth uncut?

5) Who all can bind elementals into dragonshards? Is this more of a house ability or again can anyone do it? Is there an actual book that states how this is done and what it costs?

6) One of the houses created warforge.....(possible house Cannith?), how many creation forges are there? Are the creation forges shut down now or are they still making warforge? I believe the Lord of Blades is using one but I assume this isn't sanctioned (obviously.)

7) Exactly what nations are official according to the Treaty of Thorns (or whatever)? Which are they?

These are just a few questions that have been bugging me. I have the campaign setting and have read through it a few times (so please don't tell me to just go read it). Thanks for any answers ahead of time.
Naudachu
08-25-06, 05:08 PM Here's how I see it. Of course everyone's interpretation is unique.

1. Dragonmark houses are a mixture of nobility and international corporations. There is no rule for what resources or pull is available to a PC Dragonmarked member. There is the Favored in House feat which allows them more pull, but nothing is defined. (By the RAW, they start with starting gold and equipment.)

2. Airships are rare and only owned by House Lyrander, created with the help of Zilargo elemental binders. They can only be piloted by someone with a House Lyrander Mark of Storm. (There are some optional rules that allow a test of wills. I'm not sure how they work.) Here's an excerpt from the Explorer's Handbook (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050803a&page=2). (Although the part about soarwood keeping the ship aloft rather than the elemental is usually ignored. So if an elemental is released, then the ship crashes to the ground.)

3. The Dragonmark Houses dominate their individual markets, but there is commercial competition at the lower levels.

4. Magic of Eberron describes the different types of dragonshards. And I believe it lists their worth, though this may be the Explorer's Handbook.

5. The gnomes of Zilargo are holding tightly to the secret of elemental binding learned from uncovered secrets of the giants of Xendrik. Magic of Eberron describes more about this and there is a elemental binder feat (I think even in the ECS), but you'd have to create a reason for this.

6. House Cannith created the warforged (again using arcane secrets they unearthed about the giants of Xendrik). I'm not sure if there is a number of creation forges listed, but there are very few and only owned by House Cannith (except the one in the Mournlands, possibly operated by the Lord of Blades). The Treaty of Thronehold made it illegal to create any more warforged, so all the forges have been shut down. (Though may be operating in secret). More about warforged here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050627a) and here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050711a).

7. I believe the nations recognized in the Treaty of Thronehold are: Karnnath, Aundair, Eldeen Reaches, Zilargo, Breland, Thrane, Valenar, Mror Holds, Q'Barra, Lhazaar Principalities, and Shadow Marches.
Lafarallin
08-25-06, 05:14 PM Here's how I see it. Of course everyone's interpretation is unique.

1. Dragonmark houses are a mixture of nobility and international corporations. There is no rule for what resources or pull is available to a PC Dragonmarked member. There is the Favored in House feat which allows them more pull, but nothing is defined. (By the RAW, they start with starting gold and equipment.)

2. Airships are rare and only owned by House Lyrander, created with the help of Zilargo elemental binders. They can only be piloted by someone with a House Lyrander Mark of Storm. (There are some optional rules that allow a test of wills. I'm not sure how they work.)

3. The Dragonmark Houses dominate their individual markets, but there is commercial competition at the lower levels.

4. Magic of Eberron describes the different types of dragonshards. And I believe it lists their worth, though this may be the Explorer's Handbook.

5. The gnomes of Zilargo are holding tightly to the secret of elemental binding learned from uncovered secrets of the giants of Xendrik. Magic of Eberron describes more about this and there is a elemental binder feat (I think even in the ECS), but you'd have to create a reason for this.

6. House Cannith created the warforged (again using arcane secrets they unearthed about the giants of Xendrik). I'm not sure if there is a number of creation forges listed, but there are very few and only owned by House Cannith (except the one in the Mournlands, possibly operated by the Lord of Blades). The Treaty of Thronehold made it illegal to create any more warforged, so all the forges have been shut down. (Though may be operating in secret). More about warforged here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050627a) and here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050711a).

7. I believe the nations recognized in the Treaty of Thronehold are: Karnnath, Aundair, Eldeen Reaches, Zilargo, Breland, Thrane, Valenar, Mror Holds, Q'Barra, Lhazaar Principalities, and Shadow Marches.

Wow, thanks for taking the time to answer "ALL" my questions. I appreciate it. That clears things up for me a bit. It appears that the houses hold their secrets pretty close. One last question for you...there are regular ships like all AD&D worlds and ships that have bound elementals. I assume the gnomes again are the ones that bind the elementals into seabound ships. Is there a house that has to control the seabound ships too like the airships?
Naudachu
08-25-06, 05:24 PM Sure, no problem. Yes, there are elemental powered ocean vessels...I don't remember where these are detailed, but from what I remember House Lyrander owns all of these as well. And I believe they work like airships, as far as piloting, except for the crashing bit of course.

I also added a link to my answer #2 above. It's an excerpt from the Explorer's Handbook. This book has some conflicting information to the "Eberron canon" (like the soarwood bit), but has some interesting locations and ideas.
mhacdebhandia
08-25-06, 05:39 PM 1) The dragonmark houses appear to be almost nobility. If you are dragonmarked I assume you're a part of one of these houses. How many resources can you pull from your house generally? Lets say as a first level character with a least dragonmark?
The mechanical way to represent a PC being important enough, or well-connected enough, to draw upon the resources of the house to which they belong is for the character to take the Favoured In House feat on page 53 in the Eberron Campaign Setting.

If you lack this feat, it is presumed that you just haven't distinguished yourself or earned respect and favour from a powerful individual or faction within your house - yet.

The mechanical way it operates is the "favour check", which is a d20 roll modified by a bonus according to your character level, and which can be made a number of times per week equal to half your character level (rounding down). The DC is set by the DM according to the scope and legality of the favour, among other factors.

2) Certain dragonmark houses appear to have cornered the market of some of the magic/technology. For example airships. Do people buy airships from this house and use them without the creator houses members to fly the ship? What stops someone from taking an airship and flying it, if anything?
It is much easier to fly an airship, or another kind of elemental-powered vessel, if you have an appropriate dragonmark - House Lyrandar pilots operate airships and elemental galleons, House Orien drivers operate lightning rail coaches and elemental landcarts - you can use specially-created dragonmark focus items like a wheel of wind and water or lightning reins to control the elemental-powered vessel.

Without a dragonmark, you must make an opposed Charisma check against the elemental bound into the vessel in order to control the motion of the vehicle. This is described in the Eberron Campaign Setting on page 267.

Beyond the problems of controlling an elemental-powered vessel without the appropriate dragonmark and dragonmark focus item, both House Lyrandar and House Orien take a very dim view of individuals outside of their monopolies owning and operating vessels in competition with them. It's not illegal per se, but you will be viewed with suspicion at best and encounter outright hostility at worst.

3) Another dragonmark house seems to have the market on bodyguards and such. I assume other people can enter this market but will the house that controls bodyguards condone this?
House Deneith can't effectively control the mercenary/bodyguard market - they remain competitive by having institutionalised training for their mercenary companies which is widely regarded as among the best, if not the absolute best, in all of Khorvaire, and by augmenting the regular functions of the bodyguard with their dragonmarked abilities.

As I say, though, they don't have a monopoly on the trade. House Tharashk operates bountyhunting services and has recently been coordinating the activity of "monstrous" mercenaries from Droaam. There are non-dragonmarked mercenary operations aplenty, too: the Red Gauntlet Regiment is described in the Player's Guide to Eberron, if my memory serves.

4) Hunting for dragonshards seems to be a pretty easy way to make money. Now granted the places to find them aren't very friendly but is this a huge part of adventuring? Is there a conversion chart for what dragonshards you can find and what they are worth uncut?
Dragonshard prospecting is a very viable adventuring goal, indeed. It's a big part of the reason why adventurers go to Xen'drik, where many Siberys shards land when they fall from the Ring of Siberys, and into the depths of Khyber, where Khyber dragonshards seem to grow from the rock of volcanic caverns deep underground. Eberron shards are usually found in the earth, mostly in Khorvaire - House Tharashk uses its heirs' Mark of Finding to virtually monopolise the Eberron dragonshard trade.

There might be a chart for the worth of uncut dragonshards somewhere, but the Eberron Campaign Setting has plenty of examples of dragonshard items of all three types. Keith Baker has also suggested that dragonshards are all but necessary for magic item creation in general, and that the price of the appropriate shards accounts for most of the costs of creating magical items given in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

5) Who all can bind elementals into dragonshards? Is this more of a house ability or again can anyone do it? Is there an actual book that states how this is done and what it costs?
Magic of Eberron contains some of the best information on elemental binding - suffice to say that in Khorvaire, the gnomes of Zilargo have the best and most advanced techniques which they jealously guard, but most serious artificers can do it.

6) One of the houses created warforge.....(possible house Cannith?), how many creation forges are there? Are the creation forges shut down now or are they still making warforge? I believe the Lord of Blades is using one but I assume this isn't sanctioned (obviously.)
"Canonically", there is at least one operating creation forge somewhere in the depths of Sharn, operated by Merrix d'Cannith. Since the creation forges were ordered shut down by the Treaty of Thronehold, he's doing this illegally. The creation forge controlled by the Lord of Blades in the Mournland is probably not working properly, as reports indicate that many of the new warforged it produces are strangely defective - whether this is because it sustained serious damage on the Day of Mourning or because the Lord of Blades is operating it without the benefit of a dragonmarked Cannith heir, we don't know. If he does have an heir working for him, is he or she a prisoner or a willing accomplice? Again, we don't know.

7) Exactly what nations are official according to the Treaty of Thorns (or whatever)? Which are they?
Aundair, Karrnath, Breland, and Thrane are the four remaining of the Five Nations. Darguun was formally recognised by the first three of those nations in the Treaty of Thronehold; Thrane has a very antagonistic relationship with Darguun and objects to the accords which recognised its sovereignty.

Droaam remains unrecognised by the other nations of Khorvaire. The Demon Wastes are a region, not a nation. The Eldeen Reaches are recognised as an independent nation, though Aundair may still have plans to reclaim their territory. The Lhazaar Principalities are recognised as an independent confederation, much as Prince Ryger ir'Wynarn would like to unite them as a true nation. The Mror Holds are recognised as independent.

New Galifar in Q'barra is probably recognised, but technically its independence predates the Treaty of Thronehold, since it was established shortly after the Last War began and settled by those who couldn't bear to remain in Galifar as it tore itself apart into new nations. The Shadow Marches isn't a nation, but its tribes and clans predate the original rise of Galifar anyway - like the Demon Wastes, it's largely been ignored. The Talenta Plains was recognised as a sovereign nation at the end of the Last War. Valenar, of course, is also recognised, and Zilargo was always an independent province of Galifar and so it was naturally recognised as a sovereign nation in the Treaty of Thronehold.
Lafarallin
08-25-06, 05:45 PM My head is swimming now! Little overwhelming jumping into a world I am not at all familiar with. I'm sure when I started running campaigns in the Forgotten Realms I had little knowledge too though.

I think reading all the Forgotten Realms novels got me a little more prepared for it. It will take some time to assimilate all this information; however, I guess things I don't know I can just make up. My players will mostly know far less. :schemes:
mhacdebhandia
08-25-06, 05:54 PM Well, for instance, I bought Rich Wulf's The Voyage of the Mourning Dawn yesterday and finished reading it this morning.

The Mourning Dawn is an airship not owned by House Lyrandar or piloted by a dragonmarked Lyrandar heir; rather, it was specifically created to be easier for a non-Lyrandar pilot to control because it was one of three airships created and improved by an accomplished Cannith artificer.

Such a vessel doesn't, off the top of my head, appear in any game books to date, but it makes perfect sense as an extension of the idea that anyone can control an elemental vessel with Charisma checks.
Lafarallin
08-25-06, 08:00 PM Anyone have any suggestions for a new DM running an Eberron Campaign? Anything I should stay away from? Any good ideas? Anything you would have thrown into your campaign if you could turn back the clock?
valkeriesmurf
08-25-06, 10:15 PM This has come up on another thread for a DM running Eberron. And this would depend on how well you know the rules. Stick with the core 3 books, Expanded Psionics and the books put out for Eberron specifically to start with before allowing the others in.

I know for myself, I am trying to encourage my players to put more thought into characters rather then just stats on a sheet. Hopefully more write ups. Stuff I can make use of as DM for pulling in ideas for adventures. They're getting better.

I like to aim for fast paced action and adventure, definently an element of Eberron, so I can keep or try to keep it going.

Things to take back though.... I've been with a DM who did this. Don't treat Eberron as a generic setting. It isn't. I'd take back having played under the DM who did this. Leave the group.

If you have players who treat a certain aspect that way and expect it to be generic, surprise them like I did with a player and some goblns when they didn't go down in one hit.

Sounds your questions got answered, so there isn't much else to comment on. And not knowing your DMing style, not sure on what ideas or suggestions to give you.
Lafarallin
08-25-06, 10:40 PM This has come up on another thread for a DM running Eberron. And this would depend on how well you know the rules. Stick with the core 3 books, Expanded Psionics and the books put out for Eberron specifically to start with before allowing the others in.

I know for myself, I am trying to encourage my players to put more thought into characters rather then just stats on a sheet. Hopefully more write ups. Stuff I can make use of as DM for pulling in ideas for adventures. They're getting better.

I like to aim for fast paced action and adventure, definently an element of Eberron, so I can keep or try to keep it going.

Things to take back though.... I've been with a DM who did this. Don't treat Eberron as a generic setting. It isn't. I'd take back having played under the DM who did this. Leave the group.

If you have players who treat a certain aspect that way and expect it to be generic, surprise them like I did with a player and some goblns when they didn't go down in one hit.

Sounds your questions got answered, so there isn't much else to comment on. And not knowing your DMing style, not sure on what ideas or suggestions to give you.

All of this is helpful to me. I plan on really focusing on a lot of the flavor of Eberron. I can promise I won't treat it as a "generic" fantasy world.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lafarallin 08-25-06, 04:13 PM	As the title states, I'm a DM new to Eberron. I've run campaigns in Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Birthright and Ravenloft. This is the first time I'll be running something in Eberron. I have a few campaigns questions. 1) The dragonmark houses appear to be almost nobility. If you are dragonmarked I assume you're a part of one of these houses. How many resources can you pull from your house generally? Lets say as a first level character with a least dragonmark? 2) Certain dragonmark houses appear to have cornered the market of some of the magic/technology. For example airships. Do people buy airships from this house and use them without the creator houses members to fly the ship? What stops someone from taking an airship and flying it, if anything? 3) Another dragonmark house seems to have the market on bodyguards and such. I assume other people can enter this market but will the house that controls bodyguards condone this? 4) Hunting for dragonshards seems to be a pretty easy way to make money. Now granted the places to find them aren't very friendly but is this a huge part of adventuring? Is there a conversion chart for what dragonshards you can find and what they are worth uncut? 5) Who all can bind elementals into dragonshards? Is this more of a house ability or again can anyone do it? Is there an actual book that states how this is done and what it costs? 6) One of the houses created warforge.....(possible house Cannith?), how many creation forges are there? Are the creation forges shut down now or are they still making warforge? I believe the Lord of Blades is using one but I assume this isn't sanctioned (obviously.) 7) Exactly what nations are official according to the Treaty of Thorns (or whatever)? Which are they? These are just a few questions that have been bugging me. I have the campaign setting and have read through it a few times (so please don't tell me to just go read it). Thanks for any answers ahead of time.
Naudachu 08-25-06, 05:08 PM	Here's how I see it. Of course everyone's interpretation is unique. 1. Dragonmark houses are a mixture of nobility and international corporations. There is no rule for what resources or pull is available to a PC Dragonmarked member. There is the Favored in House feat which allows them more pull, but nothing is defined. (By the RAW, they start with starting gold and equipment.) 2. Airships are rare and only owned by House Lyrander, created with the help of Zilargo elemental binders. They can only be piloted by someone with a House Lyrander Mark of Storm. (There are some optional rules that allow a test of wills. I'm not sure how they work.) Here's an excerpt from the Explorer's Handbook (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050803a&page=2). (Although the part about soarwood keeping the ship aloft rather than the elemental is usually ignored. So if an elemental is released, then the ship crashes to the ground.) 3. The Dragonmark Houses dominate their individual markets, but there is commercial competition at the lower levels. 4. Magic of Eberron describes the different types of dragonshards. And I believe it lists their worth, though this may be the Explorer's Handbook. 5. The gnomes of Zilargo are holding tightly to the secret of elemental binding learned from uncovered secrets of the giants of Xendrik. Magic of Eberron describes more about this and there is a elemental binder feat (I think even in the ECS), but you'd have to create a reason for this. 6. House Cannith created the warforged (again using arcane secrets they unearthed about the giants of Xendrik). I'm not sure if there is a number of creation forges listed, but there are very few and only owned by House Cannith (except the one in the Mournlands, possibly operated by the Lord of Blades). The Treaty of Thronehold made it illegal to create any more warforged, so all the forges have been shut down. (Though may be operating in secret). More about warforged here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050627a) and here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050711a). 7. I believe the nations recognized in the Treaty of Thronehold are: Karnnath, Aundair, Eldeen Reaches, Zilargo, Breland, Thrane, Valenar, Mror Holds, Q'Barra, Lhazaar Principalities, and Shadow Marches.
Lafarallin 08-25-06, 05:14 PM	Here's how I see it. Of course everyone's interpretation is unique. 1. Dragonmark houses are a mixture of nobility and international corporations. There is no rule for what resources or pull is available to a PC Dragonmarked member. There is the Favored in House feat which allows them more pull, but nothing is defined. (By the RAW, they start with starting gold and equipment.) 2. Airships are rare and only owned by House Lyrander, created with the help of Zilargo elemental binders. They can only be piloted by someone with a House Lyrander Mark of Storm. (There are some optional rules that allow a test of wills. I'm not sure how they work.) 3. The Dragonmark Houses dominate their individual markets, but there is commercial competition at the lower levels. 4. Magic of Eberron describes the different types of dragonshards. And I believe it lists their worth, though this may be the Explorer's Handbook. 5. The gnomes of Zilargo are holding tightly to the secret of elemental binding learned from uncovered secrets of the giants of Xendrik. Magic of Eberron describes more about this and there is a elemental binder feat (I think even in the ECS), but you'd have to create a reason for this. 6. House Cannith created the warforged (again using arcane secrets they unearthed about the giants of Xendrik). I'm not sure if there is a number of creation forges listed, but there are very few and only owned by House Cannith (except the one in the Mournlands, possibly operated by the Lord of Blades). The Treaty of Thronehold made it illegal to create any more warforged, so all the forges have been shut down. (Though may be operating in secret). More about warforged here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050627a) and here (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050711a). 7. I believe the nations recognized in the Treaty of Thronehold are: Karnnath, Aundair, Eldeen Reaches, Zilargo, Breland, Thrane, Valenar, Mror Holds, Q'Barra, Lhazaar Principalities, and Shadow Marches. Wow, thanks for taking the time to answer "ALL" my questions. I appreciate it. That clears things up for me a bit. It appears that the houses hold their secrets pretty close. One last question for you...there are regular ships like all AD&D worlds and ships that have bound elementals. I assume the gnomes again are the ones that bind the elementals into seabound ships. Is there a house that has to control the seabound ships too like the airships?
Naudachu 08-25-06, 05:24 PM	Sure, no problem. Yes, there are elemental powered ocean vessels...I don't remember where these are detailed, but from what I remember House Lyrander owns all of these as well. And I believe they work like airships, as far as piloting, except for the crashing bit of course. I also added a link to my answer #2 above. It's an excerpt from the Explorer's Handbook. This book has some conflicting information to the "Eberron canon" (like the soarwood bit), but has some interesting locations and ideas.
mhacdebhandia 08-25-06, 05:39 PM	1) The dragonmark houses appear to be almost nobility. If you are dragonmarked I assume you're a part of one of these houses. How many resources can you pull from your house generally? Lets say as a first level character with a least dragonmark? The mechanical way to represent a PC being important enough, or well-connected enough, to draw upon the resources of the house to which they belong is for the character to take the Favoured In House feat on page 53 in the Eberron Campaign Setting. If you lack this feat, it is presumed that you just haven't distinguished yourself or earned respect and favour from a powerful individual or faction within your house - yet. The mechanical way it operates is the "favour check", which is a d20 roll modified by a bonus according to your character level, and which can be made a number of times per week equal to half your character level (rounding down). The DC is set by the DM according to the scope and legality of the favour, among other factors. 2) Certain dragonmark houses appear to have cornered the market of some of the magic/technology. For example airships. Do people buy airships from this house and use them without the creator houses members to fly the ship? What stops someone from taking an airship and flying it, if anything? It is much easier to fly an airship, or another kind of elemental-powered vessel, if you have an appropriate dragonmark - House Lyrandar pilots operate airships and elemental galleons, House Orien drivers operate lightning rail coaches and elemental landcarts - you can use specially-created dragonmark focus items like a wheel of wind and water or lightning reins to control the elemental-powered vessel. Without a dragonmark, you must make an opposed Charisma check against the elemental bound into the vessel in order to control the motion of the vehicle. This is described in the Eberron Campaign Setting on page 267. Beyond the problems of controlling an elemental-powered vessel without the appropriate dragonmark and dragonmark focus item, both House Lyrandar and House Orien take a very dim view of individuals outside of their monopolies owning and operating vessels in competition with them. It's not illegal per se, but you will be viewed with suspicion at best and encounter outright hostility at worst. 3) Another dragonmark house seems to have the market on bodyguards and such. I assume other people can enter this market but will the house that controls bodyguards condone this? House Deneith can't effectively control the mercenary/bodyguard market - they remain competitive by having institutionalised training for their mercenary companies which is widely regarded as among the best, if not the absolute best, in all of Khorvaire, and by augmenting the regular functions of the bodyguard with their dragonmarked abilities. As I say, though, they don't have a monopoly on the trade. House Tharashk operates bountyhunting services and has recently been coordinating the activity of "monstrous" mercenaries from Droaam. There are non-dragonmarked mercenary operations aplenty, too: the Red Gauntlet Regiment is described in the Player's Guide to Eberron, if my memory serves. 4) Hunting for dragonshards seems to be a pretty easy way to make money. Now granted the places to find them aren't very friendly but is this a huge part of adventuring? Is there a conversion chart for what dragonshards you can find and what they are worth uncut? Dragonshard prospecting is a very viable adventuring goal, indeed. It's a big part of the reason why adventurers go to Xen'drik, where many Siberys shards land when they fall from the Ring of Siberys, and into the depths of Khyber, where Khyber dragonshards seem to grow from the rock of volcanic caverns deep underground. Eberron shards are usually found in the earth, mostly in Khorvaire - House Tharashk uses its heirs' Mark of Finding to virtually monopolise the Eberron dragonshard trade. There might be a chart for the worth of uncut dragonshards somewhere, but the Eberron Campaign Setting has plenty of examples of dragonshard items of all three types. Keith Baker has also suggested that dragonshards are all but necessary for magic item creation in general, and that the price of the appropriate shards accounts for most of the costs of creating magical items given in the Dungeon Master's Guide. 5) Who all can bind elementals into dragonshards? Is this more of a house ability or again can anyone do it? Is there an actual book that states how this is done and what it costs? Magic of Eberron contains some of the best information on elemental binding - suffice to say that in Khorvaire, the gnomes of Zilargo have the best and most advanced techniques which they jealously guard, but most serious artificers can do it. 6) One of the houses created warforge.....(possible house Cannith?), how many creation forges are there? Are the creation forges shut down now or are they still making warforge? I believe the Lord of Blades is using one but I assume this isn't sanctioned (obviously.) "Canonically", there is at least one operating creation forge somewhere in the depths of Sharn, operated by Merrix d'Cannith. Since the creation forges were ordered shut down by the Treaty of Thronehold, he's doing this illegally. The creation forge controlled by the Lord of Blades in the Mournland is probably not working properly, as reports indicate that many of the new warforged it produces are strangely defective - whether this is because it sustained serious damage on the Day of Mourning or because the Lord of Blades is operating it without the benefit of a dragonmarked Cannith heir, we don't know. If he does have an heir working for him, is he or she a prisoner or a willing accomplice? Again, we don't know. 7) Exactly what nations are official according to the Treaty of Thorns (or whatever)? Which are they? Aundair, Karrnath, Breland, and Thrane are the four remaining of the Five Nations. Darguun was formally recognised by the first three of those nations in the Treaty of Thronehold; Thrane has a very antagonistic relationship with Darguun and objects to the accords which recognised its sovereignty. Droaam remains unrecognised by the other nations of Khorvaire. The Demon Wastes are a region, not a nation. The Eldeen Reaches are recognised as an independent nation, though Aundair may still have plans to reclaim their territory. The Lhazaar Principalities are recognised as an independent confederation, much as Prince Ryger ir'Wynarn would like to unite them as a true nation. The Mror Holds are recognised as independent. New Galifar in Q'barra is probably recognised, but technically its independence predates the Treaty of Thronehold, since it was established shortly after the Last War began and settled by those who couldn't bear to remain in Galifar as it tore itself apart into new nations. The Shadow Marches isn't a nation, but its tribes and clans predate the original rise of Galifar anyway - like the Demon Wastes, it's largely been ignored. The Talenta Plains was recognised as a sovereign nation at the end of the Last War. Valenar, of course, is also recognised, and Zilargo was always an independent province of Galifar and so it was naturally recognised as a sovereign nation in the Treaty of Thronehold.
Lafarallin 08-25-06, 05:45 PM	My head is swimming now! Little overwhelming jumping into a world I am not at all familiar with. I'm sure when I started running campaigns in the Forgotten Realms I had little knowledge too though. I think reading all the Forgotten Realms novels got me a little more prepared for it. It will take some time to assimilate all this information; however, I guess things I don't know I can just make up. My players will mostly know far less. :schemes:
mhacdebhandia 08-25-06, 05:54 PM	Well, for instance, I bought Rich Wulf's The Voyage of the Mourning Dawn yesterday and finished reading it this morning. The Mourning Dawn is an airship not owned by House Lyrandar or piloted by a dragonmarked Lyrandar heir; rather, it was specifically created to be easier for a non-Lyrandar pilot to control because it was one of three airships created and improved by an accomplished Cannith artificer. Such a vessel doesn't, off the top of my head, appear in any game books to date, but it makes perfect sense as an extension of the idea that anyone can control an elemental vessel with Charisma checks.
Lafarallin 08-25-06, 08:00 PM	Anyone have any suggestions for a new DM running an Eberron Campaign? Anything I should stay away from? Any good ideas? Anything you would have thrown into your campaign if you could turn back the clock?
valkeriesmurf 08-25-06, 10:15 PM	This has come up on another thread for a DM running Eberron. And this would depend on how well you know the rules. Stick with the core 3 books, Expanded Psionics and the books put out for Eberron specifically to start with before allowing the others in. I know for myself, I am trying to encourage my players to put more thought into characters rather then just stats on a sheet. Hopefully more write ups. Stuff I can make use of as DM for pulling in ideas for adventures. They're getting better. I like to aim for fast paced action and adventure, definently an element of Eberron, so I can keep or try to keep it going. Things to take back though.... I've been with a DM who did this. Don't treat Eberron as a generic setting. It isn't. I'd take back having played under the DM who did this. Leave the group. If you have players who treat a certain aspect that way and expect it to be generic, surprise them like I did with a player and some goblns when they didn't go down in one hit. Sounds your questions got answered, so there isn't much else to comment on. And not knowing your DMing style, not sure on what ideas or suggestions to give you.
Lafarallin 08-25-06, 10:40 PM	This has come up on another thread for a DM running Eberron. And this would depend on how well you know the rules. Stick with the core 3 books, Expanded Psionics and the books put out for Eberron specifically to start with before allowing the others in. I know for myself, I am trying to encourage my players to put more thought into characters rather then just stats on a sheet. Hopefully more write ups. Stuff I can make use of as DM for pulling in ideas for adventures. They're getting better. I like to aim for fast paced action and adventure, definently an element of Eberron, so I can keep or try to keep it going. Things to take back though.... I've been with a DM who did this. Don't treat Eberron as a generic setting. It isn't. I'd take back having played under the DM who did this. Leave the group. If you have players who treat a certain aspect that way and expect it to be generic, surprise them like I did with a player and some goblns when they didn't go down in one hit. Sounds your questions got answered, so there isn't much else to comment on. And not knowing your DMing style, not sure on what ideas or suggestions to give you. All of this is helpful to me. I plan on really focusing on a lot of the flavor of Eberron. I can promise I won't treat it as a "generic" fantasy world.