Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lujayne34 02-08-06, 11:11 AM	I have a Swashbuckler from House Orien (least mark) and another player has a bard from House Jorasco). The modules that are out for Eberron assume the party's patron is Elaydren Vown d'Cannith. Would those characters run into problems since the person is not from their house?
Shadow Sword 02-08-06, 11:18 AM	I have a Swashbuckler from House Orien (least mark) and another player has a bard from House Jorasco). The modules that are out for Eberron assume the party's patron is Elaydren Vown d'Cannith. Would those characters run into problems since the person is not from their house? you can be hired to do a job for another house, however, you personally, would likely have more of a tie to your original house, you would be more of a mercenary. our group is slightly blessed in that we have an artificer, malazar d'vown, played by myself, but we also came across others from other dragonmarked houses, worked with them, for them, etc. you're hired as a mercenary, or you could have your DM send you the job working for elaydren via someone important of your house, so you're actually working for someone in house orien, assisting a contact in house cannith. just a thought.
MarkB 02-08-06, 11:27 AM	In this particular case, it wouldn't be a problem. More generally, the answer would be "it depends". Houses co-operate with each other in many ventures. House Sivis and House Kundarak work hand-in-hand to provide secure banking services for Khorvaire, for instance. But then, there are areas where Houses compete with each other. House Lyrandar aren't going to be too happy with one of their marked members being employed as a caravan guard by House Orien, and Houses Phiarlan and Thuranni won't be happy about cross-pollenation of any of their employees. Then, there are internal House politics. In your example above, there probably aren't any other Houses who will object to their members being employed by House Cannith in this venture - but House Cannith itself is split into multiple factions. Lady Elaydren works for one (and initially claims to represent another), and any member of a rival faction will be disowned at best by his superiors if caught working for her (or, just possibly, told to stay in place but start working against her). So there are no hard-and-fast rules here. The key is to get to know each of the Houses (or at least the ones which feature prominently in your game, including those your players are tied to), decide their general and specific goals, and consider how the PCs are aiding or impeding those goals. Don't forget to let the players know this information too, to the extent their character would be aware of it - if they're about to do something that would get them excoriated, they shouldn't be doing so blindly.