Eberron Oriental! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Eberron Oriental! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Uratoh
07-27-06, 07:47 PM I'm not looking to adapt Oriental Adventures in a full on...though I am planning to put a japanesque island chain between Sarlona and Khorvaire for my PCs to find...there's samurai, ninjas, wu-jen, and shugenja...plus the more basic standard stuff.

There;s a couple 'twists' to it...the entire population is natural lycanthropes...were-rats. Perhaps they fled during the Purges, perhaps not...but in any case, their strains run the gamut of Lawful, leading to a disciplined and structured society leaning twords LN. The other twist is a massive gate t oKhyber on one of the islands, from which emerge twisted beasts called Oni by the residents...their Samurai train to face down these foes daily.

Elite Arrayed NPCs will almost universally dump Cha, due to their isolationist nature and dislike of Outlanders. It's really a logical justification of dumping cha, but it works...and of course, the Samurai will NOT be doing thus.

I'm also remaking the 'Coward's Pearl' from the info given on it...it's from my calculations 200 G, does Obscuring Mist for one round at the location of the user, and D-Doors them up to 400 feet to a location they visualize as they throw it. Commonly used by the Ninja, it needs a new name.

I'm looking for both opinions on my stuff here as well as heavy input...I'm no expert and want to put as much fun stuff here as I can...and answer some questions...is it a Daelkyr or a Rakshasa sending minions to the surface, and for what possible purpose...how does a lycanthropic society function...that sort of odd thing...
cancerousmango
07-27-06, 11:12 PM Things to consider:
What is the government, is it a small empire, or more appropriately, a shogunate?
How is the architechture influenced by the wererat nature of the inhabitants?
Do they speak common?
Do the Lhazzar Pirates deal with them?
What is their religion?
Do they react better to lycanthropic/shifter characters?
Uratoh
07-28-06, 01:26 AM > What is the government, is it a small empire, or more appropriately, a shogunate?
It's a Shogunate. Their current Shogun is a decent-leveled Marshal.

> How is the architechture influenced by the wererat nature of the inhabitants?
Not sure here...buildings would probably be slightly smaller...

> Do they speak common?
They speak their own language, and those with an int 12 or higher speak Common.

> Do the Lhazzar Pirates deal with them?
On occasion, though they're quite far out. They had some impact however, due to a dissatisfied citizen who became the pirate known as Blacktail.

> What is their religion?
They follow the 'elemental worship' roughly followed by shugenja and wu-jen, as well as a form of ancestor worship somewhat guided by the 'hereditary' nature of their alignment/personality due to the lycanthropy.

> Do they react better to lycanthropic/shifter characters?
Not sure on this one.
krocha
07-28-06, 01:13 PM Hmmm... Great idea but I'd make one suggestion. If you have access to the OA book, I'd use some of the races form there instead of Wererats. Eberron already has races/areas with strong ties to Lycanthropes and I would think you want this island to be rather exotic. I'd use the Spirit Folk, Vanara and maybe the Hengeyokai. I'd also throw in the Naga from the Rokugan sample setting.

Just my 2 cents.
DragonWatcher
07-28-06, 01:22 PM Elite Arrayed NPCs will almost universally dump Cha, due to their isolationist nature and dislike of Outlanders. It's really a logical justification of dumping cha, but it works...and of course, the Samurai will NOT be doing thus.

I have a big problem with this in general. I will admit up front that this is your game, and of course you can ignore my entire comment, but I think that your reasons for dumping Charisma are seriously flawed here, and not at all a logical reason for dumping it.

A dislike of outsiders has NOTHING to do with a person's overall force of personality. Anyone can be an :censored: hole, regardless of their Charisma score... friendliness is not what Charisma represents. What it does represent is the strength of their personality, and their raw ability to alter someone else's feelings in a manor which they can control.

Let's look at some skills that Charisma covers:

- Bluff: Getting others to believe false stories (lies) through a self-confident demeanor.

- Diplomacy: Treating others in a way that makes it easy to manipulate them into doing what you want, while they remain happy to do it.

- Disguise: Getting others to believe that you are someone that you're not through a self-confident demeanor.

- Gather Information: The ability to easily manipulate people into divulging information through interpersonal interaction.

- Intimidation: Imposing your will on others with threats that seem credible to get them to do what you want.

- Perform: The ability to put on a pleasing performance in front of other people. This involves self-confidence in the face of relatively high levels of stress.

- Use Magic Device: This could easily be the most amazing use of Charisma, as it allows you to fool even yourself into believing that you are capable of using magics that you have no training in.

Now, I've read countless threads here on how: "My half-orc has a strength of 20, why should he have a penalty to Intimidate just because he has a Charisma of 8?"

Well, being strong alone doesn't make you intimidating. I have personally known people who have had nearly body-builder phisiques but were so meek that they couldn't have scared a rabbit. Likewise, one of my best friends is 6'2" 155 pounds... skinny as a pole, but when he walks down a street at night, people cross to the other side so they don't have to approach him. The factor that determines this is Charisma... force of personality.

Even if these people want to be complete mooks to outsiders, if you're going for a feudal Japanese-style for this island, the people would have to be incredibly polite to one another (at least in public), which would indicate to me that they would have to have some measure of Charisma to fit into polite society (meaning, they're not being routinely caned, imprisoned, or executed for insulting the wrong person). They can still CHOOSE to be rude, but if they were naturally rude all the time, they wouldn't last very long in the kind of society that you seem to be shooting for.
Ellorin
07-28-06, 01:41 PM I wholeheartedly agree with DragonWatcher. Ohterwise, here are a few suggestions;

1. Use the Bloodsails and their agents. That way, you not only get a Blood of Vol but a possible Order of the Emerald Claw appearance too on the island.

2. Are they alone? If they escaped the Purge, how did they do it ? You could use the idea of the draconic mentor(like the Gatekeepers) here too, or agents of the Chamber, or fey, or, or...
ChaoticGood
07-30-06, 07:11 AM On were-rat architecture:

The buildings wouldn't necessarily be smaller, but you could take advantage of their ability to change their size by having rooms sized to Medium creatures with doors and hallways sized to Small creatures.
beezly
07-30-06, 01:10 PM I'm going to be playing Eberron with a kid who wants to play an Oriental game, so i've decided to spice up aundair and make it asian-flavored.
Ancient History
07-30-06, 01:39 PM Bakemono?
kelvinaw273
07-30-06, 02:26 PM Some OA classes are already included in the Player's Guide to Eberron.

As above, I'd skip on the lycanthrope angle and use the OA races like Ratlings and Hengoyoki.
Just another user
07-30-06, 05:01 PM I think that in a lycantropic society culture, religion, mitology & c. should be very heavily influenced by the moon(s)
Siberys
07-30-06, 05:45 PM Personally, if I wanted oriental flavor, I'd use Sarlona. Quite exotic enough for it.

Of course, the way I run Eberron does not require an analagous (sp?) earthly country. For Example, Giants are NOT very large aztecs. Their society is different, etc. Nor are the Zil short Italians; They are Zil Gnomes.

Where, in other settings, countries are copies of real-world cultures (Kara-tur/Japan, Maztica/Middle America, Al-Qadim/Arabian and similar), Eberron cultures are meant to not be directly comparable to Earth cultures.

You want oriental-esque? Your best bet, IMHO, is Sarlona, as opposed to making an all-new country.

Cheers,

§ Siberys

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Uratoh 07-27-06, 07:47 PM	I'm not looking to adapt Oriental Adventures in a full on...though I am planning to put a japanesque island chain between Sarlona and Khorvaire for my PCs to find...there's samurai, ninjas, wu-jen, and shugenja...plus the more basic standard stuff. There;s a couple 'twists' to it...the entire population is natural lycanthropes...were-rats. Perhaps they fled during the Purges, perhaps not...but in any case, their strains run the gamut of Lawful, leading to a disciplined and structured society leaning twords LN. The other twist is a massive gate t oKhyber on one of the islands, from which emerge twisted beasts called Oni by the residents...their Samurai train to face down these foes daily. Elite Arrayed NPCs will almost universally dump Cha, due to their isolationist nature and dislike of Outlanders. It's really a logical justification of dumping cha, but it works...and of course, the Samurai will NOT be doing thus. I'm also remaking the 'Coward's Pearl' from the info given on it...it's from my calculations 200 G, does Obscuring Mist for one round at the location of the user, and D-Doors them up to 400 feet to a location they visualize as they throw it. Commonly used by the Ninja, it needs a new name. I'm looking for both opinions on my stuff here as well as heavy input...I'm no expert and want to put as much fun stuff here as I can...and answer some questions...is it a Daelkyr or a Rakshasa sending minions to the surface, and for what possible purpose...how does a lycanthropic society function...that sort of odd thing...
cancerousmango 07-27-06, 11:12 PM	Things to consider: What is the government, is it a small empire, or more appropriately, a shogunate? How is the architechture influenced by the wererat nature of the inhabitants? Do they speak common? Do the Lhazzar Pirates deal with them? What is their religion? Do they react better to lycanthropic/shifter characters?
Uratoh 07-28-06, 01:26 AM	> What is the government, is it a small empire, or more appropriately, a shogunate? It's a Shogunate. Their current Shogun is a decent-leveled Marshal. > How is the architechture influenced by the wererat nature of the inhabitants? Not sure here...buildings would probably be slightly smaller... > Do they speak common? They speak their own language, and those with an int 12 or higher speak Common. > Do the Lhazzar Pirates deal with them? On occasion, though they're quite far out. They had some impact however, due to a dissatisfied citizen who became the pirate known as Blacktail. > What is their religion? They follow the 'elemental worship' roughly followed by shugenja and wu-jen, as well as a form of ancestor worship somewhat guided by the 'hereditary' nature of their alignment/personality due to the lycanthropy. > Do they react better to lycanthropic/shifter characters? Not sure on this one.
krocha 07-28-06, 01:13 PM	Hmmm... Great idea but I'd make one suggestion. If you have access to the OA book, I'd use some of the races form there instead of Wererats. Eberron already has races/areas with strong ties to Lycanthropes and I would think you want this island to be rather exotic. I'd use the Spirit Folk, Vanara and maybe the Hengeyokai. I'd also throw in the Naga from the Rokugan sample setting. Just my 2 cents.
DragonWatcher 07-28-06, 01:22 PM	Elite Arrayed NPCs will almost universally dump Cha, due to their isolationist nature and dislike of Outlanders. It's really a logical justification of dumping cha, but it works...and of course, the Samurai will NOT be doing thus. I have a big problem with this in general. I will admit up front that this is your game, and of course you can ignore my entire comment, but I think that your reasons for dumping Charisma are seriously flawed here, and not at all a logical reason for dumping it. A dislike of outsiders has NOTHING to do with a person's overall force of personality. Anyone can be an :censored: hole, regardless of their Charisma score... friendliness is not what Charisma represents. What it does represent is the strength of their personality, and their raw ability to alter someone else's feelings in a manor which they can control. Let's look at some skills that Charisma covers: - Bluff: Getting others to believe false stories (lies) through a self-confident demeanor. - Diplomacy: Treating others in a way that makes it easy to manipulate them into doing what you want, while they remain happy to do it. - Disguise: Getting others to believe that you are someone that you're not through a self-confident demeanor. - Gather Information: The ability to easily manipulate people into divulging information through interpersonal interaction. - Intimidation: Imposing your will on others with threats that seem credible to get them to do what you want. - Perform: The ability to put on a pleasing performance in front of other people. This involves self-confidence in the face of relatively high levels of stress. - Use Magic Device: This could easily be the most amazing use of Charisma, as it allows you to fool even yourself into believing that you are capable of using magics that you have no training in. Now, I've read countless threads here on how: "My half-orc has a strength of 20, why should he have a penalty to Intimidate just because he has a Charisma of 8?" Well, being strong alone doesn't make you intimidating. I have personally known people who have had nearly body-builder phisiques but were so meek that they couldn't have scared a rabbit. Likewise, one of my best friends is 6'2" 155 pounds... skinny as a pole, but when he walks down a street at night, people cross to the other side so they don't have to approach him. The factor that determines this is Charisma... force of personality. Even if these people want to be complete mooks to outsiders, if you're going for a feudal Japanese-style for this island, the people would have to be incredibly polite to one another (at least in public), which would indicate to me that they would have to have some measure of Charisma to fit into polite society (meaning, they're not being routinely caned, imprisoned, or executed for insulting the wrong person). They can still CHOOSE to be rude, but if they were naturally rude all the time, they wouldn't last very long in the kind of society that you seem to be shooting for.
Ellorin 07-28-06, 01:41 PM	I wholeheartedly agree with DragonWatcher. Ohterwise, here are a few suggestions; 1. Use the Bloodsails and their agents. That way, you not only get a Blood of Vol but a possible Order of the Emerald Claw appearance too on the island. 2. Are they alone? If they escaped the Purge, how did they do it ? You could use the idea of the draconic mentor(like the Gatekeepers) here too, or agents of the Chamber, or fey, or, or...
ChaoticGood 07-30-06, 07:11 AM	On were-rat architecture: The buildings wouldn't necessarily be smaller, but you could take advantage of their ability to change their size by having rooms sized to Medium creatures with doors and hallways sized to Small creatures.
beezly 07-30-06, 01:10 PM	I'm going to be playing Eberron with a kid who wants to play an Oriental game, so i've decided to spice up aundair and make it asian-flavored.
Ancient History 07-30-06, 01:39 PM	Bakemono?
kelvinaw273 07-30-06, 02:26 PM	Some OA classes are already included in the Player's Guide to Eberron. As above, I'd skip on the lycanthrope angle and use the OA races like Ratlings and Hengoyoki.
Just another user 07-30-06, 05:01 PM	I think that in a lycantropic society culture, religion, mitology & c. should be very heavily influenced by the moon(s)
Siberys 07-30-06, 05:45 PM	Personally, if I wanted oriental flavor, I'd use Sarlona. Quite exotic enough for it. Of course, the way I run Eberron does not require an analagous (sp?) earthly country. For Example, Giants are NOT very large aztecs. Their society is different, etc. Nor are the Zil short Italians; They are Zil Gnomes. Where, in other settings, countries are copies of real-world cultures (Kara-tur/Japan, Maztica/Middle America, Al-Qadim/Arabian and similar), Eberron cultures are meant to not be directly comparable to Earth cultures. You want oriental-esque? Your best bet, IMHO, is Sarlona, as opposed to making an all-new country. Cheers, § Siberys