Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Streamweaver 05-26-05, 01:44 PM	Following the interesting replies from Hellcow (http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=6273393&postcount=2375) on the topic of where he sees House Medani fitting in, I thought it could be interesting to start a discussion here on it since we generally try to keep discussions from cluttering that thread. I think everyone acknowledges house Medani overlaps with several other houses, particularly Denith in it's duties. So how have you been fitting the house into your campaign? I've used it similar to the way it's been discussed in the previous thread, more when subtlety is at issue. So you call on house Medani to protect you from a plot while you call on House Denith to protect you from an assault. I also tend to see house Medani as the ultimate subcontractor for other Dragonmarked houses. So Kundarak would hire them to do "bug sweeps" to make sure an area is safe before securing something there. House Denith may hire them to sweep an area before bringing a charge into it and they will take it from there, house Orien or Lyrander may use them to give advanced warning on robberies and such. So how about everyone else, what roles do you see the house fulfilling in your world?
ieattrollsforbreakfast 05-26-05, 02:09 PM	I generally see House Medani as working on security through prior prevention, as opposed to House Tharashk or House Deneith who work on security through prevention only when the threat reveals itself. If a noble want to be sure he is protected from an assassin attack, he hires House Deneith or House Tharashk mercenaries to kill the assassin when he reveals himself, and hires House Medani to prevent that assassin from poisoning him or something similar. So they may work in similar fields, but the way they do their job is very different.
Marshall Stone 05-27-05, 02:02 AM	I pretty much see/use the Medani as you do. I also see Medani being trained as Wizards or having some magical trainging to back them up. Particular divination and abjurer specialists. Or sorcerers who choose spells that go well with the nature of thier work. Likewise I see Deneith as being trained as Fighters for the most part. House of Shadow as Rogues, House of Healing as Bards, House Cannith as Artificers, and so on.
polt 05-27-05, 06:26 AM	I generally see House Medani as working on security through prior prevention, as opposed to House Tharashk or House Deneith who work on security through prevention only when the threat reveals itself. If a noble want to be sure he is protected from an assassin attack, he hires House Deneith or House Tharashk mercenaries to kill the assassin when he reveals himself, and hires House Medani to prevent that assassin from poisoning him or something similar. So they may work in similar fields, but the way they do their job is very different. Yeh, me2.
The White Sorcerer 05-27-05, 06:47 AM	House of Healing as Bards Bards? :confused:
Streamweaver 05-27-05, 09:54 AM	I pretty much see/use the Medani as you do. I also see Medani being trained as Wizards or having some magical trainging to back them up. Particular divination and abjurer specialists. Or sorcerers who choose spells that go well with the nature of thier work. Likewise I see Deneith as being trained as Fighters for the most part. House of Shadow as Rogues, House of Healing as Bards, House Cannith as Artificers, and so on. Actually this is a very interesting line of thought. We talk about security and protection but in a Fantasy setting that doesn't just take physical form through thugs or poison. Magic adds a whole different dimension to the world obviously so how do folks see this, who provides magical protection? Is this the realm of a particular house (i.e. just an extension of Denith/Medni) or is it out of the realm of Dragonmarked houses altogether and up to the Wizard Guilds? How do you guys see it?
Edymnion 05-27-05, 02:40 PM	Yeah, I basically see it, in computer terms, as Deneith being the Anti-Virus, while Medani is the Firewall. One mops up the mess after it's occured, one stops the mess from happening in the first place.
Raster 05-27-05, 08:05 PM	When I think of House Medani, I think of a half-elf Diviner in a concealing gray cloak who follows her employer around at the Tain Gala speaking little except to whisper warnings in her employer's ear. 'Course that's because I want to play a character like that. :D
Marshall Stone 05-28-05, 12:28 AM	Bards? :confused: Yeah Bards. Why? Well besides Clerics, Bards also have access to healing spells, and even spells that neutralize poisons. Bards have 6 +int. skill points and access to Knowledge:All, so they can get access to a fair amount of skills. While they don't have HEAL as a class skill, they can do a kind of end run around the skill with say Knowledge: Anatomy, Knowledge: Diseases, Knowledge: Medicines (aka Herbalism), etc. And they have the skill points to back it up. Finally the Bardic ability to lift up the spirits of those around them, in my eyes, works well with those who are trying to heal beings trying to recuperate from being hurt. It may not be ideal, but it...fits (for lack of a better word) well in my head. But that's just me of course, what character class do you think House Jorasco would most want to, um...cultivate? I mean besides NPC classes like Expert and Adepts.
Kaleanae en'i Mori 05-28-05, 01:49 AM	I think Bards are a good option for a Medani! Why? I play one. I have a an 8th lvl Half Elf female Bard/Ranger/Mst Inq. The skill points you get are great and you can generate some great skills if your smart about it. I think if you had the Medani and Denieth as a protection team the assassins would have a hard time of it. The description about not being fighters by Keith, I agree with. I developed this character for just that. She is not a warrior, but will fight if required, thogh prefers her repeating crossbow! Thus having a good Int, Dex and Cha was what I went with. She is not Dragonmarked as yet. If you want a look at her www.chariot.net.au/~bears under my Eberron link
Marshall Stone 05-28-05, 12:57 PM	Actually this is a very interesting line of thought. We talk about security and protection but in a Fantasy setting that doesn't just take physical form through thugs or poison. Magic adds a whole different dimension to the world obviously so how do folks see this, who provides magical protection? Is this the realm of a particular house (i.e. just an extension of Denith/Medni) or is it out of the realm of Dragonmarked houses altogether and up to the Wizard Guilds? How do you guys see it? And don't forget psionics, how does one protect themselves when Dreaming could make you vulnerable to psionic surveillance. But I digress. If you want healing you go to House Jorasco, you want something built it's House Cannith. You want protection from Magical Assault? My first inclination is to go to House Kundarak with the Mark of Warding. However I think they're more interested in banking. So actually thier's a kind of vacuum with no one particular organization to go to for protection against magical assault. It kind of calls out for someone to perhaps makes up such an organization.
ryanroyce 05-28-05, 01:21 PM	Yeah Bards. Why? Well besides Clerics, Bards also have access to healing spells, and even spells that neutralize poisons. Bards have 6 +int. skill points and access to Knowledge:All, so they can get access to a fair amount of skills. While they don't have HEAL as a class skill, they can do a kind of end run around the skill with say Knowledge: Anatomy, Knowledge: Diseases, Knowledge: Medicines (aka Herbalism), etc. And they have the skill points to back it up. Finally the Bardic ability to lift up the spirits of those around them, in my eyes, works well with those who are trying to heal beings trying to recuperate from being hurt. It may not be ideal, but it...fits (for lack of a better word) well in my head. But that's just me of course, what character class do you think House Jorasco would most want to, um...cultivate? I mean besides NPC classes like Expert and Adepts. The Healer from the MHB, of course! ;) Ryan
Kalanth 05-29-05, 09:30 AM	As a member of the House Medani, my character is more apprehensive to charge into a battle than he would be to leap into the politcal arena. The DM sees it much the same way. Unless we need those powers of detection, we tend to not see to many of the members of the house. Generally, if hired thugs are needed I would assume we would go to House Deneith, but we usually have more than enough muscle from the dual warforged action.
Streamweaver 05-29-05, 11:23 AM	And don't forget psionics, how does one protect themselves when Dreaming could make you vulnerable to psionic surveillance. But I digress. If you want healing you go to House Jorasco, you want something built it's House Cannith. You want protection from Magical Assault? My first inclination is to go to House Kundarak with the Mark of Warding. However I think they're more interested in banking. So actually their is a kind of vacuum with no one particular organization to go to for protection against magical assault. It kind of calls out for someone to perhaps makes up such an organization. On psionics this is also a good question but I think this is harder to answer because it's highly dependent on how a particular DM is using it in their campaign. In my own campaign I have it set up so Magic and Psionics aren't completely transparent so one only offers slight protection from the other and each have a very poor understanding of the other. So I've purposefully set up a psionic hole in Khorvair, with a similar hole for magic in Sarlona (though not quiet as wide) because of the Inspired purge of magic users. Others are probably going to do it different and that could be an interesting discussion as well. As to magic protection I think you're right in that there isn't a specific place that it firmly sits. Generally speaking though we don't have a great picture of how magic works overall in Eberron so this is probably more a matter of incomplete picture than a true gap. It's strange that Eberron being so magic heavy we didn't get a great picture of how magic works in Eberron because most of the magical material have to do with dragonmarks or artificers. We got a small taste of magical societies with the Sharn Sourcebook but overall I think we're going to be shooting in the dark here until Magic of Eberron comes out (in August I think). My suspicion, and how I'm currently doing it in my game, is Magical protection is kind of a niche industry. It's not something you'll be able to sell on the mass market and is handled by various magical societies or even noble houses rather than Dragonmarked houses. As it stands now we have a picture of the power structures in Eberron being mostly Dragonmarked Houses and Royal Houses with religious structures in there to a lesser extent. With Magic of Eberron I think we'll see magical societies inserted as a power player alongside religion. At least I'm hoping to see that.
poeticyde 05-30-05, 02:02 PM	I am running a House Medani heavy campaign, with my main NPC connection to the PC party being a dragonmarked member of the House, and two of the other PC's being directly employed by Medani. The way I have it set up, Medani is kind of like a secret-service force as opposed to the outright bodyguards that Deneith provides. In other words, Medani members are trained in social ettiquite and diplomacy. They attend fancy balls and state dinners as "guests", but are really there to keep an eye on things and prevent bad stuff from happening to their employers. House Medani members blend in far more easily to the crowd due to their focus on social skills, as opposed to more physical skills. It is a far more subtle means of protection than a noble patron may get by having a group of armed Deneith warriors milling about, and is far less likely to disturb the guests. And, since most powerful merchants/nobles/etc don't like to be viewed as weak or threatened, Medani makes a low key, attractive alternative to the more intimidating Deneith bodyguards. In my campaign, I also tend to have House Medani members work in pairs; one magic-wielding character who does the most social interaction/detecting, and one more combat orientated character (rogue or ranger) who plays the "wall flower" and keeps to the fringes of the gathering. The pair have either have the spell Message memorized or use a Message pendant (in my vision, this is built in to a House Medani badge) to be able to communicate with each other without being overheard. Should the magic wielder spot a villain, he quietly signals his partner, who takes the villain out when it is most convenient and/or less likely to cause a scene. In other words, House Deneith is the greatsword that cleaves, while House Medani is the scalpel that surgically removes. :D