Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Werebat 08-10-07, 05:11 PM	Well, looks like most of my players have chosen characters for my campaign starting in Sharn and dealing primarily with a rise of aberrations from Khyber. Of course, they have been encouraged to play Orcs and Goblinoids because of the historical struggle between those peoples and the aberrations of Xoriat. About half of the PCs chose to play Orcs and Goblinoids, which is cool. Two others chose PC races that I can easily imagine working with Orcs and Goblins, and the remaining two are looking at whack-a-doo races that don't seem to have much to do with anything other than numbers. The party list so far: "Fits the Theme Well" group: 1. Orc Druid going into either Abolisher (LoM) or the Gatekeeper PrC from RoE(?) 2. Orc Barbarian going into Eye of Gruumsh (thanks to Shadow March Warmonger) 3. Hobgoblin Abjurer going into Keeper of the Cerulean Sign (actually does more for a Wizard than it does for a Bard, and I decided the PrC must have been started by goblinoids during the Daelkyr invasion) 4. "Blue" Mindblade or Mindblade/Rogue "Not Quite Orcs or Goblins, but It Works" group: 5. Changeling Rogue 6. Warforged Fighter (probably going into Warforged Juggernaut) "Whack-a-doo Group": 7. Riedran Human Psion/Cleric/PsyTheurge who worships the Light and Darkness analog of Wee Jas mentioned once in the Crimson Tide adventure because he wanted the Spell and Shadow domains and I wouldn't let him just take them without having a deity or group of deities, and he HAD TO HAVE those two exact domains but didn't want to play a goblin who worshipped the Host+6 because he didn't want to play a goblin. 8. Cleric going into Sovereign Speaker who wanted to play a Forest Gnome because of the freebie abilities, I imagine. I told him gnomes may not work in this campaign for story reasons, so he is reconsidering but hasn't mentioned another race yet. May ultimately end up going with Ultimate Magus instead. So, looks like a fun enough group. Even the whack-a-doo clerics work more or less, as the Light and Darkness thing can work with the combined worship of Host and Dark Six often found in goblinoid communities. A little sad as for a brief, shining moment that player wanted to play a Daelkyr Half-Blood Warlock, which would have been just perfect, but instead opted for whack-a-doo. Oh well, he gave me a good idea for a villain anyway. :devil: - Ron ^*^
JulesCARV 08-10-07, 05:54 PM	I once almost played almost the same character idea as the Riedran human, except mine was a Riedran elan archivist/psion (shaper) going for psychic theurge who followed the Path of Inspiration (except this was before we knew that it was called the Path of Inspiration). Never got to psychic theurge before the campaign fell apart, though. Anyway, aside from the general fact that this is a group of somewhat unwieldy size (I'd recommend banning the leadership feat and thrallherd prestige class ;)), I don't see a big problem. The Dhakaani Empire may have had a big problem with gnomes, but that's all ancient history now. Overall, I don't see contemporary goblins as having a bigger problem with gnomes or humans than they do with orcs (not sure about warforged or changelings). The Riedran human may have some problems, since Riedrans aren't used to anyone except humans and ogres, but he could adapt.
Werebat 08-10-07, 08:06 PM	I once almost played almost the same character idea as the Riedran human, except mine was a Riedran elan archivist/psion (shaper) going for psychic theurge who followed the Path of Inspiration (except this was before we knew that it was called the Path of Inspiration). Never got to psychic theurge before the campaign fell apart, though. Anyway, aside from the general fact that this is a group of somewhat unwieldy size (I'd recommend banning the leadership feat and thrallherd prestige class ;)), I don't see a big problem. The Dhakaani Empire may have had a big problem with gnomes, but that's all ancient history now. Overall, I don't see contemporary goblins as having a bigger problem with gnomes or humans than they do with orcs (not sure about warforged or changelings). The Riedran human may have some problems, since Riedrans aren't used to anyone except humans and ogres, but he could adapt. LOL Thrallherd was the original idea for the player of the Theurge, but luckily he listened to reason (I asked him to ask the other players how they would feel about him controlling 3 characters while they collectively controlled 7, i.e. about 1/3 of the combat time would be spent on him while the 7 of them could have what was left over). That, and I pointed out that aberrations have good Will saves. ;) Leadership has already been banned, good idea I think. I agree that goblins wouldn't have much of a problem with gnomes, it was the particular start of THIS campaign involving the PCs being hired out by a reknowned kobold lawyer in Malleon's Gate to do something that doesn't directly OPPOSE House Sivis, but... He probably wouldn't let a gnome in on what he was up to. I imagine Warforged are equally distant from everyone, and would fit in with goblins as well as with humans. As for the Changeling... What Changeling? All I see here is a Hobgoblin who's good at sneaking around and stuff... :D After reading the Dragon Below books I just HAD to run a campaign delving deeper into the humanoids and their struggles against the Daelkyr. I was originally going to set the game in the far past, during the actual Daelkyr/Dhakaani war, but a couple of the players balked at having to play Orcs and Goblins and there was concern that no one would be able to play a cleric. Also I wanted some of the Eberron races to be available, like Changelings and Shifters, and AFAICT they didn't exist then. - Ron ^*^
Belabras 08-10-07, 11:32 PM	Is kicking the "Whack-a-doo"s in the shins an option? Honestly, for the Riedran Psytheurge guy, why not just go with Kalashtar follower of the Path of Shadows (varient sect on 130 of Faiths of Eberron). That could get him the domains he wants and makes a whole lot more sense. An Ardent with the appropriate mantels would make even more sense. Still, it's a pretty crappy character for the game. Would allowing LA buy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm)off for Hobgoblin's bring the crazies back in line?
Werebat 08-11-07, 03:35 PM	Is kicking the "Whack-a-doo"s in the shins an option? Honestly, for the Riedran Psytheurge guy, why not just go with Kalashtar follower of the Path of Shadows (varient sect on 130 of Faiths of Eberron). That could get him the domains he wants and makes a whole lot more sense. An Ardent with the appropriate mantels would make even more sense. Still, it's a pretty crappy character for the game. Would allowing LA buy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm)off for Hobgoblin's bring the crazies back in line? I've already altered hobgobs, removing the LA and giving them no stat adjustments, darkvision, +4 MS, and a bonus fighter feat. The player in question simply refuses to play an Orc, Goblin, or any other type of monster. He likes to play elves and such, and doesn't seem interested in stretching his creativity beyond this. He also has a penchant for wanting to play clerics with two domains that "go together well" mechanically for whatever reason, even if there are no gods who actually have both domains (his last cleric also HAD! TO! HAVE! two specific domains that no deity actually held). In this case the domains are Spell and Shadow (held by Aureon and The Shadow in Eberron, and jointly by that analog of Wee Jas that they made up for the Crimson Tide adventure path). As I said before, the sad thing is that he had a character idea that was awesome for a day or two, before discarding it to go with this. I privately suspect he thought I liked it too much. :rolleyes: He might be interested in a Kalashtar (as they are elf-like -- although IIRC he wanted a human this time because of the bonus feat being needed for the build he wanted), but I don't see a Path of Shadows on page 130 (there is mention of a Dreamwalker, but no domains are given for them). Where can I find this information? The other player is basically a min/maxer who builds whatever is the most powerful and then cuts a backstory to fit the mechanics afterwards (he's not the only one in the group mind you, he's just the best at it), although given that fact I don't know why he doesn't go with something specifically related to aberrations since I told everyone that was going to be the main enemy. I mean the Gatekeeper Druid and the Keeper of the Cerulean Sign are going to clean house. <Shrug> I suspect it's hard to shake the CharOp conditioning to avoid DM-dependent builds, even when the DM flat out tells you what he has planned. Overall I can't complain, really. At one point the Orc Barbarian's player was gung-ho on playing a centaur, until I pointed out that racial levels didn't count for the purposes of LA buyoff. Now half of the party fits perfectly, and half of the rest fit quite well. - Ron ^*^
eehamburg 08-11-07, 06:14 PM	What do you mean when you say Riedran? A human from Riedra? or an Inspired? What are you referring to? In addition, that character will have the biggest problem as far as integration because what interest does the Dreaming Dark have in Xoriat? Furthermore, why would Riedra (standard xenophobic) send an agent out to Khorvaire to deal with the Aberrations? Needs more. If it was a kalashtar, you have a better chance since the kalashtar are already in Khorvaire.
Belabras 08-11-07, 06:41 PM	...He might be interested in a Kalashtar (as they are elf-like -- although IIRC he wanted a human this time because of the bonus feat being needed for the build he wanted), but I don't see a Path of Shadows on page 130 (there is mention of a Dreamwalker, but no domains are given for them). Where can I find this information? It was the Dreamwalker bit I was talking about. And, yeah, the domains for that sect aren't given, so I was suggesting it as a possible place for him to insert his wacky custom religious requirements.
Werebat 08-12-07, 04:23 AM	What do you mean when you say Riedran? A human from Riedra? or an Inspired? What are you referring to? In addition, that character will have the biggest problem as far as integration because what interest does the Dreaming Dark have in Xoriat? Furthermore, why would Riedra (standard xenophobic) send an agent out to Khorvaire to deal with the Aberrations? Needs more. If it was a kalashtar, you have a better chance since the kalashtar are already in Khorvaire. A human from Reidra, possibly generations ago. The one blurb from the Savage Tide adventure mentions an ancient religion now practiced only in parts of the Lhazaar Principalities that connects Aureon to the Shadow. The player was actually interested in playing a Kalashtar when I mentioned the possibility tonight, until he overheard conversation about the Draconic template, which he seems to have taken a shine to. Draconic human worshipper of this whacky faith makes him even more whack-a-doo, I guess, plus he wants the Cha bonus because he plans to do something with Divine Metamagic if I'm not mistaken. Oh well. We'll see where this goes. I did tell him that dragon-blooded humans and the like in Eberron can have... interesting... entanglements with certain factions. On the bright side, the other whack-a-doo seems more interested in playing an Ultimate Magus, which could work well depending on racial choice. My guess is that he won't go hobgob, though, which would be the only real option for a min/max character given the choice of orc or goblinoid. Well, we'll see. - Ron ^*^