Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 06-12-07, 11:56 AM	I was paging though Tome of Magic today, and a thought hit me (Playing a house Thurani artificer may have helped ) theres a whole new kind of elemental here, Shadow Elementals, and I started to wonder what would happen if an elemental binder got hold of these? What kind of Vehicle, of graft, of weapons or amour, might result?
garner_adam 06-12-07, 03:36 PM	Maybe they'd make a printing press with shadow elemental engine? All the pages stained with shadow elemental inky goodness... :P
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 06-12-07, 03:53 PM	I'm father taken with the idea of a shadow elemental powered craft that uses a variant Shadow walk effect myself, some sleek and secratave vessel that simply appears.
JiCi 06-12-07, 04:40 PM	Shadow Walk, Shadow Conjuration and Shadow Evocation are good abilities for items. Have one on a shadow carriage (Arms & Equipment Guide) and you're good to go. You could also get a stealth vehicle with a shadow elemental.
UnderworldLord 06-12-07, 09:26 PM	Am I the only one who's picturing a warship with a bound air AND shadow elemental, which would pretty well create a D'derix? (air for regular flight and such, but the shadow allows for warp speed and cloaking)
Pitiless_Interfector 06-12-07, 10:57 PM	Am I the only one who's picturing a warship with a bound air AND shadow elemental, which would pretty well create a D'derix? (air for regular flight and such, but the shadow allows for warp speed and cloaking) Now you're being ridiculous. Although... Still, in all fairness it'd be hard to find a shadow big enough to hide an airship in. Though, it could be available at night. And one would have to wonder why a creature from a Transitive Plane hasn't been thoroughly exploited yet. Perhaps it requires special knowledge to bind anything other than a classical elemental into an item, perhaps a feat that previously has only been mastered by the drow of Xen'drik, who are masters of shadow and darkness. Perhaps discovery of an ancient drow shadowship (which was then mysteriously disjoined before it could be studied) has touched off a race to uncover the secrets of this new type of craft. Aww, now I've gone and dumped an entire adventure seed in your laps. Look how patronizing I get after 9:30. Sorry.
Nived 06-12-07, 11:08 PM	Novels are of course not canon, however, this idea has been explored in The Night of Long Shadows. The three Nights of Long Shadow are a time in winter when the days are the shortest, Mabar's influence is stronger and the people who worship the Sovereign Host and Dark Six believe The Shadow has strong influence over the world during this time. In the novel The Night of Long Shadows. the villain gets a Kyber Dragonshard and has the priesthood bind a Shadow Elemental inside of it. This shard when inserted into an eldritch machine during the Night of Long Shadows was able to disrupt the manifest zone to Syrania around Sharn, particularly the Skyway. Don't worry the heroes saved the day.
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 06-13-07, 10:19 AM	Idea I just had, still needs help pricing: Usurper stone. This night black Kybershard is sticky to the touch and seems to sink into any surface upon which it rests. A band if adamantine bisects it and gives a hand hold, the whole forming a sphere as large as an elfs fist. Built and designed by House Thurani, and numbered among there greatest secrets a Usurper stone contains a powerful shadow elemental. Intended to aid the house in there more clandestine activity's its function is simple. Placed in contact with a dragon shard item the bound elemental grants control of the devise to the mark of shadow. For example letting a thurani scion send a message from a sivs message stone or operating an elementally powered airship be steered by a shadowmarked without a constant battle of wills. Needless to say the existence of Usurper stones is one of house Thuani's moast closely guarded secrets.
UnderworldLord 06-13-07, 10:53 AM	Now you're being ridiculous. Although... Still, in all fairness it'd be hard to find a shadow big enough to hide an airship in. Though, it could be available at night. Not Particularly. While I was initially joking, the shadow elemental could add tons of properties to a ship potentially. As noted, during night (or in a canyon, or wherever may block the sun) you could use shadow step. But why limit ourselves to spells already existant? An elemental is a primal force, and one of shadow should have more than just an average shadow spell can produce. I probably wouldn't use this kinda thing for the PCs, but a BBEG Caster/Artificer... thats a different story. I mean, that one novel had a guy using a necromental airship, thus allowing him to forgo dealing with the Storm-marked. In short, as a DM we have free reign to say what goes on in our campaign. If I were say a bound shadow elemental can cloak and/or move a ship a short distance very quickly, I'd probably do it to make my bbegs highly mobile, hard to find, and very flavorful. Mostly flavorful though. As a side note: I like the usurper stones. I somehow see one falling into the hands of a shadowmarked PC in the future.
Nived 06-13-07, 11:07 AM	I'd be more apt to work on armor and weapons for a bound shadow elemental. I mean you don't see any Water Elemental bound vehicles. Plus we also have the paraelementals, ooze, smoke, magma, and ice. These guys are even mentioned as officially existing in Eberron in the Magic chapter of the ECS, under the inhabitants of the planes sections. None the less we've yet to see anything official using them as bound. Though... Shadow Elemental Grafts.... those could be interesting. :plotting: Yes very interesting indeed.
DarkWarriorKarg 06-13-07, 11:32 AM	Ideas: lenses of Shadow Binding a small shadow elemental into these lenses allows one perfect sight (no miss chance) in normal or magical darkness as well as +2 enhancement to all saves vs gaze attacks or spells that adversely affect vision. Common variants of these lenses bestow a +2 enhancement to Charisma :D Crossbow of Burning Fury (Plasma crossbow) Binding a large magma elemental to this crossbow allows it to fire bolts of magma that inflict 1D10 fire damage for 1d4 rounds, as the magma sticks to the target. Note that although the ammunition is essentially unlimited, the crossbow cannot use normal bolts. This item uses normal rules for reloading.
UnderworldLord 06-13-07, 12:03 PM	I'd be more apt to work on armor and weapons for a bound shadow elemental. I mean you don't see any Water Elemental bound vehicles. Plus we also have the paraelementals, ooze, smoke, magma, and ice. These guys are even mentioned as officially existing in Eberron in the Magic chapter of the ECS, under the inhabitants of the planes sections. None the less we've yet to see anything official using them as bound. Though... Shadow Elemental Grafts.... those could be interesting. :plotting: Yes very interesting indeed. Water Elementals are Elemental Galleons. There are also smaller boats with water elementals bound. Perhaps its just not as easy to bind/graft paraelementals? Grafts for any of these would be... fun.
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 06-13-07, 06:10 PM	As a side note: I like the usurper stones. I somehow see one falling into the hands of a shadowmarked PC in the future. If you do I would be delighted to hear how it works out for you, it just seemed a very apt devise, the ability to send a message Via a sivis station gives it a whole new tier of legitimacy, bypassing the need for Lyrandar helps secrecy, I'm sure there are other uses.
TheAnthroDM 06-14-07, 08:45 PM	Why stop at show elementals? Imagine all the elementals you can bind. Storm Elementals, Taint Elementals, Ruin Elementals...
Mouseferatu 06-16-07, 04:28 AM	Why stop at show elementals? Imagine all the elementals you can bind. Storm Elementals, Taint Elementals, Ruin Elementals... In fact, my gaming group just recently finished a (heavily modified) Eberron campaign wherein the PCs were based on an airship powered by storm elementals. :)
Shady314 06-16-07, 05:00 AM	I'm father taken with the idea of a shadow elemental powered craft that uses a variant Shadow walk effect myself, some sleek and secratave vessel that simply appears. Say hello to the HQ of the Serpentine Table. :) Not sure what it's origins will be though. Recent invention of the best Phiarlan artificers with secrets gleaned from the gnomes? Ancient giant device recovered by Phiarlan? Or perhaps stolen during the elven rebellion, brought to Aerenal and later to Khorvaire? Could the top leadership of Phiarlan have survived the Mourning because they weren't actually in Cyre? Or were simply able to outrun the mists in this craft?
OgreBane99 06-16-07, 01:52 PM	Yeah I'm thinking of giving the BBEG in my campaign an airship with a bound shadow elemental in it. I'm thinking it's going to work like a normal airship (with a cloud of black shadow ring instead of fire) and can at some times slip into the Plane of Shadow (similar to a shadow walk spell) and travel really fast for a short time.
TiwazTyrsfist 06-16-07, 07:53 PM	Perhaps binding a shadow elemental to some more mundane vessel. A caravan, a sailing vessel, etc. The primary effect would be to allow cloaking of the vessel. Essentially, the ship would become difficult to see, possibly even invisible for a period of time. Basicly, a stealth ship or caravan, mainly used for smuggling or the like.
Eled_the_Worm_Tamer 06-17-07, 08:51 AM	Say hello to the HQ of the Serpentine Table. :) Not sure what it's origins will be though. Recent invention of the best Phiarlan artificers with secrets gleaned from the gnomes? Ancient giant device recovered by Phiarlan? Or perhaps stolen during the elven rebellion, brought to Aerenal and later to Khorvaire? Could the top leadership of Phiarlan have survived the Mourning because they weren't actually in Cyre? Or were simply able to outrun the mists in this craft? Serpentile table? Pah! Those in the know understand that house Thurani are the real craftsmen, there enclave at regal port has a few such ships I'll wager, and the Barron likely has one of his own as well. ;)
Archangel62 06-18-07, 08:20 AM	For weapons I'd say that shadow weapon enhancement, for vehicles...I think I just found the power source for Deaths Shadow
CharismaCzech 06-18-07, 09:47 PM	You all seem to be coming up with great ways to use it for vehicles - but what about other things? Why not Shadow-bound elemental armor which provides a concealment bonus? Or a Necromental-bound greatclub that inflicts negative levels on a successful critical hit?
OgreBane99 06-19-07, 12:49 AM	Or a Necromental-bound greatclub that inflicts negative levels on a successful critical hit? I don't think shadow elementals (and shadow magic, in general) means negative energy and necromantic magic. In the ToM, they describe shadow magic as being more "cold," so I could see a shadow elemental bound weapon inflicting extra cold damage or slowing a creature on a successful critical hit. For armor, I could see it providing cold resistance, partial concealment and bonuses to hide (duh).
CharismaCzech 06-19-07, 08:57 AM	I don't think shadow elementals (and shadow magic, in general) means negative energy and necromantic magic. I apologize if I was unclear - I wasn't suggesting a shadow elemental for this. I was saying using a necromental (from Libris Mortis), which is an undead elemental. I was trying to suggest other, lesser-known types of elementals for binding, which is what I thought the OP was asking about.
OgreBane99 06-19-07, 09:29 AM	I apologize if I was unclear - I wasn't suggesting a shadow elemental for this. I was saying using a necromental (from Libris Mortis), which is an undead elemental. I was trying to suggest other, lesser-known types of elementals for binding, which is what I thought the OP was asking about. Well then that makes sense. :D