Rebooting our Eberron campaign - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

So, my group has had an occasional/casual Eberron campaign for a while, set in Sharn. We love our characters, and are still lower level, so we've decided to just have some months pass and move to a new region.

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#1 DoctorBadWolf Jun 15, 2015 3:56:31	So, my group has had an occasional/casual Eberron campaign for a while, set in Sharn. We love our characters, and are still lower level, so we've decided to just have some months pass and move to a new region. I need some advice on where to move. First, the characters Khalid Al'Ghurab, Shadar-kai, Inquisitive, former arena slave: After diving into the wrong lake in his home plane, trying to one up his friends by stealing a treasure from it's resident serpent, he found himself in a region of Drooam controled by an Oni warlord, was quickly enslaved, and forced to fight in a series of arena's. His flashy style (teleporting, cloaking himself in shadows, confusing enemies, etc) he gained local fame, and some limited freedoms, and the friendship of a Djinn of moderate power. Long story short, Djinn became a mentor, tought Khalid mysticism, meditation, deductive reasoning, how to read people, etc, bought Khalid his freedom, Khalid served him as a bodyguard and advisor, and helped him take his overlord's place, via a carefully planed assassination. Afterward, Khalid left Drooam, and traveled to SHarn, where he took up Inquisitive's work. Vidanya Rogichovia: A Vrylocka from Kharnath. Former Knight of The Onyx Skull. Keith helped me work out a really cool background for her (my wife's character), solidifying his place as my wife's favorite DnD related person. (Doesn't hurt that she frackin loves Gloom) Anyway, Vidanya was removed from her order after assaulting her commander only shortly before said order was disavowed by the crown, along with the Blood of Vol. Her anger problems worsened as a result, causing her to lose sight of her vows, her faith, and very nearly her honor. Luckily, she made a friend (Khalid) while in Sharn with a merc company, who helped her believe that she could redeem herself, and reclaim what she has lost. At some point since she has discovered evidence that gives her an inkling of the corruption that exists within the Blood of Vol, and suggests that some of that corruption is connected to King Kaius. Before she can return home to try and deal with that, though, she needs to find redemption within herself, and regain her faith. (she's a blackguard, with the plan being to remake her as an Avenger when she redeems herself, and then I'm going to make her a galvanizing force within her home and her church, possibly becoming a revolutionary figure in both. She doesn't know that yet, though.) For now, she helps Khalid investigate crimes on behalf of those who can't afford the help of anyone else, and he is training her in the esoteric arts which have helped him control his own innate mix of crushing ennui and manic fury. She is often frustrated at how much of his instruction seems to involve puns and baked goods, and how rarely it involves hitting things. [Name Forgotten, because the char sheet is missing], the Kobold Wizard: KW is a fairly young Kobold, but is an absolute prodigy of the Arcane Arts. He's also on a quest for revenge. Against an ancient red dragon. Because it killed his mentor, and ancient gold dragon. All he knows about why is that it involved secret's KW's mentor had learned regarding the Draconic Prophesy. Probably related to the prophetic markings that appeared all around KW's tribe's village in Q'Barra soon before the gold dragon showed up, at which point it recognized a natural gift for spellcasting in young KW, and took him as an apprentice. Now, KW wanders Khorvaire, using his cantrips to show people what the red dragon looks like, and asking if they've seen it. Mostly it just makes people uncomfortable, which is multiplied by the confusing eloquence of this little kobold, and his obvious intellectual prowess. Met Khalid and Vi during one of their investigations, as he was being attacked. New characters: As yet unnamed Hengeyokai (raven) hunter, who was once a slave in the same "court" as Khalid. Used as a spy and secret bodyguard. Likes to perch up high and rain death with her bow. Possibly a Talenta Halfling mounted archer. Using either executioner+alchemist feat or artificer to build a character who modifies and enchants their gear. Using Fey Beast Tamer and reflavoring the panther as the halfling mount.
#2 DoctorBadWolf Jun 15, 2015 4:00:10	Sidenote: I can't remember if it was a thread or a blog post, but at some point hellcow gave some advice on how to run a returned Mark of Death. I've been thinking of having Vi manifest one, during her transformation into an Avenger, and would love to reread that conversation, and/or read what you all have to say about it now. 4e or 5e, because I'm thinking about transfering the game to 5e around then, because I don't really like running paragon 4e that much.
#3 Beoric Jun 23, 2015 20:01:17	Hmm, you have a Droaam connection, and a Sharn connection, and are talking about a crime story. All of that says "Daask" to me. This means the border you are speaking of would be Breland\|Droaam. I'm not really seeing why the Claw would be involved, unless it related to some vampire whose real interest is in using the slaving ring as a way of obtaining food - and even then, the real villain would be the vampire, with the Claw just acting as his henchmen. Since the Vryloka isn't ready to be led home just yet, I think you can skip the Claw connection. Instead, since roughly half the party have issues going back to Droaam, I would make this storyline about coming to terms with those issues. I would probably add a "B" plot with the kobold connecting with his kin in southern Droaam. Maybe connect it to the "A" plot by having Kethelrex's kobolds (I think that is his name) opposed to the activities of Daask, because one of the ingredients in the drug "dragon's blood", which Daask smuggles, is in fact dragon's blood, or maybe kobold blood. If Khalid's mentor is involved, I think it would have more of an Eberron flavour if, instead of the program going on behind his back, he had been forced to make compromises due to economic pressures, societal norms for the area, or to prevent a greater evil of some sort. Recommended reading: Sharn: City of Towers; the Dragon or Dungeon articles on Q'Barra, Daask, Droaam, and Graywall; the dragonmark articles on kobolds. One question: assuming you are using a 4e shadar-kai, what is his home plane, Dolurrh or Mabar? (Those being the obvious choices, although I actually feel like 4e shadar-kai would be more at home in Shavarrath.)
#4 DoctorBadWolf Jun 23, 2015 22:27:03	Khalid's home plane is Dolurrh. The Emerald Claw needs to be involved because I don't want to reveal the true source of the villainy until much later in the campaign, at which point that revalation will lead Vi to rally her old compatriots and return home. As for why they make sense, I've always seen the Emerald Claw as being pretty broad in the ways they'll try to gain power, and the machination of vampires in general, and BoV higher ups specifically are much more complex than simply eating. Other than that, I like what you're saying. I don't think I'll go with Khalid's mentor having gone corrupt thing. For me, I've never liked or played Eberron as that whole "everyone is corruptable/shades of grey because everyone is grey" thing. Genuinely good people, set amongst a backdrop of mostly ambiguous or bad people makes for great stories, and it's exactly the type of story I love Eberron for.

the characters

Khalid Al'Ghurab, Shadar-kai, Inquisitive, former arena slave: After diving into the wrong lake in his home plane, trying to one up his friends by stealing a treasure from it's resident serpent, he found himself in a region of Drooam controled by an Oni warlord, was quickly enslaved, and forced to fight in a series of arena's. His flashy style (teleporting, cloaking himself in shadows, confusing enemies, etc) he gained local fame, and some limited freedoms, and the friendship of a Djinn of moderate power. Long story short, Djinn became a mentor, tought Khalid mysticism, meditation, deductive reasoning, how to read people, etc, bought Khalid his freedom, Khalid served him as a bodyguard and advisor, and helped him take his overlord's place, via a carefully planed assassination. Afterward, Khalid left Drooam, and traveled to SHarn, where he took up Inquisitive's work.

Vidanya Rogichovia: A Vrylocka from Kharnath. Former Knight of The Onyx Skull. Keith helped me work out a really cool background for her (my wife's character), solidifying his place as my wife's favorite DnD related person. (Doesn't hurt that she frackin loves Gloom)

Anyway, Vidanya was removed from her order after assaulting her commander only shortly before said order was disavowed by the crown, along with the Blood of Vol. Her anger problems worsened as a result, causing her to lose sight of her vows, her faith, and very nearly her honor. Luckily, she made a friend (Khalid) while in Sharn with a merc company, who helped her believe that she could redeem herself, and reclaim what she has lost. At some point since she has discovered evidence that gives her an inkling of the corruption that exists within the Blood of Vol, and suggests that some of that corruption is connected to King Kaius. Before she can return home to try and deal with that, though, she needs to find redemption within herself, and regain her faith. (she's a blackguard, with the plan being to remake her as an Avenger when she redeems herself, and then I'm going to make her a galvanizing force within her home and her church, possibly becoming a revolutionary figure in both. She doesn't know that yet, though.) For now, she helps Khalid investigate crimes on behalf of those who can't afford the help of anyone else, and he is training her in the esoteric arts which have helped him control his own innate mix of crushing ennui and manic fury. She is often frustrated at how much of his instruction seems to involve puns and baked goods, and how rarely it involves hitting things.

[Name Forgotten, because the char sheet is missing], the Kobold Wizard: KW is a fairly young Kobold, but is an absolute prodigy of the Arcane Arts. He's also on a quest for revenge. Against an ancient red dragon. Because it killed his mentor, and ancient gold dragon. All he knows about why is that it involved secret's KW's mentor had learned regarding the Draconic Prophesy. Probably related to the prophetic markings that appeared all around KW's tribe's village in Q'Barra soon before the gold dragon showed up, at which point it recognized a natural gift for spellcasting in young KW, and took him as an apprentice.

Now, KW wanders Khorvaire, using his cantrips to show people what the red dragon looks like, and asking if they've seen it. Mostly it just makes people uncomfortable, which is multiplied by the confusing eloquence of this little kobold, and his obvious intellectual prowess. Met Khalid and Vi during one of their investigations, as he was being attacked.

New characters:

As yet unnamed Hengeyokai (raven) hunter, who was once a slave in the same "court" as Khalid. Used as a spy and secret bodyguard. Likes to perch up high and rain death with her bow.

Possibly a Talenta Halfling mounted archer. Using either executioner+alchemist feat or artificer to build a character who modifies and enchants their gear. Using Fey Beast Tamer and reflavoring the panther as the halfling mount.