Dragonshard Augments in the realms - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Dragonshard Augments in the realms

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
VaultDweller
Feb 19, 2010 16:39:58 I want Dragonshard Augment items (as seen in the Eberron Player's Guide) to be available in my campaign, but not without a good idea on how I should re-flavour them to fit into Faerun.

Has anyone else tackled this yet?
#2
Diffan
Feb 19, 2010 19:27:29 Hmmm.... I remember seeing them in the Character Builder, but I didn't give them a good look. I forget what they do exactly.

More information on their abilities and purpose in Eberron would give us more to go with on establishing some sort of link to Faerun. Perhaps there is already an easy tie-in to established lore.
#3
sfdragon
Feb 19, 2010 19:36:04 treat them like spellscars???
#4
The_Silversword
Feb 20, 2010 5:54:31 Spellscars would be more like the DragonMarks. Dragonshards, are like magical gems that you can attatch to your equipment to make it magical.

So in the Realms you could just say its a magical Netherese gem or something. Or there was some stuff in the Underdark, Faerezz or something like that? basicaly pure mineralized magic, so you could just say its a peice of that stuff.

Faerzress, thats the stuff,. Just now looked it up. On second thought bettere not use that, appreantly its highly radioactive, and has been known to cause mutations.
#5
VaultDweller
Feb 20, 2010 8:25:53 I actually do treat Dragonmarks as Spellscars. Any character that starts with a Dragonmark feat must also be Spellscarred, and any character that wants to create a Spellscarred character must take a Dragonmark feat no later than level 2.

I've considered making them something Spellplague related. I've thought about having them form in plaguelands as pure, crystallized manifestations of the Spellplague - something akin to the formation of anomolies in the Stalker PC games, if anyone has played those. The Spellplague and the Order of Blue Fire are both going to be major elements in this campaign, so there is some appeal to that.

Other possibilities could be something from the Elemental Chaos, since most of them are of the type "You gain a +X bonus to damage rolls with attacks that use the augmented weapon." Faerzress is not a bad option, despite the radiation. They could also be treated as something like materia in FF7, and I could possibly get something going on with them like Philosopher's Stones from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Spellplague is probably easiest though, and easiest to tie into my planned campaign.
#6
sfdragon
Feb 20, 2010 22:04:43 they could also be considered Blessed by Bahamut or Tiamat
#7
godwinxz
Feb 20, 2010 22:47:19 I treat them as Augment Crystals, that showed up in 3.5 Magic item Conpendium. Since magic items changed during the Spell Plague, that's how I explain the new feel to the Augment Crystals.
#8
The_Silversword
Feb 21, 2010 5:34:36 I'm not sure what the Augment Crystals are, but they sound very similar, so yeah that would definitely work.

Or we could combine all these ideas, Plaguechanged Faerzress!
#9
Dunaria
Feb 21, 2010 7:17:45 you haven't hear about a special merchant that cross realm????? omg! his name is Imagination.....
#10
The_Silversword
Feb 21, 2010 7:23:16 Imagination sounds like a silly name for a plane traveling merchant, but yeah good idea, that would work as well.
#11
salla
Feb 21, 2010 7:24:15
I want Dragonshard Augment items (as seen in the Eberron Player's Guide) to be available in my campaign, but not without a good idea on how I should re-flavour them to fit into Faerun.

Has anyone else tackled this yet?

3rd Edition had items called 'augment crystals', which were, well, crystals that you could simply attach to a weapon to give it a bonus effect. Reflavoring them to simply 'enchanted crystals that attach to weapons/implements' should be all you need to do.
#12
VaultDweller
Feb 21, 2010 8:23:45
you haven't hear about a special merchant that cross realm????? omg! his name is Imagination.....

Imagination sounds like a silly name for a plane traveling merchant, but yeah good idea, that would work as well.

Actually, this campaign will have a lot of focus on the difficulty of planar travel post-Spellplague. The change to the World Axis cosmology is not a retcon, it was a truly cataclysmic event that shook and reshaped the very fabric of the multiverse. One of the PCs is actually a Kalashtar from the world of Eberron, whose soul (but not body) was pulled into Toril during a failed attempt by the Shadovar to re-forge the paths between the planes.

So, a plane-hopping merchant peddling wares from Eberron kinda trivializes all that. :P

Or we could combine all these ideas, Plaguechanged Faerzress!

I think you might have been joking, but... I love this. A lot. It's perfect. Two of my players have backstories that I think should lead into the Underdark, but one of my primary antagonist groups would have had little reason to venture into the Underdark, and thus it was going to be hard to hook these PC-centered plot arcs into a central storyline. But this gives a great reason for everything to meet in the Underdark.
#13
The_Silversword
Feb 21, 2010 8:41:17 Nope I was not joking, I like the idea too. I was just sitting here reading everyones comments and it was like a light bulb goin off, like in the cartoons. Makes perfect sense, they got Plaguechanged everything else, so why not Faerzress? Faerzress is some wiggy stuff any way, so anything could happen when it interacts with Spellplague.
#14
Jorunhast
Mar 09, 2010 12:35:14 They're supposed to be crystals, right? For the Realms, what if they are extremely rare solidified arcane energy that were created by the spellplague, or crystals that were plaguechanged and act as magical foci? Each crystal could have unique properties, and it could have an origin in the Realms as a "new" but very rare type of magical stone.

They could even be used to explain why certain areas were "spared" by the Spellplague. As the cataclysm washed over Toril, certain areas had high concentrations of certain crystalline deposits that reacted with the unleashed energy. Instead of damaging everything, the unravelling magic of the Spellplague/Weave was pulled into the crystalline deposits. It's least likely to be found in plaguechanged areas, and most likely to be found somewhere near an untouched area. So if a particular "undamaged" area wasn't protected by a mythal or something similar, there's possibly a hidden deposit of the magically-changed mineral.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 VaultDweller Feb 19, 2010 16:39:58	I want Dragonshard Augment items (as seen in the Eberron Player's Guide) to be available in my campaign, but not without a good idea on how I should re-flavour them to fit into Faerun. Has anyone else tackled this yet?
#2 Diffan Feb 19, 2010 19:27:29	Hmmm.... I remember seeing them in the Character Builder, but I didn't give them a good look. I forget what they do exactly. More information on their abilities and purpose in Eberron would give us more to go with on establishing some sort of link to Faerun. Perhaps there is already an easy tie-in to established lore.
#3 sfdragon Feb 19, 2010 19:36:04	treat them like spellscars???
#4 The_Silversword Feb 20, 2010 5:54:31	Spellscars would be more like the DragonMarks. Dragonshards, are like magical gems that you can attatch to your equipment to make it magical. So in the Realms you could just say its a magical Netherese gem or something. Or there was some stuff in the Underdark, Faerezz or something like that? basicaly pure mineralized magic, so you could just say its a peice of that stuff. Faerzress, thats the stuff,. Just now looked it up. On second thought bettere not use that, appreantly its highly radioactive, and has been known to cause mutations.
#5 VaultDweller Feb 20, 2010 8:25:53	I actually do treat Dragonmarks as Spellscars. Any character that starts with a Dragonmark feat must also be Spellscarred, and any character that wants to create a Spellscarred character must take a Dragonmark feat no later than level 2. I've considered making them something Spellplague related. I've thought about having them form in plaguelands as pure, crystallized manifestations of the Spellplague - something akin to the formation of anomolies in the Stalker PC games, if anyone has played those. The Spellplague and the Order of Blue Fire are both going to be major elements in this campaign, so there is some appeal to that. Other possibilities could be something from the Elemental Chaos, since most of them are of the type "You gain a +X bonus to damage rolls with attacks that use the augmented weapon." Faerzress is not a bad option, despite the radiation. They could also be treated as something like materia in FF7, and I could possibly get something going on with them like Philosopher's Stones from Fullmetal Alchemist. Spellplague is probably easiest though, and easiest to tie into my planned campaign.
#6 sfdragon Feb 20, 2010 22:04:43	they could also be considered Blessed by Bahamut or Tiamat
#7 godwinxz Feb 20, 2010 22:47:19	I treat them as Augment Crystals, that showed up in 3.5 Magic item Conpendium. Since magic items changed during the Spell Plague, that's how I explain the new feel to the Augment Crystals.
#8 The_Silversword Feb 21, 2010 5:34:36	I'm not sure what the Augment Crystals are, but they sound very similar, so yeah that would definitely work. Or we could combine all these ideas, Plaguechanged Faerzress!
#9 Dunaria Feb 21, 2010 7:17:45	you haven't hear about a special merchant that cross realm????? omg! his name is Imagination.....
#10 The_Silversword Feb 21, 2010 7:23:16	Imagination sounds like a silly name for a plane traveling merchant, but yeah good idea, that would work as well.
#11 salla Feb 21, 2010 7:24:15	I want Dragonshard Augment items (as seen in the Eberron Player's Guide) to be available in my campaign, but not without a good idea on how I should re-flavour them to fit into Faerun. Has anyone else tackled this yet? 3rd Edition had items called 'augment crystals', which were, well, crystals that you could simply attach to a weapon to give it a bonus effect. Reflavoring them to simply 'enchanted crystals that attach to weapons/implements' should be all you need to do.
#12 VaultDweller Feb 21, 2010 8:23:45	you haven't hear about a special merchant that cross realm????? omg! his name is Imagination..... Imagination sounds like a silly name for a plane traveling merchant, but yeah good idea, that would work as well. Actually, this campaign will have a lot of focus on the difficulty of planar travel post-Spellplague. The change to the World Axis cosmology is not a retcon, it was a truly cataclysmic event that shook and reshaped the very fabric of the multiverse. One of the PCs is actually a Kalashtar from the world of Eberron, whose soul (but not body) was pulled into Toril during a failed attempt by the Shadovar to re-forge the paths between the planes. So, a plane-hopping merchant peddling wares from Eberron kinda trivializes all that. :P Or we could combine all these ideas, Plaguechanged Faerzress! I think you might have been joking, but... I love this. A lot. It's perfect. Two of my players have backstories that I think should lead into the Underdark, but one of my primary antagonist groups would have had little reason to venture into the Underdark, and thus it was going to be hard to hook these PC-centered plot arcs into a central storyline. But this gives a great reason for everything to meet in the Underdark.
#13 The_Silversword Feb 21, 2010 8:41:17	Nope I was not joking, I like the idea too. I was just sitting here reading everyones comments and it was like a light bulb goin off, like in the cartoons. Makes perfect sense, they got Plaguechanged everything else, so why not Faerzress? Faerzress is some wiggy stuff any way, so anything could happen when it interacts with Spellplague.
#14 Jorunhast Mar 09, 2010 12:35:14	They're supposed to be crystals, right? For the Realms, what if they are extremely rare solidified arcane energy that were created by the spellplague, or crystals that were plaguechanged and act as magical foci? Each crystal could have unique properties, and it could have an origin in the Realms as a "new" but very rare type of magical stone. They could even be used to explain why certain areas were "spared" by the Spellplague. As the cataclysm washed over Toril, certain areas had high concentrations of certain crystalline deposits that reacted with the unleashed energy. Instead of damaging everything, the unravelling magic of the Spellplague/Weave was pulled into the crystalline deposits. It's least likely to be found in plaguechanged areas, and most likely to be found somewhere near an untouched area. So if a particular "undamaged" area wasn't protected by a mythal or something similar, there's possibly a hidden deposit of the magically-changed mineral.