No Hero's Welcome (Eberron)

[mhd]

I'm currently looking for some players for a low-level Eberron game. The characters will all have fought in the Last War, trying to help out less fortunate veterans. We'll start out in Sharn and will probably remain there for quite a while. I'm aiming for a slightly noir A-Team, without the "on the run" element.

Level progression will be rather slow, this is more a role-playing campaign than sheer combat and pulpy awesomeness. I will be quite lavish with action dice to compensate for this. Still, there will be some action and the lower levels of Sharn aren't for the timid.

Character creation:

Everything from the core D&D books, the Eberron campaign guide and the Complete books is allowed. Attributes are 25 pts point-buy. Hit points are maximum until I say differently.
As this campaign will probably a bit heavy on the skills, we'll have some slight changes there. First of all, every class has 2 additional skill points per level. There's also no distinction between class skills and cross-class skills, anything listed among the classes should be taken as suggestions, not as absolute restrictions. Skill costs are 1 point per rank up to (lvl+3)/2 (the old cross-class maximum) and 2 points per rank from there to the maximum of lvl+3.

Every characters starts with two levels. The first one has to be taken in a NPC class (Adept, Warrior, Expert, Commoner, Noble). This represents your vocation before you went to war. The second class can be freely chosen and should fit to what you were doing in the military.
Don't forget those Craft and Knowledge skills...

Starting heroes should fit fine with the lower classes, so even if you start out as noble and are dragonmarked, don't expect much help from your family. Please integrate this into your background stories.

I'm looking for four to six players. The character information should be sent to me at michael_dingler@yahoo.com, once they're done please post a short paragraph about your looks, demenanor and military backround here in this thread. If your character doesn't keep much secrets, you may post more.

Posting every other day would be fine, though I'd be quite happy about daily posts. I'll trust every player enough to perform his/her own dice rolling, although I'll probably abbreviate some combats by asking for general strategies. I'll roll about 2-4 rounds by myself then and will ask for a new set of tactics after that -- or if something unexpected happenend.

I'd be happy to answer further questions, either in this thread, by mail or by PM.

[frostrune]

This sounds cool to me. Amazing no one has jumped on this yet.

Let me be the 1st to throw out a concept...

Baraka, male shifter EXP 1/ RGR 1; I'm picturing him as the scout of the group.

Baraka was a loner and outcast making a living selling wild game and pelts from a small cabin outside the Aundarian village of Hom de luc <made it up, feel free to change> when a troop of Deneith recruiters came knocking. Restless with his current existance and seduced by promises of comraderie, honor, and riches he was easily persuaded to join the ranks of the Blademarks. House Deneith channeled his natural stealth and knack for survival and formally trained him in the arts of recon and infiltration.

Baraka is a good man to have in a tight spot. He is clever, ferocious, and loyal unto death. He also carries a grudge.

Everyting is a bit loose on purpose to allow your input to better fit the story. By your intial post I'm assumning their is some falling out between our charcaters and the established military? feed me whatever info you want and I'll work with it.

More character mechanics to come later... if you like the concept, that is. I'd also like to hear your suggestions on what-type of shifter Baraka is (beasthide, longstrider, etc...)

Thanks,

Frostrune

Edit: HA! just re-read and realized the name is oddly close to 'Barracus'. Coincidence?

[Voda Vosa]

I was going to submit a concept but I realized that

The character information should be sent to me at michael_dingler@yahoo.com,

Although if its ok to submit characters here ,I will do so

[mhd]

Character concepts are all right here, I just don't think it's necessary for everyone to know all the other stats. And I assume that military types (and RPG characters in general) might have some secrets...
Post as much as you want the other players to know here and send me the dirty details...

[Torillan]

I've sent you an email, but have a quick question. Do NPC levels count against XP penalties for Multiclassing? I couldn't really find anything on it, but I'm hoping you may have a houserule or something.

Thanks.

[Necro_Kinder]

I'll submit my character later tonight, Oakenheart, Warforged Druid (is Secrets of Xen'drik ok to use? If it is, I'd like to go for the Landforged Walker PrC).

[mhd]

@Torillan: Yep, no multi-classing penalties at all.

@Necro_Kinder: Well, I don't own Secrets of Xen'drik, so I'm not really familiar with the class. Still, until we get into PrC territory, I should be able to look up the necessary information. I'm a bit strange about prestige classes though, I really prefer it when there's an actual organisation or at least a mentor behind them. I have no problems integrating all kinds of societies and teachers into the game, but prior notice is helpful. I'll see about the class as soon as possible and will try to make some room for it.

This might be of interest for other players too. If you want to branch out into a prestige class that isn't terribly generic (e.g. Duelist), then please tell me and I'll see how we can work things out.

[Nazhkandrias]

Well, I'm not particularly familiar with Eberron (in fact, I don't own the campaign setting), but I've looked around and I've familiarized myself with the basic concepts of it. I know D&D quite well, this is just a different setting with action points. Just explain the concept of action points to me briefly, and I'd be happy to join!

As for a character, I'm willing to play whatever you need. Right now, it seems like the party is short an arcane spellcaster. You guys willing to work with a Necromancer (not evil, neutral)? That is to say, a Wizard specialized in Necromancy, but branching into a few other schools as well (whatever you guys think would be the most useful).

Most likely, I'd play an Elven Aristocrat 1 / Wizard (Necromancer) 1. Basic history, off the top of my head? Something along the lines of this... Acted on a board of advisors for House Phiarlan (not dragonmarked, but reasonably respected), hence being an Aristocrat, and also received basic training in magic, which he showed a natural knack for. He was primarily trained in Illusion, but he took more of an interest in Necromancy. His interest in the art grew, he trained and studied almost constantly, and he began to move away from the typically "accepted" Necromancy into the darker sectors of the school. The other members of the House voiced some disapproval of this, but it never became a major problem (it just sort of weirded them out). His knowledge of the arcane earned the respect of House Phiarlan, however, and my character was called into service, working as a low-ranking officer and, well, Necromancer. He saw a decent amount of action on the battlefield, but his decisions and tactics (making some unneccessary sacrifices with his soldiers, occasional cruelty towards prisoners) were considered amoral at times. He argued that his decisions were made in the interest of the greater good, but he still made a bad reputation for himself. He still maintains ties with House Phiarlan, but he spends most of his time abroad, occasionally running errands for House Phiarlan, mostly studying his dark arts in relative secrecy.

VERY rough draft, but it gives an idea. Let me know if anything needs changing, I'm fine with that. Alignment will be Lawful Neutral, and he has no beef with toeing the line between evil and good. So, if this sounds good, let me know, and I'll send some more detailed info via e-mail.

[Voda Vosa]

I was thinking in an dwarven Adept/shugenja from complete divine. Mostly a library rat, skills in knowledge and the sort, research for example. Focused in earth or fire.
He could be traveling the lands after the war, as many other shugenjas, searching for knowledge, and a better undestanding of the elements.
Well this are some ideas. I'm quite new to Eberron settings as well, but I will look some sources of info to come with a real background. At least with more than 4 lines.

PS: Nazhkandrias could you facilitate me some of the web pages you use to inform yourself? (In the case that you search for it in th web of curse)

PS2: I apologies for my spelling errors.

[frostrune]

Forgive me for jumping in ahead of the DM but I'm relatively familiar with Eberrron.

Nazhkandrias, your elf necromancer is a suprisingly relevant combination. I'm not sure if it fits with the military theme our DM is going for but Aereni elves are masters of Necromancy. In fact they worship their ancestors called the Undying Court. In their culture their greatest leaders and heros are sometimes granted a form of lichdom to forever serve their people. They are not truly undead, they are a new sub-type called 'deathless'. Essentially a good-ish variant. The bad news is the Aereni had virtually nothing to do with the Last War as they hail from a completely different continent. They tend to be xenophobic and have little regard for the lesser races. Good luck on making this combo jive with the campaign.

Voda Vosa, I'm not at all familiar with the Shujenga so I'm not sure I can offer any help with backstory. The dragonmarked dwarves of House Kunderak are a financial power and have more of a defensive bent. I'm doubting the played a large direct role in the actual battles. The dwarven homeland of the Mror Holds seized their independance from Karnath during the chaos of the war. To sum it up, dwarves as an whole didn't have a large direct impact on the war. I'm sure individual dwarves fought for a number of different nations or for House Deneith as mercenaries.

Hope this helps.

Frostrune

[Voda Vosa]

I just put the war thing because the dm said we must have participated in it.
The shugenjas are elemental masters, who wield the power of an specific element. I think that my dwarf couldn't just be a mercenary, since the profesion is one of honor and feith, but may be he could be seeking to obtain knowledge from the spoils of war.
Also I think I must align with one dragon don' I?

[Necro_Kinder]

Are the 2 new skill points added at the end (4+int)x4 +2), or are they added at the beginning (4+2+int)x4?

[mhd]

The skill points get quadrupled at first level (which is your NPC class level, of course).

The military background will be the common factor. Sharn has a huge population of refugees and aimless veterans, and this will provide your adventure hooks. Probably also a little conflict, as I think that we won't have a group that all served on the same side...

@Voda Vosa: The Player's Guide to Eberron integrates Shugenjas into Eberron as servants of the dragons of Argonessen. This is a bit far off, so I'm not quite sure how we integrate that into the war. But maybe you were an ordinary soldier or NCO (maybe the adjutant of an officer) and got "converted" by one of the Shugenjas of Argonessen? So now you'd be in Sharn, looking for more information and possible other followers? Considering that we'll be starting/playing in Sharn, Air would be a good elemental specialization...
Also, if you want to play a library rat, have you looked at the Archivist from Heroes of Horror (also here)

Also a general question about the skill rules:
With the rule as current, to reach a certain level it would be cheaper to wait a while and buy it once the level limits are different. I don't know how that's for you. I'd really like for skills to be more expensive at the very high levels so that it's more about getting new skills than maximizing a select few, but I'm currently unsure whether we want to do this.
So, do we
a) keep it this way
b) say that skills cost 1 point per rank for the first 5 (or so) ranks and then double
c) use the default rules (+2 skill points remain, though)

[Nazhkandrias]

Originally Posted by frostrune

Nazhkandrias, your elf necromancer is a suprisingly relevant combination. I'm not sure if it fits with the military theme our DM is going for but Aereni elves are masters of Necromancy. In fact they worship their ancestors called the Undying Court. In their culture their greatest leaders and heros are sometimes granted a form of lichdom to forever serve their people. They are not truly undead, they are a new sub-type called 'deathless'. Essentially a good-ish variant. The bad news is the Aereni had virtually nothing to do with the Last War as they hail from a completely different continent. They tend to be xenophobic and have little regard for the lesser races. Good luck on making this combo jive with the campaign.

Ah, I forgot that detail about the Aereni (the xenophobia). I know that they had great knowledge of necromancy, but they tend to lean more towards use of positive energy (the Deathless were liches, but liches are imbued with negative, not positive, energy). My character saw negative energy and "evil" necromancy as a more powerful source of magic, to the disapproval of the other members of the house. And although the Aereni are xenophobic, they must have sent at least a FEW people over, right? More of a token thing, than anything. And I think that they would be perfectly happy to get a questionable Necromancer off of their hands.

And if this is not the case, then my character would most likely see warfare as an opportunity to test his Necromantic powers on the battlefield, free from moral judgement (if it kills, it works). He would leave (with permission, if possible) to play a part in the war, forgoing the normal xenophobia of the Aereni for the sake of improving his skills.

Hence, the connection with the Aereni and the military background. Rogue, but not renegade, Necromancer serving as a mage on the battlefield. History is still a bit sketchy, but I'll put further detail into it later, should I be accepted into this game. Please, inform me of any mistakes that I might ever make!

Originally Posted by Voda Vosa

PS: Nazhkandrias could you facilitate me some of the web pages you use to inform yourself? (In the case that you search for it in th web of curse)

Wikipedia, which is usually a fairly terrible source, has some pretty good info on the basic structure of Eberron (search Eberron in Wikipedia). It also has some links to a few other Eberron resources. The Wizards page has some info to glean, and various other fansites on the web contain relevant information on Eberron politics.

[Ion]

If you're still looking for people, count me in. I'll e-mail you a general character concept shortly.

Rob.

[Ion]

I sent my character idea off. Basically I'm looking at a Warrior / Cleric who's known nothing but war his entire life.

[Andreas]

Hi, i would like to join and my prefered character is a human mechanicus (adept/artificer).

I will send you the character with the complete backgroundstory soon.

My prefered skillrules would be
b) say that skills cost 1 point per rank for the first 5 (or so) ranks and then double
or
c) use the default rules (+2 skill points remain, though)
but i will roll with a, too, if the others and you want me to.

[Necro_Kinder]

I'm fine with any of the skill ideas.

:: DISREGARD::

[mhd]

@Necro_Kinder: anything involving dinosaurs, pirates, robots or ninjas is perfectly okay.

So, let me get this straight, up 'til now we have the following roster:

frostrune - shifter scout
Torillan - warforged special ops
Necro_Kinder - warforged druid
Nazhkandrias - elven necromancer
Voda Vosa - dwarven shugenja
Ion - human warrior-priest
Andreas - human mecha-mage

Unless I missed someone, that's 7 players. Sounds about right. Unless someone comes in with another character filling out an unused niche very quickly, I'd say we roll with that.

I've got to finish some private business the next days and work might prove stressful, so I'd say we take the rest of the week to finish the characters and an initial group structure and will start with the first seeds of an adventure by the end of the week. That okay with you guys?

And regarding skill rules, I'd say we stick with the simpler choice. No class skills, 2 additional skill points per level (quadruple at first level), every rank costs 1 point.
This is valid until rank 5 + key attribute bonus, above that the cost doubles (e.g. if you have Strength 14, Jump costs you one point until rank 7 -- 5 + 2).
This should mean that most starting characters should have no problems distributing their skills and we'll only have to keep this rule in mind later on...

[Necro_Kinder]

Originally Posted by mhd

@Necro_Kinder: anything involving dinosaurs, pirates, robots or ninjas is perfectly okay.

Excellent. Will send him in later tonight (hopefully).