No Hero's Welcome (Eberron)

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.

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?

I was going to submit a concept but I realized that

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

Click to expand...

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

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...

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.

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).

@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.

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.

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.

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