Keith Baker (creator of Eberron) Q & A thread

[Remathilis]

Ok, heres one more question...

What do you suggest (or don't) about the use of the DMG firearms in Eberron?

 

[Olive]

Well here's one:

I'm interested in the Eberron book, but as a homebrewer. I like the look of some of the spells and feats etc. but I'm wary about adding new mechanics in such as the dragonshards and action points. Would things like elemental binding work without the mechanics of dragonshards?

Thanks!

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

As a simple, harmless historical curiosity ]), what powers did the Mark of Death provide?

 

[Staffan]

That said, do you have any idea roughly how many people or what percentage of the population actually have dragonmarks on the continent of Khorvaire? The DMG has rules to break down percentage of the population that has certain classes and thereby you can figure out how many people of a particular class and level are likely to be in a particular area. I'd like to be able to do that for dragonmarked people as well.

From the description of the Dragonmark Heir PrC: "Perhaps as many as one person in a hundred has a blood connection to one of the twelve houses. Of these thousands, however, no more than half actually manifest a dragonmark."

So, roughly half a percent have a Least or better dragonmark. Doesn't say anything about how the progression then goes on to Lesser and Greater marks.

 

[resistor]

I'll toss my question in while we're at it:

What kind of things does the Order of the Emerald Claw do? Whenever they're mentioned, it's always to say that they're Vol's military arm. So... what does a lich in hiding DO with a military arm? What do they get up to now that the Last War is over?

 

[mearls]

Keith:

With the book's release, does it give you any comfort knowing that if someone on the Internet spazzes out about Eberron, they may have actually taken the time to read it before posting "Dinosaursontrainsohmygodwehatesitwehatesit"? Or are people still just making up stuff to hate about Eberron?

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Keith:

With the book's release, does it give you any comfort knowing that if someone on the Internet spazzes out about Eberron, they may have actually taken the time to read it before posting "Dinosaursontrainsohmygodwehatesitwehatesit"? Or are people still just making up stuff to hate about Eberron?

Nice Mike, nice...my laugh for this evening.

 

[Hellcow]

Starting with the Drow

Since there are a bunch of drow questions, I'll deal with them at once.

How are the Drow perceived by residents of Khorvaire or other elves for that matter?

The typical resident of Khorvaire would say "The what?" if you mentioned the drow. As things stand the Drow are found only in Xen'drik, and as such only explorers and sages who had studied Xen'drik know of their existence. Even the elves of Aerenal know little about the drow, as the drow are the elves who remained behind when the ancestors of the Aereni and the Valenar fled from Xen'drik.

Do they live underground? Are they highly territiorial/paranoid/xenophobic or just plain evil?

This treads on NDA territory, as more information will be released at some point. Just like the other core races, the Drow are culturally significantly different from their counterparts in other settings. A few quick notes:
* The Drow remained on Xen'drik when the ancestors of the Aereni and Valenar left.
* When the civilization of the giants was destroyed, the majority of the Drow retreated underground to escape the devastation. Today they live both above and below ground, and continue to prey on the surviving giants.
* While somewhat nomadic, they do possess mystical secrets from the Age of Giants.
* They are not "just plain evil" as a race, but have little warmth for explorers and looters. Many Drow families revere Khyber or the Shadow, and these are certainly dangerous groups to cross.
* There's no Lolth in Eberron. If you want driders, they would presumably be the result of magical experimentation or some sort of disaster.

What's the best way to explain to people that we don't need no steenkin' dark elves in Eberron?

I'd say you've got it covered.

Again, as things stand, Drow are a very obscure part of the world; they're out there, but most people will never hear of them or meet them. If you love Drow, you can decide to have a Drow family migrate to Khorvaire on a secret mission tied to the Cults of the Dragon Below or the Shadow; But don't expect to hear much about them officially unless you're dealing with Xen'drik.

(Of course, dealing with Xen'drik and sinister elves, you also have the Shadow Elves, though they are not actually a subrace as such... more to be revealed in the upcoming RTS.)

 

[Hellcow]

Or are people still just making up stuff to hate about Eberron?

In general, now that the book is out, there have been fewer of the "St00pid Dinotopia with trainz" posts. I'm sure sooner or later there will be people who read it and hate it (case in point, just got the first negative review on Amazon), but the fact that the book now exists seems to have slowed down the Wild Claims departments.

I'm looking forward to The Book of Iron Might, by the way. The first version of the warforged were called spellborn -- I'll be curious to see how the various iterations of the warforged (they went through a lot of changes in development) match up to your ironborn! And needless to say, it sounds like stunts would be an excellent match for the tone of Eberron.

 

[Krieg]

Keith, I have been firmly in the "skeptical" category for the past year or so. I was pretty certain that Eberron would do little more than roll my eyes & sigh.

I was wrong.

While I doubt I will ever actually run a game in Eberron, the book is very well done & I will be quite happy to steal bits & pieces of it for my own campaign.

Nicely done.

Oops, almost forgot my question....Chunky or smooth?