D&D 5E A Tour of Eberron By Level

[iserith]

I am working on setting up an Eberron campaign in the form of a series of episodic one-shot adventures covering 3rd to 10th level. Each of these eight adventures will take one 4- to 6-hour session to complete and milestone XP will be used to ensure a level is gained upon the completion of the scenario. The focus will be on pulpy action adventures, each set in a different part of the world so as to highlight some of the cooler parts of the campaign setting. The adventures themselves won't take themselves too seriously and will be full of over-the-top villains, technomagic anachronisms, and cinematic set pieces.

My first adventure will be set in Sharn, a 3rd-level noirish murder mystery. Which locations in Eberron would you do for the levels that follow? What kinds of adventures might unfold in these cool places? What were the most memorable Eberron adventures of which you have been a part?

 

[collin]

The original adventure path series published by WotC after the release of the Eberron campaign setting did a fairly good job at traversing some of the major parts of Khorvaire, including Xen'drik, exposing new players to that world. I recommend finding some of those adventures and cherry-picking elements from them, or adapting much of those scenarios from 3.5 over to 5th edition. I played in that adventure series when Eberron first came out and thoroughly enjoyed the overall story arc and pulpy elements (including the little start-off adventure that I think came in the Eberron campaign setting book).

Beyond Sharn, Xen'drik is probably a place you want to make sure the characters visit, and the same goes for the Mournland, as these are such unique areas to Eberron. I also suggest the following:
1. Flamekeep in Thrane
2. The Lhazaar Principalities (Dreadhold prison perhaps?)
3. Korth or any major city in Karrnath (have an occasional zombie or skeletal soldier pop up or walk by)
4. Droaam (a country populated by monsters is always fun)

 

[RealAlHazred]

Eberron is a pulpy place, so you have to make sure the places are exotic and the boss fights are properly interesting. I'm going to echo some of collin's suggestions.

1. Xen'drik: I'd put them in a steamy jungle ruin. If you can find Dragon issue #330, it had an article on the Umbragen, who would make a decent exotic elf culture. If you can find Dungeon issue #121, it had a Backdrop article on the Ring of Storms, an exotic location, and the Qabalrin, another exotic elf culture.
2. Aerenal: The major elf island has manifest zones of Irian, the Endless Light, and ancient necropoli inhabited by the Deathless, the undead ancestral elves[sblock]not exactly -- for those not familiar, they're animated by the Positive Energy Plane, and are the ancestral elf leaders[/sblock]Rotting tombs, overgrown by ancient trees. The boss fight should have lots of high elven magic, and maybe some stolen giant magic.
3. The Mournland: One-off games in Eberron almost have to have some Mournland expedition stuff as a requirement. An ancient battlefield would be the backdrop, with clouds of the dead gray mist floating through. Maybe when you are in a bank of dead gray mist, you experience some of the ancient battle that took place there, with combatants appearing and disappearing. I like Living Spells as opponents.
4. Greywall: You have Sharn as an urban backdrop for your first scenario, but for a completely different exotic city location, how about the capital of Droaam? There's a Backdrop article on it in Dragon issue #368. Ancient Dhakaani ruins, monstrous inhabitants, this one screams out for a scenario. If you wait until they're at the high end of your range, you can have a green hag with a bunch of monstrous mercenaries for some good tactical play.
5. Taer Lian Doresh: One of the Feyspires, one of 4E's contributions to the setting that make a lot of sense and fit extraordinarily well. There were a series of articles exploring this site in Dungeon issues #178, 181, and 184. I'd use the eladrin modification from the Dungeon Master's Guide for the elves, and include [sblock]Quori-possessed eladrin (the first article explains how this is possible)[/sblock]
6. Ashtakala: Not really the capital of the Demon Wastes, it is nevertheless, the most alien urban setting the characters are likely to get to. Aside from the scant details in the core book, there is some more in an article on the Lords of Dust in Dragon issue #337. Potential enemies: Carrion Tribe barbarians loyal to the Claws of Khyber (third-rank members of the Lords of Dust) and granted strange magical powers. One or two members of the Council of Ashtakala (second-rank members of the Lords of Dust) could be there as leaders, and might be any fiendish type, not just rakshasas. Because of the nature of the place, it could be a confusing battlefield, with illusory terrain (or even illusory combatants) cluttering the fight.
7. Khyber: You can also do neat things with a deep citadel in Khyber. If you had a favorite Underdark locale, you can easily scrape off the serial numbers and convert it to suit. My favorite is the Balrog-friendly lava lake, perhaps with a daelkyr-tainted balor demon as a resident of the hellish central island.

 

[DEFCON 1]

For your "Opening scene of Raiders" styled dungeon crawl... I'd suggest Haka'torvhak in Q'barra. From the Grand History of Eberron:

"A dark and ancient force bides its time in the deep jungle, waiting for its moment to strike, for Q’barra is the home of Haka’torvhak—one of the great citadels of the fiends from the Age of Demons and the site of a massive battle between the fiends and the dragons. In the end, the most powerful fiends were bound in the fires deep beneath the city and draconic guardians were left to watch over the place for eternity. The current guardian, the half-fiend black dragon Rhashaak, has been corrupted by the fiendish emanations of his post but remains bound to his duty, though he is determined to use the Poison Dusk pygmy lizardfolk who worship him as a god to ascend to true divinity."

So you have countless wonders and wealth from the Age of Demons locked inside this citadel, all overwatched by a fiendish black dragon guardian and his lizardfolk allies. But at the same time, there's also several fiends locked inside it as well, all capable of corrupting the weak of will.

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For your "sickening" style of creepy adventure location... I'd offer up KhreshtRhyyl, “the Forest of Flesh”, in Droaam... wherein you can find Blackroot Tower, the abode of Mordain The Fleshweaver. There's an Expeditionary Dispatch from Dragon #364 that goes into it. From the article: "Mordain released creatures called skinweavers into the woods. These beasts weave webs, much as spiders do, but instead of producing silk, skinweavers craft their nests using the recycled flesh of their victims, stretching entrails, strands of muscle, and flayed skin between trunk and bough. Many of these are long abandoned, like cobwebs drifting in the wind. Nonetheless, gnawed bones and glistening strands of flesh are a common sight in the forest, and they serve as a clear warning to turn back."

"The skinweavers are one example of Mordain’s ingenuity, but tales speak of skinless wolves, insane elementals, and frenzied beasts formed from the combination of two or more of the creatures found elsewhere in Droaam. Adventurers might find a troll with the voice and wings of a harpy, or a hydra with a medusa’s head sprouting from each of its six necks. Rot scarabs, bloodweb spiders, and stranger insects chitter in the darkness. Vine horrors, oozes of colors never seen in the world beyond, and aberrant dryads linger just off the phosphorescent paths. The laws of nature have been shattered here. Characters familiar with Nature or Dungeoneering may claim that it’s impossible for so many deadly creatures to thrive in such close proximity to one another, and this again is the work of Mordain."