Dragons in Eberron

[KanedaX321]

I'm in the early stages of putting together an Eberron campaign for 4th Ed. I know there's a lot of wiggle room, but I'm trying to stay as true to the universe as possible. One of my early encounters may involve my party fighting a young or wyrmling white dragon and some yeti (yetis?) on Turnaway Island in Lhazaar.

So... I've been looking through both the Player's Guide and the Campaign Guide, and I haven't found much information on dragons outside of Argonnessen. Are they as prevalent on other Eberron continents as they are in the regular D&D settings, building cults and hoards wherever they see fit? Or do they stick to the Argonnessen, studying the Prophecy and only leaving for research or working for groups like the Chamber?

I know ultimately it boils down to "I can do whatever I want," but I love the setting and I want to stay as true to it as I can. Off that, can anyone recommend any good websites for Eberron? I know of the Eberron Wiki, but it's iffy at best, and I'm hoping to find some more detailed history & area breakdowns beyond the two setting books & the various novelizations.

Is the 3.5E setting guide any more or less detailed than the 4E books?

 

[MadMaxim]

I'd say you're mostly right in that dragons are nesting in Argonessen and they're mostly concerned about studying the Draconic Prophecy. However, as far as I can remember, the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting mentions that there are several "rogue" dragons who are just interested in gathering massive hoards and being "dragons" who don't give a damn about the Prophecy. I'd say it would be very plausible for a white dragon to be building its own little island "kingdom" and attacking ships that come too close or blackmail the crew of the ships to pay or threaten with turning their ships into little icebergs.

Unfortunately, I can't reccomend any websites as I don't know anyone, but I'd say that the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting is plain awesome.

 

[ourchair]

Insofar as freely available (and mostly accurate) resources on Eberron are concerned, you might want to try the Grand History of Eberron.

It's a linear description of Eberron's history, but it's also easily searchable.

The Grand History of Eberron

Also, a lot of lore experts can be found at the Eberron Lore forum on Wizards of the Coast's community pages.

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[DracoSuave]

Something very specific is the Chamber. They're Draconic Scholars that take a very hands-on shadow council Illuminati style of control in Khorvaire, directly intervening in the Draconic Prophesy for their own shadow council Illuminati ends which could be benevolent or malignant for whatever.

And this doesn't include the less shadowy master planning conspiracy-style dragons that are still being secretive and studying the Draconic Prophesy, perhaps becoming very close, attached to, or a secret member of a Dragonmarked House.

 

[DEFCON 1]

And as far as the "rogue" dragons are concerned (the ones who have left Argonessen and don't care about or bother with the Prophecy)... the do tend to be the younger ones anyway (unconcerned youth and all that typical teenager stuff). So a white wyrmling for your purposes would be fine and not go against canon at all.

 

[Osgood]

Keep in mind you are dealing with a wyrmling, it's entirely possible this young dragon knows nothing about the draconic prophecy or its homeland.

Consider the creature's back story... how did it come to be in Knorvaire and not Argonesson? Was it born here? Who were its parents? Perhaps the PCs later on meet Mamma and Pappa, who are agents of the Chamber working to some end in Khorvaire, and they left the egg on a "safe" island.... or to guard some seemingly innocent item that is key to the prophecy.

If the dragon escapes, perhaps it returns in the futures, older, wiser, and introduced to the prophesy--inadvertently--by the PCs. If any have a drgaonmark this could work well.

 

[Spatula]

I know ultimately it boils down to "I can do whatever I want," but I love the setting and I want to stay as true to it as I can.

You can do whatever you want and still stay true to the setting. One of the... features? themes? conceits? of Eberron is that no race is a monolithic anything. There are dragons who are interested in the Prophecy. There are dragons trying to guide events to fit the Prophecy. But there are also dragons who are just doing their own thing.

Is the 3.5E setting guide any more or less detailed than the 4E books?

Yes and no. The 3e ECS covers more stuff, but with less detail, I think. But then there are 3e supplements that cover most Eberron topics in-depth, including one for Argonessen and dragons.

 

[stonegod]

There are rogue dragons, sure. The smart ones stay to the more hinterlands (like Lhazaar) as the Five Nations are organized enough to deal with them; the smarter ones in the Five Nations know how to horde and stay low.

The 4E adventure for Eberron has at least one dragon in it (based in Droaam) that I believe is rogue.