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Eberron: Rising from the Last War - A Review
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<blockquote data-quote="Aaron L" data-source="post: 7868921" data-attributes="member: 926"><p>I <em>really</em> like <u>Eberron: Rising From the Last War</u>, and I am surprised at how much I do. It actually makes me want to play an Eberron campaign right away. Ventrix d'Cannith, a Battlesmith Artificer Dragonmarked heir of House Cannith with a souped-up magitech prosthetic arm, accompanied by a wolflike mini mecha Steel Defender and a little hovering homunculus 'bot floating at his shoulder (à la Booster Gold's Skeets.)</p><p></p><p>Just reading the book, especially the Artificer class, the House Agent Background, and the way Dragonmarked characters are handled, gives me <em>all kinds</em> of ideas for using technomagical gadgets (I love technomagical stuff) to cast spells; lots of buttons and readouts and doodads on his magitech cyborg arm to create spell affects, an infused glaive that's all rigged up with dragonshard inlays, crystal buttons, and arcane circuitry runes that turn it into a magical riflestaff arcane focus, and a wandsheath integrated into his magitech cyborg arm with a wand of lightning to create a pop-up lightning cannon... just lots of magitech gadgets covered with glowing crystals and silver rings and fins, like Buck Rogers sci-fi wizardry rayguns. Total Weird Science stuff!</p><p></p><p>(The Artillerist Artificer specialization also gave me lots of cool character ideas; wielding an Arcane Firearm in one hand and a handheld Eldritch Cannon in the other, both looking like magitech Buck Rogers rayguns with glowing crystals and silver rings/fins, and then later at 15th level when they get a second Eldritch Cannon he could mount it on the shoulder of his magitech cyborg arm like the Predator's Plasmacaster instead of giving it legs to walk around by itself. A quirky Mad Scientist character wielding a Wand of Fire Arcane Firearm/Fire Bolt Gun in one hand and a Force Ballista Eldritch cannon in the other [and later a second Force Ballista Eldritch Cannon mounted on his shoulder, which also serves as a launcher for his <em>Fireball </em>spells] and an embedded Lightning Cannon [a Wand of Lightning in a Wand Sheath built into his cyborg arm] would just be one <strong><em>Hell</em></strong> of a lot of fun to play!)</p><p></p><p>A visor with a dragonshard lens that creates a HUD readout for <em>Detect </em>and <em>Identify</em> spells and various other types of detection-spells and Infusion items like <em>Eyes of the Eagle</em>, a <em>Lantern of Revealing</em>, and a <em>Gem of Seeing</em>; a set of <em>Message</em> spell and <em>Sending Stone</em> Infusion communicator devices; a pair of leather gloves lined with silver runic circuitry that function as combined <em>Mage Hand </em>and <em>Bigby's Hand</em> Nintendo Power Glove-style control gauntlets, a set of <em>Cloak</em> and <em>Boots of Elvenkind</em> Infusion items made of specially treated glamerweave lined with silver runic circuitry, which are networked to a belt-mounted control unit that ties them together with a set of rings that function as arcane foci for <em>False Life</em> and <em>Shield </em>spells but are also all networked to <em>Brooch of Shielding </em>and <em>Ring </em>and <em>Cloak of Protection </em>Infusion items, all as part of a unified forcefield/cloaking projection system; an <em>Arcane Propulsion Arm </em>magitech cyborg arm with a small emitter on the back of the hand that envelops the fist in an offensive forcefield (the <em>Arcane Propulsion Arm</em> actually causes Force damage) with a rocket punch function, multiple small crystal buttons and keys around a crystal screen with a magi-digital readout embedded in the forearm, and several Eberron dragonshards and retractable emitters embedded along the length of the arm, the back of the wrist, the fingertips, and the palm to serve as energy emitters for multiple programmable spell and Infusion effects, such as <em>Cure Wounds </em>or<em> Horn of Blasting</em>; a <em>Create Food and Water</em> food-replicator unit; all these wearable magitech devices are powered by a battery of magical capacitors lining a belt around the waist which absorb and store magical energies from the wearer throughout the day, and the capacitor batteries are also able to release an explosive discharge (a <em>Thunderclap</em> spell) when activated; all these gadgets and devices would be connected by small cables and wires to the arcane capacitor batteries on the waist, to waist- and wrist-mounted control units and supplementary batteries, with the main control unit and readout being a crystal touchscreen display and a series of crystal keys embedded in the forearm of the magitech cyborg arm beside the <em>Wand Sheath</em>; the arm would also have multiple USB-style slots for integrating more devices into the system, and would also have multiple small slots for inserting <em>Spellshard </em>books allowing them to be read on the arm display, and multiple slots for inserting dragonshard spell scrolls allowing them to be cast through the <em>Wand Sheath</em> arm cannon (an Artificer can use any Infusion item as an arcane focus.)</p><p></p><p>And finally the main weapon/tool: a glaive rigged- and Artificed-up as far as possible to serve as a multipurpose selectable riflestaff, with a series of glowing Khyber dragonshard capacitors embedded in the haft, covered with silver rings and fins (like a Bich Rogers raygun), with thin slices of dragonshard inlaid on the haft and in a series on both sides of the blade, with the haft and blade etched with silver runic circuitry patterns inlaid along the length, so that the whole glaive serves as a variable arcane focus riflestaff, with each spell to be selected by a specific series of crystal key press inputs: it can serve as a <em>Fire Bolt</em>, <em>Ray of Frost</em>, and <em>Conjure Volley </em>cannon, a <em>Magic Stone</em> and <em>Catapult</em> launcher, a <em>Shocking Grasp</em> stunstaff, <em>Elemental Weapon</em> energy emitter crystals along the haft and blade, with the spell selection able to be modified by altering the runic circuitry pathways with special silver solder and swapping out crystal capacitors all using Tinker's and Jeweler's Tools during a long rest. All the spells are cast by keying in the right sequence on the crystal buttons, which causes the dragonshard below the blade to flare and send a pulse of energy down along the circuitry in the haft to another dragonshard at the butt end, then the pulse shoots back up the circuitry on haft to the blade, flows through the circuitry on the blade and lights up the dragonshards in sequence, and finally projects the spell through a final dragonshard emitter crystal at the tip of the blade. It would work through a whole series of runic circuitry connecting sets of Eberron dragonshard indicator lights and energy emitters embedded in the haft and inlaid on the blade, and a series of small Khyber dragonshard capacitors embedded in the top and bottom ends of the haft to store up magical energy absorbed from the caster. (I have a whole set of magitech principles worked out in my head to give a unified sense of verisimilitude to how the magitech works, principles that the character could spout as technobabble. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> ) And more Infusion items like <em>Winged Boots</em> that are actually magitech steel hover-boots with glowing lightbars on the heals that allow flight by projecting a forcfield around the feet, a <em>Belt of Hill Giant Strength</em> that is actually the central control unit of a suit of half plate power armor, and a heavy crossbow with folding pop-out bow arms with the Repeating Shot Infusion that is the focus of a Flame Arrows spell, creating a semi-auto plasmabolt launcher that generates its own ammo... just so many <strong>incredibly rad </strong>ideas!</p><p></p><p>I just love the old '30s pulp <strong><em>Weird Fiction</em></strong> genre, the kind of stuff Lovecraft and his contemporaries wrote before <strong><em>Science-Fiction</em></strong> and <strong><em>Fantasy </em></strong>became separated into distinct genres, and I realized Eberron is an exemplar of that genre and it gave me a whole new appreciation for the setting.</p><p></p><p>Like I said, I really like the way Dragonmarks are handled as variant races/subraces, and how each 'Mark is given expanded spell lists that add spells known to any spellcasting class the character has. I assume this represents the progression through Least/Lesser/Greater Dragonmarks; if you have a Dragonmark it first naturally manifests as a Least Dragonmark, but if you also enter a magic-using class you learn to channel your magic through your 'Mark and your increasing spellcasting ability expands the power of the 'Mark, like exercising a magical muscle, and that causes the 'Mark to grow into the larger Lesser and Greater Dragonmarks, with accompanying expanded magical abilities. I really like how they handled it.</p><p></p><p>I didn't expect to like it so much but I really do, and it actually surprises me just how much it has inspired me to want to play some Eberron!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aaron L, post: 7868921, member: 926"] I [I]really[/I] like [U]Eberron: Rising From the Last War[/U], and I am surprised at how much I do. It actually makes me want to play an Eberron campaign right away. Ventrix d'Cannith, a Battlesmith Artificer Dragonmarked heir of House Cannith with a souped-up magitech prosthetic arm, accompanied by a wolflike mini mecha Steel Defender and a little hovering homunculus 'bot floating at his shoulder (à la Booster Gold's Skeets.) Just reading the book, especially the Artificer class, the House Agent Background, and the way Dragonmarked characters are handled, gives me [I]all kinds[/I] of ideas for using technomagical gadgets (I love technomagical stuff) to cast spells; lots of buttons and readouts and doodads on his magitech cyborg arm to create spell affects, an infused glaive that's all rigged up with dragonshard inlays, crystal buttons, and arcane circuitry runes that turn it into a magical riflestaff arcane focus, and a wandsheath integrated into his magitech cyborg arm with a wand of lightning to create a pop-up lightning cannon... just lots of magitech gadgets covered with glowing crystals and silver rings and fins, like Buck Rogers sci-fi wizardry rayguns. Total Weird Science stuff! (The Artillerist Artificer specialization also gave me lots of cool character ideas; wielding an Arcane Firearm in one hand and a handheld Eldritch Cannon in the other, both looking like magitech Buck Rogers rayguns with glowing crystals and silver rings/fins, and then later at 15th level when they get a second Eldritch Cannon he could mount it on the shoulder of his magitech cyborg arm like the Predator's Plasmacaster instead of giving it legs to walk around by itself. A quirky Mad Scientist character wielding a Wand of Fire Arcane Firearm/Fire Bolt Gun in one hand and a Force Ballista Eldritch cannon in the other [and later a second Force Ballista Eldritch Cannon mounted on his shoulder, which also serves as a launcher for his [I]Fireball [/I]spells] and an embedded Lightning Cannon [a Wand of Lightning in a Wand Sheath built into his cyborg arm] would just be one [B][I]Hell[/I][/B] of a lot of fun to play!) A visor with a dragonshard lens that creates a HUD readout for [I]Detect [/I]and [I]Identify[/I] spells and various other types of detection-spells and Infusion items like [I]Eyes of the Eagle[/I], a [I]Lantern of Revealing[/I], and a [I]Gem of Seeing[/I]; a set of [I]Message[/I] spell and [I]Sending Stone[/I] Infusion communicator devices; a pair of leather gloves lined with silver runic circuitry that function as combined [I]Mage Hand [/I]and [I]Bigby's Hand[/I] Nintendo Power Glove-style control gauntlets, a set of [I]Cloak[/I] and [I]Boots of Elvenkind[/I] Infusion items made of specially treated glamerweave lined with silver runic circuitry, which are networked to a belt-mounted control unit that ties them together with a set of rings that function as arcane foci for [I]False Life[/I] and [I]Shield [/I]spells but are also all networked to [I]Brooch of Shielding [/I]and [I]Ring [/I]and [I]Cloak of Protection [/I]Infusion items, all as part of a unified forcefield/cloaking projection system; an [I]Arcane Propulsion Arm [/I]magitech cyborg arm with a small emitter on the back of the hand that envelops the fist in an offensive forcefield (the [I]Arcane Propulsion Arm[/I] actually causes Force damage) with a rocket punch function, multiple small crystal buttons and keys around a crystal screen with a magi-digital readout embedded in the forearm, and several Eberron dragonshards and retractable emitters embedded along the length of the arm, the back of the wrist, the fingertips, and the palm to serve as energy emitters for multiple programmable spell and Infusion effects, such as [I]Cure Wounds [/I]or[I] Horn of Blasting[/I]; a [I]Create Food and Water[/I] food-replicator unit; all these wearable magitech devices are powered by a battery of magical capacitors lining a belt around the waist which absorb and store magical energies from the wearer throughout the day, and the capacitor batteries are also able to release an explosive discharge (a [I]Thunderclap[/I] spell) when activated; all these gadgets and devices would be connected by small cables and wires to the arcane capacitor batteries on the waist, to waist- and wrist-mounted control units and supplementary batteries, with the main control unit and readout being a crystal touchscreen display and a series of crystal keys embedded in the forearm of the magitech cyborg arm beside the [I]Wand Sheath[/I]; the arm would also have multiple USB-style slots for integrating more devices into the system, and would also have multiple small slots for inserting [I]Spellshard [/I]books allowing them to be read on the arm display, and multiple slots for inserting dragonshard spell scrolls allowing them to be cast through the [I]Wand Sheath[/I] arm cannon (an Artificer can use any Infusion item as an arcane focus.) And finally the main weapon/tool: a glaive rigged- and Artificed-up as far as possible to serve as a multipurpose selectable riflestaff, with a series of glowing Khyber dragonshard capacitors embedded in the haft, covered with silver rings and fins (like a Bich Rogers raygun), with thin slices of dragonshard inlaid on the haft and in a series on both sides of the blade, with the haft and blade etched with silver runic circuitry patterns inlaid along the length, so that the whole glaive serves as a variable arcane focus riflestaff, with each spell to be selected by a specific series of crystal key press inputs: it can serve as a [I]Fire Bolt[/I], [I]Ray of Frost[/I], and [I]Conjure Volley [/I]cannon, a [I]Magic Stone[/I] and [I]Catapult[/I] launcher, a [I]Shocking Grasp[/I] stunstaff, [I]Elemental Weapon[/I] energy emitter crystals along the haft and blade, with the spell selection able to be modified by altering the runic circuitry pathways with special silver solder and swapping out crystal capacitors all using Tinker's and Jeweler's Tools during a long rest. All the spells are cast by keying in the right sequence on the crystal buttons, which causes the dragonshard below the blade to flare and send a pulse of energy down along the circuitry in the haft to another dragonshard at the butt end, then the pulse shoots back up the circuitry on haft to the blade, flows through the circuitry on the blade and lights up the dragonshards in sequence, and finally projects the spell through a final dragonshard emitter crystal at the tip of the blade. It would work through a whole series of runic circuitry connecting sets of Eberron dragonshard indicator lights and energy emitters embedded in the haft and inlaid on the blade, and a series of small Khyber dragonshard capacitors embedded in the top and bottom ends of the haft to store up magical energy absorbed from the caster. (I have a whole set of magitech principles worked out in my head to give a unified sense of verisimilitude to how the magitech works, principles that the character could spout as technobabble. ;) ) And more Infusion items like [I]Winged Boots[/I] that are actually magitech steel hover-boots with glowing lightbars on the heals that allow flight by projecting a forcfield around the feet, a [I]Belt of Hill Giant Strength[/I] that is actually the central control unit of a suit of half plate power armor, and a heavy crossbow with folding pop-out bow arms with the Repeating Shot Infusion that is the focus of a Flame Arrows spell, creating a semi-auto plasmabolt launcher that generates its own ammo... just so many [B]incredibly rad [/B]ideas! I just love the old '30s pulp [B][I]Weird Fiction[/I][/B] genre, the kind of stuff Lovecraft and his contemporaries wrote before [B][I]Science-Fiction[/I][/B] and [B][I]Fantasy [/I][/B]became separated into distinct genres, and I realized Eberron is an exemplar of that genre and it gave me a whole new appreciation for the setting. Like I said, I really like the way Dragonmarks are handled as variant races/subraces, and how each 'Mark is given expanded spell lists that add spells known to any spellcasting class the character has. I assume this represents the progression through Least/Lesser/Greater Dragonmarks; if you have a Dragonmark it first naturally manifests as a Least Dragonmark, but if you also enter a magic-using class you learn to channel your magic through your 'Mark and your increasing spellcasting ability expands the power of the 'Mark, like exercising a magical muscle, and that causes the 'Mark to grow into the larger Lesser and Greater Dragonmarks, with accompanying expanded magical abilities. I really like how they handled it. I didn't expect to like it so much but I really do, and it actually surprises me just how much it has inspired me to want to play some Eberron! [/QUOTE]
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