Keith Baker (creator of Eberron) Q & A thread

[ironmani]

I said that it would slow you down. I ran a campaign with a warforged and no artificer. The group did just fine. But the reduced effect of healing was a significant challenge than they had to overcome.

Agreed. When I first saw the Warforged, my first response was "These guys are going to OWN!" But after you relized it takes twice as much healing to heal half the amount of hit points your cleric could have healed on the human fighter, that made me see that there were some serious drawbacks to these guys. Are they powerful? Yes. Are the game breaking, end all, apcolyptic warriors of the Munchkin end times? No. The simple fact is, every class can be abused in the wrong hands. Warforged are no diffrent. The only way I could see them being unbalancing in a games is if everyone in the group played a Warforged and insted of a cleric had a artificer for healing. Now wheres the fun in that?
*** sound of two pennies hitting the table*** and keep the change.

 

[I'm A Banana]

But after you relized it takes twice as much healing to heal half the amount of hit points your cleric could have healed on the human fighter, that made me see that there were some serious drawbacks to these guys.

The thing I have is in the pacing of adventures......never before in my campaigns have people lacked for enough healing...the moment the bard, druid, or cleric gets their hands on a wand of Cure Light Wounds, that's 50d8+50 of healing -- enough to get a part of almost any level back up to full speed if they have the time, and it's a pretty cheap magic item...once you can afford one, you're never going to need sleep for healing ever again, and the party's always interested in getting you a new one. Even reduced to half, 25d8+25 is often more than enough to keep you going each and every night.

The exceptions to this are grinders -- encounter after encounter with very little rest time in between -- and healing during battles. In this case, a Warforged will feel the pain, but it's still nothin' doin'. Half healing just means the Warforged invests in more hp and more AC than offense, and he's still clickin' along, assuming you don't have a dedicated artificer/Warforged healer....which in any party with a Warforged being the tank, your Artificer *better* be, or he's not contributing to the party.

Half healing, IMXP, is a strain, but it's nothing that compensates for, say, being immune to level drain. It's a pain in the butt, but it won't result in your untimely demise. But immunity to level drain will save your hide.

Half healing -- it hurts, but not nearly enough, I think. Especially with the availability of a wand of CLW or RLD....it's meh.

But I'm giving them their first try-out this week, so we'll see what it's like.

 

[Kabol]

Hey KB - Like everyone before me let me jsut say, I really Love the setting - really clicks well with me. Very detailed and full of flavor and excitement.

Ok, my Question/Comment type thingy ( brought it up at http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=93337 )

Ok - reading thought the Artificer, it looks really nice, im loveing the ability to make and use magic items. But, When i look up Use Magic Device it just seems that the DCs are very very high ( quicken wand spells up to 40+ ). This seems to put low lvl Artificers are a very hard disadvantage. As you wont be able to use wands/scrolls reliably untill around 5-8th level or so ( 20+ DCs ). I can understand that for a Rogue, but an Artificer jsut seesm very High

Did you really mean for an artificer to only have a +2 advantage over a rogue in activating magical items? Am i seeing the class wrong, that i feel that the use of magical items should be Much easier for them?

 

[DanMcS]

Hey Keith, thanks for popping in here to do this.

Can you say anything about the development of the map of Khorvaire? Was this something you came up with, was it part of your 10 page submission or the 100+ page setting bible? The similarities between the map of that continent and the map of Cerilia (from Birthright) are striking.

Not that I'm complaining.

 

[fredramsey]

Things Not to Do in Future Products (IMHO)

Love the setting, it beat out my $200 worth of Kalamar stuff to be my next campaign.

That said, a bit of advice: Don't put out products that enforce an overall story. Let us advance Eberron the way we see fit. Reason being; I love using good expansions that come out, but I hate having to filter out decisions that have been made for me that I have already arrived at story-wise.

Also, I would love to see a lot of the mysteries of the world NOT revealed in products. For the same reasons as above.

I know it's not up to you, but maybe you can pass those thoughts along.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Zhaneel]

Love the setting, it beat out my $200 worth of Kalamar stuff to be my next campaign.

That said, a bit of advice: Don't put out products that enforce an overall story. Let us advance Eberron the way we see fit. Reason being; I love using good expansions that come out, but I hate having to filter out decisions that have been made for me that I have already arrived at story-wise.

Also, I would love to see a lot of the mysteries of the world NOT revealed in products. For the same reasons as above.

I know it's not up to you, but maybe you can pass those thoughts along.

Thanks for your time.

Out of curiosity, what products would you like to see then?

I mean, we know they've got at least 3 novels planned already. Most of which should just be setting style stuff, but might have some more advance about the wars/allainces. And I can't see certain campaigns being planned for the higher level characters that don't involve secrets being revealed and/or advancing the plot.

On the theory that WotC is a company that wants to make money, they have to release products. So, what products do you want that don't advance the story or reveal secrets?

Zhaneel

 

[Dr. Harry]

Keith,

While I have not yet purchased Eberron, I have enjoyed Crime & Punishment, the book you wrote for Atlas.

I recently reread the Terry Pratchett novel Feet of Clay, and the questions dealt with in the book (concerning the sentience of golems, and their struggle to get this recognized). The applicability of this book to a world/campaign including the warforged will (I hope) be immediately apparent to anyone who has read the book.

I would like to ask Keith if he has read this book, and recommend it to anyone playing a Warforged character.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

So, what products do you want that don't advance the story or reveal secrets?

Zhaneel

How about products that detail historical events, leaving the future to DM's? There are hundreds of book possibilities here, both RPG and novel. A novel with a climax of Cyre's destruction and creation of the Mournland would be no less compelling just because we know the end result in advance. The devil is in the details! - Most people still enjoy reading WW2 fiction/movies even though we know the Axis lost.

Current plots/adventures/novels that don't involve a complete restructuring of the multiverse and/or the planetary diety portfolio are just fine too IMO.

 

[Hellcow]

I'm afraid I have a lot of work piling up, so it will be a few days before I can answer all of these questions. I'll get to everything as time permits.

Since warforged casters can not wear robes can they be enchanted as if they were wearing a robe of the archmagi?

I don't see why not, but I'd personally rule that this supercedes armor enhancement, so you can't end up with a +5 warforged of the archmagi and etherealness. Treat your body as a robe or as armor, your choice, and enchant it accordingly.

But as always, bear in mind that my answers are not official and may be contradicted in future products.

Also, if a character had the necessary feats and resources, could they enchant themselves instead of relying upon another person to do the work?

Since a warforged can use Craft skills on itself, I'd allow it. But remember, even though the warforged doesn't need to sleep, 8 hours is the maximum time that can be spent working on a magic item each day. It's not about the need for sleep (as elves only need 4 hours, but suffer the same limitations) -- it's the laws of magic at work.

 

[Hellcow]

When i look up Use Magic Device it just seems that the DCs are very very high ( quicken wand spells up to 40+ )

Well, first off, I have to agree with the other folks: Artificers are really going to want to pump up Use Magic Device. They don't have to put all their feats into it -- in one of my campaigns, the artificer went for Magical Aptitude and Point Blank Shot -- but there's a lot to be said for doing so. Just as a fighter is going to focus on combat feats and wizards will draw on metamagic feats, an Artificer should seriously look at Skill Focus and Magical Aptitude.

With that said, a focused artificer can get very good with UMD. At, say, 3rd level, any artificer could have the following:
6 ranks Use Magic Device
5 ranks Spellcraft
14 Charisma
Magical Aptitude
Skill Focus (UMD)
Creation Feats: Scribe Scroll, Brew Potion, Craft Wondrous Item
Artisan Bonus
This would provide a base +13 UMD, +15 if using wondrous items, +17 if using scrolls.
At this level, it would be odd for the character to be using scrolls of spells above 2nd level, which would put the DC at 23 -- not bad odds with a +17 modifier.

At the same time, you say that a wand could have a DC of up to 40. From my read of UMD, wands have a flat use DC of 20; the spell level is not a factor. *Scrolls* are an issue, and yes, a scroll with a caster level of 20 will have a DC of 40. But with a caster level of 20, this is some of the most powerful magic on the planet. And if the Artificer is a 20th-level artificer who's kept pace with his UMD, we're talking about a +34 UMD bonus, not counting any increase in Charisma, Charisma-enhancing items, skill enhancement, or cross-class Decipher Script. If he's kept his focus and is using items that match his level, he should be fine. If he's working outside his level, it will be more difficult.

This seems to put low lvl Artificers are a very hard disadvantage. As you wont be able to use wands/scrolls reliably untill around 5-8th level or so ( 20+ DCs ). I can understand that for a Rogue, but an Artificer jsut seesm very High.

Well, at 3rd level the artificer can't create a wand, so the idea that he should be able to use it because he can create it doesn't add up. 7th level is when he automatically gains the feat, and at that point he can have a total UMD modifier of +19 for Wands (assuming he hasn't increased Charisma)... which against a DC fixed at 20 is pretty good odds. Below that, yes, it's a challenge -- but even the 3rd level character with a +13 UMD has a better that 50% chance of getting a wand to work.

Did you really mean for an artificer to only have a +2 advantage over a rogue in activating magical items? Am i seeing the class wrong, that i feel that the use of magical items should be Much easier for them?

One could argue that the rogue should have a greater edge over the artificer when it comes to disabling devices or picking locks. Both have the potential to do either task -- use a magic item or pick a lock. The question is, which are you going to focus on? If the rogue dedicates his character idea to being able to use magic items, buys the feats, invests the skill points -- I'm happy to let him almost match the artificer (since the artificer will *still* have the edge from his Artisan bonus). Likewise, the artificer *could* match the rogue's lockpicking skills if that's where he puts his points -- but that will keep him from investing them in crafting abilities. There's the potential of the character, and then there's the logical point spread; my guess is that the typical artificer will be much better with UMD than the typical rogue, but that's a choice he makes.

The other thing to remember is that UMD is a cross-class skill for almost every class. The fact that it's already a class skill for the artificer is a huge advantage in this field.

In a sense, the artificer is like an auto mechanic, while the rogue with UMD is a car thief. Both know how to hotwire cars if they have to -- the artificer because he knows how they're designed, the rogue because he's learned the tricks of his trade. But any time the artificer wants to use a car without the keys, he still has to hotwire it, and that's still a chore; he can't just slap the car on the hood and make it start. The artificer's specialty is making magic items, and that gives him access to the ability to use them -- it doesn't automatically allow him to do it.

I'll also note that UMD is extremely important for spell storing item -- so the feats are definitely a worthwhile investment, whether you get them right away or later in life.