Keith Baker (creator of Eberron) Q & A thread

[Saeviomagy]

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.

Well - if he's investing more in hp and defense, he's sacrificing offense. IOW he's made a sacrifice fo his powers... So where's the problem?

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.

Level drain is exactly the same as hitpoint damage for effect - it's a little nasty when it happens, but after the fight you just let the cleric refill you and the problem is over. And if he can't refill you, you leave, rest up and then get him to refill you. It's just different spells. I've never known anyone willing to continue adventuring with negative levels onboard.

The only thing the warforged has over a flesh-and-bone adventurer is that he personally doesn't need to stop for that. But if the rest of the party does, being able to continue doesn't actually aid him.

Frankly IMXP, level drain has just made the cleric's job much more boring, because he's memorising an entire spell level of restorations instead of actually being able to have fun. He loses the big bennie to clerics in 3rd, which is spontaneous catering to party needs, and is back to being a heal machine. And that sucks. More or less the same goes for poisons - except that the penalties for poisons are much more tenable, and people are much more likely to continue adventuring while poisoned - providing it doesn't hamper their character too bad.

 

[fredramsey]

Bump

 

[robotron666]

Dragonmarks

Heya Keith! Glad to see you are so active in responding to the questions of everyone here on the board.

I have a couple of quick questions regarding Dragonmarks.

1.) Is it possible for a 1st level PC to take 2 house dragonmarks? Right now I can't seem to find any mechanical restrictions that prevent me from creating a character that does so. The only thing I can see are potential ramifications for GM's and storylines.

2.) If this is the case, and a player can take 2 house dragonmarks, how would you treat the dragonmark heir prestige class. Would the class have to be taken trwice in order to exploit the power of both dragonmarks?

3.) Will the powers and uses of Dragonmarks be expanded upon? Right now they seem like an interesting side branch of (SP) abilities for player characters. In the future will we see feat trees that allow for spontaneous, heightened, and quickened use? Is there a chance that some metamagic effects can be applied to a dragonmark's spell like abilities?

4.) Xen'Drik is a pretty interesting place, and I'm hoping we get to see some material on it soon, any chance you can give us a bit of a heads up on when we can expect a Xen'Drik book or adventure?

 

[apsuman]

I thought of a new question:

When you designed eberron, did you only consider the core 3.5 books (PHB, DMG, MM, etc.) or did you also consider other third party products as well?

 

[Knight Otu]

1.) Is it possible for a 1st level PC to take 2 house dragonmarks? Right now I can't seem to find any mechanical restrictions that prevent me from creating a character that does so.

As a single feat, Least Dragonmark can only be taken once. So, no, you cannot gain multiple dragonmarks.

 

[robotron666]

As a single feat, Least Dragonmark can only be taken once. So, no, you cannot gain multiple dragonmarks.

Ah! Of course. There is no special text saying that you can take it more than once. My bad .

Ignore question 2 then.

 

[I'm A Banana]

My Experience: Part ONE!

Level drain is exactly the same as hitpoint damage for effect - it's a little nasty when it happens, but after the fight you just let the cleric refill you and the problem is over.....Frankly IMXP, level drain has just made the cleric's job much more boring, because he's memorising an entire spell level of restorations instead of actually being able to have fun.

See, here's the rub, and here's why level drain isn't the same as hp damage. There's a lot of hp's. There aren't that many levels. One or two enervations could off ya, and hinders you a LOT while you're wounded...hit point damage doesn't make you loose magic, loose attack bonus, loose save bonus...level drain hurts a lot more than a sword wound.

Similarly, with poison...it's dangerous to your life BECAUSE it doesn't hurt hit points....it goes right around them to ability scores, and it hurts more than your ability to take a sword blow -- it affects your ability to take the next poison.

And like you said, the cleric can't spontaneously heal these things -- this also makes them more dangerous, because if the cleric *hasn't* prepared a restoration for the day, doesn't have a wand or a couple of scrolls, you're not so easily filled back up...and they sap a resource that hp's don't. Higher level magic, more effort involved, a bigger drain on the resources, a more powerful attack, that at least one member of the party can avoid. There's entire creatures built around the fact that they can level drain or CON damage with poison, and those are powerful abilities. With a Warforged as a front-line fighter, these become trivial things that it's only a matter of time before you kill, and that's something that makes an encounter easier, mandating a shift in the CR/XP meter....blahblahblah....

But hey, had my first Eberron session last night...found out what the party was and I have my suspicions already. Two Warforged (Barbarian and Fighter, named "Atat" and "Killingyouguy" respectively), an Elf Necromancer ("Aeshe"), a gnomish artificer ("Tonks"), and a human paladin of the Silver Flame ("Jonas of the Shifter's Bane"). Some memorable comments (note that some of the jokes are a bit ribald, hope not to offend Eric's Grandma).

During Character Creation:
Me: "What, no halflings? No dwarves? No cleric? That might make things tough, guys..."
Warforged Barb: "Well, halflings are tribal, we're starting in Sharn, it's a metropolis, *something* tells me our first few levels won't be taming dinosaurs."
Warforged Fighter: "I looked at dwarf, but when I'm going for a tank...compared to Warforged, whadda they get, no Wis penalty? No stability bonus? (sarcasm) OH NOES!!! NO BULLSRUSHES FO MEEE! (/sarcasm). It's okay, because killin' things works good. Where's a feat for dwarves that gives 'em 50% dagger immunity? DR, baby! I'm totally immune to peasants."
Human Paladin: "Well, I can lay on hands, that'll help a little, in the abscence of a cleric."
Elf Necromancer: "Oh! I've got some spells that let me steal hp! [DM's Note: We're using some of my homebrew stuff, there's a 1st level ranged touch spell that transfers 1d2 hp/caster level from enemy to spellcaster] I don't have that many, so with Lay on Hands I should be fine...just make sure to keep things away from me, tanks. And you better!"
Warforged Barb: "Remember, Aeshe, Killingyouguy and me are immune to a lot of your magic, so if you've got area-affect ownage, lay it down."
Gnome Artificer: "And I can heal you two pretty easy...with SCIENCE!"
Warforged Barb: "Ah, but can you Blind us with it? Because that would be my cue!"
Gnome Artificer: "No, but if I was a cleric, I'd be able to...I wanted to be one, but with our tanks being robots, I figured you guys needed me like this."
Elf Necromancer: "I could pull a bit of healing duty, too..."
Gnome Artificer: "Not with four hp, you can't. Go hide behind your wall of skeletons, girlie, we'll tackle these guys."
Me: "If you wanna be a cleric, be a cleric, it's my job to adapt the adventure, not yours to play a class you don't like."
Gnome Artificer: "No, I like it, I wanna try it out...I just figure a cleric of artifice would almost be cooler. But I've got that if Tonks dies."
Me: "You guys don't have a rogue/bard/diplomat thing, do ya?"
Gnome Artificer: "I've got astonishingly high charisma for a woman who spends all her time indoors playing with wands. I need it for UMD."
Warforged Fighter: "Hey, do you guys remember that joke where you replace ever occurance of "wand" in a harry potter book with "wang."...."
*laughter ensues*
Gnome Artificer: "Yes, my female gnome has amazing charisma because she's always playing with "wands", you perverts..."
Warforged Barbarian: "Well, if she's got high Charisma, she's probably a huuuuuge wandslut."
Gnome Artificer: "And you're a walking vibartor. Let's play."
*******
[DM's Note on Adventure Design: My quests involve a load of treasure and a load of encounters because my advancement for parties is very fast...usually once every adventure...so if you're wondering why they're at 900-2,700 gp apeice so quickly, and why I've got CR 3 critters vs. level 1 party, it's because of that -- they're risky, but they're profitable! Plus, I usually don't map things out...when there's a maze, I call for Survival checks to avoid getting lost, and depending upon the difficulty, up the DC. I may map out a combat environment, but otherwise, largely, no...]
Later, on the adventure:
...
Me: "Okay, the guard takes one look at you striding down the staircase, and raises his lips to his horn, blown to alert the tower..."
Atat: "What are you doing, Dave? I don't think that's a good idea, Dave."
*minor scuffle ensues*
Me: "The guard looks terrified from his place on the ground, you can see the whites of his eyes as he looks up, saying "With what authority?! By whose command?! Who are you?""
Killingyouguy: ""I am Robocop." Then I put my sword through his face. "Justice has been served.""
Jonas: "Would you like fries with that?"
...
Tonks: "I take out my wang...er...wand...and repair you with it"
Atat: "You touch me with your wang and repair us with science?"
Tonks: "*sigh* yes."
Atat: "Wierd sciecne..."
Tonks: "You know, if you don't stop your '80's-fu, I'm going to start calling you Tron."
Atat: "Trons....formers! I'm red alert!"
Killingyouguy: "Shut up, Bumblebee."
Atat: "awwww...."
Tonks: "This is going to happen every time I repair you hosers, isn't it..."
...
Me: "All right, one of the dwarves lifts his workman's hammer high and charges at Atat."
Atat (already wounded): "Eep!"
Killingyouguy: "He's passing through the area I threaten with my glaive, I get a potshot."
*rolls dice, hits, kills the dwarf*
Me: "As the dwarf runs, Killingyouguy thrusts out his..its...polearm, and clotheslines the dwarf at neck hieght. The dwarf falls down, and doesn't move again."
Atat: ""Domo argigato, Mr. Roboto.""
Tonks: ""Okay, that's it, zip your lips, or whatever, Tron.""
Atat: ""Zip my lips....with science?!""
Tonks: *throws dice*
...
*they had reached the BBEG for the adventure, a slavemaster who was recruiting dwarves to make Warforged parts deep in the bowels of Sharn*
Jonas: ""I've faught off your guards, I've killed some of your workers, I even gave the Meenlocks you hired to kidnap the poor dwarves a stern beatdown...now, I face you, with my staunch companions, Nulla, and I ask, in all seriousness: Why dwarves?""
Me (as Nulla): ""I'm sorry, what?""
Jonas: ""I mean, yeah, they make it *pretty*, but so what? I've got two warforged here that never need to eat, never need to sleep, and never get fatigued...it wouldn't even be *cruel* to make them work for you...I'm sure they'd be happy, insofar as they can comprehend human emotion!""
Me (as Nulla): ""Uhm...are....wait, are you suggesting I get rid of my workforce of dwarves and recruit Warforged instead?""
Jonas: ""Look, in a city this size, there's bound to be some Warforged who've just broken...let your dwarves go, sign me on as co-crafter so I can watch over you and make sure you're being upright and moral, and my artificer friend and I will scour the streets, repair constructs, and deliver them right to you, for a reasonable cut of the profits...y'know, as penance, for enslaving the dwarves.""
Me (as Nulla): ""You...you don't want to kill me for my evil acts?""
Jonas: ""Oh, my dear, the Church preaches not vengeance! Simply to eradicate evil! If you let the dwarves free, you won't be doing evil, you'll be doing good! And that'll start you on the path to reform! You don't even have to give up your industry, just change the creatures working for you!""
Me: "Uhm, Jonas, this is a pretty extreme deviation...make a Diplomacy check..."
Tonks: "I'll aid another for him. I like the idea."
*rolls some dice, succeeds in convincing Nulla to convert*
Me (as Nulla): ""Well...I suppose all that you say makes sense...and you will help me and aid me and support me in this industry?""
Jonas: ""For the proper penance, my poor, misguided soul, of course! In fact, I'll start you off with these two! Isn't that right, Killingyouguy...Tron....""
Killingyouguy: ""Well, as long as I'm repaired, I guess I'm not doing anything else with my time...just sitting there...thinking robot thoughts...hey, I even have the Craft skill.""
Atat/Tron: ""I can go into rage and forge twice as hard! This probably means we also get a discount on the items we make for 'em.""
Jonas: ""Bingo. So whaddaya say, Nulla? Release the dwarves, pay the penance and all will be forgiven!""
Me (as Nulla): ""You sure that it's okay to enslave Warforged?""
Jonas: ""Of course! They're merely machines! Constructs! They are made, not born...we may as well use them while they're around, for the betterment of the sentient peoples! They are tools! We must use them! And since they don't get tired or suffer from deprivation, it's not only not painful to them, it also means you can have 24 hours of straight production a day!""
Me (as Nulla): ""Well, I'll be rich! And you won't kill me! Can't object to that!""
>>>END ADVENTURE<<<

Things I Noticed:
#1: The Artificer was annoyed at only having Repair duty, and not being able to do much else.
#2: DR makes you immune to peasants, Construct makes you immune to necromancy
#3: Aye, the jokes!

So question to Keith, if he hasn't ignore-listed me:

What was the average jokes about warforged/session with warforged in it? It's probably just my group, or the fact that it's new, but man...

 

[Patlin]

Half Giants in Ebberon

I know that "If it's in D&D, it has a place in Eberron" but I was wondering if you would comment on the idea of Half-Giants in Eberron. Do you have any idea where they would fit in best?

I've been toying with the idea of a Half-Giant PC from Sarlona, decended from some of the few survivors of an alternate and ultimately abandoned genetic experiment -- an off branch of the process that created the Inspired. The Rierdrans want to exterminate them, of course, and to get off the continent my PC served as a mercenary in the Last War.

The other major possibility is Xendrick, but I can't see the Giants as described willingly mixing with humans. However, if the inspired have some fiendish ancestry, Giant ancestry shouldn't be too hard...

 

[Saeviomagy]

See, here's the rub, and here's why level drain isn't the same as hp damage. There's a lot of hp's. There aren't that many levels. One or two enervations could off ya, and hinders you a LOT while you're wounded...hit point damage doesn't make you loose magic, loose attack bonus, loose save bonus...level drain hurts a lot more than a sword wound.

True, but there are other powers which do the same. And instant, or near instant death were never fun.

Similarly, with poison...it's dangerous to your life BECAUSE it doesn't hurt hit points....it goes right around them to ability scores, and it hurts more than your ability to take a sword blow -- it affects your ability to take the next poison.

Meh. If you poison people, it'll be one of two kinds - 1: it doesn't really do much, and the adventure continues. The poisoned individual heals up naturally. 2: It's really nasty, and the adventure halts to get it fixed. Both scenarios still happen in a party containing warforged.

And like you said, the cleric can't spontaneously heal these things -- this also makes them more dangerous, because if the cleric *hasn't* prepared a restoration for the day, doesn't have a wand or a couple of scrolls, you're not so easily filled back up...and they sap a resource that hp's don't. Higher level magic, more effort involved, a bigger drain on the resources, a more powerful attack, that at least one member of the party can avoid. There's entire creatures built around the fact that they can level drain or CON damage with poison, and those are powerful abilities. With a Warforged as a front-line fighter, these become trivial things that it's only a matter of time before you kill, and that's something that makes an encounter easier, mandating a shift in the CR/XP meter....blahblahblah....

Higher level magic involved isn't really that much.
Furthermore, almost all the level and stat drainers are paper tigers - their level or stat draining will happen once, maybe twice, and then the party kills them.

My point here is that once you've hit one or two level/stat drainers, or even better, someone finds the tracks of one of these things, and makes the right skill roll, the party are likely to retreat and prepare counters.

And all of those counters are cleric-supplied.

Which means the cleric gets put on "fix stuff" duty, a role which is the big reason that people don't like to play them in the first place, and is the reason that spontaeneous healing was invented.

Unless the game is crucially time-limited, then warforged won't actually change much. And if it IS time-limited, then the vulnerabilities of warforged (reduced healing and the like) will maintain that pressure.

The only time this is really going to change is if you have an all-warforged party going into the pits of disease, poison and level-draining undead. And really - who's going to do that?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Unless the game is crucially time-limited, then warforged won't actually change much.

True, and that's why they're not game-breaking. But if you had a choice between a dwarf and a warforged to make a front-line armored tank, which one would you choose?

They're both filling the same 'racial niche,' so to speak: a race that's good at being the Fighter-type.

Take the Halflings and the Changelings...they both fill (mechanically) the same racial niche: a race that's good at being the rogue-type. They take it in different directions (small lucky atheletes vs. masters of disguise), but do so in ways where which one you choose is mostly a matter of style, not power.

But a Warforged Fighter and a Dwarven Fighter...the choice seems goofily obvious. One gets tired, gets level drained, gets poisoned, the other doesn't.

Yes, this doesn't screw over a general party in any way (unless they're all warforged, but that's not likely and they'll have obvious weaknesses). But it does make that person who wants to play a straight Dwarven Fighter at the same time their friend wants to play the straight Warforged Fighter feel a bit like they're being overshadowed...whlie a changeling rogue and a halfling rogue could be beside each other and neither one would feel generally useless...

They're not game-breaking. But they are more powerful than the standard races, from what I've seen, heard, and played (admittedly, not much yet). Like FR's regional feats: not game-breaking, but more powerful than standard feats. This makes me want to know the motives for it, how they played out in testing, why they were Construct (living) and not Humanoid (constructed), to see how the designers themselves made their decisions.

But perhaps if we wish to continue this, a new thread is advisable....hmmm....