D&D 5E Keith Baker: Exploring Eberron

Eberron creator Keith Baker has been busy recently! He has unveiled the cover to his new book, to be released in July on DMs Guild in PDF and Print on Demand hardcover. It will dive into parts of Eberron that have received little attention in prior books, including the undersea civilizations and the planes.

Keith sent Sly Flourish a PDF copy of the book, which Sly flipped through


Also, check out the KB Presents Twitter for past previews

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The answer to this is in Eberron: Rising from the Last War.

Absolutely they do.

Not a stigma - a crime. The Dragonmarked houses control the law in Sharn. Anyone using a dragonmark without house authorisation will quickly find themselves facing an offer the can't refuse - join the house or go to prison. If they are a member of a house, they will need to follow house rules and won't get to keep most of their profits.

Even if the PCs aren't dragonmaked, corporate culture rules Sharn. They will need to pay guild fees to operate commercially, as well as pay protection to one of the crime families.

This is why "Group Patrons" are in ERFTLW - without the backing of an organisation PCs are going to find themselves crushed between competing megacorps.

Pretty sure that’s largely stuff you’re making up. You absolutely aren’t getting arrested for using your mark in Sharn in a canon game.

that’s a perfectly fine way to play, but it’s hardly factual, as you present it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Pretty sure that’s largely stuff you’re making up. You absolutely aren’t getting arrested for using your mark in Sharn in a canon game.

EBRFLW makes two things clear:

1) Dragonmaked houses fiercely enforce their monopolies.

2) The law in Sharn is corrupt.

So the PCs don't have to do anything explicitly "against the law". If the PCs do something any one of the powerful organisations described in ERFTLW doesn't like they will simply pay off the Sharn Watch to make life difficult for the PCs.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

One thing I'd like to see in Exploring Eberron (or any other Eberron book that makes it to print) is how the economy of the Dragonmarked Houses interacts with PCs. For example, in The City of Towers, the group is broke and needs money...but they have two dragonmarked PCs in the group. Jode can heal...and the going rate for a cure wounds spell is 25 gp per the new Eberron book. Lei has the Mark of Making and is a full-fledged artificer. Why pawn Daine's sword if one cure wounds or artificer spell (even at a steep discount) can pay for their food and lodging?

Do the Houses enforce a monopoly? Is there a stigma from purchasing a service from a Dragonmarked person who is not affiliated with the House? Did they just want to avoid attracting unwanted attention?

Granted, you don't want PCs spending all their time selling their services using their marks...because then they're not adventuring. But is there an in-game reason preventing them from doing so to get a little extra cash when needed?

They generally want marked heirs in the house, but they can’t force you, and they don’t enforce their monopolies, like medieval guilds or modern megacorporations. They license guild recognition, which means legitimacy, but Ghallanda doesn’t bother getting Frank’s Fart Matress Inn in Lower Dura or Lurindel’ House of Respite in Upper Dura shut down, because they don’t actually threaten the monopoly. Only those who can’t afford Ghallanda rates go to Franks, and Lurindel’s is so posh and exclusive that it’s clientele is basically .5% of the population, at most.

Likewise, Jorasco doesn’t care if you’re healing for the going rate. Undercut them and make enough business at it that they notice the loss in their intake, and they’ll care. Otherwise, what, they’re gonna rough up every street hustler? Nah.

As for joining the house and doing it with a license, especially if the group has a good reputation, Jorasco would likely love that. Dues aren’t that steep, the House mostly just cares that you aren’t skimming off the top or ruining their reputation, and that you’ll show up when they need you.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They generally want marked heirs in the house, but they can’t force you, and they don’t enforce their monopolies, like medieval guilds or modern megacorporations.

This is contrary to ERFTLW. They do enforce their monopolies, they do behave like (and are explicitly based on) modern megacorporations.

Think Disney: Mark of the Mouse.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

This is contrary to ERFTLW. They do enforce their monopolies, they do behave like (and are explicitly based on) modern megacorporations.

Think Disney: Mark of the Mouse.

I have ERFTLW open right now reviewing the sections on the Dragonmarked Houses and I'm getting nowhere near the level of naked capitalist greed and paranoia that you are reading into them.

Keith Baker has defaulted to presenting them as much more reasonable (most of the time); Eberron isn't Shadowrun yet. In general, I find his personal views equalto published canon, the high number of editing mistakes in ERFTLW only serving to reinforce that notion. Dragonmarks: The Dragonmarked Houses

Is there a stigma from purchasing a service from a Dragonmarked person who is not affiliated with the House? Did they just want to avoid attracting unwanted attention?

If you're enciuntering a Dragonmarked person who isn't affiliated with one of the Houses or with the Twelve as a whole, they're usually either a Foundling or an Excoriate.

Foundlings are eople with the Mark but born outside the House and with no exposure to its internal culture and training. The Houses do try to recruit Foundlings but (usually) don't resent them for refusing. As long as they aren't actively conspiring against the Houses, Foundlings are usually left alone.

Excoriates are people who were part of a Dragonmarked House but were for some reason disowned, whether it be that they violated House regulations, they were caught on the wrong end of Hiuse politics, they committed a crime and their former House doesn't want to play defense for them in the courts, any reason really. Therr's nothing stopping an Excoriate from trying toset up an independent business related to their Dragonmark, but they won't have the licenses and seals of approcal that being in a Draginmarked House or a guild that they control provides, and they will be shunned by anybody part of any of the Dragonmarked Houses.

 

[Panda-s1]

while I'm this necro'd thread, I've been wondering how exactly do the houses enforce this whole anti-fraternization thing among people with dragonmarks? or is it not something that gets enforced very well?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I have ERFTLW open right now reviewing the sections on the Dragonmarked Houses and I'm getting nowhere near the level of naked capitalist greed and paranoia that you are reading into them.

Page 10: "Powerful dynastic guilds dominate and regulate the magical economy. The Dragonmarked houses include barons of industry whose influence rivals that of monarchs." "House Jorasco dominates the medical trade with it's mark of healing." "Even independent businesses are typically licenced by a house and conform to the standards it sets. Not every tavern is run by House Ghallanda, but the Ghallanda seal in the corner of an inn sign assures customers it meets health and safety standards".

Page 37: "Long ago, the families that carry the dragonmarks joined together... to establish powerful monopolies." "This control over vital services gives the houses tremendous power".

 

[PsyzhranV2]

while I'm this necro'd thread, I've been wondering how exactly do the houses enforce this whole anti-fraternization thing among people with dragonmarks? or is it not something that gets enforced very well?

By "fraternization", are you talking about people from differnet Houses having children with each other?

In general, it's a zero tolerance policy. You get caught? You're kicked out of the House. Most of the Houses don't really go out of their way to try and root out members breaking the taboo on inter-house relations (Vadalis probably being an exception due to how obsessed with their lineage and bloodlines they are). But if you do get caught in the act, it would be a miracle if you were somehow not Excoriated.

Also, the Dragonmarked Houses assume that their members are self-policing on not mixing the lineages due to that almost always leading to Aberrant Dragonmarks. They assume that the fear of creating children with Aberrant Dragonmarks is enough to dissuade any star-crossed lovers from eloping. With how strong the social stigma is against Aberrant marked people in general, it usually works.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

Page 10: "Powerful dynastic guilds dominate and regulate the magical economy. The Dragonmarked houses include barons of industry whose influence rivals that of monarchs." "House Jorasco dominates the medical trade with it's mark of healing." "Even independent businesses are typically licenced by a house and conform to the standards it sets. Not every tavern is run by House Ghallanda, but the Ghallanda seal in the corner of an inn sign assures customers it meets health and safety standards".

Page 37: "Long ago, the families that carry the dragonmarks joined together... to establish powerful monopolies." "This control over vital services gives the houses tremendous power".

Well that's as vague as an incomplete strand of the Draconic Prophecy.

Is this gonna be one of those cases where one person is running with a pants-on-head interpretation of RAW in questionable faith, and the second person is trying to explain RAI and designer intent to them but is getting the piss taken out of them? Is this a "Card says Moops"? Only with setting lore this time?

Because I feel like I'm the second person right now.

And people wonder why diehard Eberron fans place Word of Keith above Word of God. Usually because Word of God (WotC) isn't vetted all that well.

 

[Coroc]

while I'm this necro'd thread, I've been wondering how exactly do the houses enforce this whole anti-fraternization thing among people with dragonmarks? or is it not something that gets enforced very well?

While the body of this thread is still warm (Last post before the revivify spell is from December), I think there are a ton of possibilities how a house can get information about dragonmark uses e.g. if someone heals people for gold or such. I think Eberron is designed in a way that it is hard to keep something secret, there are loads of spies Phiarlan has even a trade in spying and most organizations will either have their own information network or pay for one.

I do not think that being dragonmarked but not connected to the according house is happening often (or at least it should not happen often). Association with a house no matter if PC or NPC usually brings more advantages than disadvantages.