Pirates in Eberron?

[Desdichado]

The Inspired and Sarlona as a whole are really psionics focused, though--which writes them off for a lot of players who don't like psionics.

They're on a separate continent, so it's easy to ignore them if you don't like psionics, though.

 

[Anti-Sean]

Secrets of Sarlona is a *fantastic* book; I'd recommend that anyone using the Eberron setting pick it up after fleshing out their collection with a few of the books that are more immediately applicable to the continent of Khorvaire. I'm tempted to run a campaign or three there and forget about the rest of the setting entirely!

These two Dragonshards should give you a bit more info without/before buying the book:

The Reach of Riedra, Part One

The Reach of Riedra, Part Two

 

[Kaladhan]

Thanks everyone for their help!

As a big fan of Arcana Evolved, I would like to bring over the Giants and the Drachas. I read somewhere that there was a continent of dragons. Would they fit there? I also read that Xen'Drik (sp?) had some giants. Would they fit there?

By fitting, I mean what is the concept of dragons/giants in Eberron? This would help me translate the flavor of these races for Eberron.

 

[Desdichado]

Giants used to have a major Empire in Xen'drik which has now fallen to ruin. Lots of giants still live on the continent, though, and that seems to be the largest concentration of them.

Dragons mostly live on Argonassen, another continent entirely. The chromatic and metallic dragons have some blending, since the alignment of dragons is not a given--a red dragon could concievable by lawful good, for example. Dragons are often rather mystical and concerned with prophecies and whatnot.

 

[Anti-Sean]

The ancient empires of the Giants of Xen'Drik contained wonders unimaginable to modern day Eberron, thanks to the powerful magics taught to them by the dragons. After tens of thousands of years of dominance, the giants were invaded by the Quori (the same extradimensional beings who today possess the Inspired Lords of Riedra). Using dragon magic, the giants repelled the quori invasion, sundering the planar connection to Dal Quor (home plane of the quori) at a terrible price; the continent of Xen'Drik was thrown into chaos, irrevocably altered by the cataclysm that ensued (and leading to it's nickname of the Shattered Land). The giants never recovered, and their once-great civilizations slowly slid into ruin. A last ditch attempt by the giants to invoke the magic of dragons once again was interrupted, as the dragons of Argonessen arrived en masse to deliver a beatdown of epic proportions. Nothing remains of the empires of the giants save for abandoned ruins and insolated tribes of degenerate giants and savage drow, their former slaves.

After battling the rakshasha rajas during the Age of Demons, and teaching and then destroying the giants during the Age of Giants, Vvaraak teaching druidic lore to the Gatekeeper Orcs during the Age of Monsters, dragons, for the most part, have isolated themselves on the island continent of Argonessen; none approach it and live. The barbarians of the Seren islands around Argonessen take care of most trespassers; the few who make it past them are dealt with by the dragons themselves. Most of the dragons spend their time contemplating the mysteries of the Draconic Prophesy, which is claimed to fortell current and future events, revealing the multifaceted destinies of the world in myriad forms; the alignment of the stars, the land itself, or the curious magical markings on some of the lesser races that have been dubbed Dragonmarks. Little is known about the various factions among the dragons, save for the Chamber; it is comprised primarily of younger dragons who seek to take a more active hand in studying, and possibly changing, the outcomes of the Prophecy. There are still a few rogue dragons here and there (notably Rhashaak of Haka'Torvahk), but by and large, they are mysterious figures manipulating events from their remote and impenetrable island home.

 

[Kunimatyu]

Give a thought to warforged pirates.

I ran a one-shot where the players were warforged pirates. They didn't worry so much about sinking ships; since warforged don't need to breathe, they just used a salvage crane to go down to the wreckage and plunder it.

 

[Anti-Sean]

Give a thought to warforged pirates.

Sweeeeet.

I quickly & messily statted up a warforged pirate named Anchor (I couldn't resist) & cobbled together a bit of backstory a while ago; IIRC, he was a Rogue3/Swashbuckler3/Dread Pirate (Dishonorable) 3/Thief-Acrobat 2.

found it!

The Warforged now known as Anchor was commisioned from House Cannith by the Cyran military in 980 YK. He served as a reconaissance and infiltration specialist for twelve years, eventually becoming the first Warforged to serve with the elite Queen's Forward Blades unit. In early Lharvion 992 YK, he was ambushed while on patrol along the Cyre-Karrnath border. Outmatched, he was rendered inert by his Karrn attackers. He regained consciousness 6 months later aboard the pirate ship The Bloody Wake. He had been sold into servitude to the ship's captain as a deckhand. He took to life on the open seas ably and admirably, gaining his captain's trust and rising through the ranks to eventually become first mate. Two years to the day of his reawakening, Anchor lead a mutiny, killing his captain and taking control and ownership of The Bloody Wake. Since then, he has cut a ruthless swath across the Lhazaar Sea, earning a fearsome reputation for himself and his crew.

 

[Corsair]

I've found my favorite pirate campaign was less about the piracy, and more about the abnormal things the pirates encountered and then had to deal with (much the same way a neutral 'treaure hunter' adventurer might find the evil relic in the tomb of doom).

 

[Gez]

As a big fan of Arcana Evolved, I would like to bring over the Giants and the Drachas. I read somewhere that there was a continent of dragons. Would they fit there? I also read that Xen'Drik (sp?) had some giants. Would they fit there?

It's actually quite possible, I remember people putting the continent of the Diamond Throne to the west of Xen'drik and saying it was from there that the giants came.

The Dramojh can be tied to the Daelkyrs (spooky aberrations from the plane of madness), who invaded Eberron long ago (before the Quori invasion): When the Daelkyrs invaded, they were opposed by the Dragons, most notably the Green Dragon Vvaraak who trained the orcs of Khorvaire (no humans lived there at the time) in the way of druidic magic to create a force able to repel the interlopers. But on that other continent, some dragons were corrupted by the Daelkyrs and ended up creating the evil Dramojh.

Of course, you can use AE elements without merging the two settings.

 

[Desdichado]

I've found my favorite pirate campaign was less about the piracy, and more about the abnormal things the pirates encountered and then had to deal with (much the same way a neutral 'treaure hunter' adventurer might find the evil relic in the tomb of doom).

The way to make sure that it feels "piratey" in my experience is to make sure and give lots of opportunities for dealing with common pirate themes. Ship to ship battles that end on bloody boarding actions and whatnot.