D&D 4E Questions about Eberron 4e and Schema...

[D_Gibb]

I would like to say that first of all, I am new to Eberron. I never played 3.5, and when I played 3.0, it was before Eberron existed. However, I am running a game, and we all want to be in Eberron, so I took my players to Sharn from the Forgotten Realms, and I stumbled across a conversion of The Forgotten Forge that w0nkothesane (on the WotC forums) made.

It includes schema, and they seem like really cool magical things that I could weave into my campaign. I would love to have my party being approached by different people/factions and played against one another to go and retrieve them for opposing factions.

That being said, are there any other 4e adventures that include schema, or is there anywhere that I could find more info on them so I can write them into my own game?

Much appreciation!

 

[Dalzig]

There's some non-official (?) information available at Eberron Unlimited.

 

[Siberys]

That's actually official, from the 3.5 Eberron sourcebook "Magic of Eberron", p 122.

Generally, schemas, also called "creation patterns", fall under the general rule of "Eldritch machine" - they're plot devices, and they do whatever the DM needs them to do. The general definition is that they are essentially magical blueprints. The schemas in the link above are "Minor schemas", and they worked much like scrolls.

Otherwise, a schema might be the key necessary to start a magical process. Schemas were necessary to make creation forges, for example, IIRC.

The adventure "Grasp of the Emerald Claw" (again, 3.5) prominantly featured an evil sentient schema named Xulo.

Schemas work great as Macguffins - "You have to find and destroy the rare schema hidden in the heart of Xen'drik before the Emerald Claw can get their ... emerald... claws... on it! If you don't, they'll use it to start up some crazy magical machine to unleash a horde of undead across Khorvaire!".

 

[D_Gibb]

Schema actually sound perfect. We had been playing a LFR game when Eberron came out and dazzled us. I contrived a little adventure to take the group between worlds, with an Eberron feel. I had an older man beg the group to rescue his kidnapped children, so they followed the trail to an abandoned mine. The cart they were taken away in bore no means of conveyance -- no horses or yokes to pull it. It was a horseless cart that was powered by a dragonshard engine (or something like that). After slogging through rooms of bandits, they got the kids and were leaving, when the boss, a big ol' nasty Warforged, stopped them and attacked. He activated a magical device that, after he died, blew up in a blinding light. I described it kind of like a thermal detonator, but in hindsight it could have been a complicated schema. I can have them try to track these things down and reassemble one that can take them back and forth between worlds. That should take them to Paragon tier itself...