D&D 5E Tomb of Annihilation in Eberron

[CrimsonCarcharodon]

Possibly because resurrection is so rare, the laws of Galifar were not written with it in mind. By the law, if a noble, royalty, or member of a Dragonmarked house dies, then their heir inherits, regardless of whether the deceased is later returned to life. Suffering the death curse is proof that that person should have passed on all of their wealth and power, but possibly didn't.

I like that idea! It certainly gives it that air of intrigue that is one of the hallmarks of Eberron. That kind of thing could threaten to start up the Last War again, or split one of the Houses.

 

[Onslaught]

I'm running it as Acererak being a Lord of dust, and the Soulmonger being an eldritch device that brings dolurrh coterminous with its location, allowing an imprisoned Overlord to feed off the souls there. The Overlord has gained enough power to manifest a minor avatar on Eberron (the Atropal) and if allowed to continue will eventually break free.

That's another great idea!!

Though I could swap Acererak with an empowered Rakshasa if going that way...

I reduced the effects of the curse because I wanted to reduce the urgency of the plot and because there are very few people who have been resurrected on Eberron. However the movers and shakers (mostly the churches) are aware of what is happening in dolurrh and looking for people to put a stop to it.

How did you reduce the curse's effect?

Also, in the theme of urgency... it seems to me that Chult is a LOT smaller than Xen'drik, so locations must be carefully defined in order to keep the time-bomb clock managable.

For Ubtao and the Trickery Gods, maybe they're the remnants of the most powerful giants before the dragons of Argonnessen destroyed giant civilization. Not quite on par with true deities like the Sovereigns and the Six, but close enough for the adventure's purposes.

I'm stealing that!

PCs are recruited by some noble/dragonmarked/general/etc. patron who was resurrected at some point and is now suffering from the death curse. He thinks its just him, and has the PCs investigate.

The death curse is known among the upper echelon, but it's being kept secret (in the noir style). What would happen if the secret got out not only that some of the most powerful people in the Five Nations are suffering this curse, but, perhaps more dangerous, the secret got out that all of these people had at one point died?

As the PCs investigate, they discover the death curse is a wider-ranging phenomenon. And are hounded by those from all corners to make sure it's kept secret...

If news spread that a Cannith Baron is sick and weakened, the others might get aggressive behind the shadows to increase their powers.

Same with a Ruler. If word get out that a King of the Five Nations is sick, chaos would follow within the country and could trigger another War as @CrimsonCarcharodon said.

Two additional questions for everyone:
1)For those that are already DMing ToA in Eberron, especially in Xen'drik, how did you dealt with the lack of a Map?

2) Most of us (as in, the Internet) are thinking that the Death Curse is Dolurrh being coterminus, but according to ECS that would enhance spells that deal with the dead (like Raise Dead and stuff), on the other hand Mabar being coterminus would infuse the land with Negative Energy (hence, undeads) and block spells like Raise Dead. What do you think of this (kind of fluffy but not really 'cos I'm a fan) change?

 

[fuindordm]

T
1)For those that are already DMing ToA in Eberron, especially in Xen'drik, how did you dealt with the lack of a Map?

I'm putting it on the large island W of Stormreach, which I think is about the right size and climate.

Ben

 

[Onslaught]

I'm putting it on the large island W of Stormreach, which I think is about the right size and climate.

Ben

It does cut a lot of work... but I'm masochist, so I'll be using Stormreach instead of Port Nyanzaru and Xen'drik "core" jungle part instead of Chult. It IS a lot larger, so I'll probably extend the time limit for the adventure OR just apply the Traveller's Curse to deal with it.

So... I included a few updates in the main post for:
The Nine Trickster Gods being Gyrderi Elves
Atropal as an aspect of Katashk from the Lords of Dust


Also, adapted Factions (still with some doubts).

I'll probably throw away the whole Artus Cimber plotline because it's too Realmsy for my Eberron tastes.

Opinions on changes?

 

[CrimsonCarcharodon]

I'm putting it on the large island W of Stormreach, which I think is about the right size and climate.

Ben

That's how I'll do it when i eventually run it.

 

[Onslaught]

It really helps with simplicity, since the "core" Xen'drik (from Stormreach to the volcanos at south) is almost 5x bigger than Chult.

By comparison, the Chult peninsula is roughly the size of Skyfall Peninsula (from Stormreach to Titan's Teeth). However I don't think it's fun enough to run it that way... as a player, I'd love to explore Xen'drik itself instead of "the nearby island". But that's jus me being orthodox with the setting !

Anyway... just included more Races/Cultures in the main post!

Here's the great question now:
Are you using the Artus Cimber questline?
If you're, what adaptations are you making in order to make it feel more like Eberron stuff instead of something so Relmsian?

If you're not, are you just ditching everything related to this questline? Mbala being an illusion, the Frost Giants, everyone on Artus heels, Dragonbait... because I'm probably doing it that way.

 

[fuindordm]

Good question. For a while I was just going to drop it, but then I thought of a way to bring it into the storyline without the FR slant.
Xen'drik already has frost giants, so no worries about where THEY came from. I'm thinking Mezro was actually a giant city repurposed by the Chultan settlers. And specifically, it was a Frost Giant city with some working remnants of giant technology in it. That's the common thread to Artus, Ras Nsi, and Mezro itself; people discovered somethinig inside the city worth fighting over. So the cataclysm that removed Mezro from the map is a bit like the one that ended the Giant-Quori war--giant tech activated in desperation--just on a much smaller scale.

So here's Artus mooning around, looking for clues, trying to figure out if Mezro is dead or just gone; he's not a member of the Harpers, not of any faction, just a Brelish scholar/explorer who stumbled into a horrible mess.

 

[NiClerigo]

Great post Onslaught, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I wrote the post at SilverFlame Wordpress

 

[Onslaught]

Good question. For a while I was just going to drop it, but then I thought of a way to bring it into the storyline without the FR slant.
Xen'drik already has frost giants, so no worries about where THEY came from. I'm thinking Mezro was actually a giant city repurposed by the Chultan settlers. And specifically, it was a Frost Giant city with some working remnants of giant technology in it. That's the common thread to Artus, Ras Nsi, and Mezro itself; people discovered somethinig inside the city worth fighting over. So the cataclysm that removed Mezro from the map is a bit like the one that ended the Giant-Quori war--giant tech activated in desperation--just on a much smaller scale.


So here's Artus mooning around, looking for clues, trying to figure out if Mezro is dead or just gone; he's not a member of the Harpers, not of any faction, just a Brelish scholar/explorer who stumbled into a horrible mess.

I like this idea a lot!

Maybe he's a member of the Morgrave University, that makes Artus Cimber an Indy of sorts. Maybe Mezro didn't "vanish", it just turned into a frozen hell due to the Ring of Winter's power (or to some other Eldrich Machine activated by the Ring). And maybe he's being chased just because he knows the location of a few too many places deep within the jungle.

I'll probably hang on to that and expand it when I finish the rest of the adaptation. He could also be the teacher of another player from Morgave University, and finding him before he gets eaten by Undeads in the jungle might be his personal quest. Probably would have to downplay him a little.

Also, he could have a "Viktor Pendrake" feel (from the Iron Kingdoms, another amazing setting).

Great post Onslaught, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I wrote the post at SilverFlame Wordpress

Thanks for passing by!


You probably noticed how much stuff I took from your ideas, but if you have any comments, please do share !



Anyway, I tired of writing about Rumors and I just added a few thoughts on Guides on the first post:

GUIDES (pg. 33-35): Some need just cosmetic changes, other completely doesn't fit, so here we go:

• Azaka Stormfan (Weretiger): She's a Shifter (Beasthide) looking for and old artifact, but she's not being here long.

• Eku (Couatl): Couatl are extinct in Eberron and should be reserved for higher roles. Currently I have two distinct ideas I'd like some opinion into:
  • She could be Dyn'celia (young white dragon, SoX, pg. 59), which also hates the adult green dragon Belericax (SoX, pg. 59) and wants to get rid of her.
  • She could be Sesstaria (Shulasskar paladin, SoX, pg. 68), a descendent from Couatuls that resemble a Yuan-Ti Abomination but had multicolored feathers covering their bodies... maybe use Coualt statistics, or Yuan-ti statistics with a Paladin twist (maybe that's too powerful)
• Faroul and Gondolo: I don't like the flatulent triceratops, he'll probably lose one horn to look cooler. Otherwise, might use them without changes.
• Flask of Wine and River Mist: They're Tabaxi linked with Artus Cimber Questline. I'll just skip them.
• Hew Hackenstone: Don't use at all?
• Musharib: Sulatar Drow?
• Qawasha and Kupalue: Qawasha is a Guandians of Rushemé (see Factions). Maybe change him to Half-giant (use Goliath stats). I'm not sure if I'll keep Kupalue (don't know what'll do with Vegepygmy), but I don't think he's adding anything interesting that a Guardian of Rushemé already isn't.
• Salida: Now that's some perfect guide we've got here! Only problem is: will she just guide players to Omu too fast?
• Shago: Probably a son of a Merchant Prince, works for House Tharashk or Deneith. Or he could be a non-marked Heir?
• Erag (half-elf scout, SoX, pg. 102): This half-elf has dealings with the Blood of Vol and wants to sacrifice PC's for his evil studies, see quest Hunting Party (SoX, pg 102).
• I don't know if I'll add another options (CoS says Thri-kreen are common guides), list other possible NPCs (from Quests), or just let it be.

 

[Onslaught]

For those interested, a few additions:

• Expanded City Rumors and Guides
• Included Side Quests based on Secrets of Xen'drik
• First draft of an adventure flow based on @extralead's ideas

Now I'll probably "study" Secrets of Stormreach to get to know the major NPCs of the city and draw some parallels with Port Nyanzaru.

As always, I'd love to hear some thoughts!