The Chib is a chill troll in Graywall. Art by Matthew Johnson.
As time permits, I like to answer interesting questions posed by my Patreon supporters. Questions like…
What do you see as the origin of trolls in Eberron? They are so different from other giants, they almost seem like aberrations to me – maybe some Daelkyr or other experimented with ogres?
In my Eberron, there has never been a nation of trolls; they have always been found in wild places on the edges of civilization, but never amassed in great numbers or forged a kingdom. A common folk belief is that they are the children of hags; whether or not they are directly related, trolls are often found in the vicinity of story hags. The dominant theory among Korranberg scholars is that trolls began as native fey—that the first trolls were the literal embodiment of the monster under the bridge and the predator in the shadows. This explains both their remarkable healing ability and the fact that in spite of this incredible gift, they haven’t spread to dominate the region or the world. They aren’t entirely real and don’t follow the same basic logic as natural creatures. Their fertility rate fluctuates so that there’s always just enough of them to maintain their role in the story. This also supports a difference between trolls and ogres. Both are large and powerful, but ogres are more human in their behavior and aspirations. Much like the supporting cast of Thelanis, trolls are often patient and content to play out their role in a tale; the point being that a troll might be content to sit beneath a bridge for a century, while an ogre would get bored after a day or two. The fly in the ointment is that trolls aren’t fey. The Korranberg assertion is that trolls began as native fey but that those who left Thelanian manifest zones slowly became more real, as has been seen to occur with eladrin. With this in mind, trolls encountered in Thelanian manifest zones—or in Thelanis itself—may be fey instead of giants.
The region of the Barrens that is now the domain of the Prince of Bones was never a nation in the same way as the Cazhaak Draal or the Venomous Demesne. It’s a region of ruins, haunted and dominated by trolls, lesser hags, and roaming monstrosities. The Prince of Bones is the largest and oldest troll—a legend who blends elements of traditional troll and annis hag. With the guidance of the Daughters of Sora Kell, the Prince of Bones is working to change the story of his domain, and towns are rising among the ruins. But the ruins remain, and there are still monsters that prefer lurking in the shadows to living in the light; it’s still one of the wildest and deadliest regions of Droaam.
So throughout the history of Khorvaire, trolls have played the role of monster, rarely seen in large numbers and rarely organized. This has changed with the rise of the Droaam and the appearance of war trolls. These are the backbone of Maenya’s Fist: an army of disciplined troll soldiers, well equipped and skilled in the use of weapons. There’s no precedent for such a force in history, and no one knows exactly how Sora Maenya assembled this army or how long it took. One theory is that Sora Maenya has a massive fortress deep in the roots of the Byeshk Mountains, where she has been building her army for centuries; according this theory, most of the war trolls are her children or her descendants. Others assert that Sora Maenya essentially worked epic magic to craft a story… that in the same way the first trolls may have embodied the idea of the monster beneath the bridge, that Sora Maenya wove a tale of the Legion of Monsters. So even more so than the domain of the Prince of Bones, if there is a true city of trolls to be found, it is Maenya’s Keep below the Byeshk.
While the idea that the first trolls were native fey is the most popular academic theory, there is a second idea proposed by scholars at Morgrave University. They believe that goblins, bugbears, and hobgoblins are magebred species—that some ancient civilization bioengineered the Dar subspecies to fill specific roles in society. This theory suggests that trolls were products of these same magebreeders—but that they proved wild and uncontrollable, and weren’t integrated into dar civilization. The question remains who these magebreeders were. Most proponents of this idea suggest that dragons were responsible, as it’s known that there was a Draconic civilization on Khorvaire that completely collapsed and disappeared. Others believe that it was a humanoid species—the protodar—who were either exterminated by their creations or who potentially destroyed themselves through civil war, leaving their dar soldiers behind. A final theory combines both of the above, suggesting that the trolls were engineered by the creators of the dar, but that they were then influenced by Thelanis, which is what made them uncontrollable.
Whether their roots are as fey or as living weapons, trolls are long lived and durable, but have a very low rate of reproduction; they have never been as populous as ogres, let alone the dar. Their role in Droaam—both with the war trolls of Maenya’s Fist and the domain of the Prince of Bones—represents a new shift in the role of trolls within Khorvaire.
Thanks to my Patreon supporters for their support! If you have your own questions, you can ask them on Patreon.
The Chib is a troll from my upcoming Droaam campaign, but he IS a big guy. Art by Matthew Johnson.
When time allows, I like to answer interesting questions posed by my Patreon supporters. Questions like…
Now that Goliaths are coming to the PHB with their different forms based on their giant ancestry, do you have any thoughts on how they could be included more commonly than the few paragraphs afforded in Chronicles?
Good question. When the Fourth Edition of D&D added Dragonborn and Eladrin to the Player’s Handbook, we found ways to give each of those species roles in the setting that could easily support player characters—while at the same time, not making dramatic changes that would feel jarring to people in long-term Eberron campaigns, such as saying the people of Thrane are all dragonborn. With this in mind we placed a Dragonborn culture in Q’barra, with the idea that the human colonists hadn’t fully differentiated between the Trothlorsvek dragonborn and the Lizardfolk Cold Sun Federation—we’d always said there’d been reptilian humanoids in Q’barra, it just turns out there was a greater variety than people knew about.
In previous sources I’d suggested that Goliath mechanics could be used the represent the Eneko of Sarlona, an offshoot ogre species largely found in the Syrkarn region. This idea—reskinning Goliaths as an existing species—is still an option. Goliaths with fire giant ancestry could be used as Eneko. Goliaths with hill giant ancestry could be reskinned as ogres from Droaam. Cloud giant goliaths could be recast as Oni. That could work. But with them as a core species in the new PHB, it feels weak to me; it’s valid for people to want a place for Goliaths, something more than just “They’re actually ogres.”
Thinking it over, I’ve come up with not one, not two, but FOUR possible options that could work—each with a very different footprint within the setting and a very different set of roles for player characters. The question is how big a role you want goliaths to play and whether you want them to have a dramatic, active story or if you just want a safe space where they can come from. So, here’s a few ideas to consider.
HOUSE VADALIS: PROJECT GOLIATH
During the final decade of the Last War, the Feral Heart of House Vadalis set up a secret facility in Xen’drik. Far from the eyes of the Five Nations, dragonmarked magebreeders used the abhorrent techniques of the Seryan line to imbue human test subjects with the essence of dead giants. These experiments were agonizing and deadly. The test subjects were criminals, deserters, and others smuggled from Khorvaire. Dozens were slain in the initial trials, but over time the research bore fruit, creating few dozen people each carrying a fraction of a giant’s might. It was then that Project Goliath came under attack. The survivors don’t know who was responsible. Was it Sulatar Drow? The Battalion of the Basalt Towers? The Guardians of Rusheme? Whoever was responsible, the disruption allowed the goliaths to break free from their captivity, destroy the facility from within, and escape.
This idea is what I call a small batch approach. The point would be that there’s only around 24 goliaths in the world, and that if you’re a goliath, you know all the others; you were all tormented in that secret Vadalis facility, and all escaped together. You don’t have a large footprint in the world and most people who meet you will have no idea what you are or what you can do. A few key elements of the story…
Project Goliath was a rogue operation run by the Feral Heart. So House Vadalis as a whole isn’t hunting you down. But member of the Feral Heart may have survived the destruction of the facility. Will you investigate and try to track down any survivors? Or wait and see if they rebuild and come after you?
How did the Feral Heart capture you? Did they kidnap you directly? Or were you betrayed by someone else? Were you a soldier whose corrupt commander claimed you were a casualty of war before shipping you to Vadalis? A criminal betrayed by your employer? The key point being, are you just happy to be alive, or are you looking for some payback?
What’s your relationship with the other goliaths? Are you allies trying to help one another and fighting against common enemies? Or… are some of the other goliaths terrible people the world was better off without? Do you feel an obligation to track down these other goliaths before they can wreak havoc in the Five Nations?
What’s your relationship with the giant who’s essence you carry? Are they fully dead and gone? Are you haunted by their spirit? Or do you perhaps have flashes of their memories, glimpses of artifacts and secrets in Xen’drik that could change the world? And if so, are the other goliaths allies who could work with you to uncover these secrets—or do you need to make sure that no one finds the artifacts you see in your giant-touched dreams?
The point of Project Goliath is that it is a clear and easy path for goliath ADVENTURERS, but it doesn’t actually create a goliath CULTURE. Instead it ties the goliaths directly to the giants of Xen’drik, with that idea that adventurers (and possibly, villainous rivals) going follow dreams and memories to uncover deadly secrets in Xen’drik.
LORGHALEN: ELEMENTAL GOLIATHS
Chronicles of Eberron explores the island of Lorghalen, one of the southern isles of the Lhazaar Principality. The island of Lorghalen and the waters around it are a nexus for powerful elemental energies. As depicted in Chronicles, Lorghalen is home to a gnome culture; but the gnomes are depicted as working closely with native elementals. But a generation after the gnomes settled on Lorghalen, the first goliaths appeared—born fully formed in Lorghalen groves, but with the minds of children. The Lorghalen sages believe that it’s the elemental forces of Lorghalen instinctively responding to the presence of the humanoid settlers—creating these giants to work with the tiny newcomers and to protect them. As such goliaths have always been celebrated in Lorghalen; a newborn Goliath is adopted into a gnome family as a “big brother.”
Lorghalen goliaths feel a deep connection to the natural world. The older they grow the stronger this becomes, and as they grow older they begin to grow in size and elemental power. These Elders have the statistics of giants, but have the Elemental creature type rather than Giant. They are tied to the elemental energies of Lorghalen and rarely leave the island; they dwell in its strongest manifest zones, mediating on the flow of energies and advising Lorghalen stonespeakers.
Lorghalen goliaths are a half-step further than Project Goliath. They have a small footprint in the world and their culture is intertwined with the Lorghalen gnomes. Part of what’s interesting about the Lorghalen goliaths is to play up their elemental connection—they aren’t tied to giants, they’re tied to EBERRON and to the forces of nature. The idea that they are essentially immortal—seeds that will grow into giant elders—can also be a fun thing to explore. As a goliath adventurer, this is your time to see the world before you settled down and become an elder bound to a place of power. You might be a seed cast on the wind looking for a new elemental stronghold out in the world—you could be very interested in meeting druids or other primal cultures. However, this idea of an elemental culture closely tied to gnomes may not be what people want from goliaths. So…
LHAZAAR: THE STONEHEART PRINCIPALITY
Long before humanity came to Khorvaire, a massive airship crashed on the eastern coastline. The ship was built by giants—a unique vessel designed to explore the world beyond the land of Xen’drik. The ship fell because it entered a powerful Lamannian manifest zone, releasing bound elementals and causing the ship to plummet into what is now known as the Forsaken Forest. The wood possesses the Primordial Matter trait of Lamannia, and its vegetation is strong and vibrant—and refuses to be conquered by civilization. The survivors of the crash built a settlement in the woods, but despite their valiant struggles the forces of nature overcame the giant pioneers. Ruins are scattered around the ancient ship, overgrown and worn down. Planar scholars might note the resemblance to the layer called Titan’s Folly in Lamannia—another place where giants fought the power of Lamannia and lost. But this expedition left a lasting mark on the region: Goliaths. When Lhazaar landed in the region that bears her name, she found being already dwelling on the mainland—orc, dwarves, and the mighty goliaths that lived on the edge of the Forsaken Forest. Lhazaar and her peers were ruthless and determined to carve out a home in this new land, and in the days ahead they would slaughter and oppress goblins and other denizens of Khorvaire. But the Goliaths of Skairn were too strong and too well entrenched to be easily conquered. The newcomers established treaties with the giantfolk, establishing what is now known as the Stoneheart Principality. The Stoneheart capital of Skairn plays an important role in the Principalities. The goliaths have little interest in seafaring and take to the water only to fish; but the Lamannian-touched lumber they harvest from the Forsaken Forest is some of the finest available in the region, and traders come from across the Principalities to purchase lumber for their shipwrights. The Stoneheart don’t have a fleet on the water, and Skairn remains neutral in the feuds of the Sea Princes; it is a friendly port for all.
The Stoneheart Goliaths are proud of their ancient ties to the land. They believe they are descended from the ancient giants that fell in the forest, and that they have ties to the region older even than those of the dwarves. Mechanically, there is one important element. Goliaths are born with the Powerful Build trait—they are large and powerful. But upon reaching adolescence, they make a pilgrimage into the Forsaken Forest, traveling to the ancient shipwreck and touching an artifact within it: a massive stone charged with mystical energy, which they call The Stone Heart. Touching the stone sends a surge of mystical energy through the young goliath, triggering their Giant Ancestry trait (and providing access to Large Form, though not all goliaths manifest this power). one aspect of this is that the Giant Ancestry trait isn’t directly hereditary; the child of two goliaths with fire giant ancestry could manifest Stone’s Endurance or Storm’s Thunder. There are also goliaths in other principalities—notably, the Cloudreavers—who don’t possess Giant Ancestry, as they have never been to the Stone Heart to activate this latent power.
The Stoneheart Principality is prosperous, buoyed by the lumber trade and the strength of its people. Stoneheart goliaths have never sent a fleet onto the water, but they have often served as mercenaries for other princes. A small number of elite Stoneheart mercenaries sell their services through House Deneith, and the princes of Karrnath have traditionally had a goliath bodyguard. As such, while goliaths are rarely seen in the Five Nations, they are recognized and renowned for their strength, endurance, and commitment to a task. During the Last War, Deneith brokered the services of an elite company of goliaths known as the Stone Hammer. Throughout most of the war they served Karrnath; but toward the end of the war Cyre lured them away. Because of this, most members of the Stone Hammer died in the Mourning. Many of the survivors have chosen to remain with communities of Cyran refugees, holding to their last contract to protect Cyre. The former captain of the Stone Hammer, Skuldaran, now protects Prince Oargev in New Cyre.
The point of the Stoneheart Principality is to give the goliaths of Khorvaire a unique culture, role in history, and tie to the giants of Xen’drik without having such an overwhelming presence that it feels strange not to have encountered them before. People across the Five Nations have heard of goliaths due to royal bodyguards and the tone Hammer, but they are still quite rare outside the Lhazaar Principalities. Within the Principalities they have an important role, but they are a mainland force that has no strong ties to piracy. They were there before Lhazaar, and they are the people of wood and the stones of the coast. They have no interest in sailing on the water, but it is their lumber that makes it possible. And this is also a way to add flavor to the canonically undeveloped port of Skairn and the Forsaken Forest. What is the Stone Heart, and what other secrets could be hidden in the ancient ruins around it?
THE GOLATHARI: THE TITAN’S BLADE
In the last days of Xen’drik, the immortal titan Golath foresaw the plans of the dragons and led a small force into a Khyber demiplane. Golath was a target of interest, and he sealed the gate to the plane behind him so that the dragons would find no trace of him and believe him dead. Golath and his kin conquered the native denizens of the demiplane, and over the course of tens of thousands of years they built a mighty empire. Now they have returned… and they want vengeance.
The idea of the Golathari is to take many of the traditional tropes of the Githyanki and recast them onto Goliaths. They are a brutal, powerful extraplanar raider culture ruled by a godlike immortal tyrant. Goliaths are descended from the giants who accompanied the titan Golath and the humanoid natives of the demiplane; over the course of tens of thousands of years they have become a unique species. Unlike what I’ve suggested for the goliaths of the Stoneheart Principality, the Giant Ancestry of the Golathari goliaths would be hereditary, and furthermore, this is where I’d use the Ordning.The giants of ancient Xen’drik didn’t have this tradition, but it is something established by Golath and maintain among his goliaths as well as the actual giants of his demiplane; goliaths with hill giant ancestry are expected to show respect to those further up the Ordning.
The idea of the Golathari is that they are a brutal martial culture that has held onto and built upon some of the mystical traditions of Xen’drik, as well as working with unique materials and energies found in their demiplane. For millennia, Golath has been plotting a way to take revenge against Argonnessen, and he is finally putting that plan into action. He has found a way to open portals from his demiplane into Eberron, but it is currently impossible for anyone to enter the demiplane against his wishes. He has developed weapons uniquely suited to fighting dragons. Dragonbane weapons are an easy option, but this could also be the source of Orbs of Dragonkind. I could also imagine him having developed artifacts that can temporarily strip a dragon of its inherent arcane abilities. If you wanted to borrow a further twist from the traditional Githyanki story, Golath could have forged a dangerous alliance with the Daughter of Khyber—who is content for Golath to slay and enslave dragons and break the current civilization of Argonnessen knowing that when she herself is freed her children will destroy the last titan. But for now Golath’s weapons—like Orbs of Dragonkind—could be empowered by the overlord, and he could Spawn of Tiamat fighting alongside his goliaths.
If I used this story, I would make the Golathari Incursion something that’s unfolding RIGHT NOW. Across the world, Golathari raiders are striking Chamber operations and assassinating rogue dragons. They may be gathering parts for a devastating weapon that could strip the arcane power of all the dragons of Argonnessen. The Golathari goliaths believe in their righteous cause and are utterly devoted to their immortal tyrant; again, this is a space where you could borrow the relationship between the Githyanki and Vlaakith in other settings. And with that in mind, that’s a key element for Golathari goliath adventurers: are you a loyal servant of the Titan King on an important mission requiring you to work with these tiny denizens of this backwater world? Or are you a rebel and a renegade, someone who knows that Golath consumes the essence of those goliaths who become too powerful, and who sees him for the tyrant he is?
EVERYDAY GOLIATHS
The four ideas presented above are all designed to give goliaths a STORY within the world—whether it’s a very recent story like Project Goliath, or if they’ve been around for a while, like the Stoneheart Principality. However, you don’t HAVE to give goliaths a deep story. And even if you DO use the Stoneheart Principality, you can make a goliath who’s just descended from a family of goliaths that immigrated to Karrnath centuries ago and think of themselves as Karrns. Just as Brelish dwarves and elves are BRELISH rather than having ties to the Mror or Aereni cultures, if you just want to play a goliath from Sharn who works for the Boromars and doesn’t CARE where he came from, that’s fine. Likewise, I said above that I wouldn’t turn the entire population of Thrane into dragonborn… but I have no problem with the idea that there may be dragonborn living in Thrane. Someone raised the idea that it would be cool to have a community of wyvernborn living in Thrane, and I love that; I just wouldn’t completely change the established culture and history of Thrane in adding them. But as long as player and DM are on the same page, you don’t have to use a story that’s as exotic as any of these options to add a new ancestry to your campaign.
IN CONCLUSION…
While these ideas aren’t mutually exclusive, I personally would choose one of them for my campaign. Project Goliath is the least intrusive, as only a handful exist. The Lorghalen goliaths have a very small footprint; they have a place to call home, but haven’t made much impact. The Stoneheart Principality is a way to give goliaths a clear and unique culture while still interweaving them with the existing story of the Lhazaar Principalities. And the Golathari are both an active and entirely new threat, rising up from Khyber with an aggressive agenda. And if they CAN actually strip Argonnessen of its power, what will that do to the balance of power in the world? Who will stand against the Lords of Dust?
Feel free to discuss these ideas in the comments, but I am unlikely to have time to answer questions here. If you do want to ask me questions — like the one that inspired this article! — check out my Patreon.
When time permits, I like to answer interesting questions posed by my Patreon supporters. Questions like this…
Did/does Sora Teraza have a carrion tribe dedicated to her?
When the Daughters of Sora Kell revealed themselves as the rulers of the newfound nation of Droaam, the people of western Khorvaire were shocked and terrified. The Daughters of Sora Kell were figures from folk tales, from the stories parents used to frighten troublesome children or inspire young heroes. Everyone knew stories of the ravenous, unstoppable Sora Maenya; the cunning Sora Katra; and the… wait? There’s three of them? Who’s the third one? Sora Teraza was largely only known to scholars who studied the Demon Wastes. Confirmed accounts of her came from records recovered from Greenholt and Kymar’s Folly, and there were apocryphal accounts from other explorers and would-be pioneers—a mysterious blind woman, oddly at ease in the deadly surroundings, who greeted the protagonists of the story by name. Sometimes she predicted doom—When the sun rises in seven days, there will be no one living in Newholt. In other tales, she presents travelers with difficult choices—Fortune favors you, ir’Dayne. If you hold to your course, you will find the orb you seek in the ruins of the shattered tower. But you should know: your daughter is dying. A subtle Khyberian infection festering in her blood. None have noticed the signs, and unless it is treated with Aram’s crown she will be dead in three days. Turn back this moment, and you will reach the Sivis station in time to send a message. But if you turn back now… you will never see this tower again. But there are only a few of these stories, buried in library vaults or ir’Dayne’s personal journals. So one might wonder… how is it that Teraza stands proudly alongside her sisters? The answer is that she is just as legendary as they are. She is featured in just as many stories as Sora Maenya. She has been spoken of in whispers for centuries… but not in the Five Nations. Sora Teraza is a legend, but she’s a legend in the Demon Wastes… a tale of the Carrion Tribes.
Who are the Carrion Tribes?
The Carrion Tribes are the primary denizens of the Demon Wastes. The people of the Five Nations know little about them, and the common vision of the Carrion echoes this description from the Eberron Campaign Setting:
Descended from Sarlonan refugees stranded in the Wastes more than a millennium and a half ago, the Carrion Tribes consist of vicious humans who worship the malevolent spirits that haunt the Wastes. Over the centuries a handful of different tribes have emerged, each following a different fiendish overlord. No matter which fiend they pledge allegiance to, the Carrions are bloodthirsty nomads known to slaughter any strangers they come across—including members of other Carrion Tribes.
Reading this, people might wonder: Why would anyone choose to live in the Demon Wastes? Why would anyone willingly choose to revere a fiend? Don’t they know the overlords are evil? In my opinion, that ECS quote reflects the common vision of the tribes—but the truth is more complex. The Demon Wastes is a glimpse of what the world was like during the Age of Demons. It is a place where multiple overlords touch the world, more strongly than anywhere else. And what most delights the overlords? Tormenting mortals. Rak Tulkhesh yearns for mortal bloodshed. Ashurak delights in slow suffering and disease. Katashka wants the living to fear the dead. Over the course of history, there have been Carrion Tribes of many species. The first Ghaash’kala fought corrupted orcs and gnolls in the Wastes. There have been dwarves, shifters, goblins, and even halfling tribes over the course of millennia. How do they get there? The obvious way is shipwrecks. The influence of the Wastes extends into the waters off the coast, and vessels that travel too close can be caught in unnatural currents or storms. The largest single migration in recent history is the event called out in the ECS—a wave of refugee ships from Ohr Kaluun fleeing the Sundering, pursued by war galleys from Nulakhesh—all of which were dashed against the reefs and rocks of the Wastes. This brought thousands of humans to the Wastes, but it wasn’t the only time this happened. When Lhazaar settled on eastern Khorvaire, there were explorers who came to the other side, only to be lost in the Wastes. And throughout the history of Galifar there have been merchants and soldiers blown off course, and explorers and treasure hunters reaching too close to the fire. Because an effect of this is that the coastline of the Wastes is studded with shipwrecks. Treasures from Ohr Kaluun were carried away from the Sundering only to be lost in the sea. Merchant vessels with rich cargoes have fallen beyond the Wastes. There’s wonders to be found—but most of those who have sought these wonders have fallen prey to the dangers of the Wastes themselves.
Shipwrecks are one way to reach the Wastes, but not the only way. Most demiplanes breach the world in more than one location. Throughout the course of history, mortals have been lured into demiplanes and ended up in the Demon Wastes. Sometimes this is random chance, the fate of unlucky explorers. But there have been a number of larger migrations organized by the Lords of Dust, either tricking people into joining large expeditions or in some cases forcing them through. The overlords love their toys, and when the population falls too low, something has to be done.
The point is that the Carrion Tribes aren’t an ancient civilization and they aren’t a unified culture. They are victims struggling to survive in an extremely hostile environment. They rise and fall. The tribes named in canon lore are current Carrion Tribes. The Moon Reavers are one of the oldest surviving tribes, but the current incarnation of the Plaguebearers have been around for less than a century; Ashurak has had a number of vassal tribes throughout history, but all have eventually been destroyed. Even the term Carrion Tribe isn’t a name the tribes themselves use; it’s a term coined by the Ghaash’kala, reflecting the fact that in their view of things, the corrupted tribesfolk are already dead and it’s a mercy to kill them; they are walking carrion. Since most knowledge of the Demon Wastes has come from interaction with the Ghaash’kala, scholars have adopted the term. But the Moon Reavers feel no kinship with the Plaguebearers; they are bitter and deadly rivals.
This explains how the ancestors of the Carrion Tribes found themselves in the Demon Wastes. But why do the tribes revere fiends? It’s important to understand that the Demon Wastes are a deeply unnatural environment. The common image of the Wastes is “Aplain of blackened sand and volcanic glass… Rivers of lava, bubbling pits of noxious stew, and barren wasteland.” And that is the common and most pleasant form of the Wastes. But that’s just a foundation upon which countless horrors are laid. Part of this is that the Wastes are full of fiends. Some of these are fully sentient, free-roaming fiends that have stat blocks in the Monster Manual. But others are minor entities who have no independent physical form, and instead inhabit aspects of the land. There are fiend that manifests as a swarm of stinging insects, a fiend that inhabits plants and possesses anyone who eats them, a fiend that dwells in pools of water and tears anyone who drinks the water apart from within. Where Katashka has influence, fiends will possess the corpse of any creature that dies. It’s not just that the Wastes are alien and extremely dangerous, it’s that they are fundamentally evil. This is a land that wants to see you suffer. But this isn’t purely random. Entrances to demiplanes are scattered around the Demon Wastes. Many of these are heart demiplanes of overlords. In the Age of Demons, each overlord dominated a particular region of the world, and the largest entrances of their heart planes are found in those regions. But many have back doors in the Demon Wastes, and these in turn project a smaller radius of influence within the Wastes. The overlords are bound and can’t emerge into the Wastes, but their influence still shapes a region, and the lesser fiends reflect their overlord. Thus, within Katashka’s sphere of influence undead are plentiful and corpses will rise. The Wild Heart’s domain is filled with vicious gnolls and supernatural beasts. The hamlet of Festering Holt is within the domain of Eldrantulku, because the vestige of civilization is better for the intrigues and betrayals that delight the Oathbreaker; but the region is filled with venomous creatures and poisonous flora, and the wind whispers secrets that will turn travelers against one another. Festering Holt is a neutral ground, spared from direct attack by other tribes; but all outsiders know that staying too long in Festering Holt is a subtle death sentence.
So the key to understanding the Carrion Tribes is that their motivation is survival. They are born into a hostile world shaped by supernatural forces and it’s the only reality they know. People ask why do they revere fiends? Don’t they know the overlords are evil? As a member of a Carrion Tribe, you’ve never known anything that’s NOT evil. The Carrion Tribes don’t choose their patron fiends because they like the idea of them; they believe that placating their overlord is the only thing that will allow them to survive—protecting them not only from the deadly environment and fiend-influenced wildlife, but also from the other Carrion Tribes. Not to mention the Ghaash’kala. WE see the Ghaash’kala as heroic champions of the Silver Flame; to the Carrion Tribes, they are terrifying monsters. This is exacerbated by the fact that most of the Carrion Tribes are illiterate and history is only preserved in living memory. They don’t choose between a peaceful existence and fiend-worshipping war; they are born into a world in which their fiendish patrons are the only thing that stand between life, death, and all of the other fiends in the Wastes. They stake their claim in a particular region of the Wastes and make their peace with the powers that dwell there, and then use that alliance to fight against the countless horrors that surround them. They can’t leave; the Ghaash’kala will kill anyone who approaches the Labyrinth. All they know is endless war. And it is in this war that Sora Teraza is a legend. Sora Teraza plays the same role in the Demon Wastes that Gandalf does in Middle Earth. She is a wanderer and wizard, a source of wisdom who offers a glimpse of the future. She has helped to rebuild tribes that were almost destroyed and to negotiate temporary truces. She has broken curses and slain monsters. And she has been a harbinger of doom, for she takes no side for long. So Sora Teraza has no single Carrion Tribe; when she is in the Wastes, she wanders, and every tribe gives welcome to the Dusk Walker.
So could I play a character from the Demon Wastes?
Absolutely. Outlander or Haunted One are both reasonable backgrounds for a character from the Wastes. In playing a Carrion survivor, there’s a few things to consider…
How did you escape from the Wastes? Did you evade the Ghaash’kala? Did you escape through a demiplane? Did one of the Lords of Dust help you to escape? Or perhaps… Sora Teraza?
Are you still loyal to your fiendish patron? Do you believe that the members of your tribe are blessed? Are you proud of your patron’s gifts (which could be warlock or sorcerer abilities, barbarian rage, etc)? Are you pursuing some agenda on behalf of your patron? Or…
Do you recognize that your “patron” was your jailor and tormentor? Have you become a demon hunter? Do you want to find a way to rescue other members of your tribe from the Wastes?
Consider that you have lived your life in a deadly supernatural world literally filled with demons. The reality of life elsewhere in Khorvaire will likely be bizarre to you. The people are soft and trusting, with no fear of fiends in the water or in the food they eat, not expecting their neighbors to murder them. Are you delighted by the peaceful wonders of the world, or are you deeply suspicious and always waiting for the other shoe to drop?
Another character option is someone who was stranded in the Wastes for an extended period of time—perhaps as a child—only to eventually be rescued. In this case you have memories on both sides of the Labyrinth.
Can demiplanes be used to escape the Wastes? If they came through demiplanes, why don’t the Carrion Tribes leave through them?
The Ghaash’kala raid demiplanes for supplies, and this may make demiplanes sound like a fun adventure. But as a general rule, demiplanes are even deadlier than the Wastes. The Ghaash’kala are elite, disciplined soldiers who possess forged armor and weapons, divine magic, and couatl relics. They have detailed maps and records of each of the demiplanes they deal with, and act with speed and surgical precision. By contrast, the Carrion Tribes don’t have the equipment, knowledge, or discipline of the Ghaash’kala, and their conventional wisdom is avoid the deadly lands below. They came through the demiplanes, but that’s because the overlords wanted them to reach the Wastes; they may have been guided or herded by the Lords of Dust, and even then, many surely died along the way. And beyond this, there is no limit to the potential size of a demiplane. The Ironlands could be the size of Breland, or they could be the size of Khorvaire itself; the Ghaash’kala and the Kech Shaarat both interact with the Ironlands, but they aren’t running into one another there. Likewise, it’s possible for fiends to escape the Wastes by traveling through demiplanes, and this is how most of them do travel between the Wastes and the rest of Khorvaire. However, MOST fiends are deeply uncomfortable entering demiplanes aside from the ones that spawned them. Rakshasa are uniquely immune to this, a side effect of the same power that shields them from most magic. This, again, is why rakshasa are the most common native fiends. You can face a free-roaming vrock in the Wastes… but if it wants to leave, the only path out is the Labyrinth.
If the influence of overlords is regional, could you make a map of the Demon Wastes that shows the areas affected by different overlords?
It’s something that could potentially be done, but no modern scholar has sufficient understanding of the Demon Wastes. It could be a goal for House Sivis. But there’s surely maps in the Library of Ashtakala that show the influence of each overlord.
How does this influence reflect the fact that the overlords are bound? Are the Carrion Tribes actually dealing directly with overlords?
The influence of the overlords is more like ambient radiation. While it’s not a perfect analogy, you can think of the overlords as sleeping and this influence as their dreams. The Carrion Tribes make their piece with the influence of the overlord as a general force; it’s not like they have personal conversations with them, or that the overlords are aware of them as individuals. However, Carrion Tribes also often interact with active fiends. The Moon Reavers interact with Night Hags. The Plaguebearers revere Ashurak, but they interact with Bloody Vasa, an oinoloth spawned by Ashurak. It’s also the case that lesser rakshasa and other shapeshifting fiends often conceal themselves among the Carrion Tribes, serving as leaders or spiritual guides; the fiends are aspects of their overlords, and they enjoy the suffering of the mortals.
That’s all for now! I probably won’t have time to answer questions, but feel free to ask. June was a busy month for me, but there’s a lot of things going on. On my Patreon I’m about to start a new online Eberron campaign for patrons; the hagling pictured above is one of the potential characters in that campaign, a hexblood bartender drawn by Matthew Johnson. I’m also finishing Frontiers of Eberron and will have some previous for patrons this month. And last but not least, I’ll be playing and running D&D on stage at GenCon—use the links about to learn more!
This month is the 20th anniversary of the Eberron Campaign Setting. But even after twenty years, there are many elements of the setting that have never been explored in depth, whether in canon wizards content or my own creations. However, over the last four years people have been able to release their own Eberron content on the DM’s Guild and at this point there are hundreds of products out there… And for the next three days, all Eberron products are 20% off at the DM’s Guild!
I am humbled and grateful to everyone who has helped to keep the setting alive and to expand the world by creating their own content for it. As I said, there are hundreds of products and I can’t possibly identify them all. But I wanted to call out a few of the products and creators on the DM’s Guild that you might want to check out! Starting with, well, me…
Exploring Eberron. My first independent Eberron book, Exploring Eberron covers a number of topics I always wanted to address in canon but that never happened. The largest of these are the Planes of Eberron’s unique cosmology; Exploring Eberron takes a deeper look at each of the planes. It also covers the civilizations of the Thunder Sea, the Dhakaani goblinoids, the Mror Dwarves, and much much more! While you’re there, take a look at my other DMsG work. Eberron Confidential provides a host of interesting background hooks for characters; Dread Metrolexplores the crossover between Eberron and Ravenloft; Chronicles of Eberron takes a look at a host of topics, from nobility to Session Zero to Karrnathi undead! And for a tiny deep cut that’s less than two dollars, check out my Eberron collaboration with the band Magic Sword!
The Eberronicon.This book is a fantastic resource that consolidates lore details from across all of the editions of Eberron into one, handy reference. Do you want to play a changeling? The Eberronicon tells to about the Gray Tide, the Tyrants of Sharn, the changelings of Riedra and more, all in one place. This provides easy access to a lot of deep lore!
Politics of Eberron. This bundle gathers together the work of Joseph Meehan, and provides ideas for cultures and politic intrigue for all of the nations of Khorvaire. The bundle is already an impressive bargain, even more so during the sale!
Map Perilousand More! This imposing sourcebook provides over five hundred pages of enemies, allies, and rivals for your Eberron campaign. This is just one of many sourcebooks created by Anthony Turco. The Adventurer’s Almanacand Psion’s Primer provide a host of character options, While theXen’drik Advisory gives more threats and hooks for the Shattered Land! And speaking of Xen’drik…
The Giant’s Guide to Xen’drik is another titanic sourcebook, with over 500 pages of content including monsters, character options, and a look at 13 fallen nations of Xen’drik! And while you’re at it, check out Jamie Bernstein’s Hektula’s Khyber Codex—with a look at 38 demiplanes in Khyber!
Sora Esma, Trinkets and More! In addition to the collection of urban legends seen above, this hag has nine collections of Eberron-themed trinkets sure to add some excitement to any campaign. My fingers would fall off linking to each one, but you should check out this full list of things created by Jarrod Taylor, including his work in the Points of Interest series!
Revisiting Sarlona. The nations of Sarlona are barely covered in the original canon, and a number of community authors have taken a deeper and more thoughtful look at the lands beyond Riedra. Check out Talvakri’s Guide to Adar and Linvakri’s Guide to Syrkarn… I believe a book on the Tashana Tundra is in the works!
The Naturalist’s Guide to Eberron. Working from A-Z, Matthew Booth has gone through the monsters of Dungeons & Dragons and considered how they might logically fit into the world of Eberron. This link goes to the first volume—Aarakocra to Azer—but the series continues through the alphabet!
Blessed of the Traveler is a guide to incorporating transgender characters and stories into the Eberron setting for Dungeons & Dragons, with looks at how several cultures and faiths approach gender, as well as a look at magical transition methods. For some reason it’s not part of the sale, but it’s ONE DOLLAR, so I think that’s OK. Meanwhile, if you’ve been looking for a queer take on the Lord of Blades, check out Queercoded!
Tiefling Treatise brings heaps of new lore and a queer focus for the tieflings of Eberron, including information on the Venomous Demesne and sanctuary of Rellekor. If you want more of Megan Caldwell’s Eberron work, check out Cyre 1313: The Mourning Rail and theThunder Sea Merfolk Report!
Sarhain’s Guide to the Silver Flame explores the various cultures that worship or revere the Silver Flame and the Couatl in Eberron. And it’s written by the Church’s very own Drego Sarhain (with a little help from Luke Robinson), so you know it’s reliable!
It’s not the DM’s Guild, but if you want to lend a hand to a worthy charity, Beadle & Grimm’sare donating 50% of the profits on their Eberron products to Extra Life this month, and there’s a raffle if you want to donate directly!
As I said, there are hundreds of amazing Eberron products on the DM’s Guild, and they’re all on sale now. I can’t possibly cover them all, and I’ll end with Shard Wars, for those of you who’ve been wanting a more sci-fi take on your Eberron! Go to the DM’s Guild, browse, read some reviews, and you might find something wonderful. I want to personally thank everyone who’s put their energy and imagination into creating content for the world of Eberron—and I apologize to all the creators who didn’t get mentioned directly. If you’ve got an Eberron product on the DM’s Guild, post a description and a link in the comments! Thank you all for bringing the world to life, and happy Eberroniversary!
I’ve been very busy this month—and year!—and haven’t had as much time for articles as I’d like. However, I do answer questions for my Patreon supporters every month, and some times the topics are too big to be addresses on Patreon. Such as…
My campaign is Pathfinder 2e, but set in Eberron. It’s been going great, but one major sticking point is that players in Pathfinder are expected to be able to buy or somehow find higher level generic magic items like scrolls and talismans to aid them in adventure. As Khorvaire doesn’t have very high magic, where would a group of adventurers over level 10 equip themselves with strong but generic magical effects? As in, who is selling level 5+ spell scrolls?
First of all, it’s important to clarify the question that’s being asked. The point isn’t just where do you get powerful magic items, but specifically about “generic” and consumable items—scrolls, potions, and similar tools. The system presumes that high level characters have casual access to consumables that are appropriate to their level—that it’s not a big deal for a 12th level character to grab a potion of speed. But 6th level magic is beyond the everyday magic of the Five Nations. So where can a powerful character get a 6th level spell scroll?
There’s no one answer. House Cannith doesn’t have a VIP section of its enclaves that only sells powerful gear to powerful characters. So in my campaign I would tailor the approach to the party of the adventurers and the story of the campaign. Who are their allies? Who are their enemies? Do you WANT it to be as easy as just dropping some gold and getting the items (in which case my homemeade gear suggestion is easy) or do you want to give the players access to the gear but make them have to maintain a relationship if they want to restock? Do you want it to be a slightly shady thing? With that in mind, here’s some ideas.
THE IMMEASURABLE MARKET. From Exploring Eberron…
While most planes are isolated from others and it’s difficult to move from one plane to another, commerce and peaceful interaction are defining aspects of Syrania. Most planes have back doors that lead to the Immeasurable Market. The crystal spire in the Open Sky is merely a gateway leading to an open marketplace that extends as far as the eye can see. To one side, a slaadi haggles with a modron over the price of hippogriff eggs; to the other, a sly dao shows a Shavaran balor a selection of Fernia-forged blades. It’s said that anything you can imagine—and many things you can’t—can be found in the Immeasurable Market.
Are you looking for things that can’t be purchased in the Five Nations? Are you a remarkable, legendary adventurer? The Immeasurable Market of Syrania has what you need. Not only does it provide access wondrous goods, the entrances to the Market could turn up anywhere. If I were to use the Immeasurable Market as an ongoing part of a campaign, I’d have an adventure in which the adventurers stumble onto a doorway to the Market and have to earn the favor of an Angel of Commerce, who gifts them with the ability to return. If you want to limit it, they could be presented with a key that will guide them to the nearest door to the Market and open it (a key that will only work for them). This allows the DM to decide whether or not there IS a door in their current area, just as you can’t always find a shop selling scrolls. If I were to follow this plotline, I would play up how remarkable this is and have some developing stories as the adventurers get to know merchants and other residents of the Market. For simplicities sake I’d generally allow adventurers to spend gold on simple consumables, but Exploring Eberron lists a variety of other options…
SUNDRY. If you don’t want to have the adventurers go to the Immeasurable Market, you have the Market come to them… or, more specifically, to introduce a magical merchant whose storefront appears in different places. Sundry (or whatever you choose to call them) pops up just where the adventurers happen to be with the deal you need. Sundry COULD be getting her goods from the Immeasurable Market, but if you want to add more mundane flavor, she could just have connections across Eberron. Those potions are from Aerenal; that wand was carved by one of the finest artificers of the Venomous Demesne; that scroll? Stolen from Ashtakala. That potion of speed is actually surplus from the Last War, a cutting edge formula Jorasco and Vadalis are working on… Don’t worry, the side effects aren’t too bad. Is Sundry just well connected? Is she a Chamber dragon? One of the Lords of Dust? An archfey? The Traveler? Does it really matter, if she has what you need when you need it? An interesting Good Omens take on this would be to have a little shop that appears just where the players need it to be that has TWO proprietors, one who sells more benevolent goods, one who deals in delightfully dangerous things. This pair could be a Chamber dragon and a Lord of Dust who both have a Prophetic interest in the actions of the adventuring party, who have agreed to monitor them together… selling them the things they need to stay on the proper path, without revealing that path.
HOMEMADE GEAR. If any of the player characters are spellcasters, you could build the story around the idea that they are creating the items they want to purchase themselves. They would still expend the amount of gold it would normally cost to buy the item, and they could only buy items between sessions when they’re at rest, but wouldn’t need to go through the usual process of creating magic items; it’s as if they are their own shop.The expenditure of gold should be recognized as the cost of the components and dragonshards needed to quickly create the items in question. A key point is that THIS IS NOT NORMAL—but high level player characters AREN’T normal. They are supposed to be legendary figures and heroes of the age, capable of doing things that are beyond the typical magewright artisan. The exact flavor of item creation (as well as what the DM decides is available) can vary based on the character. For example…
Artificers and wizards are essentially arcane scientists and would create their consumables in a workshop.
Warlocks could bargain with their patrons to acquire the items.
Sorcerers might channel their raw arcane energy into consumable form.
Druids could GROW organic tools that replicate the abilities of wands, scrolls, or potions
Clerics or paladins could pray during a long rest. This isn’t just about having a scroll appear; they would lay out a seal of faith using raw Eberron shards, and focus their faith on this point, drawing on the energy of the divine and letting it flow through them—essentially, being artificers but without understanding the science involved.
Again, the point here is that cosmetically it is the same as going and buying the item from a store. You can’t do it in the middle of an adventure, you are limited by the money you have on hand, it’s up to the DM to decide what’s available in this moment. But if you’ve GOT the money and you’re in a safe space, you can just get a few scrolls; just spend a minute or two describing how you make them and move on. If you want, you could call out how the items created in this way are unstable or only work for the creator—thus explaining why the PC doesn’t go into business creating and selling magic items. They can’t create permanent items this way—make sure you drink that potion within a few days or it will lose its fizz.
LUCIUS FOX. In some interpretations of Batman, Wayne is the superhero but it’s Lucius Fox who supplies his cool gadgets. The point is that Fox doesn’t have the talent to go out and personally fight crime, but he’s a great inventor. So if you don’t like the idea that the adventurers are creating their own goods, you could have an NPC who does it for them. A key point here is that NPCs don’t follow the same rules as PCs. It is possible for an NPC to be a great INVENTOR without having the full class abilities of an artificer or wizard. They can build amazing things overnight, as long as you provide them with the resources (IE gold), but they can’t cast a spell in six seconds; they aren’t capable of being an adventurer, but they can help you to succeed.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT… The Sundry idea presents a way for the adventurers to BUY powerful magic items that aren’t available to the general public. However, you could drop that approach and give the party a patron who supplies them with powerful, generic items. If high level adventurers are knowingly working for the Chamber or the Lords of Dust, there’s nothing odd about them being giving the basic tools they need to carry out a mission. If characters have a tie to the Church of the Silver Flame, the Argentum collects dangerous magic items; you could make a big deal about the Argentum doling out items saved for just such an occasion.
So summing up… having the characters create their own items is potentially a way to highlight that the characters are remarkable—that they can create things that couldn’t be bought. Giving the adventurers access to the Immeasurable Market is a way to highlight how remarkable they are and to add a series of plotlines tied to the Market, while Sundry implies that Market connection without having the players themselves engage in extraplanar travel.
In terms of the Sundry section, I have to wonder why even ask for a price as a lord of dust or a chamber agent, I find it somewhat hard to imagine that someone as part of a civilization as powerful as advanced as the lords of dust or argonessen would be strapped for cash to the point where they’d need a couple thousand gold from the party…
Here’s a few ideas off the top of my head as to “Why do the dragon/rakshasa need money…”
They don’t, and they can just give things away for free. As long as it suits your campaign, there’s no reason they’d have to charge anything.
They believe that it’s the only way the adventurers will place value on the things they are buying.
They use the money for other personal projects. The dragon might support a local charity, orphanage, what have you; the rakshasa might fund a Swords of Liberty cell, pay for raves, or similar things. The point is that while they are technically observers for their factions, their factions wouldn’t support those personal projects. The CHAMBER could pay for a thousand orphanges, but THEY WOULDN’T… so the dragon pays for the orphanage with this “Adventurer Tax.”
That’s all for now! All of the ideas I’ve presented here are only a few possibilities, but it’s all I have time for now! If you have other thoughts on how to give high level characters access to high level consumables, add them in the comments. Also: I’m preparing to run a new campaign arc for my Threshold Patrons. This is a monthly campaign: every patron can apply to play in a session, and all sessions are recorded and shared for patrons to watch or listen to. This upcoming campaign is set in Graywall, and we’re in the midst of a series of session zero polls to establish the party of adventurers. If this sounds interesting, this is your chance to get on board before it begins and to help shape the story. Check it out on Patreon!
My esteemed colleague’s suggestion of establishing vast farms in the Talenta Plains shows his ignorance of history and lack of common sense. Why do you suppose the Talenta tribes are nomadic, Danison? Why hasn’t House Ghallanda establish its own farms in its ancestral homeland, or brought home the arcane tools they use across the Five Nations? I’ll do you one better: Why didn’t Galifar settle the Talenta Plains? For a thousand years it was called Cyre on our maps. Yet when the Great King chose to resettle the nobles of old Metrol, did he send them to the Plains? No, he sent them all the way across the Blade Desert. Perhaps—perhaps—this could be attributed to wishing to put a desert between his daughter and possible rivals, but why in the century that followed did Cyrans not settle this vast realm? Dig deeper and you may find stories of a Scale empire that spread from what we now call Q’barra into the Plains—where is that empire today?
It’s no accident that the Talenta keep moving, Danison. It’s no coincidence that they’ve developed a mystical tradition that works with spirits, and choose to hold to this path instead of adopting the arcane science of the west. There are forces at play in the Plains you know nothing about… and you are better off not knowing.
Alina Lorridan Lyrris, Aurum Concordian
Over the last twenty years of Eberron, the Talenta Plains have largely been ignored… just as they have largely been ignored by the people of the Five Nations. The Talenta tribes pursue a nomadic lifestyle and employ a system of primal magic rather than embracing the arcane science of the west. This isn’t an accident. The Talenta developed their traditions because they are the key to survival and prosperity in the Plains. Consider House Ghallanda and House Jorasco, both of which build enclaves in the Five Nations and employ arcane science in those facilities—yet beyond Gatherhold they haven’t built enclaves in the Plains, nor pushed western wizardry or artifice onto their cousins. This is no accident. The Talenta tribes have honed their mystical and mundane traditions for countless generations, and these techniques allow them to accomplish things Cannith artificers and Vadalis magebreeders can’t even imagine.
But this article isn’t about the Talenta tribes… it’s about the Plains themselves. Remember always that Eberron isn’t our world. It’s a world shaped by supernatural forces, a world in which fiends, fey, and undead are real. It’s a world in which planar influence and epic curses have dramatic effects on everyday life. And now, lest it go without saying, we’re moving from canon lore into the realm of Kanon lore—what I do with the Plains in my campaign.
So let’s consider the basic facts. When humanity spread across Khorvaire, they didn’t settle the Plains. There’s no Dhakaani ruins in the Plains. The Trothlorsvek did expand from Q’barra into the Plains, because where else could they go? And yet, their empire collapsed (… with a little help from Masvirik). Dinosaurs thrive in the Plains and in Q’barra, yet aren’t widespread elsewhere in Khorvaire. The Talenta halflings have maintained a nomadic tradition for thousands of years, and employ primal spirit-driven magic rather than the arcane science of the Five Nations—and yet, when they leave the Plains (as seen by Jorasco, Ghallanda, the Boromars, and more) they don’t bring that system of magic with them. The Talenta traditions are a path to survival and to power within the Plains, because of unique aspects of the Plains outsiders don’t recognize or understand. So with that in mind… here’s the core principle I’m working with when I approach the Plains.
The Talenta Plains have always had strong connections to Lamannia, Thelanis, and Dolurrh. During the early Age of Giants, the Plains were the heart of a powerful draconic civilization. When this nation of dragons became corrupted by the Daughter of Khyber, it fell into a war with Argonnessen that ended with the corrupted civilization being utterly eradicated. The victorious dragons employed powerful forces to contain the fallout from that conflict and to prevent any repetition of the threat. When Argonnessen later laid waste to Xen’drik, it was drawing on experience and techniques that had first been employed in the razing of the Talenta Plains.
As such, the Talenta Plains are a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But that apocalypse happened tens of thousands of years ago. The devastation was thorough, and beyond that, the civilization was unlike that of any humanoid culture. The people of the present day don’t SEE the traces of that fallen nation and the evidence of its apocalyptic fall. And yet, it holds the core principles we’re familiar with from the post-apocalyptic tales of our media: people roaming across a ruined land, invisible lingering forces that affect everyday life, wonders of the fallen civilization waiting to be uncovered. In the Talenta Plains, those “invisible forces” are spirits rather than radiation… but the basic principles still apply.
So as I’m developing my campaign in the Talenta Plains, I’m thinking about Gamma World, Fallout, and Mad Max: Fury Road in addition to old folk tales… just replace the cars in Mad Max with dinosaurs. There have always been fey, elementals, and ghosts in the Plains because of the planar influences. But there are also relics of a draconic civilization—a civilization so advanced that we don’t even recognize its tools as tools—as well as scars of the weapons that destroyed it. A crucial difference between this and the Mournland is that the basic environment isn’t as relentlessly hostile as the Mournland. There is natural life in the Plains, and it’s possible to survive and thrive there—provided you know what you’re doing and know how to avoid its dangers. And one of the basic principles to that is to keep moving. A second aspect of this is that there are ruins and monsters in the Talenta Plains that you’d never find in the heart of a nation like Breland, because the Talenta know to avoid them. The paths the tribes use in their migrations are safe, but venture off the paths and you can find wonders—along with deadly danger.
THE SPIRITS OF THE PLAINS
At a glance the Talenta Plains often seem vast and empty. But there is far more to this realm than meets the mortal eye. It’s common knowledge that the Talenta traditions involve interacting with “spirits”; what outsiders don’t realize is that this general term actually covers a wide range of entities. There are five distinct classes of “spirit” that are widespread in the Plains. But beyond the type of spirit, an encounter can very dramatically based on the form of the spirit. Ambientspirits are invisible and intangible; they can’t be interacted with directly, but they may produce supernatural effects on the environment. Pure spirits can be physically perceived in their own shape—a spectral ghost, a fire elemental, a dryad. Incarnate spirits are tied to a physical form, whether that’s animal, vegetable, or mineral; this could be face in a pool of water or a talking clawfoot. Bound spiritsare similar to incarnate spirits in that they are tied to something physical, but were bound against their will; they are often tied to objects or set as guardians. So let’s talk about the five common types of spirits, but in the context of how you would encounter one as an incarnate spirit tied to a clawfoot.
Elementals are raw primal forces, largely driven by pure instinct. An elemental clawfoot would be supernaturally strong and fast, but it wouldn’t speak or have a particular interest in interacting with humanoids. It’s just much more dangerous than a normal clawfoot.
Feyare spirits that bring magic and story into the world; essentially, their purpose is to make mortal lives more interesting. Fey spirits have a story or a purpose, which could be simple or complex. A fey clawfoot might guard a wondrous treasure, offer wise counsel, or have a thorn in its tail that it can’t get out—do you help it?
Undead of the Talenta Plains are typically spirits that haven’t fully reached Dolurrh. Some wish for rest; others are driven by powerful emotions or unfinished business. A haunted clawfoot might speak with your grandfather’s voice and ask you to fulfill a promise on his behalf… or it might be the corpse of a clawfoot driven by the hunter Orlasca’s vile hunger.
Fiends are malevolent spirits. Some are tied to the Cold Sun or the Daughter of Khyber; others are sparks of evil drifting directly from Khyber. They exist to inflict suffering on mortals, though each has a flavor of tragedy it prefers. A fiendish clawfoot might lure travelers into the darkness with the voices of loved ones, killing them one by one in horrifying ways.
Artificial spirits are relics of the fallen dragon nation that occupied this region tens of thousands of years ago. These are effectively sentient magic items, though they can be bound to fields of energy instead of solid objects. Artificial spirits aren’t usually encountered in animal forms, but there could be a spirit bound to a buried sphere of brass studded with Khyber shards which has the ability to dominate beasts, and uses these creatures to carry out its purpose—still patrolling the borders of an outpost that was ground to dust long ago.
An important point with fey, fiends, and elementals is that for the most path these are native spirits. The ambient energies of Lamannia and Thelanis are strong in this region, but it’s native influences that harness this power and form into spirits. So the fey clawfoot isn’t from Thelanis; it is Thelanian energy that has been shaped by the region and by deep archetypes. There are actually Thelanian manifest zones where travelers may interact with fey of Thelanis; but most of the fey spirits are native to Eberron. Likewise for the fiends; they are tied to overlords or to Khyber, not to Shavarath or Fernia.
So the first thing to known about the Talenta Plains is that they are full of spirits. The next question is… WHY? All of these classes and types of spirits CAN be found anywhere in the world. Why is there such an intense concentration of spirits in the Plains? The answer to that is…
A FORGOTTEN WAR
In the wake of the Age of Demons, the dragons exulted in their victory. They were few in number at that time, and it took them millennia to rebuild and to craft nations. But a time came when dragons set out to claim the world they had saved. The dragons laid down roots in Argonnessen, in Xen’drik, and in Khorvaire. Most began as explorers, artists, and scientists—unlocking the mysteries of the world they had saved. But slowly, a worm began to burrow into the collective heart of the dragons of Khorvaire. The Daughter of Khyber began to play on their pride and their arrogance. Why should they share this world with lesser beings—creatures who’d been so easily dominated by the fiends in the past? They were the children of Siberys. They were made to rule and to enforce their will upon reality. They quickly conquered the humanoids that existed in Khorvaire at the time. But what is now the Plains was the heart of their empire, where they experimented with magic and built terrifying weapons. And in this time, they themselves began to be corrupted, with spawn of Tiamat, abishai and other mockeries of dragonkind appearing. But enthralled as they were, the dragons justified this as a desired evolution and proof of their power and wisdom. When other dragons questioned them, it was proof that these rivals had to be subjugated and made to see the “light of Siberys.”
This isn’t the place to go into a long and detailed breakdown of a war between dragons. Ultimately the power of the Daughter of Khyber was broken, and the surviving dragons withdrew to Argonnessen. But the conflict shook the world. The forces unleashed in the war didn’t just shatter the cities of dragons, they tore at the fabric of reality itself. Part of the reason Argonnessen reacted so brutally to the actions of the Cul’sir Dominion in Xen’drik was because they themselves had come close to inflicting irreparable harm to reality.
Most evidence of this first draconic empire was destroyed in the conflict, and what was left has largely been erased by the passage of time. But there are still lingering consequences of that ancient war.
A Spiritual Cacophony. The barriers to the planes are worn thin. There are concrete manifest zones that have the standard effects, but beyond this the ambient energy of the planes generates an unusual amount of native spirits, as described above.
Rare Relics. Most traces of the draconic civilization were erased, and their magic was unraveled. But there are a few traces that have endured: eldritch machines that have resisted destruction, wards or guardian spirits placed by the victors, or abandoned weapons—the draconic equivalent of an unexploded blast disk. Most dramatically, there’s the potential for time capsules or fallout shelters—things specifically designed to survive the conflict and endure the passage of time.
An Arcane Menace. The civilization of the Imperial dragons was largely driven by arcane science. Over the course of the war, the enemies of the empire unleashed slow, inexorable weapons designed to undermine and break down that draconic civilization. The process is extremely slow by human standards, but it is inexorable. Any static community in the Talenta Plains will suffer the following effects.
It will draw ghosts and undead—tortured spirits unable to reach Dolurrh. The effect ramps up as it goes; the more restless spirits are in a region, the more newly dead spirits are drawn to this mass instead of to Dolurrh. At a glance this might sound like a good thing—isn’t Dolurrh oblivion?—but the spirits are disoriented and tormented. Hauntings can range from merely disturbing to concretely dangerous, and it continues to worsen over time. Think of every haunted house movie you’ve seen, and slowly amplify the effects.
Arcane magic is subtly corrupted over time. Systems may break down or malfunction. Living spells can manifest.
This effect is slow but inexorable. The Trothlorsvek dragonborn were able to resist it—as discussed in more detail later in this article—but the point is that it is dangerous to remain still and that traditional arcane science will slowly go wrong. This effect is slow enough that it doesn’t affect the wizard or artificer passing through to Plains, but it’s why Ghallanda and Jorasco don’t implement the arcane infrastructure of the Five Nations in the Plains. And it’s why the people of Metrol and Cyre didn’t settle in the Plains—They DID, but every settlement came to a miserable end and sages soon recognized that it was a concrete, real effect and that settlement was ill-advised.
WHAT ABOUT THE DRAGONBORN?
During the Age of Monsters, the dragonborn expanded out of Q’barra and into the Plains. They were able to establish an empire of their own, that lasted for a time; it ultimately collapsed when the partial release of the overlord Masvirik forced them to return to Q’barra. Historians will note that they never attempted to rebuild this empire and that there’s very little mention of dragonborn ruins in the Plains. Personally, I’d expand this history in a few ways. I’d say that the expansion of the dragonborn empire was part of the requirements for Masvirik’s release—that the fiends of Masvirik encouraged the spread of the empire knowing it would help their overlord. Likewise, I’d say that the Daughter of Khyber played a role as well. Normally she doesn’t influence dragonborn, but her claws were sunk deeply into the Talenta Plains and she has a greater presence there than anywhere else beyond the Pit of Five Sorrows. So the influence of Masvirik and the Daughter twisted the dragonborn, again unleashing abishai, spawn, and other horrors—along with Dolurrhi hauntings described above. It’s not simply that the Trothlorsvek had to abandon their holdings in the Plains; they had to destroy them in order to break the power of the Daughter and the Cold Sun. In my campaign there ARE definitely still ruins to be found, but they are isolated and limited—and rightly shunned by the Talenta tribes, whose paths of migration keep them far away.
SO… WHAT’S IN THE PLAINS?
The inspiration for this article was a question posed on my Patreon… What are some interesting adventure sites or villains you would place in the Talenta Plains if you were running a game there? The point was that the Plains seems to be vast and empty, without a lot of real points of interest. Why would adventurers go there? Taking everything I’ve suggested above, here’s a few ideas.
Ruins
We don’t hear much about ruins in the Talenta Plains. In part that’s because the previous widespread civilizations were thoroughly and intentionally destroyed… and in part it’s because the few ruins that are left are bad, dangerous places that the Talenta learned to avoid thousands of years ago. There ARE still ruins out there if you leave the migratory paths followed by the tribes… but there’s good reason they’ve been left alone. Here’s a few ideas entirely off the top of my head.
The Temple of Tiamat. Once this was a vast citadel of followers of the Daughter of Khyber. All that’s left on the surface are the faintest traces of ancient walls and broken stone. But there is a passage that leads below—a cavern formed of pure demonglass, something even the dragons couldn’t destroy. The ruin is dead and silent… but as people explore it, it stirs to life. Carvings of abishai become real, pulling free from the walls and eager to torment mortals. And in the deepest layer, a demonglass dracolich—the Ancient Askannath—guards an hoard of treasures from the forgotten civilization. The fiends and their master can’t leave the demonglass sanctum, but the longer mortals remain within it, the more it comes to life. Why would adventurers go there? One possibility is that they stumble upon it by accident, when they choose to ignore halfling warnings about cursed lands. Another is that they are searching for a draconic relic — an artifact a sage has traced to this place. It could be this is purely a source of information or knowledge. Or it could be that an ancient weapon from the forgotten war remains intact. Are the adventurers sent to recover it for the good of their own nation? Or are they pursuing rivals—trying to stop the Emerald Claw from seizing the Stone of Doom?
Haunted Hastalar. Most of the cities of the dragonborn empire were destroyed. Most… but not all. The fortress-town of Hastalar remains perfectly intact. But it has long been shunned by the halflings, and with good reason: it is intensely haunted. Hastalar was attacked by a Dhakaani legion before the full collapse of the Trothlorsvek dominion, and lingering spirits of both Dhakaani dar and dragonborn soldiers remain, howling through the streets. There is a powerful duur’kala banshee here who song is louder and deadlier than that of the standard banshee. Poltergeist activity is a constant threat. There are countless ghosts and shadows, and anyone who sleeps in Hastalar may be possessed by a vengeful spirit that seeks to reenact the final struggle. But there are relics of both the Trothlorsvek and the Dhakaani here. A Dhakaani Kech may send a force here to recover a potent artifact; the Kech Nasaar could try to release the banshee and recruit her to their cause. The Trothlorsvek could ask a team of trusted adventurers to recover a relic of their own; the haunting has a more powerful effect on dragonborn and they need softskins to explore it.
The Planar Workshop. Another subterranean ruin of the forgotten war, this is essentially a fallout shelter and arcane workshop designed to harness and manipulate planar energies. It is shielded from divination and has been hidden even from the Chamber itself. The region around it is especially dangerous, and the workshop itself is filled with malfunctioning magic—deadly artificial spirits, living spells, and golems. It could be that there’s a specific artifact here to be discovered. Or perhaps there’s a Chardalyn dragon—a relic of the forgotten war—that rises up and starts menacing the Plains, and the secret to stopping it lies in this vault.
Legendary Beasts
Incarnate spirits can result in terrifying threats. The Talenta tribes largely avoid these dangers, but perhaps adventurers have a reason to deal with them. A few entirely random ideas…
Flamemaw, a swordtooth titan (tyrannosaurus rex) blended with a fire elemental; it has a burning aura and breathes fire.
The Red Eyes, a pack of clawfeet possessed by fiends. The Talenta avoid their hunting grounds, but perhaps their territory suddenly shifts. Alternately, a Talenta adventurer could wish to recover the weapon of a legendary hunter who fell fighting the pack…
The Great Hammertail is a legend of a massive ankylosaurus that has a town on its back. Think of this as Brigadoon, except on the back of a wandering dinosaur. Needless to say, this is a fey phenomenon. But there could be blessings and wonders to be found in this town! Alternatively, this could be a patron for a halfling warlock that uses the Genie archetype; instead of traveling into a bottle, their sanctuary is a tent on the back of the Hammertail!
Orlasca Ghouls are discussed in Chronicles of Eberron; essentially, these are ghoul beasts that are guided by a single predatory consciousness. They could arise anywhere, and if they spread over a large force—perhaps wiping out an entire small tribe and raising them as ghouls—they could be a terrible threat.
The Carver is a large predator that will bargain with potential prey. Is it a fey spirit that offers fair bargains, or a fiend that will bring only misfortune?
The Living Wish is an epic living spell, a dangerous relic of the forgotten war. It spends most of its time slumbering. Someone—perhaps an Aurum concordian?—learns of its existence and hires adventurers to try to locate it and use its power. What damage might it cause to reality?
Spirits
Spirits are a defining aspect of the Plains. Here’s a few ways they could inspire adventures…
Curses or Blessings. A Talenta adventurer could have a longstanding bond between a fey spirit and their family that is about to become due. This could be a good thing; on their twentieth birthday, if an heir of the Cascala bloodline can find and catch the silver fastieth, they will receive a boon of speed. Or it could be a bad thing; on their twentieth birthday an heir of the Cascala bloodline has one opportunity to catch the silver fastieth; if they fail, they will die.
Minor Fiends. Minor fiends can cause trouble anywhere in the Talenta Plains. The halflings know minor warding rituals and traditions that largely protect their tribes from loose fiends, but outsiders may have to deal with all sorts of minor harassments. Beasts could be possessed. Travelers could have nightmares, or be troubled by anything from illusions to phantasmal killers.
Guiding to Rest. The wandering undead of the Plains are largely tormented by their restless existence. Adventurers could be tasked to find a wandering spirit and help lay it to rest. Alternately, they could be tasked to find the spirit of someone important who died in the Plains and whose spirit was lost. The Cannith seneschal was touring the Plains. Now it seems his spirit’s bound to a clawfoot and he can’t be raised from the dead unless you find it.
Ancient Force. An artificial spirit from the forgotten war could hold priceless knowledge about draconic magic or the history of the first age. But what would convince their entity to help adventurers? And is it actually wise to give humans the knowledge this being possesses?
Villains
What villains might I use in a Talenta campaign? Once again, here’s a few entirely random ideas…
Tellan Narathun. A concordian of the Aurum, Tellan Narathun has made a fortune off of dangerous things his family has recovered from Sol Udar, and now he’s turning his attention to the relics of the Plains. Tellan could start out as a patron for a party of adventurers, but the more they work with him the clearer it becomes that he’s selfish and dangerous. It could be that he is purely driven by mortal greed… or over the course of the campaign he might make one too many bargains with fiends and become a host for an immortal threat. He’s experimenting with symbionts from Sol Udar, and the longer the campaign goes, the more alien he will become. As I said, he could start as a patron, or he could start as the patron of a group of rival adventurers the player characters clash with—either way, the longer it goes, the more dangerous he becomes.
The Scales. A cult of the Daughter of Khyber. They would start out seemingly innocent—perhaps a friendly dragonborn working with a willing tribe of halflings to investigate the fall of the Trothlorsvek empire—but over time would become corrupted, dragon-fiend terrors.
Oblivion. An artificial spirit from the forgotten war that seeks vengeance on Argonnessen. Once recovered, it would serve as a patron (possibly creating warlocks or draconic sorcerers) in a long slow quest that would start by targeting Chamber agents and build to something ever more dangerous. Along the way it would be recruiting both dragonborn and actual dragons, serving as a locus for the influence of the Daughter of Khyber.
Holy Uldra. Let’s not sleep on our existing villains. Uldra is a charismatic halfling lath who believes “following the path of the Five Nations is wrong and goes against the spirits of their ancestors and the beasts with which they share the Plains. She also rails against the dragonmarked houses for abandoning the ancient traditions of the tribes.” As it stands, she’s a cleric of the hunt. But in her ambitions to punish the houses and to strike agains the Five Nations, she could make bargains with fey or fiends, gaining increasingly dangerous powers (even as she drifts away from the ancient traditions herself). Part of the threat of Uldra is the idea that she can lure innocents to her cause and potentially cause war within the Plains itself. It’s not the case that all her followers are possessed or evil; some may have valid issues with the role foreign powers have taken in the Plains.
Supernatural Sites
Setting aside ruins and places that have already been named like Krezent and the Boneyard, what are some interesting locations I might use in the Plains? Before specifics, I’ll call out that the Plains have a number of large, strong manifest zones tied to Lamannia, Thelanis, and Dolurrh; in this current interpretation, I’d tie the Boneyard to Dolurrh instead of Mabar. In addition, incarnate spirits can be tied to plants, stones, soil, or other locations. Very briefling, consider the following…
A large pond inhabited by a water weird. This place is a hybrid of fey and elemental forces. The weird can serve as an oracle, but it demands a price for its wisdom and will drown anyone who seeks to reclaim the tribute thrown into its waters.
A grove of trees that moan in the wind. Each tree holds the essence of someone who died long ago, and speak with dead can be used to give a tree a clear voice for a short time. If trouble, the trees can wail with the same effect as a banshee’s howl.
BUT WHAT ABOUT…
… Krezent? It could be tied to the forgotten war, but I’m inclined to say that it remains as described—a relic of the couatl and the Age of Demons. The Shulassakar take care to contain the potential threats of Krezent, but they can’t guard every dangerous site in the Plains. However, the Shulassakar could be patrons or advisors for adventurers—or dangerous enemies who send a strike force to stop the adventurers if they are blundering around into dangerous territory. I’d also call out that the population of Krezent isn’t sufficient to count it as a “town” for purposes of triggering the ill effects; while it houses a population of Shulassakar, the ECS still identifies it as a “ruin” and not an active city.
... Gatherhold?If settlements in the Talenta Plains are slowly cursed, how does the town of Gatherhold survive? This is a mystery even to the Talenta themselves—the fact is that it does and always has. The most logical answer is that unlike the Mourning, whatever curses were laid upon the Plains long ago don’t perfectly conform to current political boundaries. Gatherhold is already on the edge of the Plains, on the shore of Lake Cyre; likely it’s simply outside whatever effect is responsible for the hauntings. The same is true of the “small towns” along the northern border. On the other hand, maskweavers and other mystics have long been performing rituals to draw in the favor of benevolent spirits to protect and preserve Gatherhold, and it could be that it is these traditions are responsible for its ongoing propsperity. Nonetheless, the fact remains that there’s a reason Gatherhold is an anomaly, and that the there aren’t towns spread throughout the Plains. With that said, it’s important to note that this affect is supposed to target TOWNS and COLONIES, and could spare small outposts. The Tolashcara monitor the Boneyard. The Shulassakar guard Krezent. But in both cases, these aren’t CITIES… and it’s also the case that the Shulassakar channel the Silver Flame and the Tolashcara specialize in necromancy, so both are able to deal with hauntings.
… Fire Ecology? Wildfires play an important role in environments such as the Plains, and that would be just as true in the Talenta Plains as it is in our world. Wildfires are a regular part of life in the Plains and another reason to keep moving. The twist I’d add to consider the ways in which Eberron isn’t our world is that I would have fire spirits in the Plains in addition to purely natural wildfires. These could include elemental wildfires, who largely act just like mundane wildfires but that might sing in Ignan as they burn, and which could respond to druids or bards; fey wildfires, which would play out stories—perhaps being mischievous, perhaps targeting heroes to make their life more challenging; or fiendish wildfires, which would be unnaturally dangerous, aggessive, and cruel.
IN CONCLUSION…
This truly just scratches the surface of what’s possible here, and every aspect of this could be expanded upon; hopefully this gives you some ideas. Again, all of this is KANON—this is what *I* would do if I focused on the Plains—but that doesn’t mean that YOU have to use it.
A few quick points, since I don’t have time to talk about the Talenta themselves…
Talenta “spirit traditions” cover a wide range of actual paths. The Maskweavers are one such path and primarily deal with fey and elemental spirits. The Tolashcara deal with undead. Talenta traditions could produce rangers, druids, warlocks, clerics, bards, monks, artificers, and more. The point is that they generate these effects through interactions with spirits: seeking guidance from them or bargaining with them, binding them, drawing on their ambient power, and more. Saying it again, these spiritsaren’t tied to specific CLASSES. You can be a Talentan druid, warlock, or artificer and draw your powers from interacting with spirits! CANNITH artificers employ arcane science, but a Talentan artificer can produce the same EFFECTS by working with spirits of the Plains.
On a large scale, these traditions don’t work when you leave the Plains. This is why House Jorasco largely employs arcane science in the Five Nations rather than calling on healing spirits; the spirits aren’t THERE in Breland. However, a Talentan player character can still use class abilities wherever they are. This can be justified either by the player character being remarkable and maintaining a connection over a distance; by them having an attendant spirit that invisibly travels with them; or by them personally being able to work with local spirits.
I previously said that the Tolashcara deal with Mabaran undead; in this model I’d switch their focus to be on Dolurrh.
Thanks again to my Patreon supporters, who make these articles possible! I won’t be answering questions on this article, but feel free to discuss it in the comments.
Every month, I answer interesting questions posed by my Patreon supporters. Such as…
In Exploring Eberron you say that the sahuagin of the Thunder Sea equip dragon turtles with siege staffs. I thought siege staffs were a Cannith thing. How prevalent are they in other groups/areas?
While they’ve never been described in canon material, siege staffs have always been part of my vision of Eberron; they’re described in my first Eberron novel, City of Towers. The principle is simple: The people of Khorvaire create arcane solutions to problems we solve with technology. By the rules of D&D, wands, rods and staffs are effective tools for channeling offensive arcane magic. Therefore, just as a cannon is a really big gun, it made sense to me that Khorvaire’s answer to artillery would be a really big wand… a siege staff. Here’s what I presented in Exploring Eberron.
So the point is that siege staff (and yes, I say “staffs” instead of “staves”) is a generic term for “powerful arcane artillery”. Cannith makes them, but so does the Arcane Congress and so does the Eternal Dominion, and so did the giants of Xen’drik. A siege staff is a tool for concentrating arcane energy, and any civilization that understands the basic principles of arcane science could make a form of siege staff. They won’t all be the SAME, just as guns produced by different nations in our world are different. There will be cosmetic differences and there could be mechanical differences. But any advanced arcane civilization may employ a form of siege staff. Missing from this excerpt above is the detail that when a staff that has an effect that allows a saving throw is used at long range, targets have advantage on the saving throw. The ideas I discuss here also apply to long rods, another form of arcane artillerydescribed in Exploring Eberron.
Could you elaborate on that? What would be some differences between siege staffs of the Thunder Sea, those used by Lhazaar pirates, and those made by House Cannith?
Sure. Once of the things that defines House Cannith is MASS PRODUCTION. As a rule, House Cannith is the industry standard, and its creations are reliable and predictable. As such, the default description in Exploring Eberron applies to Cannith siege staffs. When dealing which siege staffs from other cultures, there’s a few things to consider: Appearance, Function (Force, Blast, Focus), Damage Type, and Efficiency.
Generally, appearanceis broadly consistent; a siege staff is a very long rod. This is based on the principle that the wand/rod/staff is an efficient tool for channeling arcane power. But other material used in the construction of the rod and other cosmetic details will vary from culture to culture. Function refers to the three basic functions I described in Exploring Eberron. A culture may not produce all three types of staffs (Blast, Force, and Focus) — or it may produce a superior form of one type and an inferior form of another. This is echoed by Damage Type. Force is the default, common form of energy employed by Cannith staffs. But different cultures may rely on other forms of energy. Efficiency I touched on above. Cannith is the industry standard; other cultures may vary from the norm, for better or for worse. It’s also the case that many cultures produce Focus staffs that can only be used with a specific school of magic or even a specific spell. With all that in mind, let’s theorize about siege staffs of other cultures.
HOUSE CANNITH. Cannith staffs are mass produced and have a very uniform appearance. They are typically made from densewood and have a steel core and steel bands engraved with draconic sigils (which are often used in the arcane science of the Five Nations). Cannith produces all three types of staff described above, performing as described above. Force is the most common damage type.
LHAZAAR PRINCIPALITIES. Lhazaar staffs are hand-carved and each one is unique in some way. Lhazaar artillerists combine different types of wood with metals that resonate properly with them. Some Lhazaar artillerists prefer having knots or whorls in the wood; others cut such imperfections out of a staff. Bands of metal are common, but some hammer nails of different metals into the length of the wood, or drape anchor chains over them. Focus staffs are fairly rare on Lhazaar ships. A few notable traditions: The Wind Whisperers produce blast staffs that deal thunder damage and force staffs that inflict lightning damage. The Bloodsails bind spirits to their staffs, firing bolts of howling spectral matter; their blast staffs inflict psychic damage, terrifying victims to death. This has the advantage of killing crew while leaving an enemy vessel untouched. Bloodsails also are known to use focus staffs that can project necromancy spells. Lorghalen ships generally fling Lorghalen cannonballs at the enemy instead of using siege staffs.
Efficiency varies from ship to ship, because Lhazaar staffs are all custom made. A particular vessel may be renowned for its exceptionally powerful force staffs, and rivals may be yearning to claim them. I’m posting a table of Siege Staff Quirks on my Patreon; these would be common for Lhazaar staffs.
ETERNAL DOMINION. The Sahuagin civilization of the Eternal Dominion is ancient and well ordered. It doesn’t use the same forms of mass production as House Cannith, but its weapons are fairly uniform in design and appearance. There are two basic designs used by the Dominion. Spikes are whorled shafts of coral or bone. While rare, kraken bone makes especially powerful staffs, dealing an extra d8 of damage and having a +10% bonus to range. Spikes deal Force damage. On the other hand, Dominion magebreeders also produce slugs—LIVING siege staffs. Blast slug staffs inflict poison damage, and are useful for clearing a crew without damaging a ship; they have a shorter range (200/1000 feet) but deal 3d8 poison damage in an 80 foot sphere. Force slug staffs inflict acid damage.
RIEDRA. Riedran ships typically use Sentira or crysteel weapons; these sometimes take the form of massive orbs rather than staffs. Blast weapons generally inflict psychic damage, while Force weapons are telekinetic in nature and inflict force damage.
AUNDAIR. Thanks to the Arcane Congress, Aundair has experimented with a wide range of designs. These are produced in small batches; as a result, there is more standardization of design than Lhazaar, but far more diversity than Cannith. Almost any damage type can be encountered on the battlefield, and focus staffs are flexible. Audairian staffs are more elegant than either Cannith or Karrnathi designs; beauty is an important factor. It’s also possible to encounter Aundairian staffs blessed by a particular archfey, though these are NOT mass produced. These can be more efficient than standard staffs, or you could roll on the Staff Quirks table I’m posting on my Patreon. Fey-touched weapon may have unique limitations—they can only be used by a particular bloodline, the artillerist must share a secret or tell a story to reload the weapon, etc. The greater the restriction, the more powerful the weapon will be.
KARRNATH. While Karrnath largely employs Cannith weapons, it also produces its once designs. General artillery uses darkwood with bands of spiked iron, and are wider and stubbier than Cannith designs. Karrnath has been known to field fire Blast staffs and Evocation focus staffs. Seeker units—such as the Order of the Emerald Claw—produce weapons similar to those of the Bloodsails; blast staffs often inflict psychic terror.
THRANE. Thrane employs standard Cannith staffs in battle. However, over the course of the war the theocracy began working with the Silver Pyromancers to create divine artillery. This is made of oak inlaid with silver and typically inflicts radiant damage. Thrane focus staffs can only be used by divine spellcasters. Reloading and firing Thrane weapons often requires singing hymns to the Flame.
BRELAND AND CYRE. Breland and Cyre largely relied on Cannith standard designs rather than producing their own. Both nations contained large Cannith production facilities, and Brelish foundries produced raw materials for Cannith. This is also reflected in the fact that Cannith produced unique weapons for these nations, such as the floating fortresses of Breland.
These are just a few possibilities! Hopefully this gives you some ideas for your campaigns. As I mentioned above, I’m sharing a table of possible staff quirks on my Patreon! Thanks as always to my patrons, whose support is what allows me to keep creating material for Eberron.
Image by Craig J. Spearing from Eberron: Rising From The Last War
“You said this was a fallen angel,” Thorn said. “How’s that different from a devil?”
Drego shook his head. “The two are completely different. Devils are tied to malevolent concepts – hate, fear, greed. What we’re dealing with is a radiant idol, an angel punished for pride by being imprisoned on Eberron. It still possesses its original appearance, more or less, and its powers are still tied to its original dominion.”
“So who are we dropping in on tonight?”
“Do not speak this name casually,” Drego said, and there was no trace of his usual levity. He traced lines in the air as he continued. “You must understand the sheer power of the being we face. He has likely influenced the lives of thousands of your countrymen, Thorn, and just speaking his name could draw unwanted attention to us.” He made a last flourish in the air, and Thorn could just make out a translucent pattern of rippling arcane energy that dulled all sounds beyond and kept Drego’s voice close. “Tonight we shall destroy Vorlintar, the Voice of the Innocent and the Keeper of Hopes, Fifth among the Fallen of Syrania.”
The shimmering glyph burst into flame, burning without substance, and then it was gone.
“Call him by his titles,” Drego said, “But do not speak his name.”
“Keeper of Hopes?” Brom said, and his chuckle echoed off the walls. “He doesn’t sound so terrible.”
“And he wasn’t, when he was a force for light. Now he holds to his dominions, but he has become a force for evil. He is indeed the Keeper of Hopes – the hopes that he has stolen from all those who fall under his sway. He devours innocence, leaving pain and despair. As we draw closer to his throne, you will feel his talons tearing at your mind. You must be strong and hold him at bay, for a clean death is far better than a life without hope.”
The Sharn: City of Towers sourcebook introduced a new threat to the Eberron campaign setting: the radiant idol. Sharn is closely tied to Syrania, and we thought it would be interesting to introduce a new sort of fallen angel cast out of the sky. The Sharn book has this to say…
A radiant idol is an angel that has been banished from Syrania and condemned to spend eternity on the Material Plane. Not all radiant idols are evil, and none are as thoroughly corrupt as the fiends of the lower planes. Their greatest sin, as a rule, is the desire to be worshiped by the humanoids they consider lesser beings, and most gather cults of devoted humanoid followers on the Material Plane—thus giving rise to their common name.
I expanded on this in Exploring Eberron, noting…
Many sages believe that touching Eberron’s ground makes angels vulnerable to the influence of Khyber and the overlords, while others theorize that mortal worship—the positive energy that sustains the Undying Court—is like a drug to the dominions. Whatever the cause, dominions who interact with mortals run the risk of becoming corrupted. Such immortals crave mortal adoration and often seek to dominate mortals by exercising the power of their sphere. Not all dominions fall prey to this corruption, but once one does, there seems to be no way to undo it. Even if the angel is destroyed and reforms, the corruption remains. It’s unlikely that such an angel would be met in Syrania itself; typically, these corrupted angels are forever stripped of the power of flight and condemned to walk the Material Plane as radiant idols.
For me personally, a radiant idol brings a few interesting elements to a story. They have no connection to the major factions; they aren’t aligned with the Lords of Dust, the Daelkyr, or the Dreaming Dark. They don’t care about the Draconic Prophecy and they aren’t trying to take over the world; they just want to be adored. In a world where gods don’t walk the earth, it can be fun to have a cult where you can actually beat up their deity. Radiant idols are going to be a problem whenever you encounter them, but an idol is a problem you can solve—something that’s typically intensely regional. They make good monsters. And beyond that, they work well with the overall noir vibe of Sharn and Eberron overall… fallen angels; addicted to mortal worship; glorious and beautiful but bound to dirt and grime.
There are a many ways to base an adventure around a radiant idol…. here’s a few options.
Cult Mystery. The idol is actively recruiting and adventurers run across its spreading cult. Perhaps a friend or ally has a sudden change in behavior. The key question with a radiant cult is whether the cultists are being compelled supernaturally—forced to take a blood oath and terrified that the idol will torture or kill them if they reveal its presence, or simply compelled by charm—or whether they have simply been compelled by its innate charisma (and possibly dreams!) and truly believe in the idol. Perhaps they believe the idol will turn the world into a paradise. Perhaps they believe it will protect them from their enemies in exchange for their faith. In one adventure I ran, the idol convinced its followers that it could give the souls of people killed in a particular way eternal peace as opposed to the dissolution of Dolurrh, in a paradise far more pleasant than the grim lives they were living… compelling these cultists to murder their own loved ones believing the idol would preserve their spirits in a form of paradise (this is a variation of Kotharel the Harvester, an idol canonically imprisoned in Dreadhold). One of the things that distinguishes such a radiant cult from daelkyr cults is that their beliefs are usually very concrete: they interact directly with the source of their faith, whether it’s compelled by a blood oath or freely chosen. Daelkyr cults are typically driven by irrational belief; cultists of Dyrrn’s Transcendant Flesh will never meet Dyrrn and don’t even KNOW their group is tied to him; they are simply gripped by the belief that their flesh could be better. Members of Sul Khatesh’s Court of Shadows may revere the Queen of Shadows, but they will never MEET her. Radiant cultists interact directly with their idol. Which means that in a cult mystery story, the adventurers aren’t just investigating the cult; they can track it directly to its source and face the radiant idol. A few cult mystery points to consider…
What does it WANT? Radiant idols thrive on mortal adoration. But within that, what is the idol actually driving its cultists to DO? Are the actions of the cult something that must be stopped… or at the end of the day, are the actions of the idol harmless or even potentially beneficial? Vorlintar consumes hope. The Harvester drives people to murder their loved ones. These are things that should be stopped. On the other hand, the actions of an idol could be largely harmless—a Dionysian cult that engages in ecstatic raves, as the idol bathes in joy, but that doesn’t FORCE people to participate; or the idol could even be using its powers to protect or aid its cultists. Of course, there could be a twist even here; the idol has never used the blood oath to torture or kill its followers, but it could. So the initial investigation could suggest that the cult is benevolent… until the adventurers find proof that the idol has been using the blood oath to kill any cultist who does try to leave. Or perhaps the idol is broadly benevolent but has to kill a cultist every week to maintain its alter self. Essentially, there could be layers to the cult the adventurers have to dig through.
The Power of the Oath. The blood oath is a distinctive aspect of a radiant cult. The idol can scry upon its cultists, and torture or kill them if they defy it. So a friend could come to an adventurer saying “I’ve made a terrible mistake. The Blessed One, he’s not what he seems. The blessing—no, no, I feel him watching—aaaaagh!’ and die suddenly and horribly. Can the adventurers find a way to save those bound by a blood oath?
Perhaps to Dream… If you follow my (and 3.5’s) guidelines, a radiant idol has access to the dream spell. This can be used to recruit followers by manipulating their dreams; as a way to communicate with minions without directly interacting with them; or also as a way for the idol to confront adventurers without physical danger. If the adventurers are getting close to solving the mystery, the idol could appear in their dreams to warn them off—the “monstrous and terrifying” form of dream. This can also be a fun false flag for people familiar with the quori!
Office Hours. How often DO the cultists interact with the idol? Does it personally lead them in daily services, or does it mainly communicate through dreams and through its dominated high priest? Does the idol move around the city or does it remain in its anchor point?
Is it a Threat? A radiant cult can be a terrible thing. Vorlintar consumes hope. The soul-consuming idol in the example above encourages people to murder their loved ones. The blood oath can be used to torture or kill cultists. But some idols only want worship, and have gifts to offer in exchange. It can be an interesting twist to a cult mystery to discover that the cult isn’t actually a threat… something I’ll explore further below.
Visible Cult. Rather than being a mystery that needs to be slowly unraveled, a radiant cult could be an active force within its community that adventurers will encounter openly. It could be recognized as a fringe religion, with outsiders failing to realize the idol is real—the people in Tumbledown have some weird beliefs… don’t go there on a festival day, is all I’m saying. Or it could be that the idol backs a force that adventurers may not initially identify as a cult. A violent new street gang starts fighting Daask and Boromar thugs in Callestan, guided by a War idol. A district has a volunteer police force that’s picking up the slack from the corrupt Sharn Watch. If they’re doing a good job, does it matter that they worship an Order idol? Adventurers come to a small agricultural village and find it thriving due to the influence of a Nature idol. But does this “Father of the Harvest” demand some sort of price from its followers? This is a solid option for a Children of the Corn scenario. But the interesting point here is is the idol actually a threat, or is it helping its followers? If the Father of the Harvest demands that people kill their parents and use their remains to fertilize the soil, that’s a problem. But what if it doesn’t do that? What if it just wants them to sing its praises and dance in the fields? What if that Order idol is making peoples’ lives better with its volunteer force? Is the idol of Joy actually harming anyone with its dionysian revels? Personally, I like radiant cultists to have a dark twist—as I’ll discuss further below, I like to call out that idols are fundamentally corrupted even if their core concept is pure. But even with that twist, there can still be the question of whether the adventurers are right to interfere. Imagine a Life idol who uses its ability to raise dead to resurrect slain members of its cult… but because of the balance of life, they must pay for the resurrection not with diamonds, but with another life. Perhaps they actually take volunteers—an old man sacrificing himself to give life to a child who died young. Perhaps they impose a death penalty on criminals within their community—do adventurers have the right to interfere with this? Or perhaps they murder travelers to buy life for their own. But again, the idol isn’t forcing them to do this… so what do the adventurers do when they find out?
Hidden Monster. In the story that opens this paragraph, Vorlintar is simply a monster. He is anchored in a desolate place most people never go. He pulls innocents into his orbit and drains them of hope. It’s not a story of slow investigation, and he’s not in a place the adventurers would ever normally go; instead, they learn of his presence and must go to him, entering his lair and discovering the horror he’s been perpetrating in this forgotten corner of the city. This is a simple way to introduce a powerful foe, and the idol could easily have something the adventurers need—a book or blade brought down from Syrania, an angel’s tear… or it could just be that the idol is anchored in a place the adventurers need to be, drawn to a point of power that the adventurers have a different use for.
Power Player. I tend to have my idols anchored in a particular location; a spider lurking at the heart of its cult web. But you COULD have an idol… say, an idol of Trickery… who is less interested in direct worship and more in being part of the game. It needs to be part of a web of deception and intrigue to feel alive, and it’s playing all sides and perhaps stirring up new conflicts within the criminal underworld of Sharn or the rivalries of Aurum Concordians. It could be that it has its own small cult within this tapestry—a few agents in every faction bound by its blood oath—or it could be content to just manipulate on its own. A question here is whether the idol itself is walking around Sharn, using magic to appear human (and having to be careful not to crash skycoaches with its flightless aura)… or if it is acting through a dominated host most of the time, only appearing personally when it needs to exercise its full force. Keep in mind that when it DOES act directly it can use alter self to appear as the person it usually dominates. So you could have a fun twist where the adventurers see the idol using powerful magic and are baffled later when they confront the “idol” and find them to be mortal.
Anchor Points
Mechanically, radiant idols have no limitations on their movement. Just because they are often dropped in Sharn doesn’t mean that they have to STAY there. Sharn: City of Towers suggests that there can be up to six radiant idols in Sharn at a time, but it doesn’t explain why six is a magic number. In my campaign, it’s a territorial thing; idols can feel one another and if there’s more than six in one place if feels crowded, even if it’s a huge city and they aren’t stumbling over one another. So my murder-your-loved-ones idol was in Korth. The Father of the Harvest could be in a little farming village. Idols often start in Sharn but they don’t have to stay there. HOWEVER, I personally like my idols to have an anchor point—a place of power and security. They’re immortal embodiments of ideas, and their motivations aren’t like those of mortals; with the exception of “power players” as I described above, I see idols as wanting to sit on their anchors and bask in the adoration of their cultists. In Sharn, an anchor could be where they first appeared in the material plane. Or it could be a place that particularly resonates with their domain. So Vorlintar, an idol that consumes hope, is anchored in a ruined temple in the desolate distract of Fallen. It’s a double dose of despair, a place where faith failed to protect the people of the distract from a terrible calamity. An idol of war might be anchored beneath the Cornerstone of Sharn, drinking in the aggression of the duels and matches in the arena above… or in a district wracked by gang warfare. Where Vorlintar dwells in the lower city, I could imagine an idol of the tempest who is anchored in a high spire in Upper Sharn that draws lightning. Likewise, there could be a reason the Father of the Harvest has chosen a particular farming village as his anchor… what is it?
Mechanically, you could play up the place of power idea by giving an idol lair actions in its anchor point… or perhaps limiting it, saying it can only cast its highest level spells in its anchor. The 3.5 idol has greater teleport, and I like to allow an idol to teleport 1/day… but I only allow it to teleport to the location of either its anchor. So an idol that ventures out into the world can slip back to its anchor… but if you face it in its anchor point, there’s nowhere to run.
Appearance and Personality
The first thing she saw were the angel’s wings – outspread and glorious, with long feathers as dark as a moonless night. Now the source of the chimes became clear, for there were chains attached to every feather. Strange weights were bound to the ends of the chains, weights of many shapes and sizes, engraved with symbols Thorn didn’t recognize. Their purpose was clear; for all his glory, Vorlintar could not rise from the ground.
Radiant idols embody ideas. As presented in Sharn: City of Towers, each idol has a domain. But WAR or LIFE or NATURE are broad concepts. Exploring Eberron suggests that most idols began as dominions of Syrania, and a dominion has a focus within a domain—a dominion is the Angel of Swords, not the Angel of War. This article discusses immortal personalitiesand might be spark some ideas. “Swords” may be too broad a concept, but with an Idol of War I could imagine…
The Lady of Lightning, She Who Guides The First Strike. This idol knows all of the moments in history in which mortals made preemptive strikes. She enjoys seeing conflict unfold, but she revels in guiding the stroke that brings down an enemy before they have a chance to prepare. Her cultists will act with stunning precision, striking without warning and melting away. She could potentially pose as Dol Arrah, focusing on strategic precision and claiming that the targets they are sending their cultists to fight are servants of evil.
The Lord of Sacrifice. As an angel, this one watched over those who laid down their lives to protect others. Now as an idol he wants to drive people to sacrifice their lives in his name. Again, he is an idol of War; he doesn’t want his followers to simply die, he wants them to make heroic sacrifices. He may drive them to stir up conflicts in the region; his cult could be a neighborhood watch he’s driving to fight organized crime, or he could subvert a Boromar cell and drive them to doomed battle with Dassk… Or something more ugly, like forming a cult among Cyran refugees and driving them to doomed acts of defiance as they seek to “win the Last War for Cyre.”
The Giver of Strength. As a dominion, this angel watched over bullies and those who used their strength to dominate others. Now they encourage this behavior, and punish those who fail to live up to their standards. If the idol is lurking beneath Cornerstone Arena, it could offer blessings to those who fight as it wishes—perhaps granting the benefits of heroism to its chosen champions—but punish cultists who fail to live up to its standards with torment or death. So adventurers could investigate a general rise in the brutality of a small group of Cornerstone champions… along with the unexplained deaths of those defeated in nonlethal matches in the arena. This idol could potentially masquerade as Dol Dorn (or as a servant of Dol Dorn). Alternately it could drive aggressive behavior among a cult elsewhere in town, creating a district where might makes right. Here again, they could use dominate person to run things through their chosen champion, with the adventurers only discovering the true source of the cruelty on deeper investigation.
These are three ideas I made up ON THE SPOT, and I’m sure I could do better. But it gives that point of a narrow aspect of a broad domain. Beyond that, while it is not in any way required, *I* like to have a radiant idol reflect a slightly corrupted, greedy aspect of its core idea. As in the opening story, Vorlintar has gone from observing hopes to stealing them. The Lord of Sacrifice is pushing cultists to make unnecessary (if heroic) sacrifices. The Giver of Life needs someone to die before it can raise dead. I like the fact that all radiant cults aren’t automatically vile—again, the idea of the Giver of Life using its abilities to cure wounds and raise dead to protect its cultists, creating an idyllic healthy community—but that even there, you’ve got the ethical twist of that health comes at a cost.
So the first question with an Idol is what is its defining conceptand personality. For me, its appearance flows from that. When in its true form, the key elements of a radiant idol are that it inspires awe—that high Charisma and Aura of False Divinity—and that it can’t fly, and that there is something suggesting it has been cast down. The simplest way to represent this is with maimed wings—severed, broken, withered, burnt—but there are other options, like Vorlintar’s weighted chains. The key point is that an idol is an idea; when someone sees it they should understand what that idea is. Of course, this is the point to idols having disguise or alter self; they can HIDE their fallen nature.
A last point here is that while it’s easiest for idols to use an existing clerical domain, that shouldn’t be an absolute limitation. There’s no Domain of Hope for Vorlintar. Likewise, I think JOY is a great domain for a radiant idol, inspiring bacchanalian frenzies. It could be that these could be linked to existing domains—Joy could be based on Peace or Life—but a DM can always just make up a spell list that fits a concept that doesn’t match a domain.
Immortality and the Idol
In Eberron, immortals can’t be permanently destroyed, and this is as true for radiant idols as it is for any other immortal. Notably, when an idol is destroyed and reforms, it is still a radiant idol; if their corruption could be undone by death, they’d be killed instead of cast out of Syrania. So radiant idols can’t be permanently destroyed. But we never say HOW QUICKLY THEY COME BACK. Part of what I like about idols is that they are a problem that can be solved. With that in mind, I’d consider the following options.
Slow Return. An idol will return—either to its anchor point or to the point in which it was cast down—but it takes centuries, possibly even millennia. This is a reflection of the fact that it was cast out of Syrania and doesn’t really belong anywhere. So even when adventurers encounter an idol that is JUST STARTING A CULT that doesn’t mean that it was only just now banished from Syrania; it could have been banished ten thousand years ago, and it’s only just reformed from the last time it was destroyed during the first days of Galifar. This is the approach I’d use as the default, though I’d add the option for cultists to be able to speed its return through rituals—so you do want to make sure you deal with the cult as well as the idol.
Lingering. An idol doesn’t return unaided, but its spirit lingers at its anchor point. Perhaps it can still cast dream or have other minor mystical effects. It can only reconstitute itself if mortal cultists perform rituals to summon it back… so it will try to push people to do this through dreams, or by guiding them to lore of its cult.
Swift, Unless… An idol will return in days or weeks of being destroyed, unless it is destroyed in a particular place—using a particular weapon, at a particular time, by a person meeting a particular condition. Essentially, it’s a minor prophecy path. If it’s destroying properly, its return will either be slow or lingering.
Binding. Idols aren’t actually THAT powerful, and I could see allowing them to be bound in iron flasks or similar forms of binding. They aren’t overlords!
This can vary by idol! Canonically, the radiant idol Kotharel the Harvester is sealed in Dreadhold because while it was defeated, it simply could not be destroyed. I could imagine an idol of Life who drains the life of an oath-bound cultist every time it’s dropped below 1 hit point; you can’t defeat it until you free its cultists from their bonds!
Gifts of the Idol
Radiant idols may claim to be gods, either Sovereigns or unique gods; alternately they could claim to be servants or representatives of Sovereigns. But they AREN’T gods. You can’t actually gain the powers of a cleric from a radiant idol. However, there’s a few possible loopholes. If a radiant idol impersonates a sovereign—the Lady of Lightning claiming to be Dol Arrah—then her cultists could be clerics or paladins of Dol Arrah, because they have faith in Dol Arrah; the power is still coming from a divine power source, it’s just not the idol itself. The point here is that the idol can’t take those powers away from them because it’s not given them the powers. Another option is to allow the radiant idol to cast its domain spells through cultists who have sworn a blood oath—so a Life idol could cure wounds through the hands of a cultist. The power is entirely controlled and drawn from the idol, but the cultist APPEARS to cast spells. I would also consider allowing an idol to produce a warlock following this same principle; the warlock’s powers come from the idol investing a fraction of its immortal essence in its servant.
Beyond this, I have no issue with allowing idols to break the rules to fit their story. As I suggested earlier, I’m fine suggesting that the Giver of Strength can give the benefits of heroism to anyone who’s sworn its Blood Oath. Each idol could give unique gifts to its cultists. But purely on a power level, radiant idols can’t create paladins or clerics; the best they could do is take advantage of someone’s faith, claiming credit for divine power that’s flowing from an actual divine power source.
A radiant idol could also be a source of magic items. Perhaps the idol’s blood acts as a magical potion (or a drug!), and it gives this to its cultists. In my adventure where the idol wanted people to murder those they cared about, it gave its cultists amulets they had to give to their victims, to ensure their spirits were channeled to the idol. I could see an idol of fire that could turn weapons into flame tongues by engraving its name on them… but when the idol is defeated, those things would likely lose power.
Relative Power
In both 3.5 and fifth edition, a radiant idol has a challenge rating of 11. They are powerful, yes, but not THAT powerful. In general, this is something I like about them. They’re powerful enough to be exciting, but weaker than daelkyr, the prakhutu of the Lords of Dust, or even powerful Inspired. However, that’s a base level, and radiant idols can be as powerful as you want them to be. In 3.5 canon Kotharel the Harvester is a 30 HD radiant idol who literally cannot be destroyed, hence his being stored at Dreadhold. The description of Vorlintar at the start of this article likewise suggests a level of power beyond the default radiant idol; radiant idols don’t generally have the ability to scry on people who speak their names, and Vorlintar also has what amounts to a feeblemind attack where he tears hope out from his victims and leaves them in a vegetative state. Just as Dyrrn and Belashyrra are more powerful than the generic daelkyr presented in the 3.5 ECS, you can create radiant idols that are more powerful than the base model. You can use a Planetar or Solar as a foundation for creating a more powerful radiant idol, shifting spell lists if necessary and adding the unique traits of the idol (including those I describe below)—Aura of False Divinity, Blood Oath, Flightless, Domain, Guide Thrall.
Let’s Talk About Stat Blocks…
Last but not least… The radiant idol was introduced in Sharn: City of Towers. There’s a stat block for radiant idols in Eberron: Rising From The Last War, but it doesn’t incorporate a lot of what I consider to be the defining elements of the 3.5 radiant idol—ideas I’ve mentioned often in this article. Let’s take a look at those.
INNATE MAGIC. Per Sharn: City of Towers, radiant idols had the following spell-like abilities: At will—alter self, charm person, dream, heroism, nightmare, rage; 3/day—confusion, greater dispel magic, mind fog, slow; 1/day—dominate person, eyebite, hold monster, song of discord, greater teleport (self only). Let’s consider the function of these spells. Alter Self gives the angel the possibility of moving among mortals, and it can reduce itself from large to medium; alternately, it can simply shift its appearance to better fit the image it is creating for its cult, concealing its disfigurement and adding details that fit its God of ____ storyline. Dream and nightmare (which in 5E were combined into a single spell) allow it to influence and lure followers from a distance, as well as giving missions to its loyal cultists; it’s a small-scale Dreaming Dark, and potentially a fun surprise for the player who immediately assumes that when they stumble on someone being manipulated by dreams that quori are responsible. Confusion, mind fog, hold monster, song of discord, and mind fog all play to the idea of the idol’s supernatural charisma and its ability to overwhelm mortal minds, while dominate person is a great way for the idol to directly control a cult lieutenant. Keep in mind that in 3.5 rules, dominate person had a duration of 1 day per caster level; it’s interended to be a long term effect, again, the sort of thing they’d use to telepathically control a minion. Radiant idols also have the inherent power of glibness, which provides a +30 bonus to Deception checks made to convince someone of their honesty and makes them immune to any magic that would force them to tell the truth or reveal the truth of their words.
DOMAIN. S:CoT gives radiant idols a special gift:
Each radiant idol chooses one cleric domain to represent the portfolio it claims in its masquerade of divinity. The radiant idol gains the granted power of that domain, and can use each spell up to 6th level in that domain as a spell-like ability. It can use 1st-level spells at will, 2nd- and 3rd-level spells three times per day each, and 4th- through 6th-level spells once per day each.
For me, this is a crucial aspect of a radiant idol. It’s not just a generic idol; it is an idol of FIRE or an idol of LIFE. In Exploring Eberron I call out that Syranian angels have domains; this reflects that idea. It’s something that adds flavor but also means its idol has a distinct set of spell like abilities.
CULTISTS. The 3.5 idol has a number of powers that specifically tie to its role as cult anchor. FIts Aura of False Divinity afflicts enemies with despair, but grants allies within 30 ft the effects of Good Hope: Each affected creature gains a +2 morale bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls. This plays up the idea that the idol FEELS DIVINE—that it feels awesome and terrible, able to crush or inspire hope just with its presence. A more dramatic feature is the Blood Oath. After an extended ritual, a radiant idol can form a connection with a cultist that allows them to locate and scry on the cultist, cause them pain, or even kill them outright. This oath can even be forced on unwilling participants, if they are restrained throughout the ritual and fail enough saving throws. This can create an interesting situation where a victim doesn’t believe in the idol, but knows that if the idol could be watching them at any time and that if they defy it, they could suffer pain or death. Which in turn means that adventurers opposing a cult need to recognize that the cultists they are fighting may be innocent victims just trying to save their own lives or the lives of people they care about.
FLIGHTLESS. Radiant idols cannot fly through any means. In addition, per S:CoT, Spells that grant flight to other characters fail within 30 feet of a radiant idol, as if it were at the center of an antimagic field, but only magic related to flight is affected. Magic items that grant the power of flight likewise fail. Even creatures with a natural ability to fly feel uncomfortable near a radiant idol.
HOW’S RISING STACK UP? The radiant idol in Rising From The Last War is a watered down version of the original idea. Its Aura of False Divinity can charm anyone within 30 feet. This is effective against enemies and implies supernatural charisma, but it lacks the original aspect of inspiring allies, which helps with the cult aspect of the story. There’s no mechanical aspect to being flightless; the idol doesn’t have a flying speed, but there’s nothing saying it can’t fly and nothing that stops other creatures from flying around it. Meanwhile, there’s some overlap in the spell list; the Rising Idol can use charm person at will and dominate person once per day, and mass suggestion is in the same sort of mood as dominate and charm, and replaces the nonexistent mind fog and song of discord. But then it has some very specific spells—raise dead, cure wounds at will, commune, insect plague. There’s no clear theme to these; raise dead is handy and insect plague is good for wrathful god, sure, but how do they relate to one another? Meanwhile, they notably lack dream, which is a great tool for a manipulative cult leader.
SO WHAT WOULD I DO? Without entirely redesigning the stat block, I’d change a few of its existing traits and add a few others, as outlined below.
If the idol has an evil alignment, I’d change its creature type to fiend. In my campaign, the definition of “fiend” is “evil immortal”; there’s no such thing as an evil celestial or a good fiend. If the alignment changes, their type changes with it; they are incarnate ideas.
Aura of False Divinity. Allies within 30 feet of the radiant idol have advantage on saving throws made to avoid being charmed or frightened by other creatures. Any enemy of the idol that starts its turn within 30 feet of it must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw, provided the radiant idol isn’t incapacitated. On a failed save, the creature is charmed by the radiant idol. A creature charmed in this way can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Once it succeeds on the saving throw, a creature is immune to this radiant idol’s Aura of False Divinity for 24 hours.
Innate Spellcasting. The radiant idol’s spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). The radiant idol can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: alter self, charm person, dream, thaumaturgy; 1/day: confusion, dispel magic (6th level slot),mass suggestion,teleport (self only, only to anchor point). The idol may use alter self to assume the shape of a large or medium humanoid.
Domain Powers: Choose one cleric domain to represent the radiant idol’s sphere of influence. The radiant idol can cast the domain spells associated with that domain, without requiring material components; its spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell ssave DC 17) It can use 1st-level spells at will, 2nd- and 3rd-level spells three times per day each, and 4th- through 6th-level spells once per day each. For example, a radiant idol of Life uses the Life domain and adds the following spell-like abilities: At Will: bless, cure wounds; 3/day: beacon of hope, lesser restoration, revivify, spiritual weapn; 1/day: death ward, guardian of faith, mass cure wounds, raise dead. As I’ve suggested before, I might modify these spells to reflect the nature of the idol—as with the example of the Life idol needing to take a life to cast raise dead rather than needing material components. Idol spells could have unusually long durations, be able to be cast on oathbound cultists regardless of range, etc—though they could also be limited, perhaps ONLY being able to be cast on oathbound cultists, only cast at the idol’s anchor point, and so on.
Glibness. The radiant idol has advantage on Charisma ability checks and is immune to any magical effect that would allow a creature to determine the truth of its words or that would force it to tell the truth.
Flightless. A radiant idol cannot fly by any means. No spell intended to grant flight (even levitate) functions with a radiant idol as its target. A spell (such as polymorph) that changes a radiant idol into a form with the natural ability of flight works normally, but the radiant idol cannot fly in that form. If changed into a form that has only a fly speed (no land speed), the radiant idol can only move along the ground in that form. Spells that grant flight to other characters fail within 30 feet of a radiant idol, as if it were at the center of an antimagic field, but only magic related to flight is affected. Magic items that grant the power of flight likewise fail. (This is verbatim from Sharn: City of Towers.)
Blood Oath. A radiant idol has the ability to perform a ritual of initiation that binds cult members to its service.This requires 24 hours of preparation, and the ritual itself lasts for 2 hours plus an additional 10 minutes for each initiate involved. If a participant wishes to resist the connection, they may make a Wisdom save (DC 19); however, the idol knows whether or not the bond was properly formed. Once a bond is established, it can only be severed by the use of greater restoration on the victim or by the destruction of the idol. As an action, the idol may invoke one of the following powers, targeting a creature on the same plane that is bound by its oath. These saving throws are Charisma-based. Locate Cultist. This functions as locate creature, with unlimited range. Scry on Cultist. This functions as scrying. If the target wishes to resist they can make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 24); if they succeed, the idol cannot observe them in this way for 24 hours. Torture Cultist. The victim must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 17). If they fail, they are wracked with pain and poisoned for 1 minute. Kill Cultist. The victim must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 17). If they fail, they are reduced to zero hit points. If the save is successful, the victim takes 3d6+6 necrotic damage.
Guide Thrall.Once per day, the radiant idol can cast dominate person on a creature bound by its blood oath. The idol doesn’t have to see the victim, but must be on the same plane of existence. This ability doesn’t require concentration and lasts until the idol uses the ability again or until the victim makes a successful Wisdom saving throw (DC 17, Charisma based). The victim may attempt a saving throw when the effect is first used, and then again at dawn or whenever they take damage. Once it succeeds on the saving throw, a creature is immune to this radiant idol’s Guide Thrall for 24 hours.
Random Idols
Roll twice on the name column and combine the names together: Ranrael, Kastar-Ular. The wings column describes why it can’t fly but also suggests general appearance. Domain and Cult Focus gives a broad domain and a possible cult direction.
d8
Name
Wings
Domain/Cult Focus
1
Kastar
Severed
Order. The cult seeks to bring order to the idol’s sphere of influence, stopping violence and crime, but also enforcing a dress code and restricting free speech.
2
Rael
Petrified
Forge. The cult is building a monument or weapons—or a monument that is also a weapon—that honor the idol.
3
Ular
Chained
Death. The idol promises a peaceful eternity to victims killed in a ritual manner; their souls are contained within the idol, preventing resurrection until the idol is destroyed.
4
Astul
Frozen
Life. The idol uses its magic to provide perfect health to its cultists—but for every cultist it heals, an innocent person suffers the malady removed.
5
Ran
Burnt
Peace. Cultists of the idol exist in a state of perfect, serene peace; however, they are incapable of taking any remotely aggressive action, even in the most desperate situations.
6
Avar
Glass
Trickery. The idol yearns to see intrigues unfold in the community, and dispatches its cultists to infiltrate factions and guilds to sow discord.
7
Tus
Broken
Knowledge. The cultists of the idol cannot lie and others find they cannot lie to the cultists. What chaos will this bring to a community that has a lot of skeletons in its closets?
8
Vala
Spectral
Nature. The idol can provide a community with bountiful crops and healthy stock… but there is a price for this supernatural prosperity.
Q&A
When I have time I answer questions from my Patreon supporters, as this support is what allows me to continue to create Eberron content. Here’s a few questions patrons posed on this article.
In Sharn the presence of Radiant Idol cults seems fairly prominent. With Idols being Large and likely not having subtle falls from grace, how does the city handle this eventuality? Are members of the Blackened Book prepared to handle a “live idol fall” or is their cast to the material more subtle? Does the Sharn Watch have methods of detecting the gravity well the Idols generate, etc?
In my Eberron, they aren’t that obvious. Being “cast down” to the material plane doesn’t mean they literally fall from the sky. In my game they appear in a place that’s suited to their nature—IE, the Giver of Strength might have appeared under Cornerstone, while Vorlintar appeared in Fallen. So you don’t have weather-oracles saying “There’s a 50% chance of falling idols today.” Likewise, I tend to have their cults manifest in places that aren’t all that obvious; the point of Vorlintar in The Son of Khyber is that no one cares about Fallen and so the cult goes unobserved… or in the case of the Giver of Strength, it could be that it takes a player character to notice the strange pattern of deaths. This ties to my general point that the world needs heroes—I want ADVENTURERS to deal with idols, not to have them just make a sending call to the Blackened Book’s Idol Squad. Canonically we know that Kotharel the Harvester was defeated by the Knights of Dol Arrah—which in my opinion was a legendary order of champions who might just as well have been player characters. Essentially, if a idol is too obvious in its manifestation and is causing havoc crashing lifts and skycoaches, the city could send the Redcloaks and Blackened Book to deal with it—but first, that’s why most idols WON’T be that clumsy and obvious and second, that’s going to be a tough fight for the forces of the law. This is a job for Harryn Stormblade, or at least the Harryn Stormblade of today, and that’s all of you. Regarding size, this is where magic comes into play. Rising stats only give them disguise self, but 3.5 let them alter self—which, in 3.5 allowed you to shrink a size category. So ORIGINALLY they were supposed to be able to move among humans unnoticed. I’d personally allow still them to do that; and if I didn’t, that’s the point of Guide Thrall, allowing them to telepathically control a cultist who can serve as their hands and eyes among the common people.
I certainly think that the Blackened Book KNOWS about radiant idols and has records of idols that have threatened the city in the past. But I don’t think that they are aware that there’s six idols in Sharn at any given time. And if you go to the Blackened Book and say There’s a radiant idol in Fallen! in my game, they’ll say Thank goodness it’s somewhere where we can ignore it! Last time one of those things turned up, it wiped out an entire watch station and it was only stopped when Boranel himself came and punched it into Dolurrh. Likewise, the Silver Flame has records of radiant idols, but in Sharn Ythana Morr will probably ask how much you’re willing to pay to have it dealt with (What? It’s in Fallen? Why would anyone even care?) while Mazin Taza would WANT to help you deal with this threat, and might even try to take it on himself… but he doesn’t have the power to deal with a radiant idol, and trying will just get him killed. This is on you, adventurers!
How do other cultures deal with radiant idols, either cases like the Mror or the Zil that may view them differently or outlying cultures like the Dhakaani?
Radiant idols aren’t COMMON and I think it’s entirely plausible that there’s never been a radiant idol in the Mror Holds. If there has been, odds are good that it was JUST ONE — something that spawned a particular story about the bold deeds of Mroranon crushing the wingless angel, but not that has created a cultural attitude.
With the Zil, I could go in one of three very different directions. The first would be to say that the Trust would swiftly identify an idol and eliminate it as quickly as possible whenever it appeared. Why do I say this is possible in Zilargo when it’s beyond the Blackened Book in Sharn? Because it’s THE TRUST, and that’s kind of the point of the Trust; they are terrifyingly efficient and effective, and they are scarier than an idol. The second option is to say that an idol of Knowledge or Trickery might actually find a comfortable home in Zilargo — that a particular Zil family could have a symbiotic relationship with a hidden idol, providing it the adoration it craves in exchange for its knowledge or gifts. Again, I see most idols as having a maximum effective range; they aren’t TRYING to conquer the world, and a radiant cult could happily thrive in a particular village for centuries without ever being known to the outside world. So there could easily be a Zil family who has worked out a decent arrangement with “Grandfather”… as long as you don’t reveal the secrets, he won’t kill you through your blood oath, and everyone’s happy! The final option is to combine the two: the Trust is aware of radiant idols and THE TRUST has absorbed idols of either Knowledge or Order and made them part of their whole system. Are adventurers about to interrogate a Trust agent with amazingly important secrets? Too bad, Oversight just activated his blood oath and killed him.
The Dhakaani have absolutely dealt with radiant idols, because Sharn is a nexus of idols and Sharn began as a Dhakaani city. Part of my point is that defeated idols may take centuries to reform… and have reformed and been destroyed multiple times throughout the history of the city. So there could be Dhakaani tales of Vorlintar or the Giver of Strength, and their appearances in the present day are just their latest of many incarnations.
How do radiant idols clash with other supernatural forces? For instance, how do bonded cultists interact with daelkyr influence, and how do radiant idol dreams conflict with quori dreams?
Radiant idols are unique individuals. They have no particular means to be aware of daelkyr influence or quori schemes, or to be given special treatment by these greater powers. The idol’s ability to influence dreams is the dream spell, no more or less. So if both the quori and an idol are trying to influence the same person, both can; it’s going to be frustrating for both of them realizing that they are playing tug of war. I think it’s quite valid for a party of adventurers to be tipped off about a radiant idol by a Dreaming Dark agent who wants them to get rid of this immortal interloper who’s stumbled into their sandbox. Likewise, there’s no rules or limits regarding what the daelkyr can do. You could have a cult that’s both influenced by a daelkyr AND bound by an idol’s blood oath. You could say the daelkyr influence breaks the blood oath. Or you could have Dyrrn twist an idol and create something horrible and new, blending the traits of the daelkyr and the idol.
That’s all for now! Feel free to discuss the topic in the comments, but I won’t be answering further questions. Thanks again to my Patrons for making these articles possible!
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