Dragonmarks: Manifestations, Components, Greater Dragonmarks, and More!

Posted on March 5, 2025 by Keith Baker

An image of a dragonmarked Sentinel Marshal of House Deneith — Former Sentinel Marshal Rolan Harn by Matthew Johnson

Over the course of this year, I’m going to be writing about a Dragonmarked House each month. I’ll be posting bonus content on my Patreon, including character options and focus items associated with each house. Currently, I’m working on an article about House Orien. But before diving into the individual houses and Dragonmarks, I want to discuss some basic details about dragonmarks themselves—both in broad concept and specifically in how they function in Fifth Edition in 2025, especially considering the recent Unearthed Arcana.

THE DRAGONMARKED EXPERIENCE

Much has been written about what Dragonmarks DO — about the powers they manifest and the focus items that work with them. But little has been written about how it FEELS to have a Dragonmark. One of the key aspects of a dragonmark is often described as intuition—a natural talent for a particular set of skills or tools.This is a crucial element of how the houses achieved their early dominance in their fields; aside from its spell-like abilities, a Dragonmark makes its bearer better at their speciality. An heir to the Mark of Making has a bonus when using Artisan’s Tools. The Mark of Sentinel enhances Perception and Insight. The Mark of Passage provides a bonus to Athletics and Acrobatics. Set aside the mechanical effect of this for a moment and just think about what it means for the person who bears the mark. When a Cannith heir picks up a tool, they have a sense of what to do with it, even if they’ve never seen it before. The Sentinel heir is always on alert, sensitive to the tics and tells of people around them. The Passage scion yearns to move. When playing an adventurer with a Dragonmark, consider the effect of your mark’s Intuition ability and how your character experiences it. The same holds true for the spell-like abilities of your mark. As an heir to the Mark of Passage, the ability to Misty Step is bound up within you, waiting to be unleashed. With a thought and a word, you can tear through space. What does that feel like?

A second aspect of the Dragonmarked experience is the question of how your lineage affected your childhood. Were you born in a Dragonmarked house and raised in an enclave? If so, you’ve been surrounded by fellow heirs through most of your life, and you had a clear path for your future—an expectation that you would eventually join one of the house guilds or arms. What was that like? How did it affect you? Are you a devoted member of your house, or have you always harbored a rebellious streak and yearned to escape the path laid out for you? Conversely, if you’re a foundling, what were the circumstances of your childhood? What was the event that triggered the appearance of your Dragonmark in lieu of the Test of Siberys? How did you feel when the Dragonmark first appeared—were you excited to join a house, or did the idea repel you? How were you eventually approached by the house, and did you embrace the offer or refuse it? Or have you yet to be noticed by the house that carries your mark?

A final point to consider is how the Last War affected you. The houses are neutral forces, and if you were raised in a house enclave you were encouraged to embrace that — to view the warring nations as clients and nothing more. Most scions who served in the war did so in a purely mercenary capacity. Did you embrace this, and if so, is it a viewpoint you maintain today—seeing the houses as a force that stands apart from and above the concerns of the nations? Or did you develop an attachment to the country in which you lived, or another nation? Did you give up your birthright to fight for one of the nations?

SPELLS OF THE MARK

Magical power has always been a core element of the Dragonmarks. In Fifth Edition, this is represented by Spells of the Mark, a set of spells added to the lists of any Dragonmarked character capable of performing magic. Despite the name, these aren’t supposed to be actual SPELLS; the character is channeling power through their mark in a way that replicates the effects of a spell. When a Cleric with the Mark of Passage uses a spell slot to cast Misty Step, they aren’t doing it in the same way as the prayer to Olladra that produces Cure Wounds. MECHANICALLY it’s just like casting a spell, but it should look and feel different from whatever spellcasting is normally associated with the scion’s class. Consider the following.

A character’s Dragonmark glows and becomes warm to the touch they cast a Spell of the Mark. This isn’t dramatic—it doesn’t serve as a source of illumination—but it is noticeable to people in the area.
Somatic components—gestures—often involve slapping the mark or running a finger along its lines, or if it’s on a hand, presenting it clearly. However, some marked heirs trace the shape of their mark in the heir, or simply make a dramatic gesture; a Denieth heir using the Mark of Sentinel to cast Shield might raise a palm, fingers spread wide. The point is that the character needs a free hand and it’s clear to observers that the action is associated with the magical effect, but it shouldn’t look like Arcanix wizardry or a divine invocation.
Likewise, verbal components require the character to be able to speak and are clearly associated with the magical effect, but they don’t have to be traditional arcane words of power. Often a scion will give a deep grunt or sharp shout; this sound reflects the focusing and release of energy. However, some heirs devise their own unique words of channeling. Phiarlan bards often sing a note when releasing their power.
Material components can feel strange when associated with a dragonmarked “spell.” However, refined Eberron dragonshards can take the place of any material component, and in the case of a Dragonmark ability I’d just make those the default component for the spell; the character needs the surge of energy from the dragonshards to produce the effect.

When playing a dragonmarked character, think about how you manifest your power. Where is your mark located? What sort of sounds and gestures do you use to focus its energy?

LEAST, LESSER, AND GREATER DRAGONMARKS

In the original Eberron Campaign Setting book, Dragonmarks were represented by a chain of feats. Each feat allowed you to cast a particular spell once per day, and each level—Least, Lesser, Greater—gave you access to an additional spell-like ability of higher level (in addition to a bonus to a skill check—Intuition!). The idea is that as you improve your feats, the physical dragonmark on your skin grows in size and complexity, and that this is something recognized within the world. People KNOW that someone with the Greater Mark of Passage can teleport, and within the house a larger mark carries some prestige—though not necessarily rank, and there are many unmarked adinistrators! This idea has evolved in later editions. One of the key concepts is that rather than having feats that concretely give you access to more powerful spells, we’ve said that Dragonmarked characters could and should describe class features and spells as coming from their mark. This is the same concept I discussed earlier with Spells of the Mark—it’s about how you describe the spell. So a Lyrandar Storm Sorcerer could describe their lightning and wind spells as being drawn from their Mark, while describing their fire spells as being more traditional arcane magic, even though all of those spells are coming from their Sorcerer class. But in introducing this idea—beginning in Fourth Edition—we dropped the feat chains and the idea of a clear distinction between Least, Lesser, and Greater Marks.

The latest Unearthed Arcana has a set of Greater Dragonmark feats. However, the EFFECTS of those feats don’t match up to the effects of the Greater Dragonmarks of Third Edition. In the ECS, a Greater Dragonmark allowed you to cast a 5th level spell; the Greater Mark of Passage allowed you to cast teleport. Under the Unearthed Arcana rules, the Greater Dragonmark of Passage lets you take one other person along with you when you cast Misty Step, once per day. It’s a neat trick, but it’s not teleporting your entire party across the world.

I like the concept of the different levels of Dragonmark. I like it having a meaning in the world, and I like players having a sense of what an NPC is capable of based on the size of their Dragonmark. I think the Unearthed Arcana feats are fine, but I’m not going to call them “Greater Dragonmarks” in my campaign; I’ll call them “Passage Expertise” or “Making Expertise.” Instead, I think the simplest way to handle the idea of a dragonmark evolving through the three basic sizes is to base it on the level of the most powerful spell the character can cast because of the Dragonmark. So a 1st level character or a character with no ability to perform cast Spells of the Mark will have a Least Dragonmark. Once they are capable of casting a 3rd level Spell of the Mark—whether by having the Spellcasting feature or using the Potent Dragonmark feat—their mark grows and they have a Lesser Dragonmark. When they have access to 5th level Spells of the Mark, they possess a Greater Dragonmark. Siberys Dragonmarks remain their own separate thing; by the original Third Edition Rules you couldn’t advance a normal mark to become a Siberys Mark. So it would look like this:

Dragonmark	Spells of the Mark
Least	1st or 2nd
Lesser	3rd or 4th
Greater	5th

NPCS AND DRAGONMARKS

By default, Spells of the Mark are only available to characters that have levels in a spellcasting class. However, there are other ways to access this power.

The Potent Dragonmark feat presented in the recent Unearthed Arcana gives a Dragonmarked character a single spell slot that can be used to cast a Spell of the Mark, with a slot level equal to half the character’s level (to a maximum of 5). They regain this slot after completing a short or long rest.
Exploring Eberron includes a number of items that allow an heir to cast the Spells of their Mark. The Dragonmark Channel allows a single use of a 1st level Spell of the Mark, once per long rest; this is a common item, often worn as a symbol of house membership. The Dragonmark Reservoir provides access to a 1st or 2nd level Spell of the Mark; the Channeling Rod provides access to any of the spells of the Mark.

Potent Dragonmark is a feat designed for player characters. It’s flexible—allowing a character to access any spell on the Spells of the Mark list—and recharges after a short rest. But it sets the precedent that there are people in the world who have no spellcasting ability but who can still produce spell-like effects with Dragonmarks. With that in mind, I’d generally give dragonmarked NPCs a form of this, mirroring the original ECS marks. An NPC with a Least Dragonmark would be able to cast a 1st or 2nd level spell from their Dragonmark’s Spell of the Mark list, once per day. An NPC with the Lesser Mark would get a single use of a 3rd or 4th level spell, in addition to the Least Mark. And an NPC with a Greater Dragonmark would gain a single use of a 5th level Spell. Exceptional scions might have a choice of more than one spell at each level, just like a player character with Potent Dragonmark. Dragonmarked NPCs could also carry any of the items presented in Exploring Eberron.

Keep in mind that these once-per-day spell-like abilities have never been a critical part of the power of the houses. Overall, the most important aspect of possessing a Dragonmark is the ability to use Dragonmark Focus Items, from Channeling Rods to Creation Forges. For a Lyrandar heir, being able to cast Feather Fall once per day is a useful safety net—but it’s the ability to pilot an airship or elemental galleon that drives the industry of the house.

UNEARTHED ARCANA: DRAGONMARKS AND SPECIES

Traditionally, Dragonmarks have been associated with specific family lines and species. Only humans can carry the Mark of Making; only Khoravar possess the Mark of Storm. The latest Unearthed Arcana presents a new set of Dragonmark Origin Feats that aren’t limited by species. What does this mean?

First of all, this isn’t new. Fourth Edition did the same thing. The point is that this exists as an option for PLAYER CHARACTERS, who are innately supposed to be remarkable individuals. The lore and history of the Dragonmarked Houses isn’t going to change. Again, look at Fourth Edition, which allowed player characters to have unusual Dragonmarks but kept all the lore of the Houses intact. The fact that your halfling rogue can have the Mark of Storm doesn’t mean that there are hundreds of halflings who have it; it means that you are special. Dragonmarks are themselves manifestations of the Prophecy. Player characters are prime candidates for being focal points for the Prophecy, and having an unusual Dragonmark would just be a clear sign of that. Personally, I’d be inclined to say that it’s happened before throughout history, and that the people who have had unusual marks have often been remarkable people who have done great things… But they didn’t pass their marks onto their offspring and so they were blips in history. The point is that with the Houses, it is the FAMILIES that have a role to play in the Prophecy and as such it’s the FAMILIES that carry the Dragonmarks. If you are an INDIVIDUAL who has a role to play in the Prophecy, you might have a mark as a sign of that… but you won’t pass it on.

Which comes to the question: Will the houses care? Let’s imagine you’re playing a Talenta halfling with the Mark of Storm. Does Lyrandar care? The answer is ultimately up to you and the DM, based on the story you want to experience. But let’s consider the options.

Honestly, it’s reasonable to say that they just don’t care at all. A single halfling with the Mark of Storm poses no threat to Lyrandar’s airship business. Especially if this HAS happened before and the marked individuals didn’t pass on the mark, your character is a curiosity but not a threat that has to be dealt with.
On the other hand, if it’s a story you like, the Houses could be delighted and celebrate your character as a miracle. They could be eager to recruit you, and if you accepted, to make you a poster child and a special envoy for the house, sending you out to promote Lyrandar interests in the Talenta Plains. Consider the story of Ashi in The Legacy of Dhakaan novels. She’s a foundling with a Siberys Mark of Sentinel, not a halfling with the Mark of Storm, but the point is that Deneith takes her in and makes a big deal about her; they could do the same thing with your halfling.
Or, if it’s a story you really want to tell, the houses could see you as an abomination that has to be eradicated and you could have to hide your mark. I find this reaction a little hard to justify; if I was determined to tell this story I’d probably say that it’s a thing that’s happened throughout history and Lyrandar believes that if you have children the Khoravar will lose the Mark and it will be passed on to your offspring. THAT would make it dramatic; you actually do pose an existential threat to their house. But if you’re just one random halfling, I don’t see it as being that big a deal.

So the main point is that yes, this makes it possible for player characters to have any Dragonmark they want. Because player characters are exceptional. But it doesn’t negate or change the existing lore of the Dragonmarked Houses, and it’s something you can ignore if you choose. In this way, it’s exactly like Rising From The Last War providing an option for there to be contact between Eberron and the rest of the Multiverse if that’s the story you want to tell. But that change in Rising still maintained that until this moment, Eberron has been shielded from the Multiverse by the Ring of Siberys. It presented a new option for DMs who wanted it, as something that could be actively evolving in 998 YK; but it didn’t demolish all preexisting lore. Same thing here. You can be that remarkable halfling with the Mark of Storm; but House Lyrandar is still a Khoravar house.

WHAT ABOUT FRONTIERS OF EBERRON?

In Frontiers of Eberron I presented my own ideas for Dragonmark origin feats. I like my design, but the short answer is that the Unearthed Arcana content is the CANON content. Because it provides a unique feat for each Dragonmark, it also has the ability to provide more unique benefits, like the Mark of Passage granting +5 movement speed. Personally, I’d allow players to use either one (though not both at once!) in my campaign; it’s up to you to decide what works best for you.

That’s all for now! House Orien will be coming in the future. Thanks to my Patreon supporters for making these articles possible. I’m holding two live Q&As this month for Patrons, and will also be posting further polls and previews about the next Eberron book I’m working on. If you’d like to know more, follow the link!

Dragonmarks: Muskets in Eberron, 2024 Edition

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Keith Baker

Part of an image by Caio Monteiro from the 2024 *Player’s Handbook*

The Last War spurred constant innovation in weapons of war. While Aundair embraced the path of the wandslinger, the southern nations followed a different direction. Breland had long relied on the crossbows of Starilaskur Arms, but in the last decade a new tool emerged. Fernian ash is a byproduct of the elemental binding work of Zilargo. In its standard form it is perfectly safe, but a whispered word of power can unlock the elemental energy in the ash… readying it to be released in a flash of flame. In 994 YK Merrix d’Cannith and Haldon ir’Lashan of Starilaskur Arms worked together to produce the “Brass Dragon”—the first Brelish musket. Mere months later the Mourning shook the world, and the Treaty of Thronehold brought the war to an end before the dragons were produced in sufficient numbers to have an impact on the battlefield. But Cannith South is continuing to work with Brelish foundries to produce these weapons, and Brelish soldiers are training with them; should the Last War begin again, the face of battle may be quite different.

The 2024 Players Handbook includes the musket and the pistol on the standard list of ranged weapons. Where, then, do these fit into Eberron? While the Dhakaani of the Kech Hashraac developed firearms thousands of years ago, they’ve never played a significant role within the Five Nations. Weapons of war split between the use of pure arcane magic—as seen in the siege staff and the blast disk—and the improvement of traditional weapons, such as the Starilaskur Arms SAC-12 crossbow. During the Last War Karrnath and Breland favored the use of the crossbow, Thrane benefitted from a populace widely trained in the use of the longbow, and Aundair pushed toward greater integration of wandslingers; Cyre drew on all of these options. House Cannith worked with local arcanists and engineers to develop unique weapons, as seen with the floating fortresses and the warforged colossus. It’s just such a partnership that produced the brass dragon musket and the copper dragon pistol, often shortened by those who use them to brass and copper. The impact of these weapons on Brelish military tactics remains to be seen. The brass dragon musket hits harder than a SAC-15 crossbow, and it doesn’t require exceptional strength or dexterity to use. However, its effective range is far shorter than that of either the bow or crossbow—equivalent to that of the fire bolt cantrip, but the bolt is perfectly accurate up to its maximum range. Brelish gunsmiths are certain that they can improve this performance, finding a way to improve the range while maintaining the force of the shot. Breland fielded a few elite units of “dragoneers” during the war, and veterans have brought these weapons back home from the war. Beyond this—Breland being Breland—brass & copper have leaked out into the black market. A number of criminal organizations have taken to the use of these dragons. Short range may be an issue on a vast battlefield, but the typical Boromar enforcer rarely engages an enemy more than a hundred feet away.

Brelish muskets employ cartridges of Fernian ash, casually called ash. While safe and stable by default, the bearer of a weapon must activate the ash by focusing on the weapon and whispering a word of power, while envisioning fire. There are many words that work; Ixen in Draconic and Tashaar in Infernal are two common choices, but there are many other options. Ultimately it’s up to the gunner to find the word that works for them and their weapon. A second word calms the ash. This can be seen as a safety on the gun. It only needs to be spoken once to prepare the gun for battle, and it can only be done by the person holding the weapon; you can’t deactivate someone’s musket by shouting a calming word at them. The wielder of the weapon can speak loudly—a warning to the enemy that my gun is hot—or whisper it to the weapon. At the end of the day, this is a cosmetic aspect of the weapon. In theory you don’t want to walk around with a hot gun because the ash is unstable; but in practice, the rules don’t impose any danger of a gun exploding or misfiring. But the principle is that the ash is a supernatural substance that is charged through a very minor spell—though once activated, the action of the weapon is mundane and is unaffected by counterspell, antimagic fields, or anything similar.

Now here’s the crucial question: what do they fire? The standard musket as presented in the 2024 PHB launches a bullet, as one expects a musket to do. And that could be exactly what happens here. But embracing the idea of a weapon loaded with charges of Fernian ash, I would personally change the damage type to FIRE and say that a dragon launches a bolt of flame. This makes the weapon more unique to Eberron and makes it distinctly different from a bow or crossbow, as well as further justifying the name dragon.

The names brass and copper come from the fittings commonly used on the Cannith-Starilaskur models of these weapons. High quality weapons often have dragons inlaid along the barrel. However, a number of Brelish weaponsmiths have produced their own unique knock-offs of the Cannith design. If you use a musket or pistol, consider how you came by it. If you served in the Last War, were you trained in its use there? Did you come by it through the black market, and just take to the design? Is your gun a unique design made for you by an independent gunsmith? Or do you use one of the other options mentioned below?

Art by Cory Trego-Erdner from Eberron Rising From The Last War

Goblin Guns

The Kech Hashraac—the Dhakaani “Keepers of Thunder”—lacked the evocation techniques that led the Five Nations to develop the siege staff; instead, they focused on mundane explosives and all the things that come with them. Hashraac weapons are driven by a volatile substance they call sarvus, “little fire” and are entirely mundane in nature. The Hashraac have been honing their weapons and techniques for centuries, and their firearms are more effective that Brelish copper and brass; at the DM’s discretion, Hashraac could produce the “modern” firearms presented in the appendix of the 2014 Dungeon Master’s Guide. These are intentionally unbalanced when set against the standard weapons available to player characters, and furthermore, the Hashraac are extremely secretive and definitely aren’t selling their weapons to chaat’oor. However, over the course of countless generations, a few Hashraac have left their vault as exiles or explorers and settled among the other dar. Because of this firearms are occasionally found among the Darguuls and other dar. These aren’t the “modern” weapons produced in the Hashraac vault; each one is hand-crafted and unique. Most use the same statistics as the standard musket and pistol, but at the DM’s discretion a dar gun (get it?) could have one or more of the traits of a modern weapon—improved range, improved damage, or having the Reload trait instead of Loading. These are treasured weapons, but it’s always possible an outsider could have acquired one through battle or diplomacy; of course, ammunition could be an issue!

The Mother of Invention

The archfey known as the Forge Maiden is a brilliant artisan who creates something new in every story told about her. Her favored mortals can produce tools that work through a blending of vague science and fey magic. In Aundair, the ir’Smith family were ennobled long ago thanks to the Maiden’s favor and the wonders they produced. The current heir to the county, Adan ir’Smith, has taken a particular interest in firearms and produced an assortment of weaponry over the course of the last thirty years. His simplest weapons use the statistics of the musket or pistol, but his weapons could have one or more of the following quirks…

Ir’Smith firearms often deal force damage instead of piercing, firing bolts of energy. He has made a few pistols that deal psychic damage, similar to the Sentira lenses of Riedra.
Ir’Smith weapons may use unusual ammunition. Some of his weapons have to be loaded with a secret or a poem.
Tied to unusual ammunition, some ir’Smith weapons have the Reload trait instead of Loading.
There are a few ir’Smith weapons that are made to kill a specific individual or entity. These function as entirely mundane weapons most of the time, but when used against their destined target, each shot acts as an arrow of slaying.

Part of Adan’s pact with the Mother of Invention is that he never makes the same weapon twice; each one is a unique design. He produces around one weapon a year, and his creations are treasured among the nobles of Aundair. However, he could have gifted a weapon to an adventurer with ties to his family, or someone who earned a blessing from the Forge Maiden.

Adan ir’Smith isn’t the only artisan with ties to the Forge Maiden. There could well be a prince in the Lhazaar Principalities who’s earned the favor of the Mother of Invention and equipped their ships and sailors with cannons and muskets. The key is that if these are tied to the Mother of Invention they will on some level be magical and strange; nothing she touches is mundane.

The wandslinger Three Widow Jane by Matthew Johnson

What About Wandslingers?

The purpose of this article is to suggest a few ways to use the firearms that are now part of the 2024 Players Handbook. But just because I’m offering ideas for the people who want to use pistols and muskets doesn’t mean you have to! From the beginning, one of the core principles of Eberron was to consider the way magic could be used to find different solutions to problems than what we use in our world—the siege staff instead of the cannon, sending instead of the cell phone. As such, I’ve suggested places for muskets in the world. But I still personally prefer to dig into the wandslinger, and that’s just what we do in the upcoming Frontiers of Eberron: Quickstone. The book includes optional rules for differentiating arcane focuses, a Fighting Style feat for martial wandslingers, four general feats tied to different sorts of focus, two subclasses for wandslingers (the College of Wands Bard and the Nemesis Sorcerer) and more… along with special rules for running an arcane duel! In my campaign, Aundair made the most widespread use of wandslingers during the Last War, but as called out in Exploring Eberron, every nation fielded wandslingers and they can be found across the Five Nations. So if you’re looking to draw wands at high noon, check out Frontiers of Eberron! And I’ll point out that the PHB pistol deals 1d10 damage with a range of 30/90, while a wandslinger with fire bolt deals 1d10 damage with full accuracy to 120 feet, and never runs out of ammunition! Yes, the wandslinger needs training… but so does the gunslinger, given that the PHB pistol is a martial weapon. The point is that Eberron is a world of widespread magic where cantrip training isn’t especially remarkable. And I’m not saying that Frontiers has a Wandslinger background that grants Magic Initiate (Wizard)… but it might! So if you love the idea of a character with a pistol, use a copper dragon or a feytouched pistol from Aundair, with my blessing! But also consider if that same idea might be just as cool if you had a brace of dueling wands, like Three Widow Jane above…

Thanks as always to my Patreon supporters for asking interesting questions and for making these articles possible!

IFAQ: Where do you get powerful Magic Items?

Posted on May 31, 2024 by Keith Baker

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!

IFAQ: Siege Staffs

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Keith Baker

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 artillery described 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, appearance is 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.

IFAQ: Hearing Aids, Smugglers, and Dreamlily

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Keith Baker

Every month I answer questions posed by my patrons on my Patreon site. Here’s a few that have come up this month…

What options does Eberron provide for people who are deaf or hard of hearing? Are there magical hearing aids? Is sign language common place?

There are a variety of tools and options. There are three primary sign languages in use in Khorvaire. Aelada is the oldest visual language that’s still in use today. It is employed by both the Aereni and the Tairnadal, as well as the Bloodsail elves of the Lhazaar Principalities. Kaasvola is a visual language developed by the Dhakaani dar, and is dominant in Droaam, Darguun, and the Shadow Marches. However, the primary form of sign language used in the Five Nations is SSL, Sivis sign language. Aelada is quite complex; Sivis wordsmiths adapted some of its principles, but worked to develop a visual language that was more intuitive and adaptable.

The most common form of hearing aid is the tin ear. Typically taking the form of an earring, this is a common magic item that uses principles of minor image and prestidigitation to compensate for hearing loss. There’s a variety of forms of the tin ear produced by House Cannith, the Arcane Congress, and others, but they operate on similar principles.

Anyone can use a tin ear, but there is another option: a familiar. This article discusses the role of familiars in everyday life in more detail. As described in find familiar, a character with a familiar can can see through their familiar’s eyes and hear what it hears. Normally this requires ongoing concentration, but some people learn a specialized form of the spell that allows them to use the familiar’s senses instead of their own without having to take an action to do so, but only if they are in physical contact with the familiar—so they see or hear through the crow on their wrist or the cat on their shoulder. Some people who use familiars in this way will speak through their crow, raven or parrot familiars.

My campaign involves a criminal mastermind running smuggling operations in the Lhazaar Principalities trying to make a name for themself and become fabulously wealthy. What would they be smuggling, and who would be trying to stop them?

On the whole, the majority of smuggling in Khorvaire deals with relatively mundane goods that are highly taxed in the Five Nations. For every smuggler carrying dreamlily in western Khorvaire, there’s three smuggling harpy sugar… an exotic sweetener from Droaam that happens to be in vogue in Sharn and that’s taxed accordingly. And this is a great option for player characters with a smuggling background. You could have been transporting medical supplies (which is, after all, how the dreamlily trade began…) through blockades. You could have been bringing Marcher moonshine into Sharn, evading the highly unjust Brelish tariffs on this totally innocent beverage (which does NOT make you go blind, or contain Kyrzin-brewed sentient fluids. Honest.) But in this case we aren’t looking for what’s USUALLY smuggled. You might make money smuggling harpy sugar, but you’e not going to make a fortune or develop an infamous reputation. So what’s something dangerous or reprehensible? Something that will generate outrage or make headlines? Here’s a few ideas off the top of my head.

Dragon’s Blood from Droaam, a dangerous, addictive drug that temporally grants or enhances sorcerous power.
Experimental Jorasco/Vadalis drugs that were condemned as being too risky or harmful.
Surplus Cannith weapons developed for Cyre during the Last War, doubly so if they might be unreliable. Probably smuggled out of the Mournland, which further adds the risk that they have been affected by the Mourning in unpredictable ways.
Cyran fine art or Cyran cultural treasures smuggled out of the Mournland.
Spirit idols from Aerenal, which could perhaps have some value to unscrupulous necromancers (such as the elves of the Bloodsail Principality)—there may be ways to essentially bind the spirit in the idol to create various forms of undead servants.
Karrnathi undead that have supposedly been stored in the vaults under Atur, sold with magic items that supposedly allow the bearer to control the undead.

All of the things I mentioned would be illegal under the Code of Galifar or restricted under the Treaty of Thronehold, so any national coast guard would interfere. Aerenal would be especially interested in shutting down the theft of spirit idols, and the Karrns would take the smuggling of undead seriously… though if the smuggler is operating in the Lhazaar Principalities, Karrnath would already be their primary concern.

What about dreamlily? It comes from Sarlona, but the Boromar Clan maintains dens where you can take it, much like opium dens. Do they have experts who have studied and tried to understand it? If so, what have they managed to figure out? What sorts of skills would such experts have?

Dreamlily was introduced to the setting in Sharn: City of Towers, which notes:

Healers first used essence of dreamlily, a powerful opiate from Sarlona, during the Last War. Once the Brelish Crown realized the dangers of addiction, use of this elixir was quickly outlawed. This has not erased the demand for the drug, and the control of the dreamlily trade is a source of significant strife in the Lower-City. Essence of dreamlily is an iridescent, psionically active liquid. It draws on the mind of the user, and tastes like his favorite beverage. Each use of the drug can potentially lead to an overdose, especially for those addicted to it.

If I were to do a quick conversion of dreamlily to fifth edition, I’d say that someone under the influence of Dreamlily is immune to the Frightened condition. They cannot take reactions, and on their turn, they can use either an action or a bonus action, not both. In third edition rules, dreamlily allowed someone to continue to operate normally even when they had 0 to -5 hit points; a similar way to model this would be to grant the user 5 temporary hit points. It’s not supposed to be something adventurers would want to take, though it could be interesting for adventurers to dose themselves with dreamlily before facing a creature that causes fear.

I didn’t mention dreamlily in the preceding answer, because LOTS of smugglers deal in dreamlily—it’s not a commodity that will make a master criminal stand out from the crowd. With that in mind, the general tone of Eberron is more late 19th century – early 20th century than present day, and the dreamlily trade is more like the old opium trade than a modern drug trade with people synthesizing knock offs and variants. In general, the idea is that Sarlonan drugs like dreamlily and absentia (another drug from Sharn: City of Towers, which allows the user to experience the world through another creature’s senses) are mysteries that can’t be replicated in Khorvaire, because in Sarlona you’re dealing both with wild zones and psionics; essentially, they are working with a form of science we don’t understand and have access to (super)natural resources that don’t exist in Khorvaire. The Boromars can’t figure out how to synthesize deamlily because it requires psionic disciplines and plants cultivated in a wild zone.

With that said, if I wanted to do a Breaking Bad story I could imagine someone working with a rogue gleaner (primal magewright) or alchemist artificer — or both — to enhance dreamlily. They still get the core product from Sarlona, but give it a unique twist that makes their product superior to what’s otherwise in the market. On the other hand, I could also imagine Jorasco, Cannith West, and Vadalis working together (this kind of cooperation is why the Twelve exists) to create a new narcotic as a native Khorvairian alternative to dreamlily, which could lead into an opioid epidemic if that’s a story you want to explore.. But again, that’s a generally more modern concept than the canon setting aims at; dreamlily is supposed to be more opium than fentanyl.

That’s all for now! If you’ve got questions of your own, you can pose them on my Patreon. I also hold a live Q&A each month of patrons, and patrons at the Threshold level have a chance to play in my ongoing Eberron campaign. You can check my Patreon out here—and if you’re already a patron, thanks for your support!

IFAQ: Potions of Longevity

Posted on August 31, 2023 by Keith Baker

August has been a month! After returning from GenCon I ended up being sidelined with COVID for a week. In addition, Wayfinder—a video game I’ve been writing for—has just gone into early access. AND, I’m going to be at PAX in Seattle this upcoming weekend; if you’re there, come find me at the Twogether Studios booth and say hi! Oh, and also, the seats for my table at D&D in a Castle are almost sold out, so if you want to be part of that, follow the link!

So, it’s been a crazy month and I haven’t had as much time or energy for writing as I’d hoped. However, when time allows I like to answer interesting questions posed by my Patreon supporters. Here’s one of those…

How common or uncommon are magics that extend someone’s lifespan in Eberron, like potions of longevity? There’s NPCs like Haldren ir’Brassek that are supposedly human, but still healthy enough at at least 120ish years old that there would be people willing to serve under him if he broke out of prison, which makes me wonder how much those types of potions might play into politics.

While there are always exceptions, largely the rarity categorization is a good indicator of how common a magic item is. Potions of Longevity are very rare, which means that they aren’t unheard of—they aren’t LEGENDARY—but at the same time they definitely aren’t mass produced or reliably available. At very rare, they aren’t being produced by House Jorasco. Because they exist, you can be sure that Jorasco is trying to create them—likely coordinating with Vadalis and the Twelve—but it hasn’t managed to crack the code.

With that said, very rare means that, again, they aren’t legendary. People have HEARD of them, even if they aren’t something you can just go to the store and purchase. This ties to the general point that especially with rarer items, don’t just think of it as a generic “potion”. Who made it? How will that affect its appearance? Are there any interesting side effects? Appearance, application, side effects—all of these should be largely cosmetic. If a potion is something you rub on your skin instead of drinking, you should still be able to do it in six seconds. A side effect might make you green for an hour, but it wouldn’t give you the Poisoned condition. I mean, it could, if that’s what you want, but that would be a distinctly inferior version of the item.

So with that in mind, let’s consider a few ways someone could acquire a very rare potion of longevity… and what those might look like. .

The Shadow or Sul Khatesh. The Shadow and Sul Khatesh can both be sources of powerful magic… but such magics often has a disturbing cost. A powerful priest of the Shadow or a favored warlock (or other devotee) of Sul Khatesh could learn a ritual allowing them to create a swirling crimson liquid that adds years to your life. The catch? The primary ingredient is the lifesblood of a humanoid creature; generally, to be effective, it must be a creature of the same species as the potential imbiber, and there could be additional restrictions (the blood of a virgin or the blood from someone who has never taken a life). Essentially, you are stealing their life—again, it must be their lifesblood, which is to say that they must die in the process of your taking it—and condensing it down to give you a few more years. There is a second form of this ritual that instead requires the recipient to bathe in the enchanted fluid as opposed to just drinking it. This doesn’t have the cumulative risk of accidental aging, but it takes longer and requires much more blood—the blood of multiple humanoids for one effective dose. There have been a few tyrants throughout history who have worked with a priest of the Shadow and extended their lives unnaturally in this way; while they weren’t actual vampires, they lived off the blood of their subjects.
The Blood of Vol. One of the basic devotions of the Seekers of the Divinity Within is the communal donation of blood. This blood is typically used to support vampires and other undead champions of the faith. However, a few Seeker priests have found a way to create a potion similar to the Shadow brew described above—a potion that can sustain a living creature through the donated lifeforce of the faithful. However, this is a divine ritual that is difficult to master and there may not be any living priests capable of performing it. Further, while it’s superior to the Shadow technique in that it doesn’t require the death of the donors, it can only draw on the blood of the faithful and it uses a significant amount of that blood (it is concentrated down into the final potion); it’s not an efficient use of the donations.
The Prince of Slime. The daelkyr Kyrzin creates a symbiotic ooze that can be consumed as if it was a potion, which has the same effects as a potion of longevity. The ooze spreads throughout the donor’s body, rejuvenating their flesh. However, it remains within their system forever. Should the user consume multiple potions, there is no risk of accidental aging. However, with each potion consumed, there is a 10% cumulative chance that the user’s personality and memories will be eradicated and replaced by the alien consciousness of the slime.
Archfey. A number of Archfey create potions of longevity. The elixir brewed by the Lady in Shadow ages someone close to the imbiber a number of years equal to the benefit the user receives; they get more life, but someone they know pays the price. The Harvest Monarch produces a potion that reduces the imbiber’s effective age… but the years come back during the winter months, only to fade again in the spring. The Mother of Invention might produce a potion that works in a manner similar to Kyrzin’s slime; it effectively reduces the age of the user, but it does so by replacing some of their internal organs with clockwork or silver thread, and there’s a cumulative 10% chance that the imbiber will become a mindless construct. The Merchant of Misthaven sells a standard potion of longevity with no unpleasant side effects; the question is what she will seek in exchange for that potion.
Mordain the Fleshweaver. Mordain has created a number of different forms of potions of longevity... a salve that’s rubbed into the skin, a silvery fluid similar to mercury, a glittering powder that’s inhaled. It’s unclear why he keeps making new versions; presumably, he’s trying to find the perfect form and these are all unsatisfactory. Which could again mean that there’s some long-term side effects waiting to be discovered…

With it being very rare, I wouldn’t have Jorasco producing potions of longevity. However, if they did, I’d definitely give it a catchy name and appealing flavoring. Try the new SpringStep, available in Zilberry or new Vazilla!

With all that in mind, let’s consider the second question: what’s the political impact of such things? After all, the Code of Galifar has a clause that addresses the undead, so that a vampire can’t (openly) rule forever. Would there be a similar clause dealing with potions of longevity? As written, I’m inclined to say not, for two reasons. The short form is that they aren’t that impressive. A potion of longevity extends someone’s life for up to 13 years, with a 10% cumulative chance of backfiring. So at best that’s adding 130 years of life. Which SEEMS pretty good to us, but when we’re living in a world of elves and dwarves, Haldren’s 120 years really isn’t that impressive; let’s face it, that’s the default starting age for an Aereni PC. Beyond that, there’s a lot of different things that could extend life a little. Haldren ir’Brassek is called out as having ties to the worship of the Dark Six, so I expect he’s increasing his life using techniques of the Shadow. BUT… he’s also a powerful sorcerer, which means that he’s innately magical. While I don’t think it’s suggested in the class features, I see nothing strange about the idea that a powerful Draconic Sorcerer might live an unnaturally long life. The same logic could follow for any sorcerer. Perhaps a Clockwork Soul Sorcerer has an innate form of the Mother of Invention’s potion, slowly becoming more construct over time. A Divine Soul Sorcerer could easily be sustained by celestial energy. Beyond that, you have affects of manifest zones, subtle aasimar, fey bargains… In short, if a seemingly normal human lives for centuries, people may start to wonder. But if someone who is known to be a powerful sorcerer makes it to 120 and still seems healthy? He’s clearly a remarkable person infused with supernatural energy; I don’t think people will be too surprised. Some might even say “Age isn’t what’s gonna kill Haldren.” At the same time, murdering people to extend your life is definitely against the Code of Galifar. If he’s just a (super)naturally long lived sorcerer that’s fine. If it can be proven that he ritually sacrificed people to extend his life, well, back to Dreadhold we go…

That’s all for now! If you’re at PAX this weekend make sure to drop by the Twogether booth and say hello. Thanks again to my Patrons who make these articles possible—I’ve got a number of things planned for Patreon in September.

IFAQ: Recorded Music and Songs of the Poison Dusk

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Keith Baker

As time permits, I like to answer interesting questions posed by my Patreon supporters. Here’s a few from this month!

Is there an equivalent to the phonograph in Eberron? If so, how accessible is it?

In this article I gave my thoughts on the equivalent of photography in Eberron. So, what about recorded sound? Well, Eberron is about the every day application of magic. Is there a spell of 3rd level or below that could reasonably be applied to produce a similar effect? Absolutely. Minor illusion is a cantrip that allows the reproduction of sound… and spellshards are crystals that hold data. And who loves music AND has a talent for illusion? So, putting that all together…

If you attend the Tain Gala, Celyria will show you her latest acquisition—a Phiarlan hydra. The base of this wonder is a cube of black stone. A four-headed hydra is engraved on its top, and the mouth of each hydra is a spherical depression that can hold a polished globe of wood embedded with a tiny dragonshard. Each of these “marbles” holds a performance by one of Phiarlan’s finest musicians. But the hydra has a fifth head, sculpted from copper and wood, rising up from the base. When you activate the hydra, it draws out the sound of the performance held within one of the marbles and projects it through the sculpted head, as clear as if you were there. So come to the Tain gala, and hear the hydra sing!

Personally (largely because it’s never been mentioned before) I’m inclined to make the hydra a recent development that’s currently only available to the wealthy. But the principles aren’t terribly complicated — it’s cantrip level magic — so I could see it quickly gaining popularity and spreading. PCs with the entertainer background could be encouraged to record some marbles for Phiarlan! Also, if you’re interested in the idea of broadcast audio entertainment in Eberron, check out the House Sivis Echoer Station!

Do the Poison Dusk lizardfolk of Q’barra have any significant musical/artistic customs?

Certainly! But it’s important to remember that the Poison Dusk aren’t exclusively lizardfolk and that they aren’t a traditional culture. As called out in Dungeon 185, the Poison Dusk includes kobolds, troglodytes, lizardfolk, and dragonborn—including mutants like the blackscale lizardfolk. They aren’t a culture that has evolved over time; they are victims of Masvirik, whose personalities and memories have been eroded and overwritten by the power of the Cold Sun. Their leaders are actively (if often only partially) possessed by fiends.

So with all that in mind, in thinking about ANY of the customs of the Poison Dusk, I would want them to feel eerie and alien—to help convey the concept that these are people who are all, on some level, shaped by fiendish influences.

Considering all this, what comes to my mind is the Hissing Chorus. This is a rhythmic, ululating hissing, at its base almost like the sound of wind. This hissing is supplemented by body percussion, each participant using a single hand to tap claws against scales, or potentially to scrape claws against another surface — essentially, adding fingernails on a blackboard to a musical performance. The key to all of this is that the rhythm is seemingly random, asymmetric and unpredictable, yet all participants work in perfect unison; it’s an ecstatic experience driven by instinct, something that draws the musicians into communion with the Cold Sun. The Hissing Chorus is encountered in many ways and with varying intensity. A single Poison Dusk may effectively whistle while they work, hissing quietly to themself. A troop will hiss as they march, with greater force and intensity. And a Poison Dusk community may hiss together as a writhing mob, guided by a dusk-shard imbued champion who voice is amplified by magic, potentially with instrumentalists using hide drums and scraping surfaces that send chills through anyone within range. But the PRINCIPLE is the same throughout, and crucially, the song is something that is constantly evolving; it’s more like speaking in tongues than playing a treasured symphony. Because the Poison Dusk has no lengthy history; time and time again, they have been hunted down by the Trothslorsvek and the Masvirik’uala, only to rise once more, hissing their eerie, endless song.

That’s all for now! If you have questions of your own, join my Patreon. As always, thanks to my patrons for making this site and these articles possible!

IFAQ: Adepts and Divine Artifice

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Keith Baker

I’m on my way to MegaCon where I’ll be talking about games and playing on the main stage! It’s been a busy month: I’ve relaunched my Frontiers of Eberron campaign on my Patreon and I’m writing for Wayfinder. I’m working on the next Dragonmark article, which will deal with Khorvaire in the Age of Giants. But when time allows I like to answer interesting questions from my patrons… so lets look at one of those.

Could you expand on the description of the Crucible artificers in Exploring Eberron, or more generally on how the overlap between adept magic and artifice/magecraft works & what it looks like? I’m assuming the faiths have followed technological progress, but I’m having a hard time coming up with more than mass-produced religious icons, scripture, and holy water.

One of the central aspects of Eberron’s idea of Everyday Magic is the existence of a widespread force of spellworkers who don’t have the flexibility or scope of player character spellcasters. An oracle can cast divination and augury, but they can’t perform healing magic. A locksmith can cast knock and arcane lock, but they can’t conjure illusions or fling fireballs. For most people in the world, mastering a particular set of spells is a life’s work, and you can’t just spend an evening reading a spellbook or a morning in prayer and completely change your spell list.

In the original ECS, adepts and magewrights were called out as entirely different classes. As the concept evolved this line was blurred. Eberron Rising From The Last War generally uses “magewright” as a blanket term for any professional spellcaster. The Magewright Specialty table on page 318 of Rising includes Oracles, Mediators, and Healers—all roles traditionally associated with adepts and divine magic. But the point is that from a purely mechanical perspective, it doesn’t matter how the magewright casts the ritual, only that they can; the rest is cosmetic detail. I discuss this in this article, looking at the difference between a divine oracle and an arcane oracle. Both can cast divination, but for the adept this is about communing with a divine force, while for the arcane magewright it’s based on some form of science, such as cartomancy. The short form is that “magewright” as defined in Rising From The Last War simply means someone who can cast a limited set of ritual spells or cantrips and doesn’t care whether that person is a traditional magewright, adept, gleaner, or wandslinger.

I expanded on this in Exploring Eberron:

Arcane magic is a science; magewrights master its techniques. However, there are other forms of magic which can likewise be adapted to everyday functions. An adept derives their magic from their faith, a more limited form of what a cleric can do; likewise, a gleaner masters the simplest forms of druidic magic. Especially with the adept, this is usually more of a calling than a job; you don’t decide to become an oracle of Aureon, you find that you are gifted with visions. The rituals of an adept will invoke divine forces, while a gleaner will draw on the world around them and often use an herbalism kit as a spellcasting focus.

Having said that in Exploring Eberron, I’m going to quantify it here. VASSALS don’t choose to become adepts; they believe they are called or blessed by one of the Sovereigns. You can’t demand that Aureon give you the gift of prophecy; either he chooses you to be an oracle or he doesn’t. But that’s because Vassals interact with the Sovereigns as if they were people. As a Vassal, you ask Aureon for guidance. By contrast, the Silver Flame is an impersonal force. It’s not an anthropomorphic entity that decides to do things. The Silver Flame was created to bind the overlords. That’s its primary function and we’re all very lucky that it continues to perform that function. The fact that people of great faith can draw on its power to defend the innocent is a side benefit. The Silver Flame binds the overlords. To do that, it must be omnipresent within the world; and therefore, the power is all around, available for a person of faith to use.

The people of Thrane are raised with that concept. While Thranish belief in the Flame isn’t universal or oppressive, for the faithful it’s part of everyday life. You know that the Flame is all around you, that it holds the ancient evils at bay, and that those with sufficient devotion can wield its power to serve the greater good. It’s a tool, like the bow… and where some Thranes master the bow and become templars or serve in the village militia, others turn to the tool of prayer and focus on harnessing the power of the Flame. Hence, as said in Rising From The Last War, moreso than in the other nations, “Faith is part of daily life in Thrane and divine adepts provide important services.” Specifically, they provide services that are typically provided by arcane magewrights in other nations. Healer and oracle are common roles for adepts in any nation. But in Thrane, you can find launderers using the power of the Flame to cleanse dirty clothes. You can find locksmiths who channel the power of the Flame to cast arcane lock—providing protection for the innocent. You can even find entertainers who draw on the Flame to amplify their voices or create music. This looks different from a Vassal adept, because the adept of the Silver Flame doesn’t have to ask for the power; the power is THERE, and they just need to know how to use it. But the Flame adept still needs faith to channel the power, and needs to believe they are using their gift for the good of the community. So the Thrane launderer doesn’t say “Oh Flame, I beseech you, cleanse these filthy clothes!” But they may sing a hymn to Tira or to the Flame while doing the laundry, and for them, doing laundry is an expression of their faith—they feel the power of the Flame flowing through them, and know that they are helping this community. A secondary point to this is that Flame adepts take money for their services, because they need to be able to thrive to continue to provide those services to their community, but as a rule they aren’t driven by greed. They need to believe they are providing a valuable service and it’s only just for those who can afford it to pay a fair price for that service. But they believe that they are doing a service for those in need, not simply chasing gold; and Thrane adepts are thus more likely to perform charitable work for those who truly are in need than the typical Brelish magewright.

SO WHAT ABOUT THE CRUCIBLE?

With all that in mind, let’s look back at the original question. Exploring Eberron has this to say about the Crucible of Thrane: Developed during the Last War, this small order of adepts and artificers crafts items drawing on the power of the Silver Flame. So what do they actually MAKE? Is it all mass-produced scripture and holy water?

These days the difference between adepts and magewrights is cosmetic. The same principle applies to artificers. Just as you can play a bard who isn’t a musician, a barbarian who never gets angry, and a warlock without a patron, you can play an artificer who draws on the power of the Silver Flame. And they can create anything any other artificer could create. You can be an artillerist carving wands or an alchemist making potions. The key is that you are enchanting these items by infusing them with the power of the Flame. Where a Cannith artillerist might craft a wand of fireballs inlaid with Fernian brass and fine draconic sigils, your wand will be traced in silver and an invocation of the Flame—and it may inflict fire damage, the flames will be silver. Note in particular that the Crucible was developed during the Last War. So what does it make? WEAPONS. Siege staffs. Blast disks. Long rods. Mechanically these are the same as their Brelish counterparts, but the Thrane force staff flings bolts of blinding silver energy and one of the three actions required to activate the staff is invoking the Flame. Exploring Eberron says that using arcane artillery “requires specialized training, similar to that of an artificer or magewright; someone trained to operate arcane artillery is generally called a bombardier.” Operating a Thranish Flame-powered siege staff would require an entirely different set of training. There ARE elements of science involved; the staff is still a tool that must be maintained. But the energy involved is divine in nature and only responds to faith. If you wanted to take this a step farther, Exploring Eberron presents dragon’s breath as the primary ammunition used by arcane artillery. I would imagine that divine artillery would use a different substance, possible just called Flame by the bombardiers—a powder that is literally infused with faith, produced in factory-temples.

Having said all that, it is important to note that there are arcane magewrights and artificers in Thrane and divine adepts elsewhere. It’s possible that Breland has a unit where Brelish templars operate a Thrane-made Flame cannon, and Thrane may have used traditional blast disks. Note that the Crucible was formed DURING the Last War. It is a reflection of wartime innovation and the industrialization of the faith—and just as there are many devotees of the Flame who don’t approve of the theocracy of Thrane, there are likely many who don’t approve of this industrialization.

So the short form is that ANY magic item could be presented as being a product of the Crucible powered by the Flame. Just consider how that’s reflected in its appearance. Potions produced by a Crucible artificer may shimmer with a silver radiance or seem to burn. The command word for a Crucible wand is an invocation to the Flame. And crucially, consider how the creator of the item could belief that in its creation they are serving their community and protecting the innocent. The Crucible created weapons and tools to protect the people of Thrane. It brewed potions to heal them. But it couldn’t produce pure luxury items or trivial goods, because the typical Crucible artificer would stumble in creation, questioning how it was a worthy use of the Flame’s power.

VASSAL ADEPTS

So how do these principles apply beyond Thrane? Can you have a divine artificer bound to Boldrei, and what does that look like? Certainly, you can have Vassal artificers and adepts. The key is that they are less industrialized. Because faith in the Flame is such a universal constant in Thrane, and because the Flame is perceived as an omnipresent force, it can be approached like learning to use a tool. Faith in the Sovereigns is more casual and more personal; each Vassal develops their own relationship with the Sovereigns. So again, as noted above, you don’t train to be an oracle of Aureon; you realize that you are an oracle of Aureon. The same principle applies to the artificer of Boldrei. It’s not a job with a clear entry path. You likely start by training for a mundane job and then realizing that Boldrei is guiding you, that she is infusing your work with magic, and over time, you learn how to effectively use her gifts. Which also means three Artificers of Boldrei could be very different based on their relationship with the Sovereign. The first thing I imagine is an Alchemist artificer who uses Chef’s Tools to produce enchanted food; their cure wounds is a strong cup of Tal that perks you right up and their enhance ability is a muffin whose flavor depends on the ability involved, but which channels the energy of Boldrei’s Hearth. On the other hand, a Battle Smith of Boldrei would be driven more by Boldrei’s role as defender of the community; their Steel Defender doesn’t follow any Cannith principles, but is animated by the artificer’s faith. This is also a good time to point out that the Sovereigns don’t stand alone. We often call someone out as an “Oracle of Aureon” to say that out of the Host, they feel the strongest connection to Aureon. But when the Oracle of Aureon gets in a fight, they may still offer a prayer to Dol Dorn–and likewise, the Battle Smith “of Boldrei” can also feel a connection to the rest of the Host. They identify with Boldrei because they feel they’ve been called to defend their community, but they can still thank Onatar while they repair the armor that was damaged in a battle.

Nonetheless, the key point here is that Thrane is the only one of the Five Nations where divine artifice has become an industry. Vassal adepts and artificers are usually more unique, and that means the things they create will be as well. So Boldrei’s Alchemist may use cooking tools and give you a muffin to enhance your strength; while Boldrei’s Battle Smith could use smith’s tools and give you a medallion engraved with Boldrei’s sigil.

That’s all for now; hopefully this gives you some interesting ideas. As I’ll be at MegaCon for the next few days I won’t be answering questions, but feel free to share your ideas and experiences with divine artifice in the comments. And thanks as always to my Patreon supporters for making these articles possible and for asking interesting questions!

IFAQ: Dunamancy, Fey Changelings, and Quori Dreams

Posted on August 25, 2022 by Keith Baker

*The fairy engineer Chorus, by Matthew Johnson*

It’s been a busy month. In addition to all of my usual work, I’ve been putting together a Spelljammer in Eberron campaign I’ll be running for my Threshold Patrons; that’s taken up most of my D&D energy. But I do try to answer questions from my patrons when I have time, and here’s a few that have come up this month.

In your Eberron, how would you introduce and incorporate the Dunamancy school of magic from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount ?

There’s two approaches I’d consider. The Wildemount sourcebook says “Dunamis is the primal magical energy of potentiality and actuality, an anticipatory arcane force that helps shape the multiverse and might very well be what holds its elements together, like an infinite web of unseen tethers… Those who study to control and tap into this near-invisible power can subtly bend the flow of time and space by controlling the forces of localized gravity, peering into possible timelines to shift fate in their favor…” One possibility this brings to mind is the Draconic Prophecy, which is a power that shapes reality and the path of the future. On the other hand, it doesn’t really map well to the actual effects of Dunamancy. I don’t see why the Prophecy would allow you to specifically manipulate gravity, and while the Prophecy can allow you to anticipate the path of the future, it’s not generally associated with alternate timelines or, for that matter, time travel; it’s the force that establishes the future, not a force you use to travel between possibilities.

So with that in mind, I’d actually say that the source of Dunamancy in my campaign would be Xoriat. As I discuss in Exploring Eberron, Xoriat exists beyond time and is the vantage point from which you could travel through time or visit alternate realities (the other rats in the Maze of Reality). I could easily see a Dunamancer as drawing a duplicate or other aspects from one of these alternate Eberrons… and when it comes to gravity, Xoriat is all about bending natural law; the idea that you use the power of Xoriat to make gravity perform in illogical ways is entirely reasonable. With all this in mind, I could see there being a strong bias against the use of Dunamancy, on the fear that it has the potential to destabilize reality—if you keep reaching across and drawing power or elements from alternate Eberrons, one day you might trigger a cascading effect that shifts that an alternate with the prime material. Keep bending gravity and you might just break it! I wouldn’t make it something where a player character would be persecuted for practicing dunamancy, but I could see it being either forbidden or at least highly restricted in Arcanix; to learn it, you’d have to find a rare mentor or sneak into the restricted stacks in the library.

So, I’d tie Dunamancy to Xoriat. But there’s another point, which is that dunamancy doesn’t have to be dunamancy. Let’s take the Echo Knight archetype for fighter. The default lore is that they are “using dunamis to summon the fading shades of unrealized timelines to aid them in battle.” But the practical effect is that they summon an echo to fight alongside them… and there’s lots of interesting ways to explain that depending on the nature of the character.

Thuranni Shadowdancer. An Echo Knight with the Dragonmark of Shadow could tie their echo to their mark, literally calling their own shadow into battle. To give it more depth, I’d probably tie this tradition to a particular family—let’s say Thuranni—and say that they use it both for art and assassination; there’s a specialized form of performance that essentially involves dancing with yourself. Any elf with the Mark of Shadows could learn these techniques; it’s just that it’s a Thuranni tradition, and Thuranni is where you’d find the masters of the art.
Quori Nightmare. Previous editions presented the idea of the Quori Nightmare, a kalashtar tradition that manifested an ectoplasmic shroud resembling the kalashtar’s quori spirit. You could easily represent the same idea with a Kalashtar Echo Knight; it’s just that instead of the echo resembling YOU, it’s a shadowy depiction of your quori spirit. If I went this path, I’d say that there are Inspired who use a similar technique, just to have a fun Echo Knight vs Echo Knight fight at some point in the campaign.
Revenant Blade. Tairnadal champions seek to channel their heroic ancestors; perhaps a truly gifted Tairnadal can draw an echo of their ancestor to fight alongside them. With the player’s permission, I’d assert that the echo can’t be forced to perform an action that goes against their nature; if the patron was known for their mercy, the echo won’t strike a helpless foe. If the player was willing to accept this limitation, I might balance it by saying that the echo sometimes displays skills the player character doesn’t actually have; it’s not their echo; it’s their inspiration.

These are just a few possibilities. Perhaps the Knights Phantom of Aundair can conjure phantom echoes as well as phantom steeds. Maybe there’s a tradition among the Blood of Vol that allows a champion to manifest their Divinity Within. I wouldn’t personally add all of these concepts into the same campaign, just because it would end up with too many Echo Knights—I’d pick one or two options, focusing on the best story for the player who wants to play an Echo Knight. So you can add Dunamancy to Eberron—but you don’t have to work Dunamancy into a campaign if all you actually want is to play an Echo Knight.

How would the lore of Changelings change, if at all, if I wanted to use the new races from “Monsters of the Multiverse” (mostly about being a fey)?

Rues change, and I’m fine with using the new changeling rules from Monsters of the Multiverse—but in my campaign, I’m not changing anything about changeling history or culture because of it. If this is the path you want to take, one option is to use the new rules and simply to ignore the change that makes them fey. On the other hand, FEY AREN’T ALL FROM THELANIS. In the lore as described, changelings are literally defined by a mythical story—the tale of Jes and her bargain with the Traveler—and it’s entirely plausible to say that as a species they began as NATIVE FEY. I’d say they are super-grounded compared to most fey—that the Fey type is largely a legacy of their origin—but I don’t have a problem with it. On the other hand, I also have no trouble with the idea that changelings’ fluid nature causes magic to interact with them differently that it does for most humanoids—IE, they REACT TO MAGIC the same way as fey creatures, but they aren’t actually true fey. Essentially, the question is if you want changelings to be immune to Charm Person but vulnerable to Magic Circle. If so, use the MotM rules as written, with the idea that they’re distantly native fey or that it’s tied to their chaotic nature; if not, ignore that particular change. I don’t have an issue with the fact that MotM allows them to impersonate small creatures; now they can have fun in Zilargo and on the Talenta Plains.

On the other hand, I’m happy to say that there are ALSO changelings who DO come from Thelanis. These could be mortals of other species who were taken to Thelanis as children and altered by this supernatural sojourn, or they could be members of the supporting cast of Thelanis—spirits who by their nature change form to fit the needs of a story—who have somehow been cast out of Thelanis to find a story of their own. Such changelings would be extremely rare in Eberron—basically, they’re all player characters—and they would have no ties to the native changelings; with this in mind I’d give each one an entirely different natural form, based on their backstory. They aren’t a SPECIES as the native changelings are, they’re exotic individuals.

Quori are described as spirits of nightmares, but hashalaqs are spirits of pleasure and kalaraqs are spirits of pride; aren’t those usually associated with pleasant dreams?

It’s an oversimplification to say that quori are “nightmare spirits.” Quori are evil dream architects. A hashalaq quori isn’t an embodiment of pleasure; it knows how to use and manipulate pleasure. It has no interest in actually giving you a pleasant dream, unless it serves a malefic purpose; in this it’s like a succubus or incubus, a fiend that uses pleasure as its tool. Exploring Eberron describes hashalaq quori as “seducers and deceivers, feeding on doubt and desire.” Likewise with the kalaraq: pride is the tool they use to manipulate mortals. So a hashalaq may very well give you a pleasant dream, if that dream steers you down the path the Dreaming Dark wants you to follow. The kalaraq specialize in pride and ambition, and kalaraq dreams urge dreamers to seize power, to start revolutions, to kill a brother and claim their crown… because gosh darn it, you deserve it. Hashalaq weave dreams to tempt you to fall in love with the wrong person, to choose pleasure over duty, or to doubt yourself. Quori-inspired dreams don’t have to be what WE would consider nightmares; they can create whatever dream best suits their purposes.

What we’ve said about quori is that they excel at evoking particular emotions and that on some level they feed on those emotions. But any quori can create any dream. Quori have the ability to cast the dream spell, and there’s no limits on what they do with this. Tsucora specialize in fear, and I’ve suggested that they may have even more specific talents. Exploring Eberron describes a tsucora who “wove dreams of gothic horror, playing on her victims’ fears of death and the undead.” That’s what she LOVES—but if she wanted to, she COULD create a dream of evil clowns, she just LIKES gothic horror. It’s the same way that an amazing Jazz musician CAN play a piece of classical music straight as written; it’s just not going to take full advantage of their skills and won’t be as remarkable a performance as when they are playing what they love. Quori can create whatever dreams are required by the task at hand; but they’ll always be more effective when they’re doing what they love. If I was actually using the Dream spell mechanics for a particular quori dream, I might give the victim disadvantage on the saving throw if the quori they’re dealing with specializes in the subject of their dream—such as when Lurashtai weaves a dream of gothic horror. While on the other hand, if the quori is making a dream that’s the opposite of what it loves to do—a du’ulora create a dream about miserable apathy—I might give the victim advantage on that saving throw. Of course, keep in mind that most quori dreams don’t involve saving throws; it’s only if they’re trying to trigger a dramatic effect (blocking rest and/or inflicting psychic damage) that saving throws come into play.

That’s all for now! Feel free to discuss these in the comments, but I don’t answer questions on IFAQs; if you want to ask me questions like these ones, check out my Patreon!

Siberspace: Dragonhawk Begins!

Posted on August 19, 2022 by Keith Baker

*The Frog Prince of the Dragonhawk Initiative, by Matthew Johnson*

In my last article, I described how I’d combine Eberron and Spelljammer… and realized that I want to run that campaign! As a result, I’m putting my current Patreon Eberron campaign on hold, and for the rest of the year I’ll be running a Siberspace space race campaign. We’re currently wrapping up session zero, but I wanted to quickly explain how the campaign works in case you’d like to get on board.

I’ve had a Patreon for some time; this support determines how much time I can put into the articles I post on this blog. A few years I decided to expand this and added the Threshold Tier, giving patrons a chance to take part in an ongoing Eberron campaign. The story is ongoing, and the characters are consistent… but the players change each session. In the week before the session I hold a poll to choose the game time, since I have patrons in different time zones. The rules of Patreon won’t let me choose players at random, so once a time is set, I pose a creative challenge. For example, in this first Siberspace session I might say “Tell me which character you want to play, and tell me what they hate to leave behind as they head into space.” Does the Captain have an ailing sibling? A new love? A dog with separation issues? I look at the answers and pick my five favorites, and those five people play in the session… and their stories become hooks I can use in the adventure. I don’t stream the sessions live, but I record them and patrons have access to audio and video recordings of all sessions.

While only a few people get to play in each session, the story belongs to everyone. I used Patreon polls to create the characters and to establish key directions for the story. I have a Threshold Discord channel where people can discuss the campaign—and I occasionally do choose-your-own-adventure style story hours on Discord, where patrons can vote on things that happen between sessions. That’s going to be especially important in this Siberspace campaign, where months may pass between each session—and negotiations or decisions made by the leaders of the Dragonhawk Initiative could have a vital impact on the next mission. I’ll also be creating new content for the campaign—interstellar hazards, random encounters, navigational challenges—that I’ll be sharing with patrons.

*A moment from a recent Threshold story hour.*

So every patron gets to be part of the story, whether or not they play in it. This is especially true right now, as we’re building the foundation of the campaign. Over the course of the week, I’ve been running polls on Patreon and discussions on Discord. The patrons have chosen the Dragonhawk Initiative—Aundair’s feytouched explorers—as the focus of the campaign, and we’ve been working through the characters. I’ve pitched a variety of interesting concepts, but even I have been surprised by some of the outcomes; I never expected Dragonhawk’s captain to be an Aundairian noble cursed into the shape of a grung, but the patrons have spoken and we have our frog prince. Currently the final character poll is active on Patreon, determining the nature of the ship’s medic and chief scout; it runs until the morning of Saturday, August 20th, so if you want to help shape the Dragonhawk crew, now’s the time!

The first Siberspace session will happen in the next two weeks, and I expect it to run through the end of the year. If you’d like to join the journey, check out the Threshold tier on Patreon! To the Moons, and beyond!

Keith Baker’s Blog

Exploring the World of Eberron

Tag Archives: Arcane Magic