Tag Archives: Firearms

Dragonmarks: Muskets in Eberron, 2024 Edition

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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!

Dragonmarks 1/25: Codex, Cannith, and Changes I’d Make

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It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Eberron Q&A, largely because I’ve been spending most of my spare time working on my new setting, codenamed Codex (working title only – it’s my Blue Harvest). But I don’t want to neglect Eberron, and a few of these questions segue into my upcoming Codex post. As always, my answers are just my opinion and may contradict canon sources: it’s up to you to decide what to use!

If there were anything you’d change about as-published Eberron, what would it be? What would you add or expand?

Lots of things. I wish we’d had more space to talk about the planes and undersea nations. I’d like more information about the spells and weapons used during the Last War, and more information about what war in Eberron actually looks like (and how these things could affect a post-war story). I wish we’d been able to provide more support for goblins as PCs. I wish we’d gotten the scale right on the original map of Khorvaire. Most of these are practical things that I believe would improve the setting for other players & DMs. There’s other changes that are more about what I want in a world, but don’t necessarily serve anyone else’s needs. I’d like the history of Galifar to have been shorter and a little more dramatic. I’d like more restrictions on resurrection and more of an exploration of its impact on society. There are lots of other little details like this, but they’re more for my peace of mind than because they interfere with people’s ability to enjoy the world.

As you progress in future RPGs/settings/etc, are there themes you tried exploring in Eberron that you’ll try to explore more?

Certainly. Looking at just a few…

  • The Impact of Magic on a Society. Any time I’m working on a world or system that involves magic, I want to seriously consider its impact on the world around it, and how it could be incorporated into a culture. Codex is at a different point in the history of magic than Eberron, and there’s more of a breakdown of different cultures employing different forms/schools of magic. But the basic idea—if magic exists and is reliable, how will it change the world—is definitely there.
  • War. There are many different ways in which war can generate stories. Eberron dealt with a civil war shattering a major kingdom. Codex will do something different… but war and its impact on the people caught up in it is certainly a theme that will be present.
  • Dreams. I’ve always loved exploring dreams. The very first RPG piece I had published was essentially Inception rules for Over The Edge. I wrote Oneiromancy rules for Atlas Games’ Occult Lore. Eberron plays with the Dreaming Dark and the Kalashtar. Codex is going in a different direction, but dreams have a role in the world.
  • Divine Mysteries and the Importance of Faith. Codex takes a very different approach to the divine than Eberron does. But it is still a world in which faith matters, where the absolute nature of the divine remains a mystery to mortals.
  • Shades of Gray. There’s always a place for the cut-and-dried pulp villain; when you fight the Emerald Claw, you generally know you’re doing the right thing. But as a noir fan, I want the world as a whole to be less black and white.

That’s just off the top of my head. I like conspiracies and intrigue, so you can be sure you’ll see a lot of schemes going on. I like to think about monsters—what are their cultures and drives? If I took another ten minutes, I’d likely come up with ten more answers, but I’ll get to those in the future.

Do the Five Nations have or seek to have colonies?

Colonization isn’t a strong theme in Eberron. By the numbers, the Five Nations aren’t even fully utilizing the land they currently claim; there’s no desperate need for new land. Beyond that, there’s not a lot of appealing land to colonize. Sarlona and Argonnessen are already taken, the Frostfell is hardly appealing, and Xen’drik is a cursed, twisted land full of dangerous things.

With that said, colonization and exploration are themes I’ll be exploring in Codex.

The Silver Flame infamously conducted a pogrom vs. lycanthropes. Has it similarly campaigned against other supernatural types?

Sure. Remember all those demon overlords trapped in Khyber? They’re the end result of the very first Silver Flame pogrom versus a supernatural threat. Of course, that predates HUMAN worship of the Silver Flame. In modern times, there’s nothing on par with the purge of lycanthropy, but in part that’s because there’s never been a threat that called for it. The Purge was a response to a massive outbreak of infectious lycanthropy; if left unchecked, this would have consumed and destroyed human civilization on Khorvaire. The forces of the Flame met this head on, and once it was broken, took steps to eliminate it completely. If there was, say, a zombie apocalypse, they’d act with the same ruthless efficiency to hunt down and destroy all vectors of zombie infection. There hasn’t been such a large-scale obvious threat, and so we haven’t seen such a thing. But on a smaller scale, the Silver Flame is CONSTANTLY campaigning against supernatural threats. That’s the purpose of the Templars: Protect the innocent from supernatural evil. Are there ghouls in the graveyard? The templars will check it out when they arrive. Is Dela possessed? Call for an exorcist of the Silver Flame! People often see the Silver Flame as intolerant or overzealous, but it’s important to remember that Eberron is a world where there ARE rakshasa, vampires, and demons abroad in the world, where you could be possessed or where evil from Khyber could burst onto the surface at any time. If it does, the Templars are charged to face it and if necessary, to lay down their lives to protect you from it.

Is there a Cannith family tree w/the prominent family member’s dates of birth/death & so on? How old was Norran when he died?

I’ve never encountered or constructed a full Cannith family tree. I don’t believe there’s a canon source as to Norran’s age, so it’s up to you to decide what best suits your story.

Also would warforged eventually expire if sealed in a vault? If Cannith seals unwanted creations up, do they last forever?

Warforged don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe. As such, a warforged could survive for a very, very long time if it was sealed in a vault. Do they last FOREVER? That depends on the environment. If you stored a suit of armor in this vault, would it still be intact and usable in a century? If the answer is “yes,” than a warforged stored in a similar way would also survive. If the environment lends itself to decay and corrosion, and if circumstances prevent the warforged from maintaining itself, it could fall pray to rot or corrosion. On the other hand, if it’s capable of moving and tending to itself, it could probably hold these things at bay. As defined, warforged have no set “expiration date,” and there are canon sources that deal with warforged created during the Age of Giants that are still operational.

Can a rakshasa truly worship the Silver Flame? If not, why don’t Silver Flame priests detect the evilness of disguised rakshasa?

This question originally dealt with the plot of a specific novel; to avoid spoilers, I’m addressing the general point. First, I don’t believe that a rakshasa can truly worship the Silver Flame… because if it does, it will cease to be a rakshasa and become something else. Immortal fiends are essentially incarnate ideas; if the idea changes substantially, I maintain that the creature will become something entirely different. A fallen angel becomes a radiant idol or a devil. A “risen” rakshasa would likewise take on a new form… perhaps that of a deva.

Given this, how do undercover rakshasa avoid detection? They have to be able to duplicate the powers of the roles they seek to fill. A rakshasa posing as a silver pyromancer has to learn some way to make his magic LOOK like that of a true silver pyromancer, even if it’s not. However, the Lords of Dust have had tens of thousands of years to work on this.  They have access to epic level spellcasters and hordes of treasure amassed since the dawn of time… so they can use magic items to help their disguises. One of the most important of these is the Mask of the Misplaced Aura, described on page 170 of Sharn: City of Towers; this is an amulet that gives the wearer a different aura for purposes of divination. So a rakshasa could have a MotMA that makes him show up as a 10th level lawful good cleric, even though he’s actually a 12th level lawful evil sorcerer/outsider.

What would change if the Twelve creates some magic equivalent firearms just for dragonmarked heirs?

It depends how effective they are compared to other weapons, from crossbows to eternal wands. Can they by any dragonmarked heir, or just one with a dragonmark? Do they require martial training, or are they mystically accurate (more like a longbow or a wand of magic missiles)? What’s the range? Do they automatically penetrate armor? How expensive are they—can every heir have them, or are they as rare as high-level sorcerers?

One of the underlying themes of Eberron is the uneasy balance of power between the nobility and the dragonmarked houses; the military power of the houses has been held in check by the Korth Edicts. If the houses acquire this new tool, there is the chance for them to be seen as a new military threat. I expect that the Five Nations would seek to ban them, just as they shut down Cannith’s creation forges. The question is if the Twelve would defy them, and what would happen if they do. Will all the houses stand together behind the Twelve, or would some break ranks? Are the nations prepared to forgo the services of the houses to enforce this point? Might they convince the Church of the Silver Flame that these firearmed dragonmarked heirs are a supernatural threat that endangers the innocent?

Ultimately, I think the answer largely depends on diplomacy and how these things are used. If they are used sparingly and in accord with the laws of the land, they might go largely unnoticed. On the other hand, if the houses flaunt them and engage in acts of aggression, it’s possible you could have an entirely different sort of Next War on your hands.

You mentioned a pulp hero named The Beholder. Would he be more like Batman or The Shadow?

The Beholder and her tagline (“No evil escapes the eyes of the Beholder!”) was inspired by the Shadow. The Beholder was a kalashtar with an assortment of agents (her “eyes”) she could communicate with telepathically to coordinate her war on the villains of Sharn.

Why may Aereni be interesting villains?

Hmm. The members of the Undying Court are tens of thousands of years old. They are one of the few forces who are capable of interpreting the Draconic Prophecy. Together, they wield divine power on par with the Silver Flame, if not as far reaching. They are capable of ruthless action in pursuit of their own interests, as shown by the extermination of the Line of Vol. Their power is limited beyond Aerenal, but can still be channeled through their priests and paladins. So, here’s a few ideas.

  • Take a page from Fringe. The Undying Court has been watching humanity for thousands of years. Now it acts. Through some unknown method, the Court extends its power to (Sharn/Stormreach/wherever), allowing them to wield their full divine power in this region. This allows them to shatter any organized military force that challenges them. Aereni soldiers commanded by deathless paladins seize control of the region and place it under martial law. They are constructing eldritch machines that will extend the range of their powers and allow the Ascendant Counselors to leave Shae Mordai. First off, WHY? Are they trying to save humanity from itself? Is this really an attack on the Lords of Dust/Chamber/Erandis Vol, who were about to do something big in the area?
  • Take it on a smaller scale. Aerenal decides that it won’t put up with the people of Khorvaire providing aid and support for its enemies (Erandis and the Emerald Claw). It begins to send military strike teams into the Five Nations to attack the Emerald Claw, and to hit areas with divine strikes. Aerenal considers these actions fully justified and is unconcerned about collateral damage. As an adventurer, you can easily get caught up in conflict with these forces, especially if you have any attachments to the Blood of Vol. Do you fight them? Strike back at Aerenal? Or try to help them finish their mission as quickly and efficiently as possible to minimize collateral damage?
  • If you’re an elf, chances are your ancestors at least passed through Aerenal. That means the Court knows something about you. Perhaps you have an ancestor on the Court. Or you have an ancient enemy on the Court who has been slowly eliminating your entire line. He’s finally gotten around to you. He’s coordinating strikes from Shae Mordai. Not only do you not know who he is, you don’t know the basis for the feud. Can you find the answers to these questions before it’s too late? How do you reach him in Shae Mordai?

Our local group is trying to get a better understanding of airships, which has made us curious about some of the choices used.  In the campaign setting book  airships use fire elementals and galleons use air elementals.  It just doesn’t make sense to us.  Why not just use air elementals for both ships?

A galleon uses an air elemental to generate wind which it harnesses with sails. The fire elemental works more like a rocket. With that said, some airships do employ air elementals; Pride of the Kraken from Principles of Fire used both an air and fire elemental.
I have been doing some research on flying fortresses.  In doing so I stumbled across a forum post that was speaking about the command center.  The post mentioned that it uses three bound elementals, earth, air, and fire. How does an earth elemental aid the flying fortress?

I don’t believe it’s my post, so I can’t say what the original author intended. However, I could see it as possibly being less about the interaction with the earth and more about enhancing the structural stability of the vessel.
If an elemental vessel loses its bound shard or it becomes damaged can it be repaired? Better yet can it be replaced?

Provided that it survives the experience, sure. If someone removes it while it’s docked, it could be replaced. And a galleon could lose its shard and continue under normal windpower. However, a large airship that loses its shard while in motion is going to crash, so a new shard is the least of your repair issues.
If shards are replaceable, would it then be possible to have a vessel that could swap crystals to take on different traits?

I don’t see why not. This would be an argument for a ship with multiple bound elementals—so you could still have one active to maintain the stability of the vessel while you switch out the other.
It seems that all of the Eberron publications only intend for the core elementals (air, earth, fire, and water) to be bound?  Do you have plans for the other elementals?  I know I do.  Is it possible that they can’t be bound?

I think any elemental should be able to be bound. I have no plans for them, but I certainly encourage you to run with the idea.

Besides Q&A it would be cool if you write short Eberron stories (FR authors do it).

I don’t know what FR authors do, but there’s a few factors here.

First, Eberron is the intellectual property of Wizards of the Coast. If I wrote an Eberron story, they would be within their rights to order me to take it down or change it. Would they? I don’t know. But they COULD. There’s been issues in the past as to whether I could post an Eberron adventure on my site. And there’s certainly no way I could sell an Eberron story.

This ties to point number two, which is time. I don’t have a whole lot of it, and the freelance RPG business isn’t the most lucrative job in the world. As a result, I need to focus the time that I have on projects that I feel are going somewhere. I’d LIKE to finish the stories of Thorn and Daine and Lei. But those stories belong to WotC, and I can’t afford to work on a story that not only can’t I sell, but that I might not even be able to post for free. Hence my working on Codex. I want to work on something that I know I can expand. So I’d be thrilled if WotC authorizes me to do more Eberron fiction. But it’s not something I’m comfortable investing time in without that authorization.