The world of Eberron. Sharn: City of Towers. Gritty pulp-noir and magictech. Ever wanted to explore the City of Towers? Become one of it's residents? A master inquisitive hot on the trail of mystery. A hired sword for the Blademarks of House Deneith. An exotic whirling elven dervish and assassin by night of House Phiarlan.
This campaign will explore the dark underbelly of Sharn's criminal world and other forces hidden in the shadows of the tall towers. I'd like use your characters to help mold the direction of the campaign though there will be a larger plot threading through.
This is my first time running a PbP game, but I've played in several and have been GMing and gaming for years. I usually like to run an introduction for each character to get them into the world then get the group together organically over time. We can figure out what works for everyone as we go, just gauging interest at this point.
Interested...started one Eberron campaign that fizzled and another's on hiatus. Love the setting so count me interested...oh right I said that already :)
Interested- in one Eberron game right now and thinking of running one myself so need more PbP experience.
Interested. A changeling rogue or bard would be my preference in such a game, I do believe.
dotting for interest.
Cool, looks like we have some interest. I'm thinking 4-6 players and it would be good to be somewhat familiar with Eberron. If you're not familiar with Sharn, here's a good overview. And some images to help visualize (vertical view, top down view, view from airship, not quite Sharn, but similar).
If you want to start working on character concepts, here's some things to keep in mind. No need to answer them all. Just some ideas for inspiration.
Also, we can figure out what you can afford as far as housing (anywhere from living on the street to a child of nobility). Each character will have 2 traits, so some social traits could help. Also you can take a drawback for an additional trait.
@Xzot: I'd like to do a little more research, but here's a Pathfinder conversion for Changelings I found so far that seems pretty good. Let me know what you think.
So, what level would be starting at? And what is Epic 6/Epic 10?
dotttidy dot
@fbdaury: You'd be starting at level 1, though with the Vitality and Wound Points you shouldn't be as squishy as a normal 1st level character.
Sorry, should have put a link to Epic 6/10. Here's a good one. The idea originated with 6 levels, but other variations have allowed more. Basically you would progress like normal through levels 1-10. Then beyond that every 5000xp you would gain a new feat, but your hit points, BAB, Skills, etc. would stay frozen at 10th.
There are "Epic 6" feats out there that allow you raise some these level dependent things or duplicate class/prestige class abilities. But we can figure that out as we go.
The reasoning is at higher levels characters become almost too powerful and godlike for a city based adventure and I'd like to keep this focused on Sharn. Sure you can have more powerful creatures in the depths, or even invade the city, but at some point it becomes like the new Superman movie which was great, but I'd like to avoid massive destruction on that kind of scale :) Unless that's where the story takes us somehow.
I LOVE Eberron. It may be my favorite 3.5 setting. Magepunk Fantasy for the masses!
Im thinking of a Warforged Summoner, maybe with some sort of clockwork eidolon. That or a Talenta halfling Beastrider cavalier. Cuzz hobbits riding dinosaurs.
I absolutely love Eberron, and Sharn in particular. I own and have read most of the books, including the Sharn one.
I have a few concepts in mind, but I am curious about some more of the overall plot, as that might help me choose what to play.
Thanks for the information, I was curious about that.
Also, I have an idea for a character- Kaern d'Deneith, a Sentinel Marshall of House Deneith but had a question- could I use one of his 1st level feats to get the least mark of sentinel and then at level get a bonus feat instead of the mark? That way I can start with the Sense Motive bonus and Shield other power but not lose out on the feat that I would otherwise get for free at level 4...
Here's some of Sharn's organizations for those not familiar. You could be a member, petitioning to be a member, or completely independent. Of course if you're new to the city you wouldn't know much about them. Locals should have at least 1 point in Knowledge (Local).
@Dragon Knight: My favorite setting, too. The Warforged Summoner sounds interesting. Not sure that the Talenta Beastrider would fit well into an urban campaign (although, yeah...hobbits riding dinosaurs :) )
@Monkeygod: Great! Knowing Sharn would definitely help. Now how to describe the plot without giving too much away...You'll be dealing with the friction between Sharn's various criminal organizations. As far as the "Aberrant Menace" part of the title, the prejudice against bearers of aberrant dragonmarks will be highlighted. As I said, I like starting each character off in their own element with their own plot hooks and let these converge naturally.
@fbdaury: A Sentinel Marshall would definitely fit in well. I'm fine with the feat switch. You could even step this up to getting the Lesser Mark at 4th like I did with some of the other classes. I only want one Sentinel Marshall PC, so if you're chosen it's yours.
Would possessing an Aberrant Mark therefore be really bad? I wasn't planning on it originally, but depending on your answer, I might give it more thought.
@Monkeygod: That would definitely make things interesting. I'm all for it. Might be good to have it concealable, though.
What conversion would you use for Shifters, if any?
Thinking of doing a shifter urban ranger.
I'm out for the day, heading to a comic con in NYC, so I'll look into things once I get home
I'm guessing most Eberron books are allowed? Particularly Dragonmarked? Or whichever the book is that details the Marks
@Tie My Shöelace: That sounds good. Actually the site I found for Changelings has some pretty good conversions. Here's the Shifter conversion page. And the 3.5 advanced shifter feats should be fine.
@Monkeygod: Sounds good. Trying to get into San Diego Comic Con in a couple weeks myself. Eberron books should be fine for the most part, though there may be some minor Pathfinder tweaks needed. Just let me know what you're looking at. I have most of the books.
@Xzot: I think I'm going to go ahead with this conversion for Changelings.
@Dragon Knight: Not really thrilled with the Warforged conversion on that site. This warforged conversion looks pretty good. Also, I don't like the Adamantine Body feat. Think it makes warforged a little too uber at 1st level. Though that's probably not a concern for a summoner :) Also I'll have to think about how Vitality and Wound Points work with warforged.
Just clarification on the number of rounds I can shift per day.
Shifting can be activated once per day as a free action that does not provoke and lasts for a number of rounds equal to the shifter's character level
1 / day as a free action, gain the benefit from that trait for 1 minute
Choose one shifter trait. 1/day as a free action, gain the benefit from that trait for 3 + shifter's modified Con modifier in rounds.
The rounds = level seems very underwhelming for the first three levels. Is this how you want to have it or Can I go off the ARG build and get it for one minute?
To start stating up Kaern there is one question I have, sorry if you answered but cannot find it- is it point build and if so how many points, or is it roll and if so how do you do rolls for abilities?
No one's mentioned psionics.
Do you have conversions you prefer, or use 3rd party (Dreamscarred Press) ?
Any Shifter traits also add 1 turn each to shifting duration and every two traits adds an additional shifting use per day Tie.
On the other hand, you could change it to equal the PF Rage feature duration for Barbarians as well.
To answer fbdaury's question, I hadn't mentioned stats yet. I prefer point build. 20 point buy is about right. Also max hit points at 1st level.
@Tie My Shöelace: That does seem low, especially for Wildhunt or some of the traits with movement. Let's go with the 1 minute and +1 use/day per every 2 Shifter feats.
For the urban ranger, since Sharn is so large and going to be the focus of the campaign, I'm treating each ward as a community. Sharn has 6 main wards, 3 wards in the Upper Cogs (just below the city), the Lower Cogs below and Skyway above. For a favored community it should be a place you've spent at least a little bit of time in.
@Spazmodeus: Yes, psionics are fine. I'd like to go with the Pathfinder Psionics rules in the SRD.
Did you mean to link me to a different site? Cuzz the link you gave was the same site I linked to.
Also, I'm not familiar with that vitality system; I assumed you were using the Wounds and Vigor rules presented in Ultimate Combat. They seem similar, though.
As for how it would work with Warforged, I imagine it would work the same as for others. I always imagined warforged as having some sort of alchemical/magical ichor in their bodies filling a similar role as blood; they lose too much and they die or "shut down." Likewise, there has to be something pumping that ichor, they would need some way to refresh whatever is in the stuff that keeps them going, they would have some sort of brain analogue. They may not have a digestive system, but they would have to have nervous and circulatory systems to be alive, or analogues to them. In my mind, any way.
@Dragon Knight: Oops! My mistake. I didn't even notice your link to the conversion. I was saying I didn't like the Warforged conversion on the site I found the Changelings and Shifter conversions. Looks like we ended up with the same link :)
The Wounds and Vigor system sounds interesting, but I'd like to stick to the Vitality and Wound Points rules here. The problem is Vitality heals as non-lethal damage for everyone and Wound Points as lethal, but warforged don't heal naturally at all. I was debating if they should heal Vitality as lethal damage or just still not heal naturally at all. Basically I was trying to lessen the dependence on magical healing so no one is "forced to play the cleric." I think we should stick with no natural healing for warforged to balance out the other immunities and advantages.
One option is you have a contact in town that gives you cheap repair. This could be an old companion from the war, or a "batch" mate you kept in touch with, etc. Which reminds me, contacts are something I wanted to work into the game.
Okay, folks. Looks like we have some character ideas brewing. Let's do a roundup of what we have so far and I'd like to mention contacts.
Everyone starts with one contact (bonus contacts for those with high Charisma scores). This is basically a person who is always considered friendly toward you (within reason) and can help you with favors within their ability. Of course they may ask for help in return and the bigger the favor the more dangerous the return favors may be.
If you're new to the city, you could still have a contact in town. Someone you came here to get in touch with. Maybe they invited you to stay with them until you could get on your feet. Or if you're a foreigner, you could have a contact in the embassy. Or maybe someone moved here with you, etc.
This is something you can detail as much as you want or leave vague and I can fill in the details. It's mostly for role-play and a way to get your character tied into the city. And in case you're wondering there will be plenty of action, too!
I'll have to withdraw interest...have fun :)
Ok,
I really like my Aberrant Marked idea, but I am also considering the Phiarlan Agent. Though I must admit the breakdown is confusing and hard to understand.
Also, what feat system are you going with via E6 of the three listed?
Oh, ok. Yeah, Warforged are tough enough that no natural healing wont be a major impediment. Especially if we have a caster who can cast Repair spells. Sadly those dont exist in Pathfinder officially, replaced with the all-but-useless Mending and only-slightly-better Make Whole.
By the way, with permission I'd like to use the Construct Summoner archetype.
Busy day tomorrow, so I may not be posting much. Let me wrap up these questions for the night.
@Spazmodeus: Okay, thanks for letting me know :)
@Monkeygod: Okay, you can ignore the grayed out text. That's just what I was using for comparison. Basically the class levels from 1-10 are listed on the left and the BAB, Saves and special abilities should line up horizontally for each level. (So at 1st level Phiarlan Agent you'd get Dance of Blades, Battle Dance, inspire courage +1 and the Least Mark of Shadow.)
The idea was this should be relatively equivalent to a bard with the Mark of Shadow powers replacing spells, so you don't have to spend feats on the dragonmark abilities. Let me know if that clears it up.
For the E6/10 feats I'm thinking the Gestalt Approach of "if an ability can be learned under 10th level, then it’s learnable via some chain of feats" with some Leaning Upward. So this opens up to some prestige class possibilities, but I wouldn't want to mix and match too much.
Basically I want to avoid high level spells that can kill the mystery, too many hit points, and skill ranks that make most rolls trivial. If there's something specific you're aiming for let me know and we can find a way to work it into the campaign. Or you can figure this out as you go.
@Dragon Knight: The Construct Summoner sounds like a cool idea. Definitely some story possibilities. Let me look it over some more and get back to you. Repair spells should be fine, but I wouldn't count on a PC for them. Probably have a Cannith equivalent of a House Jorasco healing house, but less common outside of Warforged neighborhoods.
Ok, got more of a concept coming together, but I'm going to need to PM you once I wake up tomorrow.
Time to throw my own concept into the ring.
Their are secrets that most do not know and then their are secrets only a select few know. One of those secrets is that the Closed Circle was never truly destroyed. Oh the Silver Flame and its various allies tried, indeed they destroyed the main compound of the Closed Circle. But they never completely eradicated it and the Closed Circle maintains it's secret underground library deep underneath Sharn. The library itself is called the Vault of Two, referencing to the fact that the two patron gods of the Closed Circle, the Keeper and the Shadow hold the Vault sacred. It is in these twisting passageways and small dust caked rooms that the Closed Circle gathers and waits to return to the surface world with even more power then before.
Wren Dantios is one of the few students that studies in the Vault of the Two and he is considered academically speaking to be the top student in the academy. For Wren recognizes that Necromancery and Transmutation are destined to unite in one deadly and to many horrible combination. For if one can keep the benificial properties of the Undead and eliminate the weakness's that so often doom undead armies then one could be potentially unstoppable. Wren Dantios has just recently been given a private lab in the lower sewers which also serves as his home. Wren is focusing on a feverish study of Necromancery, Transmutation and alchemy. He intends to fulfill his vision and create a new and improved version of the undead. Woe to the Flame and others who with their lack of vision nearly destroyed the Closed Circle. Those enemies will be made to pay and the Closed Circle will ensure that their torment lasts well past death...
gm do you like?
My current thinking is running a spy from during the last war. Specifically one who had a persona for several different individuals (often enough even for the same side). The information obtained I would then sell to those who would most benefit my coinpurse. Probably quite a bit of blood on my hands.
When the last war came to an end, I found myself quickly out of employement. Having lived a high profile life up to that point, plus the expenses of maintaining multiple identities, found myself needing an out. So I scrapped my former identities and began anew in Sharn. At this point, I'm thinking of going with a freelance inquisitive to make ends meet.
@Monkeygod: Just PM'd you back.
Cool concept. I had debated on doing something with the Closed Circle. I'm not sure yet how this would fit into the campaign, but I have a couple of ideas. Tell me a little more about your character's backstory. What caused his animosity toward the Silver Flame? How does he feel about the Blood of Vol? Is he from or has he been to Karrnath? How was he chosen for the Closed Circle? Maybe a connection to The Twelve in Karrnath?
Sounds good. A freelance inquisitive would definitely fit in well and the spy background gives me a lot to play with. How long have you lived in Sharn? Did you work primarily in one country during the war or did you have personas in (or "from") different countries? Did you have allegiance to any one country in the War or just playing the different sides against each other? Are you still in the business of selling secrets or trying to lay low?
My last PM from you was two hours ago, which was the initial reply to me, if you send a 2nd you might need to resend it?
My thoughts are that I've been in Sharn since around the end of the Last War, so about 2 years if I recall. (Going off memory, so if I say something erroneous, let me know, I'm trying to locate my Eberron books, recently moved).
I'm thinking I worked for a variety of countries, playing that information off each other. I figure towards the end, I somehow screwed up big time and ended up nearly getting caught, causing the crafted identities to suddenly no longer be viable. No particular allegiance to any.
I'm probably still in the secret business, though I try to keep it more low key.
@Monkeygod: Sorry, I started that post after I PM'd you, but it took a little longer than I expected to write the rest. I "just" replied to your second PM :) How was the NY Con?
actully gm I'm dropping out, I am just feeling more in that xen'drik mood then anything else.
I'm adjusting my idea to alchemist/magic scientist. He grew up on the streets and foraged what books he could after some ill fortune with his family.
@Viluki: Okay, maybe next time.
@shrodingerscat: Sounds good. I've got some ideas for that.
This sounds quite interesting, I am playing in a 3.5 game that doesnt allow eberron material so the chance to play some of it here would be neat.
My main source is DnD Tools, is it alright if I use material from here (tweaked for pathfinder I imagine) and if so, I will take a look, start reading through the links you provided and see what catches my eye :)
@Gobo Horde: Welcome, Gobo Horde. I'm not familiar with DnD Tools, but all the Pathfinder rules are online here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/. Also, I've listed some conversions for some of the Eberron races above. Let me know what kind of character you're thinking of.
Here's an updated roundup of the characters:
Regarding the wards, I assume we will be using most of them throughout the campaign, but are there any in particular that are less likely to be used?
@Tie My Shöelace: Oops, sorry, didn't mean to leave your name off. We probably won't touch Northedge and Skyway much. Most likely people will start in Dura, Tavick's Landing, Menthis Plateau and possibly the Cogs.
I'm going to go ahead and close recruitment for now. We've got a good number of characters here. I'm thinking 4 or 5 will be a good manageable number. 6 may be a little too much for this type of game.
Those of you who have given me backstory already are in (Xzot, shrodingerscat, Monkeygod). Tie My Shöelace and Dragon Knight, I'd like to hear more about your characters before I decide. fbdaury let me know if you're still interested. Your character may be at odds with some of the others here, but it could still be interesting. Gobo Horde, it may be a long shot, but go ahead and send me a character idea.
In fact I don't think we'll have a traditional party, but more individuals that encounter each other. I'll leave it up to the group to decide how we want this to play out or we can just jump in and see where it leads. The plot will bring you face to face. How you interact will be up to you. Should be a lot of fun!
I feel super dumb now, I just saw your Master Inquisitive archetype. which looks really nice. I might have to go with that since it is slightly better than urban ranger (for this campaign). Though I may decide to do a Urban ranger/Falconer combination still. Not sure if I want to bond with the city or a bird. :p
Interested as a warforged monk
Would you allow me to use the Hobgoblin Archetype, Ironskin Monk?
It's on the srd, I feel it fits thematically with the warforged.
Maybe you'd allow me/ the other single classed proposals to do some sort of gestalt, to bring it in line power-wise with the custom classes, they seem to have quite a few more abilities than the standard classes.
If you like that idea, I'd likely go with an unarmed fighter/ ironskin monk gestalt.
Drawing some inspiration for the character from >>this image<<
EDIT: oops, missed the post about recruitment closing.
Good luck, I'll keep an eye on it if you need another in the future.
I'm about 96.2% certain I'll be going Bard at this point, just to help clarify. I've been looking at archetypes but I just don't see anything that grabs me.
@Tie My Shöelace: No worries. That's actually one of the more experimental classes in there. So you might be better off going with urban ranger. Falconer could be interesting. Would you be tied to one of the Druid cults or maybe House Vadalis? Or are you just in tight with the shifter community?
@bi0philia: I like that pic. Yeah, closed recruitment for now, but I'll keep that in mind as a possibility. Most have opted for standard archetypes, so it's probably better to keep things balanced, but that archetype might be alright. I'd have to look at it.
@aeryk- still interested, will work Kaern up in the next day or so for review.