Jas's page

In Eberron, I have my 2nd level PCs traveling on the train for several days.

I could just say, "Returning to the train, it took another day of travel to get from Vedykar back to Rekkenmark" But I'd like to add some excitement.

What are some things that could happen that would not involve
- destroying the train
- getting the PCs really dead really quickly
- getting the PCs kicked, or thrown off the train WAY BEFORE they reach Rekkenmark. Being kicked off the train when they reach Rekkenmark would be fine.

My first thought would have the PCs invited into a poker game and a fist fight ensues as they approach Rekkenmark when a drunk human barbarian loses and accuses the PCs of cheating.

I'd like it to involve some minor dice rolling and or role playing but nothing critical, taking up about half an hour-ish of game play. I don't want a full blown adventure, like a murder on the Orient Express scenario.

Any suggestions?

What XP would you assign to an adversary that's a class, not a monster? Would a first level human barbarian more likely map to? Would it be 100 xp as a standard monster or 200 xp elite? It's obviously not a 25 pt minion.
Your thoughts?

How do you figure XP points for character like villains?
I have the PCs fighting a....
human 5th level warlock,
human 5th level warlord,
and a bunch of human rabble worth 31 XP each.
What are the rules for figuring out XP for the warlord and warlock?
Any thoughts?

Hi all
I'm checking out the medieval town generator at http://www.rpglibrary.org/utils/meddemog/. What are Jewelers in a medieval context and why would a town of 900 have 2 of them but only a 50% of a blacksmith? Seems really high. Is it a bug, or an actual reason?
Also what is an Old-Clothes person? the medieval equivalent of a clothing thrift store?

I don't have my books with me. How old is the lastest incarnation of Sharn? I know it was built and leveled a couple of times. How old is that latest version?
I'm looking to define a timeline. Something like, the top level of Sharn has towers build in in the last 300? years. Middle Sharn was 300 to 600? years old, while lower Sharn building are 1,000? years old. However the chambers below the city go back 5000? years to the first goblin inhabitants.

I'm reading the Eberron source book. It tells about how the ships, airships, trains or even swords may have elementals bound to them. I am overthinking this but do the elementals mind being bound to the air ship, sword, what ever? Depending on the nature of elementals, it could have a cruel slavery aspect to it.
Is it an individual elemental, pulled from it's elemental plane? Does the mage pull a random but specific entity, so it would be like a mage kidnapping Bob the Blacksmith from town and binding him to a forge somewhere else. In elemental land, do they have routinely lose loved ones to the bondage of the material world? "Pyre was taken 300 years ago and his children and grand children have all perished of old age."
Or are they happy as clams in their new place so long as they can manifest their powers. Pyre, trapped in a sword, is content so long he gets to immolate something once in a while.
Have books or other source books, or you all, addressed this?

I have not really looked into the D&D worlds much in the last 15-20 years. When I played, it was always in some vaguely Tolkeen European land. We never really gave the scenario much thought or care.
Last year or so, I found the Eberron universe. Then they changed the game system. It seemed streamlined and for someone not particularly invested in the 3.5 mythos, it seemed more fun.
I’m looking forward to getting the Eberron players guide and campaign guide in October to compare.

While waiting, I got the 4.0 "Forgotten Lands" players guide and campaign guide from the public library. I didn't know anything about the FL so I came in with fresh eyes. I like the land motes. Visually fun. The world seems a bit kitchen sink-ie to me. Like they tried to cram everything in. If in Eberron, there was a place for every race known so far, it seemed that in FL they tried to make a place for every plot device or story idea ever created. Playable but awful dense and keeping track of the 8 billion city states was mind boggling.
I did some searching of the Pazio archives. I found there was a huge amount of history and back story invested in FL. It feels like the first Legion of Superheroes reboot. I like the 4.0 version, but I can see why people might be upset.

If Eberron doesn't pan out, Forgotten Realms 2.0 looks like a good second choice.

I'm building my first adventure in years and my first 4th edition ever.
I'm going to have a party of about 5, mix of characters at first level, a Wizard, Cleric, Fighter, Warlord, and Rogue. I want to have a chamber full of minions for a massive roll fest encounter.
How many decrepit skeletons or goblin minions would be appropriate to challenge 5 characters without quite killing them.
Are guides for this in the DMs guide that I missed?

I have not been playing or following D&D for many years. I've only just recently started playing 4.0 after coming back to D&D through Eberron. What is this "Points of Light" concept that keeps coming up?

In another post, it says

There are nine encounters in roughly the normal spread of difficulty (one level -2, three level +0, two level +1, four level +2, one level +3)

What are the -2, and -1 monsters for first level characters? Given the new rules, do I use a whole bunch of minions?