Ideas for expanding Cauldron

[WolfBlade]

Hi, so I've been sitting trying to write up a player's guide to Cauldron, in a smilar way to the guide to Ptolus, just to give my players an idea of the city. I'm trying to flesh the city out a bit more and I had a couple of ideas that I was looking for some feedback on;

Firstly, in terms of city defense, the only real threats are likely to come from above Cauldron so it made sense to me that there could be some sort of flying cavalry unit as a first line of defense. I don't want to do griffons or pegasi because i think they're a bit overdone so I thought considering the climate and local monsters already mentioned that it might be cooler for them to ride some kind of terradon. This also gives the PCs another organisation to join and perhaps a prestige class in the making...(incidentally does anyone know where I can find rules for such a beast? I'm sure I've seen it somewhere but i just cant remember)

Secondly I thought if Nidrama has been kicking around the region for quite a while and is not above sticking her nose in people's affairs would it make sense to say that she has become something of a patron saint of the people? citizens could make reference to the "winged one" or somesuch, works of art might be influenced by her, there could be some sort of festival in her honour and so on. I thought if the characters are well aware of who Nidrama is and what she means to the region, this could make the moment they actually meet her far more dramatic.

Thirdly (and lastly), do you think a city the size of Cauldron could support something like the Delver's Guild from Ptolus? As well as giving me the excuse to expand the underdark below the city (and coincidentally another potential PC organisation) it could also double as another defensive measure but this time against what might come from below Cauldron?

Anyway, I've got loads more ideas but I'll leave it at hat for now. Please leme know what you all think.

[CallawayR]

There are Pteranidons in the Eberron book and Quetzacoutali in the Monster Manual II. Pteranidons are Large. Queztzacoutal are Huge.

If the government of Cauldron has actually created or condoned the creation of either an air corps or a subterranean scout and destroy corps, you might want to think of what events made these organizations necessary. Was Cauldron attacked from above? When? By what? Maybe there was a party of adventurers who had tamed some pteranidons and they saved the city. Is there a holiday on the calendar commemorating the event? Maybe it was Nidrama who saved the day and Cauldron's government sent adventurers out to get the means to build an air force.

The Delvers could have the same type of origin. Something crept up from below and the city had to fight off an invasion. In which case there might be heroes/holidays/etc. for that event too. Or, there might just be the occaisional nasty beastie slinking up into the city and causing problems. If it happened enough the city, the nobles (for mercantile or humanitarian reasons) or maybe just a coalition of adventuring groups who wanted to coordinate resources to combat the problem could have all formed some sort of guild/guard. (The Delving Guard does sound kinda nifty).

Does Nidrama get a festival of her own? Do any of the churches in town claim her as an associate of their god? Do multiple faiths claim her? How does she feel about any adulation? Will she step in and "corect" any group that strays over the line into outright worship? In any case, you should probably be ready with a couple of stories about when/how/who she saved, what disasters she has averted, etc.

[Michael Cyr]

CallawayR wrote:

There are Pteranidons in the Eberron book and Quetzacoutali in the Monster Manual II. Pteranidons are Large. Queztzacoutal are Huge.

By the way, the pteranodon is listed as a glidewing in the Eberron Campaign Setting.