[Tabletop] Enter Iris - Page 57

The way I see Eberron in 5e is that individual magic items are super rare while services, scrolls, and potions are reasonably priced and available, so long as you have a sponsor. Almost all magic items production is state or house run and owned. All of the normal stuff you see and can buy in the 3.5 ECS is all there with the exception of personal magic items. Artificers exclusively work for the houses or the state. Dragonmarked are more or less bonded by the houses, dragonshards are more or less confiscated by the houses. Etc etc. Basically any group of wizards which might be able to produce individual magic items are all working on big collective projects. This reconciles rare magic items with Eberron's magicpunk world. Players are free to make a wizard or warlock or sorcerer and flavor them as an gadgeteer. But there won't really be any permanent magic item creation. Because magic items tend to be property of the government or great houses this gives me a lot of leeway with how to deal with those mechanics

Additionally I treat artificiers, dragonmarked, Changlings(I might back off on this), Khalistar, Dragonborn, and true monks like Gandalf. These characters will always be central to something, in a way which excludes them from being PC's. And, just like you can't roll a vampire and be like "oh yea he is the legit Son of Cain, second generation" you similarly cannot play artificers et al. This might seem restrictive but I think that resolving the issue of "why you're adventuring" when you have properties which should put you in positions of authority is more important. Additionally such authority or assumptions means its harder for me to reasonably tranche information and plot points for the party, being unattached(doesn't mean you can't have contacts) to plot central organizations makes it a lot easier to make the story flow. The bigger the organization the less you should be in a position of power within it.

The other big thing with Eberron is that i hate almost all of the lore that isn't from the 3.5 ECS/core lore books. Most of the reason for this is because the 3.5 core lore books set Eberron up as this ambiguous world. Where evil wasn't necessarily evil and good wasn't necessarily good. And then the books and 4e core came along and were like "oh yea all these things are unambiguously evil for the sake of being evil" and it pulled a lot of the mystery out of the world. What are the motives of the dreaming dark? Well i don't know but i bet they're just super evil evil because goddamn everything else is just boring old evil, the gods are just like every other DnD God and the Lord of Blades might as well be wearing a snidely whiplash mustache. Part of this probably has to do with the "if it exists in DnD then it exists in Eberron".

I don't like that. It removes the mystery for players since they do not know what might not be. So I am rolling the lore back to 3.5 ECS/Core lore books and I am removing the idea that if it exists in DnD then it must exist in Eberron. Anything which is even slightly a mystery in the core lore books is similarly a mystery in my world. Players don't know about the Aurum. Players don't know about the Dreaming Dark. Players(generally) think that the Lords of Dust are a fairy tale. No one knows about the Chamber. The worldview of the 5 nations is an observation based one. The 5 nations generally hold that the more mystical Dhakaani are superstitious and tribal and that the Daughters of Sora Kell are merely smooth political operators they are seen as a threat because anything which acts in its own interests can be a threat. So and and so forth.

1)27 Point Buy (16 highest pre-race stats): Level 1
2)Alternate Racial Options allowed
3)Multiclassing Strongly discouraged
4) Race Fluff via Eberron 3.5 ECS: If you don't have this don't worry i can get you the info you need
5)Class fluff is however you want to do it with one exception: Monk's can't actually be monks. They can be physical adepts though. I am on the fence about warlocks. If you make one i will be less inclined to pick your character due to potential plot reasons.
6)Rangers are heavily discouraged: Re-fluff a fighter or a Bard. This is only because rangers are kind of bad. I won't stop you though
7)You may not be an artificer, dragonmarked, changling, khalistar, or dragonborn. This is partially for plot reasons. Partially for lack of rule reasons and partially because dragonborn do not exist in 3.5 ECS.
8)Shifters and Warforged, Goblin, and Hobgoblin are OK*
9)Backgrounds are malleable. Feel free to invent new ones or riff off old ones.
10)Please do not tie yourself to an organization. Contacts are fine, former ties are fine. Current ties can be problematic.

I haven't decided how to handle shifter PC's. I am thinking that they can choose three of Str,Dex,Con (max +2) and then choose a shift ability more or less directly out of the 3.5 ECS, modified as necessary for 5e. It doesn't look like that should be too hard.

Similarly I am not sure how to handle warforged PC's but I am thinking that they choose two of Str, Dex, Con, Int(max +1) and one feat. When they create their character they may choose an armor type to wear permanently(but do not gain proficiency in that armor automatically). Doesn't sleep, and is immune to some poisons/gasses/breathing

I am thinking of statting Goblin's like Half-lings and Hobgoblin's like Half-Orcs. Which should work well enough

Proficiency Bonuses are +2 and do not change. When you would otherwise gain +1 Proficiency you will instead gain +1 everything.
Advantage is +2/-2. Flanking confers advantage(for now). Cover confers disadvantage
There will be escalation die
Shields are +1 AC. Shields are otherwise way too strong
Sharpshooter/Spell Sniper no longer has any effect on cover
The alert initiative bonus is now +3
The dual wielder feat only allows the primary weapon to not be light.
You may not take the Elemental Adept feat
There will be no mounted combat: son don't take it
Crossbow Expert does not negate disadvantage from adjacency
Observant's bonus to passive perception is now +2
Archery Combat Style is disallowed.
Ally defensive abilities which require a shield no longer require a shield.