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View Full Version : 3.5 City of Stormreach?



Egiam
2010-01-30, 12:53 AM
I am running a 3.5 game set in Xen'drik (Eberron), and have found something that I did not originally expect. The players are spending most of their time in Stormreach, which leads me to thinking that I should spend the money on the guide to the city. My question is: is it worth it? I realize that I can come up with most of this stuff myself, but it would be really cool if could have my story match with Keith Bakers imagined world. Also, I could benefit with a little more detail.

Specific examples:
-I realize that you can't really map Xen'drik, but could I get a vague sense of scale on the map of Stormreach? (rhetorical)

-Does the book tell you, like the symbol of the Stormreach Guard? (I actually would like to know this)

-Does it detail existing locales, such as... say... the Red Ring? (My characters have developed an interest in this place, but I have very little to work with...

Keld Denar
2010-01-30, 01:11 AM
I had the book, broused through it, and then exchanged it at B&N for Tome of Battle since I wasn't planning on playing much Eberron. I remember it being really detailed though, with places like inns and shops and stuff, and organizations like the watch and various guilds and stufffs. Its pretty decent, and comes with some free adventure hooks too.

Iku Rex
2010-01-30, 02:01 AM
You may want to have a look at the art (http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4art/20080222a), maps (http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4map/20080224a), and Amazon reviews (http://www.amazon.com/Stormreach-Dungeons-Dragons-Roleplaying-Supplement/dp/0786948035/).

mohdri
2010-01-30, 02:08 AM
Like Sharn, City of Towers, it details the city by districts and wards. Personalities, key locations, power groups and more are detailed about each area. Towards the end of the book, there are actual senarios (much like the Secrets of Xen'Drik book), including one that is specifically about the Red Ring (that actually goes for about 4 full pages).

Groups that PC's can join or work against, the power structure of the Storm Lords, the underworld (as in crime, not Khyber) and alot more are fleshed out to make it fairly easy to run a game for quite some time (although a level 1 to 20 campaign might not work) just like with Sharn.

Having a couple of PC's in my game that are from there, I'm looking foward to using this book in ernest in a few levels.

Darrin
2010-01-30, 02:45 PM
I was looking through this book a few days ago. As far as the details on people, places, and adventure hooks, it looks very thorough.

Maps: The link above shows all of the maps in the book. Nothing more detailed on the surrounding countryside, the continent, or where it fits into the whole geographic/political scheme of things... I don't play Eberron, so I'm not all that familiar with the background.

Stormreach Guard: no symbol that I can find, but it does give a lot of detail on the Guard. Looks like they're mostly hired thugs under the control of the Storm Lords, and the "public face" of law enforcement. The behind-the-scenes law enforcement is handled by the Iron Watch.

Red Ring: Yes, looks like quite a bit of detail... some scenario ideas, various specialty matches, complications, and some sample gladiators.

Some other hidden gems I stumbled across... some feats and ACFs I wasn't aware of:

Criminal Background: adds Bluff, Open Lock, and Sleight of Hand as class
skills, but can only be taken at 1st level. I'm not quite sure how this
might come in handy or what PrCs it could help you qualify for, but any
feat that adds class skills is probably useful somewhere.

Hardened Criminal: requires Iron Will, but Iron Will is such a common
prerequisite for several PrCs (ok, mostly Incantatrix), this feat seems
almost like an apology for having to take such a mediocre feat. There's
also the Otyugh Hole to pick up Iron Will for 3000 GP. It makes you
immune to Intimidate, but I've yet to run into a situation where making
an attack roll isn't completely superior to an Intimidate check (and
yes, I know there's an exception if you've got an Imperious
Command/Demoralize build). That's not the best part, though. When you
take this feat, you also pick one of your skills and can now take 10 on
any checks with it even under conditions when taking 10 would be
impossible. So, yeah, not only can you now get a special rogue ability
at first level, but three words: USE MAGIC DEVICE.

Master Pickpocket: The third feat offers up some love for a skill that
doesn't get a lot of attention, Sleight of Hand. First, it allows you to
steal an object from an opponent in combat as a standard action, which I
think is a bit redundant since you could do that without the feat.
Second, you get a +4 bous on Sleight of Hand checks when grappling. And
third, when you make a Sleight of Hand check as a free action, you take
a -10 penalty rather than a -20 penalty. (This feat is instrumental for a Sleight of Hand build I'm working on that can move anywhere in the world as a free action.)

Wand Bonding: Only available to Warforged that can cast arcane spells or
infusions spontaneously, but by picking up a wand, allows you to expend
one of your spell slots to cast the spell in the wand without expending
any of the wand's charges. By carrying a bunch of wands, this would
allow a Warforged sorcerer to get around his rather limited number of
known spells, similar to Knowstones. A 1st level Warforged sorcerer can pick up this feat by trading his familiar for it.

There were also two ACFs for Warforged monks: Harmonious Form (replaces
purity of body, meditate 8 hours to recover twice your character level
in HPs) and Shifting Steel (replaces Diamond Body, allows your unarmed
strike to do slashing or piercing damage, similar to Versatile Unarmed
Strike but doesn't use a swift action).