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Machiavellian
2010-08-04, 09:18 PM
I plan on giving my DM the night off (and possibly longer. He's overworked) and run an Elder Evils campaign (Thanks to all who told me NOT to summon Aspects of Elder Evils). I considered Eberron as the setting, though I've only DMed a Cthulhu game one time.

I have no clue where to start, since I have all of the books. Considering Sertrous as the BBEG, with Yuan-Ti as the major connon fodder, with the party having to travel to Xen'Drik to in the end kill Sertrous and save Eberron from going to hell.

Any tips for a First Time 3.5 DM?

grarrrg
2010-08-04, 09:37 PM
The Darkness <3.5>

ATTACK IT!

Sorry, had to.

Anyway, if it's just the one session, I say keep it lighthearted, give everyone a 'break' of sorts.
Of course, if your usual DM is already doing lighthearted, then I say pull out the Tomb of Horrors *thunder crash, scary echoes*

AslanCross
2010-08-04, 09:44 PM
If it's not going to be a long-term thing, I'd advise against going Elder Evils. You're going to end up close to epic levels, so you might run into a lot of broken characters.

What do your players expect? I always start with expectations--both my own and the players'.

Machiavellian
2010-08-04, 10:21 PM
The group expects a campaign that is light hearted, hence I'm going Tomb of Horrors-esq theme. It's not gonna be a one-shot. In fact, I'm starting the party at 8th and moving up from there.

I'm also gonna say this ahead of time: Races and Classes will be Different

Races:
Inspired (Instead of Human)
Elan (Instead of Half-Elf)
Orc (Instead of Half-Orc)
Daelkyr Half-Blood (Instead of Warforged)
Gnome
Dwarf
Elf
Halfling
Shifter
Changeling
Edit: Kalashtar

Classes:
Psion (Called "Psychics")
Psi Warrior
Soulknife
Ardent
Wizard
Sorcerer
Cleric
Favored Soul
Gladiator (KoK)
Brigand (KoK)
Knight
Marshal
Swashbuckler
Rogue
Bard
Barbarian
Druid
Paladin (All 4 versions)
Artificer

I know, Fighter, Human, and Warforged were cut (most optimizers aren't sad about no Halfies). I cut fighter because it was too generic. Humans are likewise too generic. And to avoid an All Warforged Party, warforged recieved a ban-hammer.


I plan to take them up to 17-18 and make the Elder Evil's arrival inevitable (I want the players to actually fight him)

AslanCross
2010-08-04, 11:35 PM
Why are you using Inspired instead of Kalashtar?

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 12:39 PM
Why are you using Inspired instead of Kalashtar?

Whoops! Forgot to add them! My bad!

will fix that.

reptilecobra13
2010-08-05, 12:41 PM
"I believe in a thing called love!"

Keld Denar
2010-08-05, 12:48 PM
I know, Fighter, Human, and Warforged were cut (most optimizers aren't sad about no Halfies). I cut fighter because it was too generic. Humans are likewise too generic. And to avoid an All Warforged Party, warforged recieved a ban-hammer.

This makes no sense. Why limit players? That just seems rather arbitrary, especially banning Fighter. It might be very generic, but 2-6 levels of it is often vital for various builds due to heavy feat taxes. And what is the problem with an all 'forged party? If the players want to run the Metal Militia as a running gag, why prohibit them arbitrarily?

I understand restricting things for power-level reasons, I understand restricting things for setting appropriateness, but I've always hated arbitrary bannings with no reasoning behind them other than "eh, I don't like it".

Thinker
2010-08-05, 12:58 PM
This makes no sense. Why limit players? That just seems rather arbitrary, especially banning Fighter. It might be very generic, but 2-6 levels of it is often vital for various builds due to heavy feat taxes. And what is the problem with an all 'forged party? If the players want to run the Metal Militia as a running gag, why prohibit them arbitrarily?

I understand restricting things for power-level reasons, I understand restricting things for setting appropriateness, but I've always hated arbitrary bannings with no reasoning behind them other than "eh, I don't like it".

*bans Keld Denar*
Reason: Don't care for it. Too logicy.

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 01:08 PM
Okay, there's another reason (strictly story-based):

The campaign takes place immediately following the Last War, so Warforged are still "captive." Humans are out because they are too busy rebuilding the nations, and the Halfie races don't exist yet in enough mass to be a Player Race.

I cut fighter because its too generic. I want my players to test-run new classes and play outside of their comfort zone. If a player runs fighter all of the time, I want him to become more specific in his fighter. Remember, my party RARELY optimizes, so cherry dipping doesn't happen too often (In fact, two players, me being one of them, optimize, and by doing this, I make the other player have to REALLY work for his optimization).

Urpriest
2010-08-05, 01:15 PM
Okay, there's another reason (strictly story-based):

The campaign takes place immediately following the Last War, so Warforged are still "captive." Humans are out because they are too busy rebuilding the nations, and the Halfie races don't exist yet in enough mass to be a Player Race.

I cut fighter because its too generic. I want my players to test-run new classes and play outside of their comfort zone. If a player runs fighter all of the time, I want him to become more specific in his fighter. Remember, my party RARELY optimizes, so cherry dipping doesn't happen too often (In fact, two players, me being one of them, optimize, and by doing this, I make the other player have to REALLY work for his optimization).

Half-Elves in Eberron breed true and have done so for millennia before the Last War, and Half-Orcs had a significant population long before the Last War. Also, both have their own Dragonmarks, as do Humans, making them a little awkward to remove in Eberron (though it's not like Dragonmarks are something the party actually needs).

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 01:22 PM
Half-Elves in Eberron breed true and have done so for millennia before the Last War, and Half-Orcs had a significant population long before the Last War. Also, both have their own Dragonmarks, as do Humans, making them a little awkward to remove in Eberron (though it's not like Dragonmarks are something the party actually needs).

Dragonmarks are NPC only, unless a player can give me a GREAT reason to allow it. And the Halfies are NPC races, since in this world, they were nearly wiped out by the opposing side, until the Warforged were made.

Mystic Muse
2010-08-05, 01:27 PM
ATTACK IT!


The darkness has total concealment.

ghost_warlock
2010-08-05, 02:54 PM
In the last Eberron game I played in, my character was a native of Xen'Drik who was trying to infiltrate Khorvaire to rob the locals of their artifacts (e.g., kidnap a warforged, steal an airship/continual light globes, etc.).

That was a lot of fun. :smalltongue:

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 05:18 PM
In the last Eberron game I played in, my character was a native of Xen'Drik who was trying to infiltrate Khorvaire to rob the locals of their artifacts (e.g., kidnap a warforged, steal an airship/continual light globes, etc.).

That was a lot of fun. :smalltongue:

The party has 1 CE and the rest good and neutral

KillianHawkeye
2010-08-05, 05:32 PM
The darkness has total concealment.

Correction: The darkness IS total concealment!

:smallwink::smallamused:

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 05:37 PM
Okay, I have the primary villain race as Yuan-Ti, supplimented by "The Betrayers," who are races who turned from their people to serve the Elder Evil.

I actually have 2 ways that the Avatar can be summoned:

1. The Amulet of the Viper is taken to the High Temple in Xen'drik

2. The PCs obtain the Amulet, but all of their killing has unwittingly enacted the Ritual of the Adder, which at the High Temple in Xen'Drik, the Avatar arrives.

is this a good way to make the players have to fight him?

Thurbane
2010-08-05, 09:23 PM
Even though it's designed for FR, Serpent Kingdoms has a lot of great fluff & crunch for Yuan-ti & related creatures.

Also, look at ToM and the vestige that's associated with Yuan-ti (name escapes me for the moment)...maybe a Yuan-ti halfblood Binder/KotSS as a MBEG?

Machiavellian
2010-08-05, 09:26 PM
Even though it's designed for FR, Serpent Kingdoms has a lot of great fluff & crunch for Yuan-ti & related creatures.

Also, look at ToM and the vestige that's associated with Yuan-ti (name escapes me for the moment)...maybe a Yuan-ti halfblood Binder/KotSS as a MBEG?

Planned to use Serpent Kingdoms for yuan-ti critters.

as for tome of magic, my players would accuse me of cheating