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View Full Version : [Eberron] What is the market value of dragonshards?



Goober4473
2011-04-26, 04:25 PM
I assume they're like gems, in that a 500 gp syberis shard is worth 500 gp, but how big is such a shard? If you had a shard the size of your fist, would it be worth 500 gp? 50? 80,000? I have no idea.

AslanCross
2011-04-26, 04:43 PM
According to Magic of Eberron:

Eberron Shards:
Smallest: 1d8 GP
Greater Eberron Shards: 4d4x10 GP

Siberys Shards:
Most small shards: 4d4x25 GP, average of 250
10 percent of shards are larger and have more complex markings: 4d4x200 GP (2000 GP average)
1 percent of Siberys shards is a greater shard. These come at 2d4x1000 GP.

Khyber Shards:
These are the most expensive. The smallest Khyber shards cost 4d4x75 GP (average 750)
Greater Khyber shards go up to 4d4x500 (average 5000 GP) each.

It says nothing about the size.
I'd think the smallest of shards are about the size of your thumb. The mid-range ones I'd say are about as large as a 250ml can of Red Bull:
http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Red_Bull_Drink_250ml.jpg

The largest ones should start about the size of a can of spray paint or however large the DM wants them. In Dragons of Eberron, Tiamat is said to be imprisoned in a huge, and I mean ENORMOUS Khyber dragonshard.

askandarion
2011-04-27, 12:14 PM
Generally, dragonshards are about the size of gemstones, with larger ones usually being no larger than a fist (ECS, 127). Eberron shards are in geodes typically no larger than a foot across, but at least one 4 feet in diameter has been found (Magic of Eberron, 15), so maybe 3-4 feet for the rarest and most expensive Eberron shards? Siberys shards aren't given a size estimate in Magic of Eberron at all, only the level of complexity of the marks within them. Khyber shards can take anywhere from an hour to a week to carefully dig out from the underground caverns, and the largest ones are used in vehicles typically (MoE, 18)- so Siberys or Khyber shards again could range from a gemstone to maybe 4-5 feet?

It's up to the DM, in the end, as it seems dragonshards have to be processed/cut/refined/etc. anyway for usage, so the pricing for dragonshards is a bit more important than size. Here's a few links for more info in general, though:

http://bossythecow.com/hdwt/2010/08/question-of-the-week-dragonshards-what-are-they-good-for/
Baker discusses dragonshards a bit- including the refinement aspect.

http://eberronunlimited.wikidot.com/dragonshard
Summary of dragonshard information, all of which I think is official material.

Prime32
2011-04-27, 12:32 PM
The largest ones should start about the size of a can of spray paint or however large the DM wants them. In Dragons of Eberron, Tiamat is said to be imprisoned in a huge, and I mean ENORMOUS Khyber dragonshard.The videogame Dragonshard also has a giant Siberys shard known as "The Heart of Siberys" (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/25279817/What_is_the_Heart_of_Siberys). IIRC it had something to do with the creation of the Silver Flame.

Undercroft
2011-04-27, 01:09 PM
Well the ones used for binding elementals to armour/weapons are likely to be small in size. And as others have stated above there are some damn huge ones.

The way I work them is that they've also got "purity" (for lack of a better word). Sort of like how quartz crystals come in cloudy and uncloudy variants, or how diamonds have different carrots (sp?). This lets us get away with binding elementals into puny little shards, or have footlong shards to act as spellbooks.