Eberron: Inspired Mechanics (MY PLAYERS STAY OUT)

[shadow_archmagi]

So, as I understand it, when a Quori possesses an empty vessel, the resulting Inspired is in all ways identical to the original Vessel, except for these things:

1. The Quori's skill ranks are added to the Vessel
2. The Vessel gains the use of all PLA and SLAs of the Quori
3. The Vessel's mental stats change to match the Quori's if the Quori's are higher.
4. Vessel requires only half sleep
5. Vessel gains power to reroll saves vs mind-affecting.


This seems unsatisfactory to me- I'd like for the Quori to have a bigger impact. As it is, the difference between an ordinary mook and an Inspired is that the Inspired has some crummy 1/day abilities. Would it be unseemly to give a Quori some class levels that it can stack onto whatever the host has? (Actually, Gestalt would probably make more sense than stacking)

My players are level 10 and climbing, so it'd be a lot more believable for there to be a handful of powerful Quori that keep cropping up in new bodies than that Riedra has dozens of extremely high level agents to throw away on them.

[avr]

Well, the big things are 1/ Quori mental stats can be very high, and 2/ killing the vessel doesn't harm the Quori at all. It can wander off, possess another vessel and pass on the word of where you are and what powers you have. Possibly to non-inspired/vessel agents, Riedra isn't limited to using empty vessels and the Quori.

That said, if you're willing to do the math gestalt levels do make a certain amount of sense.

[Roguenewb]

A Quori BBEG, done well, is very, very memorable. It becomes impossible to suppress information by killing the bad guy before he can report. A random stranger who fails a couple will saves (They don't *have* to be Empty Vessels to be possessed) is suddenly that monster ***** whose been fighting them for 4 levels.

It can get terrifying.

[hiryuu]

A Quori BBEG, done well, is very, very memorable. It becomes impossible to suppress information by killing the bad guy before he can report. A random stranger who fails a couple will saves (They don't *have* to be Empty Vessels to be possessed) is suddenly that monster ***** whose been fighting them for 4 levels.

It can get terrifying.

The real scary part about the Quori as villains is just like illithids: if they're involved, you will probably never encounter them except by chance, especially if those Quori are pressing on their real powers: Connections. The run an entire country, one they conquered without ever firing a shot. They are a foreign country in Eberron, they could probably press on resources and have traveling papers buried in bureaucracy. They could use their Deneith connections to deny PCs basic services. They might even be able to get real old school and have the PCs outlawed. Why send your own bounty hunters out when everyone else will do it for you?

If they're really a thorn in the side of the Quori, the PCs literally belong to them for eight hours of every day. Those last two adventures you went on? Yeah. Actually, all in your head, that was a dream the Quori were using to gather information on how you operate.

A proper Quori campaign runs like a Tarsem Singh movie.

That said. there's some new Quori in Secrets of Sarlona that have a smattering of useful abilities. the Hashalaq in particular being pretty nasty, seeing as how pretty much everything it does slowly sucks Wisdom by a little bit every day.

[shadow_archmagi]

I thought the whole reason for Inspired was that they were the only ones the Quori could possess involuntarily?

And while, again, thematically, it's really neat that they can keep coming back, when your villain continually manifests as low level characters, it makes it hard to have a proper stand-up fight with him.

EDIT: Yeah, I doublechecked. If it isn't Inspired, they can't possess a creature that isn't both willing and charismatic.

[Madcrafter]

What hiryuu said. Just because the Quori are the bad guys, doesn't mean you will ever encounter them. One of the great things about Eberron is that you can spend the majority of a campaign fighting any number of antagonistic organizations, and none of them are the actual villains. This is especially true of the Quori, who are more secretive and manipulative than a lot of the "lower level" power groups (like the Houses or Blood of Vol for example), more comparable to the DD, or Chamber. Just mind seed away a few key figures, and you're set to go.

The reason for Chosen is that they can be possessed even if their charisma is not high enough or if they are the wrong alignment. Normal people have to have Charisma at least as high as the Quori's to be valid targets.

As for the Inspired NPCs themselves, even if most are not high level, they are very very smart and charming (+4 profane Cha!), and know everything about the people (PCs) they are fighting (whether from nightmare evaluations of combat skill and tactics or just simple observation/previous encounters). Even if they are only 3rd level experts, if you play them to their full intelligence, you can get your players to fear them (or rather, the spirit). Also, Nightmare, every night. 'Nuff said.

Also, they never ever die (think about that from your player's perspective). The best your PCs can hope for is to trap one, and that requires a fair bit of strategizing (you have to out think the chessmaster). If your PCs do manage to dream their way to the Quori in Dal Quor (or use the expensive and dangerous spell in SoS) and actually kill it 1) A new one just spawns, and 2) they better be prepared for the storm that follows, because that is something the other Quori will take very seriously.

For the Quori in SoS if you don't have it, they can be found here (http://www.rosered.org/books/ddbooks/dragon%20and%20dungeon%20magazine/Living%20Nightmares,%20Dream%20Creatures%20Of%20Da l%20Quor%20(From%20Dragon%20Magazine%20%23324).pdf )as well.

[Salanmander]

Another thing to emphasize is that the inspired are /people/ who have been taken over. That makes it not "oh, another low-level mook carrying the bad guy" but "Bugger! Another civilian casualty! How can we stop this guy from taunting us like this?"

It wouldn't be so much an overt threat as creepy and difficult to deal with using conventional means.