The Forgery skill on Eberron

[NilsRichter]

I am new to playing on Eberron. In particular, it is the first gaming world I play in that has modern (as in "not-medieval") concepts like "Passports" in it and would like to hear how you handle this in your Eberron (or steampunk) game.

How does the existence of the Notary Guild change the functions of the Forgery skill?

How tight is the grip that House Sivis has on the verification of documents?

Does this just mean that a "Wand of Arcane Marks" becomes part of the forger's toolkit?


I am especially interested in the perspective of low-level characters and 'common folk':

What kind of papers does a Level-1-Adventurer have?

Can a poor shifter con artist in Sharn have multiple sets of papers?

What can a non-magical rogue with the Forgery Skill reasonably do?

[JoshuaZ]

I am new to playing on Eberron. In particular, it is the first gaming world I play in that has modern (as in "not-medieval") concepts like "Passports" in it and would like to hear how you handle this in your Eberron (or steampunk) game.

Note that variants passports existed a very long time ago, and documents that functioned like modern passports existed in the late medieval period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport#History)



How tight is the grip that House Sivis has on the verification of documents?

The setting specific material isn't the clear on this unfortunately, so this may be campaign and location dependent. In a major city Sivis may have more of a presence, whereas in some rural or obscure area, the dragonmarked house will have less influence.



Does this just mean that a "Wand of Arcane Marks" becomes part of the forger's toolkit?

I would think so.



What kind of papers does a Level-1-Adventurer have?

Well, I think one of the Eberron books specifically talks about needing papers to have permission to explore ruins or the like. But beyond that it would probably vary based on which country they were from and what their background was. For example, if one is a veteran of the Last War, one likely will have discharge papers of some form.



Can a poor shifter con artist in Sharn have multiple sets of papers?

I would strongly suspect so. That would seem like a natural thing. But the exact cost might depend on how well forged they are and other similar issues. So talk to your DM.

[T.G. Oskar]

Well...if I remember my Eberron correctly, and I should as it's the setting I use...

Forging documents should be treated as usual in all occasions except when they're done by a Sivis notary. Because Sivis notaries use arcane mark, and each arcane mark is unique; furthermore, the paper they use is very specific, so it's hard to forge. One of the Eberron supplements (not sure if Magic of Eberron or Dragonshards or Player's Guide to Eberron) has those specific kinds of documents, which allow improved forging.

It's mostly DM's decision, but the general idea is that the existence of house Sivis makes forgery difficult, because its safety measures are harder to feign and thus easier to recognize. A forger has to use arcane mark in a VERY specific way to duplicate a specific mark, and then follow up with the forgery, or use a pre-rendered Sivis document and fill with what you need (both of which are punishable by Galifar law, just in case).