Running the Eberron-Forgotten Forge Adventures (Chri, Leo, Schafi stay out)

[Feint's End]

As I've mentioned in some posts already I'm going to start my first (hurray) Eberroncampaign in a few months. The campaign is based on the published Forgotten Forge Adventure chain (going up to Level 7is to 8is) to give me and my players a feeling for the world and the races without overwhelming me with things I have to learn about Eberron before starting to plan.

The group will consist of two players (both quite experienced) and one NPC for the beginning and eventually a 3rd player will join after some time.

Constellation is gonna be something like this:
-player one: Half-Daekyr Totemist (going straight 20) with a Totemist fix (1d10 hp instead of 1d8 and full bab) and homebrew symbionts to make an effective Natural Weapon Fighter. He has around 27 hp at level one so I'm not really worried about him dying accidentally.

-player two: I don't know what class or race he is playing (asked him though and I hope I get my answer soon) but I think something along the t3 lines ... the only time I've seen him play a fullcaster was a semioptimized cleric.

-NPC: Now here is where I could need your help. I need a NPC who can take some weight of their shoulders (since it's after all a 4 man campaign) BUT I have some points I'd like to keep:
>has to fit into the campaignworld as good as possible (thought about Warforged or Shifter because they are really unique and come with great flavour)
>should not entirely "support" their class choices ... meaning if they don't pick a skillmonkey than I don't have to make a skillmonkey for them.
>shouldn't take the spotlight from them (this one is mandatory) ... so shouldn't take too much room in combat
I know it's quite a lot but it would be a big help for me if you could give me some suggestions.
I already thought about a Warforged Dungeoncrasher going Juggernaut or a Shifter going mainly on Shifting feats with Cleric and into Moonspeaker later

As for allowed materials and rules: Any material you can find including homebrew if I read through it first and approve it, fractional bab but no saves, no multiclassing penalty, la buyoff is allowed, 1 flaw and 2 traits allowed (+1 flaw if you absolutely need a feat for flavour and NOT powergaming reasons), 5d6b3 stats, no strict WPL (I want to give them the opportunity to get more through smart decisions or less if they mess up)

Any opinion/experience about the NPC and the adventures is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance guys :smallsmile:

edit: I don't really dare to hope for it but if anybody of you feels like creating a great character I'm happy to use him/her and tell said person how he/she does. Fell free to use everything that comes into your mind (I don't like too much cheese though :smallwink: especially on t2-t1)

[Feint's End]

self bump :smallfrown:

[Callin]

Would you prefer a Front Liner? Something a bit more on the stealth side that they can just use for flanks and a bit of skillmonkey? Magic User/Buffer/AOE Blaster?

I dont know the module you are running but im about to look it up.


Edit so I dont have a double post

Wow so I just went and read the whole thing.. Short and Sweet. It honestly does not seem that hard of a module. If you honestly think they are going to have problems then let the Gestalt and ditch the idea of a NPC to make life easier on you.

[Kuulvheysoon]

...Totemist really doesn't need a fix - it's a pretty solid T3 as it is.

Something fun could be an Eldritch Disciple for the NPC.

[Feint's End]

Would you prefer a Front Liner? Something a bit more on the stealth side that they can just use for flanks and a bit of skillmonkey? Magic User/Buffer/AOE Blaster?

I dont know the module you are running but im about to look it up.


Edit so I dont have a double post

Wow so I just went and read the whole thing.. Short and Sweet. It honestly does not seem that hard of a module. If you honestly think they are going to have problems then let the Gestalt and ditch the idea of a NPC to make life easier on you.

As for classes I'm entirely open to suggestions as long as the final Character has great Eberron flavour (As I said Warforged or Shifter would be my pick when it came to race but any race is ok with a good backstory). If I had to bet on the second players class then I'd probably bet on something rogueish/skillmonkey ...

Probably a magic use would be best ... a solid t2 probably? So should it be necessary he can help them out but not take too much space in fight.

@edit: have you looked up all the adventures? (there are 3 adventures which follow up the Lost Forge from ECS) .... True while it isn't an overwhelmingly hard Adventure I'd like to have some security while running it. As for Gestalt I'm not really a big fan of it ... or at least I'd like to avoid it for this campaign.


...Totemist really doesn't need a fix - it's a pretty solid T3 as it is.

Something fun could be an Eldritch Disciple for the NPC.

I agree on the solid T3 part but I know how this player (my brother) thinks and after I took a look at the Incarnum Handbook and looking through the class I decided that this small boost to power won't make the Totemist overpowered instead just give him a slightly higher powerlevel .... also he is playing straight 20

I've never played an Eldritch Disciple. Is it a good group NPC without taking too much spotlight? I think a Warforged Eldritch Disciple could make for a great character. It's around t3 I suppose?

Thanks so far for the suggestions. Any input is appreciated!

edit: what do you guys think of a Warforged Dragonfire Disciple? Great Support, decent damage and can take of lots of weight from the shoulders of my group (free identify, detect magic etc) without overshadowing them

[Regitnui]

I've run a Warforged fighter with Adamantium Plating before. AC 20 at level one.:smalleek: Running through that chain of adventures, very little touched him.

Why not make this NPC an Adept or Magewright? They're NPC classes, so he'll always be a little less powerful than the PCs.

[Amnestic]

edit: what do you guys think of a Warforged Dragonfire Disciple? Great Support, decent damage and can take of lots of weight from the shoulders of my group (free identify, detect magic etc) without overshadowing them

I assume by Dragonfire Disciple you mean Dragonfire Adept. They're a ~Tier 4 support class; give them the Entangling Exhalation feat (Races of the Dragon) and from level 1 onwards they're basically set. With their high Con focus and d8 HD, they're not really at any risk of dying either.

Unless you go into Metabreath Feats (which requires a bit of trickery with the standard DFA) then it's pretty unlikely you'll be overshadowing anyone with it. He'll do minimal damage with Entangling Exhalation and his other debuffs but leave them weakened so that the players can mop it up in style.

[Feint's End]

I've run a Warforged fighter with Adamantium Plating before. AC 20 at level one.:smalleek: Running through that chain of adventures, very little touched him.

Why not make this NPC an Adept or Magewright? They're NPC classes, so he'll always be a little less powerful than the PCs.

Hmm yeah that and the point that a Fighter wouldn't be really great as support scared me away from picking the Dungeoncrasher option.

Well the point about those NPC classes is they are not especially good. I know I ask for a lot but I'd like to have an effective NPC who can support the others without taking the spotlight from them and having great flavour at the same time.

As for my thoughts so far: The cleric/moonspeaker would still be an idea, bard going into virtuoso and sublime chord?, like mentioned warforged dragonfire disciple could be great too (building him support themed)

Aside from the class it's really important for me to make a great fluff so that the players will learn to love the character and see him as a valuable member. For example a Warforged character with a cool development over the campagin and next campaign the same Warforged is gonna be their mentor. So I'd like to find a way to give the character an awesome personality and that should be reflected in the classes too ... not just a cheap NPC if you know what I mean.

Thanks though for your words. Still haven't found the solution for my problem though :/.

[Feint's End]

I assume by Dragonfire Disciple you mean Dragonfire Adept. They're a ~Tier 4 support class; give them the Entangling Exhalation feat (Races of the Dragon) and from level 1 onwards they're basically set. With their high Con focus and d8 HD, they're not really at any risk of dying either.

Unless you go into Metabreath Feats (which requires a bit of trickery with the standard DFA) then it's pretty unlikely you'll be overshadowing anyone with it. He'll do minimal damage with Entangling Exhalation and his other debuffs but leave them weakened so that the players can mop it up in style.

Ops yeah ofc I meant Dragonfire Adept.
Those were my thoughts too. Something along the lines of Entangling Exhalation + Power Surge (to qualify) ... then add Draconic Aura's later on. Since I also don't think they gonna have somebody with a lot of knowledge (well the Totemist obviously hasn't) I thought about taking Draconic Knowledge.

Still not sure though. A bard might be better. Especially because he can heal without using UMD.

[Feint's End]

Ok some updates on the whole pack. Still not sure about the NPC and Characters changed (and I know Character of the secon player now)

So player number one goes with 5lvl Druid and 1 level sorceror into Arcane Hierophant. Using alternate sourcespell to get around the prequs (oked by me).

Player number two is going straight rogue (or lets say he doesn't really have any plans) with some dips into Swordsage later on.

Still open for class suggestions! Maybe some sort of frontliner would be good to help them through the first levels (though the druid player has a bet so that shouldn't be the problem)

[Waker]

Warforged Crusader/Warforged Juggernaut could fill in for a front-line fighter, provide healing with Devoted Spirit and a little bit of group buffs with White Raven. Since Devoted Spirit isn't magical healing, it wouldn't interfere with his healing immunity from being a Juggernaut. The character could be quite robotic and thus wouldn't take a huge spotlight roleplaying wise if you want, while in battle he would be more of a defensive combatant.

[Ignominia]

If you want something to aid the party with Eberron flavour... why not Artificer?

You get some spell (infusion) casting, decent skill selection (including UMD), and of course you could be crafting magic items for the party for cheap!

[Feint's End]

Warforged Crusader/Warforged Juggernaut could fill in for a front-line fighter, provide healing with Devoted Spirit and a little bit of group buffs with White Raven. Since Devoted Spirit isn't magical healing, it wouldn't interfere with his healing immunity from being a Juggernaut. The character could be quite robotic and thus wouldn't take a huge spotlight roleplaying wise if you want, while in battle he would be more of a defensive combatant.

Just got the message that the third player joining later is going for Warforged Warblade so it would be contraproductive ... otherwise Crusader would have been my bet too. It's kinda problematic now to find a combatant who doesn't take up the role the Warblade is filling and still being useful ... I though about Bard something something, but not sure on how happy I am with that.


If you want something to aid the party with Eberron flavour... why not Artificer?

You get some spell (infusion) casting, decent skill selection (including UMD), and of course you could be crafting magic items for the party for cheap!
That actually is a damn good idea but sadly I am terrible at building Artificers (never really done one) ... I read through the Artificer handbook once and I think the overall class takes to much effort for me while I'm dming (i mean it's even a lot for players)

Thanks for the suggestions though. I'm also looking into Riedrans (Kalashtar) and psionic or shifters now since we got one warforged in the group (though 2 could be even better and make for some great roleplaying)

edit: what about a supportfocused Crusader (maybe going juggernaut later) who focuses on aooe and wallbuilding? Not gonna take up the role of the the warblade because I'm pretty sure he is gonna focus on doing damage.

[Waker]

So the party is a Druid/ A.Hierophant, Rogue/Swordsage and Warblade huh?
Well, if you want someone who can tank you could go Lawful Incarnate. They can get respectable AC and immunities and not step on anyone elses toes. A Bard could also be a welcome addition to the team, especially if you focus more on buffing.