[PF] Eberron and Artificers

[Spore]

Greetings,

I will perhaps sooner rather than later start an Eberron campaign with my groups (utilizing the pathfinder system and the Eberron campaign setting). I have several questions:

a) Does Eberron have a free SRD or do I have to purchase any additional materials besides the CS?

b) How would you pathfinderize the "craft pool" of the artificers? You no longer need XP to craft something, maybe giving out the crafting pool as an equivalent of gold? This together with the rules from Ultimate Campaign that for every Craft feat you get 25% of your gear as crafted yourself and the Eberron world could be seriously gamebreaking. Basically the artificer would have then WBL + extra gold and everything available for half the price.

c) Is there anything short to familiarize my players with Eberron? One has played Eberron, another one has heard of some figures like the Lord of the Blades, but the others are unfamiliar with the world altogether. I would start in Sharn as it is easy to travel to everywhere from there out. I know the city best (from own adventures and the Dreaming Dark series) and Sharn shows small bits of every society in Khorvaire as well as the influence of Dragonmarked houses. The first travel would lead them into Thrane to show them that even in a magepunk world there is theocracy and I will use the Silver Flame to show that things are not always good OR evil in the world. (I will make it a point to show them the Church isn't made up completely from lunatics and fanatics).

d) Can you recommend some short low level adventures to draw inspiration from? I dislike the general feel to pre-written adventures but I like the influx of ideas and a "red line" for my adventure if you will.

e) Partly asked in c, but is there a short summarization of gods and magic in Eberron since I have to explain the Khyber, Siberys and Eberron tale as well as the general pantheon and how magic and dragon marks work.

f) Do you even think it is good to use Eberron when we have two homebrew systems that people know better just because I want it to be something different?

[stack]

Much work has been done here (http://pf-eberron.wikidot.com/), haven't read it all but it seems to be used regularly for PF Eberron games.

[Spore]

This reminds me: I will have a hard time bringing Kalash'tar and psionic enemies without any psionic classes in the main franchise of Paizo...

[stack]

Dreamscarred Press's psionics material is both excellent and available on the pfsrd. Check it out. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed)

[Prime32]

e) Partly asked in c, but is there a short summarization of gods and magic in Eberron since I have to explain the Khyber, Siberys and Eberron tale as well as the general pantheon and how magic and dragon marks work.Khyber, Siberys and Eberron are like the Greek Titans, or possibly the figures before them. Something might be named after them for a sense of grandeur, but they're not directly important. In particular, most Khyber cultists are really worshipping things from Xoriat that got stuck down there.

Most divine magic in Eberron is faith-based rather than being actually granted by gods, who are heavily implied not to exist. This means that you can have a ton of completely different sects devoted to the same god, and evil people can be clerics of good gods and vice versa.

There is one afterlife plane, regardless of your religion, and no one appears to be judged there by their actions in life - it's just incredibly bland for everyone. There are implied to be ways around it though, like merging with the Silver Flame or becoming a naturalised inhabitant of Shavarath.

Most of the world worships the twin pantheons of the Sovereign Host (good gods) and the Dark Six (evil gods), praying to whomever matches their current situation (though the Dark Six only get actual shrines in monstrous or evil areas). Part of the reason they're so widespread is that their priests absorb the myths of any similar figures they encounter - that is, maybe the dwarves originally worshipped Moradin, but nowadays they consider Moradin and Onatar the same being, and human worshippers of Onatar tell sermons that were originally written for Moradin. Of note, you can be a cleric of the Sovereign Host (or Dark Six) as a whole, letting you choose from any their domains.

The Church of the Silver Flame is a vaguely Catholic religion that worships the closest thing to a physical god in the setting, and believe their souls will meld with it after death to fight eternally against evil. They launched the infamous Purge against lycanthropes a few hundred years ago, which started as a genuinely good thing but turned into a witchhunt that some shifters are still sore about. Also their pope is a little girl. It's the national religion of Thrane, but most of the extremists who give the religion a bad name live in other countries.

The Blood of Vol worships blood, essentially, believing it will lead them to immortality. They make a lot of undead, too, but view becoming a lich/vampire/etc. as a form of martyrdom since you can't follow the path if you're not alive (creating mindless skeletons and zombies, meanwhile, is just making use of materials the dead don't need any more). The leaders of the most prominent sect report to Erandis d'Vol, an ancient half-dragon lich with a long backstory - a few of the mid-ranks are told of a saint called "Lady Vol" but otherwise her existence is kept secret. The writers can't seem to decide whether openly following the Blood of Vol is something that will get you executed, or is just the setting equivalent of being a goth/neo-pagan/<insert subculture here>.

The Path of Light is the kalashtar racial religion; it has no deities, but focuses on creating a better future through the power of meditation (think Buddhism for the most part).
The Path of Inspiration is a sham religion created by the Dreaming Dark to keep the people of Riedra docile and obedient; most of its dogma relates to domestic "good spirits" and foreign "bad spirits" (e.g. a large-scale magical effect causes all dreams within the borders of Riedra to be soothing, predictable, and portray their leaders in a positive light; Riedrans are taught that dreams which don't match this pattern are caused by demons).

Elves worship both the Undying Court (a group of reverse-undead elders powered by positive energy) and a pantheon of warrior ancestors, though (aside from a few families on each side) Aerenal focuses mostly on the Court and Valenar mostly on the ancestors.
Drow do not worship Lloth, instead worshipping the scorpion god Vulkoor and acting like stereotypical man-eating tribes of savages. There's also an obscure tribe who live in the Underdark and worship shadows.

[phlidwsn]

Much work has been done here (http://pf-eberron.wikidot.com/), haven't read it all but it seems to be used regularly for PF Eberron games.

There's also another conversion project Here (https://sites.google.com/site/eberronpathfinder/Home) that includes a shot at an artificer conversion (https://sites.google.com/site/eberronpathfinder/conversion-info/classes/artificer)

Also, here's the best Eberron summary (http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=126) I found short of having the players read the first few pages of the campaign setting.

There's also an appendix in the back of one of the novels that's a good summary: City of Towers (http://www.amazon.com/City-Towers-Dreaming-Dark-Book-ebook/dp/B0036S4B4Y) (OOP, but Amazon has it on kindle with the appendix)

[Spore]

The artificer link is currently broken.

Thanks Prime for that short write-up. I am no enemy of redirecting to books, but some people in my round don't know English well enough for larger texts, so I have to translate general stuff. It helps when I have a clue myself without reading the whole material.

[Greenish]

Eberron, or rather, Khorvaire (the continent on which most of the material focuses on) is also early into magic-powered industrial revolution, with street lights (Eternal Flame yay) on most major cities, a railway system (powered by imprisoned elementals) that used to connect most of the continent (it was severed in the Last War), airships (made from lighter-than-air wood, powered by imprisoned elementals), and a very strongly established (as in, crush the competition) cartels/guilds/families centered around a given bloodline called Dragonmarked houses.


Elemental binding is a big thing powering ships, airships, railways, and loads of other stuff, and in general, low-level magic and magic items are abundant in the setting. High-level magic is rare, epic magic nigh-unheard of.


Dragonmarked houses have formed around bloodlines that occasionally manifest the titular Dragonmarks (feat chains, grant SLAs). Each controls a significant share (usually almost all) of their given trades, related to the powers of their dragonmarks. Incidentally, Dragonmarked is one of the better setting books.



Also, you should use DSP's psionics. :smallcool:


[Edit]: Oh yeah, the Last War was/is a big thing. Basically, Khorvaire was once a single kingdom ("an empire in all but name"), but there was inheritance issues, one thing led to another, there was a big war (~110 years) that only ended two years ago with a dozen or so independent nations, most raring for another go once they've gathered their strength. The war ended after one of the Five Kingdoms was magically nuked into oblivion by parties unknown. Now it's a radioactive magically contaminated area full of wandering mutants, living spells, and worse things.

[phlidwsn]

The artificer link is currently broken.


Odd, loads for me. Does the main page (https://sites.google.com/site/eberronpathfinder/Home/) load? If so from there go to the side menu Classes->Artificer

[Novawurmson]

As an enormous fan of DSP's psionics (I'm actually writing up a Wilder optimization guide right now) and a DM running a PF Eberron campaign, let me add another vote to use the DSP psionics rules.

A couple special notes about them:

-The Dread (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/dread) is perfect for the Quori.
-The Soulknife and the Aegis make for great "melee artificers" with soulbound weapons and armor or Warforged with their armor built into their systems.

[Xerlith]

First of all, Pathfinder has its own (albeit 3rd party) Artificer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/artificer).

It's a conversion, pretty much.
Alternatively you can straight drop the Crafting Pool and the Artificer will still be High Tier 1. :smallwink:

And yes. Yes, Eberron is COMPLETELY worth playing in. I'm running the Shadows of the Last War campaign right now, and it's totally awesome (my players and I absolutely love magipunk, steampunk and the like).

[Novawurmson]

First of all, Pathfinder has its own (albeit 3rd party) Artificer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/artificer).

Note that that is NOT a straight conversion of the Artificer. It's a very distinct base class with some very iffy design choices (odd number of skill ranks, d6 HD with 3/4 BAB - a no-no for base class design in Pathfinder, only spellcasting up to 4th level, lots of dead levels, etc.). It's a class that doesn't really know what it wants to be - there's plenty of better homebrew.

[Spore]

First of all, Pathfinder has its own (albeit 3rd party) Artificer (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/artificer).

It's a conversion, pretty much.
Alternatively you can straight drop the Crafting Pool and the Artificer will still be High Tier 1. :smallwink:

And yes. Yes, Eberron is COMPLETELY worth playing in. I'm running the Shadows of the Last War campaign right now, and it's totally awesome (my players and I absolutely love magipunk, steampunk and the like).

Is the Artificer that good? I knew the context in Eberron made him better than in low technology societies but I never saw a T1 caster with that few spell levels and spells/day.


Note that that is NOT a straight conversion of the Artificer. It's a very distinct base class with some very iffy design choices (odd number of skill ranks, d6 HD with 3/4 BAB - a no-no for base class design in Pathfinder, only spellcasting up to 4th level, lots of dead levels, etc.). It's a class that doesn't really know what it wants to be - there's plenty of better homebrew.

Yeah, I knew about the PF Artificer. I dislike it immensely. She is to the Eberron Artificer what an Adept is to a Cleric.

[Dusk Eclipse]

You are forgetting that Artificers get every spell list in the game, and can get spell effects two levels before they are available to other spellcaster. The main power of the Artificer's aren't their infusions (though they are very nice nonetheless) but his magic item creating abilities.

Edit: They can get any spell almost on demand (scrolls are cheap and fast to make)

[Xerlith]

Note that that is NOT a straight conversion of the Artificer. It's a very distinct base class with some very iffy design choices (odd number of skill ranks, d6 HD with 3/4 BAB - a no-no for base class design in Pathfinder, only spellcasting up to 4th level, lots of dead levels, etc.). It's a class that doesn't really know what it wants to be - there's plenty of better homebrew.


Yes, the class is wonky at best. Still, it's a viable (if unfinished) choice. Then again, I'd rather go with one (https://sites.google.com/site/eberronpathfinder/conversion-info/classes/artificer) of (http://www.pathfinderdb.com/character-options/classes/288-ardwright) these. (http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2l9gy&page=1?The-Engineer#0)

And most probably a homebrewed PF Artificer conversion/remake will show up on the Homebrew subforum shortly. :smallwink:

[Prime32]

Thanks Prime for that short write-up. I am no enemy of redirecting to books, but some people in my round don't know English well enough for larger texts, so I have to translate general stuff. It helps when I have a clue myself without reading the whole material.And I didn't even mention the druidic sects, or the warforged religions, or the dragon worshippers. :smalltongue: The cults of the Dragon Below have had some interesting stuff written about them, but most of it is in a Dragon article or Keith Baker's blog (http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-the-daelkyr-and-their-cults/).

Faiths of Eberron is a pretty cool fluff book.

[Spore]

And I didn't even mention the druidic sects, or the warforged religions, or the dragon worshippers. :smalltongue: The cults of the Dragon Below have had some interesting stuff written about them, but most of it is in a Dragon article or Keith Baker's blog (http://keith-baker.com/dragonmarks-the-daelkyr-and-their-cults/).

Faiths of Eberron is a pretty cool fluff book.

Yeah, I am sadly still a college student on a strict budget. Roleplaying books are an investment to be planned months ahead.


You are forgetting that Artificers get every spell list in the game, and can get spell effects two levels before they are available to other spellcaster. The main power of the Artificer's aren't their infusions (though they are very nice nonetheless) but his magic item creating abilities.

Edit: They can get any spell almost on demand (scrolls are cheap and fast to make)

Artificers sound a tad bit overpowered for an average Pathfinder power level. How do you guys like the idea that the Artificer will get its Craft Pool on a daily basis to emulate those spell effects several times/day. But only on useables. And the power only lasts a day.

This cuts from the large benefit an artificer has from downtime (and the disadvantage from the lack thereof) and still leaves the main feature intact while bringing it down to PF powers. Honestly, if you combine crafting without EXP loss, Artificers and pathfinder, you will soon get groups to to trivialize encounters 3-4 levels above yours (and since we play quite optimized 25pt characters most of the time, yeah).