Eberron, Sharn inquisitive campaign – session zero 5e

[enbee75]

Wondered if I could get a bit of advice from someone who’s played the setting/done political intrigue kind of games before. My players have all expressed a desire to be in this kind of campaign - I figured Sharn would be the perfect place for this.
They also picked characters in that session and they’re quite a mismatched bunch. I’m not super knowledgeable about the setting yet (our first session will be in a month’s time) and I’m still to figure a campaign. The characters they’ve come up with are:
a Half-elf or Tiefling sorcerer, a Dwarven Bard, a Forest Gnome Druid (with a criminal spy background), a Changeling Warlock, and a Human or Warforged Artificer

The plan was to figure their characters which I can then use to write a campaign, but this approach may have backfired a little and I'm wishing I'd done a little more work before session zero to really flesh out what the campaign goals are. We mentioned possibly starting out as members of the city watch in Sharn, maybe having fought together in the last war, but I fail to see how such a bunch would have reasons to be together! In your opinion, is this a particular problem or are there ways to make this work? They're also all spellcasters, which may also be a problem. I also imagined an urban campaign would need rogues!

I’d like to not just tell them ‘no you can’t have that character’ if possible, but I realise that having a cohesive party is pretty important. Any help or advice would be most appreciated!

Tl:dr – players chose weird PCs for urban intrigue campaign – do I tell them to change them?

[Bloodcloud]

You have plenty of roguish character... The warlock can be very roguish, sorcerer with subtle spell too, bard even has the expertise...

I like to do the "elder scroll" opening, with the characters in prison, and given a chance of freedom and clear record if they do X (main quest). Gives them a reason to bond, stick together, and sets them on quest right there...

[ScathachOfSkye]

I'm currently running an Eberron campaign in 5e, and I've read most of the 3.5 source material on the setting.

Eberron is a good setting choice for political intrigue, and Sharn is definitely a spot for a lot of it.

Really I don't think that the party make up you mentioned will have major problems, in fact I think that it is pretty well built for intrigue. Some of the unusual race selections don't matter as much if they are in Sharn, as the inhabitants of the city already include races not available to players such as harpies or otherwise unusual ones like minotaurs. So most people wouldn't really find them unusual if that is a concern.

The fact that they are all spellcasters shouldn't pose much of a problem for the party, particularly for an intrigue based campaign, as several of those classes can still be quite tanky and output damage if needed for a fight. They also have access to a wide variety of spells for tackling problems they come across, but that may make it difficult for you to find something they can't solve.

As for lacking a rogue, that isn't too big a deal as you have 3 people who can already fill most every role a rogue would have anyways. The Bard is already close to the rogue in terms of skill-monkey ability, the druid has stealth from their background and can Wild Shape into small beasts to sneak around even better, and a changeling warlock can become probably the single greatest master of disguise through the changling racial ability + some the warlock invocations. In any case, if the party ends up having a major weakness, use the knowledge of what it is to make fights harder for them when need be or offer them items that help shore up those weaknesses.

I would think that making them already be part of a common group would help keep them together. Taking the city watch idea, I would suggest that you could maybe expand on it that they have been brought together to act as a more elite unit. They all have player classes, which in Eberron generally means that all of the players will be way tougher than the average member of the city watch at level 1, so they could be brought together to handle tasks that a group of average members of the watch would be outmatched when facing. If their individual character interests are equally diverse, you could try having an NPC that is their superior in the city watch be the one to give them orders (and therefore quests) as well as having issues that seem urgent enough to get the characters' focus.

Overall, unless there is one player that is trying to make the group not function, I think that for 5th edition it is very difficult for a group to simply not work. So I think that your party can do well.

[enbee75]

Great, thanks! Thinking of having the PCs go through a war flashback (like the adventure at the back of 4e campaign setting), then to get them to develop a story of what they've been doing individually in the 2 years since and how they've ended up in Sharn (whether it might be working for the crown, selling exotic animals, working as a spy or for the city watch). Would you say I would need to restrict this somewhat? Ask them to say not only how they ended up in Sharn in this random tavern where they happen to see their old war buddy etc.., but something more specific, such as how they ended up workiong as a team in an 'elite' kind of unit for the city watch?

They're all very keen to develop their stories, but at the moment they don't have much in common with each other, and their stories don't interweave much as yet. Are there ways I could encourage more inter PC relations, or would you say it's pretty unnecessary?

Cheers

[ScathachOfSkye]

Great, thanks! Thinking of having the PCs go through a war flashback (like the adventure at the back of 4e campaign setting), then to get them to develop a story of what they've been doing individually in the 2 years since and how they've ended up in Sharn (whether it might be working for the crown, selling exotic animals, working as a spy or for the city watch). Would you say I would need to restrict this somewhat? Ask them to say not only how they ended up in Sharn in this random tavern where they happen to see their old war buddy etc.., but something more specific, such as how they ended up workiong as a team in an 'elite' kind of unit for the city watch?

They're all very keen to develop their stories, but at the moment they don't have much in common with each other, and their stories don't interweave much as yet. Are there ways I could encourage more inter PC relations, or would you say it's pretty unnecessary?

Cheers

For backstories it is often best to work with the players in how you make the story, so I would ask them what they think of that idea, if they also think it sounds cool, then they will have a better attitude about making their backstories fit together. And you probably would need to restrict it to some degree, if they were all war buddies it would be easiest for them to all have come from and fought for the same country (Breland works well as it is already the location of Sharn). And having a specific way they all grouped up together could help with the initial joining up of the group, but long term I usually find that the player characters work best when they have an ongoing reason to cooperate.

If the players all agree to having connections, then I do think that the war flashback can be a good way to introduce players to Eberron. A description of what they had been doing for the past two years and why they have just now come back together would likely give a good start to the campaign. Although what brings them together could always be as simple as one pc working in the city watch recommending the rest of them be hired as a group. But really, for backstories it is often best to discuss with your players how to achieve both what they want and what helps the group.

So, connected backstories between them aren't completely necessary, but if both you and the players think it would be a cool idea to run with, then go ahead and go that route. It can be pretty memorable. Just don't worry too much if they don't have connections just yet, it is also possible for the characters to start working together and become friends later.

[enbee75]

That's a great help, thank you.