Warforged who came from Eberron via mysterious means (a plot hook)

[Arkhios]

So, a while ago, when the Forge domain came out, I wanted to add an NPC warforged cleric into my campaign set in a homebrew setting shared by my friend. Normally, warforged wouldn't be a thing in the setting, so there had to be an explanation why there would be something as odd as this.

Initially, the idea was that the warforged in question had been shunted from Eberron to Our Setting via means related to the explosion of Cyre and the Mourning - as a pure accident. Along with the warforged, a gnome - an artificer and explorer - was inadvertently caught with him. The gnome woke up in an unknown land with an oddly unresponsive, yet alive warforged alongside him. As it happened, he was the first artificer in the setting, and it would take a long time before artifice would actually become known worldwide. Gnome generations even. All that time, the warforged remained dormant and unresponsive, until my players ended up making a heist in the gnome's clanhold in a fortress on an isolated island. Shortly after the events, for a reason, the warforged woke up, unaware of what had happened to him, or how long time had passed. In fact, he didn't even remember who he was.

Now that I finally (within only 24 hours from its release!) got my hands on the Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron, I could update the warforged to its most recent statistics. In the meantime, as I was reading the document and the bit about Eberron in the multiverse, my friend got an idea how to explain the difficulty of connecting Eberron with the Great Wheel (in our campaigns, mind you!).

There's no physical barrier. Instead, it's really just damn near impossible to navigate in the Deep Ethereal. Even for beings of deity level. If anyone were to succeed, they would need someone with Mark of Finding AND a powerful dragonshard to accomplish it. Note that I'm aware that Mark of Finding is human and half-orc only in Eberron, so the Gnome Who Came Along could not have it. However, as I was reading about the dragonshards, I had an idea: the warforged would have a large chunk of Siberys Dragonshard inside his head (making his eyes and ghulra glow with amber), and an aberrant dragonmark with similar abilities to Mark of Finding (although, the warforged doesn't know about it, or how to use it. yet). Obviously, this won't be revealed to the players immediately, and when it is - eventually, none of them would know what to do with this knowledge; they'd have to figure it out somehow.

Would any of you, preferably Eberron enthusiasts, have any plausible ideas how they would be able to learn how to use this knowledge, and get (back) into Eberron?

As for what might happen to the warforged in the process, it might prove fatal to him. If not fatal, it might be irreversible.

[Unoriginal]

According to the recent Sage Advice video about D&D worlds, it's possible to go to other worlds with teleportation, if you have the sigil for a Teleportation Circle that's there, aside from the Ethreal, there is also the Astral Plane and Sigil's portals, and some people such as Mordenkainen managed to travel there.

I think a good first step for a Warforged who want to get back to Eberron would be to find someone who knows what a Warforged is, to get more directions.

[Tetrasodium]

your take on it is certainly a reasonable one, if you haven't already, you might want to watch crawford talk about "planes & worlds", he does a good job of covering it without invalidating stuff or forcing eberron to be infested with lore/fluff from $otherSetting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=9JHyJj8C21c

[Arkhios]

According to the recent Sage Advice video about D&D worlds, it's possible to go to other worlds with teleportation, if you have the sigil for a Teleportation Circle that's there, aside from the Ethreal, there is also the Astral Plane and Sigil's portals, and some people such as Mordenkainen managed to travel there.

I think a good first step for a Warforged who want to get back to Eberron would be to find someone who knows what a Warforged is, to get more directions.

The thing is that the gnome who came along was the only one who knew first hand what a warforged was and is long dead. But he left behind notes about everything he knew about his homeworld and warforged as well. Would that be enough in your opinion?

[Unoriginal]

The thing is that the gnome who came along was the only one who knew first hand what a warforged was and is long dead. But he left behind notes about everything he knew about his homeworld and warforged as well. Would that be enough in your opinion?

Well, I mean, are there other scholars in your world who could know about it? Or maybe alien creatures who know about that kind of things?

[Tetrasodium]

The thing is that the gnome who came along was the only one who knew first hand what a warforged was and is long dead. But he left behind notes about everything he knew about his homeworld and warforged as well. Would that be enough in your opinion?

you are the gm? do you want it to be? by strict raw/rai yea I think so. in the video JC mentions something about how finding out about $otherPlace might be the most difficult part of being able to teleport there & could need a whole adventure on its own.

[Arkhios]

Well, I mean, are there other scholars in your world who could know about it? Or maybe alien creatures who know about that kind of things?
No, the gnome kept his knowledge about Eberron a closely guarded secret. Only his sons and daughters would learn of his research about traveling between worlds, but even they thought their father "had lost it". Before they were born, the gnome did, however, manage to travel to other worlds (other than Eberron), that are much easier to reach via teleportation circle inside his private study, in search of a way back home, never being able to get back himself. However, I think there might be notes about something he had discovered during his travels around Our Setting, that might prove useful. I'll have to explore this further.


you are the gm? do you want it to be? by strict raw/rai yea I think so. in the video JC mentions something about how finding out about $otherPlace might be the most difficult part of being able to teleport there & could need a whole adventure on its own.
Yes, I am the gm. I think I want it to be at least part of the solution, so that the players would need to do something to find a necessary "plot device" to make it possible.

My friend (the creator of the setting who graciously allowed me to run my own campaign in his setting and in the process, help him evolve the setting further with my campaign) pointed out that aberrant dragonmarks wouldn't work the way I initially thought, so the players would need to find another way than someone with a dragonmark of finding. He hinted it might be possible with the "plot device" I mentioned above and with a sample from eberron (the warforged with a siberys dragonshard).

[Tetrasodium]

No, the gnome kept his knowledge about Eberron a closely guarded secret. Only his sons and daughters would learn of his research about traveling between worlds, but even they thought their father "had lost it". Before they were born, the gnome did, however, manage to travel to other worlds (other than Eberron), that are much easier to reach via teleportation circle inside his private study, in search of a way back home, never being able to get back himself. However, I think there might be notes about something he had discovered during his travels around Our Setting, that might prove useful. I'll have to explore this further.


Yes, I am the gm. I think I want it to be at least part of the solution, so that the players would need to do something to find a necessary "plot device" to make it possible.

My friend (the creator of the setting who graciously allowed me to run my own campaign in his setting and in the process, help him evolve the setting further with my campaign) pointed out that aberrant dragonmarks wouldn't work the way I initially thought, so the players would need to find another way than someone with a dragonmark of finding. He hinted it might be possible with the "plot device" I mentioned above and with a sample from eberron (the warforged with a siberys dragonshard).



with the plot device thing. Depending on how far you want to go, you might want to look at some of the wgte 118/119 eldritch machines for inspiration :D.

[Unoriginal]

You could have other travelers from Eberron visit the world.

[Nifft]

No, the gnome kept his knowledge about Eberron a closely guarded secret. Only his sons and daughters would learn of his research about traveling between worlds, but even they thought their father "had lost it". Before they were born, the gnome did, however, manage to travel to other worlds (other than Eberron), that are much easier to reach via teleportation circle inside his private study, in search of a way back home, never being able to get back himself. However, I think there might be notes about something he had discovered during his travels around Our Setting, that might prove useful. I'll have to explore this further.


Yes, I am the gm. I think I want it to be at least part of the solution, so that the players would need to do something to find a necessary "plot device" to make it possible.

My friend (the creator of the setting who graciously allowed me to run my own campaign in his setting and in the process, help him evolve the setting further with my campaign) pointed out that aberrant dragonmarks wouldn't work the way I initially thought, so the players would need to find another way than someone with a dragonmark of finding. He hinted it might be possible with the "plot device" I mentioned above and with a sample from eberron (the warforged with a siberys dragonshard).

My advice is: don't rely on another setting's plot-mechanics to solve a problem that landed in your own setting.

The Warforged and the Gnome are stuck in your world, and they might be able to find a way back, but their way back should be a spotlight used to illuminate the lore of your setting -- not just something that they happened to bring with them.

Use the Eberron elements to compare and contrast your own setting. Don't rely on them -- use them as a tool for discussion about your setting.


A more interesting question to me would be why the Warforged wants to go home. The Warforged archetypal story is that of a soldier who can't go home, and generally that's quite literal because they never had a home outside their role in the Last War, which is now over.

[Arkhios]

I guess the reason why I want this to be possible, is that I wish to start a campaign set in Eberron but I'd prefer to get a clean ending for the current campaign (instead of just aprubtly saying that we won't play this any longer). Also, I kinda like the idea of campaigns entwining together somehow, making it feel more "organic" in a way, and simultaneously letting my players keep a character they might have grown attached to even if a campaign setting changed, all the while allowing them to make new characters if they want to for the new setting.

For this reason, I suppose I would've preferred to get my hands on Spelljammer before Eberron, but now that Eberron is already available, I just can't prevent myself from tinkering with what I have right now.:smallbiggrin: