Pleh
2020-11-21, 10:36 AM
Hello there.
Running my first Eberron campaign and the story has the PCs traveling by ship from Sharn to Q'Barra through the Thunder Sea and Kraken Bay.
Since I mention Psionics in the title, note that I am going with Psionics having Full Magic Transparency according to the "Psionics is Dream Magic" theory I've read about online.
The party will be low level, so I don't expect they'll directly encounter a Kraken for quite some time, but I really like the twist Eberron seems to put on Kraken, making them a kind of underworld kingpins in this corner of the world. I caught on the idea that they use Telepathy to influence nearby sea creatures to force them to do their bidding, and I see them described as Aberrant Magical Beasts by some accounts (the Eberron Wiki in particular here).
I think *for my campaign*, I would like to go full tilt into making these guys into Aberrant Psionic creatures. Shouldn't be too hard, as the difference between Aberration and Magical Beast types is mostly a matter of Less Muscle, More Brainy. But what I really wanted some help with was translating their spell like abilities to theme fitting psionic powers.
You see, my players have a party of 4 PCs, two of which have Psionic Powers (which I am running on a Star Wars style interpretation that Psionics can simply "feel" each other's presence at a certain range, as you can tell which minds react "knowingly" to being touched by another psionic mind). If I am running Kraken as Psionic Juggernaut Kingpins of the Deep, the players would likely be able to sense that broad field of influence over the wildlife.
But more particularly, one of the PCs is a runaway Empty Vessel from Riedra. The Dreaming Dark and the Inspired from Riedra are definitely hunting this person and they'll be reaching out to allies looking for leads.
In my mind, the Kraken would be like the Smaug to the Inspired's Sauron, or the Hutt Cartels to the Inspired's Galactic Empire. That is to say, they aren't strictly allies with the Inspired, but they have a functioning relationship based on mutually beneficial goals.
Upon entering Kraken territory, the PC is going to feel that "Eye of Sauron" moment where the Kraken in charge basically says, "I see you there. You'd fetch a pretty large favor from the Inspired if I hand you over to them." Thankfully, like the Eye Of Sauron in LotR, the Kraken will only have a general idea of where their ship is at any given time and the Kraken will just send waves of minions out to try and capture the party (or at least pinpoint their location).
While the basic statblock for the Kraken might fit such a Hutt/Smaug type psionic villain, I can't help but feel like it probably needs to have actual Telepathy, and not just Dominate Animal that is Telepathy Flavored.
So I'm looking for advice on converting the Kraken to a Psionic Aberration. Maybe someone else has already done this somewhere?
Running my first Eberron campaign and the story has the PCs traveling by ship from Sharn to Q'Barra through the Thunder Sea and Kraken Bay.
Since I mention Psionics in the title, note that I am going with Psionics having Full Magic Transparency according to the "Psionics is Dream Magic" theory I've read about online.
The party will be low level, so I don't expect they'll directly encounter a Kraken for quite some time, but I really like the twist Eberron seems to put on Kraken, making them a kind of underworld kingpins in this corner of the world. I caught on the idea that they use Telepathy to influence nearby sea creatures to force them to do their bidding, and I see them described as Aberrant Magical Beasts by some accounts (the Eberron Wiki in particular here).
I think *for my campaign*, I would like to go full tilt into making these guys into Aberrant Psionic creatures. Shouldn't be too hard, as the difference between Aberration and Magical Beast types is mostly a matter of Less Muscle, More Brainy. But what I really wanted some help with was translating their spell like abilities to theme fitting psionic powers.
You see, my players have a party of 4 PCs, two of which have Psionic Powers (which I am running on a Star Wars style interpretation that Psionics can simply "feel" each other's presence at a certain range, as you can tell which minds react "knowingly" to being touched by another psionic mind). If I am running Kraken as Psionic Juggernaut Kingpins of the Deep, the players would likely be able to sense that broad field of influence over the wildlife.
But more particularly, one of the PCs is a runaway Empty Vessel from Riedra. The Dreaming Dark and the Inspired from Riedra are definitely hunting this person and they'll be reaching out to allies looking for leads.
In my mind, the Kraken would be like the Smaug to the Inspired's Sauron, or the Hutt Cartels to the Inspired's Galactic Empire. That is to say, they aren't strictly allies with the Inspired, but they have a functioning relationship based on mutually beneficial goals.
Upon entering Kraken territory, the PC is going to feel that "Eye of Sauron" moment where the Kraken in charge basically says, "I see you there. You'd fetch a pretty large favor from the Inspired if I hand you over to them." Thankfully, like the Eye Of Sauron in LotR, the Kraken will only have a general idea of where their ship is at any given time and the Kraken will just send waves of minions out to try and capture the party (or at least pinpoint their location).
While the basic statblock for the Kraken might fit such a Hutt/Smaug type psionic villain, I can't help but feel like it probably needs to have actual Telepathy, and not just Dominate Animal that is Telepathy Flavored.
So I'm looking for advice on converting the Kraken to a Psionic Aberration. Maybe someone else has already done this somewhere?