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September Questions Thread (Patreon)

Published:
2024-09-06 02:57:41
Edited:
2024-10-04 00:37:01
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Hi everyone!

I’m still answering questions on the August thread, but it’s September and I want to get the new thread going!

Post your questions below. As always, simple questions are the best questions. If I can answer a question in five minutes here, I'll probably answer it. If it would take significant research or an hour of work to answer a question, I probably won't.

Feel free to ask questions that didn't get answered in a previous month, just know that I won't be able to get to them all... and if there's a question I've skipped over a few times it means that I need time or research to answer it and I haven't had that time. In addition, I will only answer one question per patron. You can ASK more than one, because one may be easier for me to answer than another, but I'll only answer one.

August was busy with GenCon, DragonCon, a family reunion AND getting Frontiers ready for launch. But I’ll be writing more this month, and perhaps finally getting to that Darguun Dragonmark!

Thanks for your support!

Files

Comments

Jarrod Taylor

When was (Lantern) Steel forged/created?

Jesse

My question for the month. The Changeling/Doppelganger village of Lost is said to be in Droaam, but there's am island on the map of Khorvaire near the top right, just above Farlnen, also named Lost. Is there any connection between the 2?

man-of-bvz1n3ss

Hey Keith! Congrats on getting Frontiers out! Excited for the Darguun dragonmark! 1: What are quaggoths like in Eberron? What continent are they native to? Where do they draw their psionic power from? 2: One major point of Eberron is how different it is from traditional D&D. If PCs from Eberron made their way into another setting such as Krynn or the Forgotten Realms, how might they react? What would be familiar? What would be different? 3: What forms of magical natural disasters (besides the Mourning) could you see happening in Eberron? Is there an equivalent to hurricanes, but drawing on the Planes?

James McConnell IV

Hey Keith, thanks as always for this opportunity to ask you questions. Would House Orien ever consider building a lightning rail in Droaam and would the Daughters of Sora Kell even be interested in having the rail in their country?

Jonathan Juni

Hi Keith, In my game tonight, one of my players noted a parallel between the Six Kings of the Dhakaani Empire and the six great named daelkyr. I had never thought about it myself and am curious if this was intentional? If the Dhakaani Empire existed for 10,000 years then I imagine the original six kings were long gone by the time the daelkyr invaded, but if those monarchies were passed down through the generations then perhaps there still would have been six (different) Dhakaani kings when the empire eventually fell? Either way, I'm now having a blast dreaming up an adventure set during the fall where each of the six Dhakaani kings are corrupted in their own special way. Thanks for taking the time to answer!

Zachary Butler

On the heels of last month's question about a Tul Oreshka cult: Loved the answer about the King in Yellow, but what would be a good way for this to interact with the player characters or the larger story? What might the cult be trying to achieve beyond getting more people to read the book? If a PC opts to read it, are they just an NPC thrall to an overlord now? If the campaign has the PCs as Dark Lanterns solving mysteries (as an adventure structure, not necessarily that every adventure is a whodunit) across the Five Nations, would the cult best serve as a way for the party to get clues at some metaphysical cost? Would this be better served through cultists, or through a book of revelations like the King in Yellow?

Parker Wimberly

Hi Keith, just reminder for possible articles about the goblin cultures of darguun and about the lhazzar sea when you have time

Ender Darkos

I'm very curious about that! Let's go back in time a thousand years or so. Quori decide to put the Sundering in motion. They spread and eventually take control of...Khorvaire. What would it change for Khorvaire and Sarlona? Would we see a United Kingdom of Khorvaire or would they be more careful (Since Overlords and all)? Do you see Sarlona keeping its old cultures or would new ones rise (Realistically, they would collapse but also Galifar lasted 1000 years or so!)? Alternatively, I have two other questions! We often talk about good and evil in Eberron and how mortals have free will and can choose. What are some mortals that you would say are evil irredeemably? You said that all of Eberron was dominated by overlords back in the day! We know the overlords of many regions of Eberron. If you had to venture a guess, what was the Overlord ruling over Karrnath about? (I'm also interested in Breland and Cyre but more Karrnath!)

Benjamin Tucker Marcus

Hi, Keith! How would you incorporate something like early pulp comic books into Five Nations culture? How long have they existed? Would they mostly be published by the newspapers or have their own separate industry? What genres do you see being popular?

TR

What's a fun example of something you heard of from "someone else's Eberron" that you then added to yours? Lore, adventure concept, NPC, whatever.

Dan Smith

As a discipline what are some of the specific in-world technical aspects/skills of wandslinging (or maybe better put spellslinging) in Eberron? To be more clear, in our world, sharpshooting and competition shooting involve consideration for various things from the equipment being used (the specs of a firearm, cartridge size, etc) to environmental factors (wind, distance, the coriolis effect, etc). Obviously wandslinging isn’t fully equivalent to using firearms in our world, but there seem to be some similarities given the narrative role of wands. I’d imagine manifest zones, which planes are remote/coterminous, and wand material might all be considerations, but I was wondering if there’s anything unique or specific that you might add to that list?

Sims

1.) How would you run a Thronehold campaign? Rising introduces the setting almost like a noir/mafia/League of Nations (I say this over UN since I feel like it would be far less effective) type campaign? 2.) How might you run a Blood Crescent/Demon Waste Frontier game? Threshold/Quickstone stands at the border between “civilization” and “monsters” but we know that Droaam isn’t wholly (or at all evil) and the Breland isn’t a shining bastion. However, the Demon Wastes are literally the embodiment of evil, so how would a campaign set on the precipice of the Wastes look like? 3.) How would you use a monstrous race in not Threshold? With new Goliath, I really like the idea of reskinning one as a Rak Tulkesh Oni, but what if the game is Lost Relics, where your fighting Daask? Are you unaffiliated with Daask, but instead an Eye of Tereza directly? Or a Worg or Harpy? Would you play up the Tharashk connection? What if the entire party is monsters in not anywhere near Droaam? Not a super important question and not sure if it even makes any sense, but monster PCs are on the mind. 4.) Do you know/plan to release the “homebrews” of the monstrous races on DNDBeyond after Threshold? I think I had asked this once when I first joined/really interacted with Patreon? Or if anyone else has recreated them and wouldn’t mind sharing a link?

Simon

Baldurs Gate 3 and how you would change it and its characters to fit in Eberron (in a video game sense) to celebrate the final patch release! If you've beaten it yet*

Syltorian

Hi Keith, Many thanks yet again for providing us with the opportunity to ask our questions. I'm looking forward to Frontiers of Eberron! My questions are below: I'm aware that you can only answer one, and I hope they aren't too complex, though I fear that hope is rather unrealistic for some. Many thanks in advance for considering; please let me know if they all require too much investment for you to reply. 1. Can you say more about the Eldeen Wolves than the few tidbits that appear in the original Eberron Campaign Setting and Five Nations? They are presented as "marauders [who] sporadically raid the villages and farms along the Wynarn River before disappearing into the woods just west of the river": are they mere brigands or political operatives (freedom fighters to the Reachers, terrorists to the Aundairians, perhaps)? Are they unified, or disconnected cells (given the Eldeen rejection of hierarchies)? Do they have any special goals ("liberating" further areas they consider belong to the Reaches, forcing Aundair to release prisoners and hostages such as the bard Briar, ...) or is it merely a variant of cattle-rustling? Are they aligned with any of the druidic sects? Do they also fight against other enemies of the Reaches within the land? 2. Forge of War states the Eldeen secessionists held the Duskwood for a while, and that it was one of rare victories for Aundair that they managed to retake the area. Do the Reachers consider nearby territories, including the Duskwood and the Chanthwood to be a part of the Eldeen Reaches, as far as they are concerned-culturally, or mystically tied to the forests of the Eldeen in druidic lore or fey law? Or do they accept the Wynarn River as a natural border? 3. What is the relationship between the Wardens of the Wood and the Forest Queen? The latter appears to be powerful in the Towering Wood, with some overlapping ideals ('stay on the road' fits with the Wardens' goal to protect nature and civilisation from one another, up to a point), but with some potential risks (the Queen might decide she's had enough of civilisation, as canon material indicates). 4. Are the Mosswood, Wolfwood, and Riverwood considered parts of the Towering Wood (as they likely were in primeval times)? 5. Are there still settlements, fortifications, monasteries (e.a.) of the Silver Flame in the Eldeen Reaches, established to keep an eye on the lycanthropes and even the Demon Wastes? What form would they take, and what would their relationship with other factions be? 6. The Byeshk Mountains are inhabited by harpies and other creatures largely aligned with the Droaam. Are there similar flights of harpies on the Eldeen side of the mountain range?

Parker Wimberly

Hi Keith, I hope everything is going well. My question this month is what are your thoughts about an ice vampire, either being created by a Risian manifest zone or Dral Khatuur. What would be the difference between the two types, in your opinion? I ask because I'm developing a campaign set in Frostfell where the BBEG is an ice vampire. I at first had her be an agent of Dral Khatuur, with her working to fully freeing a partially released Dral Khatuur. However, with Risia having a lot of manifest zones on the Frostfell, I thought that maybe she was turned on by a manifest zone. I'm sort of unsure how to reflect the influences of Dral Khatuur and Risia differently because they have a lot of overlap.

dirDav3

Hi Keith! Can't wait to get my hands on Frontiers! My question today: There's only a little about monasteries in ExE for the gith, a bit about kalashtar in Sarlona, and in Aeranal, the Dhakaani. There's a little bit about the Crimson Monastery. There's some warforged monks. A little about monks in Aundair & Thrane in the ECS/ECG, but it's all pretty vague compared to what we know about pretty much every other class. I have read the article on Monks you posted in 2018 which was helpful. How did you go about creating monasteries in Khorvaire? I'm having a hard time figuring out how a monk PC would come from the Principalities, for example

chuck finley

I had thought previously that I read in ExE that souls originate in Irian the way they end up in Dolurrh but i'm re-reading through Exe and i can't find that. Was i imagining that or was that concrete in the lore someplace? I could've sworn there was a layer of Irian that produces new souls that are linked to a newly born mortal on the material plane. Am I going insane, or was that canon somewhere?

Spike Hemphill

Is creature classification " monstrosity" used in world of Eberron? Even 2014 monster manual admits it's a loose term. It usually relates to unnatural and fantastical creatures usually effected by magic or curse. However it seems in Eberron, creatures can be naturally effected by magic with manifest zones. Monstrosity includes owlbears and griffins which are basically wildlife in Eberron but also minotaurs and harpies which are people ( though I know some people in Eberron would argue against that). There is only game mechanic in 5e that effects monstrosities being the mark of handling,no way to detect them. However even in our history, biological terms can be unclear. I can see hunter defending killing all local owlbears by saying they're monstrosities not beasts.

hyperewok1

Are there any particularly infamous vampires in modern Khorvaire? (Aside from Kaius, since that is obviously mere propaganda.) (The trailer for the Nosferatu reboot gave me a thought of an urban campaign focused on rooting out a vampire lord and his cult from a city.)

Matt Dance

Hello, Keith! What is life like for the non-gnomes of Zilargo? I recall that in the Manifest Zone about gnomes, it was said that gnomish society and the Trust work precisely because gnomes *aren’t* human and have different biological and psychological drives and needs. And yet, if I recall from the 3.5 ECS, about a sixth or a seventh of Zilargo’s population is human, plus members of other humanoid races, too. So I wondered where and how these non-gnomes fit into the country, mainly as regards the benevolent (?…) police state dystopia aspect.

Jamie Bernstein

Whats the historical relation between the Shaarat'khesh and Keeper's Fangs, given the weapons' seemingly fiendish link to the Lair of the Keeper and Mazyralyx? Also, do they refer to the weapons with a different name?

Patrick Reupert

I am aware it is apparently being worked on, but as it simply intrigues me, i would like to reassign my question about Dawn Command. And maybe, if its already being worked on and i will get a surprise soon, another question would be about a bit of.... the future. Or better the future in Eberron so to say. Wiht stuff like the Infernal War.Machienes from BGDiA, how would you imagine such devices to be integrated into the World? in a sort of mad.max style development, tied to the plains maybe to feel more in the whole apocalypse remains feel from a prior article, maybe as zil developments? would you lean once more into dragonmarked usage, or more general with bound elementals or something entirely different?

David Mitchell

Hi Keith. Do you see the changes in PHB 2024 giving you inspiration, compulsion or resistance to changes in Kanon? Will the role of the half races be altered in any way as they are no longer in PHB? The way dragon marked houses work etc? A more central role for the new PHB races? Do you foresee existing Eberron races (shifters, Warforged etc) being presented more like the new species to accommodate the new way species and backgrounds work?

OHeyItsRick

Hello! So, a couple of (hopefully quick) questions this month! 1) How would you flavor the spell 'Dream of the Blue Veil' for an Eberron setting *not* connected to the wider multiverse, and with a focus on moving between the various different timelines of Eberron? 2) I may have asked this before, but: if you were to do a story in which a party went to the City of Silver and Bone, what (if any) adventure modules would you set in the city? Alternatively, if not, what would a party be likely to find there? For context: I'm working on a story involving (essentially) Eranadis Vol becoming the Queen of the Dead (the ruling power of Dolurrh) and am looking to use the City of Silver and Bone as the "final backdrop".

Micah Peltier

A few years back, you mentioned one possible origin for Nightmares (the equine fiends, not the bad dreams) in Eberron as a short aside in this article: https://keith-baker.com/dm-night-hags/ Do you have any other fun ideas for origins of these creatures, like you've done for other creatures? They're fiendish and fiery, so the evil side of Fernia seems a logical choice, but they're also commonly associated with Death Knights and Vampires (in other D&D worlds, at least), so maybe Mabar has some as well?

Daelkyr Devon

I got some questions about Orlassk! Take your pick whichever strikes you best! -The massive creature that Orlassk is bound in, which you describe as a Stoneborn Tarrasque (sometimes a massive Gargoyle), being that it is stonelike in appearance, but it contains The Heart of Stone bound inside, I wonder, is the creature loyal to Orlassk? Was it created by Orlassk intentionally? Or is it a more natural creature, ie one created by the Gatekeeper Druids? -What's the deal with those faces! You say Orlassk's "face" is embedded into the side of a mountain in it's demiplane, but like how a daelkyr looks different to everyone, does that face change too? What about the four other faces on his throne, are they interchangeable? -Dolguul's might be found serving any daelkyr, but would you have them be the same? You've described different flavors of Dolgrim and Dolgaunt, ie Avassh's Dolgaunts having two cord-like roots coming out of it's back, or Orlassk's Dolgrims having a stony exterior, but how might you flavor Dyrrn, Belashyrra, or Valaara's Dolguul?

Inquisitor Thomas

Hey Keith, I was reading through Frontiers of Eberron and I noticed something in the Tiefling Section: “Tieflings are only created by the malefic influence of a plane, and there are no tieflings tied to Daanvi, Irian, Lammania, Syrannia, or Thelanis.” I can why the most of the planes mentioned don’t have a Tieflings (Even though I think there’s an argument to be made that there’s a lot of Malefic things in Thelanis), but no Tieflings for Daanvi? Daanvi can be expected to be administered by Devils 33.3333333333334 percent of the time.

Sindri

Absolutely love the book, just curious if there was a specific reason for the arcane focus expert feats to not include an ability score increase to a single stat option, as the druidic options do and most of the PHB2024 non-origin feats as well I believe. If not, would you have suggestions for what stats they could increase if I wanted to give my players a little bit more power in picking these very flavorful options.

Carlton Anderson

IYE, what would happen if King Kaius of Karrnath died/was assassinated and Queen Etrigani was not? Is there a scenario in which the Warlords would accept Etrigani as a ruling queen or regent, even temporarily, despite her Aereni origins? Would Breland and Thrane refuse to return Hadith and/or Gaius, possibly due to "concerns for their safety" (legitimate or feigned)? And, if so, would Moranna step in as Regent in an attempt to provide some much-needed stability until another monarch was ready to take the throne? Do the answers to those questions change based on whether the foreign power(s)/faction(s) behind the King's death are known vs unknown? Also, please let me know if I should keep posting my question about Etrigani and her agenda from previous months to increase the odds of us getting the possible IFAQ you mentioned or if I should use my monthly question for other things, as I have above. Thanks!

Micah Peltier

Reading *Quickstone*, I absolutely love the little details that make the world feel alive and real—particularly things like "Orien Route 7" and "Sivis Stone 182" Obviously, naming every road and numbering every Sivis stone would be a monumental—and not particularly useful—endeavor. But, now that we have some numbers and conventions, do you have a vision of a general pattern of numbers for Orien roads/Sivis stones? Are all the major roads shown on the Khorvaire map Orien Routes? Is there a consistency to the numbering? (akin to how the US Interstate system has generally lower numbers in the southwest, higher numbers in the northeast, *5s are north-south and *0s are east-west)

Mike Mateer

Cool book! I pre-ordered and got a premium hard copy. Question: Admittedly I (like everyone else) am new to 5.5E, but can you (or anyone) explain how the Nemesis sorcerer background is balanced? At Level 14, wouldn't they essentially be able to cast 2 leveled spells per round? And at 18, Concentrate on as many spells as they want -- granted they have to make an odd save (which gets harder as they get higher Charisma?), but that's still one of the main caster limitations they're circumventing. Half damage against all magical effects as a Reaction isn't too shabby either, nor are the rest of their features! Is this just 5.5E power creep that I need to get used to?

shinnya matsubara

As far as I know, most humanoids have no place in Lamannia because a) they are not entirely natural (maybe magebred), or b) humanoid's tendency to exploit nature is antithetical to Lamannia's ideal. In the last article you said "Quaggoths are primal creatures on the line between beast and humanoid". I felt this implied that Quaggoths (or their ancestors) was truly NATURAL, and they could be found in Lamannia. If so, would modern Quaggoths see cousins in Lamannia as their kin ? And what traits distinguishes Lamannia's natural humanoids from "civilized" humanoids?

hostileeldritch

if you were to run an eberron game using the 2024 rules but a player wanted to play a half-elf or half-orc, how might you represent the fact that those are distinct from elves/orcs/humans? especially with khoravar. i'd likely just go with whatever the player wants, or make a new 2024 version of half-elf, but i'm still kind of at a loss

MarkoPolio

I don't think you ever got around to answering my question about the Starpeak Observatory last month! I can repost it if need be :D

James McConnell IV

Hey Keith, thanks as always for this opportunity to ask questions. I'm in a game playing a necromancer whose wife has passed but her soul is being kept in Dolurrh by the Queen of the dead. My character hasn't met her yet and me and my dm are workshopping what her character and personality would be. How does the Queen of the dead view mortals that try to contact her and what are some things that they can do or say to make good conversation with her?

Joseph Meehan

In an alternate earth where Eberron was a living campaign setting and the Mourning+Treaty of Thronehold were 90s style Big Metaplot Events, when would the "original" campaign setting start?

Earth Seraph Edna

My epic-tier 4e party is currently in the Library of Ashtakala, battling Hektula. One PC is a Seeker looking to apotheosize. What would the Library of Ashtakala's perspective on the Sovereigns and Six and divine ascension be, insomuch as the Sovereigns and Six were said to have triumphed against the overlords before becoming gods?

Vessyra

Would focus items for aberrant dragonmarks be more likely to use Siberys or Khyber dragonshards?

David Armstrong

In Frontiers of Eberron, you mention that goblins use the Monsters of the Multiverse version. Really?... goblins are fey now? That doesn't seem to fit the history of the dar and the Dhakaani empire at all. On this same topic, I think we need a 2024 version of the Khoravar, don't we? The elf species doesn't really fit for half-elves in Eberron. (And half-orcs too, if we have time).

Sir Ender

I remember reading in an earlier article that there are rances breeding bulettes, and the new Frontier book mentions the Stampede, a ranch where there are a couple of bulettes. What would be the reason to breed bulettes on a ranch? What sort of function can they serve? What type of work? The are fantastic burrowers, so tilling earth for crops, or even digging out a tunnel for mining or additional lightning rail tracks could be an option, but I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Also, besides tribex and bulettes, what other types of beasts/monstrosities can be found on ranches?

Jason PB

With Frontiers out, we’ve got a little bit more on oni- fiendbound and hagspawn. While we’ve been getting more and more info on oni from an above table perspective, what is the average view of oni in the Five Nations and rest of Khorvaire?

Joey Norwood

Are there any monsters that come to mind that you would associate with the Venomous Demesne (any magebred creatures, for example)?

Jean Antoine Maro

Hi Keith, I got a few questions on Phoenix Dawn Command so I'll just post them all and be happy with whichever get answered :) 1) Can skills be pure magic, with phoenixes being magical beings and stuff ? I had an Elemental doing a skill spread with the Fire specialty trying to put out a fire saying he used his magic to do so and allowed it, but it felt a bit underwhelming and less interesting than finding dome mundane way to do so. 2) Any plans to make the game available for purchase again ? Friends who tried it were really excited about it, but it just seems out of stock everywhere. Or even plans to do more with the game ? 3) Dhakaani Dawn Command ? It seemed you had quite a few thoughts about it in the august thread