Wonders of Eberron (homebrewed 3.5 DnD/multi GM sandbox game)

[Zaer Darkwail]

Fan of fantasy, pulp action, intrique, common low tier magic and national politics and dark conspirancy and commercialized magic use and magical inventions as ligthing rail stations, sentient robots (warforge) and gritty war just few years back straining relationships between nations? All these and more in Eberron setting and in game called Wonders of Eberron (WoE for sort)!

Above is setting where I started 10 years ago on Rpol and I ran as solo GM at first focusing on Sharn for over four years and doing +100 posts (IC) everyday (I was insane back there). Over time my commitment faded as did time able to make posts. However now I re-open this game in here on E but with some changes from my original formula (it was gestalt game first and much less house rules which I now add to all my DnD games if they use 3.5 rules).

This game is ran like sandbox; basically players dictate what stories, events or thing they want pursue and there is no direct red thread leading them from start but it does not stop me as GM throw some red threads on their way and hope player gets entangled onto one and then I rope them along so long player remains interested! Like my other game, Legendary Monsters, idea is that players can run games for each other as GM's (if comfortable for it but not forcing to do so). Example player A is led by me as main GM, but A decides run game as GM to player B same time while C is ran by me also but not doing any GM'ing nor interacting between A's or B's chars IC wise.

Anycase here below comes char gen rules and I myself favor using Mythweavers but it's up to players how they post their chars so long I can understand to read them and all neccesary info is in there.


Stat Generation: 32pts point buy, every 4th level gives +1 to two stats (instead of +1 to single stat)
Starting Level: 2th
Feats: Every odd level (like in pathfinder) you gain a feat.
Starting Wealth: 900gp
Races Allowed: Core + Eberron Races with max +1 LA adjustment
Sources Allowed: All Eberron sourced material in splats/books/magazines (later ones need issue/pg number listed) and own majority of 3.5 DnD material. In short Psionics are allowed.
Flaws/Traits: One flaw max (official UA one) and one trait (can be custom one or homebrew one but needs approval from GM first).
Homebrew: Mostly check this thread (skip char gen section entirely, most important check the class changes as example figther no longer excists and there are changes to many class systems and prestige classes as well)

Alternative rules: Hentai Sex Rules

Okay, this covers both consensual and non-consensual sex (can be used instead of just roleplaying the encounters). Also includes seduction rules vs NPC's.

Sex

EP: Every char has this value. It functions like HP in sexual situations. You gain EP based on your class HD + Con Mod as usual.

EP Damage: It's based on creature's unarmed strike dice + charisma modifier (than Str mod). So yes, gargantuan dragon can bone you doing 2d6+cha mod damage per round. This damage makes no difference in kissing, making out or penetration or masturbation or massage etc. So yes, monks are master of the sensual arts of sex! as they get highest unarmed strike damage. However magic also can do EP damage so monks are not only choice if want do high EP damage. Anything what can be done with unarmed strike could be creatively applied to EP system (like maneuvers from Tome of Battle or variant touch spells).

DR vs EP Damage: Does not apply.

Telekinesis, black tentacles, ghosts using feats: In spells case you use spell damage to determine EP damage caused and use common sense can spell be used for pleasure at all. EP is separated from HP because EP in nature is not meant to kill you but fuck you. So yes, you can use shocking grasp spell to give nice jolting pleasure surge on someone (but not burning hands unless you use it as form to strip your partner by burning his/her clothes off or do other weird stunt with it). Any spells, spell-alikes or special attack daily uses spend on erotic encounter do not remove them from regular daily use (but count for the day for any erotic purposes).

What happens when reach 0 EP: You get orgasm and you are dazed for 1 round (no save). With consensual partner there is no negative effects expect your always fatigued after the sex (if you got orgasm) equal number of time you were doing it (so 5 rounds = 5 rounds fatigue). Where with NC situations (and monsters in general) you get level drain each time you orgasm. You can however orgasm multiple times in encounter.

What happens if reach 0 in levels in NC sex: You are overcome with pleasure to point you no longer want escape and it leads to Bad Ending. It may not result char getting killed but may be imprisoned for time, get pregnant with monster spawn and they may even escape later date. But until end of adventure (unless rescued) they are out of commission.

Healing magic vs EP: Any curative magic does not recover EP damage nor there is any spells recover EP damage nor level loss caused by NC sex. Nor regeneration nor fast healing applies. As only way to recover from it is through 8 hours of rest (including elves, exception given to ring of sustenance for 2 hour recovery).

Feats/Skills for EP or sex content: You can use GUCK or Book of Erotic Fantasy freely. But if want specific stuff for EP or such, then it needs house ruled and discussed. As note the perform:sex is class skill for everyone and it does not affect anyway EP damage done but it can be used as 'quick and dirty' measure of your consensual sex prowess vs NPC (to get it quickly done with single roll of dice than roleplay it out entirely). Also perform:sex applies when gaining profit as prostitute or similar career/method.

Seduction

This is separated subject as seduction is not sex but rather promise of sex, art of flirt etc. It can help to get into sexual encounter or simply talk poor commoner to spill his secrets for you. Seduction uses bluff skill and below is how it works in DC basic;

Secret          DC*     Example
Common      10        Password told to the city guard, known by 16 or more people
Uncommon   20        Identity of thieves' guild leader, known by 9 to 16 people
Valuable       30        A merchant ship hauling exotic goods, known by 5 to 8 people
Deadly          40        Plans to invade a foreign land, known by 3 to 4 people
Unutterable  50        The mental disability of a king, known by 3 or less people

*The DC assumes that the nonplayer character is indifferent. The Bluff check is modified by -20 if the NPC is hostile, -10 if the NPC is unfriendly, +5 if the NPC is friendly, and +10 if the NPC is helpful.

A typical seduce to learn secret check takes 1d4+1 hours and requires seduction. If the check succeeded by 10 or more, the attempt takes 1d4+1x10 minutes and only requires flirtation. If the check succeeded by 20 or more, the attempt takes 1d4+1 minutes and merely requires charm. Retries are not possible as the target becomes too suspicious.

Example; Lola the Warlock who is lesser aasimar has Cha 20 and has maxed her bluff in first level and also taken beguiling influence invocation to get +15 modifier on her bluff checks. The party needs find out where village's demonic cultists are so they go use gather information but none the locals are chatty (nonfriendly lot). So Lola instead goes use her charms to seduce local barkeep. Lola needs roll 20 to get any secret out of barkeep, so 5 or more with d20 roll. However demon cults are considered very unfavorable to local pelorite government (considered to be DC 20 to know about them or DC 40 if guy is member of the cult and reveals it to you). So DC is very least 30 to get anything out of barkeep (diplomacy can be used before seduction to ease up the roll).

However she rolls 17, meaning total result 32. So barkeep spills details about some locals who have started act weird and suspecting them to be demonic cultists (no proof but locals stick with their own before outsiders).

If Lola had planned sleep with the barkeep though, the DC to do so depends how much taboo the subject is to the person. DC 10 for most average people, DC 20 for pious/virtuous people, DC 30 for those take oaths to remain virgin and +10 to DC if person is married and by default loyal (or fearing a scandal). Exalted virgin oath feat taken people would be DC 50 always.

[Fey]

Oooh. I will come up with a sorceress for this.

[Zaer Darkwail]

If sorceress interests you, check homebrew thread (there is some changes to sorcerer class in there).

[PaleEnchantress]

All shall love me and despair! Interest marker, ill post something substantial later.

[Chulanowa]

Question - Define "Eberron Races"? 'Cause you've got the four i nthe campaign setting, then you've got all the lore-important "side races" like orcs, goblins, and gnolls, and the Players' Guide tells you all about where the "Races Of" races fit in Khorvaire...  ;D

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Color me interested

[Karasu]

definitely interested!

[Muse]

  I'm very interested as well. 

  Is this a bit enough sandbox that I could have two characters?  A guy and a gal? 

  Just checking.  :) 

[NinjaWeazel]

Hm. Tentatively interested, will see whats up after I read the homebrew section.

[Muse]

  Hey Zaer, is there any homebrew stuff on Wilders in your stories? 

[Zaer Darkwail]

Question - Define "Eberron Races"? 'Cause you've got the four i nthe campaign setting, then you've got all the lore-important "side races" like orcs, goblins, and gnolls, and the Players' Guide tells you all about where the "Races Of" races fit in Khorvaire...  ;D

Eberron Races indicate full list of them (at least playable ones, do not get me start on quori!). So can play goblin, hobgoblin, shifters, changelings, gnolls etc. So long they fit to 2 class levels you got and have no LA. If you play while and then want retire char (or second char slot opens), you may have more levels to work with and play with race with LA on it.

  I'm very interested as well. 

  Is this a bit enough sandbox that I could have two characters?  A guy and a gal? 

  Just checking.  :) 

I let for now single PC for every player for now. Things can change in future once game is going on though.

  Hey Zaer, is there any homebrew stuff on Wilders in your stories? 

No homebrew for wilders as I see them fairly balanced (as do wizards). But if playing wilder I do take account to add more psionic sort related adventures for them of course :)

[Muse]

  Hm... 

  Well, the wilder is my guy concept.  (and requires rather hihg points!)  So I'll look into a girl.  :) 

[NinjaWeazel]

Just a quick clarification:

'Swashbuckler merges with monk. Monk does not get Improved Flanking, Lucky nor Acrobatic Mastery features.' Does that mean it does get Weapon Finesse, Grace, Insightful Strike, Acrobatic Charge, Weakening/Wounding critical, and Slippery Mind?

[Fey]

Céleste

[Character sheet]

Céleste's father was a holy warrior who was raped by a succubus and committed suicide in disgrace when the fruit of that unholy union was presented to him. Only her family's long history of service to the church of the Silver Flame saved Céleste from being killed due to her fiendish origins. An obscure religious order in Thrane's countryside took her in, and imposed upon her a strict life of study and prayer, believing that nature would prevail over nurture.

Viewed with suspicion by her guardians and chafing under their strict discipline, Céleste was told that she was an orphan of the Last War. She only learned her dark origins when she began to manifest sorcerous powers due to the taint in her bloodline. Refusing to be feared and distrusted her entire life, and determined to prove that she was not the same evil her mother was, Céleste rebelled against the harsh, puritian ways forced on her. She ran away to become a wandering adventurer, and thus her journey across Eberron started.

Flamboyant, gregarious, brilliant and bold, Céleste thrives on attention and companionship. Despite turning her back on the church, she still believes in the abstract power of the Silver Flame and has not truly lost her faith. Céleste is unafraid to use sex and seduction to her advantage, believing that one must fight evil with whatever means one has, and delighting in turning the customary tools of evil against them. She wears provocative, scandalously revealing clothes, favoring angel-themed designs as ironic counterpoint to her heritage. A dark sorceress clad in angelic white, wielding infernal magic for the cause of good, Céleste hopes to master her fiend-blooded powers and become a renowned champion of the people. One day, she will travel to Shavarath, and make her birth mother answer for her crimes against the world of Eberron.

Céleste's longbow proficiency and Kn: Religion ranks represent her childhood education under the Church of the Silver Flame.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Just a quick clarification:

'Swashbuckler merges with monk. Monk does not get Improved Flanking, Lucky nor Acrobatic Mastery features.' Does that mean it does get Weapon Finesse, Grace, Insightful Strike, Acrobatic Charge, Weakening/Wounding critical, and Slippery Mind?

That's correct plus sort to replace Acrobatic Mastery the monks get in 11th level skill mastery (which uses wisdom than int to determine number of skills which to you can take 10 for).

For Céleste I want a character with divine and arcane spellcasting ability, both of roughly equal power. I'm thinking a 50/50 cleric/sorcerer multiclass leading to Mystic Theurge, and will probably start with cleric 1 sorcerer 1. However I've been told that this is supposedly very weak compared to a pure caster of only one class. Will it be bad enough to be a problem? I don't expect to be the most powerful character ever but I do want the character to be helpful enough that others want her in a group. I've looked at your homebrew Mystic Theurge modifications but don't really know enough about the game to tell what kind of impact they'd have.  :-)

Well, entering mystic theurge or similar split caster PrC's there is always trade off sacrifice higher level spells known compared to pure caster. So with mystic theurge I just made sure you do not sacrifice much of your other class features while entering PrC and make you simply very versatile caster (even if not know higher level spells you sacrifice little in actual CL wise how potent your spells are). Single level caster may run sooner out of spells than mystic theurge does (and with ability freely use twin spell for two low level spells gives added boost for action economy to cast buff spells or other spells quicker than most other classes do).

As tip you could take divine sorcerer variant from complete champion (divine familiar is very potent class feature as is able to get domain in 5th level to your arcane side). You could start as 2th level divine sorcerer (in short taking divine variant with divine familiar) to have more solid base as caster and then later get cleric levels (if you want your sorcery to be main focus in the start and later career as mystic theurge).

But up to you :). Even if players pick not so optimized options I take it into account when I design adventures and encounters for them.

[Kimera]

Interested in this one

[Kathyan]

Count me in too, I'll check your housebrew rules and come up with something

[NinjaWeazel]

And just to check, is Insightful Strike still INT-based, or does it shift to WIS since that's a big deal for monks?

[Zaer Darkwail]

Insightful Strike is still Int based (it allows you ignore Str entirely as a monk if you want to and be inteligent and wise monk example who hits like a truck with quick moves thanks using Dex for hit modifier). So with monk you have option either focus Str+Con+Wis or Dex+Int+Wis (as wisdom later besides providing AC bonus applies to your physical dmg as well and difference of the two is that Str relies for having more HP in general while later focuses more for higher AC). But overall with stat generation you should get 3 decent stat scores for the monk who are still bit MAD class but I gave just more options how to play with the stats.

[NinjaWeazel]

Excellent.  Debating between male human monk or knight (more of a mercenary). Will settle with one when I see more of what other people are bringing.

[Zaer Darkwail]

Ok, a Knight with more mercenary code of conduct works :).

[Dilaculo]

I'm going to express my interest in this. Eberron, with its Mage-punk aesthetic, is my favourite D&D campaign setting - bar none. I just need to decide what I want to play. An Artificer (d'Cannith, perhaps?) would be thematic, but. Changelings are also very fun, especially in this sort of game where they can be anyone, anywhere. Probably go Ninja in that case, with the merge of Spellthief into it. Or one of so many other options. Hrm.

[Thorne]

Hrmn... I remember that game, semi-fondly (there were some fun moments).
Might not roll with the artificer if I got into it again, though. Lemme give it some thought. ^^;

[Chulanowa]

Eberron Races indicate full list of them (at least playable ones, do not get me start on quori!). So can play goblin, hobgoblin, shifters, changelings, gnolls etc. So long they fit to 2 class levels you got and have no LA. If you play while and then want retire char (or second char slot opens), you may have more levels to work with and play with race with LA on it.

Hmmm, shit. Forgot that 3.5 gnolls are ECL 3. Stupid, stupid 3.5. Well, that still leaves lots of options.

[PaleEnchantress]

I'm trying to figure out how I could replicate my character the Melissadaeic Queen, Argat Bat Mahlaht. I've REALLY been wanting to play that character but s/he's hard enough to replicate is high level games.


Augmenting the Society Mind/Tactitian works for class but doesn't replicate the "Hive" features very well. Obviously he wouldn't have everything at level 2. He'd be struggling to get a foothold but there still isn't any obvious way to evolve into it either. Ideas?