Children of Cyre Overview

Campaign Information

Tone and Theme

Many of the core books for the setting go over the "10 Things you Need to Know About Eberron", but for the purposes of this campaign, I'm focusing on three key elements:

1. Situations where the lines between good and evil are not clear. I'm not saying that the characters can't be heroes, but rather, that they will likely be faced with challenging situations, where good-aligned NPCs could come into conflict with the PCs due to their differing goals, or an evil NPC may make for a close (if untrusted) ally.. In Eberron, many of the traditional rules about built-in alignments are not true. Evil-aligned metallic dragons are as common as good ones, and it's possible to run into good (or at least, neutral) mindflayers. Clerics can maintain their spellcasting ability without necessarily keeping the same alignment as their god. A good-aligned character may pay tribute to an evil deity who governs a part of their everyday life. Meanwhile, a fanatical evil priest may torture the enemies of his religion, all in the name of his Lawful Good deity. In this setting, being a hero is not a simple matter of always choosing the "good" outcome, but rather, a continual struggle to make the right choices.
2. The world has just come out of a period of one hundred years of war. A war which was largely unresolved. Today, the powers still move against one another in an ongoing cold war, and people do not ask if the Last War will start again, but rather, when. While many people truly desire peace and will work hard to preserve it, others are just looking for opportunities to kickstart the conflict. The scars of the war still lie heavily upon the continent, and the grudges and hatred will take generations to heal. Many questions about the war still remain unanswered, and the world is clearly in a state of change, with many new nations having been forged out of the old. In this time of chaos, is peace even possible?
3. Society in Eberron is much more advanced than in traditional D&D settings, owing to the prevalence of magic, and the Dragonborn Houses. Many features of 19th Century Europe have been replicated through the use of magic. Newspapers are printed on a daily and weekly basis. Transportation takes the form of elementally driven trains, and airships. Communcation between cities is common. Textiles are mass produced. Magical lighting is common in the major cities, and the main thoroughfares of smaller ones. Magic is used to increase the production of food, and to breed stronger animals and plants. Many craftsmen use minor magic to improve the quality of their goods. But this is not to say that Eberron has a lot of powerful spellcasters. Better to say that Eberron's magic is broad and wide, but not deep. There are many, many low powered casters in the world, simple men and women who only know a spell or two to help them with their daily work. Truly powerful magic is still quite rare.

Campaign Scope

I'm planning for this to be a full length campaign, starting from level 1 running until level 20. With an average session every 1.5 weeks, and some assumptions about the number of sessions for each level, my best guess says the campaign will likely run for about a year and a half.

Character Creation

Stat Generation

Standard point buy (27 points) applies. Please see PHB p. 13 for details.

Races

• Humans - Humans are by far the most populous civilized people in Khorvaire. They control more dragonmarks then any other race. They are the dominant race in each of the Five Nations. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from a number of different cultures.
  • Cyran - Cyre was always known as the centre of culture and art in ancient Galifar. Her people loved music and experiment with music and culture in often unconventional ways. Beauty and magic were the daily bread of the Cyran people, and the land was known as the Jewel of Galifar. Cyrans were always a passionate and flamboyant people. In the wake of the Last War, and the Day of Mourning that destroyed their homeland, many of the survivors have fallen into a dark depression. Others still carry their love of their homeland with them, and are determined to make Cyre great once more.
  • Karrnathi - Karrnath was always a stark contrast with Cyre. A cold, northern climate combined with a rich military heritage has forged a grim, serious people. The nation remains under martial law despite the end of the war, with no end in sight. Many would consider the Karrnathi to be cold and unfriendly, but despite this, loyalty to their friends, allies, and their land is central to the heart of Karrnath.
  • Thrane - Thrane, and her people, are fiercely dedicated to the Church of the Silver Flame, a Lawful Good religion dedicated to the eradication of supernatural evil. During the Last War, the monarchy surrendered rulership of the nation, and it was assumed by the Church itself. The overwhelming majority of Thranes are honest, proud, and passionate people who believe in the Church and its mission. Despite the presence of zealots, most members of the Church are very tolerant of other religions and beliefs.
  • Aundairian - Aundair is a land of brave Knights and proud Wizards, of verdant fields, and fragrant vineyards. Aundair is a land of Chivalry and Magic, with a proud tradition of both. Her people are know to be proud (some would say arrogant), and the land was only second to Cyre in its beauty and grace. Beyond this, Audairian loves knowledge, and have many great organizations dedicated to the acquisition and protection of knowledge. Audairians seems to be particuarly devout people as well, although the subjections of their devotion vary widely from the members of the Sovereign Host, to the Church, to strange cults and religions that have small followings in the cities.
  • Brelish - The Brelish people love one thing above all others: freedom. As a nation they have establish a national, partially- elected parliament which aids the King in governing the country. Individual farmers have a drive to succeed and improve their own lot in life that is rarely seen in the other nations. The Brelish tend to exhibit an attitude of acceptance and tolerance which lends a metropolitan air to it's great cities and urban centres.
• Elves - The elves of Khorvaire come from three primary cultures, described below.
  • Khorvaire - These are the elves which have integrated into human society. By and large they are of this same character as the human members of the nations from which they hail, although they may have a few distinctly elven differences.
  • Valenar - The Valenar elves are a proud, warrior culture, dedicated to honoring their ancestor, who battled for freedom against the giants in ancient Xen'drik. They are experts at guerrilla warfare, and are the finest light cavalary in the world. Heroic deeds and glory in battle are the two primary virtues of the Valenar. They value their horses and their patron ancestors above all things, and have made few friends in Khorvaire since their arrival some 70 years ago.
  • Aerenal - Aerenal is an island nation, which has been stable for millenia. Her people are insular and reserved, and very few travel outside of their traditional homelands. They are masters of magic, and an attitude towards death that most outsiders would consider bizarre. Their ancestors walk among them as undead, brought back to life through positive energy. These ancient beings rule their people, and guide them.
• Dwarves - Dwarves are miners and smiths, and they control most of the natural metals found across the continent of Khorvaire. Powerful dwarf families mint coinage and operate banks, issue letters of credit, hold loans, and collect debts. Dwarf bankers and merchants wield a great deal of economic power throughout Khorvaire, and they are well respected as a result. To an extent, they are also feared, since dwarves are known to be ruthless in collecting unpaid debts.
• Halflings
  • Khorvaire
  • Talenta
• Half-Elves
• Half-Orcs
• Gnomes - Gnomes harbor a thirst for knowledge that can only be described as lust. They believe that every piece of information, no matter how trivial, may someday have value. Combined with a meticulous discipline, this love of knowledge makes gnomes superb librarians, accountants, bards, and alchemists, but this attitude has a sinister side as well. The same talents that make an accomplished bard can produce a skilled spy, and gnome society is filled with webs of intrigue and blackmail that often pass completely unnoticed by human eyes. Like the dwarves, the gnomes have no history of empire building, but their talents for diplomacy and espionage have allowed them to maintain their independence throughout the history of Khorvaire. In addition to their skill as alchemists, gnomes have mastered the art of elemental binding, which they use to power the ships and other vessels they construct in the dry docks

and shipyards of Zilargo.

• Tieflings
• Changelings
• Warforged
• Shifters

If you have a particular race other than the above that you would like to play, please contact me directly and we can discuss how to make it work in play.

Classes

All standard PHB classes are permitted. If you are interested in a class or build from a different source, please let me know so I can review it ahead of time.

History

Please give some thought to what your character was doing during The Last War, and how it affected their life. Also, with the campaign being centered around New Cyre, I'd advise players to have their characters either be Cyran, or to have a good reason for being invested in the community.

Optional Rules

New Feat: Dragonmark

You have a magical mark that indicates you are a member of one of the dragonmarked houses. Select one of the options from the Dragonmarks table, you must belong to the race listed. You gain the ability to innately cast spells and cantrips, as summarized in the Dragonmark Benefits table, using the spellcasting ability listed under the Ability column. You cast each spell at its lowest level. You may cast a cantrip granted by this ability at-will. Other spells, once cast this way, require you to complete a long rest before you can cast it innately again. You must still expend any material components. Your dragonmark confers the following benefits:

• When you first take this feat, you gain the least dragonmark. You learn the spells listed under the Least column as well as the Cantrip column.
• At 5th level and higher, your mark becomes more potent, improving to lesser dragonmark. You also learn the spell listed under the Lesser column.
• At 9th level and higher, your mark’s power increases again, becoming a greater dragonmark. You also learn the spell listed under the Greater column.

SPECIAL: A 1st-level character may reduce their starting point buy pool from 27 to 22 points to begin play with this feat.

Mark	House	Race	Ability	Cantrip	Least	Lesser	Greater
Detection	Medani	Half-elf	Wisdom	Mage hand	Detect magic	Detect Thoughts	Clairvoyance
Finding	Tharashk	Half-orc, human	Wisdom	Mage hand	Identify	Locate object	Clairvoyance
Handling	Vadalis	Human	Wisdom	Druidcraft	Speak with animals	Beast sense	Conjure animals
Healing	Jorasco	Halfling	Wisdom	Spare the dying	Cure wounds	Lesser Restoration	Revivify
Hospitality	Ghallanda	Halfling	Charisma	Friends	Unseen servant	Rope Trick	Leomund's Tiny Hut
Making	Cannith	Human	Intelligence	Mending	Identify	Magic weapon	Fabricate
Passage	Orien	Human	Intelligence	Light	Expeditious retreat	Misty step	Teleportation circle
Scribing	Sivis	Gnome	Intelligence	Message	Comprehend languages	Sending	Tongues
Sentinel	Deneith	Human	Wisdom	Blade ward	Compelled duel	Blur	Protection from energy
Shadow	Phiarlan, Thuranni	Elf	Charisma	Dancing lights	Disguise self	Darkness	Nondetection
Storm	Lyrander	Half-elf	Intelligence	Shocking grasp	Fog cloud	Gust of wind	Sleet storm
Warding	Kundarak	Dwarf	Intelligence	Resistance	Alarm	Arcane lock	Magic circle