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Source of Inspiration
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not an employee of Wizards of the Coast, and any answers given
here are in no way sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast. This is
NOT official material, and may be contradicted in future Eberron
sourcebooks or articles. My answers are in this forum my
opinions and reflect how I might run a situation in MY personal
campaign – nothing more.
August, 14, 2006
We've got a scattershot array of
questions this time around, covering kalashtar, shapechangers, and the
Draconic Prophecy.
QUESTION: If a human were transformed
via magic/psionic effect into a Kalashtar, would the quori spirit be
simply one from a random current line, a "trapped" spirit being yanked
into Eberron from their dream prison, or something else entirely?
Speaking personally, I'd say something
else entirely… namely, he wouldn't become a kalashtar at all. Races
of Eberron shows that when humans (or half-elves) and kalashtar
mate, if the child doesn't inherit the quori bond, he inherits the race
of the non-kalashtar parent. So I'd say that the character would be
transformed into a human or half-elf… that you can't FORCE someone to be
kalashtar, because without the connection, they are essentially human.
However, if you want to be able to create
new kalashtar in this manner, I would say that they would receive a link
to a random line. You don't really have "dream prisons"; the Dreaming
Dark devours any rebel Quori it captures to respawn them in its image.
QUESTION: (If you could create new kalashtar)
would the connection between "quori half" and "human half" of the
soul be stronger, as per the initial connections made with the long ago
monks of Adar (i.e. able to communicate directly) or the same level of
dilution the current generation endures?
If you follow the suggestion that they
get a link to a random line, the connection would have the same strength
as that of any other modern-day kalashtar.
Of course, if you WANT to say that the
newborn kalashtar somehow gains a connection to a completely new Quori
spirit – perhaps allowing Taratai to be reborn – it's your game! It
could certainly be the heart of a dramatic storyline. But I'd make it an
amazing and unprecedented thing, the sort of thing that only happens to
a player character… because if it was so easy to generate entirely new
kalashtar (or to recover lost spirits), they kalashtar would have done
it long ago.
QUESTION: According to the Monster Manual,
creatures with the shapechanger subtype possess simple weapon
proficiency. How does this apply to Changelings and shifters?
This is NOT the place for official
answers. I'm not the Sage or WotC Customer service. However, using my
insight into the design of the world I would say that it doesn't apply
at all. In my opinion, the weapon proficiencies only apply to creatures
that have racial hit dice. If you refer to the description of the
humanoid type, all humanoids are "proficient with all simple weapons, or
by character class." To the best of my knowledge, before Eberron there
weren't any shapechangers with no racial hit dice (in 3.5, at least) –
thus the MM statement always applied.
In any case, it wasn't the intention of
the designers for changelings or shifters to be proficient with all
simple weapons, and I'd apply the class levels of the character instead…
just like other humanoid races.
QUESTION: Would you consider a Dark
Prophecy to be likely? More than just "Unlovable" Sections of the
Draconic Prophecy but actually a different prophecy that contradicts
parts of the Prophecy?
You don't need a "Dark Prophecy" to
contradict the Draconic Prophecy… because the Prophecy contradicts
itself. One of the central ideas of the Draconic Prophecy is that it is
not immutable. It does not lay out a single path for the future: instead
it is a roadmap that provides the information needed to shape the
future. It will not say “King Boranel will die in 999 YK”, but it
might say “If the Orb of Blue Fire is shattered by one marked by
storms, the King of Breland will die within the year” (in more colorful
language, of course). Once the orb is destroyed, that next segment of
history is set in stone – but as long as the orb is intact, it might not
happen. And ANOTHER piece of the Prophecy may be found that says “If the
Orb of Blue Fire is sent to Syrania, the shattered nation will rise once
more.” This is the key to conflict among the Chamber, the Lords of Dust,
etc: the people who understand the Prophecy can choose the shape of the
future by controlling key events.
What this means is that player characters
CAN affect destiny. If they block one prophesized event, the entire
Prophecy doesn't collapse; it simply shifts to account for the change.
On the other hand, some things are immutable. In the example given
above, if the orb is shattered the King of Breland will die within the
year; because the Prophecy doesn't say how or where he will die, it's
going to be very hard for the PCs to find a way to protect him from
every possible threat. Of course, one might be able to play with
wording; the example I gave above said "the King of Breland"; if Boranel
abdicated and turned the throne to someone else, the destiny might pass
to this new king.
QUESTION: Would philosophers of the time
see the Draconic Prophecy as a point of divine intervention or just as
an example of how the natural law of Eberron works?
There are supporters of both arguments.
Anyone who seriously studies the Prophecy will see proof that there is a
supernatural force that apparently manifests through the environment and
living creatures and is capable of either predicting or shaping the
future. The question is, can it be proven that this is an INTELLIGENT
force? Or is it an aspect of the world itself? Bear in mind that it's
very hard for beings with the life-span of humans to effectively study
the Prophecy… but among those who attempt it, there is no clear
consensus.
QUESTION: Do you see the Dreaming Dark as
being concerned about the prophecy?
Overall? No, not really. In the grand
scheme of things, the quori just haven't been on Eberron for that long.
Furthermore, the VAST majority of the Prophecy concerns minutia of
Eberron that is of no interest to the quori. And to manipulate events in
a useful fashion, you often have to start with small obscure events,
working your way up to the things you really want; I think the quori
don't feel they need this. I see the dragons, Lords of Dust, and Undying
Court as being the primary students of the Prophecy.
However, it's entirely
possible that there are a few individual quori – most likely hashalaqs –
who are working to study the Prophecy, to see if it could help them.
It's just not something the quori as a whole are interested in.
QUESTION: Is there a Draconic Prophecy of each plane, or is it a
feature of the Material Plane?
In my opinion, the outer planes are in
many ways more stable that the material plane; one of the defining
elements of the material plane is the way in which ages and events shift
and change, and the fact that most of its inhabitants are mortal.
Shavarath doesn't have the same sort of overarching prophecy, but little
changes in Shavarath over the course of centuries; the war has been
going on since the dawn of time. Dal Quor has its changes, but these are
still glacial events. So I believe that the Draconic Prophecy is a
specific feature of the material plane, and applies to the destiny of
the material plane. Other planes may have lesser prophecies covering
brief spans of time… but nothing with the grand scope of the Draconic
Prophecy.
BUT… as always, this is off the top of my
head and completely unofficial; when an official source on the planes
appears, you may see a completely different answer.
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