BOSSYTHECOW.COM

The Home of Writer and Game Designer Keith Baker
 

 

Text: Keith Baker        Tech: Ellen "Honeycakes" Baker     Art: Lee Moyer

Home

Bossy Comics

Resume

Baker's Dozen

Features

Dreaming Dark

Images

Honeycakes Diaries

Links

Email Keith

Search

 

   
 Ask the DREAMING DARK


A Source of Inspiration 

Disclaimer: Eberron is property of Wizards of the Coast. I am 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.
 

Ask the Dreaming Dark Main Page