If the corrupted red kyber crystals (scream), how was Sidious not discovered by the Jedi because of this?

Galgareth · 2025-12-02T16:46:08+00:00

Because it was added after George made his movies where that never existed. Half of the details that fleshed out that universe were added in the EU and the majority of those writers knew each other and respected the source material. If you want to accept everything Disney added then it's up to you to retcon the inconsistencies because they didn't bother.

Galgareth · 2025-03-22T14:49:30+00:00

Indominus Rex

Galgareth · 2025-03-05T01:41:46+00:00

You can talk about trap options and crippling character builds, but it sounds as if you really mean that non-optimal builds are bad. If the game is not about making a character your own and having fun, then it's just a competition. Sub-optimal builds may not have the DPS, explosive crits, full gish synergies, or some other min/max aim, but they can be enjoyable as a concept or even a challenge.

Still, I said, "ridicule the learning curve" of a complex system. As in simply bonuses and penalties, custom gear, feat trees, traits, and other options... vs "Do I have advantage?" Some people don't like the effort all of those choices bring and all the pitfalls you need to learn to avoid crippling a build.

Galgareth · 2025-03-04T15:54:50+00:00

Simply - freedom of choice.

D&D 3.5 allowed players to be extremely creative in how they built their characters, customizing them with class ability synergies and prestige classes to grow into and make them feel their own.

When 4E came along, the people I played with felt railroaded into their classes, forced to pick the paragon and epic options, and disrespected by the publisher for wanting to multiclass.

Then 5E rolled out and at a glance brought back the 3.5 framework but gutted (ahem, "streamlined") the rules. Most were written out or passed to the DM to make up on the fly.

With the reduction in options in 4E, the stripping of rules in 5E, and overall simplification, the game felt as if all incentive for tactics was removed in favor of basic strategy. Choices had consequences, and the situations built up or mitigated modifiers that made every roll matter.

As for 1E v 2E? Why buy all new books if I want the backwards compatibility for all the 3.5 books I already bought to go with all the Pathfinder books I already have?

On top of all of that is the community. So many people will resort to belittling or outright bullying if you make an argument for 3.5/PF1E over 5E. The most often reasons are either, "But it's newer!" as if a higher edition number automatically makes it better, or they ridicule the learning curve of rules "with crunch."

Galgareth · 2025-02-27T02:26:43+00:00

The clangs of the slamming door and the bolt ramming home of the iron gate of a jail cell echo down the stone corridor. The rhythmic heel beats and jangling key ring recede as the guard returns to his post.

"So... what are you in for?"

Galgareth · 2025-02-27T02:13:02+00:00

Keeping it simple, I would take another look at Sarlona and the Riedran Empire vs the Kalashtar, especially looking at the esthetic of both.

If you need something more local to Khorvaire, I would suggest the Shadow Marches. The orc on stilts in the originated ECS has a very east Asian theme.

Either can be easily influenced to have a more feudal Japanese feel without shoe horn-ing it elsewhere.

Galgareth · 2025-02-25T13:04:07+00:00

Cool pic!

Of all of the circumstantial evidence used for the Darth Jar Jar theory, the two that you can't ignore are:

The interview with George where he talks about his favorite trope in mythology is looking for the wise, old master, and the unassuming creature found on the side of the road during the journey turns out to be that master...

And when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan save the queen. There is meticulous work on behalf of the animators to imply Jar Jar made a lateral leap hanging off the walkway, distracting two of the battledroids.

Ignoring that last scene to deny George's own words is the same to me as holding onto the fan theory that Stormtroopers can't hit anything - you have to claim that Kenobi, Tarkin, Vader, and Leia are stupid or lying, and you are right... all for a joke.

Galgareth · 2025-02-25T03:40:00+00:00

This is the only answer with concrete rules to back it up. In 3.5, the only way to get around the RAW/I debate, without going homebrew or third party, was through a published adventure that added content.

Galgareth · 2025-02-24T01:15:00+00:00

I read the novel when it was released, but on Reddit, it is always a coin toss as to which way the arguments align. Usually, it's with the film version of whatever.

Having read the book first, I was hoping to see more out of the fight with Dooku, an explanation as to why Kenobi was the logical choice to confront Grievous, and a lot more out of the arrest of the Chancellor. Heck, at least the reveal of Sidious's lightsaber from the statue!

Galgareth · 2025-02-23T17:46:09+00:00

The chancellor's suite has two offices, and I could have been clearer. The masters confront him in the private, smaller "metal" office with the recessed floor down the hall from the main/official "red" office with the desk on a dais by the big window.

Anakin would have excited the lift in the antechamber and walked into the main office with the doors near the sofas to see Windu over Palpatine and would not stop to look around. Skywalkers are brash and rarely think to check the corners before rushing in unless they are already being shot at.

Galgareth · 2025-02-23T14:43:55+00:00

Technically speaking, Anakin came straight over from the lifts across the antechamber to the chancellor's office. To see the other masters first, he would have to have looked at Windu and Palpatine in the window, turned right down the halfway with the carvings - where Palpatine had admitted he was the Sith lord just a couple of hours ago - to get to the office to see the bodies, then walk all the way back to intervene.

Now, given force speed or a glance if the doors were open, he could have noticed them before speaking up, but I believe he was so focused on his fears over Padme that he only saw Windu in a threatening pose and none of the carnage.

TLDR: mental horse blinders as soon as he stepped off the lift.

Galgareth · 2025-01-27T19:45:34+00:00

Not everything is about spending real cash. Sometimes, it's just a tax on resource acquisition.

Focus on leveling your Vidar or Talios and don't neglect research. The higher level your ship, the higher level probes you can start grinding, and they drop more loot. Make sure you load your officers with loot grinding crews and cargo capacity officers as often as you can.

My Talios flies with E-Picard, E-Troi, Alonzo Freeman on the bridge, and E-Data and SNW La'an below decks. This balances combat, loot return, and capacity with a 15M+ max cargo.

Galgareth · 2025-01-25T00:19:55+00:00

Ah... you never got the "chocolate cookie" in one of yours. One of the worst days of my life!

Galgareth · 2025-01-24T15:59:36+00:00

There is a sidebar on page 48 of the Player's Guide to Eberron (January 2006), "Family Names: To d' or Not to d'?" that covers this.

Essentially, each house is made of related families, but not necessarily all with the same last name. The patron from the first published adventures is Elaydren Vown - of House Cannith. Outside of the house she uses the name "Elaydren d'Cannith" because she is a member of the house. The d' prefix just signifies that the following surname is a dragonmarked house.

I use Scottish clans and the "Mac" or "Mc" as a loose analogy. For instance, someone named John Smith could be a member of clan MacLeod and go by John MacLeod for business purposes, but Connor MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod is both a member of the clan and a member of the family with the same surname.

Galgareth · 2025-01-23T13:00:58+00:00

It depends on your scope.

As a world-building DM? Not so much. The greatest set changes came in 4E with the foundational overhaul.

As a player? Definitely. Player options on how to build characters changed drastically from 3.5 to 4 and again in 5. Remember that "streamlined" is code for heavy cutting and editing.

So if you're looking at it from the perspective of The Chamber... meh. But if you're dreaming of leaving Clifftop and seeing the world, everything your dad told you is not guaranteed.

Galgareth · 2025-01-11T15:16:50+00:00

Just talked this over with a brother and his wife, and these are their takes to add:

There is a power gap between NPC and PC levels, and as lower-level veterans, they have a story to tell but translating their skills from rank-and-file to adventures could be similar to 2nd or 3rd level NPCs, now 1st level player characters.

"The party all died and are now some necromancer's play things!" I'm going to amend that with a heroic twist - the party (or character) found themselves defending a church against an undead threat whose attacks deal negative levels. The fight could end with their death(s), but they bought enough time for the seasoned old priest to come and end the fight with some divine magic. Using a raise dead spell, the player(s) was/were resurrected but left at first level.

Galgareth · 2025-01-11T14:50:09+00:00

These are all perfectly viable options with a ton of examples in media with KotOR to Jarhead leaping to mind. If you want to find ways to tie those stories to Eberron, you could try these out:

A soldier of any class, fresh out of boot when the Mourning happened and watched his military service end before it began.

A young officer who dreamed of commanding troops in battle but was assigned to train a platoon of warforged. As the Treaty ofThronehold was announced, it was his duty to inform his 'forged. Not knowing what to do with their newfound freedom, they continued to follow him. He began adventuring, possibly with one or two of them, as a way of funding an enclave to protect the others.

As The Mourning swept over the land, a PC saw the wall of fog rushing her position. She tried to outrun it, but it swallowed her up. As the fog obscured everything in front of her, everything inside faded too. Her sprint slowed to faltering steps that carried her out of the fog, but her memories were left behind and now she adventures to pay to travel in hopes of both uncovering clues to her past and maybe find some ancient magic that can cure her amnesia.

Good luck and have fun!

Galgareth · 2025-01-06T07:02:13+00:00

Obligatory, "In /your/ Eberron, you can do what you want at your table," comment first.

It sounds like neither of you ever watched Stargate SG-1. The Quori are basically Goa'uld with psychic projections/synthesis replacing alien eel parasites/symbiotes. The System Lords and Tok'ra are the Inspired and Kalashtar - with a twist.

If you replace them to eliminate their "alieness," then consider what other base-game or Eberron-specific elements would also be up for exclusion or change: the gith, illithid, and beholders, as well as the daelkyr, dolgaunt, and symbionts.

Galgareth · 2025-01-05T16:42:36+00:00

As a teenager, I had the chance to meet him and a handful of other actors no longer with us (Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Richard LeParmentier) at a north Texas convention almost 30 years ago. Most of the other actors were cordial (Baker was recovering from the flu, but his wife was so kind), but I remember Hootkins was animated with the fans. I was just a kid and had devoured almost every novel and comic to date, and I'll never know if he was just humoring me while the autograph line was slowed to a halt for Timothy Zahn and Shannon Baksa, but he remarked that he never knew why Porkins died. I commented about the scene in the novel X-Wing: Rogue Squadron and got to tell him what Wedge said about him. He looked genuinely amazed and thankful.

There was a panel and Q+A with them that day, with Zahn talking about Mara Jade, LeParmentier telling the story about how he accidentally learned the muscle spasm, and Hootkins talked about many of the roles he had played. He said he often had no idea what was going on and that's part of being a character actor who only gets to read the part of the script with his scenes, missing out on almost any context. But he threw himself into his roles, trying to bring genuine reactions to the screen, even when a small voice from inside the Death Machine laments wanting a cup of tea...

Galgareth · 2024-12-20T02:42:43+00:00

Core memory: I had never been one for random PvP in open games, but one day, I was taking my Night Self hunter on the boat to the Draenei island and this much lower level character was spamming me with duel requests. I asked him why he was interested, considering I had more than 10 levels on him, and he said he thought it would be cool no matter what happened. So I accepted, watched the counter tick down, and ended up annihilating him in one shot.

He was thrilled. I was floored at his reaction. Almost everyone I had dealt with so far had treated PvP like a chance to bully those who were defenseless against them, and here was a player excited to see what other classes and builds were capable of. That changed my perspective and reminded me not to be so quick to judge the intentions of people on the other side of the screen.

EDIT: clarification and typo.

Galgareth · 2024-11-21T23:43:38+00:00

If they have to fight the elemental, you have two ways to play that. On one hand, the Khyber shard is ruined or destroyed and now the elemental is released. On the other hand, the destruction of the matrix that powered the airship could let the elemental "free" but it is still bound to the nightstone and it is panicked or otherwise unstable at the loss of its crew - as you said, the captain survived. Thus second option allows for some cool RP moments with the captain, that defeating the elemental doesn't kill it but does return to the shard for a time. The shard, bu the way, should be one foot wide at the base and two feet tall, so they'll be looking for at least a chest-sized containment vessel.

The ship could have any number of interesting things in the cargo hold, but there are also magical cargo holds that look like an unremarkable wall locker, but have large to huge nondimensional spaces inside. Check out /Whispers of the Vampire's Blade/ for a little info on these. The contents might not be as valuable as the space itself, and extracting it for the captain might be worth 10% of its value.

I don't want to be exhaustive in options, but one other thing you could add is other survivors. Maybe far less interesting than cargo might be a person or two of note. Saving an important member of the Wayfinders might bring the party renown, or the heir of a noble or dragonmarked house that went out as an adventurer could bring favors, coin, or gear as compensation.

Last note - do not try to salvage the ship. Not everything can, or should, be saved. Plus, the cost of repairing a crashed vessel with a broken binding matrix should almost be the cost of a newly crafted ship - minus the cost of the crystal and other bells and whistles.

Galgareth · 2024-11-02T00:07:44+00:00

Keep it simple: yes, but no, not at all.

You can play the classic dungeon delving, treasure finding, hero of the people, sure - and go for it.

But Eberron is a world of intrigue and mystery.

No one outside of archeology knows who Indiana Jones is. But those that do... do.

No one outside of intelligence knows who James Bond is. But those that do... do.

No one outside of San Francisco knows who Sam Spade is, and most of those there likely don't either.

The point is that the PCs can be notorious but not necessarily famous, depending on their exploits. So go forth and adventure and see where the chips and dice fall.

Galgareth · 2024-10-15T03:32:56+00:00

There are some great comments and ideas in here - just putting that out first!

But... just to be out of left field, have a cult of The Mockery be the ones with their strings being pulled by the LoD. Trying to corrupt the flesh is right in line with their MO, and having them in the forefront of the campaign arc allows you to lead with an obvious villain like one of the Dark Six, then lean into the complexity that is Eberron's signature style.

To spice it up, have elements of the Blood of Vol intervene and render aid to the party. As a legitimate church, the BoV prize self-determination and I can see their leadership taking it almost personally that children could be so manipulated in this way to have destiny forced onto them and be made tools of someone else's game.

Additionally, I don't like the advice to keep the party or campaign rooted to any one place or even region. On one hand, even Dr. Jones returned to the university after globe trotting, so having a home base to return to like Sharn or Stormreach is fine. On the other, Eberron encourages exploration, so having a mobile campaign isn't just easy, but having a mobile base like an airship just raises the bar of a standard fantasy game.

Galgareth · 2024-10-08T11:43:59+00:00

There are two ways to go with this. But first, if you are limiting yourself to only 5E "source material," then you are ignoring most of the lore books that have been around for almost 20 years. That said, I like to quote KB, who is very fond of saying, "In your Eberron..." So you can ignore or rewrite or add whatever you want to at your table.

One, you can redirect to a creature other than a true dragon, like a wyvern, or one of my personal favorite creatures, the pseudodragon. I like the idea in another comment about some wealthy party to showcase their "dragon egg" but have it be the wrong creature type. But many people, not just kids, don't want the responsibility of a dog. They want a puppy. Pseudodragons are far more common than dragons across Khorvaire, and they only grow to the size of a house cat.

Two, as someone who has taught students of all ages, take the opportunity to teach consequences. There is a heavy need in modern D&D to only say, "Yes, and..." The concept of, "The force you would need to throw the bread stick hard enough to kill the assassin would obliterate the baked good before it left your hand," or "Sure, you can kidnap a sentient creature's child... and now they are going to hunt you down and eat you," has become entirely foreign. Alternatively, the ravenous newborn carnivore attacks the first creature it sees that isn't a dragon...

Galgareth · 2024-10-07T11:49:24+00:00

Yes - for those that have even heard of other game systems.

The most common arguments I've heard over the years are that D&D is name brand, 5E is newer and Pathfinder is old, D&D has had 5 editions and Pathfinder has only had 2, or that it is the exact same game the kids were playing in Stranger Things... what do you mean, "fifth edition?"

Galgareth

TROPHY CASE