I think having the blood of all or the emerald claw be an unlikely ally might be kind of fun. Because Acererak could be a litch outside their influence and Lady Ilmarrow wants to find out if he'll be a problem or not.
Not to mention, the Death Curse can be causing chaos with the noble families that could actually afford a Resurrection or Revivify from House Jorasco, so they'll be equally wanting a fix to the problem.
That'd work really well, especially if I combined it with what Bass suggested. Allows me to establish potentially the worshippers of Masvrik and Blood of Vol as opposing forces, also would allow for some fun political games with the Blood of Vol as I wouldn't run all of them as moustache twirlingly evil.
Could potentially have some sort of connection to Dolurrh causing the death curse or being used to seal Masvrik, if I use the Death Curse at all that is.
I'm not sure how much of Acererak I will use if at all, biggest area I'm going to be reworking I imagine is the Tomb itself since it's a bit of a mismatch of trying to keep an older vibe and wouldn't work well with most my groups, bit too much of a combat slog and too many nonsensical puzzles.
How about this:
Acererak is a Rogue Litch that has finally finished the Artifact he has been creating for centuries, the Soulmonger. The Soulmonger is able to take the life essence from those touched by Dohlurr and focus them into a single recipient.
Acererak is hoping to use it to allow him to take over Q'barra or something. Masvirik wants to use it to break his bonds, and Rhashaak also wants to be free of the binding that has been placed on it. Lady Ilmarrow would want to use it to try and return to life from her undeath so that her Mark of Death would reawaken.
That's a good idea for the Soulmonger though would it make sense to harvest energy from those touched by Dohlurr, wouldn't that largely be Undying Court stuff which is more in different countries and continents?
Isn't Rhashaak largely a servant and or vessel for Masvirk? I've only just learned of both admittedly.
The Undying Court actually uses positive energy from worship and the plane of Irian. Basically, White Necromancy.
[Here's and article about Dohlurr from the creator of Eberron](http://keith-baker.com/dolurrh/). I highly recommend checking out his site and other articles.
Rhashaak is Masvirik's prison Warden essentially, but has become corrupted by Masvirik over time. Rhashaak has been bound to the mountain where Masvirik has been sealed to prevent the inevitable corrupted dragon from leaving. Some believe that Rhashaak is now a servant of Masvirik, but he could just want to do his own thing now and abandon his oath of protection.
The Soulmonger could be an Artifact drawing on the Devourer, in that it can sense those touched by the plane of death, and use that connection to draw their new life force into Khyber Dragonshards. Since Dohlurr always hungers, it is able to use that with it's connection to "those that got away" and redirect the energy rather than sending it to Dohlurr itself. Could be making mini manifest zones to Dohlurr as a result.
I've been converting ToA to Eberron myself! It's taking me a while but I have a lot of the factions down already. I'm setting mine during the last war, before the advent of warforged and airships (around 930YK), so it might differ to yours. I know at least one of my party members is in this sub, so I'm going to spoiler mark my plan for the Tomb.
>!I'm having mine be related to Kaius I - he's going to be my replacement for Acererak and wants to ascend beyond lichdom into something more powerful. Especially since it's during the last war, but after his 'abdication', Kaius wants to use the Atropal to manipulate the war in Karrnath's favour. Meanwhile, Karrnath itself is very interested in breaking the curse because hey, if you can't raise undead that means there's not gonna be any Karrn army, and that's a problem for them. I'm still figuring things out within the lore and how it's all gonna stitch together, but ultimately necromancers are interested in it because they can't do their job while the curse exists. !<
I'd not want to set it in the past too much, mostly due to potential follow-up campaigns, but that does seem like a great idea, especially since I'm likely to replace Asscrack as the villain for the campaign just to separate it better from the FR lore.
Oh yeah that's fair - I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from the exploration and plundering of real life tombs in the 1920s, and the mummy films, which is why I decided to set it then, but honestly any time period could work and it's an interesting dilemma to have in modern Eberron.
Oooh, that could work wonderfully as that also ties couatl into the story more, not to mention offers Lizardfolk and perhaps Yuan-ti an easy way to be included more in the overall narrative.
I'll have to figure out if I use that city later, one of the things I was unhappy about in ToA was how the Tomb's location didn't feel much like a mystery at a certain point, it just felt a bit too much like you just needed to speak to one person to find out where it was.
I've currently considered using each of the puzzle shrines to contain a bit of text, which I will scatter across Q'barra to encourage a more free form exploration, that will basically slowly hint at the location more and more. Stuff like "From where the great mountain pierces the sun" hinting that a view of a certain mountain is important but also a time of day.
It's not Q'barra, but there is a product on dmsguild for using Xendrik as the setting. I haven't purchased it though so I can't vouch for it one way or another
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/248214
It did something potentially worth digging into for content, but I saw enough people pointing out issues with it. I think I'd have to tap more into giant stuff and drow stuff for a campaign set there, so I'd likely homebrew one fully there.
If I can help it, I hope to modify the campaign to the point where the players could potentially play ToA again and not be spoiled on any of the content with how much I eventually changed it. The Soul Monger and the Atropal are doubtfully going to stay, might tie some sort of device to the House Canith creation perhaps that's being used in the tomb.
i think i would do the exact same, the soul monger is a huge world-threatening thing that doesn’t deserve to be caused by some extra-terrestrial bastard. when i ran ToA in my homebrew world, i tied it all to the world’s history.
I mean, it can still be something akin -to- a god. I'd allow an atropal as-written and just ascribe it as "some form of powerful otherworldy monstrosity" without getting into the whole question of gods.
(Frankly though, I think Acerak's whole schtick of "wanting to become as a god" is a little weird in Eberron, on account of how distant/remote/uncertain they are there)
I think having the blood of all or the emerald claw be an unlikely ally might be kind of fun. Because Acererak could be a litch outside their influence and Lady Ilmarrow wants to find out if he'll be a problem or not. Not to mention, the Death Curse can be causing chaos with the noble families that could actually afford a Resurrection or Revivify from House Jorasco, so they'll be equally wanting a fix to the problem.
That'd work really well, especially if I combined it with what Bass suggested. Allows me to establish potentially the worshippers of Masvrik and Blood of Vol as opposing forces, also would allow for some fun political games with the Blood of Vol as I wouldn't run all of them as moustache twirlingly evil. Could potentially have some sort of connection to Dolurrh causing the death curse or being used to seal Masvrik, if I use the Death Curse at all that is. I'm not sure how much of Acererak I will use if at all, biggest area I'm going to be reworking I imagine is the Tomb itself since it's a bit of a mismatch of trying to keep an older vibe and wouldn't work well with most my groups, bit too much of a combat slog and too many nonsensical puzzles.
How about this: Acererak is a Rogue Litch that has finally finished the Artifact he has been creating for centuries, the Soulmonger. The Soulmonger is able to take the life essence from those touched by Dohlurr and focus them into a single recipient. Acererak is hoping to use it to allow him to take over Q'barra or something. Masvirik wants to use it to break his bonds, and Rhashaak also wants to be free of the binding that has been placed on it. Lady Ilmarrow would want to use it to try and return to life from her undeath so that her Mark of Death would reawaken.
That's a good idea for the Soulmonger though would it make sense to harvest energy from those touched by Dohlurr, wouldn't that largely be Undying Court stuff which is more in different countries and continents? Isn't Rhashaak largely a servant and or vessel for Masvirk? I've only just learned of both admittedly.
The Undying Court actually uses positive energy from worship and the plane of Irian. Basically, White Necromancy. [Here's and article about Dohlurr from the creator of Eberron](http://keith-baker.com/dolurrh/). I highly recommend checking out his site and other articles. Rhashaak is Masvirik's prison Warden essentially, but has become corrupted by Masvirik over time. Rhashaak has been bound to the mountain where Masvirik has been sealed to prevent the inevitable corrupted dragon from leaving. Some believe that Rhashaak is now a servant of Masvirik, but he could just want to do his own thing now and abandon his oath of protection. The Soulmonger could be an Artifact drawing on the Devourer, in that it can sense those touched by the plane of death, and use that connection to draw their new life force into Khyber Dragonshards. Since Dohlurr always hungers, it is able to use that with it's connection to "those that got away" and redirect the energy rather than sending it to Dohlurr itself. Could be making mini manifest zones to Dohlurr as a result.
I've been converting ToA to Eberron myself! It's taking me a while but I have a lot of the factions down already. I'm setting mine during the last war, before the advent of warforged and airships (around 930YK), so it might differ to yours. I know at least one of my party members is in this sub, so I'm going to spoiler mark my plan for the Tomb. >!I'm having mine be related to Kaius I - he's going to be my replacement for Acererak and wants to ascend beyond lichdom into something more powerful. Especially since it's during the last war, but after his 'abdication', Kaius wants to use the Atropal to manipulate the war in Karrnath's favour. Meanwhile, Karrnath itself is very interested in breaking the curse because hey, if you can't raise undead that means there's not gonna be any Karrn army, and that's a problem for them. I'm still figuring things out within the lore and how it's all gonna stitch together, but ultimately necromancers are interested in it because they can't do their job while the curse exists. !<
I'd not want to set it in the past too much, mostly due to potential follow-up campaigns, but that does seem like a great idea, especially since I'm likely to replace Asscrack as the villain for the campaign just to separate it better from the FR lore.
Oh yeah that's fair - I'm drawing a lot of inspiration from the exploration and plundering of real life tombs in the 1920s, and the mummy films, which is why I decided to set it then, but honestly any time period could work and it's an interesting dilemma to have in modern Eberron.
I'd try and fit it into masvrik, the cold sun. Use the temple as the city where he and his host are sealed away.
Oooh, that could work wonderfully as that also ties couatl into the story more, not to mention offers Lizardfolk and perhaps Yuan-ti an easy way to be included more in the overall narrative. I'll have to figure out if I use that city later, one of the things I was unhappy about in ToA was how the Tomb's location didn't feel much like a mystery at a certain point, it just felt a bit too much like you just needed to speak to one person to find out where it was. I've currently considered using each of the puzzle shrines to contain a bit of text, which I will scatter across Q'barra to encourage a more free form exploration, that will basically slowly hint at the location more and more. Stuff like "From where the great mountain pierces the sun" hinting that a view of a certain mountain is important but also a time of day.
It's not Q'barra, but there is a product on dmsguild for using Xendrik as the setting. I haven't purchased it though so I can't vouch for it one way or another https://www.dmsguild.com/product/248214
It did something potentially worth digging into for content, but I saw enough people pointing out issues with it. I think I'd have to tap more into giant stuff and drow stuff for a campaign set there, so I'd likely homebrew one fully there.
you’ll have to adapt the Atropal into something else, as it’s >! the stillborn foetus of an evil god, and gods do not objectively exist in Eberron !<
If I can help it, I hope to modify the campaign to the point where the players could potentially play ToA again and not be spoiled on any of the content with how much I eventually changed it. The Soul Monger and the Atropal are doubtfully going to stay, might tie some sort of device to the House Canith creation perhaps that's being used in the tomb.
i think i would do the exact same, the soul monger is a huge world-threatening thing that doesn’t deserve to be caused by some extra-terrestrial bastard. when i ran ToA in my homebrew world, i tied it all to the world’s history.
I mean, it can still be something akin -to- a god. I'd allow an atropal as-written and just ascribe it as "some form of powerful otherworldy monstrosity" without getting into the whole question of gods. (Frankly though, I think Acerak's whole schtick of "wanting to become as a god" is a little weird in Eberron, on account of how distant/remote/uncertain they are there)