Eberron · D&D 3.5 · Session Zero

Welcome to Sharn

Everything you need to build a 3rd-level character for our campaign, plus the parts of 3.5 that work differently from 5e. Nothing in here is a spoiler. Bring questions, bring ideas, and bring two people your character already knows.

IThe world

Eberron is a world where magic is industry. It runs trains, lights streets, and built an army.

The Last War is over, barely

For about a century the Five Nations of the old kingdom of Galifar fought over its throne. It ended because of the Day of Mourning: the nation of Cyre was destroyed in a single day, leaving a dead grey wasteland now called the Mournland. Nobody knows what caused it. Frightened of it happening again, the survivors signed the Treaty of Thronehold two years later.

It's now an uneasy peace. There are veterans everywhere, refugees from Cyre with no home to go back to, and warforged soldiers who were built for a war that ended.

Sharn, the City of Towers

Our home base. Sharn is the largest city in Khorvaire and belongs to the nation of Breland. Its towers stand thousands of feet high and are tied together by bridges and flying skycoaches. It's also the main port for ships to the jungle continent of Xen'drik.

The towers run from the wealthy heights of Skyway down to the Cogs, the furnaces at the bottom. The higher you live, the better you live. The city works like a noir story: the Watch is crooked, crime families hold seats on the council, and something is always for sale.

How this game playsIt's roleplay-heavy. Early adventures are investigations: talking, sneaking, following leads. Fights are short, either a pack of thugs you cut through quickly or one tense clash with a small group or a single villain.

IIBuilding your character

Every character starts at the same point. Allowed books: the core three, Player's Handbook II, the whole 3.5 Eberron line, the Complete series, the Races books, the Compendiums, and the rest of the list the DM gave you. Unearthed Arcana, Weapons of Legacy and Dragon Compendium are allowed too (see the boxes below). 4e and 5e Eberron books are for lore only, never for rules.

The starting line

Level 3. After that you level up together at story milestones (section IX).
2,700 gp to spend on gear. You can put no more than 1,350 gp into a single item and no more than 675 gp into consumables (potions, scrolls, wands, ammo).
6 action points. These are Eberron's heroic luck, explained in section V.
Races with level adjustment +0 only. See section III.

Hit points

1st level: the maximum your hit die allows.
Each level after that: roll your hit die, or take the average instead.
Hit dice average to a half (a d8 averages 4.5), so the average alternates. 2nd level rounds up, 3rd rounds down, 4th rounds up, and so on.
Example, d8 taking the average: 8 at 1st, then +5, then +4. Add your Con modifier every level.

Your job

Every character has a job. In Sharn, adventuring is something you do on top of earning a living. Your job tells us who you work with, who you answer to, and where trouble finds you. Pick one of these or make up your own.

House heir. A dragonmarked son or daughter of a house, with a title, a family name to protect, and relatives watching what you do.
Reporter. An investigative journalist for the Sharn Inquisitive, the city's weekly paper, or a stringer for the Korranberg Chronicle. You chase stories that people want buried.
Private eye. An inquisitive, Sharn's word for a detective, running your own small office. You take the cases the Watch won't touch.
House employee. A clerk, artisan, courier or guard for one of the houses. Cannith workshops, Orien couriers, Deneith bodyguards, Sivis scribes.
Bounty hunter. Freelance or licensed through House Tharashk. You find people who don't want to be found.
Watch officer. One of the few honest members of the Sharn Watch, or a former one who quit or was pushed out.
University field agent. A Morgrave University researcher who gets sent into ruins and back alleys to recover what the professors want.
Skycoach pilot or dockhand. You drive the flying coaches between towers, or work the Lyrandar docks and airship berths. You see everyone coming and going.
Entertainer. A performer at a Phiarlan theater, a tavern bard, or a fighter in the arena. You hear things.
Innkeeper or bartender. You run or work at a tavern or inn, maybe Ghallanda-licensed. Everyone ends up at your bar eventually.
Healer. Working at a Jorasco house of healing, or treating the people Jorasco won't treat because they can't pay.
Fixer or fence. You find things, move things and know people, and you keep it just legal enough.

Your paycheck and your home

Jobs and living conditions are part of the game. Your job pays you, your home is a real place in the city, and both will come up in play.

Pay: for most jobs, make a Profession check each week and halve it. That's your pay in gold. With 6 ranks you can count on about 8 gp a week. Miss work to go adventuring and you're paid for the days you worked.
Some jobs pay differently. A house heir gets an allowance and a family that expects things in return.
What a job gives you: access. A coach, a workshop, a press name, a bar full of people who talk. Access always has a cost attached.
Where you live: pick a ward, who you live with, and how well. The DM will help you find the right district.

How you live	Per month	What it looks like
Meager	5 gp	Flophouses, eating little
Poor	12 gp	The most basic room and board
Common	45 gp	Inns and tavern meals
Good	100 gp	Your own room, solid meals, good clothes
Extravagant	200 gp	The best of everything

A shared flat or a rented room can land between two rows. Source: DMG upkeep variant; Profession skill, Player's Handbook.

Traits, flaws and Unearthed Arcana

Unearthed Arcana is allowed, which opens up a lot of character options.

Traits: up to two. Each gives a small bonus with a matching drawback, like +1 Intimidate and −1 Diplomacy and Bluff for being Abrasive. They're mostly there to give your character a personality hook.
Flaws: up to two. A flaw is a real penalty, such as −6 initiative or −3 on a save, and each one gives you a bonus feat.
Variant classes such as the urban ranger, and the racial paragon classes, are open.
Racial substitution levels from Races of Eberron and the other Races books are open too, such as the changeling rogue.

What stays standard: hit points, the d20, skill points, spell slots, the normal classes, and Eberron's action points. Not in use: gestalt characters and spell points. For anything else in the book, ask first.

Table rulings so far

Monks may multiclass freely. There's no penalty for leaving the monk class and coming back. Tashalatora no longer needs the Monastic Training feat; you name your psionic class when you take it.
A monk's 1st-level Stunning Fist ignores its prerequisites, as the Player's Handbook says, even if you multiclass.
Force effects don't count as armor for a monk. Mage armor, shield, inertial armor and force screen leave your monk AC bonus and speed intact.
Sudden metamagic feats work twice a day, on spells or powers up to a level cap set by your caster level. Psionic Sudden feats exist, Sudden Persist is a house feat, and Unearthed Arcana's spontaneous metamagic follows the same rule. Ask the DM for the full cap table.
Firearms exist. Flintlock pistols (250 gp, 1d10) and flintlock rifles (500 gp, 1d12) use the DMG's Renaissance rules and need Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms). A blunderbuss can be built, but nobody has made one yet.
Dragon Compendium is allowed, so feats such as Kung Fu Genius are open.

GNOMSHASharn has a safety office. It's run by gnomes and backed by nine dragonmarked houses under the Twelve. Every official building needs a fire escape and two ways out, every rail is unbroken, and every licensed skycoach carries feather fall talismans. Plenty of non-house and shadier businesses resent the inspectors. Look for the brass GNOMSHA plate by the door.

Ability scores: 32-point buy

This is not 5e point buy. In 3.5 every score starts at 8 and you get 32 points. Scores above 14 get expensive fast. Buy your scores, then apply your race's adjustments.

Score	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Point cost	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	8	10	13	16
Modifier	−1	−1	+0	+0	+1	+1	+2	+2	+3	+3	+4

For example, 16 · 14 · 14 · 12 · 12 · 10 costs 10 + 6 + 6 + 4 + 4 + 2 = 32. Source: DMG, "high-powered campaign" point buy.

IIIRaces

Any race with level adjustment +0 from the allowed books is allowed. These are the common choices. The DM would especially like to see dragonmarked characters, goblins and orcs. If you want something from a sourcebook that isn't listed here, ask.

Race	Ability adjustments	Can carry a dragonmark?	In Eberron
Human	none · bonus feat · extra skill points	Finding, Handling, Making	Everywhere. Most of Khorvaire is human.
Dwarf	+2 Con, −2 Cha	Warding (Kundarak)	Bankers and miners of the Mror Holds.
Elf	+2 Dex, −2 Con	Shadow (Phiarlan, Thuranni)	From ancestor-worshipping Aerenal or the warlike Valenar.
Gnome	+2 Con, −2 Str	Scribing (Sivis)	Scholars, diplomats and intriguers of Zilargo.
Half-elf	none	Detection, Storm	A people in their own right here, the Khoravar.
Half-orc	+2 Str, −2 Int, −2 Cha	Finding, Sentinel (table change)	Common in the Shadow Marches and in Sharn.
Halfling	+2 Dex, −2 Str	Healing, Hospitality	From the Talenta Plains. The Boromar crime clan is halfling.
Changeling	none	—	Shapeshifters who can change their faces at will.
Kalashtar	none	—	Human hosts bonded with spirits from the plane of dreams. Naturally psionic.
Shifter	+2 Dex, −2 Int, −2 Cha	—	Descendants of lycanthropes who can "shift" into a bestial state.
Warforged	+2 Con, −2 Wis, −2 Cha	—	Living constructs built by House Cannith to fight the Last War. Newly free, and still working out what that means.
Goblin	−2 Str, +2 Dex, −2 Cha · Small	Passage (table change)	Descendants of an ancient goblin empire. In Sharn they make up much of the Cogs' workforce.
Orc	+4 Str, −2 Int, −2 Wis, −2 Cha · light sensitivity	Sentinel (table change)	From the Shadow Marches. Known as druids and guardians against things from below.

IVThe dragonmarked houses

Dragonmarks are magical birthmarks that run in families, each granting a specific power. The families that carry them became the dragonmarked houses, trade empires that hold legal monopolies on their services and are too valuable for any nation to touch. A least dragonmark costs a feat (Least Dragonmark) and gives a small magical ability. You can belong to a house without carrying its mark. Unmarked relatives, apprentices and employees are common.

Changes at our tableHouse Deneith (Mark of Sentinel) is orcs and half-orcs, not humans. House Orien (Mark of Passage) is goblins and hobgoblins, not humans. Everything those houses do in the books still happens. It's just their people who are different.

Cannith

Mark of Making · human

The house of artificers, forges and magical manufacturing. Cannith built most of the magic items in Khorvaire, and it built the warforged. Since its old headquarters was lost in the Mourning, the house has split into rival branches. One of the most powerful is based here in Sharn.

Deneith

Mark of Sentinel · orc & half-orc

Bodyguards and mercenaries for hire. The Defenders Guild protects people, and the Blademarks sell soldiers to anyone who can pay. Deneith's Sentinel Marshals can chase a fugitive across any border.

Ghallanda

Mark of Hospitality · halfling

Inns, taverns and food across the continent. Its Hostelers Guild means a Ghallanda inn is recognized neutral ground, and some of the most delicate meetings in Sharn happen over its tables.

Jorasco

Mark of Healing · halfling

Healing, for a price. Jorasco's houses of healing sell cures, restorations and potions. Many people resent that the house charges for mercy, but nobody else heals as reliably.

Kundarak

Mark of Warding · dwarf

Banking, vaults and magical locks. Kundarak's banks hold the wealth of nations, and its wards protect everything worth stealing. That makes it a good patron and a bad enemy.

Lyrandar

Mark of Storm · half-elf

Masters of wind and rain. Lyrandar captains sail the elemental galleons and the new airships, and its weather-workers bring rain to farms. In Sharn, the house controls the docks and the sky.

Medani

Mark of Detection · half-elf

Security, investigation and protection against poison and spies. The Warning Guild employs inquisitives, food tasters and counter-agents. It's well suited to an investigation-heavy game.

Orien

Mark of Passage · goblin & hobgoblin

Travel and delivery. Orien runs the lightning rail, the caravans and the Couriers Guild. Its marked members can teleport short distances and move goods faster than anyone. At our table its conductors, couriers and rail crews are goblins.

Phiarlan

Mark of Shadow · elf

Officially entertainers: actors, musicians and artists. Unofficially it trades in espionage. A troupe can perform at a noble's ball and leave with all of the noble's secrets.

Thuranni

Mark of Shadow · elf

A branch that broke away from Phiarlan during the war in a bloody split. It offers the same arts and the same secrets, with a darker reputation. The two houses still hate each other.

Sivis

Mark of Scribing · gnome

Messages, translation, contracts and law. Sivis message stations send words across the continent in moments, and its notary seal makes a document official. The house prides itself on neutrality, and everyone needs it.

Tharashk

Mark of Finding · human & half-orc

Bounty hunters, inquisitives and prospectors. Tharashk finds people, lost things and dragonshards. It's a young house with roots in the Shadow Marches, and it isn't afraid to work with monsters.

Vadalis

Mark of Handling · human

Animals, mounts and magebred beasts. Vadalis breeds the horses, hippogriffs and war-beasts that Khorvaire rides and fights with. It's a rural house that takes its bloodlines very seriously.

V3.5 for 5e players

You already know how to play D&D. These are the places where 3.5 will catch you out. Keep this page next to you at the table.

No advantage. Bonuses stack instead

Situations give flat numbers: flanking +2, higher ground +1, charging +2 to hit and −2 AC, firing into a melee −4.
Bonuses of the same type don't stack. Two enhancement bonuses to Strength? Only the bigger one counts. Untyped and dodge bonuses do stack.
You have three ACs: normal, touch (ignores armor, used against many spells) and flat-footed (no Dex, before you've acted in a fight).

Actions on your turn

A standard action plus a move action, or one full-round action. You can always swap your standard action for a second move.
Full attack is a full-round action. That's how you get extra attacks, which come from base attack bonus (+6/+1 and up), not from an Extra Attack feature.
A 5-foot step is free if you don't otherwise move, and it doesn't provoke.
Swift actions (one per turn) work roughly like 5e bonus actions. Immediate actions work like reactions.

Attacks of opportunity: much more common

Leaving a threatened square and casting a spell, shooting or throwing in melee, drinking a potion, standing up, or retrieving an item all provoke.
Casting defensively avoids it, but you need a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level).
Trip, disarm, grapple and bull rush provoke unless you have the matching "Improved" feat.
You get one attack of opportunity per round unless you take Combat Reflexes.

Skills and feats

You buy skill ranks with points every level, up to a maximum of level + 3 (6 at 3rd). Skills outside your class cost 2 points per rank, up to half that maximum.
There's no proficiency bonus. Ranks + ability modifier + other bonuses is the whole number.
Skills are split finer than in 5e: Spot and Listen, Hide and Move Silently. 5 ranks in some skills give a +2 synergy bonus to related ones.
Feats at 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and so on. +1 to an ability score at 4th, 8th, and so on. Feats and ability increases are separate, so you never choose between them.

Spellcasting depends on your class

Prepared (pick each morning): wizard (from a spellbook), cleric, druid, paladin and ranger (spells from 4th level), wu jen, archivist. Clerics can swap a prepared spell for a cure spell, and druids can swap for summon nature's ally.
Spontaneous (spells known, cast freely from slots, like 5e): sorcerer, bard, favored soul, warmage, beguiler, dread necromancer, duskblade, hexblade.
Artificer: prepares infusions, which go into items, armor and constructs only. They are not spells.
Psionic classes: a pool of power points spent on powers you know, with optional augmentation.
At our table, cantrips (0-level spells) are at will, except cure minor wounds and virtue, which still use a daily slot.

Buffs, durations and concentration

There's no "one concentration spell" limit. Most buffs simply last their duration, so a well-prepared party piles several on at once.
Durations are measured in rounds, minutes per level and hours per level. Check yours.
Some spells and all magic item crafting cost XP in the books. At our table you pay that cost in gold instead. See section IX.

Dying and healing

0 HP: disabled. You get one action per turn, and anything strenuous costs you 1 HP.
−1 to −9: dying. You lose 1 HP per round, with a 10% chance each round to stabilize. −10: dead. There are no death saving throws.
There are no short rests and no hit dice to spend. A night's rest heals 1 HP per level. Magic is how you heal.
Coming back from the dead costs a level as well as an expensive diamond.

Rolls and criticals

Natural 20 always hits and natural 1 always misses on attacks and saves. Skill checks don't follow that rule.
A crit is a threat (some weapons threaten on 19–20 or 18–20) that you confirm with a second attack roll. Then you multiply the damage (×2, ×3, ×4).
Saves are Fortitude, Reflex and Will. There are no six-ability saves.
Out of combat you can take 10 or take 20 on a check instead of rolling.

Action points (Eberron only)

Spend one to add +1d6 to an attack, save, skill check or ability check. You can decide after rolling, as long as it's before the DM announces the result.
You can also spend one to stabilize when dying. Spending 2 gives an extra use of rage, bardic music, turning and similar abilities.
One use per round. They don't refill until you level up, and unspent points are lost then. 6 at 3rd level.
Roll damage after you've decided about action points, not at the same time as the attack.

Gear and magic items

No attunement. Each body slot (head, neck, ring ×2, cloak and so on) holds one item.
Magic items are bought, sold and commissioned. In Eberron that's normal business. Items sell for half their price, unless you barter.
Diagonal movement alternates 5 ft, then 10 ft.
Grappling has its own rules. If you're planning to grapple, ask first.

VIHow you know each other

The connection rule

Your character must already know at least two other player characters. They could be siblings, old war buddies, housemates, rivals, a debt, a shared job that went wrong. Work it out together at session zero.

Not from Sharn? That's fine. Your character has moved to Sharn or is visiting. Pick a reason from the list on the right.

What brings you to Sharn?

The reasons people come to the city, from Sharn: City of Towers:

Gateway to Xen'drik: passage south, or back from it
Education: Morgrave University and the libraries
Employment: a house, a guild, a patron
Hiding: a city this big is easy to vanish into
Find someone: missing kin, an old enemy
Healing: what Jorasco can do and nobody else can
Research: a question only Sharn can answer
Pilgrimage: the city's temples and holy sites
Criminal purposes: there's always work

VIIFactions in Sharn

These are the groups your character could belong to, work for, owe money to, or be running from. Joining any of them is your choice, and nobody has to. The dragonmarked houses in section IV count too.

Adventurers' guilds

Clifftop Guild

Clifftop · Upper Dura

Adventurers with more of a moral compass. Members share leads, find companions and get referrals to reliable hirelings.

Deathsgate Guild

Deathsgate · Middle Tavick's Landing

Founded 200 years ago. Rougher and more freewheeling, and many members are war veterans. The rivalry with Clifftop swings between friendly and violent.

Law and the crown

The Sharn Watch

City-wide

The city's guards, and badly corrupt. A few are honest. Most take bribes, protect the rich, and have a habit of not showing up when the crime families are working.

The King's Citadel

Crown of Breland

King Boranel's agents: spies, special forces and investigators. If a crime touches the nation, it's the Citadel's business rather than the Watch's.

Learning and magic

Morgrave University

Upper Menthis

A university known for scholars who fund their research by sending people into ruins. Its staff hire adventurers and pay for discoveries.

Esoteric Order of Aureon

Wizards' circle

The oldest wizards' circle in Breland, sworn to use magic only within the law. Membership is expensive (a 1,000 gp fee plus yearly dues) but comes with lodging, a library and discounts.

Guild of Starlight and Shadows

Wizards' circle

The other wizards' circle, and the one less likely to ask why you need a spell.

Circle of Song

The Golden Horn · Upper Menthis

An informal network for bards, with hidden rooms in taverns. Members share news, give each other a bed, and trade favors.

Faith

Church of the Silver Flame

Strong in Breland

A militant faith dedicated to protecting people from supernatural evil. Its templars and inquisitors are heroes to some and zealots to others.

The Sovereign Host

Everywhere

The main faith of Khorvaire, worshipping a pantheon of nine gods of everyday life: Aureon of law and lore, Onatar of the forge, Boldrei of hearth and home, and the rest.

The underworld

The Boromar Clan

Little Plains · Middle Menthis

A halfling crime family that became one of the city's leading families. It controls smuggling, gambling and most of Sharn's fences, and an heir sits on the city council.

Daask

The Cogs and Lower Dura

A violent gang of monstrous immigrants from Droaam. They're at war with the Boromars, and the lower city is getting more dangerous because of it.

House Tarkanan

Not a real house

Thieves and assassins who all carry aberrant dragonmarks, marks that don't follow the bloodlines. The name is a jab at the real houses.

The Tyrants

Everywhere, wearing other faces

A changeling guild that trades in information. They deal in blackmail, forgery and new identities, and are very useful and very dangerous to deal with.

Money and influence

The Aurum

Wherever the rich gather

A society of the very wealthy that presents itself as an exclusive club. Its members are among the most powerful people in Khorvaire, and they rarely act without a reason.

VIIIBackstory questions

Answer as many as you like, briefly. A few lines each is plenty. The DM will use them.

Where were you when the Last War ended, and what did the Day of Mourning take from you, if anything?
Which two other characters do you know, and what's one thing that happened between you that the others don't know about?
Why Sharn, and why now? If you're from here, which part of the towers do you call home?
Who do you owe, whether money, a favor or your life, and do they know where to find you?
What do you want that you can't get on your own?
What's your job, who do you work for or with, and what do you think of them?
Where do you live, who with, and what does your room look like?
House, guild, church or none of them? And how do they feel about you?

IXLevelling and crafting

We use milestone levelling. Everyone levels up together when the story reaches a milestone, so nobody falls behind and nobody tracks XP.

What milestone changes

You level when the DM says the party has reached a milestone, usually at the end of an adventure.
No multiclass XP penalty. There's no XP to penalise, so multiclass however you like.
Combat gets longer at higher levels, but it never gets more frequent.

XP costs become gold

Any XP cost is paid at 5 gp per XP, on top of the normal gold cost. That covers magic item crafting and spells with an XP cost. You never lose XP or a level for it.
That puts a crafted item at about 70% of its market price, the same figure the DMG uses for crafters.
Artificers' craft reserve: you get a fresh reserve at each new level (Eberron Campaign Setting). Spend it before paying gold. Whatever is left when you level up carries over, up to half of that level's reserve.
For the very largest spell costs, such as wish, the DM may ask for a story cost as well as, or instead of, the gold.