Tomb of Annihilation in Eberron

I’m not the first person to have this idea, but I think it would be super cool to someday run the 5e campaign Tomb of Annihilation in Eberron. Playing to the swashbuckling adventure themes of the setting along with inspiration from treasure hunting and exploration like Indiana Jones, I think Eberron is the perfect place to explore to find lost cities and dungeons in a primordial continent. 

So much like my Northland Campaign idea, I’ll be posting a few articles that should help remix the adventure for Eberron and guide a GM in running character creation for their players.

Homebrew World: Seven Truths

To give players an idea of what my setting is about, and help guiding them as far as themes I enjoy during character creation I created the following list:

1. The World is Wide and Untamed. Maps won’t always be exact and the places between settlements are dangerous, haunted by great beasts and mystical monsters. Only the bravest travel between settlements and few have travelled across continents. Monsters exist in the wilderness and don’t care if they are overpowered for your party’s level—you may need to run.

2. There is Great Darkness in the World, but Where There is Darkness There Arise Heroes. There is real evil, and horrors from the void and realms of nightmares in the world. But, your character can literally reshape the world. Their actions determine history, changing reality with every choice. The goals you create and discuss with the GM become reality in this world, and can change it for the better.

3. Politics and Choices Drive Conflict. Your character’s affiliations and beliefs shape the world. The world has been shaped by an empire that now only seems to exist in name. Great heroes and villains can seize power and gain influence in the far flung fiefdoms, remote villages, and most cosmopolitan cities. Criminal, political, religious, and economic groups vie for power and need to be engaged with, otherwise their choices will still affect you.

4. Blank Spaces Need to be Filled In. There’s still plenty of room in the world. Your ideas for a village, an organization, or whatever to fill in a character backstory are welcome. There may be something that exists, or maybe you can help create that lore. You just need to ask to find out.

5. Gods, Angels, Demon, and Devils are Real. There are great forces for good and evil, fighting for the eternal souls of mortal beings. Mortals have the ability to choose what and whom they serve. There still exists ambiguity and moral complexity, meaning celestial and fiends are more complicated than they might first appear.

6. There are Infinite Worlds, and You Can Go to Them. There are many worlds, where the gods and angels live, along with demons, devils, and all manner of beings. Part of adventures in this world is discovering the secret portals, hidden paths, magical machines, and arcane lore that allows you to walk between worlds and explore the wider universe.

7. If it Exists in Roleplaying Games, There’s Probably a Place for it Here. Most concepts and ideas can be included in the world if you express that you are interested and are willing to work with the GM to modify them to fit the setting and style.

My Homebrew World: The Nine Gods

I really enjoy developed lore about the deities and cosmology of my fantasy worlds. It may be from reading the Belgariad as a kid or any number of fantasy series, but the idea of clerics and paladins choosing a god and fighting evil—or maybe being evil from a different point of view because of their fanatical beliefs—is intriguing. 

This post is intended for players. I will provide a GM only addendum eventually which will include secrets and potential adventure hooks. Gods from other materials can be incorporated by considering them an aspect or a different name for a similar deity, much like we see in real world history. Gender and other details may be swapped, but you can often treat them as literally being the same as other gods not included here.

You may also notice that at the time this is published originally that there remain many blank spaces for associated angels and saints. This is because those articles have not been written yet. Once they are up I will add the names and link to the respective articles.

The Nine

The Church worships the Nine as a collective. Thus the Church acknowledges all Nine in its iconography—and expressly prohibits any appeals to the Dark Ones. However, largely the Church encourages appeals to the Cascades of Saints or the Heavenly Choruses of Angels for intercession on the petitioner’s behalf to the Nine, which is why most clerics of the Church have patron Saints or Angels that they venerate. There are still however those who beseech one or more of the Nine directly.

Toutatis

Title(s): The Warrior, The Chief of Warlords, Master of the Noble Hunt

Alignment: CG

Domain(s): Hunt, Knowledge, Nature, War

Associated Paladin Oaths: Ancients, Battle, Conquest, Devotion, Eagle

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: St. Navrejar, St. Tevra 

Toutatis is the warrior deity of the pantheon of the Nine. Devotees of Toutatis are often martial-types, or warrior paladins, or even rangers or barbarians that wander the deep woods and high peaks. Toutatis the patron of many warrior angels and saints, and their respective orders. But his worshippers may also be found in deep groves or in mountain hollows open to the sky as well as in stone temples and citadels.

Lucan

Title(s): The Gentle Sleep, The Resting Grave, Change and Decay, The Grim Lord, Gaoler of Afterlives, The Jailer

Alignment: N

Domain(s): Grave, Darkness, Death, Demonology, Life, Peace, Corruption, Vermin, Repose

Associated Paladin Oaths: Devotion, 

Associated Angels: Dalquiel

Associated Saints: St. Nithtari

Lucan represents the inevitability of death. He not evil, rather Lucan represents the natural consequences of life and magic. He abhors the undead, liches, and others who prolong their lives through unnatural means. Lucan also represents the inevitable decay that exists in the duality of life and growth progressing into corruption, decay, and death. His followers seek to destroy the undead, specializing in hunting necromancers and those who would disturb the sleeping dead. He hates the followers of Orcus and demons in general for meddling with the order of the universe. Lucan is said to reside in the realm of shadows that mirrors the mundane world where he sends souls on their way to the outer realms. Other souls linger in the shadow plane, endlessly waiting for release from whatever holds them bound to it and the material plane.

Cernunnos 

Title(s): The Cunning, The Stranger, The Gambler, Master of Lies, Weaver

Alignment: CG

Domain(s): Arcana, Avarice, Labyrinth, Travel, Speed, Trickery, Portal, Void

Associated Paladin Oaths: Acquisitions, 

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: St. Lukricus, St. Samira

Cernunnos is a trickster god, and although he is good at the core, can be capricious. He is also a god of travelers, and those who entrust their lives and fortunes to chance, like gamblers. Cernunnos is described in myths as often playing tricks on the other gods or seeking to engage them in riddles. Sphinxes and similar creatures often are said to be descended from Cernunnos due to this predilection. He also is said to be the grandfather of the fey lords and ladies, and to animal spirits, all creatures that display cunning and cleverness. Many rogues revere him for these traits. Cernunnos also represents the shifting nature of magic and it is said that once when he transformed into a spider he woven the threads of magic that crisscross the universe, acting as a fount of arcane magic, particularly for those who study ley line magic.

Caturix

Title(s): Father of Dust, Flamebringer, The Tempest, The Wave

Alignment: CN

Domain(s): Creation, Life, Light, Air, Fire, Earth, Nature, Tempest, Water, Wind

Associated Paladin Oaths: Ancients, Battle, Eagle, Elements

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: 

Caturix is an old god, perhaps older than the others, and represents the power of the elements. The Inner Planes and the building blocks of the universe were created by him. Though the various jinn of these planes have differing stories about their creation and lineage these may be references to various aspects of Caturix. He may also be linked to many sorcerers gifted with elemental magic. He is also worshiped under various names by druidic circles.

Brigid

Title(s): The Hammer, Anvil of Truth, Master of all Makers, Exalted Artificer, The Chains of Eternity 

Alignment: LN

Domain(s): Avarice, Creation, Clockwork, Forge, Light

Associated Paladin Oaths: Acquisitions, Devotion, Eagle, 

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: 

Brigid is the smith and armorer of the gods. She is a versatile crafter, capable of working all mediums, and is thus a patron of creation, art, and innovation. Even some bards worship Brigid, desiring that their lays be as fine and cunningly wrought as her weapons and precious gem-set treasures. The dwarves and elf’s hold Brigid in high regard, although they know her by many other names. It is said she takes her materials from the Inner Planes to ensure the greatest purity from Caturix material creations. She also is said to inspire inventors and artificers of all types. She is said to have forged the chains that prevent fiends and celestials from running rampant across the planes, requiring them to be summoned by manipulation of her chains and Cernunnos’ magical weave.

Tsovinar 

Title(s): Lady of the Four Winds, The Breathe of the World, The Glittering Dragon, She of Might and Terror, The Appointed Destroyer, The End of All Things

Alignment: CN

Domain(s): Apocalypse, Arcana, Dragon, Knowledge, Tempest, Nature, Ocean, Serpent, War, Wind

Associated Paladin Oaths: Battle, Conquest, Eagle, 

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: St. Navrejar

Tsovinar is sister to Tiamat. In ancient times their battles tore the sky and sent wind and wave flying, destroying all in its path. Until Tiamat was cast into the Lower Realms and bound. Tsovinar is revered by all good dragons, no matter what the shade of their scales, but is often considered the mother of gemstone dragons. Those who seek the might of dragons or to emulate them are often followers of Tsovinar. She is a powerful god of storms, often worshipped by sailors and travelers desiring good weather. It is said that when the world reaches its true end, if it is not consumed by some evil deity in a terrible apocalypse, that Tsovinar will heed Lucan and Wontor’s command to end the world, retiring it from all violence and blood that is waged and spilt upon it, and giving it eternal rest from the evil of mortals.

Culsani 

Title(s): Fairest, Beauty of the Dew and Dusk

Alignment: CN

Domain(s): Avarice, Beauty, Wine (Beer), Moon, Nature 

Associated Paladin Oaths: Acquisitions, 

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: St. Lukricus

Culsani is a goddess most identified with love and loss of inhibition. She is worshiped by festival and party-goers, but also is particularly highlighted at weddings and other events marking the possibilities of a new beginning. She also is said to love the gardens in moonlight, garnering her the devotion of many nature and moon focused clerics. While not evil, she can be unpredictable and cruel with her beauty and quick wit. 

Tarin 

Title(s): The Silvered Dragon, The Dragon Emperor, Unyielding 

Alignment: LN

Domain(s): Arcana, Judgement, Justice, Balance, Dragon, Mountain, Order, Serpent, Speed

Associated Paladin Oaths: Battle, Conquest, Devotion, Eagle, 

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: St. Orpheus

Tarin is the third of the three dragon gods, consort and nemesis to both Tsovinar and Tiamat. He is the rock of the mountains, unyielding against the storms of the others. Revered by good dragons of all types and those who admire dragons, Tarin is stubborn in dispensing justice and order. He cannot tolerate creatures of disorder and is said to dislike Cernunnos intensely..

Wontor 

Title(s): The One-Eyed God, Father Time, Raven-Eyed

Alignment: LG

Domain(s): Arcana, Life, Knowledge, Apocalypse, Creation, Civilization, Martyr, Portal, Prophecy 

Associated Paladin Oaths: Ancients, Ascetics, Battle, Conquest, Devotion, Eagle, 

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: St. Adelard, St. Nithtari, 

Wontor is often said to be the leader of the gods. This may or may not be true, but at the least he is renown for his knowledge and power. He is said to be gifted the power of making and unmaking and will be there at the world’s end. Often depicted as missing an eye, he is said to see the bridge between worlds. Those who seeks knowledge and magical power, tempered by wisdom and good are seekers of Wontor.

The Dark Ones

Chergoth

Title(s): The Dark One

Alignment: CE

Domain(s): Apocalypse, Avarice, Hunger, War, Corruption, Darkness, Death, Demonology, Madness, Void

Associated Paladin Oaths:

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: 

Chergoth may be a mask of various demon lords, primarily Orcus. Or he may be a distinct entity, ruling the lower realm of Gahenna. He is generally recognized as distinct from Asmodeus, who is largely ignored in the theology of the Nine, although its clerics will not dispute the existence of the King of the Hells.

Tiamat

Title(s): The Dark Serpent

Alignment: LE

Domain(s): Apocalypse, Avarice, Darkness, Dragon, Serpent, Tyranny

Associated Paladin Oaths:

Associated Angels: 

Associated Saints: 

Called the dark serpent, the goddess Tiamat is sister to Tsovinar and sometimes consort, most time enemy of Tarin. Her battles with these other gods are legendary. Legend say that Tiamat is bound in chains by the gods, but her loyal followers seek to restore her and lift her up to rule over the Nine.

Spelljammer 5e Reactions

The big bearded holiday fellow with the tiny fey and sleigh pulled by animal familiars left me a copy of Spelljammer under my artificial tree this year. Let’s take a look. There will be spoilers about the adventure Light of Xaryxis and the monsters, so jump off the train now if that’ll put a pin in your future fun.

So what do I think of Spelljammer? First off, I’ll agree with one of the big critiques which others have already voiced of the slipcase set (which is beautifully produced with fantastic art). It’s a bit thin, and the material would’ve probably been better presented to the user as one larger hardback. Much as I love the cover art on each of these books, they are about as thick as my kiddo’s picture books, and that’s basically what they feel like when you read them with the heavy, almost card stock paper that’s obviously been chosen to fill out the books volume. It is much easier to sit and read one of these picture—I mean game books. 

The brevity meant that Boo’s Astral Menagerie is the only bestiary on my shelf that I’ve been able to read in an evening and only the second one I’ve read through completely, cover-to-cover (I went on a Monster Manual binge read early during my time in the hobby). Maybe at some point I revisit how the monsters play, but not having used them yet, I can’t necessarily speak to that. The random encounter tables are quite good though, and I would definitely use them. They aren’t organized into separate tables by CR though, only by environment, so they may not necessarily be balanced for your group (and the GM is forced to do their own encounter math if they want to balance it). The tables are however weighted to try to minimize encounters with the high CR monsters. The attitude roll to determine potential hostility or friendliness is a helpful tool though that I think can spur some interesting improvisation. I know it’s a bit low rent to include monsters from another source in addition to the Monster Manual or SRD, but wouldn’t have minded seeing some suggestions using Mordenkainen Presents Monsters of the Multiverse either (it has plenty of monsters that are native or work in the Spelljammer setting—I mean, an Astral Dreadnaught is on the cover!). The ship encounters table is very flavorful and offers some great inspiration for how to flesh out your own NPC Spelljammer ships. Captains’ names and full crews included.

As for the monsters included, I very much enjoyed their descriptions and saw some interesting abilities from some of the stat blocks I read. Most are concentrated in the 0-10 CR range, which is where most of your play happens. There tend to be a lot of low CR, NPC-type stat blocks for various ancestries of spacefaring creatures, which seems designed to allow you to populate a ship with a number of lower CR creatures. As we’ll get to, there’s not a ton of setting details presented in the set, but the monster descriptions do a lot of heavy lifting and might even redeem the product as far as usability. I like the Psurlons as a nasty group of aberrations that work with Mindflayers when convenient. There’s plenty of interesting creatures to populate adventures with as far as I’m concerned. If you need more, grab some wacky monsters from Kobold Press. Some of their weirder creations will gel better with the Spelljammer setting than they do in Kobold Press’ default Midgard setting (and I say that with affection for Midgard).

The adventure, Light of Xaryxis, takes the Astral Elves included in the monster book and as player characters and makes them morally ambiguous bad guys harvesting the light force from other worlds to continue powering their own dying sun that gives them great magic and power. Pretty dope. Even cooler because they give you that summary at the beginning instead of forcing the GM to read the end to actually figure out who the bad guys are. The adventure module is for characters of fifth to eighth level, and this brings up some advice in the book that I quite appreciate; how to set up higher level characters to start a campaign. The advice is to build up to fifth level as written in the Player’s Handbook and then to give them 625 gp to spend on additional non magical gear, and give each character an uncommon magic item of your choice (they suggest the latter if you are “running a high magic campaign,” but I don’t really think Spelljammer is for you at all if you’re into low magic. The magical flying ships and space whales have sailed on that—pun intended and no apologies). It also makes me wonder why no advice on starting at higher levels is provided in the core rules. Might have been helpful…

The adventure is episodic in the style of Flash Gordon (which the writers recommend you go watch to really capture the adventure style). It’s a fairly linear jaunt across Wildspace and the Astral Plane to multiple systems. The adventure’s descriptions of Xaryxis Space and the Doomspace systems does double duty, as according to the Astral Adventurer’s Guide they are intended to be examples for you to create your own Wildspace systems and locales. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed them as examples, but the taste made me wish that this product included greater GM support in the form of more examples, or blank star maps that could be labeled with your own systems. That leads into my thoughts on the Astral Adventure’s Guide.

The Astral Adventure’s Guide again clocks in at 64 pages. It features sections on the unique rules of Wildspace and the Astral Sea. However, it omits rules on color pools, instead referring the reader to the DMG. The book also includes almost no setting information, instead acting mainly as a catalog of various deck plans and short descriptions of Spelljammer vessels. There’s also the character rules, but no additional subclasses, which feels like a missed opportunity. I also noticed that my set is one of the original printings without the corrected errata and changes to the problematic sections about the Hadozee (I’ll probably print a copy of the errata to stick in the book as a reference at some point). Finally it concludes with a very short section of the Rock of Bral that largely seems to be a rehash of the original Spelljammer accessory product of the same name (which is far more detailed). I do like the Rock of Bral as an adventure or almost extraplanar hub (it sits in Wildspace in whatever system you find most convenient), but the level of detail almost makes this a players guide, not a more detailed GM-focused product as it purports to be. This book could have been much more useful with random adventure seed tables and setting information included with random tables for non-combat encounters, like a Fizban’s or Bigby’s. As is, there is just not much support for the GM to create their own content or inspire creativity beyond the static examples provided by the adventure.

For those interested, the GM screen isn’t terrible in my opinion, at least for my style of play, but it does leave some important Spelljammer rules off. A lot of space is devoted to reprinting the random encounter tables from the monster book, which can be helpful for improv. Relevant rules like suffocating and weightlessness are also included, along with illustrations of the Astral plane and the way gravity works in Wildspace (I don’t know that I think the illustrations are necessary). What is missing is any sort of ship crew roles on the screen and the rules about how long air bubbles last (so basically most of the included new rules that you probably need to run aren’t there).

All in all, I don’t regret getting the set (I have it on good authority that bearded fellow found them for 38 bucks), but I wouldn’t grab them at full price. All that aside, while there’s some interesting details in the set, overall it really is lacking in detail, nor does it tie in will or include additional lore about the creatures to be found in the Astral Sea and Wildspace (you’ll have to find old copies of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes and Volo’s Guide to Monsters if you want lore about some like Githyanki, Elves, and Beholders beyond their basic monster descriptions). You’ll need to do a lot of your own work to come up with adventure locations in the Spelljammer setting, but if you’re interested in gaining a little bit more information about the setting then picking it up with some of the older Spelljammer titles up from DriveThruRPG is probably worth it.

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen Reactions

Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is the D&D 5e reboot of the classic adventure setting (although many who purchase and use this product are probably completely unfamiliar with the source and previous material like me). Prior to my upcoming playthrough of this module, I wanted to capture some of my reactions and thoughts about it. I also plan to periodically post about alterations that I've made to the adventure as written. When (if) my group finishes the module then I plan to post a final "actual" review because I will have playtested it by running through the adventure.

Initial thoughts: I was very excited to hear about the planned Dragonlance title as I began playing D&D in 2022. It seemed that all of the settings that shaped so many players experiences from 2e AD&D and onwards were now becoming more accessible for new members of the hobby. I'm not sure what I expected. I had just barely purchased my copy of Eberron: Rising from the Last War when Dragonlance released, and I didn't have any other of the in-depth sourcebooks. I supposed I expected at least a gazetter of the world, descriptions of the deities, calendar, and some ideas for adventures if not a mini adventure or two in the setting. That isn't at all what we got in this product though.

For the positives regarding setting details, I do appreciate the descriptions of the deities. They take several pages, and the depictions of their holy symbols are some beautiful art pieces. Some more evocative art harkening back to depictions of the deities in earlier editions would have perhaps improved it, but I suppose Fizban's Treasury of Dragons did a bit of that the year prior at least for Paladine and Takhisis.

Much of the design work is focused on the character options for the Dragonlance setting; how are those then? Not bad at all actually, although I have to agree with other reviewers like Mike Shea (Slyflourish) that I’m not a huge fan of handing out a feat at first level. There’s already plenty for new players to keep track of. 

As for the new sorcerer subclass, I actually quite like it in concept. I’m not the best judge of balance until I see a character in play (remember, I’ve only run for about ten different characters), but the subclass seems to have some design assumptions baked in because of the mages of high sorcery feat that the designers intend you to take. The initiate feat essentially gives you constant access to one of the first level spells that the lunar sorcerer gets depending on the phase of the moon you select. The subclass also doesn’t seem to match the dichotomy of good, evil, and neutral being major and almost incompatible that is an important theme of Dragonlance according to a video by the Dungeoncast I watched while writing this post.

My main critique; in general, information on the world of Krynn and the Dragonlance setting is severely lacking. The section on player ancestries name drops many locations, but there’s no information to flesh them out. The GM is left to figure out what Thorbardin and Nevermind are like out of their own mind or have to consult another resource or the internet. Outside of the information on Vogler, Kalaman, and the Northern Wastes provided in the adventure, the wider world is not described and unpopulated with adventure hooks. The adventure suggests the possibility of continuing a higher level adventure against the dragon armies, but without doing the extra work of purchasing an older book like the Dragonlance Campaign Setting from 3e or reading through lots of wiki pages, I honestly wouldn't know where to start. No fantastic locations corresponding to the places on the beautiful poster map are described, nor any clues about their inhabitants, notable NPCs or hooks for potential stories. It's really very disappointing that I’ve learned more about the setting researching what is missing for this reaction that is available to me in the book. I even noticed passages where the current book appears to simply be a paraphrased, shorted version of the 3e setting book. This is probably why what information there is on other locations in Ansalon seems sporadic and incomplete. As it says itself in the introduction to chapter two “Prominent details about the setting are covered in these sections, but the wider world is left for you to detail as you please.” It’s audacious to set the price for this product as the same as for a real setting book like Eberron then.

So what do we have left? Well, we have an adventure that minus the regional map and town names could probably be transplanted to any world or setting if you decide to add a dark goddess (maybe we can call her Tiamat?) and an army of evil dragons (oh wait, I think we already have one like this). In all seriousness, the adventure has some interesting elements, but as a whole is extremely linear and often marginalizes the player characters or removes their agency over the story (in part because the adventure provides no information about any part of Ansalon beyond the Kalaman regional map. Everything outside it would have to be made up anyway). Making an NPC that should be a sidekick have a more compelling and more rapid arc that the characters also strikes me as lazy railroading. Another thing that bothers me is the lack of a meaningful system for mass combat outside the peripheral board game marketed beside the book (but check out MCDM’s Kingdoms & Warfare if you’re interested in fixing that—I’ll be using it in my upcoming Dragonlance campaign, and I plan to do a deep dive and additional spotlights of its systems as I use it in my Storm King’s Thunder campaign). 

Reservations and issues from my reaction aside, I will be using this adventure and book in a campaign. One of my players is a Knight of Solamnia, and another is a Mage of High Sorcery, so I’ll get a view of their progression. As mentioned, I’ll write about modifications (improvements) I make to the adventure. As far as a recommendation or not, I’d say if you have any interest in running the setting at all then probably pick the book up. If you can’t see yourself playing in the setting, then definitely pass of this book and put your money towards something else nice like a title from MCDM or Kobold Press instead.