Eberron - Rising from the Last War

the ancient giants before the Emerald Claw can claim it

for Karrnath and Lady Illmarrow.

The characters can stumble into a web of intrigue

without seeing the sticky strands. Perhaps a patron

hires the adventurers to transport what seems to be an

ordinary backpack full of goods, and they don't realize

that it has a secret magical compartment until enemy

spies come looking for whatever is inside it. Or a dying

spy presses an amulet into the hand of one of the ad­

venturers, saying, "The fate of Breland depends on you

getting this to Boranel. Don't trust anyone!" Assuming

the adventurers care about the fate of Breland, they're

pressed into an urgent adventure that has implications

they might not see or understand.

PLAYING DURING THE LAST WAR

In your campaign, you might want to take a look back at

the war as it unfolds. Setting an adventure during the

Last War puts the characters in a tumultuous time of

political intrigue, tenuous alliances, and brutal conflicts.

Consider these ways to make the Last War a present

reality in your campaign:

• The players create new characters who live during a
  specific phase of the war. These characters could be
  figures of legend whose great deeds are known to the
  present-day characters, or they could be unknowns
  caught up in events much larger than themselves. In
  either case, the adventure they undertake can set the
  stage for events in the "present day" of your campaign.


• You might run an introductory session or flashback
  set during the waning years of the war, bringing the
  characters' backgrounds to life. Maybe the charac­
  ters are all part of the same unit in the war, or they
  might be enemies forced to cooperate when disaster
  strikes. Are the characters participants in a memora­
  ble battle? Do they take actions they'll later regret? Do
  they make a bitter enemy who comes back to haunt
  them years later, when the campaign continues in the
  present day?


• A magical phenomenon might send the characters
  back in time, putting them in the middle of the
  conflict. Are they transported there to learn some­
  thing? To alter the course of history? Or are they
  just stranded in a twisted time stream? How will
  they escape the horrors of the war and get back to
  their own time?

VILLAINS OF THE LAST WAR

Just as adventurers are shaped by their experiences in
the Last War, villains often carry the physical and men­
tal scars of the conflict. When developing the details of a
villain's background, consider the following options.

WA R CRIMINAL

What horrific actions did the villain take during the

Last War? Did they massacre civilians? Betray their

comrades or their nation? A brilliant artificer might

have designed arcane weapons that violated the rules

of engagement. A Karrnathi bone knight (see chapter

6) could have overseen a camp where prisoners of war

were used as subjects in necromantic experiments.

Is the villain infamous for their crimes, or yet to be

exposed for what they did? Do they believe that their

crimes were justified? Is the criminal protected by

powerful people in their nation, or reviled by the people

they served?

GRIM INSPIRATION

Something the villain saw or experienced during the

war made a lasting impression that still drives them

today. Perhaps their family was killed in a senseless

attack, and everything they are doing is motivated by a

desire to avenge this loss. Maybe they think that they

were betrayed by their own nation. Perhaps they were

caught in the Mourning, and even though they somehow

survived it, what they lived through drove them insane.

FORMER COMRADE

A former comrade-in-arms can be a useful hook to draw

adventurers into a story-or a compelling villain. Which

one of the characters served alongside the villain? Were

they equals, or was one of higher rank? Did the villain

abandon or betray the adventurer, or was it the adven­

turer who betrayed the villain? This option can be espe­

cially interesting for a warforged villain; while searching

for their own identity following the war, they have em­

braced a dark path. If you use this motif, it's important

to develop the story in conjunction with the players

whose characters are connected to the villain-either

establishing crucial details ahead of time, or developing

them together by way of a flashback.

WA R-TORN SURVIVOR

At first meeting, the villain of an adventure might seem

to be a person of honor, or at the least a hardscrabble

survivor doing what they think is right after surviving

the war. The villain might have experienced some of the

same things in the war that the characters did, making

it easy for the characters to understand the villain's

point of view-or at least to harbor a sliver of doubt that

makes them think twice before rushing to condemn the

villain. The War-Torn Villains table suggests twists you

can add to villains mentioned elsewhere in this chapter

to give them and their schemes a tie to the Last War.

WAR-TORN VILLAINS

d6 Villain

The villain doesn't know (or refuses to believe) that

the war has ended.

2 The villain experienced horrors during the war and

targets the people they believe to be responsible.

3 The villain is using the skills they learned during the

war to target war profiteers or national leaders.

(^4) The villain is a former military commander who com­
mands soldiers who served under them in the war.
S The villain is an ex-soldier with a grudge against citi­
zens of a former enemy nation.
6 The villain wants the power to restart, and "properly"
finish, the war.
CHAPTER 4 I BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURES