I got Iron Heroes about a week and a half ago, and I finished it a few days ago.  Wow.  Just wow.  Anyway, I thought I’d post some stuff that I came up with, making use of mastery feats and tokens and whatnot.  For your reading pleasure, here are three feats: Biting Repartee, Fortune’s Favor, and a mastery version of Improved Unarmed Strike.

Biting Repartee [Social]
You gain confidence from your opponent’s failures, allowing you to use your words as a powerful weapon.
Base Mastery: 1
Benefit: During your action, you designate an opponent to watch for mistakes. Every time your opponent attempts an action and fails, you gain 1 barb token.
During your action, you may spend 1 barb token as a free action in order to insult your opponent in attempt to rattle her; you may spend additional barb tokens to increase the DC of the save that your opponent must make, as well. When you use this ability, your foe must make a Will save (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier + the number of additional tokens spent) or suffer a -2 penalty on all attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks until the end of her next action.
You can maintain a total number of unspent barb tokens in your token pool equal to your character level + 10. Tokens beyond this maximum go to waste. Your pool lasts until the end of the encounter. You can build up tokens against one opponent at a time. If you switch targets, you lose the tokens that you have already built up for this ability.
Special: All uses of this feat are mind-affecting, language-dependent effects.
Expanded Mastery: 2. Your jibes and insults can cause your foe to lose focus momentarily, creating an opening for an attack. Any time your foe performs an action within with in a threatened area (either yours or an ally’s), you may spend 2 barb tokens. If you do so, her action provokes an attack of opportunity, even if it normally would not.
Expanded Mastery: 3. You can verbally distract your foe to such an extent that he simply fails to do anything useful. You may spend 2 or more barb tokens as a free action. When you do so, your opponent must make a Will save (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier + the number of additional tokens spent) or become dazed until the end of her next action.
Expanded Mastery: 4. By distracting your opponent with your repartee, you can cause her to lower her defenses momentarily. You may spend 4 or more barb tokens as a free action in order to force your opponent to make a Will save (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier + the number of additional tokens spent). If she fails, she loses her active bonus to Defense against the next attack aimed at her.
Expanded Mastery: 7. You can force your opponent to focus her ire upon you and you alone, ignoring all others. You may spend 4 or more barb tokens as a free action. If you do so, your opponent must make a Will save (DC 10 + your Charisma modifier + the number of additional tokens spent); if she fails, she must take the shortest path to get to you and engage you in melee. Your opponent does not have to move through any dangerous or damaging terrain; you cannot force her to walk through flames. However, you can force her to move through an ally’s threatened area, or into an area that would spring a trap that she does not know about.
Expanded Mastery: 10. Your criticism is so insightful and effective that you can provoke your opponent into taking a specific action by questioning her ability to do so. As a free action, spend 8 or more barb tokens and designate an action that you wish your opponent to take. The action must be relatively straightforward, and it cannot be obviously suicidal or against your opponent’s nature. For example, you cannot force your opponent to jump off a cliff or attack her allies, but you could force her to take a combat challenge that lowers her defenses, or engage your berserker ally in melee combat. Your opponent is entilted to a Will save (DC 10 + your Charimsa modifier + the number of additional tokens spent) to resist this effect.

Fortune’s Favor [Special]
You are luckier than most. You’ve found that, if you take significant risks, you tend to have good luck later on.
Base Mastery: 1
Prerequisite: This feat does not have an associated mastery category. As such, your mastery rating, for the purpose of this feat, is equal to the number in the column listed �Other Feat Mastery� or �All Feat Mastery�.
Benefit: You gain access to the luck token pool. Any time you make a skill check for which there is a penalty for failure (i.e., a check on which you can neither take 10 nor 20), you may take a special skill challenge. By taking a -5 penalty to your check, you gain 1 luck token if you succeed; note that you gain no other benefit for this challenge. In addition, you may take a special defensive combat challenge in order to gain tokens. If you take a -4 penalty to Defense (following the normal rules for combat challenges) you gain a luck token.
At any given time, as part of another action, you may spend 1 luck token in order to gain a +1 luck bonus to your next d20 roll. There is no limit to the number of luck tokens you may spend on a single roll, but you do not gain any luck tokens from a check on which you have spent luck tokens.
You can maintain a total number of unspent luck tokens in your token pool equal to your character level + 10. Tokens beyond this maximum go to waste. Your pool lasts until you rest for 8 hours.
Expanded Mastery: 3. Your luck is sometimes more potent, though this is not always the case. Instead of spending luck tokens for +1 bonuses on a 1-for-1 basis, you may spend 2 luck tokens in order to add a luck bonus of +1d6 to your next d20 roll. Otherwise, this ability obeys the same rules as listed above.
Expanded Mastery: 5. You have learned to play the odds, risking much for great rewards. Any time you must make a skill check, ability check, attack roll, or base attack check with at least a 50% chance of failure, you may risk any number of luck tokens. If you fail, you lose any luck tokens that you risked on the action. However, should you succeed, you gain an additional number of luck tokens equal to the number that you risked. If you spend any luck tokens on this roll, you gain no benefit.
Expanded Mastery: 7. You are so lucky that it seems as if you often get a second chance at things. Any time you make a d20 roll, you may spend 6 luck tokens to reroll the die once you have seen the result. If you do so, you must take the second roll, even if it is worse than the first. Note that this second roll gains all of the same bonuses as the initial roll, including bonuses granted by spent luck tokens.

Improved Unarmed Strike [Power, Finesse]
You have trained to fight with punches and kicks, which allows you to engage an armed opponent on equal terms.
Base Mastery: 1
Prerequisite: When you take this feat, you must choose to take it as a Power or Finesse feat.
Benefit: You are considered armed even when unarmed. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity from armed opponents when you attack them unarmed. However, you still get an attack of opportunity against any opponent who makes an unarmed attack on you. Also, your unarmed strikes can deal lethal or nonlethal damage, at your option, and your unarmed damage improves as if you were one size larger than you are.
Normal: Without this feat, you are considered unarmed when attacking with an unarmed strike, and you can deal only nonlethal damage with such an attack.
Special: Note that the benefits for expanded mastery levels 3, 6, and 9 are all identical. They are listed as separate mastery abilities because you can’t take the same ability more than once. However, their effects stack.
Expanded Mastery: 2 (Power). You can deliver devastating blows with your unarmed strikes that send your opponent reeling. Your unarmed strikes gain the power descriptor. When fighting unarmed, you gain the benefit of the Foe Hammer feat, though this benefit applies only to your unarmed strikes and not to cudgels. If you wish to use Foe Hammer with a cudgel, you must purchase it separately. You can spend feat selections to gain Foe Hammer’s expanded mastery abilities for this use of your unarmed strikes.
Expanded Mastery: 2 (Finesse). You can attack with great speed, dazzling your opponent with your lightning-fast strikes. Your unarmed strikes gain the finesse descriptor. When fighting unarmed, you gain the benefit of the Razor Fiend feat, though this benefit applies only to your unarmed strikes and not to daggers. If you wish to use Razor Fiend with a dagger, you must purchase it separately. You can spend feat selections to gain Razor Fiend’s expanded mastery abilities for this use of your unarmed strikes.
Expanded Mastery: 3. Your unarmed strikes deal more damage, making you a living weapon. The damage dealt by your unarmed strikes improves again, as if you were an additional size larger than you are.
Expanded Mastery: 4. You are capable of reacting with complex moves at a moment’s notice. Any time you make an attack of opportunity, you may initiate a disarm, trip, or grapple attempt without provoking an attack of opportunity in return. In addition, you no longer suffer the -4 penalty to disarm attempts for using a light weapon when you are unarmed.
Expanded Mastery: 5. As a move action, you may make a base attack check opposed by your opponent’s own base attack check, or by his Sense Motive check, whichever is better. If you succeed, your opponent loses his active bonus to Defense until the start of his next action.
Expanded Mastery: 6. Your unarmed strikes deal more damage, making you a living weapon. The damage dealt by your unarmed strikes improves again, as if you were an additional size larger than you are.
Expanded Mastery: 8. You know how to strike at your opponent’s weakest spots, often avoiding his armor’s protection. You may make an unarmed strike as a full-round action. For this attack only, your foe takes a -1d8 penalty to his damage reduction.
Expanded Mastery: 9. Your unarmed strikes deal more damage, making you a living weapon. The damage dealt by your unarmed strikes improves again, as if you were an additional size larger than you are.

Akashic Dreamer (Talent)

You are able to access the Akashic Record during your dreams, though doing so is somewhat random.

Prerequisites: Character level 1st.

Benefit: Whenever you go to sleep for at least eight hours, you have a 20% chance of inadvertently accessing the Akashic Record. Doing so allows the DM to make a Delve Into Collective Memory check for you, in order to determine what memory you accidentally come into contact with. You have no actual control over this ability, although the memory accessed (and thus, the information gained) is likely to be somewhat related to something that is currently important to you. For instance, if you are trying to find a way into a locked and guarded keep, you may access a memory that hints at a secret door. The information gained from this ability is largely up to the DM, however.

Special: If you have at least one level of akashic, your chance to have an akashic dream rises to 50%, though you still have no direct control over the dream, itself. If this ability manifests, it does not count against your normal uses of Delve Into Collective Memory.

Bond to Animal (Ceremonial)

In a ceremony involving you and an animal, you develop a psychic bond with the animal involved.

Prerequisites: Truename.

Benefit: Choose an animal with a a number of Hit Dice no greater than half your character level. You develop an empathic bond with an animal of the chosen type. As long as you remain within 30 feet of your bonded animal, you can sense each other’s basic emotional state. As long as the animal is within one mile of you, you can sense its general direction and distance. Your bonded animal’s type changes to magical beast, and its Intelligence score increases to half of your own. For every three character levels you possess, your bonded animal gains one Hit Die, and its Intelligence increases by one point. Any time your bonded animal gains a Hit Die, you may perform a ceremony to enhance the bond between you. This ceremony takes one full day, involves only you and your bonded animal, and costs 100 gold per character level in special materials. Each time you perform one of these ceremonies, choose one ability from the following list; your bonded animal gains the chosen ability.

• Bond of Alertness: Whenever you are within 5 feet of your bonded animal, you are better able to detect danger. If either of you is not flat-footed, neither of you is flat-footed. If either of you is not considered flanked, neither of you is considered flanked.
• Bond of Awareness: As long as you are touching your bonded animal, you may make use of its senses in order to enhance your own. If your animal has any ranks in Listen, Spot, or Search, you may add these ranks as a circumstance bonus to your own Listen, Spot, or Search bonus. In addition, if your animal has low-light vision, you gain low-light vision while in contact with it. If you already have low-light vision, its range is doubled.
• Far Sight: As long as your bonded animal is within one mile of you, you may see through its eyes. You gain visual information only, and you cannot take any actions while you are using your animal’s sight. You are considered helpless while using your animal’s sight.
• Share Hit Points: As long as you are touching your bonded animal, you may transfer your own hit points to it, and vice versa. Neither you nor your bonded animal can exceed maximum hit points in this way, nor may you or your bonded animal drop below 0 hit points by using this ability.
• Share Spells: Any time you cast a spell or use a spell-like ability that affects only you, you may choose to have it affect your bonded animal, too. In addition, you may cast touch-range spells on your bonded animal, even if you cannot touch it. Your animal must be within 30 feet of you in order for this ability to work.
• Telepathic Bond: The empathic bond between you and your animal has been strengthened, allowing you to sense each other’s thoughts as well as emotions. Your bonded animal speaks one language that you do (though it cannot actually, physically speak). This ability has the same range as your empathic communication.

If your bonded animal ever dies, you immediately lose experience points equal to 200 times your character level; this experience loss cannot cause you to lose a level. You may bond with another animal in the event of your animal’s death, but doing so requires another day-long ceremony, and incurs the same costs. The new animal can be a different type of animal than the previous animal, but it does not gain any of the original’s abilities gained through this feat.

Necromancer (Ceremonial)

In a ceremony involving only yourself, performing vile experiments on the dead and chanting blasphemous rites, you learn to better harness the power of the undead.

Prerequisites: Spellcaster level 1+, truename.

Benefit: Any time you cast a spell that creates an undead creature, such as lesser animate dead or rouse undead spirit , you may make a caster power check (DC 25). If you succeed, the newly created undead creature must make a Will save (DC equal to 15 + 1 for every point by which you exceeded the DC of your caster power check). If the undead creature fails this save, and you are able to place it under your control, it does not count toward your normal maximum number of undead creatures that you can have under your control at one time. This feat works even if you do not know the undead creature’s truename, and even if the undead creature is Unbound.

Special: A magister may take this feat as one of his bonus feats.

Power of X (Ceremonial)

You and at least one other spellcaster undergo a special ceremony, bonding yourselves magically to each other. This bond increases your magical abilities while you are in physical contact with each other.
Prerequisites: 3rd Spellcaster level, Modify Spell.

Benefit: You share a special, magical bond with the other spellcasters with which you performed this ceremony, provided that they have this feat, too. From now on, whenever you are in physical contact with one or more of your bonded companions, you may cast spells in a somewhat different way. When you cast a spell, one of your companions may spend a spell slot of equal or higher level in order create one of the following effects:

• Add an effect normally created through a laden spell (as from Modify Spell or a template); more than one ‘laden’ effect may be added in this way. Note that the spellcaster contributing the spell slot must normally be able to cast spells in this way. If the effect has limited uses per day (such as Quicken Spell), one use is expended each time it is added.
• Ignore costly material components, whether they are a part of the spell or a part of a template, with a value of 10 gp per level of the slot contributed.
• Increase the spell’s Caster Level by +1.
• Increase the spell’s save DC by +1.

In order to use this feat, all participating spellcaster’s must be in physical contact, and must be able to cast the spell in question. However, it is not necessary for all participating spellcasters to be able to use effects that are added; only the spellcaster adding the effect need be able to use it normally. For example, a spellcaster wishing to Quicken a spell cast by another spellcaster must have the Quicken Spell feat, but the casting spellcaster need not have this feat.

Special: By performing the ceremony again, you may add more spellcasters to your group of bonded companions. However, each spellcaster in the group must have this feat. A spellcaster may be a part of only one bonded group at any given time, but may switch groups (by performing the ceremony again) whenever he wishes to.

Seeker of Truth (Ceremonial)

In a ceremony involving at least three akashics, you gain the ability to discern untruths when you see or hear them.

Prerequisites: Akashic level 3+, Wisdom 13+, truename.

Benefit: Once per day per point of Wisdom bonus, you may make a Sense Motive check with a +5 insight bonus. If used during a conversation with a person, this check has a DC equal to 14 plus the target’s Charisma modifier; success indicates that, for the entire duration of the encounter, you automatically know whenever the target is lying. Alternatively, you may also use this ability to detect falsehoods in a written document; in this case the DC is 20, and the effect lasts for one sitting. Finally, you may use this ability to gain a +5 insight bonus on a single Will save made to disbelieve an illusion.

Special: An akashic may not take this feat as a bonus feat; it must be earned through the actual performance of a ceremony.

Specialist Mage (Ceremonial)

In a ceremony involving you and at least three other spellcasters, you learn to focus your magical training on a specific school of magic.

Prerequisites: Spellcaster level 3+, truename.

Benefit: Choose one school of magic. You are able to cast spells of your chosen school with more flexibility. From now on, you may laden any spell of your chosen school in order to cast its heightened version (instead of using a higher-level spell slot), or you may cast the normal version as a laden spell of one level lower. In addition, you have access to all complex spells from the chosen school, even if you normally would have access to only simple spells.

Special: A magister may take this feat as one of his bonus feats. This feat may only be taken once.

Sympathetic Spellcasting (Ceremonial)

In a ceremony involving you and one other spellcaster, you learn to cast spells through a sympathetic focus.

Prerequisites: Truename.

Benefit: A character with this feat may apply the sympathetic template to his spells, as described below. Further, if normally he can access only simple spells of a given level, he may treat any complex spell of that level with the truename descriptor as a simple spell. If he normally can access complex spells of a given level, he may treat any exotic spell of that level with the truename descriptor as a complex spell.

Template: Sympathetic

Using rituals taught by another with the knowledge of sympathetic magic, characters learn to cast certain spells through special focus components, called sympathetic foci.

Characters can add this template to any spell that can be cast on a single target. When using this template, characters can cast spells on a specific target at any range, even if the target is not within the normal range of the spell. A spell cast with this template gains the truename descriptor; if the spell being cast already has the truename descriptor, the character casting it may laden the spell in order to cast its heightened version, provided that that character would normally be able to cast the spell’s heightened version.

Cost: Focus component. A spell cast with the sympathetic template requires a special focus component, called a sympathetic focus. A sympathetic focus is a small object, easily held in one hand, that represents the individual being targeted by the spell. The sympathetic focus must contain something of personal significance to the target, whether it is an actual body part (hair, tooth, blood, finger, etc.) or merely an item of great significance to the target. In addition, the caster must perform a ceremony on the sympathetic focus; this ceremony takes 1 day and costs 1000 gp. Note that, because any spell cast using this template gains the truename descriptor, the caster must know the truename of an individual in order to target him with a sympathetic spell.

Gained: From the Sympathetic Spellcasting feat.

According to WotC’s official errata, the artificer class from the Eberron Campaign Setting can only craft ‘artificer scrolls’, meaning that they are neither arcane nor divine. This calls into question the utility of the artificer in society. If an artificer can only craft scrolls that other classes find difficult to use, and the artificer, himself, must make a Use Magic Device check to activate his own scrolls, then it would seem that artificer scrolls are inferior to other types of scrolls. Anyway, I came up with a simple solution.

The artificer still creates artificer scrolls; however, he now has an infusion, added to his 1st-level list of infusions, called calibrate scroll. It is as follows:

Calibrate Scroll
Transmutation
Level: Art 1
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Target: Artificer scroll touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (object, harmless)
Spell Resistance: No (object, harmless)

Calibrate scroll allows you to change the type of a single artificer scroll that you touch. The scroll’s type can become either arcane or divine, at which point it behaves as any other arcane or divine scroll.

Material Component: A special magical ink, used to make corrections and adjustments to the scroll during the course of the casting time. This ink must have a value equal to the caster level of the scroll times the spell level of the spell scribed on the scroll times 10, in gold.

Something that I’ve never liked about d20/D&D is the fact that the Speed attribute is essentially static. It works well for tactical combat, insofar as most people know they can move 6 squares on the grid (30 feet) during any given turn. However, for cinematic events such as chase sequences, static speeds don’t really work. If, for example, the heroes are being chased through the woods by a ravening werewolf, and the werewolf has a higher speed, it’ll catch them eventually. It’s not much fun to know that the PCs basically have no mechanical way to win that chace sequence. Enter: the Speed check.

Speed checks follow the same basic mechanics as most other rolls in d20: you roll a twenty-sided die and add any relevant bonuses, comparing it either to a static DC, or to an opponent’s roll. The ‘relevent bonus’, in this case, would be your Speed bonus, which you get by dividing your Speed by 5; the results for most common Speeds are summarized in the table below.

So, if that werewolf is chasing the party through the woods, and it has a Speed of, say, 40, that means that it has a +8 Speed bonus, compared to the party’s bonuses of +3 to +6, generally. Now, the werewolf still has an advantage in this chase, but the party can get away, if they’re lucky.

You can add further variation to this system via circumstance modifiers. If they’re running through heavy underbrush, you could give the party a -2 penalty, except for the druid, whose class abilities allow him to ignore such things. If you’re using the favored environment variant of the ranger’s favored enemy ability (see Unearthed Arcana), you might allow the Ranger to add his favored environment bonus to his Speed bonus while in that environment.

Chases are not the only application for this varient rule, either. Some traps might seem to require a little more than a simple Reflex save. Say a player has to outrun a rolling boulder, like Indiana Jones. You might require the player to succeed in a DC 15 speed check, possibly with his Reflex save modifier added, in order to outrun the boulder. Maybe, instead of a single check, you rule that the player must run for five rounds in order to get to a location where he can step aside and allow the boulder to roll past him; in this case, the Reflex bonus would probably only apply to the first roll, and the DC might get higher with each successive round as the boulder gains momentum. You might, however, allow a bonus to successive rolls if the PC beat the previous roll by a significant margin, allowing him to gain a lead gradually.

In the end, this is basically just a way to add a little variation to static speeds, in order to make the game a little more cinematic.

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed offers a number of new classes and races that can be used independently of, or in conjunction with, standard D&D classes and races. Planning my upcoming Eberron campaign, as well as my growing obsession with the setting, has led me to wonder how the various elements of Arcana Unearthed would fit into the world of Eberron. The following is my take on that particular question.

Magic
Arcana Unearthed handles magic differently than core D&D does. There is no division between arcane and divine; there is simply magic. In addition, pure spell power has been toned down somewhat, while spellcaster versatility has been increased. Finally, metamagic has been expanded upon, and various levels of ‘spell proficiency' have been added to the magic system. So, how does one handle Arcana Unearthed spellcasters and spell-like abilities in the same campaign as their D&D counterparts?

My solution is quite simple: they practice a different form of magic. I have termed this magic “eldritch magic”, and it is a separate form from “divine” and “arcane”. Spellcasters from Arcana Unearthed use that game's magic system, while D&D spellcasters use the core magic system; multiclassing is handled in the same way that a multiclass wizard/cleric is handled. Finally, metamagic feats from Arcana Unearthed can only be applied to eldritch magic, and the same holds true for standard D&D metamagic and its relationship to arcane/divine magic.

So where, you ask, does eldritch magic come from in Eberron? Long ago, it was practiced widely by the giants of Xen'drik, when their great empire was still in full swing. Since the invasion from Dal Quor, eldritch magic has fallen by the wayside somewhat. However, the drow of Xen'drik (as well as a few giants) still practice eldritch magic, as do the elves of Aerenal and Valenar, though to a lesser extent.

Classes
So where do the various classes fit in? Some are easier to integrate than others, but they all have a place in Eberron.

Akashics: There are monasteries in Adar dedicated to unification with Eberron and its inhabitants. Through study and meditation, many of these monks have developed a connection to the askashic record, the communal memory of all living beings. While akashics are rare in Khorvaire, some of the monks of Adar believe that the best way to become one with the world is to travel it, learning through experience as well as memory.

Champions: Champions are to causes what paladins are to religions, and can be found virtually anywhere. It is not uncommon to find a champion of darkness in the ranks of the Order of the Emerald Claw, or to find a champion of life protecting the wilds of the Eldeen Reaches.

Greenbonds: The drow of Xen'drik seek to protect their land from the despoilers of Khorvaire. In order to more effectively do this, some of these drow use eldritch magic and various ceremonies to develop a strong spiritual connection with Eberron, itself. This connection is fundamentally different from that between a druid and the land, but is no less strong. Some who have gone to Xen'drik have learned the secrets of these drow greenbonds, and have brought them back to Khorvaire. Consequently, greenbonds can sometimes be found in the Shadow Marches or the Eldeen Reaches, and even beyond.

Mage Blades: The Valenar have allowed their tie to eldritch magic to atrophy somewhat; however, the bond is not completely gone. Occasionally, a Valenar elf is interested enough in eldritch magic to learn what he needs in order to supplement his combat prowess. Through this union of eldritch magic and swordplay, the mage blade is born.

Magisters: Magisters are the undisputed masters of eldritch magic. They are most common among the drow of Xen'drik and the elves of Aerenal, though some members of the Arcane Congress and the Twelve have learned to harness the magister's powers, as well.

Oathsworn: Oathsworn are often found in the service of various causes or religions. The Gatekeepers of the Eldeen Reaches claim more than a few in their ranks, as does the Church of the Silver Flame. The strict discipline required by the oathsworn also appeals to the kalashtar.

Runethanes: The art of runic spellcasting is uniquely giantish, and many giant runethanes can be found in the wilds of Xen'drik. Some explorers have brought this knowledge back with them, and House Kundarak has grown particularly interested in the arts of the runethane.

Totem Warriors: The Eldeen Reaches and the Shadow Marches are home to a number of totem warriors, as are the Talenta Planes. Many are shifters seeking to become closer to their lycanthropic heritage, while others are members of various druidic sects. In addition, many of the barbarians of Argonessen are totem warriors, though they choose dragons rather than animals as their totem spirits.

Unfettered: These daring swashbucklers can be found virtually anywhere in Khorvaire. Whether captaining a pirate vessel in the Lazhaar Principalities or battling criminals in Sharn, unfettered are no more or less common than fighters or rogues.

Warmains: During the Last War, warmains often led squads of soldiers, using their superior fighting ability and their tactical knowledge to win the day. Now that the Last War is over, many warmains have turned to more mercenary activities in order to make a living. However, there are still more than a few warmains acting as professional soldiers, particularly in Karrnath and the Mror Holds.

Witches: Most drow eldritch spellcasters are witches; this represents their innate connection to the magic of their former masters. Witches are extremely uncommon outside of the drow culture, but occasionally an explorer or an Aereni elf can be found who practices the strange arts of the witch. The Inspired of Riedra have developed particular interest in the mind witch, due its ability to produce effects similar to their own psionic powers. Thus far, however, they have not managed to master witchery.

Races
There are a number of races, as well, that can fit into Eberron with relative ease. If nothing else, many of these races can be used to add an exotic flare to places like Xen'drik or Argonessen.

Faen: The faen are most commonly found in the Eldeen Reaches. With its tie to nature and fey creatures, the faen are a natural fit. Some adventurous faen have taken to venturing further out into civilized areas, as well.

Giants: The easiest place to put giants is in Xen'drik. They can be used either to replace the existing D&D giants who once ruled the continent, or they can be used as a sort of ‘half-breed' giant that arose from the coupling of the true giants and their elven and drow slaves.

Litorians: The halflings of the Talenta Planes share their territory with other races, once of which is a race of leonine humanoids known as the litorians. The litorians keep to themselves for the most part, but have been known to deal with strangers from time to time.

Mojh: The barbarians of Argonessen have long worshipped the dragons that call the continent their own. Some have taken this worship so far as to undergo a ritual that physically makes them resemble the dragons they revere. Many mojh serve as the leaders of various barbarian tribes, or as spiritual guides. Some also serve as go-betweens and diplomats between the barbarians and the dragons, themselves.

Sibeccai: The wildlands of Xen'drik hold a number of mysterious races and cultures. One of these is the race known as the sibeccai. In recent years, they have made overtures to the Khorvarian settlement of Stormreach, offering to trade their exotic wares and the knowledge of eldritch magic for the secrets of elemental binding and artifice.

Verrik: The incursion from Xoriat wreaked havoc upon Khorvaire long ago, and many people believe that those days are long over. However, while the daelkyr and their aberrations are, for the most part, bound within the depths of Khyber, they have left a living legacy on Khorvaire. When the daelkyr came to Eberron, they brought with them a slave race, the verrik. With the defeat of the daelkyr, the verrik were freed from their servitude. Many of them still live in the Demon Wastes, and a few even venture out, despite the fact that their connection the Xoriat makes others feel ill at ease around them.

The idea is really very simple. Basically, you assume that PCs have basic adventuring gear. Clothing, bedroll, a couple of days worth of food; I’ve never really believed that PCs should have to purchase this stuff separately. You can charge PCs for this stuff if you want to, but I generally don’t. It’s more flavor than anything else, as I see it.

What about specific bits of adventuring gear that could affect the outcome of an encounter, puzzle, trap, or what-not? That’s where the Gear Pool comes into play. Basically, at character creation, players can spend however much gold they want on their Gear Pool; each gold piece equates to one gp worth of Gear. Then, later on, when a character needs, for instance, fifty feet of rope and a grappling hook, you deduct the cost of the needed items from the Gear Pool. You assume that the character had the foresight to buy this stuff while he was out preparing for the adventure, even if the player did not. After all, the character would know better what he needs for adventuring than the player would, wouldn’t he?

Material components work in the same way. Gold is spent to acquire a Component Pool, and when a character needs a costly material spell component, he deducts the cost from his Pool. Thus, casting identify causes you to deduct 100 points from your Materail Pool. Simple.

Replenishing the two Pools is just as simple. Any time the characters are in a town or city, or any other place they’d get gear, they can add gold to their two Pools. Certain treasure hoards might also contain Gear Points or Component Points.

The limiting factors are pretty much what you, as the DM, want them to be. I generally wouldn’t allow large items (like a 10-foot pole) or weapons (like a longsword, though I might allow a dagger or quiver of arrows). I would probably also disallow magic items. Finally, I might require a PC to justify certain items. For instance, a PC might not have any particular reason to have bought a spyglass, or might not have been somewhere recently where such an item would have been available. As with any house rule that allows the PCs this much leeway, DM discretion is advised.

I’ve been playing around with this idea for a couple of days. Basically, while I like the idea of the sorcerer class in D&D, I’m not a huge fan of the implementation. Wizards succeeded in creating a class that it simultaneously very similar to the wizard, but less effective. So, I decided to try to create a variant of the sorcerer which is, I hope, better balanced with the wizard and distinct in a mechanical sense. Feel free to post your opinions in the forum.

SORCERER

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills

The sorcerer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession ( Wis ), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the sorcerer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sorcerers are proficient with all simple weapons, plus one martial weapon of choice. Sorcerers are proficient with light armor. A sorcerer can cast sorcerer spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. However, like any other arcane spellcaster, a sorcerer wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component (most do). A multiclass sorcerer still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Spells: A sorcerer casts arcane spells which are drawn primarily from the sorcerer/wizard spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time, the way a wizard or a cleric must (see below).

To learn or cast a spell, a sorcerer must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a sorcerer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the sorcerer’s Charisma modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a sorcerer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Sorcerer. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score.

A sorcerer’s selection of spells is extremely limited. A sorcerer begins play knowing three 0-level spells and one 1st-level spell of your choice. At each new sorcerer level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a sorcerer knows is not affected by his Charisma score; the numbers on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known are fixed.) These new spells can be common spells chosen from the sorcerer/wizard spell list, or they can be unusual spells that the sorcerer has gained some understanding of by study. The sorcerer can’t use this method of spell acquisition to learn spells at a faster rate, however.

Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered sorcerer level after that (6th, 8th, and so on), a sorcerer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the sorcerer “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell’s level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least two levels lower than the highest-level sorcerer spell the sorcerer can cast. A sorcerer may swap only a single spell at any given level, and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a sorcerer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast.

Spellweaving: A sorcerer can weave and unravel spell slots as a free action. When a sorcerer weaves slots, he sacrifices three spell slots of the same level in order to gain one spell slot one level higher. When a sorcerer unravels slots, he sacrifices one spell slot in order to gain two spell slots on level lower. Spell slots can be woven together as often as the sorcerer wishes, with the exception that he can never weave spell slots into a slot higher than one he would normally have access to. Once a spell slot is unraveled, however, the slots created cannot be further unraveled. This is a supernatural ability.

Power of the Will: Sorcerers of at least 6 th level have the ability to cast spells through sheer force of will alone. By doubling a spell’s casting time, the sorcerer can eliminate a single component (verbal, somatic, material, or focus) from that spell. Casting times can be doubled multiple times, each time negating one spell component. Note that costly material components and experience point costs cannot be eliminated in this way.

Imitate Spell: Any time the sorcerer uses Spellcraft to successfully identify a spell cast, he may attempt to imitate the spell and cast it, even if it is not one of his known spells. Imitating a spell requires the sorcerer to spend a spell slot of at least the same level as the spell being imitated. In addition, the sorcerer must succeed on a Bluff check (DC 25 + spell level, +4 if the spell is divine). If the sorcerer fails this Bluff check, he still loses the spell slot. However, if he succeeds, he may cast the spell as if he knew it on his next turn. Once the sorcerer identifies a cast spell, he must decide to imitate it on his next turn; waiting longer causes the sorcerer to forfeit imitation of the spell.

Arcane Blood: A sorcerer of 18 th level sees very little distinction between his physical self and his arcane powers. By sacrificing a spell slot, the sorcerer can heal 1d6 hit points per spell level (1 hit point for a 0-level spell). Similarly, the sorcerer can gain a spell slot by ‘burning’ a number of hit points equal to six times the spell’s level (1 point for a 0-level spell). Use of this supernatural ability is a standard action.