Eberron and Inspiration

When I was first getting into Eberron, I listened to the Manifest Zone podcast, which included the progenitor himself, Keith Baker. It was on this podcast that I first heard that some people had adapted Eberron’s world to the Savage Worlds TTRPG system. Though I hadn’t played it before, I met a friend who ran games later that year. While I still prefer to run in the original D&D, I had really enjoyed the physical chips used to represent the accumulated “inspiration,” called Bennys, which could be used to supercharge your combat or skills test.

The next GenCon I went to, I saw that Beadle and Grimm had some Eberron related merchandise: the dragonshards.

I couldn’t help but immediately think about how to use them at my table– and make sure they were part of the action economy.

Rules for Dragonshard Inspiration

I came up with rules for myself for the creation of the dragonshards and how they would be incorporated into play

1. The dragonshards would be put out on the table at the beginning of each session.
2. Each dragonshard could only be used once per session.
3. Heroic Inspiration as normal would not be affected, the dragonshards would only be spent if a player wanted to use a specific dragonshard inspiration effect.
4. The dragonshards would have to be incorporated into the action economy. You would expend them as part of an action, bonus action, or reaction.
5. If a player uses a dragonshard action and it doesn’t work (like taking the enhanced attack action from the Khyber crystal and missing all attacks), then the dragonshard is not expended; it remains on the table for future use.
6. Each dragonshard would have only 4 options to choose from. One of these options is to have a +5 to a specific, related, skill check.
7. All dragonshards could be used to summon a Deus Ex Machina, though only one can be called in at a time.

The Eberron Shard (Red)

Eberron is the name of the “Mother Earth” dragon. As such, the red dragonshard focuses on protection, nature, and replacing the costs of gems in spells:

1. As a reaction, you  halve the damage of one attack action against you. (This includes multiattack.)
2. As part of a magic action, you replace the cost of one spell component up to 100gp. 
3. As a bonus action or reaction, gain +2 to your AC until the start of your next turn. If you are hit, the Eberron crystal is not expended. 
4. Add +5 to an Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Nature, Perception, or Survival check.

The Khyber Shard (Blue)

The dark shard from Khyber, the mother of demons, enhances the violence and bad luck.

1. As a reaction, you  cause a target creature to have disadvantage on a d20 Test. 
2. As an action, take the attack action. You double all damage dice rolled from successful attacks this turn. If you did not make a successful attack, the Khyber crystal is not expended. 
3. As a bonus action, you can take an Attack or Magic action. (This still wouldn’t allow my players to break the “one slot spell per turn” rule for the new ruleset.)
4. Add +5 to an Arcana, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Sleight of Hand, or Stealth check.

The Siberys Shard (Yellow)

The shard from the heavens, falling from the Ring of Siberys, pulls on positive energy and therefore helps heal and provides good luck.

1. As an action, you take an action which heals yourself or at least one other target. You maximize the healing from this action. (This can be a spell, a healing potion, or another unnamed method of healing a character.)
2. As an action, bonus action, or reaction, you choose a creature you can see within 60ft. They gain 1 HP. (The ultimate attaboy, walk it off.)
3. As a bonus action, you or target creature you can see within 60ft. gains 1d4 to all d20 Tests for the next 1 minute as if from Bless. This requires no concentration to maintain.
4. Add +5 to an Acrobatics, Investigation, Medicine, Performance,  Persuasion, or Religion check.

Deus Ex Machina

The final option for expending a dragonshard is to choose Deus Ex Machina:

As an action, spend your inspiration and two of the inspiration dragonshards to summon a close bond ally to fight alongside your party. You control the ally; they are placed at the bottom of initiative.

A requirement in this is that your character must be CLOSE with the ally who is appearing to save your bacon. If you are, some twists of fate (as long as they’re somewhat reasonable) are so moved that your friend has arrived to fight alongside you (or help you with your research, etc.) Out of all of these, this is the one that I’m still workshopping the most. I want to make sure it feels like when Gandalf shows up at the Battle of Helm’s Deep, but that it doesn’t detract from the players’ own abilities.

Thank you for reading!

If you thought this was interesting and are planning on incorporating it at your table– let me know!