Ep. 114 Eberron Reviewed 18

## Listen

Ep. 114 Eberron Reviewed 18

—Jeff

 Summary

## Listener Questions

***Q: How much of Beric's training to use the divinity within was planned beforehand and how much of it was emergent during the latest Eberron Reduced? - Darrin***

At 6th level of Kensai you get blindsense, and Philip didn't want it to be free, so he had Eric come up with some narrative cost. When it was offered, the hesitation Beric showed was genuine as Philip hadn't decided if he was going to take the Kensai level yet or stick with Warlock, and he didn't realize it was going to be a choice at all; he thought Eric would just blind Beric somehow.

***Q: Whatever happened to the horse that wasn't for Dex? - Jon***

Jeff had decided that Thorin took it; Philip wonders how Drakir lured out the ghost tigers.

***Q: Catching up on the reviewed episode,  the new visual of Beric being forehead all the way down to his nose was discussed. So that prompts the question: frown lines galore or secret Botox acolyte?  Or is that the new secret on how Dex reads his mood, is from body language expressed from the forehead? - Calli***

Dex reads Beric's moods as well as he's ever been able to, which is not at all.

***Q: Did Philip decide to make exploring the Blood of Vol versus the Silver Flame part of Beric's character arc? Was that something that was built into the kensai trainer from the beginning, or something added in after Beric lost his eyes? - Darrin***

They didn't talk prior to the Reduced, but Beric has always used blood magic while using the training he got from Beynar. An episode of Manifest Zone talked about the Silver Flame being like the Force, so it was a natural comparison to have the Blood of Vol be akin to the Sith, in the form of drawing power from oneself. It's relying on external forces vs. internal forces for where you get your power.

The Sith aspect influenced Beric's mask, which Philip knew Eric wanted to be a significant part of Beric's character, but Beric was never going to walk around with a metal bird helmet.

***Q: It was established that Beric's helm is not a bird. So what animal is he representing instead? Narwhal? Ram? What is his new animal/color based alias? - Calli***

Beric has neither animal avatar nor color code.

***Q: Were you annoyed that Philip totally shut down the fight with the icky thinks from Dolurrh on his first turn? - Irene***

 A healthy cocktail of disappointment and frustration.

 ***Q: Does Randy actually keep track of how much money Booyah has? - Laura***

 No, but they're guessing he has at least 8,000gp left.

***Q: What happened to the fabric of the sails? Were they put in the hold for keeping? - Calli***

One of them burned up. No one knows what happened to the other one.

***Q: Does Drakir still fit in and feel comfortable in his tribe?  Or does he prefer going off and hunting for artifacts, teasing his stratos' or is he relieved to go home and be surrounded by less emotional types? - Rin***

Drakir still has the job of dealing with the surface, depending on how successful the plan with the dragon orb was. (Which the audience still knows nothing of.) Drakir does not tease his stratos, and he is enormously relieved to be around people who are less emotional.

***Q: Does Drakir miss his friends who betrayed his trust?*** ***- Laura***

Drakir would never admit to missing anyone or anything, because he doesn't need people.

***Q: Was Eric truly disappointed that the PCs didn't bite any of the adventure hooks he was teasing? - Darrin***

Yes, but he wants the party to write their own destiny. It would have been easy to force it, but that's not how he DMs.

***Q: Does Beric recognize the irony of being condescending to Oriana (specifically when she breaks the crate with the spear) when he frequently comments about how much he hates being condescended to? - Chris***

There was push back against Beric being condescending in this case, but even if he was, he would not have realized the irony in it. Teaching Oriana is Beric's job and that's what he was doing.

***Q: What is your opinion on using an abstracted mechanic for downtime actions, like something from XGE or skill challenges? Or do you feel that doesn't make for good radio? - Darrin***

They're not against it, but it doesn't make for good radio, and the book came out after the campaign started so it might be awkward fitting it in.

***Q: Does Dex truly believe that anyone working for the Riedran government is wholly irredeemable? - Darrin***

Currently, Dex doesn't see a way of sparing anyone. If someone is a threat, he'll do what it takes. After this is all over and they've saved the world, it will be different.

***Q: Belashyrra HAS to have some sort of ulterior motive other than being a personification of madness. Does he know about the Inspired's attempting to bring Dal Quor back into orbit of Eberron? How much of the bigger picture of Riedra and the Inspired does he know about? - Kevin***

He probably doesn't care about the big picture, but he mentioned being manipulated by the Quori a long time ago, so that's part of it. He certainly does have ulterior motives, though.

***Q: What's Beric's connection to the Silver Flame like at this point? He mentioned not talking to it in a while and now with Beynar's training it seems like he could be losing faith. - Laura***

Beric doesn't feel any connection to the flame. It's not that he's lost faith in what the flame it, but that it's not relevant in his life. He doesn't meditate in the Flame. It's no longer a part of him.

***Q: Will we have a designated (with theme song) Vor Lore portion of the episode? Where you recount fun facts never before known, like Vor's college roomate or that he hates peas? - Calli***

Vor couldn't keep a college roommate for more than a week, and he hates fun.

***Q: Can this be a Vor themed Reviewed? Did Vor and Beric ever go camping together as kids? - Laura***

Vor and Beric never went camping as kids. Did they find themselves surviving outside occasionally? Yes. But not for fun.

## Trivia

* Randy has custom-made shaving brushes in his cabinet of wonders.
* The only three moods Dex has ever been able to read from Beric are awake, asleep, and drunk.

## References and Footnotes

1. ↑ Ep. 106 Recovered Kingdom Chapter Eight
2. ↑ Notice this was not a flat-out no.