Would Eberron and Iron Heroes go together?

[Gundark]

At first I thought that Iron Heores was a low magic ruleset. Now after digesting the rules I think that it's more of a different magic ruleset. Magic users are just a little bit more rare than Forgotten realms or something. Eberron despite the magic stuff everywhere really isn't a high magic setting (what I mean is the magic items that the PCs have isn't really any more than say Greyhawk).

Would the 2 mix? Why or why not?

 

[Rystil Arden]

At first I thought that Iron Heores was a low magic ruleset. Now after digesting the rules I think that it's more of a different magic ruleset. Magic users are just a little bit more rare than Forgotten realms or something. Eberron despite the magic stuff everywhere really isn't a high magic setting (what I mean is the magic items that the PCs have isn't really any more than say Greyhawk).

Would the 2 mix? Why or why not?

Definitely not without heavy tweaking. The idea in Eberron is that some level of magic is a known quantity, that Magewrights can handle for day-to-day activities. In IH, every single encounter with magic is full of danger and the unknown, as even the simplest magics in the hand of a trained Wizard could still go horribly awry.

 

[blargney the second]

I think it would be easy enough to mesh everything from Iron Heroes and Eberron except the magic. The skills, classes, feats, and all the rest would be great!

 

[Rystil Arden]

I think it would be easy enough to mesh everything from Iron Heroes and Eberron except the magic. The skills, classes, feats, and all the rest would be great!

But then you're missing several classes that are crucial to Eberron, and if you allow normal Eberron/D&D magic with the more-powerful IH classes, you're going to start seeing combinations that were never meant to happen involving sky-high bonuses in certain cases where everything stacks.

 

[blargney the second]

One simplistic solution: buffs just don't work on Iron Heroes characters.

 

[ValhallaGH]

You can do IH and Eberron. I know you can. I just haven't worked it all out yet.

The basics of both, particularly style and tone, mesh together very well. The trick is tweaking mechanics so that it all fits perfectly.
That part is still kicking my butt. However, as soon as I wrap up my current projects I hope to make a serious start on Iron Eberron.

The real trick is finding or developing a magic system that works well with both the mechanics of (most of) Iron Heroes and the flavor of Eberron. Everything else is either simple or already done.

 

[Skyman]

I'd have magewrights as an NPC class able to make permanent magic items (maybe arcanists could too), but no weapons/armor/wands/etc. - they could make a permanent lantern, an airship, etc. and at the height of their craft something like the warforged. And I'd probably use the True Sorcery arcanist or something similar.

You can justify this by saying that magic is inherently unstable and dangerous (for the core races), but research and long rituals allow you to stabilize and focus it (as do dragonmarks and similar effects). Also, magic doesn't necessarily have to be able to make weapons and armor more effective - there are plenty of settings where there are magical tools but not weapons (or at least the weapons are quite rare), and it doesn't seem to be really important to Eberron's flavor.

Or you could say that magic used to be reliable and easy to use, but some event in the Last War caused it to degenerate. No new items could be produced (at least by the main races), which could give it a darker feel of a world spiralling into savagery.

I'd actually much rather play Iron Eberron than Eberron DnD. IH is better suited to pulp action and adventure in my mind, and noir-style mysteries are much improved by not having to deal with spells like Speak with Dead.

 

[Gundark]

There are aspects of Eberron that you would have to get rid of I think. Dragonmarks...as much as I think they're cool I doubt they would work in "Iron Eberron". The dargaonamrked houses instead would be political entities (similiar to a game of thrones). I was thinking along the same lines that Skyman was thinking and have things like airships and "magictech" exist, but only be created with long and complex rituals. Spellcasters are rare in Iron Heores so I would see these casters as a fraternity that would be VERY difficult to get into.

 

[ValhallaGH]

I see dragonmarks as the exception to IH magic. Beings with such marks have had a piece of magic bound to their bodies and souls, making that particular type of magic reliable and easy. Heck, this perspective even allows you to keep the per diem limits of dragonmarks in IH's per encounter mentality, as their bodies and souls can only safely channel the magic a few times each day.

The only real problem with D&D magic and Iron Heroes is all those magical items that are meant to compensate for the fact that your character sucks without magic. Iron Heroes don't suck, so rings of glibness, cloaks of elvenkind, rings of protection, cloaks of resistance, belts of strength and the basic issue +1 sword can all disappear. Cool items such as flying carpets, airships, Holy Avengers and bags of wind can stay.

Remember, actual spell casters are very rare in Eberron. Unlike the Realms, 95% or more of the NPCs have actual NPC class levels. Only Adepts and Magewrights have any casting ability at all and both are much weaker than a D&D PC caster. Also unlike the Realms, most Eberron NPCs are level 5 or less. Which means that those rare NPC casters will have Magic Missile or Cure/Inflict Light Wounds as their most impressive spell.

Iron Eberron will work just fine. As soon as a decent, IH friendly magic system is found. Confused Jackal Mage may be on the correct path over in this thread on the IH forums. It's certainly different from everything else that I've seen.

 

[Nyaricus]

NO.

JMHO, YMMV, all that

cheers,
--N