This is a quick look at the Dragons of Eberron supplement. The book is mostly filled with fluff, but there's two parts to it that I could find that are worth examining from a CO perspective.
SOVEREIGN ARCHETYPES (Pg. 30-31)These are like Alternative Class Features for dragons in Eberron. Most CO regulars are familiar with the Loredrake option used with a Dragonwrought kobold sorcerer. However, these options still hold value for other PCs, such as Supermount characters with a dragon steed, Zhentarim Skymages, Dragon cohorts, dragon familiars, and actual dragon PCs.
Basically, think of how all true dragons get sorcerer spells after young or so, and most can also choose to learn spells from a few cleric domains as well. You give up those cleric spell options when you take this - if you wouldn't get any cleric domains, then you have no downside from taking an archetype. So this is intended for any true dragon that will eventually gain the ability to cast sorcerer and cleric spells (red dragon, brass dragon, etc.), but not for other true dragons like ambush drakes or dragonwrought kobolds.
Child of Eberron: Basically multiclasses the dragon with druid for spells. I don't think it's that terrific given that most PC dragons won't have a huge CL and the sorcerer list is already pretty sweet.
Flame of the Forge: Helps with crafting and also grants Use Magic Device! This would be great on a dragon familiar, for example. Oh, and given the bonus spells that the dragon gains, it would make an excellent poison user as well.
Fortune's Fang: Eh, it's a decent choice for the party face, gives some solid domains and whatnot.
Guide of the Weak: Same as the above, nothing too exciting, though the domains are worse.
Lightkeeper: Whoa! If the dragon takes Extra Turning, she gains Turn Undead 4/day. Plus casting from some nice domains like Glory and War, which means DMM: Persist and Divine Power in one tidy package.
Loredrake: Ah, the infamous Loredrake. Trades cleric spells for +2 ECL of sorcerer. This is a sweet choice for almost any dragon unless you're tanking (d12 HD -> d10).
Master of the Horde: Another party face option with some decent domains like Charm and Travel. This is probably the best of the three.
Passion's Flame: This is a weird one. Gain Perform and Rage X/Day, along with some obscure domains.
Stalking Wyrm: The sneaky option! Gains the stealth skills and track+survival, as well as a favored enemy progression. Definitely a cool choice for a dragon familiar.
Wyrm of War: This is my favorite tanking choice - gain all simple and martial weapons, all armors, and normal shield use, as well as a bonus fighter or dragon feat/4 levels or maneuvers from the Tiger Claw school. Perfect for a Supermount, since the supermount will have tons of HD but a very low CL.
MAGICAL LOCATIONSIn detailing these I will use the format in Omen of Peace's archived
Magical Locations thread.
Library of Hidden Knowledge: Pg. 88. [2,000g]
Cheap at 2,000g with a wide variety of minor effects. Architecture and Engineering grants the elf's auto-trapfinding for secret doors, which is pretty awesome. The others are generally minor benefits, though as somebody who enjoys poisons I definitely liked Dungeoneering: use Detect Poison at will on plants and vermin in a dungeon. When DMing, I already do something similar to this with non-magical books, providing tiny benefits such as +1 to Knowledge (Local) for a month's reading of Volo's Guide to All Things Awesome or something.
Duration: 1 month.
Activation: Super easy, but it takes a week.
Mystic Glade: Pg. 90. [4,000g]
Interesting location - you roll a d12 for a random "quest." When you succeed in this prophesiezed quest, you gain a single use of Limited Wish. So potentially game-breaking, but only if the DM is inexperienced enough to allow the PC to abuse wishes. As a DM, I like this location a lot - it provides a cool quest reward for PCs, assuming that you come up with appropriate quests beforehand that will tie into the game's plot. As a PC, well, you can always pray that you're a halfling druid and rolled "Will one day hand-feed a dinosaur" for your mini-quest.
Duration: N/A
Activation: Moderate for spellcasters, Hard for others. Takes 3 days.
The Heart of Io: Pg. 113. [2,400g]
Gain an aberrant dragonmark or +3/day of a Least at a mid-high cost. Nothing very exciting IMO, might be good for the Black Dog PrC from Dragonmarked. For DMs, this would be a good way to get players more interested in the dragonmarked part of the game.
Duration: 1 year
Activation: Easy (but buff up your Fortitude save and grab an Eagle's Splendor before trying)
Council of Skulls: Pg. 142. [2050g for legend lore, 7680g for half-dragon]
Good location for a dragonmarked diplomancer or superb roleplayer, mediocre for anyone else. Basically your character chats it up with a dozen dragon heads - if they like her, she gets to ask them a Legend Lore question. If they really like her (Read: DC 40 Diplomacy), then one skull gives her the Half-Dragon template for 1 hour/week for a month! As a DM, I think this is a classic "quest to find the mystic oracle" kind of quest area.
Duration: the template only lasts for 1 month
Activation: Hard. DC 40 Knowledge, DC 40 Diplomacy (optional).
Alter of Blood: Pg. 143. [40,000g]
This is basically the "I'm sacrificing my loved one for ultimate arcane power" alter. As such, it's really more of an NPC tool than a PC one. For the short duration it also has a very high cost.
Duration: 1 month, then diminishing returns. I guess after the sixth loved one it just doesn't have the impact that it did the first time.
Activation: Very Hard, unless you sincerely love an orphanage and are slowly sacrificing them all to Tiamat or something.
Anyhow, that's all I've got. Anyone who's spotted something else useful from the book or has some good ideas about how to use the resources in it, please post away!
