Dragonshards

Dragonshards are precious stones that rate above and beyond normal gems. Rumored to be the crystallized blood of the original three progenitor dragons, these shards are rare enough that they valued above all other mundane treasures. Chief among their properties is the unique enchantments that possible with these shards, each of three different types covering a different area.

Eberron Dragonshards:

Known for the Dragon Between, these shards are usually different shades of crimson and are most often found in geodes near geological faultlines. Their primary use is taking the energy normally spent from spells or psionic powers and amplifying or augmenting it in useful ways, above and beyond what other magical items would normally do..

Khyber Dragonshards:

Known for the Dragon Below, these shards are usually a dark purple with veins of blue or black and are most often found deep underground where the Dragon Below is rumored to still bleed. Their primary use is the ability to bind outsiders to take advantage of their inherent magic.

Siberys Dragonshards:

Known for the Dragon Above, these shards are usually a light yellow in color and are most often found in areas where a number of meteor showers make landfall. Their primary use is the ability to augment and amplify the spell-like abilities found in those that possess dragonmarks on their flesh.

Game Attributes:

Dragonshards, like most gemstones, have a hardness of 10 and hit points equal to 20 per inch of thickness. Their value is proportional to both their size and their clarity. When found, most dragonshards range in value between only 50 gp to sometimes as much as 5,000 gp. Rarely, "Shard Sites" will be discovered that will have a handful of smaller stones and one much larger stone, worth 10,000 gp or more. When discovered in the wild, dragonshards are always of one type: Eberron, Khyber or Siberys. They are never discovered naturally mixed.

Availability In Game:

Dragonshards are rare enough and valued highly enough that, as a rule, players should never be allowed to simply buy them. The market for dragonshards has been dominated by the dragonmarked houses for centuries and their political power ensures that any loose or available dragonshards are quickly purchased. If dragonshards are allowed to be purchased, the price allowed to be purchased should never go above 500 gp per dragonshard without significant in-game effort. Use of prestige awards in the proper dragonmarked house can be spent in addition to the raw coinage, at the rate of 1 TPA per 1,000 gp, or portion thereof, of the desired dragonshard, but dragonshards are explicitly intended to be a prize that characters should look forward to, above and beyond the reach of mere gold.

The flip of the same coin is if players are lucky enough to find dragonshards out in the wild and do not already have plans for their use (a rare event in the extreme), the selling of dragonshards is something that players should take full advantage of the bargaining rules presented in Ultimate Campaign. In addition to mere coinage, prestige with whatever buyer, usually to the tune of 1 TPA per 1,000 gp or portion thereof, should be a fair trade.