Essentials and Eberron Campaign Guide

[LuckyAdrastus]

So, the Eberron Campaign Guide (ECG) is my favorite 4e book. Well written, great overview, etc. First D&D book I may have every read literally cover to cover.

Anyway, I'm hearing from some posters how Essentials (aka "4.5") is going to make my 4e books worthless.

I'm willing to lose 4e Manual of the Planes. That one was a stinker. But no way I'm willing to lose my ECG!

So, my question is, how is essentials/4.5 going to destroy my ECG? Will I need to throw it out in a few weeks when the Red Box goes on sale at Target? Are there any health risks I should be aware of when combining the ECG and the Red Box???

 

[malraux]

Anyway, I'm hearing from some posters how Essentials (aka "4.5") is going to make my 4e books worthless.

You should ignore those people.

 

[Kaelkatar]

At the very least all the flavor in the ECG will be intact.

But mechanically, I see four choices that each DM and game group will have to choose from when starting a new campaign.

1) 4th Edition, Ignore Essentials.
2) Essentials only, Ignore 4th Edition and all material released before essentials.
3) Essentials as a core, but all applicable 4th Edition source books apply.
4) Allow both Essentials and 4th Edition, as long as each characters baseline abilities are consistent with only one of the books.

I would choose 4. I feel most DMs would choose 3 or 4. As long as things are not broken, and players are not looking to exploit the merging of two slightly different systems, it should play fine.

I doubt there is anything wrong with a Knight Fighter from Essentials having a dragonmark. There may be a few exceptions, but unless you have a strict DM, the book is likely going to be just as useful tomorrow as it is today.

 

[bcbroom]

A reasonable position?? On the internet??

As someone (re)starting playing with the essentials line, are there any peculiarities that would come up using this setting?

 

[Obryn]

Did PHB3 make Eberron unusable?

Pretty much everything relevant to existing games will get rolled out in the erratupdates. You just need to make a decision whether to allow or ban the various options, just like with everything else.

-O

 

[deadsmurf]

Do what most people will do, continue playing the way you do, add the essentials builds as options for your players, add errata as necessary to things like wizard powers.
If I had been starting my current campaign right now I'd have recommended my Elf Barbarian from the Eldeen Reaches player be running a Slayer Fighter instead. He seems overwhelmed by all his powers from time to time (though is getting better as time goes on)

 

[tyrlaan]

At the very least all the flavor in the ECG will be intact.

But mechanically, I see four choices that each DM and game group will have to choose from when starting a new campaign.

1) 4th Edition, Ignore Essentials.
2) Essentials only, Ignore 4th Edition and all material released before essentials.
3) Essentials as a core, but all applicable 4th Edition source books apply.
4) Allow both Essentials and 4th Edition, as long as each characters baseline abilities are consistent with only one of the books.

I would choose 4. I feel most DMs would choose 3 or 4. As long as things are not broken, and players are not looking to exploit the merging of two slightly different systems, it should play fine.

I doubt there is anything wrong with a Knight Fighter from Essentials having a dragonmark. There may be a few exceptions, but unless you have a strict DM, the book is likely going to be just as useful tomorrow as it is today.

This is on the cusp of misinformation, or perhaps its just word choice (so apologies if I took it the wrong way). Regardless, I want to make it clear that at the very least everything in the ECG will be intact when Essentials are released.

What you will want to do is review the errata and rules updates that are released as they come out, because some rules bits in ECG might be tweaked so they play nice with Essentials. But beyond this you have nothing to be concerned about. And frankly, watching for errata isn't anything new.

Breaking down the options as above isn't necessary. When Essentials comes out, decide what you want to do with those rules just like any other rulebook supplement and then do it.

Everyone please repeat after me:

Essentials is not 4.5
Essentials is not 4.5
Essentials is not 4.5​

 

[LuckyAdrastus]

I also really love "The Plane Above: Secrets of the Astral Sea." How will essentials destroy that? There've been a lot of posters saying essentials will make my 4e books useless, but I really like the flavor in the various DM books (well, Manual of the Planes is kinda weak, but the point still stands). How can I protect the flavor in the books from being ruined?

How can I protect those books from the Red Box? What are the dangers (especially health risks)? Would it help if I keep them on different shelves or opposite ends of the room?

 

[drothgery]

Hmm...

You may want to give Kalashtar and Warforged (and any races not updated in HotFL and/or HotFK) flexible ability score bonuses, as per races that have been updated in Essentials (and the PH3 races and Changelings). I won't be surprised if this shows up in a rules update or a D&Di article.

You may want to create additional domains for warpriests to cover the Eberron pantheon. Again, I won't be surprised if this shows up in a D&Di article.

Artificers and the true Dragnomark feats require PH1 and/or D&Di for rituals; they can't be played with just the Essentials books + the Eberron Player's Guide (EPG).

You may want to create an alternate Aberrant Mark feat for the Essentials martial builds, as they don't have daily powers and so can't use the ones in the EPG.

The magic and alchemical items in the EPG will need rarity levels assigned (presumably this will be done in D&Di).

 

[DEFCON 1]

How can I protect those books from the Red Box? What are the dangers (especially health risks)? Would it help if I keep them on different shelves or opposite ends of the room?

The RPGA recommends the following:

Open Grave: place in cardboard box then seal with duct tape
Draconomicon (Chromatic): dig hole in backyard, place book in, cover with dirt
Draconomicon (Metallic): open freezer, place beneath frozen peas
Manual of the Planes: hide in secret hidey-hole in attic
Plane Above: stuff up chimney flue
Plane Below: wrap in cellophane then put between mattress and box spring
Eberron Players Guide: mix large vat of jello, suspend book within
Eberron Campaign Guide: give to 11th grade teacher to hold for you
Forgotten Realms Players Guide: slide beneath tighty-whiteys in underwear drawer
Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide: fine to leave out in presence of Red Box, as most people claim it deserves to die a slow death anyway