Morgrave Miscellany: Eberron Sourcebook from Keith Baker

Azzy · Mar 20, 2019

ChaosOS said:
Bought and read through the book. The lore pieces of the book (>50% of the pages) are excellent as we expect from Keith, he really gets into things like the nature of magic.

Thanks for the review.

Rellott · Mar 20, 2019

Cap'n Kobold said:
Well, rather than making insinuations, lets get practical.
Which of the archetypes did you find to be out-of-balance, and do you think that they were too powerful, or too weak compared to the current 5e range of subclasses?

I haven’t bought the book yet - as I mentioned, I was basing that on the multiple reviews (like the one by ChaosOS a few posts above this post and below your post). I’m hesitant to drop that much money on a book with that many worrying reviews.
As a semi-side note, I almost never notice poor design that is too weak. Honestly I’d be fine with stuff that’s a little weaker than official material if it also came with amazing flavor. But that’s rarely the case with 3PP, and most designers that I see coming from 3.5/PF skew toward the “too powerful/too complex” end of things.

Wrathamon said:
Wayfinders balance of races was/is done by WotC. It was in UA and playtested by wotc. This balance/design work was not done by Keith Baker (even thou he may have input). Wayfinders is an OFFICIAL WOTC product.

This new book is Homebrew. I would look at any mechanics as that. BUT, the lore I would take as official since its Keith

I find DMs Guild mechanic stuff doesnt have the extensive playtest needed

The authors for Wayfinders Guide are listed as...
Lead Designer: Keith Baker
Design: Ruty Rutenberg
Additional Design: Jeremy Crawford, Mike Mearls, Kate Welch

And it does have playtesters mentioned, and I know they have pushed most of it through UA, but I still feel like the races came in from their original designer (who might have been Rudy rather than Keith Baker) a bit over the top on power, and scaling power down is a lot harder to do without rewriting things. I haven’t seen any major reworking of the races since the initial publication of the book. I’ll grant that they’re not brokenly OP, but they’re definitely toward the top of the racial power curve IMO. They feel like power creep.

JPL · Mar 20, 2019

Looking forward to some detailed reviews, especially as to the character options (both the crunch, and the nonmusical bard / patronless warlock stuff).

So a College of Keys bard is . . . a lock whisperer? Hmm. I guess gnomes might do something like that?

DEFCON 1 · Mar 20, 2019

JPL said:
So a College of Keys bard is . . . a lock whisperer? Hmm. I guess gnomes might do something like that?

In Eberron, its the dwarves of House Kundarak that would really go into that one. Bankers Guild gotta have them Sneakers to try and get past their security.

JPL · Mar 20, 2019

DEFCON 1 said:
In Eberron, its the dwarves of House Kundarak that would really go into that one. Bankers Guild gotta have them Sneakers to try and get past their security.

Hmm. I kind of like dwarves or gnomes having ancient lock-whispering secrets, but I guess I would've tried to tie that to the rogue class, as a variant Arcane Trickster. Maybe with your choice of Intelligence or Wisdom-based spellcasting?

This Effin’ GM · Mar 20, 2019

The Mark of Death being good at talking to dragons is madness to me.

AndrÃ© Soares · Mar 20, 2019

Marcelus14 said:
The Mark of Death being good at talking to dragons is madness to me.

Well, elves bearing that mark had a good relationship with some dragons before they were wipped out...

This Effin’ GM · Mar 20, 2019

Weren't those dragons wiped out too? I assumed so, I dont see the elves agreeing to purge elven heretics alongside the dragons without purging the draconic ones as well

AndrÃ© Soares · Mar 20, 2019

Marcelus14 said:
Weren't those dragons wiped out too? I assumed so, I dont see the elves agreeing to purge elven heretics alongside the dragons without purging the draconic ones as well

Yes, they were wipped out too. But my point is that maybe, the two lines were able to become allies because of some power in the Mark of Death, that way it would not contradict canon.

I don't care too much about it because I'd hardly allow any iteration of the mark of death in my table, unless it was the central focus of the game.

MNblockhead · Mar 21, 2019

ChaosOS said:
The last two chapters felt like a waste to me - the advice on noir campaigns is eh, and the level 0 rules just don't have any place in 5e, where level 1 characters already die to a stif fwind.

Thanks for the detailed review. However, I have to disagree with your comments on level 0 play. I've used the rules in "DDAL-ELW00: What's Past Is Prologue" combined with a DCC-style level-0 funnel. My group enjoys this way of starting new campaigns. I'm interested to read the level-0 rules in Morgrave Miscellany.

Morgrave Miscellany: Eberron Sourcebook from Keith Baker

Azzy

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Rellott

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JPL

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DEFCON 1

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JPL

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This Effin’ GM

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AndrÃ© Soares

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This Effin’ GM

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AndrÃ© Soares

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MNblockhead

A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site

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