D&D 5E That Eberron Cover Is Just A Placeholder

According to WotC's Jeremy Crawford, Ben Oliver's cover for Eberron: Rising from the Last War on Amazon and WotC's website is an interior illustration serving as a placeholder.

Crawford added that "That warforged has customized itself in unusual ways. Each warforged can alter how it looks. That said, the book has plenty of traditional-looking warforged." There's more to the art, as you can see in the banner across the top of WotC's webpage. I rather like it.

Ben Oliver is credited as the cover artist in WotC's product page; his cover art will presumably be revealed soon, as the book is only three months away.

Ben Oliver was the artist who illustrated the covers of Tomb of Annihilation and Curse of Strahd.

 

[Abstruse]

Honestly, I don't see any problem with the cover. I like the limited edition art better, but it also doesn't match the branding for the rest of the D&D product lines. The only thing "wrong" with the default cover to me is the warforged's sword doesn't have a tip...

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe it is the chapter heading art for the included Adventure, which might make sense of the marketing, since they are pushing the storyline aspect for AL.

 

[Prakriti]

Ben Oliver, who also did the cover art for Curse of Strahd.

...and Tomb of Annihilation, both of which have amazing covers.

Personally, I don't think the Eberron cover is bad. It just belongs on an adventure book (or a novel), not a setting guide.

And yeah, I'm not buying the placeholder story either. Something's fishy here.

 

[darjr]

I liked that cover. Made me want to open the book and find out things.

 

[Demetrios1453]

...which is one of the reasons I don't buy the whole "This is just placeholder" argument.

1) It's three months from release. That book should be already locked and on its way to the printers soon.

2) It's a full wraparound piece, not the kind you'd use for internal art. That's a piece of cover art.

3) It's at the forefront of the marketing campaign for the book. It's part of the banner ads, splashed at the top of the D&D front page, and part of the press releases.

4) It lists the cover artist in the sales pitch on the product page at the same time it lists the alternate cover artist and cover art.
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5) It's not marked as "Cover Art Not Finalized" as they normally do when they announce a product without finalized art.

None of that makes any sense if this was always supposed to be placeholder art from the start. It only makes sense if this was a reaction to the social media backlash against the art and a scramble to appease the ones upset.

This was done with Volo's Guide to Monsters (which used a rough draft of the final cover art), and Storm King's Thunder (which used the interior art of the boat and storm giant rising from the ocean, which, like this, was in wide, wrap-around style). Neither were marked as preliminary, and they were later replaced on the WotC website and elsewhere with the final cover art. So, actually, this has happened before.

 

[Parmandur]

This was done with Volo's Guide to Monsters (which used a rough draft of the final cover art), and Storm King's Thunder (which used the interior art of the boat and storm giant rising from the ocean, which, like this, was in wide, wrap-around style). Neither were marked as preliminary, and they were later replaced on the WotC website and elsewhere with the final cover art. So, actually, this has happened before.

Good call, I straight up forgot that.

 

[darjr]

Everyone seems to be looking for a conspiracy

 

[Charlaquin]

Everyone seems to be looking for a conspiracy

It’s human nature to ascribe conscious intent to events that aren’t otherwise explained. At my workplace there’s a sort of water table with fountain jets set to go off on a 10-minute timer (on for 3 minutes, off for 7.) People come up with the most elaborate theories for “what makes them start.” They’re always disappointed when I tell them that what makes them start is 7 minutes passing.

 

[Parmandur]

Everyone seems to be looking for a conspiracy

Suspicious, isn't it...?

 

[DWChancellor]

Thank the Nine!

That warforged is still missing something really important on his forehead. Maybe he's a lame iron golem instead. Yeah, that's it. Escaped from the Fifth Element Part 2 costume department.