D&D 5E Eberron: Rising from the Last War Coming For D&D In November

A new D&D campaign setting has appeared on Amazon -- Eberron: Rising from the Last War. It's slated for November 19th, at $49.99.

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Explore the lands of Eberron in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

This book provides everything players and Dungeon Masters need to play Dungeons & Dragons in Eberron—a war-torn world filled with magic-fueled technology, airships and lightning trains, where noir-inspired mystery meets swashbuckling adventure. Will Eberron enter a prosperous new age or will the shadow of war descend once again?

• Dive straight into your pulp adventures with easy-to-use locations, complete with maps of floating castles, skyscrapers, and more.

• Explore Sharn, a city of skyscrapers, airships, and noirish intrigue and a crossroads for the world’s war-ravaged peoples.

• Include a campaign for characters venturing into the Mournland, a mist-cloaked, corpse-littered land twisted by magic.

• Meld magic and invention to craft objects of wonder as an artificer—the first official class to be released for fifth edition D&D since the Player’s Handbook.

• Flesh out your characters with a new D&D game element called a group patron—a background for your whole party.

• Explore 16 new race/subrace options including dragonmarks, which magically transform certain members of the races in the Player’s Handbook.

• Confront horrific monsters born from the world’s devastating wars.

There is an alternate cover for game stores:

WotC's Jeremy Crawford confirmed that "The book incorporates the material in "Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron" and adds a whole lot more."

 

[Azzy]

mTHAC0 (menthal THAC0) was based on different stats, so yeah you needed a different THAC0

I meant the revised psionics rules from the later Dark Sun product and the one in Skills and Powers were the same system.

 

[DragonBelow]

I meant the revised psionics rules from the later Dark Sun product and the one in Skills and Powers were the same system.

Yeah, I don't know which one was published first, but for example, The Will and the Way which was a Darksun product, used the same rules that Skills and Powers used. I think that makes perfect sense. It would've been weird to keep two systems.

 

[TwoSix]

My point is largely that although Greyhawk is capable of adding these races, it shouldn’t. Having a diverse range of races that don’t perfectly align with each setting is part of what makes each unique. For example, with Dark Sun, they decided in 4e to make the Dray into Dragonborn and half-giants into Goliath, stripping that setting parts that made it distinct.

But dray and half-giants were already part of Dark Sun. All they did was leverage pre-existing mechanics to fill those already extant roles. If your argument is that Dark Sun would have been better served creating unique race mechanics to fill that role, I don't believe that's true.

 

[Aaron L]

I thought Rad was over on Mystara?

Check under your pillow; I sent you a No Prize for that.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The Archivist Artificer in the UA article, has a subclass ability that resembles the cantrip boosted by spell slots system that's been proposed for Psionics.

But I never felt that having psionic rules were ever necessary for the Kalashtar in Eberron, they were simply presented as the most likely option and source for Psionics if one decided to use it.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

But dray and half-giants were already part of Dark Sun. All they did was leverage pre-existing mechanics to fill those already extant roles. If your argument is that Dark Sun would have been better served creating unique race mechanics to fill that role, I don't believe that's true.

In 4e Dark Sun, the writers essentially took the Dray (which as you say were already in the setting) and said “these are now the same as Dragonborn,” and did the same with half-giants into Goliath.

What they should have done is this; released both the Dray and half-giants as subraces of Dragonborn and Goliath respectively, keeping both of those races aesthetically distinct and unique to Dark Sun while also giving players new options.

If your a player who wants to be a Dragonborn in every setting, fine go for it (it’s your table, do what you want). But I don’t think we should settle for every PHB race smooshed into every official setting (the 4e approach) when we should instead be asking for new and unique options that fit with each new setting.

 

[Parmandur]

In 4e Dark Sun, the writers essentially took the Dray (which as you say were already in the setting) and said “these are now the same as Dragonborn,” and did the same with half-giants into Goliath.

What they should have done is this; released both the Dray and half-giants as subraces of Dragonborn and Goliath respectively, keeping both of those races aesthetically distinct and unique to Dark Sun while also giving players new options.

If your a player who wants to be a Dragonborn in every setting, fine go for it (it’s your table, do what you want). But I don’t think we should settle for every PHB race smooshed into every official setting (the 4e approach) when we should instead be asking for new and unique options that fit with each new setting.

Based on the Eberron design, and what Mearls has said about Dark Sun, I expect every PHB Race will get "Athasian" Subraces for Wild Talents and such.

 

[Aaron L]

Yeah, I don't know which one was published first, but for example, The Will and the Way which was a Darksun product, used the same rules that Skills and Powers used. I think that makes perfect sense. It would've been weird to keep two systems.

Nope, sorry, it did not. I just ran a Dark Sun game a few weeks ago. The Will and the Way, published in 1994, used the core Complete Psionics Handbook psionics rules that were used in the original boxed set. However, the Dark Sun Monstrous Manual expansion books that were published after the Revised boxed set included psionics stats for both the original and S&P systems. So they did continue using both systems.

(Because it was a bad new system and a lot of people hated it.)

I was appalled at the version of "Dark Sun" that they released for 4th Edition. Athasian Paladins? Seriously? Ugh. (Although the idea of making Templars a type of Warlock actually was pretty inspired.) Shoehorning all of the 4E classes and races into Athas really defiled (pun totally intended) the setting, to the point where they didn't seem to understand the world, or more likely they just didn't care and were only using the "Dark Sun" visuals as a cosmetic gloss. There are plenty of settings where Dragonborn and Tieflings just do not fit, and trying to cram them in just because someone made the bad decision to include them as default races in the PHB is not a good idea.

(And as an aside, neither did I care at all for the awful Revised Dark Sun Boxed Set. A completely new sub-par psionics system shoe-horned in? Re-written ability score tables that totally redefined the ability scores... but only for Athasin characters? 22 Strength on Athas equates to just 18/00 on any other world? Give me a break.)

 

[Bitbrain]

Based on the Eberron design, and what Mearls has said about Dark Sun, I expect every PHB Race will get "Athasian" Subraces for Wild Talents and such.

Makes sense. The tarek are basically orc stand-ins already.

Gnomes are the biggest issue, being technically extinct in Dark Sun.

 

[Parmandur]

Makes sense. The tarek are basically orc stand-ins already.

Gnomes are the biggest issue, being technically extinct in Dark Sun.

When Mearls went into what he would do for Dark Sun in detail, he emphasized limiting PC options for the default to what is appropriate to the setting: only Preserver/Defiler Wizard Traditions, no Gnomes, etc.