D&D 5E Exploring Eberron: Now Available!

Eberron creator Keith Baker’s Exploring Eberron, with new races, subclasses, monsters, and tons of setting information is now available in PDF format!

Also, Keith will be on the Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast in a couple of weeks with a great competition to give away three hardcovers! Be sure to brush up on your Eberron lore!

Discover Uncharted Depths

Join Eberron setting creator Keith Baker in this tour through the lands, oceans, and planes of Eberron. Exploring Eberron presents Keith's vision of Eberron like never before, with fresh lore and rich illustrations to bring the setting to life.

In this book, Keith takes players and Dungeon masters on a thrilling dive into Eberron and its thirteen planes. Encounter the monstrous folk of Droaam, the goblinoid Heirs of Dhakaan, the Mror dwarves and their Realm Below, and the sahuagin and merfolk dwelling beneath the waves. Embrace faiths of altruism, pragmatism, and darkness. Browse Dolurrh's Vault of Memories, seek the Amaranthine Cities of Irian and Mabar, meditate with the Gith monks of Kythri, and much more.

The adventure won't be easy! Mighty friends and foes await - from legendary archfey and proud sahuagin to nightmarish quori and alien daelkyr. Eberron is a world in need of heroes, but take heart: between these pages lie a host of player options for would-be heroes to enjoy. You'll discover new archetypes for the artificer, cleric, druid, monk, and bard. Play unique Eberron races and subraces including gnolls, Dhakaani goblinoids, aasimar of diverse faiths, and ruinbound dwarves. Uncover a wealth of magic items from around the world, bear symbionts that bond with your very flesh, wield dragonmark focus items - perhaps even manifest a Siberys dragonmark of immense power.

FAQ
New FAQ by Keith on his blog

Q: What is Exploring Eberron?

A: Exploring Eberron (ExE) is a 248 page book written by Keith Baker stuffed with new lore, giving depth to topics such as the dwarves of the Mror Holds and the 13 planes.

Production
Q: Where will ExE be sold? What formats? When will it be available?

A: ExE is available exclusively on the dmsguild in hardcover and pdf

Q: Will ExE be available on DnDBeyond?

A: Without the intervention of Wizards of the Coast, the dmsguild has the sole licensing rights to third party Eberron content. If you're upset about this, tweet at them

Q: Did I miss out on a kickstarter or something? Are there preorders?

A: The dmsguild does not allow kickstarted products nor does it have the infrastructure for preorders.

Q: Didn't I hear about this book months ago? What happened?

A: Uh, life happened. Exploring Eberron ran into a variety of production issues, as detailed here and here. A combination of personal issues in Keith's life, prioritizing more urgent projects like the Adventure Zone card game, and COVID have delayed the book significantly.

Content
Q: What's in the book?

A: You can check out the table of contents, a scroll-through preview by Sly Flourish, and a variety of previews from the book's production. The first 200 pages are dedicated almost exclusively to new lore, then chapters 6, 7, and 8 provide new mechanical content for both players and DMs.

Q: There's mechanical content? Is it balanced?

A: The production team has had an extensive team of playtesters review the material on a variety of metrics, including balance.

If you want to know more about Eberron, please check out /r/Eberron, the discord, Keith's blog, and the Manifest Zone podcast. There's even a brand new episode dedicated to the book!

Reviews

Sly Flourish
Todd Talks
Merric's Musings: Part 1
All Things Lich
Dungeon Mapster of None
The Mania
411 Mania
The Tome Show
Total Party Thrill

 

[Marandahir]

with this model keith can work on what he wants and with the freedom to make or not make the changes he feels are good. I rather keep buying my eberron books directly from the hat man than hoping WotC doesn't screw it up

Agreed! Rooting for your success @Hellcow !

I'd definitely like to write about those! Q'barra, the Demon Wastes, and the Eldeen Reaches are especially high on my personal list of topics, and I'd like to address them (and other things) before I'd go back to the planes.

When I first got into Eberron during 4e, I was deeply intrigued by Q'barra (due to Dragonborn & Lizardfolk integration) and the Eldeen Reaches (due to Good Druid Orcs & Primal vs Planar storytelling) especially. Would LOVE to read more of what you have to say about them!!!!

 

[Bolares]

Agreed!



I first got into Eberron in 4e, and I was deeply intrigued by Q'barra and the Eldeen Reaches especially. Would LOVE to read more of what you have to say about them!!!!

oh, speaking of 4e Eberron... something about the feyspires would be awesome too!

 

[Marandahir]

oh, speaking of 4e Eberron... something about the feyspires would be awesome too!

I was about to say, Feyspires were an AWESOME innovation that allowed Eladrin to flourish in 4e Eberron. They're still one of my favourite Eberron concepts, and I'd love to see more of them. Was SO thrilled for the inclusion of the Forest Queen and the Forgotten Prince in this book!!!

 

[Marandahir]

I think it brings up something really interesting: Eberron has 3.5 in its DNA. The original ECS and supplements really leaned into the system and made solid use of feats, prestige classes, monster templates and other fundamentally 3.5-ish systems. Although I understand the complaints about 3.x era games, including Pathfinder, and myself prefer 5Es lighter approach overall, I often feel like there's something "missing" from 5E Eberron, mechanically speaking.

Agreed - though it should be noted that while Eberron was built for 3.5e and with that edition in its DNA, it can and should be argued that 4e was built for Eberron with that setting in mind. There's no better setting to fit into the ideas and expectations of the 4e game.

Now in 5e, both of those game styles are relics of the past, but we can draw on them as we think about how we make and run OUR Eberron games.

 

[Bolares]

Agreed - though it should be noted that while Eberron was built for 3.5e and with that edition in its DNA, it can and should be argued that 4e was built for Eberron with that setting in mind. There's no better setting to fit into the ideas and expectations of the 4e game.

Now in 5e, both of those game styles are relics of the past, but we can draw on them as we think about how we make and run OUR Eberron games.

I'm the opinion that 5e is the closest to Eberron (excluding pre Xanathar magic item stuff), with a lesser focus on alignment, NPCs without classes being the standard...

 

[Reynard]

I'd definitely like to write about those! Q'barra, the Demon Wastes, and the Eldeen Reaches are especially high on my personal list of topics, and I'd like to address them (and other things) before I'd go back to the planes.

Nope. I'm sorry to inform you that since I started my Q'Barra campaign you can't write any more about it or you'll contradict my campaign canon. Perhaps I can interest you in the Lhazaar Principalities?

 

[ChaosOS]

Nope. I'm sorry to inform you that since I started my Q'Barra campaign you can't write any more about it or you'll contradict my campaign canon. Perhaps I can interest you in the Lhazaar Principalities?

I'm going to shamelessly shill my own product - Politics of the Lhazaar Principalities

 

[Marandahir]

I'm going to shamelessly shill my own product - Politics of the Lhazaar Principalities

Love your Eberron politics series - and so nice that you include so much in the sample files for people to read and see if they want to support, and also that DM's Guild offers a discount for buying the whole lot as a bundle!

 

[Azzy]

Sadly, I must wait until my next paycheck before I can buy this, but I'm certainly looking forward to it.

Does anyone here have first-hand experience with DMs' Guild's POD hardbacks?

 

[Marandahir]

Sadly, I must wait until my next paycheck before I can buy this, but I'm certainly looking forward to it.

Does anyone here have first-hand experience with DMs' Guild's POD hardbacks?

Like purchasing Hardcovers from DM's Guild? I have a dozen or more. They're good quality.

The one issue is that they're not all in the same binding size or spine format as the non-Hydro74 WotC covers. Some of them TRY to look like those but then are taller than the WotC ones so they look weird on the self. Others are the same size, but have entirely different cover designs, so they don't fit in alongside them. I then to put them on a separate shelf or else between my Hydro74 hardbacks and my WotC original style hardbacks.

It's not too bad, since WotC themselves can't seem to pick a font size and D&D red flame size and stick to it on the original style hardbacks. They never look quite unified, anyway.

Some DM's Guild hardcovers have a drier feel to them (both inside and out) than the WotC prints (like Unnapproachable East: The Great Dale). Others don't (like the Uncaged series). Not sure why.