D&D Eberron: Race for the Crab Temple Coming to PAX East

A new Dungeons & Dragons adventure set in Eberron is debuting at PAX East this weekend. Wizards of the Coast has announced that D&D Eberron: Race for the Crab Temple, a new D&D adventure set in Xen’drik, will make its convention debut at PAX East. The Level 3 adventure will feature premade characters made using 2024 Player's Handbook rules along with options from Eberron: Forge of the Artificer.

As its name suggests, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will update the Artificer class for 2024 5th Edition rules. It will also update all Eberron-specific species for the revised ruleset. The new rulebook comes out on August 19, 2025.

The full description of the new Eberron adventure can be found below:

Your group has been dispatched by Morgrave University to travel to Xen’drik and seek out the Crab Temple. It’s a race between your expedition and a rival to discover its secrets! Premade level 3 characters are provided, featuring rules from the new Player’s Handbook and first looks at options from Eberron: Forge of the Artificer!

 

[Yaarel]

Art noveau and 5 fingers? That's not a warforged, that's a robot.

Reminds me of the derigibles passed off as airships. Are they just abandoning Eberron's aesthetic in favor of art noveau more generally? Makes me sad/angry.

Tolkien elves have art nouveau.

Also Eberron has an early 1900s vibe.

Maybe art nouveau is a bit more joyful? But there is room for that in noir Eberron too.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Yeah, Art Nouveau is fine for Eberron. The lack of wooden muscular and sigil on the forehead just makes it look off spec for a warforged.

I do wonder if the new book will be revisiting Stormreach. Xen'drik is the most logical place to put the PHB’s mini-giant Goliaths.

 

[Yaarel]

I love art nouveau. It is like a syrupy blend of architectural and organic. It feels elegant and opulent while also being warm and soulful.

 

[Xethreau]

My main point is that the warforged has 5 fingers. And that's fine if that's true for 1 warforged. But that's really not okay if warforged are getting retconned.

Not really sure how Art Noveau clashes with Eberron: seems more appropos than Aughts Dungeonpunk, honestly.

Its fine for it to be both, but if it isn't indeed both but is just Art Noveau, then that is to abandon the setting's identity.

 

[Reynard]

My main point is that the warforged has 5 fingers. And that's fine if that's true for 1 warforged. But that's really not okay if warforged are getting retconned.

I can't conceive of how the number of fingers warforged would be relevant.

Its fine for it to be both, but if it isn't indeed both but is just Art Noveau, then that is to abandon the setting's identity.

Art style alone does not define a setting's identity. And in an RPG, I would argue that it is less important to that identity than the lore ad other writing.

 

[Xethreau]

I can't conceive of how the number of fingers warforged would be relevant.

Art style alone does not define a setting's identity. And in an RPG, I would argue that it is less important to that identity than the lore ad other writing.

[edit] Warforged and fingers is about narrative retconning. [/edit]

I can agree that art is not the whole of the identity; however, it is part and parcel to the identity. The art says a lot about what the designers and writers value about the setting. It directs the collective vision for design and for play. Consider:

I love art nouveau. It is like a syrupy blend of architectural and organic. It feels elegant and opulent while also being warm and soulful.

[Emphasis mine.] It is certainly understandable to enjoy art noveau for these reasons. However, to put these images and impressions at the heart of design for Eberron I think would miss the mark. Eberron is not, to my understanding, elegant, opulant, warm, or soulful. It is certainly not syrupy.

 

[Yaarel]

[edit] Warforged and fingers is about narrative retconning. [/edit]

I can agree that art is not the whole of the identity; however, it is part and parcel to the identity. The art says a lot about what the designers and writers value about the setting. It directs the collective vision for design and for play. Consider:


[Emphasis mine.] It is certainly understandable to enjoy art noveau for these reasons. However, to put these images and impressions at the heart of design for Eberron I think would miss the mark. Eberron is not, to my understanding, elegant, opulant, warm, or soulful. It is certainly not syrupy.

What impresses me about Eberron is how it achieves its urban feel. It emphasizes mind magic and elemental magic. But the wilderness magic is pushed far away into the periphery.

But even in the cityscapes there can be parks and gardens. So the organic aspects of art nouveau have spaces, especially when the parks and gardens, and plantlife are cultivated within the syrupy edges of the architecture.

 

[Reynard]

[Emphasis mine.] It is certainly understandable to enjoy art noveau for these reasons. However, to put these images and impressions at the heart of design for Eberron I think would miss the mark. Eberron is not, to my understanding, elegant, opulant, warm, or soulful. It is certainly not syrsyrupy.

Eberron has lots of flavors within it, and like Star Wars there isn't much that won't fit somewhere in the setting. There's absolutely an art nouveau Dragonmarked House sociopolitical drama in there.

 

[Corinnguard]

not amphibian enough

I am sure House Cannith thought about this particular Warforged model. Some of the battles during the Last War must have been seagoing ones. Personally, I would like to see a Warforged model that could be more than meets the eye.

 

[Corinnguard]

Druid: Circle Of The Forged (HB) - DND 5th Edition

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