Eberron: Forge of the Artificer to Be Priced at $29.99

Dungeons & Dragons is returning to the splatbook era. Today, Wizards of the Coast announced pre-orders for Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, a new "rules expansion" focused on Eberron. Buried in the pre-order announcement is that the physical version of the book will cost just $29.99, suggesting a much thinner page count and the lowest price point for a Fifth Edition book released by Wizards of the Coast.

Wizards previously teased that the new Eberron book would be different from other D&D sourcebooks, but the $29.99 price point is about half of the current $50-$60 price point for current D&D rules manuals. No page count has been confirmed for the new Eberron book, so we'll have to see just how much of a splatbook Eberron: Forge of the Artificer ends up being.

 

[Weiley31]

Interesting. I hope to see some hype about the rules part being expanded

It's probably just updating stuff to DND 2024.

 

[Zardnaar]

SCAG 2.0?

 

[Kurotowa]

It's probably just updating stuff to DND 2024.

A lot of it, yes. Some of it, no. Like, the Bastion stuff has to be brand new, as is much of the campaign genre and theme advice. And while the Artificer updates seem pretty direct, they're completely redoing Dragonmarks.

Look, I'm used to having to completely rebuy the product line when a new edition comes along. If they're instead going to put out a half length, half price rules supplement focused on updating what needs updates and nothing else... I don't mind too much. I probably would be more bothered if I was coming in fresh, but I already have Rising from the Last War, so this is cheaper for me.

 

[mamba]

If they're introducing Rules Expansion books, that are expressly dependent on another but come in at a slimmer page count and cheaper price, that's a major change in direction.

weren’t the of Everything books rules expansions too (just at full price / page count)?

 

[Remathilis]

You could be correct. However, those are at least not the blood thirsty savage gnolls of the MM. Those look like they could be PCs.

Drooam gnolls have the Znir pact who were able to break control of the fiend that empowers gnolls and are more... Controlled in their savageness. They are basically mercenaries who are ruthlessly efficient. That are basically 3e gnolls.

PC stats for them are in Exploring Eberron and in Quickstone. I suspect these will be NPCs.

 

[Remathilis]

When you click on the WoTC pre order link, the one image of the cover states that this is a "Rules Expansion" book.

I wonder if that means if they do similar books like this, they are gonna be part of a "Rules Expansion" line and such product line will be priced at $29.99.

I'm fine with this. It puts PC stuff into their hands without having to buy the whole campaign setting for a few PC options.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I noticed in the preview pages for the Artillerist they now added "Martial Ranged Weapon" to the things that can become an Arcane Firearm. Finally an Artillerist can use a Firearm (or a Bow or Crossbow) as an Arcane Firearm...

 

[DavyGreenwind]

No, my money is on 128.

It'll probably be 64

 

[MonsterEnvy]

You could be correct. However, those are at least not the blood thirsty savage gnolls of the MM. Those look like they could be PCs.

To be exact they look like the Boromar Clan a halfling crime syndicate. Daask a crime group from Droaam who act on instructions from it's leaders and whose membership consists of monsters like Gnolls and Ogres, and are led by an Oni. The last group are clearly Inspired the primary agents of the Dreaming Dark.

 

[tetrasodium]

It's probably just updating stuff to DND 2024.

I wouldn't be surprised if they drop the ball like that but eberron really needs some changes to the base rules (ir chargen, magic items expectations & so on, maybe a new death & dying to circumvent "just kill me"->"I can't"∆). The rules expansion doesn't need to be extreme, even some optional side bars the gm could point to while saying "all of them" or whatever would go a long way towards fitting the baseline themes and tones of eberron.

Since it's been mentioned, I don't really care if it's hard cover or paperback as much as I care if it meets my needs as a GM who typically ran eberron games and eventually burned out

∆ a conversation someone relayed in a thread a couple months back between a player and gm talking about an agonizing yoyo healing impasse in their 2024 game