D&D (2024) You Can Now Pre-order Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

Pre-orders for the upcoming setting book have gone live. Eberron: Forge of the Artificer comes out on August 19th. The book contains the new 2024/5 edition Artificer class with 5 subclasses, the Warforged species, a ton of backgrounds and feats, and 20 new monsters.

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Forge wonders in the world of Eberron, where magic meets marvelous inventions.

Play as the Artificer: the ultimate creative class. You’re not just an inventor or spellcaster. You're an innovator, a bold-hearted visionary, fusing together magic and technology to craft extraordinary creations.

Fuel your adventures with this rules expansion for Dungeons & Dragons:

• 4 revised Artificer subclasses and 1 new subclass: the Cartographer
• 5 revised species, 17 backgrounds, and 28 feats
• New spells, bastions, and magic items
• 3 distinct, genre-based campaign templates for building fantasy noir, political thriller, and pulp adventure campaigns in the world of Eberron
• Over 20 new monsters, each inspired by a campaign model

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[Dire Bare]

I am the opposite – I do not like the change to airships. Where are the elemental rings?

Also, I am fond of the old style warforged look.

I don’t think I like this art nouveau thing.

I also don’t like the revised 5e trade dress with its bright red coloring.

I think I might be close to bouncing off the revision.

Look more closely at the airship image. Elemental ring is in the back!

Of course, it's still okay if you don't like the new art direction.

EDIT: Ninja'd by @Von Ether and @Paul Farquhar!

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm cautiously a fan of the new art direction. It's not so dramatic as to be a fundamental reimagining, it's just a little stylistic touch. I think that warforged could stand next to an OG warforged and be the same species just fine.

 

[pukunui]

I'm OK with some warforged looking different to the stock standard version. However, I don't want that Asimovian robot look to be the new standard. Unfortunately, that appears to be the case here. (As an aside, what's with the artificers investigating murdered warforged theme going on in the preview art?)

Thanks to everyone who pointed out the elemental ring at the back of the airship. Still not a fan of the dirigible look here. I prefer the "seafaring vessel with a fiery ring around it" look.

I know art is subjective. For me, the appeal of D&D's art has always been a large part of whether or not I can get excited about a particular edition or product. I bounced off the revised dragon art big time, and I am close to bouncing off this new Eberron art as well. I am not a fan of WAR's 3e era Eberron art - and that may have been part of why I didn't like Eberron back during the 3e era. I liked a lot of the non-WAR art in Rising from the Last War, however. I prefer my Eberron to be less early 20th century and closer to Renaissance era.

I read an interesting post the other day talking about how Eberron is still mostly pre-industrial revolution in that its economy still leans hard on the bespoke, artisanal side of things. Yes, the trains run on electricity, but the everburning lanterns that light most cities aren't powered by a magic electrical grid. They're still dealt with by hand like the old gas lamps of London and such. Most things in Eberron are still made by hand by craftsmen. It's just that some of those craftsmen are magic-users (and others are special people with a special magical mark). There's no real mass production. (Warforged are probably the closest thing to that in the setting.)

This new art leans too hard into post-industrial revolution vibes for me. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE The Legend of Korra. I think it's one of the best TV shows ever. BUT that's not how I think of Eberron.

So yeah, I may bounce off this book ... and that might mean I bounce off 2024 all together. I dunno.

 

[TravDoc42]

What Eberron monsters are they likely to add this time around? What ones were missed in Rising From the Last War?

 

[dave2008]

What Eberron monsters are they likely to add this time around? What ones were missed in Rising From the Last War?

They may also be updating some of those monsters. That book came out a while ago IIRC.

 

[TravDoc42]

They may also be updating some of those monsters. That book came out a while ago IIRC.

That is likely. I do hope they add at least a few new-to-5e monsters though!

 

[Zaukrie]

I run an eberron campaign, so this is a buy.

 

[pukunui]

I run an eberron campaign, so this is a buy.

I am running an Eberron campaign too, but this is no longer an auto-buy for me. I'm going to wait and see what the contents are like. If the content is solid, I can always ignore the art. If, however, the art is an indication of what the content will be like, then I most likely will skip this book.

 

[Zaukrie]

I am running an Eberron campaign too, but this is no longer an auto-buy for me. I'm going to wait and see what the contents are like. If the content is solid, I can always ignore the art. If, however, the art is an indication of what the content will be like, then I most likely will skip this book.

I don't need the art. I have access to more eberron art than I can use. I get it's an inspiration, and I get it matters to me, but we use DNDbeyond so much to run our games now, I hardly look at rule books at this point.

I'm sure my player that plays an artificer would like updated rules, though.

 

[pukunui]

I just looked at the teaser video, and I see a number of pieces of art showing artificers creating warforged. I wonder if they are going to change the lore around the creation forges and the Treaty of Thronehold banning their use. Is WotC going to make it so individual artificers can make their own warforged now?