Eberron: Forge of the Artificer Page Count, Contents Revealed

Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will be a 112-page book, containing the redesigned Artificer class and five species. With Dragon Delves officially out in stores, the D&D marketing machine is officially turning towards the promotion of its next book - Eberron: Forge of the Artificer. Today on D&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast officially revealed the contents and page count of the new book. As suspected, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will be a much skinnier affair than other D&D books, running just 112 pages. That explains the $29.99 price tag, as it's half the page count of a standard D&D rulebook.

The rest of the book's contents are as follows:

• The revised Artificer class, equipped with more ways to make magic items.
• 5 Artificer subclasses, including four revised options and one brand-new: the Cartographer, who can guide allies with magical maps, illuminate the battlefield, and navigate obstacles.
• 5 revised species like the living Construct Warforged, 17 backgrounds to shape your character's path, and 28 feats that explore the mystery of dragonmarks.
• A new spell, new bastion options, and magical inventions that transform every choice into an opportunity to build something incredible.
• 3 campaign frameworks tailored to the pulpy, high-flying, and intrigue-filled tone of the Eberron setting—perfect for noir mysteries, skyship chases, and political thrillers.
• 20+ new monsters crafted to match the tone of the story you want to tell, from horror to high fantasy to heists.

Most of the contents shouldn't be news to those that follow D&D. The Cartographer subclass officially made the cut for the book, as did the five revamped species. There will also be 17 new backgrounds and 20+ monsters in the book, which we haven't seen in playtest form yet.

 

[dbm]

I would suggest those are not core books in WotC’s opinion and so unlikely to ever be reproduced as a 2024-based book.

 

[Parmandur]

I doubt their strategy is to encourage people to use old books, if only because they won’t be keeping those in print. So anything key to the setting should be included in the new book.

What is considered ‘key’ could vary by person of course..,

They ate keeping Rising from the Last War in print: in fact they are selling it as a bundle with this book, and are not repeating the Setting info by and large. This is a Supplement to Rising from the Last War, not a replacement.

 

[Parmandur]

In the introduction to Dragon Delves, under "Creating a Campaign":

Option 3: Hoard Magic Items​

If you have Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, the hoard of magic items described in that book can provide an incentive for characters to seek out dragons of increasing power and different kinds. Add the following items to the rewards acquired in the first three adventures: a Scaled Ornament in “Death at Sunset,” a Dragon Vessel in “Baker’s Doesn’t,” and a Dragon’s Wrath Weapon and a Dragon-Touched Focus in “The Will of Orcus.” All four items are Slumbering when the characters first acquire them, but in later adventures, the items can be awakened by steeping them in dragons’ hoards.

That sure reads like encouraging people to use old books to me!

And they were bubling Dragon Delves with Fizban in direct orders. They reference a ton of 5E books in the new DMG, suggesting them for use.

 

[Reynard]

In the introduction to Dragon Delves, under "Creating a Campaign":

Option 3: Hoard Magic Items​

If you have Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons, the hoard of magic items described in that book can provide an incentive for characters to seek out dragons of increasing power and different kinds. Add the following items to the rewards acquired in the first three adventures: a Scaled Ornament in “Death at Sunset,” a Dragon Vessel in “Baker’s Doesn’t,” and a Dragon’s Wrath Weapon and a Dragon-Touched Focus in “The Will of Orcus.” All four items are Slumbering when the characters first acquire them, but in later adventures, the items can be awakened by steeping them in dragons’ hoards.

That sure reads like encouraging people to use old books to me!

"If you have" is important there. They don't want you to feel like your library is useless.

I wonder why it is that people try and convince themselves and others that the for profit corporation is not trying to sell us stuff.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

They ate keeping Rising from the Last War in print: in fact they are selling it as a bundle with this book, and are not repeating the Setting info by and large. This is a Supplement to Rising from the Last War, not a replacement.

Given that I hope the 2024 species versions are different enough from the 2014 version to be interesting.

 

[Parmandur]

Given that I hope the 2024 species versions are different enough from the 2014 version to be interesting.

I expect changes, but probably nothing earth shattering: similar to MotM kevel shifts.

The big thing is thst this book us not revising or reprinting much lore: Rising is stikk the book for actual setting details.

 

[Weiley31]

"If you have" is important there. They don't want you to feel like your library is useless.

I wonder why it is that people try and convince themselves and others that the for profit corporation is not trying to sell us stuff.

They are, but they still confirmed everything is backwards compatible still.

 

[Remathilis]

They are, but they still confirmed everything is backwards compatible still.

The whole point of backwards compatibly was to keep your old books relevant while updating the crunchy parts. Rising from the Last War is 90% usable: the lore isn't changing meaningfully, much of the magic items are fine, all the graphs and tables still work, etc. what 2024 has changed is all mechanics: dragonmarks don't work in 2024 because there is no subrace anymore. Artificer needed a glow up to match the pretty updates the PHB classes got. The warforged and kalshatar still had racial ASIs for Flame's Sake!

FotA is a patch for RftLW disguised as a supplement. There will be a few new things I wager, but the majority of it is to replace the parts of Rising that are outdated and not in step with the new PHB with ones that are. I don't expect anything more than a replacement and expansion for the PC options and monsters from Rising and a few extras like the bastion options.

Frankly, I'm perfectly fine if they want to do the exact same thing for Ravenloft, Dragonlance, Spelljammer and Planescape too.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The whole point of backwards compatibly was to keep your old books relevant while updating the crunchy parts. Rising from the Last War is 90% usable: the lore isn't changing meaningfully, much of the magic items are fine, all the graphs and tables still work, etc. what 2024 has changed is all mechanics: dragonmarks don't work in 2024 because there is no subrace anymore. Artificer needed a glow up to match the pretty updates the PHB classes got. The warforged and kalshatar still had racial ASIs for Flame's Sake!

FotA is a patch for RftLW disguised as a supplement. There will be a few new things I wager, but the majority of it is to replace the parts of Rising that are outdated and not in step with the new PHB with ones that are. I don't expect anything more than a replacement and expansion for the PC options and monsters from Rising and a few extras like the bastion options.

Frankly, I'm perfectly fine if they want to do the exact same thing for Ravenloft, Dragonlance, Spelljammer and Planescape too.

Where as FR is the opposite, SCAG will functionally be the supplement to the up coming FRPG, even if the SCAG came out like a Decade ago.

 

[Kurotowa]

FotA is a patch for RftLW disguised as a supplement. There will be a few new things I wager, but the majority of it is to replace the parts of Rising that are outdated and not in step with the new PHB with ones that are. I don't expect anything more than a replacement and expansion for the PC options and monsters from Rising and a few extras like the bastion options.

Pretty much. And we've had a lot of people raise the question, should we be paying for an update patch? It's a topic I've chewed over a bit.

On the one hand, paying for an update to a book I already own doesn't feel great. But why doesn't it feel great? Because I'm trained by video games to expect free updates to old content. Only with a lot of those games, I'm actually making ongoing payments of some kind. A monthly sub to my MMORPG, paid battlepasses that are just a thinly disguised monthly sub, I'm continuing to make payments that cover the labor invested into crafting those updates for me.

So paying for updates is fair and just. They're performing creative labor and I'm making payment for access to it. The better question, then, is one of amounts. What's being charged and how much am I getting for it? It's a bit too early to really answer that one, but early signs are positive to my eyes. Forge is a cheaper book that has a smattering of brand new content, and updates that (from the couple UA releases) seem to be putting in some real effort and not just tweaking the language and numbers a little. That seems like it could be a fair price for the amount of content I'm getting. Though final judgment doesn't come until I get the book in my hands.

Now, might this calculation look a little different to someone new, who didn't already own the old book? Yeah, then it's a surcharge on your brand new purchase, and that kinda sucks. But it's hard to get around that problem when you're dealing with physical books that can't be easily altered and updated.