D&D General What do you like about Eberron?

[MarkB]

Eberron's unique planar cosmology also appeals to me. I like the idea that it's not assumed to be part of a wider multiverse, and having the planes "orbit" the material plane in such a way that their effects can be more keenly felt upon the world at certain times opens up new possibilities for DMs and makes them feel more relevant even to a low level campaign.

 

[Reynard]

Why everyone else said. Maybe my meta-favorite thing is that there’s no presence of medievalism - it’s unabashedly fantasy with more modern touchstones. I’m good with that.

Eberron is what our Industrial Age would have looked like if it went magictech.

I think the most interesting thing about the advancements in Eberron is that they were specifically driven by a century of war. So there are lots of weapons and logistics systems, but many people are still trying to hold on to their traditional ways of living. You have a anachronistic setting on purpose, where certain countries and certain parts of life have "advanced" at different rates -- which is something you see a lot in our own world as cultures of different technological levels come into contact.

 

[Corinnguard]

Eberron's unique planar cosmology also appeals to me. I like the idea that it's not assumed to be part of a wider multiverse, and having the planes "orbit" the material plane in such a way that their effects can be more keenly felt upon the world at certain times opens up new possibilities for DMs and makes them feel more relevant even to a low level campaign.

From Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (page 7):

The myths of Eberron describe the involvement of the three Progenitor Dragons in that world's creation: SIberys, the Dragon Above; Khyber, the Dragon Below; and Eberron, the Dragon Between. These godlike beings are said to have created a microcosm of the multiverse in the depths of the Ethereal Plane, sequestered away from the Outer Planes and all the influence of the gods and other cosmic powers. Viewed through the lens of "Elegy for the First World," Eberron is thus not actually a fragment of the First World, but a second generation of that original realm- yet even Eberron is profoundly shaped by dragons.

Thus, Eberron's cosmology is a multiverse within a multiverse.

 

[MarkB]

From Fizban's Treasury of Dragons (page 7):

The myths of Eberron describe the involvement of the three Progenitor Dragons in that world's creation: SIberys, the Dragon Above; Khyber, the Dragon Below; and Eberron, the Dragon Between. These godlike beings are said to have created a microcosm of the multiverse in the depths of the Ethereal Plane, sequestered away from the Outer Planes and all the influence of the gods and other cosmic powers. Viewed through the lens of "Elegy for the First World," Eberron is thus not actually a fragment of the First World, but a second generation of that original realm- yet even Eberron is profoundly shaped by dragons.

Thus, Eberron's cosmology is a multiverse within a multiverse.

It's dragons all the way down.

 

[Corinnguard]

It's dragons all the way down.

Especially when members of the Sovereign Host and the Dark Six are sometimes depicted as dragons. Ex. Balinor, the Sovereign of Horn and Hunt is sometimes depicted as a Green Dragon.

 

[Blue]

I love how everything is deeply connected to the world. For example, play a warforged in a kitchen sink setting like the forgotten realms and it's like "look, I'm a living construct". Play one in Eberron and know that you were likely considered a living weapon, property of the nation that bought you. The same treaty that declared you were actually people also condemned your kind to slow genocide as the creations forges were all shut down as well. That a sizable fraction of the adults you met had fought in the war at some point, and many had memories of warforged on their side or their foes. Everything belonged in the world, not merely existed there.

Another thing I enjoyed was all the different axis of factions. For example the nations were a bunch of factions and beliefs, allies and enemies. And the Dragonmarked houses were a completely different set, international, but with their own alliances and rivals. And they you had the Dragons and their prophesy, a different thing, and the Lords of Dust, and others.

I liked at the time it came out it made much more sense as a fantasy world that integrated magic, rather than faux-European-medieval-with-magic-bolted-on. It also was the first big one in my experience to semi-civilize some of the goblinoid and other monstrous races that now many settings do.

 

[Blue]

Oh, and I forgot that I liked how there were so many shades of grey. Nations, Houses, religions -- anything could be ally or enemy. Or "it's complicated". Just because your nation used undead doesn't mean you thought they were evil. Or the Silver Flame, with it's lycanthrope purge -- was the church good or evil? Or both? And that's before considering different sects of it.

 

[Corinnguard]

Oh, and I forgot that I liked how there were so many shades of grey. Nations, Houses, religions -- anything could be ally or enemy. Or "it's complicated". Just because your nation used undead doesn't mean you thought they were evil. Or the Silver Flame, with it's lycanthrope purge -- was the church good or evil? Or both? And that's before considering different sects of it.

The Eberron setting was the first D&D setting where alignment wasn't a given for certain species of Material Plane monsters.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I love how everything is deeply connected to the world. For example, play a warforged in a kitchen sink setting like the forgotten realms and it's like "look, I'm a living construct". Play one in Eberron and know that you were likely considered a living weapon, property of the nation that bought you. The same treaty that declared you were actually people also condemned your kind to slow genocide as the creations forges were all shut down as well. That a sizable fraction of the adults you met had fought in the war at some point, and many had memories of warforged on their side or their foes. Everything belonged in the world, not merely existed there.

although i don't deny this is a good thing, i think it had the unfortunate side of effect of, for a number of the fans, things that were made for ebberon were unofficially restricted to ebberon, because their lore were specifically made to tie into it's world so strongly with no more generic alternatives, i can't tell you the amount of times i've heard on this site things to the effect of 'no, you can't use warforged outside of ebberon, the forges don't exist and the war never happened to incite their creation' or 'you can't have dragonmarks because the houses only exist in ebberon'

 

[Voadam]

The Eberron setting was the first D&D setting where alignment wasn't a given for certain species of Material Plane monsters.

Dragons is the big one.

While alignment had generally been a general bent overall and individuals could vary, as demonstrated since as early as the 1e drow modules, and 3e had its "often" qualifier for the alignment of most sapient mortal things like orcs, dragons in 3e were a striking exception with an "always" alignment designation tied to their type, a designation mostly otherwise reserved for extraplanars, certain undead and neutral not sapient things (constructs/animals/beasts/magical beast/oozes/plants/vermin). All the old alignment associations for dragons were thrown out for Eberron with reds and silvers each being as commonly good or evil as the others.