D&D 5E (2014) Running Eberron in 5e

Gradine · Jan 25, 2017

I played a Halfling Barbarian in 3.5, albeit only briefly. The dino-buddy was a mount; a bit of an NPC ally; nothing with the complexity or growth of a Druid or Ranger pet but still there. I could see a similar thing working with 5e.

Hawk Diesel · Jan 25, 2017

Gradine said:
I played a Halfling Barbarian in 3.5, albeit only briefly. The dino-buddy was a mount; a bit of an NPC ally; nothing with the complexity or growth of a Druid or Ranger pet but still there. I could see a similar thing working with 5e.

Not saying it couldn't work like that. It's a fine way of handling it. But as I said before, I like making homebrew mechanics that can work to reflect and assist the character concept. Not saying it always has to be done that way, but it's a nice bonus.

Ahrimon · Jan 26, 2017

Hawk Diesel said:
For example, how would you implement that Talenta Halfling Dino Riders? Halfling Barbarians could work, but they are missing that thing that really implements or emphasizes that bond between themselves and their dinosaur companions. Halfling Beast Master Rangers might work, but the mechanics of the ranger don't necessarily fit with the concept. So I created a Barbarian archetype to better match that concept. I'd like to see more archetypes that can better align with the character concepts that have been presented in Eberron. Perhaps a Sorcerer Dragonmark Bloodline that could parallel the Dragonmark Heir and allow those rare Siberys marks to manifest. That would be cool! And other things like that.

The biggest suggestion I have here is don't worry about having mechanics to represent everything. You don't need mechanics to say that they have a special bond with their mounts. But if you really must, just say that they're especially well trained and give the rider advantage on all animal handling and loyalty checks. You could even make a special Talenta background available to halflings only that mimics the outlander, but the special ability is advantage on specific rolls dealing with their mounts and others of their culture.

If you really want dragonmarks like they were in 3E, just import them directly and correct the pieces that don't work. 5e characters don't get a feat at first level, but that's easy enough to say that every PC get's a free feat at lvl 1 for your game and poof, just like 3E Eberron if I recall correctly.

Hawk Diesel said:
Based on what I saw in Races of Eberron, a good number of the tribal halflings with class levels are rangers or rogues, so I can see where that might come from. But from reading the ECS, their culture seems more along the lines of barbarian halflings, especially since the leading of one of the largest nomadic tribes, Lathon Halpum, is a barbarian, that is the flavor I drew from for inspiration. Also, the idea of halfling barbarians (something not normally associated with the smaller races) appealed to me.

Class =/= Culture. I can't emphasize this enough. The barbarian class is not the barbarian culture. The outlander background best represents the barbarian culture and backgrounds do a lot more to shape a characters outlook on the world than class does. I can make an acolyte barbarian and he's a religious zealot who flys into a rage, or a mage apprentice (don't remember the name of that background) barbarian who quaffs special potions to instill his rage, etc. Having an outlander fighter, ranger, rogue, barbarian, cleric, whatever is so much more appropriate for the barbarian culture than to pigeon hole everyone who lives off the land as the barbarian class.

Hawk Diesel said:
Not saying it couldn't work like that. It's a fine way of handling it. But as I said before, I like making homebrew mechanics that can work to reflect and assist the character concept. Not saying it always has to be done that way, but it's a nice bonus.

If you really want to make homebrew mechanics for everything, I wish you the best of luck. I'd rather just wing it to get the feel of the setting than fret over mechanics and how/if they are balanced or fair.

Hawk Diesel · Jan 26, 2017

Ahrimon said:
The biggest suggestion I have here is don't worry about having mechanics to represent everything. You don't need mechanics to say that they have a special bond with their mounts. But if you really must, just say that they're especially well trained and give the rider advantage on all animal handling and loyalty checks. You could even make a special Talenta background available to halflings only that mimics the outlander, but the special ability is advantage on specific rolls dealing with their mounts and others of their culture.

If you really want dragonmarks like they were in 3E, just import them directly and correct the pieces that don't work. 5e characters don't get a feat at first level, but that's easy enough to say that every PC get's a free feat at lvl 1 for your game and poof, just like 3E Eberron if I recall correctly.

As I said before, I don't necessarily sweat mechanics. I am fine with quick and dirty imports, backgrounds, and whatever. But some things, such as the Artificer, are VERY difficult to implement with current 5e mechanics. Even the most recent UA version doesn't really represent the Artificer's unique ability to imbue spells into objects or improve weapons. For me, this is part of the hobby of D&D to homebrew and make adjustments and build new stuff.

Ahrimon said:
Class =/= Culture. I can't emphasize this enough. The barbarian class is not the barbarian culture. The outlander background best represents the barbarian culture and backgrounds do a lot more to shape a characters outlook on the world than class does. I can make an acolyte barbarian and he's a religious zealot who flys into a rage, or a mage apprentice (don't remember the name of that background) barbarian who quaffs special potions to instill his rage, etc. Having an outlander fighter, ranger, rogue, barbarian, cleric, whatever is so much more appropriate for the barbarian culture than to pigeon hole everyone who lives off the land as the barbarian class.

I never said class equals culture. In 3E Eberron, most people don't even have class levels outside commoner or adept, so you don't even need to make the assumption that Talenta Barbarians are mechanically barbarians. And as I said before based on what's presented in the Races of Eberron book, most Talenta Halflings with class levels are rangers or rogues. But also, as I mentioned previously, in the ECS the described leader of the Talenta Halflings is statted out as a 9th level barbarian. It's right there in the entry on the Talenta Plains. This leader was known for his prowess as a battle rider. If you wanted to play a character like him, how would you go about it? Sure, you can just give him the outlander background, maybe just give him a generic dinosaur as a mount, or make him a beast master ranger.

But the same question arises when someone wants a warmage. They could go evoker wizard, or Eldritch knight fighter, Bladesinger wizard, Pact of the Blade Warlock, or even Valor bard. There are multiple ways for mechanics to work for general concepts. So why make it seem like creating new mechanics to represent concepts is so bad? Isn't that the whole point of the recent UAs? Of course you can always use what your given, but D&D is inherently modular and meant to be built around one's table and play style.

Ahrimon said:
If you really want to make homebrew mechanics for everything, I wish you the best of luck. I'd rather just wing it to get the feel of the setting than fret over mechanics and how/if they are balanced or fair.

I've already mentioned this is my preference and how I use the game. Good for you for being satisfied with what's given to you. But I was answering the question asked on the thread for what I would prefer. Disagree with me, fine. But you don't need to critique my opinions as if there's a right or wrong answer.

Beleriphon · Jan 26, 2017

Hawk Diesel said:
I never said class equals culture. In 3E Eberron, most people don't even have class levels outside commoner or adept, so you don't even need to make the assumption that Talenta Barbarians are mechanically barbarians. And as I said before based on what's presented in the Races of Eberron book, most Talenta Halflings with class levels are rangers or rogues. But also, as I mentioned previously, in the ECS the described leader of the Talenta Halflings is statted out as a 9th level barbarian. It's right there in the entry on the Talenta Plains. This leader was known for his prowess as a battle rider. If you wanted to play a character like him, how would you go about it? Sure, you can just give him the outlander background, maybe just give him a generic dinosaur as a mount, or make him a beast master ranger.

Barbarian with the Mounted Combat feat? Plus most beasts that work as mounts have some rules in the MM explaining any special rules they might have in relation to a rider. I would imagine that its not too hard to come up a few rules regarding deinonychus and charge attacks while used as amount.

Hawk Diesel · Jan 26, 2017

Beleriphon said:
Barbarian with the Mounted Combat feat? Plus most beasts that work as mounts have some rules in the MM explaining any special rules they might have in relation to a rider. I would imagine that its not too hard to come up a few rules regarding deinonychus and charge attacks while used as amount.

Yes, that is a viable option as well, assuming the DM allows feats. But my point is that while there are many ways to achieve a given concept using existing rules, there is no reason for existing rules to be the limit. This is the whole point of homebrew, and creating new mechanics as the Unearthed Arcana series is constantly churning out.

Tallifer · Jan 30, 2017

The most exciting part about Eberron for me as a dungeon master (and would be as a player were I to have a chance to play in an Eberron campaign) is the draconic prophecy. I like titanic heroic quests involving an entire cosmos and all of time; but i also Like how a small quest or adventure could be a small part of the prophecy working itself out.

Thus far I have had 1. a madman possessed by the power of prophecy and unconsciously giving dreams to prophetically important people who come into contact with him.

2. A long quest to shut down a dangerous portal which would cause a chaotic conjunction of worlds: it culminated in a ritual to make a cauldron of soup from bits from every plane while various draconic spirits take turns appearing and either helping or wreaking havoc.

3. The mystical mountain: the endless upward landscape keeps changing as the heroes make their progress climbing toward the object of their quest.

4. The bear of prophecy who appears in various manifestations from time to time ahead of the party on the road.

Tersival · Mar 2, 2017

Gradine said:
Here's a question: in terms of new content for Eberron in 5e, are people more interested in crunch (player options & adventures) or fluff (mini-setting books and... well, adventures too, depending)? Yeah there's two campaign guides and quite a few fluff books from 3.5 but there's a lot to the setting that haven't really been explored in great detail (planes, undersea, etc.) Curious what people would most be looking forward to if official support (either WOTC-produced content or DM's Guild opening) ever materialized.

Firstly let me say it’s great to see someone generating conversation about Eberron. It’s my favorite setting by far and sadly neglected.

To answer your question, for what its worth I most treasure ideas on (a) Eberron specific adventures and plots or (b) converting generic or other-setting 5E material into the Eberron setting/themes. There's so many hooks in the setting it's a tragedy that WoTC haven't provided more support.

Regardless, thanks for keeping the flame alight.

Gradine · Mar 2, 2017

Tersival said:
Firstly let me say it’s great to see someone generating conversation about Eberron. It’s my favorite setting by far and sadly neglected.

To answer your question, for what its worth I most treasure ideas on (a) Eberron specific adventures and plots or (b) converting generic or other-setting 5E material into the Eberron setting/themes. There's so many hooks in the setting it's a tragedy that WoTC haven't provided more support.

Regardless, thanks for keeping the flame alight. &#55357;&#56842;

I've been giving this a lot of thought myself lately. I haven't really gotten a chance to run or play much D&D in the past few years since my daughter was born, and I recently just went back to grad school, but I've been thinking lately about what it would look like or how it would work to get back into D&D or DM again. I don't know that I'd have a lot of time to self-design a full campaign from start to finish like I used to. I'd probably run with pre-published stuff. I've already done most of the work of converting HotDQ to Eberron, so I think that's probably where I'd start. Maybe I'll finally take a stab at converting RoT during the rare occasions I have the time to do so. Maybe look at some of the other adventures. I'd definitely want to keep running Eberron though.

Onslaught · Mar 2, 2017

Gradine said:
Here's a question: in terms of new content for Eberron in 5e, are people more interested in crunch (player options & adventures) or fluff (mini-setting books and... well, adventures too, depending)? Yeah there's two campaign guides and quite a few fluff books from 3.5 but there's a lot to the setting that haven't really been explored in great detail (planes, undersea, etc.) Curious what people would most be looking forward to if official support (either WOTC-produced content or DM's Guild opening) ever materialized.

As [MENTION=6792135]Tersival[/MENTION], I'm a huge Eberron fan.

I think we have enought setting material from 3.5 era so that we don't need more details... but I'd love an adventure. There are so many interesting themes in Eberron to official adventures to explore.

Besides that, we really need the cruch... Psionics for one, but also Races, Artificer, a decent implementation of Dragonmarks (even if it's everyone gets a free simple feat at Lvl 1, with other options being those skill-feats and less powerfull stuff), and monsters (living spells and suff).

I think decent crunch is a lot more needed than fluff... we can always run to 3e material (and even 4e book which was good to resume the setting fluff) to get the fluff, but crunch is trickyer and, well, I for one like official stuff