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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hellcow" data-source="post: 3636340" data-attributes="member: 15800">Honestly? This is a case of the needs of the story superceding what we might see as logical. In my earliest vision, the "magic level" of Eberron was higher, and I was considering magical sidearms. But the problem is that frankly, once you replace bow and sword with the wand or even the fully automatic crossbow, you're not playing something that is going to feel like D&D any more - and despite its unique elements, it's still supposed to be D&D at its core. With that said, one thing I'll note is that the evolution of Western armor and weaponry was strongly affected by the role of first the longbow, crossbow, and musket. For a time heavy armor was king, but as more and more weapons allowed common soldiers to penetrate armor, it became a liability; and on the melee side we moved from heavy weapons intended to knock down an armored foe (morningstar, arming sword) to longer, lighter weapons intended to provide the advantage of reach and speed against an unarmored enemy (smallsword). To get a sense of Eberron, it would be worth looking at other martial cultures that never DID develop gunpowder. I don't have the time to do research on this right now, but for example, how long did the Roman legion stick with its tried-and-true equipment? Were there significant advances in the equipment of the individual soldier over the centuries of Rome's expansion? Because in many ways, Eberron is closer to this than to the later events than led to the downfall of plate and the rise of the musket. In D&D, neither the bow or crossbow is as deadly as it was in the real world; that's simple fact, and unless you're going to change the rules, it's something you have to accept. Magical attacks, whether wands or full spells never fell into the hands of the common soldier, and there's very little benefit to avoiding armor. Fireball or magic missile will hit you either way... but these are reletively rare threats, and armor WILL protect you against both sword and bow. In D&D, unless you're some sort of super-dex fighter, need to rely on swift movement, or you're trying to avoid ACP or ASF, there's no reason NOT to wear full plate (assuming you're proficient) - as opposed to real life, where inferior plate armor can mean that once you're knocked down, you can't even stand up on your own. Essentially, it comes down to the fact that D&D isn't realistic. It's a game, not a historical simulation. Eberron takes that a step farther; it's supposed to be over the top. If you want to Tumble in full plate, good for you; that's what action points are for. While it's a reasonable path to take, I'm not prepared to say that they didn't have full plate during the Age of Galifar, and yes, this does mean that by the core books, there weren't a lot of amazing innovations for the common infantry soldier during the war; in many ways, this is a self-enforcing cylce, because if no nation developed a new innovation for the common infantry soldier, then the other nations never had to innovate to counter it. So instead, ingenuity was devoted to large-scale weapons and works of magic - things like airships, siege staves, or spells. These things could play a dramatic role in the outcome of a battle - they simply didn't have a significant impact on the equipment of the typical soldier. So, long story short: Despite its unique elements, Eberron is still supposed to feel like D&D, which means the sword and bow have not been replaced by something completely new. This can be justified by the fact that no new military innovation has come up that has made existing gear obsolete (as I said, when I have time I'm going to look into Roman history to see what their history of infantry innovation was like; my feeling is that they had a system that worked for them and largely stuck with it). There was considerable innovation, but this was focused on transportation, magical support or artillery, or things like the warforged - not on some new weapon or defense for the typical soldier. Anyhow, I need to bow out of the topic at this point - I have far too much work to do, and need to reduce my board presence for a while.(And lest it go without saying, I'm not suggesting that you STOP trying to come up with new ideas - more power to you. I'm just explaining why the basic setting uses sword and bow instead of wand or unqiue new weapons!)</blockquote>

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