Eberron- And why I cannot jump onboard? A different take

[Felon]

Heh, sounds a lot like the Flinstones cartoon. Ya know, mimicking all sorts of modern conveniences with dinosaurs/prehistoric animals or with amusing stone-age type contraptions. Dinosaurs acting as cranes in construction, a bird using its long beak as a needle for a record player - that sort of thing. Every week ya saw a new gag like that. In that respect, Eberron sounds kinda like the Flinstones.

Lol, now that's serendipitous. one of my players was flicking through my copy of Dragon, read about Eberron, and made that same exact Flinstones analogy. What would that be, "dinopunk"? That's not you, is it?

One thing I've said on other boards: the information provided so far does not in any way provide a complete picture of the world. There are some very critical elements that WotC is keeping in reserve, I assume so that each update is more interesting than the one before. It's not going to be a world for everyone, there's no question about that, and if you hate absolutely everything you've seen, it probaly won't be for you. But if you're still lukewarm or on the fence, keep an eye on things to come -- there are more surprises in store.

I'm probably among the less enthused from the impressions the coverage has offered so far, but I think you're right that any rush to final judgement is still premature. Thanks for the info that you've dropped so far. I know that at the very least I'll probably wind up buying it for some of the crunchier material, like the artificer class presented in Dragon.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I have gone up and done on this a great deal given each new piece of information, and it irks me that that's true but that is the joy and horror of these sorts of early marketting campaign times.

Now, for instance, highest level NPC cleric is 16??

I hate that! If you wanna talk about it not making sense for low level magic to have a broad affect, then you gotta give me that it doesn't really make sense for a world to not have a fair community of people operating at the tippety tip top of their game!

Easy enough to fix, I suppose, but it would be nice to have high level support in a setting I would consider adventuring in for a good long time....

 

[Hellcow]

Now, for instance, highest level NPC cleric is 16?? I hate that! If you wanna talk about it not making sense for low level magic to have a broad affect, then you gotta give me that it doesn't really make sense for a world to not have a fair community of people operating at the tippety tip top of their game!

The goal in doing this is to make the player characters significant -- to say that the ability to reach high levels is more than just a matter of killing 1,001 orcs, but also reflects the inner potential of the character, and that the PCs possess a far greater potential than most people. The idea is that as things stand, a 16th level cleric *is* tippety tip top. This is accomplished both by the (relatively) low levels of the NPCs and the fact that most NPCs use NPC classes. Thus even a low-level cleric is going to stand out in the world -- and if he can make it to 17th level, he's the coolest guy on the continent.

Another point is continent that is the focus of much of the action on Eberron has just emerged from a long war, and that many of the greatest heroes of the world were killed over the last century. Even that 16th-level cleric is a 9-year old girl who's only held her office for 3 years; perhaps she will become more powerful in time. But as things stand, it is a world where there is an opportunity for new heroes to shine.

With that said, there may be VILLIANS that are higher level; I suppose I should have said "friendly NPCs". The point is that if the world needs saving, the PCs are the ones who will ultimately have to do it -- they can't just sit around while uber-NPCs do it for them. Again, lower level magic is common, but the high level magic is still a thing of story and legend.

But certainly, if this philosophy doesn't appeal to you, it's easy enough to bump up the NPCs.

 

[Silver Moon]

The goal in doing this is to make the player characters significant.

Cool, I can buy into that. Looking back on my main campaign, which has been running now for 22 years, I can probably count on one hand the number of NPC's encountered above 16th level. And our highest level PC is 11th (partially due to each player alternating between 5 and 10 characters).

And I can certainly relate to the "make the PC's significant" idea. We have another AD&D campaign, set in a 19th century wild west world, where everyone is relatively low level and with low magic. They recently ran up against their most powerful foe to date, Doc Holliday, who was a 6th level fighter. Low magic doesn't have to mean low fun.

 

[Wormwood]

Thus even a low-level cleric is going to stand out in the world -- and if he can make it to 17th level, he's the coolest guy on the continent.

As it should be.

C'mon June!

 

[MEG Hal]

The more I hear the more it is interesting me. I will be checking this one out.

 

[Nifft]

From what I have seen, and from previous discussion here and elsewhere, Eberron may be the first setting for D&D that actually does a plausible job of integrating "magitech" intelligently into a campaign world. Explaining the ramifications of magic well beyond adventuring applications is a large step to a more "mature" setting IMO. I'm looking forward to seeing the effort.

That's exactly why I'm probably going to buy it, too. My homebrew setting tries to do a good job of looking at what society would be like if magic were common, but technology (automation) impossible to separate from magic.

Eberron looks like "magic as technology", while my world is "magic instead-of technology". Still, it may have some ideas that I can steal.

-- N

 

[Greatwyrm]

Based on what we've seen so far, there are two main reasons I'm excited about Eberron.

First, it's different. There are a lot of people here who are basically unhappy that it doesn't look and feel like Greyhawk or the Realms. Well, if that's what WotC wanted, all they'd have had to do is dust off the Greyhawk logo and slap it on something. No need for a contest and several thousand dollars in prizes. Same for the Realms.

It's a different land, with different histories, and entirely new possibilities for exploration. When you play in the main settings in print (notably GH or FR), everybody pretty much knows what to expect. This is here and that is there. It always has been in the sourcebooks and in the fiction. Eberron is a chance to start with a clean slate. It's easier to suspend your metagaming tendancies when you don't know that outside info in the first place.

Second, I like the quick overland travel. Yea, I like the lightning rail and the flying ships. Why? Diversity in adventures. I can run a city adventure one night, jungle the next, and desert right after that. You can buy passage and make it to those different areas in a reasonably short amount of time, even for lower level characters. Beats the heck out of walking two months to get to the adventure you wanted to do in the first place.

But wait, what about random encounters? You just cut out all the danger and go straight to the goal, right? Wrong. Just because all this faster overland travel is available, it doesn't mean it's going to put you right at the front door of the BBEG's lair. For example, here in Peoria, we've got a public transportation system. That is, we've got some busses. The busses go several places. I can go from the mall, to my friend's place, to the community college, all on the bus. Now, lets say I want to go to my FLGS. The bus will put me in the general area, but I've still got quite a hike ahead of me. Same in Eberron, I'd imagine. Just because a flying galleon can take me to the jungle metropolis and drop me off, doesn't mean I won't still have two weeks of slogging through the jungle to get to the lost temple.

Sure there's still plenty of unknowns for Eberron, but if you look at things from a different angle, it might not be so bad after all.

 

[Dirigible]

But there aren't magical toilets

Well I know what my characters first goal will be.

 

[Acid_crash]

I'm in the I'm buying this book because its different enough for me category and isn't as similar to GH or FR. Why does every setting released have to be similar to the old mainstays and hasbeens of GH and FR?