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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Trickstergod" data-source="post: 2011506" data-attributes="member: 10825">So you know something? I really, really wasn't looking forward to Eberron. It seemed everything in the previews was purposely looking to draw out my disdain for their new campaign setting. Between dinosaurs and prestige classes bearing names such as "Extreme Explorer," everything I saw regarding it gave me a less then delightful picture of it. Now that I've actually read it? Ho boy, was I wrong. Having finally finished reading through it, I have to say that I'm fairly impressed and surprised by the campaign setting. It fits so very many types of stories, games and themes into it that it that it seems it should come across as clunky and crowded, yet, near as I can see, has blended a variety of elements together quite well indeed. The world of Eberron picks up two years after the great, century-long civil war known as the Last War has ended, during which time a merchant house was split into two, one nation become five then twelve, a race of sentient, living constructs came into being and, by the time it was finished, an entire country and likely millions of people were all destroyed in a mysterious cataclysm that finally brought an end to the conflict. I'm not even sure where to begin. There's simply so much that can be said about the book, that I want to say and I'm sure I'll miss some things. So, I'll go roughly by its chapter breakdown: The first thing the book establishes is the tone of the setting, most importantly in the "Ten Things You Need To Know" section. This is a general run-down of the book, going over the key points of the setting. If it's in the core books, it's in Eberron, magic is pervasive,  morality isn't so clear cut, it's a world of adventure and so on. A handy little resource for those who don't want to pour through the entire book all at once before making up a character (or for that matter, browsing through it in a bookstore while deciding to buy it). From there it follows up with the character races, both how those from the Player's Handbook fit into the setting as well as the new races unique to Eberron. The write-up on the Player's Handbook races is a good thing to have included, establishing their role in the world, but it's Eberron's four new races that are most likely to draw your interest. These are the changelings, kalashtar, shifters and warforged. Changelings are the descendents of dopplegangers and humans, a race of shapeshifters that bear a touch of both races to them. Their powers aren't quite so potent as dopplegangers, but they still retain the ability to change shape, innately possessing disguise self, making them consummate spies, actors and assassins amongst other things. Kalashtar also represent a melding of human and another creature, but in this case, it's come about from a form of willing possession that, over the course of the centuries, has shaped the human hosts into something else. A blend of refugee outsiders from the plane of dreams and nightmares with simple mortals, the kalashtar are a naturally psionic race of a goodly nature, escaping from beings far more alien and evil-natured than they. Keeping with the theme of one race blending into another, we have the shifters. Herein are the off-shoots of lycanthropes and humans, the legacy of the werecreatures that were nearly hunted to extinction. Just like with the changelings, while they're not quite so potent as their progenitors, they possess some unique ability to shift for a limited period of time, calling upon their lycanthrope heritage and primal hearts. Lastly, there are the warforged. While personally I think I liked the changelings more, the warforged are definitely going to stick out the most to many people. They're the most out there of the four new races here and could be discussed extensively. The warforged have only been in existence for thirty years, the culmination of the Last Wars war efforts. Originally constructs designed with some intelligence to be more adaptable on the battlefield, the warforged grew to become truly sentient creatures, with a spark of life to them. Warforged aren't quite constructs - they have a Constitution rating, for one - but bear a number of similarities to them. They can be healed, but not quite as effectively as humanoids, but can also be repaired. Being sentient, they're vulnerable to mind-affecting spells, but, being made of metal, wood and stone, naturally possess light fortification. Bred for war, in lieu of peace they find themselves without the purpose they once had, freed from being property by the same treaty that ended the Last War. They're abilities are slightly questionable - they receive a number of advantages as well as disadvantages - but don't seem too over-powering, in light of the detriments to being a warforged. Oh, and to those who question just why anyone would have paid to have these beings made instead of just relying off of a good, old standard living soldier who didn't need thousands of gold to be produced, keep in mind that warforged don't need to eat or sleep and can be trained within a year as opposed to fifteen. Also, what would you rather lose - some gold, or a loved one? Once through with the character races, we head into the PC classes of Eberron. Again, just like with the character races, all the Player's Handbook classes are shown their place in the setting and we also have one new core class to add in that takes advantage of the magic as industry theme that runs through the book - that of the Artificer. The artificer, as the name suggests, is focused on the enhancement of items as well as the creation of them. They receive points every level that can be used for creating items, bonus feats centering around item creation and spells that center around enhancing items. In fact, while spellcasters, the artificer can't actually cast spells directly - they first have to be cast onto an item, granting it an "infusion." Though some might see this as a disadvantage keep in mind first off, it's in line with the theme of the class and, secondly, the artificer spontaneously cast spells while having complete access to his spell list just like a cleric does. Furthermore, they can directly cast spells on constructs. Now, as I said, the other classes all are given their setting write-ups but one in particular is most noteworthy: that of the cleric. In most settings, the gods are close, even if only a plane shift. Here? Not so. The gods are distant and it's not even known if they're real. There's faith and religion, but no one can actually contact the gods. Because of this, in part, the alignment restrictions on clerics are eliminated. That is to say, the more goodly churches are open and subject to corruption in the form of evil clerics. Detect evil still gets around this, showing that these individuals are corrupt but, keep in mind that they're still wielding divine power in the name of a goodly faith. This makes things much more interesting for those who take an interest in faith in their campaign settings...Chapter three brings us to Heroic Characteristics, such as feats, amongst other things. Among these would be Action Points. Action Points aren't particularly original but do add to the pulp-hero flavor of the setting, granting a PC an extra needed oomph when they're really trying to accomplish something. Then there's the aforementioned feats. They're nice, for the most part, particularly the dragonmark feats that I'll go into in just a moment, as well as the warforged and shifter-specific feats. However, I was rather displeased with the Investigate, Research and Urban Tracking feats all. What do these feats do? They let you do extra stuff with your Skills, such as find clues, specific information in a book, or trail someone in a city. My problem with these feats? These were things I'd already considered to be covered under skills without needing feats to do them. I feel the presence of these feats ultimately weakens Skills even further, something I think to be a poor move. I think the feats could have been done away with in favor of just offering new uses for the Skills without needing to throw three new feats at them. Of the most note, though, would be the dragonmarks. What are dragonmarks? Dragonmarks are a visible manifestation of magic, vaguely reminiscent to a tattoo, that randomly appear within certain families (all of these families being members of the Player's Handbook races). These marks grant the bearers a few minor spell-like abilities at the cost of a feat. The families holding these marks have become merchants beyond compare thanks to this edge. It's not much, but has been enough to grant them greater leverage over other experts and aristocrats who have tried to compete. Seeing as how even a priest isn't necessarily a cleric, as the cleric class represents saints and crusaders while the town priest is probably an expert, even the Mark of Healing has gain prominence for what it has to offer. Wizards are devoted to their studies, clerics to their faith, but those bearing the various dragonmarks are simply born with an advantage and have developed accordingly. The thirteen dragonmarked merchant Houses help define the setting and place more emphasis on industry and economy than past settings have while still keeping things interesting - these Houses developed the warforged, the lightning rail (akin to a monorail or train, but running on elementals) and airships and, at least with the last two, still control them. The addition of merchant families actually being major players in the setting is one of the draws Eberron has for me. Sadly, it seems a book isn't published these days without at least a couple prestige classes and the Eberron campaign setting certainly doesn't differ in this. Thankfully, the prestige classes fit, in part. I do have a few complaints, such as the name of the Extreme Explorer....argh! Really, I'm just going to take a moment here to say that whoever gave it that name and let it stick should really get a good swift boot in the keister. It's a horrid name and was one of the reasons I'd dreaded the release of Eberron. With that said, though, most of the prestige classes, for one, integrate the Action Point mechanic into them, making them a more integral part to the setting as well as making the Action Point mechanic something that matters instead of just kind of "being there." I think that some of the prestige classes point could be accomplished with the base classes, such as with the Extreme Explorer and the Master Inquisitive, but the others fit in rather well. There are two prestige classes devoted to Dragonmarks, the Dragonmarked Heir and the Heir of Siberys. Both of these focus on granting power based on Dragonmarks. In the case of the Dragonmarked Heir, it grants greater power to the normal feat array of Dragonmarks and works as an aristocrat or expert based prestige class, which many Dragonmarked NPC's will have, but also offers up enough to a PC looking to take it with its three good saves and bonus dragonmark feats and uses. The Heir of Siberys, on the other hand, offers up a high-level spell to those willing to forego the feat based Dragonmarks. As with most of the prestige classes in this chapter, the Dragonmarked Heir is all of five levels, whereas the Heir of Siberys is limited to only three.Furthermore, the warforged get the Warforged Juggernaut prestige class, and a brutal, door-kicker kind of prestige class it is and shifters get the Weretouched Master, that lets them attain a closer bond to their lycanthrope heritage. One thing about the Weretouched Master, though - it's 5th level power certainly is not balanced within itself. You have the choice of being able to shift into the form of another animal and gain ability bonuses based on the type of lycanthrope whose heritage you bear. This becomes problematic as a bear is, obviously, stronger then a boar, and the stat increases reflect this. A Weretouched Master bear is just about in every way superior to every other form you could take. I realize this is for flavor and making sense, but I don't think a player should be punished just because their interests don't coincide with what would be most beneficial to take. I think a bonus feat or the like for the weaker forms would have helped balance the prestige class out a bit. As is, it needs some work. The remaining prestige classes are the Eldeen Ranger, suited for ranger/druids that follow one of the various druidic sects within Eberron, the Extreme Explorer, a rough and tumble class that focuses on Action Points, the Exorcist of the Silver Flame, members of a Lawful Good church that devote themselves to eliminating extraplanar threats and, finally, the Master Inquisitive for those looking to take up a detective angle with their characters. The planes in chapter five really are a delight. Why? They completely step away from the Great Wheel cosmology here. The two look nearly nothing alike. While some might gripe that it means you can't have kender and modrons roaming around Eberron, at least with ease, I say: Great! I want Eberron to be its own setting, not something that tries to port into Dragonlance and Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms. That does mean for some that Eberrons planar cosmology will have points taken off for it when it comes to purchasing, but for me, is a bonus, not a negative. Just thinking about the planes has me going: neat! I really did enjoy reading this book. The planes are divided into thirteen and lack ready correspondences to alignment, the elements or any of that. What they do correspond to, though, is thirteen Dragonmarked Houses oh, and...thirteen moons (one of them hidden). When I first saw the planar lay-out, my first thought was that the thirteen planes were also, in turn, the thirteen moons of Eberron. As it turns out, that answer isn't definitively given, nor the link between the planes the moons and the Dragonmarked Houses. But if there isn't some link there, well...I'll be a monkeys uncle. Just one more thing that drew me into the setting. That, as well as the way the planes become coterminous and remote with Eberron. You don't need to go plane hopping for the planes to matter. They're not just window dressing and a world unto themselves; the planes occasionally come into alignment with the planet Eberron and, when they do, the world reflects that. Two great invasions came about due to a planar alignment with Eberron, letting in mind flayers, rakshasa's and other fell creatures. Even now, when the planes align, creatures can slip on through certain parts of the world, such as fey entering in through enchanted glades or ghosts appearing when a resurrection spell is cast. Similarly, just as a plane can be coterminous, it can also grow remote. When this happens, effects related to the remote plane are diminished. Summer isn't quite so warm, or the grass doesn't grow quite so tall. The charts of these planar happenings are known, for the most part, but the book doesn't actually set them out for you. The DM is free to do let these planar occurences happen whenever they so like, for the most part. A DM looking to have a true disaster could have all the beneficial planes go remote just as the more harmful ones became coterminous...Following the planar write-up comes the one on outsiders, where the possession and channeling mechanics are integrated into the setting. Getting in touch with your god might not work, but a fiend can possess you and a good soul in need can possibly channel an angel. The rest of this chapter is devoted to the new spells and domains. These tie into the new faiths, the artificer and the like, but don't really make the setting, so I'll breeze on through them to focus on Eberron itself. Most of these are new versions of standard stuff; heal and damage spells for constructs.Chapter six, more mechanics. New exotic weapons, new special materials, new mundane items and so on. Some of this is standard stuff, but a lot of it serves to grant more flavor to the setting as well. We've got letters of marquis, identification papers with a House Sivis (the House of scribes) mark upon them, the various services the Houses offer, details on the lightning rail, airship and so on. One thing that got to me, though: two new damage reduction types. I hate the golf-bag syndrome of needing this type of weapon or that type and this only exasperates it more. Chapter seven finally brings us to the world itself, the nations and culture of Eberron. It starts with a few of the basics, such as how the world relates to the three supposed creator dragons of the world, that of Siberys, the Dragon Above, Khyber, the Dragon Below and, of course, Eberron, the Dragon Between. Then it sweeps over the world itself before finally stepping ito Khorvaire, the center of all the action, the land where the Last War occured, the main center of influence for the thirteen Dragonmarked Houses. It details the rudimentary details, the calendar, the moons, economy, education and so on, at least as it applies to the continent of Khorvaire as a whole. Then we get to see the various nations laid out, from Aundair to Zilargo. This takes up a substantial portion of the book, about eighty pages worth. Here we get to meet the various rulers of the world of Eberron, the way religion interacts with society and how the Dragonmarked Houses do as well. There's really a lot here to go over, but I'll try and give a fair enough taste. The nations range from the more human, "normal" countries such as Aundair, Breland, Karrnath and Thrane, to monstrous nations ruled by goblins, hags and rakshasa's in the form of Darguun, Droaam and the Demon Wastes. Even the human nations have their appeal, though. I'd go so far as to say as they're the more appealing of the bunch, between the vampire kings seeking freedom from the bonds of liches to the eleven year old theocrat who serves both as the spiritual leader of the Church of the Silver Flame in addition to governing as a temporal ruler for Thrane. My initial reaction to the eleven year old leader was a mixed one, but I've come to appreciate it; faith is a curious thing at times and, especially considering the tension between the former leaders of Thrane and the chuch of the Silver Flame, I saw great potential in would-be rebels needing to contend with the fact that they very well might have to kill a child to reestablish the rule Thrane once had. Eberron, in part, is about tough decisions and this highlights that fact. Some of the nations do skimp a bit when it comes to being detailed, though. I noticed this particularly with the non-human Player's Handbook races. Both Zilargo, gnomish, and Q'barra, seemed rather short to me. Other then that, though, there are adventure ideas a plenty, from the Breland town of New Cyre, where the dispossed natives of the destroyed nation of Cyre seek to reclaim their former glory, to the Valenar elves who seek to let their ancestors live through them again by seeking in glory in combat, making their presence deadly to any who shares a border with them. Another thing I liked while reading through the nations was the lack of high-leveled NPC's. The warlord and minister of magic for the nation of Aundair, for example, is only a 3rd level fighter, 3rd level wizard. Very few of the NPC's break the double digit mark; many of them are 9th level or lower. There are no Elminsters or Raistlins to constantly overshadow the PC's. In Eberron, the PC's are the heroes, capable of changing the world and challenging even the greatest of temporal powers. I've always found the idea of 20th level kings to be silly, anyway. Who do you honestly think would win in a fist fight, anyway? The president or the average soldier? By that same token, while magic is also plentiful, this helps to show that most of it is fairly low level. Death actually means something because, even if the local priest isn't an adept or expert (which he probably is), then he's still likely going to be no higher than 5th or so level. This is part of what I love about Eberron - its contrasts. Yes, magic is plentiful, even powerful, but it certainly isn't cheap or conveniently had, at least at high levels. Somebody being able to cast identify might not be hard to find, but trying to find someone with limited wish will be damn hard to do. Even the largest city on Khorvaire, Sharn, only boasts, at the moment, an eleventh level wizard to its name. There are a few high level NPC's, such as the half-dragon lich Vol, who's a 16th level wizard, but these people are few and far between and generally lay low, anyway. As someone who disdains the Forgotten Realms, Eberron proved to be a breath of fresh air. Before the chapter quite wraps up, though, it also offers a few pages to the remaining continents of Eberron. We have the Deathless revering, death obsessed elves of Aerenal who, while essentially good, bear an undeniable creepiness to them, for one. There's also the continent of Argonnessen, where dragons rule and keep away all intruders with the help of the native barbarians. The land of Frostfell, where dwarves came from, Kyber, Eberron's version of the underdark, Sarlona, the human's homeland now subject to the rule of the kalashtar's enemies the Inspired and, at last, Xen'Drik, land of the giants, land of mystery. Just after this comes a timeline then onto chapter eight...After the Eberron Campaign Setting goes into the nations, it follows with the various organizations and power groups of the world. This more fully fleshes out the Dragonmarked Houses and their various subguilds as well as the various religious sects (clerical and druidic), secret societies and the like. It also offers up a few sample NPC's for all of them, for when your PC's go up against them as enemies or meets up as allies. The groups described within are a rather diverse lot, from blood cults to psionic outsiders bent on wiping out philosophical dissidents (amongst other things) to simple explorer societies and newspaper producers for the PC's to be a part of. Chapter nine starts off with general tips for the DM; the use of villains, of timing a story, various types of stories to run with, etc, with a focus on Eberron and the types of stories it's conducive to. It also offers up a few details on the NPC classes and how they fit in, with a tweak here and there to them, as well as offers up a new NPC class, the magewright, which is somewhat like the NPC class equivalent of the artificer. Magic items pop up in chapter ten, ranging from the role of dragonshards in magic item creation to standard, universal PC stuff, to more focused things, such as items specifically for the warforged or the Dragonmarked Houses. For those fans of psionics, those have some mention here as well. Continuing along the book flows into the monsters of the setting. The first one that pops up is a familiar one - the Deathless type from the Book of Exalted Deeds. I didn't like them in there but, here at least, I can accept them a bit more where, while positive energy does play a part, so too does the reverence of the elven people that they can be found amongst. The remaining monsters are more unique to the setting, such as the monstrously powerful, CR 20 Daelkyr that lurk in the Khyber, to their much less powerful aberration minions, along with 1/2 CR dinosaurs and a number of beasties in between to help make an Eberron campaign stick out at all the characters levels. Of the monsters within, the most curious one would be the Living Spell template. Instead of applying it to a monster, it's applied to a spell. Living Spells come about during magical disasters, such as the one that destroyed the entire nation of Cyre and turned it into the Mournlands. The spell level determines the general power level of the monster and the Living Spell has a number of abilities based off of the spell it comes from. A curious monster and one I think I'll make use of outside the campaign setting. As with the character races and classes, this chapter also spends some time explaining how normal Monster Manual monsters fit into the setting, such as dragons, giants and lycanthropes, detailing their place in history and their role in the world today. At the last we reach the final chapter in the book, chapter twelve. What is it? Why, a simple 1st level adventure now that you've got your hot little hands on the book, so you can run it right after you've finished reading it instead of toiling over an adventure, trying to get things just "right." A nice little bonus. All right, with all that said, I still think I've missed a lot. However, I'll see if I can offer a few parting words. As said, Eberron really does include a lot into it and does it quite adeptly. It's pulp-action mixed with swashbuckling adventures with a renaissance flavor that extends to Victorian Europe as well as the medieval Old World. I couldn't help but think of the League of Extraordinary Gentleman (the comic, not the movie) as I read through it, as well as the obvious correlaries it has to Indiana Jone. There's room enough for Medici's, Torquemada's, Lancelot's and John Carter's. It has shades of the Hundred Years War, World War I and even the current war on terrorism. While it doesn't make a show of it, it's a more adult-oriented campaign setting than the Forgotten Realms, that deals with issues and morality a bit more closer to home. Still, action is certainly there, escapism. Eberron offers a lot and chances are there's something you'll be able to find here. The artwork, almost without exception, is excellent, particularly the full page, comic book-like pieces, which really help the feel of the book. Furthermore, this book has everything, everything that a campaign setting book should. Races, classes, countries, monsters, magic items, history, feats and even an adventure! You could buy this book and need nothing else. It's also one of the few campaign settings written with revised third edition in mind and while it adds its own touches, it really doesn't alter the core material. I still don't like the dinosaurs. I still think the name for the Extreme Explorer is lame. However, other then that, I really do like this book. Eberron surprised the heck out of me. As someone who hates psionics usually, simply for the fact that it never seems to fit in, Eberron portrays it well enough that, should I ever run a game set in it, I'll be allowing psionics (though for true psionic fans, you might be a bit put off by it; to you I say, keep in mind there really is a lot in there and the setting acknowledges psionics more then most others do, at least). It's not, say, Midnight, but the setting is more conducive to different types of stories as well as playing a wider variety of character concepts in. Really, I was pleasantly surprised. The previews didn't do the setting justice. My review doesn't do the setting justice. All I can say is that I enjoyed it thoroughly.</blockquote>

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