D&D 5E Eberron Is Here Today!

Eberron: Rising from the Last War hits local gamestores today. Eberron creator Keith Baker talks on his blog about what's changed!

So, what's changed? The Mror Dwarves, races, Dragonmarks, the Mournland, Lady Illmarrow, monsters... but not guns!

And what's new? The artificer class, group patrons, warforged colossus, and scary monsters!

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Explore the lands of Eberron in this campaign sourcebook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

This book provides everything players and Dungeon Masters need to play Dungeons & Dragons in Eberron—a war-torn world filled with magic-fueled technology, airships and lightning trains, where noir-inspired mystery meets swashbuckling adventure. Will Eberron enter a prosperous new age, or will the shadow of war descend once again?

• Meld magic and invention to craft objects of wonder as an artificer—the first official class to be released for fifth edition D&D since the Player’s Handbook.
• Enter the world of Eberron in a 1st-level adventure set in Sharn, the City of Towers
• Dive straight into your pulp adventures with easy-to-use locations, complete with maps of train cars, battle-scarred fortresses, and fallen warforged colossi.
• Explore Sharn, a city of skyscrapers, airships, and intrigue and a crossroads for the world’s war-ravaged peoples.
• Flesh out your characters with a new D&D game element called a group patron—a background for your whole party.
• Explore 16 new race/subrace options including dragonmarks, which magically transform certain members of the races in the Player’s Handbook.
• Confront horrific monsters born from the world’s devastating wars.
• Prepare to venture into the Mournland, a mist-cloaked, corpse-littered land twisted by magic.

 

[Weiley31]

That sounds pretty cool. WW2 might be more in line with the bombing of Japan and the cold war that followed the wars end. But just my opinion.

WWI had Trench warefare and dealt with the introduction of many a "wonderful" thing such as chemical warfare.(Hello Mustard Gas.)

One could adapt such concepts to the Last War that afflicted Eberron.

And Limitless Adventure's 5EVO line HAS 5E WWII rules or something.

 

[Remathilis]

To be fair, there are some minor differences. The optional areneal and valenar elf weapon traits, the two-handed arcane implements rules aren't in Rising, as far as I know. There is also some advice (such as non-phb races) and the bibliography/additional sources stuff. Probably not worth the money, but there IS some unique content.

 

[Staffan]

Yeah, they give you the option to decide how acessible Eberron is for the rest of the multiverse.

Which is a good way to handle it.

The way I see it, if I'm running an Eberron campaign, I'd want to keep non-Orrery planar stuff out. The Eberron cosmology is great for that setting. But if I'm running a Planescape campaign, I don't really see any reason not to have an occasional clueless changeling or warforged around.

 

[Staffan]

The Forgotten Realms is the Eater of Worlds, it devours elements from other Settings or even the Settings themselves, it ate Kara Tur, Al Qadim, Maztica, elements from Nentir Vale, Greyhawk is still seperate, but FR is pulling Oerth into its hungry maw as we speak.

Point of order: Forgotten Realms did not eat Al-Qadim or Maztica, any more than Mystara ate the Red Steel setting. They were always designed to be part of the same world, even if they were in a different part of that world.

 

[Salthorae]

Point of order: Forgotten Realms did not eat Al-Qadim or Maztica, any more than Mystara ate the Red Steel setting. They were always designed to be part of the same world, even if they were in a different part of that world.

Agreed'ish Maztica were always designed to be included in FR.

Kara-tur OTOH are a bit different. It had AD&D release separate from their inclusion into FR. Oriental Adventures from 1986 AD&D and was subsequently shoe-horned into the Realms in 1987.

I'll have to go back and check my Al-Qadim books to see if they mention Toril/FR from the get-go or not.

 

[Staffan]

@Parmandur Yes it predates, but it's pretty in conflict with various settings & that's why eberron, darksun, & ravenloft have their own explanations for having their own planar structure (or lack of).

Dark Sun didn't have its own cosmology. Originally, it was assumed to be just as plane-connected as any other setting, and one of the adventures had planar stuff as a major theme and another as a minor one.

The novels talked about the planes of the Grey and the Black, and those were incorporated in Defilers & Preservers, one of the last books released. And before that, there was a slightly different interpretation of the para-elemental planes (Rain, Sun, Magma, and Silt instead of Ice, Smoke, Magma, and Ooze - a thing I didn't particularly care for for reasons no longer particularly relevant). But even in Defilers & Preservers, Athas could connect to other planes - it was just harder.

 

[Staffan]

I'll have to go back and check my Al-Qadim books to see if they mention Toril/FR from the get-go or not.

They do, though they use the planet's proper name Al-Toril.

One of the sourcebooks (I think the Huzuz boxed set, but I'm not 100% sure) has an ajami (outlander) wizard named Elfinster who's like 12th level and gets absolutely furious if someone brings up the other guy, because he traveled all this way just to not be confused with him anymore!

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I'll have to go back and check my Al-Qadim books to see if they mention Toril/FR from the get-go or not.

From Al Qadim - Arabian Adventures:

"Zakhara can exist virtually anywhere that a fantasy “Arabia” might be. Its official location is the uncharted territory south of Faerun and southwest of Kara-Tur in the FORGOTTEN REALMS® campaign setting, enabling players to expand their adventures in the Realms."

 

[Parmandur]

Which is a good way to handle it.

The way I see it, if I'm running an Eberron campaign, I'd want to keep non-Orrery planar stuff out. The Eberron cosmology is great for that setting. But if I'm running a Planescape campaign, I don't really see any reason not to have an occasional clueless changeling or warforged around.

Precisely this.

 

[Shardstone]

Anyway, back to the book and moving past Wayfinder's.

The actual text of the book, despite not being as well-written as some recent pieces, is still pretty good. But most importantly, the Adventure Generators in this book are absolute golden. The best ever produced for 5E so far; maybe D&D as a whole? Other books have done adventure seeds and stuff, but these roletables and guidelines cover so many genres and factions and ideas that it is absolutely breathtaking. Makes reading the setting information almost unneeded, so complete are these generators.

Now, the bestiary is also pretty damn good. It covers a really wide range of CRs, from low to high, and works well with the Monster Manual. You could probably run a game with just this bestiary, but its also a great accent to whatever flavor of bestiary you want to use. Personal favorites are the Daelkyr for their description as aberrant artists.

All the new mechanics are alright. I'm not a fan of some of the flavor-feature removals. The Warforged Integrated Tool (NOT PROTECTION), the 2nd persona for Changlings, and the Kalashtar wisdom stuff being removed really sucks, but it makes sense as it gave the Races just a liiiittle too much power beyond their core. Still, I can't help but wonder that, with Elven, Dwarven, and Gnome dragonmarks being added if maybe they could have stayed, since those races got pretty big buffs from those dragonmarks.

And about Dragonmarks! Great stuff. Really strong for casters obviously, but they still add some oomph for non-caster characters. But really it's Sorcerer, Warlock, and the half-casters that get the most out of dragonmarks, with their comparatively smaller spell lists to Wizards, Druids, Clerics, and Bards. Taking the magic intiate feat at 4th level if you are a dragonmarked Bard, Fighter, Rogue, or Monk might not be too bad of an idea, since it unlocks a ton of spells for you - but I'm not sure if the MI feat would actually grant their casting? Idk.

Group patrons are something I'm doing in the 5E book I just got kickstarted, but it made me happy that they did them completely different. In Eberron, they're a group background, making them a useful story tool above anything else. No new mechanics for these. I would have liked a background-esque feature for each of them, but I can homebrew something for that and slide it up on DMs Guild or something.

Its a shame that the art-direction for this book is probably the worst of every single 5E book released. Only a few of the originals are good, and the overall aesthetic just isn't that strong. Compared to the gorgeous art for Ravnica, the experimental and fresh art for DiA, and the overall high-quality art for Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Rising leaves a LOT to be desired in that department. Perhaps most unfortunate is looking at a book like Xanathar's, whose art direction is peak 5E, and then looking at Eberron and wondering where the budget went? Especially since they sold Wayfinder's, which did really well by their admission and was free to produce save for paying Keith, they should have had more than enough money to fund some really good art for this book. Are gone the days of people like Brom, or DiTerlizzi, or even Reynolds himself, whose visions singlehandedly crafted a beautiful, unique aesthetic for their respective settings? Hopefully not, but we shall see I guess.

Though I heavily regret purchasing Wayfinder's, I don't regret purchasing Rising. Solid, top-tier WotC book. Of note, the small things I like:

• Orcs hunting culture transitioning them into bounty hunters and inquisitives is S++.
• Dwarves culture being based around fusing with symbiotic aberrations to reclaim their lost home is also S++.
• Finally including a new class to 5E makes this book shine.
• The roll tables for debts, regrets, and falling off a tower in Sharn are all S++ and really flavorful.
• The Aftermath from the Last War bits really help focus the setting.