Eberron - things to watch out for?

[Henry]

Make sure you understand the artificer, if one is played. It's pretty easy to abuse if not played as written. It's also susceptible to abuse even as written, but not much more than any other spellcasting class.

And FOR GOD'S SAKE don't let them have or build any magic items that boost their Use Magic Device Skill. I paid for that one greatly. An artificer build with a modicum of thought to him will have a very good chance to activate magic items of their level, and a smaller chance to activate and build items of higher level. An artificer with a +5 or +10 to their UMD skill will be creating and using items much more powerful than their party warrants at any given level. I let one pass, and I lived with it, and learned to deal with it, but were I starting a new campaign, I would ban all UMD-boosting magic items from existing.

Also, make sure to give an artificer downtime between adventures to restore their magic items. Eberron is not a high-level magic setting, but it's not a magic-poor setting either. The artificer lives and dies by magic item creation, so give him/her time to replenish magics.

Otherwise, an Artificer works just fine as a valuable contributing and support member of the party.

 

[MerricB]

Can someone tell which are all the books released for Eberron, with some info about their contents? Thanks.

Eberron Campaign Setting - you need this. The world. New class: Artificer (and NPC Magewright). New races: Changeling, Shifter, Kalashtar, Warforged. Dragonmarks. New Monsters. Lots more on the world. The first adventure - the Forgotten Forge. = 4.5 out of 5

Monster Manual III - while not strictly an Eberron book, later books make reference to new monsters in this book. It has plenty of notes for many creatures on their place in Eberron. = 4.5 out of 5

Sharn, City of Towers - information on the biggest city in Eberron, and the likely home base of many campaigns. Mostly a description of the city, the politics and who lives in it. Little in the way of game mechanics. = 3.5 out of 5

Five Nations - information on the five nations that fought the Last War. (Little to no information on the other nations of Khorvaire). Details of important NPCs, politics, power groups, ways to get PCs involved with each group, organisations, important places, and a prestige class for each nation. = 4 out of 5

Races of Eberron - expanded information on the new races of Eberron, including much in the way of background and role-playing notes. Expanded game mechanics (feats, prestige classes, substitution levels). Some material on the more standard Eberron races (human, gnomes, elves, etc.) = 4 out of 5

Explorer's Handbook - fluffy descriptions of how to get around the continent. I don't have this yet, so I can't tell you much.

Shadows of the Last War - adventure; PCs travel into the Mournland to recover a schema, sequel to "The Forgotten Forge" in the ECS. Includes a short-story by Keith Baker. = 4 out of 5

Whispers of the Vampire's Blade - adventure; PCs hunt a rogue spy as he flees from them. Somewhat railroady; needs a good DM. Some nice set scenes, though. = 3 out of 5.

Grasp of the Emerald Claw - adventure; PCs recover the last schema and discover their purpose. Some forced events. = 3.5 out of 5.

(I've run all the adventures, btw).

Cheers!

 

[Desdichado]

Could you tell me?

No, not really. There are several theories mentioned in the official books, and none of them are either confirmed or denied. One of the things about Eberron is that it introduces the potential for weird secrets, and then doesn't follow through and answer them, just gives a number of competing rumors and theories. It's generally considered to be a good thing. Those two questions you posted are two such secrets, but there are several others as well.

 

[stevelabny]

I do believe that frankthedm was specifically asking wycen to tell him what happened in wycens game and not looking for an offical answer. That's how I read his question.

And on that note, I disagree with Wycen, I think a DM SHOULD be willing to answer one or more of the secrets of Eberron if the story requires it. Just don't go giving them ALL away, because you'll still want one around for the nex campaign.

Mark of Death, Day of Mourning, Warforged, Draconic Prophecy, Silver Flame, Xen'drik theres plenty of major mysteries to explore.

 

[Nikosandros]

Shadows of the Last War - adventure; PCs travel into the Mournland to recover a schema, sequel to "The Forgotten Forge" in the ECS. Includes a short-story by Keith Baker. = 4 out of 5

Is the short story still included with the adventure? I thought I read somewhere that it was only for the first print run or something like that...

 

[D'karr]

I do believe that frankthedm was specifically asking wycen to tell him what happened in wycens game and not looking for an offical answer. That's how I read his question.

And on that note, I disagree with Wycen, I think a DM SHOULD be willing to answer one or more of the secrets of Eberron if the story requires it. Just don't go giving them ALL away, because you'll still want one around for the nex campaign.

Mark of Death, Day of Mourning, Warforged, Draconic Prophecy, Silver Flame, Xen'drik theres plenty of major mysteries to explore.

That is one of the things I like about Eberron, there are secrets and they are left up to the DM to fill out. Some of the information in the books can even contradict your campaign information and it doesn't affect it because most of the information in the books is composed of rumors.

For example in my campaign the Lord of Blades is not "one" person.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

That is one of the things I like about Eberron, there are secrets and they are left up to the DM to fill out. Some of the information in the books can even contradict your campaign information and it doesn't affect it because most of the information in the books is composed of rumors.

Reminds me of Shadowrun.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Watch out for Warforged, I'd say.

Their immunities alone would pretty much warrant a +1 LA, and they get Light Fortification on top of that. There are some role-playing restrictions, some functional restrictions (all of them have armor, even if you wanted to play a wizard), and a net -2 Stat adjustment (like Half-Orcs).

They only get half-healing from divine magic, but the system helpfully includes an arcane Cure set for constructs ... which, honestly, I think MORE than makes up for half-healing from divine because, unlike flesh and blood characters, they can depend on TWO class types to heal them.

I understand the design reasons behind not wanting to make the "new cool race" a +1 LA race, and that they HAD to put alot of that stuff in there to make them "living constructs" but they're, IMHO, overpowered.

I'm an unholy minmax freak, myself. Which is alright, as I usually GM ... I like to know what's going to be coming at me and what's possible within the rules. It's sort of a hobby, I guess. Warforged is a dance through a candy park, as far as I'm concerned. I could do SO many absolutely horrific things to somebody else's campaign with those things. It adds whole new dimensions to things, so be ESPECIALLY mindful of non-core feats and abilities, which can interact a little oddly.

Personally, I want to try an Artificer with some feats out of Complete Arcane. That could be horrific as well.

--fje

 

[AuraSeer]

Well, the thing about the warforged is that there are no answers per se. Same with the Lord of Blades - the books present theories.

Well, there are some answers. Five Nations doesn't explain the origin of the Lord of Blades, but it does include his statblock.

 

[Desdichado]

Oddly enough, in our group we were all in agreement that the Warforged were a bit underpowered as a race, actually. We ended up giving the 'forged character darkvision as a consolation prize to make up for it.

In play, I'd think we all came to believe that maybe he didn't really need it after all, but we still never, ever considered the warforged an overpowered race. At LA +1, it would have been ridiculously underpowered to the point of unplayable, IMBO.