D&D 5E Exploring Eberron: Now Available!

Eberron creator Keith Baker’s Exploring Eberron, with new races, subclasses, monsters, and tons of setting information is now available in PDF format!

Also, Keith will be on the Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast in a couple of weeks with a great competition to give away three hardcovers! Be sure to brush up on your Eberron lore!

Discover Uncharted Depths

Join Eberron setting creator Keith Baker in this tour through the lands, oceans, and planes of Eberron. Exploring Eberron presents Keith's vision of Eberron like never before, with fresh lore and rich illustrations to bring the setting to life.

In this book, Keith takes players and Dungeon masters on a thrilling dive into Eberron and its thirteen planes. Encounter the monstrous folk of Droaam, the goblinoid Heirs of Dhakaan, the Mror dwarves and their Realm Below, and the sahuagin and merfolk dwelling beneath the waves. Embrace faiths of altruism, pragmatism, and darkness. Browse Dolurrh's Vault of Memories, seek the Amaranthine Cities of Irian and Mabar, meditate with the Gith monks of Kythri, and much more.

The adventure won't be easy! Mighty friends and foes await - from legendary archfey and proud sahuagin to nightmarish quori and alien daelkyr. Eberron is a world in need of heroes, but take heart: between these pages lie a host of player options for would-be heroes to enjoy. You'll discover new archetypes for the artificer, cleric, druid, monk, and bard. Play unique Eberron races and subraces including gnolls, Dhakaani goblinoids, aasimar of diverse faiths, and ruinbound dwarves. Uncover a wealth of magic items from around the world, bear symbionts that bond with your very flesh, wield dragonmark focus items - perhaps even manifest a Siberys dragonmark of immense power.

FAQ
New FAQ by Keith on his blog

Q: What is Exploring Eberron?

A: Exploring Eberron (ExE) is a 248 page book written by Keith Baker stuffed with new lore, giving depth to topics such as the dwarves of the Mror Holds and the 13 planes.

Production
Q: Where will ExE be sold? What formats? When will it be available?

A: ExE is available exclusively on the dmsguild in hardcover and pdf

Q: Will ExE be available on DnDBeyond?

A: Without the intervention of Wizards of the Coast, the dmsguild has the sole licensing rights to third party Eberron content. If you're upset about this, tweet at them

Q: Did I miss out on a kickstarter or something? Are there preorders?

A: The dmsguild does not allow kickstarted products nor does it have the infrastructure for preorders.

Q: Didn't I hear about this book months ago? What happened?

A: Uh, life happened. Exploring Eberron ran into a variety of production issues, as detailed here and here. A combination of personal issues in Keith's life, prioritizing more urgent projects like the Adventure Zone card game, and COVID have delayed the book significantly.

Content
Q: What's in the book?

A: You can check out the table of contents, a scroll-through preview by Sly Flourish, and a variety of previews from the book's production. The first 200 pages are dedicated almost exclusively to new lore, then chapters 6, 7, and 8 provide new mechanical content for both players and DMs.

Q: There's mechanical content? Is it balanced?

A: The production team has had an extensive team of playtesters review the material on a variety of metrics, including balance.

If you want to know more about Eberron, please check out /r/Eberron, the discord, Keith's blog, and the Manifest Zone podcast. There's even a brand new episode dedicated to the book!

Reviews

Sly Flourish
Todd Talks
Merric's Musings: Part 1
All Things Lich
Dungeon Mapster of None
The Mania
411 Mania
The Tome Show
Total Party Thrill

 

[Azzy]

Like purchasing Hardcovers from DM's Guild? I have a dozen or more. They're good quality.

The one issue is that they're not all in the same binding size or spine format as the non-Hydro74 WotC covers. Some of them TRY to look like those but then are taller than the WotC ones so they look weird on the self. Others are the same size, but have entirely different cover designs, so they don't fit in alongside them. I then to put them on a separate shelf or else between my Hydro74 hardbacks and my WotC original style hardbacks.

It's not too bad, since WotC themselves can't seem to pick a font size and D&D red flame size and stick to it on the original style hardbacks. They never look quite unified, anyway.

Some DM's Guild hardcovers have a drier feel to them (both inside and out) than the WotC prints (like Unnapproachable East: The Great Dale). Others don't (like the Uncaged series). Not sure why.

Thank you, this is exactly want I want to hear about. I'd like to get the hardcover, but not having any experience with POD, I was hesitant. This makes me feel a lot better about it.

 

[Azzy]

Also, does anyone know how DM's Guild/DrivethruRPG handles an instance where I decided to purchase the pdf now (at $29.95), and then later purchase the hardcover? Would I pay the full hardcover price ($59.95) or would the purchase of the pdf act as $29.95 credit towards the $64.95 of the hardcover+pdf combo?

 

[ChaosOS]

Some DM's Guild hardcovers have a drier feel to them (both inside and out) than the WotC prints (like Unnapproachable East: The Great Dale). Others don't (like the Uncaged series). Not sure why.

There's two paper qualities you can go for when you're offering a print run.

Also, does anyone know how DM's Guild/DrivethruRPG handles an instance where I decided to purchase the pdf now (at $29.95), and then later purchase the hardcover? Would I pay the full hardcover price ($59.95) or would the purchase of the pdf act as $29.95 credit towards the $64.95 of the hardcover+pdf combo?

It is not credited. In the case of ExE, almost the entire price difference for the POD is the print cost - the editor and producer have both confirmed on the discord that the profit per sale is about the same regardless of which you pick.

 

[Azzy]

It is not credited. In the case of ExE, almost the entire price difference for the POD is the print cost - the editor and producer have both confirmed on the discord that the profit per sale is about the same regardless of which you pick.

Ah, damn. I'll have to wait a while longer before I buy it, then.

 

[Weiley31]

I'm just glad we finally have playable 5E Gnolls. I was never fond of Kobold's Press's take on em. Just use the 4E/Exploring Eberron Lore/stats for PC Gnolls and 5E Lore for Chaotic Evil/Monster Gnolls.

At least it's the only version of the playable Gnoll I'll consider for 5E.

 

[dave2008]

Its up tp Mithral - nice job! That is a lot of sales on just over 24 hours.

 

[ChaosOS]

I'm just glad we finally have playable 5E Gnolls. I was never fond of Kobold's Press's take on em. Just use the 4E/Exploring Eberron Lore/stats for PC Gnolls and 5E Lore for Chaotic Evil/Monster Gnolls.

At least it's the only version of the playable Gnoll I'll consider for 5E.

Worth noting that ExE even calls out that there are monstrous gnolls in the Demon Wastes - the Znir are presented in depth because they are no longer demon-bound, have substantial culture, and tie into one of the regions getting focus in the book. I'm sure whenever Keith gets around to the Demon Wastes (which sounds like it might even be the next book) we'll get some interesting monster stat blocks for the gnolls there.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

"The sage Annolysse of Arcanix declared that Dolurrh must be the thirteenth plane, for it has no opposite" (ExE, p156).

Barring the hypothesis that the sage Annolysse simply failed his Arcane roll, the remaining planes should be six pairs of opposite.

I postulate these, as the opposition, either thematic or "elemental" is obvious.

Daanvi/Kithri
Irian/Mabar
Fernia/Risia

It leaves Xoriat, Dal Quor, Syrania, Lamannia, Thelanis, Shavarath to arrange as pairs.

How'd you do that?

Maybe Syrania/Shavarath (serenity/war) ?

Thelanis is fairy tale logic, Xoriat is alien logic? But Lamannia is natural order while Xoriat is alien order ?

 

[Kurotowa]

"The sage Annolysse of Arcanix declared that Dolurrh must be the thirteenth plane, for it has no opposite" (ExE, p156).

Barring the hypothesis that the sage Annolysse simply failed his Arcane roll, the remaining planes should be six pairs of opposite.

After reading the whole chapter, most of the pairs are pretty clear.

Irian (Light & Creation) vs Mabar (Darkness & Death)
Daanvi (Perfect Order) vs Kythri (Churning Chaos)
Fernia (Fire & Invention) vs Risia (Ice & Stasis)
Syrania (Contemplative Peace) vs Shavarath (Raging War)
Lamannia (Natural World) vs Xoriat (The Impossible and Unnatural)

So if Dolurrh is the thirteenth plane, that leaves the last pair as Dal Quor (Fleeting Dreams) vs Thelanis (Eternal Stories). Which is an interesting oppositional pair, but makes sense once you read about them.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

After reading the whole chapter, most of the pairs are pretty clear.

Irian (Light & Creation) vs Mabar (Darkness & Death)
Daanvi (Perfect Order) vs Kythri (Churning Chaos)
Fernia (Fire & Invention) vs Risia (Ice & Stasis)
Syrania (Contemplative Peace) vs Shavarath (Raging War)
Lamannia (Natural World) vs Xoriat (The Impossible and Unnatural)

So if Dolurrh is the thirteenth plane, that leaves the last pair as Dal Quor (Fleeting Dreams) vs Thelanis (Eternal Stories). Which is an interesting oppositional pair, but makes sense once you read about them.

I mostly agree, but would go with a couple of different pairings...

Dal Quor (Dreams) vs Xoriat (Madness)
Lammannia (Nature) vs Thelanis (Narrative)