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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9469806" data-attributes="member: 6750502">So I recently completed reading Frontiers of Eberron, and wanted to share my thoughts. This won’t be in-depth like a proper review, but instead a general collection of thoughts and initial impressions.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/b5hyteY.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Chapter 1, Life on the Edge does a good job of outlining the general vibe of the campaign region known as the Western Frontier. A “fantasy Western” with wandslinging duelists in a barren region filled with marauding bandits (of both humanoid and monstrous variety), fallen ruined of prior ages, byeshk and dragonshard deposits serving as a “gold rush” drawing in prosperity and greedy opportunists, and fugitives from justice taking advantage of the murky political borders. It goes over common campaign themes, with a focus on more “small town” vibes than bustling metropoli like Sharn. In regards to this latter element, the book suggests a number of Character Roles for PCs tied to a local community, like being the town Sheriff wearing a tin star holy symbol of Dol Arrah, a Mysterious Stranger from parts unknown who is waiting for someone or something, or the town Preacher providing spiritual guidance to the faithful. The later chapter detailing the town of Quickstone was made with this in mind, where if not a home base, a recurring hub where they have more personal and explicit connections to the community where the town shopkeep and House Sivis sending stone operator has a name and face.As usual, Keith Baker (and Imogen Gingell, the other author) does a great job of world-building, with ways to make the Western Frontier feel unique from other locations in Eberron. Immediately I get a vibe that sets it apart from the jungles of Q’barra or the wilds of Xen’drik, other frontier regions with themes of being on the edge of civilization.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/FoZqfko.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />This chapter has rules for the Arcane Duel, based off of the iconic Western trope but using magic instead of pistols at high noon. In lieu of a typical rolling for initiative, it is a contested series of rolls where the stakes are for pride, first blood, or death as the ultimate result. During a duel, a character can choose from one of five Dueling Styles with a unique benefit which can alter how many Trick or Fault Dice are gained by one or the other side, and each style is effective against two others. The same thing is done during the Stare, which are mostly social roles to gain an edge on the opponent, such as The Look that uses Intimidation to falter one’s resolve, or Tactical Analysis in trying to read your opponent. The Shot is the final result, where opposed ranged spell attacks are rolled and Trick/Fault Dice respectively add or subtract 1d6 from the result, and certain Styles have the opportunity to reroll them. The highest roll wins the duel, but a tie causes them both to suffer the effects of the Stakes.If a duel was done for Pride, the loser loses one Hit Die and is affected by a short-term magical debuff effect dependent on spell school, First Blood makes the loser take damage equal to half their maximum hit points (or 1 hit point if less than 50% currently), and to the Death reduces them to 0 hit points.While there’s more to it than that, I’m summarizing the broad strokes. I think it’s a pretty neat sub-system that obviously merits inclusion in a Fantasy Western and gets around the default initiative/hit points of traditional combat that can’t be so easily done in 5e.The book also goes into more detail on Droaam, specifically the more populous and iconic monsters from that nation: gargoyles, gnolls, harpies, medusae, tieflings, and worgs. The Tiefling and Worgs are newer entries in terms of publication, with 4th Edition granting the tieflings a once-hidden city known as the Venomous Demesne, and the Worgs primarily live in the Watching Wood. Some of the information is from earlier publications, such as the Gnolls of the Znir Pact including history touched upon in Exploring Eberron, but there is enough new material here to make it a worthy read for even Eberron veterans. There’s also roleplay info for PCs of the aforementioned races, with discussions on popular outlooks, motives for adventuring, and common cultural behaviors and traditions. There’s also brief writeups on other monstrous PC races and their place in the Western Frontier, such as centaurs, goblins and kobolds, and minotaurs. Even ogres get a shoutout despite not being a playable race, with the book suggesting that they’re a reflavored Goliath who is small for an ogre and the Large Form trait reflecting them stretching out and standing up for a limited time, being ordinarily hunched over. A similar line is suggested for oni, who are goliath with spellcasting features.The mechanics for the new races are further back in the book, and given that many other people covered them first thing I’ll save them for later. But I really liked the expansion material given for them from role-playing perspectives, as monstrous races tend to have a stigma of being picked first and foremost for mechanical benefits and not necessarily for their place in the world.There is one bit of persistent criticism I have for Frontiers of Eberron, and that’s the fact that it can use a second editing pass. Throughout the book I noticed various errors and inconsistencies, like the words Advantage and Disadvantage being randomly capitalized. These weren’t just referring to the game mechanics, but more general common speech.Another example is when talking about the Khaar’paal kobolds of Quickstone, the book gives contradictory information on them being nomadic.First result on page 114:Look at the later entry in this book, on page 124-125While it’s been a while since I read Exploring Eberron, I don’t recall as many mistakes being made in that book or Chronicles of Eberron, which I read more recently. While I still overall like Frontiers, the above does bring it down quite a bit.The next chapter is the Western Frontier, a very meaty chapter covering towns, landmarks, and notable NPCs in the region from a big-picture view. As it’s also the longest chapter in the book, I’ll cover it for the next post.</blockquote>

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