How Generic is Races of Eberron?

[JustKim]

it is all written with the assumption you are using Eberron.

That's not true. The authors stated during the book's development, and again in the book's introduction, that it is meant for everyone.

As I recall the effort to make the book appeal to both camps made people upset. The Eberron players didn't like all the reprinted material, and the core players didn't like all the references to Eberron.

 

[MerricB]

Let me turn this around:

How generic is Races of Stone?

I'd say, just as generic as Races of Eberron. Both make a lot of assumptions about the world they present. A core D&D campaign will fit with RoS better than RoE, but neither is really generic.

That said, I really like RoE, and if I had a homebrew setting, I'd be easily able to use significant portions of the book.

Cheers!

 

[Vanuslux]

Their niche is living constructs designed for use in war. Any setting with lots of magic and a war...any war...has an excuse for Warforged to exist. The specific hows and whys of their creation can easily be adapted.QUOTE]

My trouble with this is that presumably, EVERY setting has war. The existence of war isn't enough to justify them unless they can be built for less than what it would cost to maintain an army of plain ol' humanoids. What bugs me about moving them into other settings is precisely that they need a "how" and a "why" that are not required of the other races.

So because the excuse for warforged to exist in their niche is common, that makes it invalid? Sorry...that makes no sense...saying every setting has a war only proves my point. The basic concept of warforged is living constructs created for war. If every setting has a war, then every setting can have warforged and they can be explained pretty much exactly the same way they are in Eberron. That doesn't mean they have to exist in every setting, but it does mean that it's pretty darned easy to explain them if you want them in the setting. They're certainly easier to move to a generic setting than Drow.

As for why not use an army of plain old humanoids...Eberron's explanation for that is pretty tranferable to...just change the names. Beyond that, there's a lot of expenses to fielding a living army that you just don't have with warforged. You don't have to pay them, you don't have to feed them (and therefore are not nearly as vulnerable to tactics that involve cutting off supply lines), you don't have to armor them...or even clothe them. Unless you're a fantasy liberal that wants to recognize living constructs as sentient creatures you don't even have to have any kind of conscience pangs about sending them on extremely dangerous missions that are almost certain suicide. They don't get old. They don't catch cold. You don't have to worry about enemy necromancers sneaking diseased blankets into your army's camp to spread deadly disease, then taking that same army and turning it into their undead army. I could go on and on about all the reasons that I'd want to have at least some warforged at my disposal if I were as king in a high magic fantasy world.

If you can't justify warforged in your setting, it's because you don't want to not because it's not easy to do.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I think all of them can work, because IIRC, there isn't too much that's hard-written in with Eberron setting rules (like dragonmarks, action points, etc.). However, I may be wrong on the AP thing.

Shifters & changelings should be the easiest to bring over: the backstory can easily be altered. Kalashtar may be a bit rougher, because it'll need a lot more backstory (& including more elements like the Quori).

Warforged are the most problematic, because of the nature of the setting. However, one idea I've had for them is that Warforged are actually special golems created to hold a mortal soul (in a non-necromatic effort to extent life). I considered having Warforged that appear be adventurers who've had their souls bonded to one one the constructs as an alternative to raise dead or reincarnate. They may be more limited this way, and may even only be available as higher-level PCs in this instance (kinda like that one race from Races of the Dragon where a PC is reborn as a draconic being).

 

[Andor]

I find it interesting how many people explain Warforged using the description of the Soulmechs from Dragonstar. Maybe it was a game released before it's time?

 

[green slime]

How about this question: If you were running a non-Eberron game, is the book still useful?

Yes. I had no problem dropping large sections of it into my home brew. Considering the ratio of useful contra non-useful, and comparing with other hardcover character option books available today (Complete series, other Races of...) I found the book to be every bit as useful.

IMC, the warforged were created by the dwarves, to aid in their war versus the demonic insectoids.

Changelings, Kalashtar, Shifters are all very nice additions to any campaign, and IMO, far more interesting, flavourful additions than, say, Goliaths (from races of stone) or many of the other wierd race types that emerged from the collection that was the "Races of" books.

 

[Desdichado]

Changelings, Kalashtar, Shifters are all very nice additions to any campaign, and IMO, far more interesting, flavourful additions than, say, Goliaths (from races of stone) or many of the other wierd race types that emerged from the collection that was the "Races of" books.

Yep, I agree. Although I'll still point out the caveat that the kalashtar being so integrated with psionics means that they're only really a good, valid option if psionics plays a role in the campaign already (for PirateCat I'd say that seems pretty likely, then.)

And warforged work quite well if you can accept a little bit of the flavor baggage that goes with them. If not, then well--there you go. But I can easily see adopting shifters, changelings, and maybe kalashtar in a psionically enhanced campaign before I'd see adding the races from the XPH, say, or Goliaths, or Neanderthals, or Illumians, or many of the other races that have popped up in the rest of the Races of XYZ series.

 

[GreatLemur]

That's not true. The authors stated during the book's development, and again in the book's introduction, that it is meant for everyone.

Yeah, and I believe each race's section has a "How to fit this race into your campaign world" sidebar. Really, I can't imagine it being all that difficult, except in a very tightly-defined, low-magic setting.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

I find it interesting how many people explain Warforged using the description of the Soulmechs from Dragonstar. Maybe it was a game released before it's time?

Well, if you're referring to my description, I actually got the idea from the old Forgotten Realms comic: Minder, the female dwarf whose soul was transferred into a nearby iron golem. Didn't know about Dragonstar at all.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The mechanics really are. I did have to rewrite quite a bit to make use of the races. THey fit fine in my own world but without things like the great war Eberron just had or the Silver Flame destruction of the Shifters; without those elements that many of the races have things needed to be rewritten.

I imagine the other races books are equally rewritten by most home campaigns. The dwarves' origin myth from Races of Stone, for instance, almost certainly clashes with many campaigns.