How Generic is Races of Eberron?

[Vanuslux]

The races strike me as pretty heavily centered in Eberron. I could see Shifters and Changelings in other settings as they're related to monsters that are very common in most settings.

Warforged are the stickler I think. We recently talked about this in one of my groups and I've come to the conclusion that most settings would have some difficulty. The trouble as I see it is that you need a good, in-game excuse for someone to manufacture (or have previously manufacture) the buggers in massive quantities. Even if theres a war, who says it's better to contruct an army rather than just draft some fleshy folks?

The trouble is they really need to fill a niche that I don't see as being available in most settings. To put it another way, it's easier to see Shifters and Changelings around because they're are going to be previously existing ones...er... "making" them. These races don't need to fill a niche, ththey exist because as a living being they procreate. Warforged need a good excuse to exist and I don't feel like most settings offer one.

Our DM suggested that they could take the place of the Hollow Knights in the Scarred Lands setting. I think this is best idea I've heard in regards to exporting the Warforged.

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. In my setting, Warforged are the result of powerful wizards discovering a way to bind the souls of fallen soldiers to power cheaply constructed bodies, resulting in something like a sword and sorcery version of RoboCop. However, I've yet to greenlight a warforged PC in my games...they're purely NPC fodder.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

does RoE cover the core races as they are presented in the Eberron setting, in addition to the Eberron-specific races? i'm not all that interested in warforged, shifters, and the like, but from what i've heard, i really like Eberron's take on gnomes, half-elves, and orcs. are these races mechanically different in Eberron, or is it just flavor change?

 

[Andor]

does RoE cover the core races as they are presented in the Eberron setting, in addition to the Eberron-specific races? i'm not all that interested in warforged, shifters, and the like, but from what i've heard, i really like Eberron's take on gnomes, half-elves, and orcs. are these races mechanically different in Eberron, or is it just flavor change?

It's just a flavor change. RoE includes a (short) section for each of the standard races, except humans oddly. There are also some feats, mostly concerning the use of racial weapons.

 

[Vocenoctum]

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

It's useful if you want to introduce the new races into your campaign, yeah. It gives you the Warforged plus their rules and feats, the same for Shifters (both have a lot of attendant feats). Changelings could be summed up pretty easily without the entire chapter really, but it's also the most portable chapter since they're sort of Setting Neutral.

Shifters & Warforged are tied to the setting (the former barely, the later more) but with any race if you want to introduce them to your setting they'd require a background. (Just as the Desmodu would.) Each chapter also has a paragraph or two in a sidebar about introducing them into different games, but nothing specific.

Kalashtar get the same treatment, but would require more tweaking. I think it'd be easy enough to introduce a Realm of Dreams if you wanted to use them. The other races are a lot easier to introduce though. (Changelings could always have been there, Shifters too really, they're wilderness types. Warforged just need magic really.)

Anyway, to answer the question, there is a lot more material here to run the four races than say, the MM3 entries for them. The Eberron ties are obviously there, but I find them more portable than Races of Faerun since they're detailing new races rather than detailing the differences in Core races.

 

[Merkuri]

The trouble as I see it is that you need a good, in-game excuse for someone to manufacture (or have previously manufacture) the buggers in massive quantities.

Who says they need to be in massive quantities? Perhaps a single warforged was made by some wizard on a whim, and that's your PC. PC races don't need to be common. PCs themselves are uncommon people.

I think that would be interesting to play the only warforged in the world.

 

[awayfarer]

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.

 

[Piratecat]

Good answers. Thanks, gang - now that I understand its limits, I'll still likely pick this up.

 

[hamishspence]

Forgotten realms: Raumathar?

The Raumathari and the Narfelli made war upon each other a few hundred years back: hordes of demons vs "Sword wielding constructs" Both sides were splatted by a very angry avatar of Kossuth the Fire God.
Thats the best solution. Your character is one of the last created, buried unconscious for 600 odd years (so they haven't gained any experience)

Shifters are perfect as werebeast descendants, changlings as doppleganger descendants.

 

[Bohemian Ear-Spork]

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.

My take, admittedly for a home-brewed setting, was to rename them "Soulforged"....

'bout thirty years ago, priests of the minor diety Malek Steeleye developed a spell/ritual called the "Sacrement of Steel". This allows the soul of a recently dead mortal to be placed into an artificial body (mechanically similar in all ways to the Warforged, but with a faceplate slupted to be more human in appearance).

Anyone who undergoes the sacrement is considered to be -- morally, spirtually, and legally -- an entirely new individual. Albeit, generally, one with the memories of another life. They also owe the Malekite church a full year of service, under the equivalent of a Geas.

Not suprisingly, the Malekites have become very, very powerful over the past three decades....

 

[NilesB]

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

How much do the following races fit into your campaign world conceptually?

Living Constructs built as Soldiers?

Lycanthrope decendants able to tap into animalistic power?

Half-dopelgangers?

Humans merged with dream spirits into one Psychic entity?