Is eberron balanced?(for those who have read the book)
- Thread starter spigadang
- Start date
Planesdragon
First Post
1: No idea. I won't buy Eberron until they OGC at least the new rules it contains, and maybe not even then.spigadang said:
2: Care to extrapolate on what you mean?
Wombat
First Post
"Game Balance" is a polite fiction that all of us ascribe to, but few of us truly achieve. From world to world there are very different forms of "balance" and thus a wizard may appear Overpowered in one and Weak in another, depending on how people play the game, what supplements are in use, the types of monsters and adventures encountered, etc.
My feeling is that every game system and setting is thus potentially Very Balanced and Totally Unbalanced, depending on who is running same.
My feeling is that every game system and setting is thus potentially Very Balanced and Totally Unbalanced, depending on who is running same.
I picked it up on Saturday after seeing it in the store. Before actually seeing the book I was at best uncaring about the release. I was impressed enough to buy the book after glancing through it.
At first I was concerned about the balance of the warforged, actual play has reduced my concern about it being un-balanced however. I ran my group through an adventure in the setting on Sunday and it went really well. I had no more balance issues then I would have in a standard D&D campaign.
I am curious as to what your alignment related issues are. As to the NPCs in the book not being high level (in comparison to greyhawk and frcs), I think of that as a benefit. For me, that means that the politics/merchants are not ruled by super high level uber-adventures. It also means I am free to create world shaking campaigns without wondering why Elminster is not getting involved.
At first I was concerned about the balance of the warforged, actual play has reduced my concern about it being un-balanced however. I ran my group through an adventure in the setting on Sunday and it went really well. I had no more balance issues then I would have in a standard D&D campaign.
I am curious as to what your alignment related issues are. As to the NPCs in the book not being high level (in comparison to greyhawk and frcs), I think of that as a benefit. For me, that means that the politics/merchants are not ruled by super high level uber-adventures. It also means I am free to create world shaking campaigns without wondering why Elminster is not getting involved.
Ashrem Bayle
Explorer
Brisk-sg said:
I agree 100%! This is the biggest advantage Eberron has over all of the other WOTC settings.
As for Alignments: They are no longer absolute. In fact, one line in the book reads something like this: "You are as likely to encounter a good red dragon as an evil gold dragon." Dragon color has nothing to do with alignment anymore.
Alignments are still there, but very flexible. Monsters no longer have a set-in-stone "racial" alignment, though they still may have those tendencies.
As far as balanced? I didn't vote since I haven't used it in play yet. Unlike 90% of the people on this board, I don't care for knee-jerk reactions. And from my perspective, WOTC still puts out good products. They just get judged much harder than the smaller d20 companies.
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Charles Dunwoody
Man on the Silver Mountain
If by balanced you mean following the rules in the three core rulebooks unless a new rule specific to the campaign supersedes an old rule, then yes it appears balanced. For instance, the DMG explains that an animal follower for a druid or ranger should come from the environment he's in. Eberron provides a list of animals by region.
However, Eberron adds action points, which means heroes in that world would be slightly more powerful than other heroes. However, since every hero has this ability it is balanced in Eberron (and in worlds using the Unearthed Arcana rule version I'd think).
Adepts have slightly more power in Eberron, getting the spells of one domain added to their spell list. However, every adept gets this boost so again it seems balanced within the world of Eberron (or any world that allows every adept this boost).
I haven't playtested Eberron yet, but I've been impressed by the editing so far. For instance, the artificer has starting gold listed, something the Complete books can't seem to bother with. Someone who wrote the book knows the core rules.
In my read-through opinion, appears well balanced and well thought out.
However, Eberron adds action points, which means heroes in that world would be slightly more powerful than other heroes. However, since every hero has this ability it is balanced in Eberron (and in worlds using the Unearthed Arcana rule version I'd think).
Adepts have slightly more power in Eberron, getting the spells of one domain added to their spell list. However, every adept gets this boost so again it seems balanced within the world of Eberron (or any world that allows every adept this boost).
I haven't playtested Eberron yet, but I've been impressed by the editing so far. For instance, the artificer has starting gold listed, something the Complete books can't seem to bother with. Someone who wrote the book knows the core rules.
In my read-through opinion, appears well balanced and well thought out.
My point about the Good ruling NPC's is this. There is a town ruled by many meduses and they have gorgans and other petirifing creatures and in twoo years all they have is one town. Who has stoped them? There is 1,000 of high lvl evil creatures that are intelligent but who has stoped them? There was a 102 year war and a hero of the war a famous vet of the war is 5 lvl's. To me if a dm is running the world and not just running a game for the players, then evil will have already won. High lvl npc are a necestiy of a real world. They help keep the peace when a pc can not do it and in a wrld of millions you need them, and where do th magic items and the warforged come from if the highest level mage i saw in the book was 9th lvl? The more and moe i read the book, the more i think they did not think about everything. There is a train that goes all over the map. How made that for to make a elemmental train i would say you have to be about 20th level and then it goes almost every where. These are the problems i have as balance.
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
Ashrem Bayle said:
How do you feel about sweeping generalizations?
Balance is really only a concern within a setting/campaign. If you are pulling material from one setting and dropping it into another without attempting to understand the potential ramifications is where balance issues tend to crop up. I'd not pull stuff from Eberron and drop it into my campaign, for the most part, because it seems to have a little too much 'oomph'. Same is true with a lot of stuff from the Realms, though.
I do think thay WotC should be judged a little more harshly, and has a greater responsibility, than your average d20 publisher though. A large chunk of D20 stuff is setting-agnostic, and sales depend on being useful in a wide variety of worlds. If the power curve is upped considerably in Eberron vice the Realms, than it does make it a little harder for third-party publishers to hit both markets with one product. The same would hold true with regards to what gets released as OGC from Eberron.
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