D&D 5E Please Support Eberron!

[TwoSix]

Absolutely! Eberron has a very distinctive flavor, and it's definitely NOT what you want when you're looking for a classic high-fantasy flavor.

To be fair, there are plenty of sections of Eberron where the airship/lightning rail/magitech elements play much less of a role. My last Eberron campaign was set primarily in the Eldeen Reaches (a breakaway rural backwater province of one of the major nations), with some planar travel to Lammania (primeval forest plane) and Shavarath (nonstop three-way Blood War plane). No airships, no lightning rail, little magitech (other than magical animal breeding from the House Vadalis member).

While it's far to argue that without using magitech or lightning rail, why would you want to play in Eberron, I found the religious distinctiveness, the backdrop of the warring nations and feuding Houses, and the different take on D&D cosmology made it an excellent backdrop for even a fairly standard D&D campaign.

 

[Hellcow]

While it's far to argue that without using magitech or lightning rail, why would you want to play in Eberron, I found the religious distinctiveness, the backdrop of the warring nations and feuding Houses, and the different take on D&D cosmology made it an excellent backdrop for even a fairly standard D&D campaign.

Agreed on all counts. Many of my favorite regions (such as Droaam) aren't on the lightning rail. The use of arcane magic in society is an important part of the flavor of the Five Nation, but themes like the ongoing impact of the Last War and the feuding houses (and balance of power between houses and kings) are all equally important themes. And the different approach to religion is one of my personal favorite elements, simply because it does support stories that just won't work in a setting where the gods are an absolute known commodity (although it's a terrible setting if you want to do something like the Time of Troubles!).

 

[DaveMage]

I still haven't finished reading all of my 3.5 Eberron stuff.

 

[Goemoe]

I do love Eberron not only because of its special setting. I do love it because you can well play a very good share of different settings in just one world. Eberron is diverse and rich for (nearly) any type of fantasy setting. Rural mystic druid woodland stuff in Eldeen? Or rural swampy cultist? We play Sharn, where you can do everything. Sarlona and/or psychic and/or paranoia type? Piratey yohoo high fantasy anyone? Xendrik for the mystic explorer or totally weird stuff in the mournland? Think of it, place it, play it. No problem in the lands of dragonshards. Planehopping adventures or deep rich history tombs? Undead Nation in Karrnath anyone? Well it is not, but it could start in a town, unnoticed... Did I mention, you can play many many many races? Or just Eberron with marks, the prophecy, Galifar struggles and all the houses?

Endless campaign options all in the same sound world. This is why I love Eberron and won't changed it anymore. I order the 5E eberron book(s) the day they name it.

 

[Mirtek]

While I absolutely want to be able to buy a 5e Eberron CS, although definately only after I was finally able to by a 5e Forgotten Realms CS. So if WotC has so little ressources left for it's D&D branch, my vote as to where to apply these limited ressources first is clear.

I think one of Eberrons biggest problems is that it was THE 3.x setting. Build to fully incorporate the 3.X rules into it's very lifeblood. Now that thr edition that it took pain to so tightly intertwine into itself is no more, it has the rug pulled from under it's feet.

 

[Mr Fixit]

I do love Eberron not only because of its special setting. I do love it because you can well play a very good share of different settings in just one world. Eberron is diverse and rich for (nearly) any type of fantasy setting. Rural mystic druid woodland stuff in Eldeen? Or rural swampy cultist? We play Sharn, where you can do everything. Sarlona and/or psychic and/or paranoia type? Piratey yohoo high fantasy anyone? Xendrik for the mystic explorer or totally weird stuff in the mournland? Think of it, place it, play it. No problem in the lands of dragonshards. Planehopping adventures or deep rich history tombs? Undead Nation in Karrnath anyone? Well it is not, but it could start in a town, unnoticed... Did I mention, you can play many many many races? Or just Eberron with marks, the prophecy, Galifar struggles and all the houses?

Endless campaign options all in the same sound world. This is why I love Eberron and won't changed it anymore. I order the 5E eberron book(s) the day they name it.

Agreed. I wanted to add that Eberron manages all this without ever feeling kitchen-sinky, which is a common problem with settings that try to provide too many different regions/flavours. I think it may be the best setting ever published for D&D. Dark Sun comes close, but it is too specific to facilitate a wider variety of campaign ideas.

 

[Hellcow]

I think one of Eberrons biggest problems is that it was THE 3.x setting. Build to fully incorporate the 3.X rules into it's very lifeblood. Now that thr edition that it took pain to so tightly intertwine into itself is no more, it has the rug pulled from under it's feet.

This is certainly true in some places. One of the biggest examples is the Lycanthropic Purge, which was driven by the fact that in 3E D&D afflicted lycanthropes were capable of passing on the curse, making a "zombie apocalypse" scenario feasible and justifying the Purge. Before Eberron was even on the shelves, 3.5 dropped this and said afflicted lycanthropes COULDN'T pass on the curse, which made the events justifying the Purge impossible and made it seem like a cruel witch-hunt. Anything that is based purely on a system detail runs that sort of risk when systems change... though now in 5E afflicted lycanthropes can pass on the curse again, so we've finally come full circle!

The main thing for me is that while you have details like this that were tied to specific system points, most of the underlying themes that distinguish Eberron aren't reliant on specific systems, and in fact can work better outside of 3.X. Case in point: Eberron was always driven by the idea of low-level magic as a commercial service. That never actually made SENSE under a Vancian spellcasting model. How could a magewright have a serious job as a "mystic locksmith" if he could only cast Knock or Arcane Lock twice a day? For the houses we dodged around this with the idea of Dragonshard Focus Items; you can't make a living casting Whispering Wind once per day, but having that Dragonmark lets you operate the speaking stone. The introduction of rituals in 4E actually made this plausible, though it had its own issues. Arcane Lock is a ritual that takes X time to cast and costs Y in components. The arcane locksmith raises the price to Z to make a profit, and he can perform the ritual as many times as time and demand allow.

Some of the key themes that drive Eberron are the impact of war; a different take on religion; industrial power and corporate intrigue; and pulp adventure. All of these things are more important than any single interpretation of a rules item, and I myself have run Eberron in 4E, 5E, and the rules-light Over The Edge system.

With that said, I don't believe that we're talking about a situation where work on Eberron would come at the expense of FR.

 

[atgeirr]

Good luck with Eberron, Keith! I hope you'll find the opportunity to write for the setting, and I'd definitely buy a sourcebook.

However, I agree that it's a bit hard to say what should be in such a sourcebook, apart from the unique races, classes and other options (dragonmarks, dragonshards etc.), since the world and story is the same as it always was (which I prefer to the Forgotten Realms approach). An adventure path set mostly in the less covered location looks like a good idea.

 

[MarkB]

Good luck with Eberron, Keith! I hope you'll find the opportunity to write for the setting, and I'd definitely buy a sourcebook.

However, I agree that it's a bit hard to say what should be in such a sourcebook, apart from the unique races, classes and other options (dragonmarks, dragonshards etc.), since the world and story is the same as it always was (which I prefer to the Forgotten Realms approach). An adventure path set mostly in the less covered location looks like a good idea.

Certainly, there's no need to cover the Five Nations in as much detail as previously. A campaign setting book which gave slightly higher priority to the regions of Khorvaire outside the Five Nations would certainly help to redress the balance.

Perhaps, rather than the "all roads lead from Sharn" feel of the original book, an approach that prioritises more rural, remote areas at lower levels and presents the Five Nations' intrigue, commerce and bustling cities as something to build towards over the course of a campaign might present both a fresh take on the setting, and also a more accessible gateway from traditional D&D campaign styles into the Eberron setting.

 

[kerouac]

I missed the Eberon setting... is that the steam punkish one?