Some questions about Eberron

[Johnnie Freedom!]

Some of these are stupid questions, so bear with me.

1. What exactly is "Eberron"? Is it the name of a continent? A city? A planet? What?

2. Tell me about Eberron's cosmology. I seem to remember hearing that it isn't compatible with the "Great Wheel". True?

3. Ditto for gods/clerics. Someone told me that the Eberron settings has "no gods". Another person told me that it's "agnostic" (whatever that means).

4. I find the setting intriguing, but I keep getting hung up on finding the "pulp" thing irritating. For example, the picture of the Indiana Jones half-orc in DMG 2 (yech). How "pulp 20's" is the setting? How "true D&D fantasy" is it? (Hope this question makes sense).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Glyfair]

1. What exactly is "Eberron"? Is it the name of a continent? A city? A planet? What?

The world's name is Eberron (I suppose you'd say planet).

2. Tell me about Eberron's cosmology. I seem to remember hearing that it isn't compatible with the "Great Wheel". True?

Pretty much. Very different planes that aren't necessarily alignment based. No Abyss or Hell equivalent for example.

This article covers it very well, including a program that shows the planes movement.

3. Ditto for gods/clerics. Someone told me that the Eberron settings has "no gods". Another person told me that it's "agnostic" (whatever that means).

There are gods and religions. However, no one can actually "reach" the gods, so there is no proof they exist. Religion is thus more based on faith that most D&D campaigns (where gods can manifest in various ways).

 

[Loincloth of Armour]

1. What exactly is "Eberron"? Is it the name of a continent? A city? A planet? What?

The name of the setting, the planet, and "The Dragon Between," aka: the planet is thought to be a BIG sleeping dragon.

2. Tell me about Eberron's cosmology. I seem to remember hearing that it isn't compatible with the "Great Wheel". True?

True. Imagine an atom, with the prime material plane as the nucleus, and the other planes orbiting the prime. Unlike an atom, these 'obiting' planes sometimes overlap with the prime (and possibly each other), making things interesting in several locations.

And yes, Eberron cosmology is self-contained. No connection to the Great Wheel unless your DM allows it.

3. Ditto for gods/clerics. Someone told me that the Eberron settings has "no gods". Another person told me that it's "agnostic" (whatever that means).

Eberron does not have intervensionist gods... in fact while there are divine powers, there is no proof the 'gods' exist. If you believe in them enough you can get divine powers... others who believe in the same god, but adopt a totally opposite view to your beliefs can get powers too.

Thus, the gods don't appear and say, "This is what you must believe in," instead you say, "This is what I believe the gods want me to believe in."

4. I find the setting intriguing, but I keep getting hung up on finding the "pulp" thing irritating. For example, the picture of the Indiana Jones half-orc in DMG 2 (yech). How "pulp 20's" is the setting? How "true D&D fantasy" is it? (Hope this question makes sense).

It is as pulp or as traditional as you want it to be. Sure there are airships and multi-kingdom guilds, but if you want to dungeon crawl and kick evil butt, there's enough of it to go around. If, instead you want to have some intrege and other more mental-butt kicking, that works too.

 

[Shroomy]

1. Eberron is the name of the world. It takes its name from one of the three progenitor dragons. Eberron (earth), Siberys (heavens), and Khyber (basically the Underdark).

2. Eberron has an Ethereal, Astral, and Plane of Shadows, but it does not have traditional Great Wheel Inner or Outer Planes. Instead, Eberron features a cosmology of 13 Outer Planes that "orbit" the Prime Material Plane.

3. Eberron has gods and religion, its just that nobody is really sure if the traditional pantheons (The Sovereign Host and the Dark Six) actually exist. Basically, divine magic is a matter of faith. There are also several other religions that are based on belief rather than divinity such as the Silver Flame, the Cults of the Dragon Below, the Blood of Vol, the Undying Court, etc.

4. Eberron has some pulpier elements, but there is still plenty of room for more traditional fantasy if you wish. Personally, I like the pulpier elements, as I think incorporating noir, espionage, and globe-trotting adventure into my D&D is a good thing.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Some of these are stupid questions, so bear with me.

1. What exactly is "Eberron"? Is it the name of a continent? A city? A planet? What?

The world is called Eberron. It's a giant dragon (sort of like how the Greeks believed that the Earth was a goddess named Gaea ... I'm not sure about the name, actually). There are two other progenitor dragons, Siberys (who was split into pieces by her brother Khyber and floats in the sky in pieces as a ring), and Khyber, who was enclosed by Eberron and is basically the Underdark.

The most detailed continent is Khorvaire.

2. Tell me about Eberron's cosmology. I seem to remember hearing that it isn't compatible with the "Great Wheel". True?

True.

Some of the planes have no connection to Eberron, or move "closer" and "further" from the Prime Material plane, making them hard to visit at times.

Deities don't live on the planes. You can't visit the Plane of Lawful Good (TM) and meet Heironeous (TM) or any of his direct minions.

3. Ditto for gods/clerics. Someone told me that the Eberron settings has "no gods". Another person told me that it's "agnostic" (whatever that means).

Unlike in FR, deities don't directly intervene. Evil clerics say "I believe that the Fury would want us to do this" but the closest they could come to talking to her would be casting Commune and talking to one of her ... fiends ... minions ... whatever you call her servitors.

Furthermore, a lot of deities don't match the deity concepts in Greyhawk or FR. The Sovereign Host and Dark Six are humanoid (we think), but they don't represent any particular species. A goblin could worship the SH, while you're never going to see an FR goblin worship Corellon. Other deities include the Silver Flame (no one knows what it looks like, but its represented by a giant flame in a cathedral in Thrane that can only speak to one of its clerics, who is a little girl - Mystra it is not), or the Undying Court (which isn't a deity by itself but can empower clerics), or Vol (a lich - yeah, you can kill her like any other lich, though).

4. I find the setting intriguing, but I keep getting hung up on finding the "pulp" thing irritating. For example, the picture of the Indiana Jones half-orc in DMG 2 (yech). How "pulp 20's" is the setting? How "true D&D fantasy" is it? (Hope this question makes sense).

Thanks in advance.

It's a broad setting. You can do pulp if you want. You can dump pulp if you want.

 

[Remathilis]

1.) Eberron (as others have mentioned) is the name of the planet proper, named after one of the mythic "creator dragons" that made the world. The others are Sybris (the sky) and Khyber (the Underdark). The continents are Khorvaire (main one), Salona (psionic), Argonnessen (dragon), and Xen'drik (lost/ruined)

2.) The planes basic rotate around the prime in orbits, coming closer and growing farther as time passes. Each plane has one specific trait it emulates and creatures that live there. There is a fire plane (home of elementals, but also balors), an ice plane, a law plane, a chaos plane, a faerie plane, a sky plane, etc. Most are generally discussed, but three get alot of attention: Xorait (realm of madness, home of abberations), Dal'Quor (dreams, home of psionics), and Dorruh (realm of the dead, where all souls go regardless of faith or alignment).

3.) The gods do not have avatars, send divine minions to speak for them, or have any "voice" in the world as a whole. Mostly, they are a matter of "faith". The Faithful believe they exist, but they cannot wander to the planes and "prove" they exist. This also allows for clerics to draw power from non-deity sources like the Silver Flame (the embodiment of purity) or the Undying Court (the sorta-undead rulers of the elves).

4.) Eberron tries to be "Swashbuckling pulp action with a help of noir". In english, it tries to focus on exploration, seeking lost artifacts, evil masterminds, political intrigue and grand adventure. An adventure in Eberron could resemble the Maltese Falcon (gumshoes in Sharn), Indiana Jones (fighting evildoers on a globe-spanning treasure hunt), or Doc Savage novels (exploring the ruins of Xen'drik) all effortlessly.

 

[irdeggman]

The one thing Keith Baker and Co preach is that if there is a place for it in D&D then there is a place for it in Eberron.

Basically anything that isn't setting specific (like a lot of the Forgotten Realms stuff) can be inserted into the setting someplace.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

The one thing Keith Baker and Co preach is that if there is a place for it in D&D then there is a place for it in Eberron.

Basically anything that isn't setting specific (like a lot of the Forgotten Realms stuff) can be inserted into the setting someplace.

The one thing? Um ... no. (Keith and WotC often disagree with each other. Fans tend to take Keith's side.)

Anyay, it can have a place. That doesn't mean it must have a place. If you think raptorians are a bad idea, you don't have to include them, even if they're found in an Eberron splat.

 

[Kishin]

The one thing Keith Baker and Co preach is that if there is a place for it in D&D then there is a place for it in Eberron.

Actually, I'm pretty sure Keith has mentioned he's not a fan of that particular line, as its gotten taken out of context so many times, causing people to think Eberron is intended to be the kitchen sink from the get go.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

Technically, I think that was one of the criteria for the setting search. If it is in D&D, the setting had to be able to allow for it, but not include it by default. As examples, the setting couldn't be something to the effect of not having dragons, arcane magic, or disallow psionics altogether.