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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8072951" data-attributes="member: 907">Yeah, but how is that functionally different from Forgotten Realms? Particularly the sparsely-described FR of 5e?I mean, look at Eberron, which is near and dear to my heart. Eberron has:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragonmarked houses – magic-based megacorps that have a monopoly on large parts of the economy due to leveraging innate magical powers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The aftermath of the Last War – the setting just experienced a war that lasted for a century and broke up the kingdom that spanned the primary continent and utterly destroyed one of its constituent nations, and which ended in a non-conclusive fashion.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A different approach to religion. Eberron doesn't have personified gods that can directly interact with their worshipers. There's a pantheon of gods (or two, depending on your perspective), but they do not dwell in person on other planes, and they do not directly communicate. The primary pantheon is generally worshiped as a whole, not as individuals. You also have a number of other forces and philosophies that can provide divine power: the Silver Flame, the Blood of Vol, the Undying Court, the Path of Light, and various cults of the Dragon Below.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Draconic Prophecy permeating the setting.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A well-defined place for psionics, for those who like that sort of thing, which is enough out of the way that you can easily ignore it, for those who don't. This includes the new Kalashtar race, who were once formed out of humans bonding with extraplanar dream-beings fleeing persecution on their home plane.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Magic permeating the setting without the setting being filled with super-powerful spellcasters. The magic is mostly utilitarian and low-level in nature, and mostly a logical extension of the way magic works in D&D (e.g. washing basins enchanted with prestidigation to make clothes-cleaning easy). One of the expressions of this is the artificer class, which uses magic by way of gadgets and which has an easier time creating magic items.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fast travel by way of the Lightning Train and extra-fast ships.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Warforged, living constructs built to fight in the Last War and now given their freedom and seeking their way in the world, and all the problems that come with that background.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Shifters, people with mild bestial traits that can call upon those for short times.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Changelings, people with doppleganger like abilities to take other forms and living other people's lives, and the rich cultures that form from that.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dinosaur-riding halflings.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Shades of grey regarding alignments. With the exception of immortal beings like celestials and fiends, beings in Eberron are not limited in their alignments. Two of the main "defenders of the world" organizations, centered in different harsh regions, are primarily made up of orcs, for example.</li> </ul>These are all things that make Eberron strongly distinct from the Forgotten Realms. They're not just things I could do in FR by squinting a little. Many of them are also things that require heavy mechanical support, such as the new races, the dragon-marked houses, and artificers. What are the Greyhawk equivalents?</blockquote>

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