Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana is Here - and it's all about EBERRON!

Pretty awesome that this series has started

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-eberron

Will Greyhawk or Dragonlance be next??

Probably Dragonlance. Does Greyhawk have any particular crunchy player bits that aren't covered by the PHB already?

 

[Lord Blackstone]

At this point, for me.. Minotaurs and Goliaths are the only races missing.

 

[mamol]

Check the DMG, man.

Ah dammit, still waiting for it. Shipping problems -.-

Well I must admit this release format is very to my liking.

 

[steeldragons]

1) REALLY enjoy this as a medium for setting specific material! What a great use of online resources.
2) Artificer as Wizard Tradition = PERFECT! Much like.
3) Think they should/could have cut the shifter sub-races down to 2 or 3 to keep them in line with other PC races: claws guy (since everyone wants to be Wolverine), tracker guy (since everyone want to be Wolverine) and Tough hide guy (since everyone wants to be Wolverine). Elves, alone, having 3 so far...so 3 would have sufficed, I think. But that's a terribly minor personal pick-nitting.
4) 'Nuther minor note/houserule: I would swap the "Imbue weapons/armor to the 2nd level ability and the potions/scrolls to the 6th...might make those who liked/wanted artificer as a more "martial/melee style" and/or independent class. So I might swap the 6th and 2nd level tradition abilities. But, again, a minor nitpick/note...and I dont' really care at all about artificers. So I'm pretty thrilled this is how they were handled.

But great job, great introduction for the articles and definitely looking forward to more!

 

[I'm A Banana]

Quick observations

• I don't like changelings only being able to mimic people they've seen. Why can't I look like whatever my changeling WANTS to look like? That move weakens their ability to play to themes of identity and personal choice that play into Eberoon's modern themes.
• Shifters are pretty solid. Subrace mechanics are golden for these guys. But do Dex-bonus-subrace shifters get +2 Dex (one from base race, one from subrace)? And the "while shifting..." language is a bit awkward (while "shifted" perhaps)....the temporary HP's are weird, too, but "legacy from polymorph healing you"?
• Warforged are nice. Simple, straightforward, effective, like all the best things about 5e.
• Artificer tradition is not beefy?. Not sure that'll fly. I do like the actual mechanics, though the "levels off of Arcane Recovery" is a little flddly, and I dunno 'bout Master Artificer (probably fine...). I like it OK, but part of the fun folks get out of artificers is apparently their melee-ness, which this doesn't have. My perspective might be tainted by the fact that my one artificer character was a gnome who played pretty much like a summoner-wizard anyway.
• Action Points....they've always been a little "meh" for me, and these are still that way. But you'd probably be better off paying attention to the opinions of those who liked 'em.
• Dragonmarks are interesting!. I kind of wish there was a better way to have them represented than feats...because it's not a comfy fit...(characters won't be developing marks until after 4th level unless they're human...), and not every game is going to have feats....but I suppose that is the best home for them.

Overall, I think quite interesting, and pretty good! I'd drop that bit about changelings only turning into creatures they've seen, and I might think about how to melee-up the Artificer, how to de-Feat Dragonmarks, and how to spice up Action Points, were I iron-fisty overlord of Eberron development, but not too shabby overall. And EAGERLY anticipated!

 

[Ravenheart87]

Simple and elegant conversions, I like them.

I've noticed that Greyhawk has actually come in first in the "Which Non-Realmsian Setting Would You Like Next?" poll, and I'm curious if anyone can explain to me what Greyhawk offers that other campaign settings don't. (For example, Dark Sun, Eberron, and Spelljammer are wildly different enough from Forgotten Realms that I absolutely understand why someone would want to see those sooner rather than later.)

Greyhawk is a more down-to-earth setting than Forgotten Realms. It's closer to sword & sorcery, than high fantasy. It also has plenty of detail and lots of the evergreen 1e adventures take place there. Plus it has a cool hexmap, which is a huge help if you want to run a sandbox setting.

 

[Remathilis]

Hmmm...

Races: They captured the essence of the three races well, though I'm surprised none of them have the +2/+1 build of the PHB races.

Artificer: ... I don't like them being "wizards" since that defeats the purpose. Still, its a way of doing it for now.

Action Points: Hero Points are the same thing already in the DMG.

Dragonmarks: Pretty much what I had thought would happen.

Overall: Not bad, and its a decent start to see some of it work.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Do all the Shifter sub-races make anyone else envision running a D&D Grimm game with all the different Wesen?

No? Just me then?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I like this direction! I have minimal interest in Eberron, but this speaks well of future crunch conversions to help us play our campaigns under 5e rules without house ruling. (I hate house ruling that sort of thing. I should not have to.)

I expect Dragonlance to be up soon. Some campaigns might be hard to convert without a full product (such as Dark Sun and Spelljammer), but for those that can, I'm fine with this approach.

I've noticed that Greyhawk has actually come in first in the "Which Non-Realmsian Setting Would You Like Next?" poll, and I'm curious if anyone can explain to me what Greyhawk offers that other campaign settings don't. (For example, Dark Sun, Eberron, and Spelljammer are wildly different enough from Forgotten Realms that I absolutely understand why someone would want to see those sooner rather than later.)

Greyhawk is a fun setting and captures the baseline of D&D better than Forgotten Realms. Forgotten Realms is a more specific take on "standard D&D", while Greyhawk came first and is literally the baseline of classic D&D from which all other settings (including Forgotten Realms) are defined by their degrees and directions of variance.

Because of that, Greyhawk needs no crunch conversion--the baseline rules cover it more or less completely. If you want to get a sourcebook for it that has no crunch to speak of (like 2 pages at the back, and a listing of which 3e domains the deities grant) try this:

Living Greyhawk Gazetteer

Or for the real basic DIY version (a strength of the setting!) get this pruned down version:

D&D Gazetteer

 

[nightspaladin]

Looks good but am I the only one concerned about the fact that the races are getting 2 + 1 and not a +2 and a +1 like the phb races?

 

[Queer Venger]

I dont know if anyone else noticed, but what Im really excited about is this announcement:

"The material presented in Unearthed Arcana will range from mechanics that we expect one day to publish in a supplement to house rules from our home campaigns that we want to share, from core system options such as mass combat to setting-specific material such as the Eberron update included in this article. Once it’s out there, you can expect us to check in with you to see how it’s working out and what we can do to improve it."

Which I translate as, we are getting a published UA book of rules, and which will be based on our input, how awesome is that?!?