D&D 4E What happens to Eberron in 4E? Is it a dead world?

[mhacdebhandia]

Shifters are a race.

 

[Emirikol]

Arent' warforged and shifters being adopted into the MM then as a DEFAULT to ALL D&D settings? I mean it's not like it's going to say "Eberron only" in the MM description right?

Greyhawk spell names, Eberron Warforged & Shifters..anything being adopted from other worlds as D&D Core?

jh

 

[Lackhand]

Not everything from the MM is useful everywhere.

You can use a warforged in Greyhawk, or, instead, you could not. If you did use them in Greyhawk, they might be a unique race of creatures with a different backstory, a one-off magical mutant-thing.

Consider, for example, the Phantom Fungus. That alliterative alien's book of origin availed it not; never used one, never will, and it just didn't live in my campaign.

 

[Nyeshet]

Perhaps by 'dead world' the poster was referring to such an extreme change that it may as well be a new setting - such as is now known to be the case with faerun.

On the other hand, it wouldn't take much to reduce Eberron to a 'Points of Light' setting. Just destroy that city of towers and have a couple of those potential major wars on the horizon actually occur - with pyrric victories resulting. With major civilization devestated (but remnants still existing), major rail lines broken and unable to be repaired anytime soon, and perhaps elemental control (as is used for the various flying ships, railways, etc) disrupted, the world is virtually a points of light world.

Perhaps a changeover in how magic works will cause the connection to the plane of air - that helps keep those towers from collapsing under their own weight - is lost, causing the worst disaster since the Mourning.


As for other changes, I wonder how Soul Knives will be dealt with - now that psionics will be focusing more on enchantment. Perhaps it will be retroactively explained that overcompensation in their weak area (evocation, etc) resulted in the creation a talent tree / prestige path that allowed one to create / conjure a semi-solid force (soul knife)?

 

[JohnSnow]

I actually think Eberron is already kind of a "Points of Light" setting. The Kingdom of Galifar is fallen and the remaining kingdoms are battling amongst themselves. Give the world another few hundred years and it'll either recover or the different kingdoms may well dissolve into even smaller fragments.

Birthright is another pretty good example of a "Points of Light" setting, with each different realm representing one "point."

I think Eberron is a pretty good campaign as is. Shouldn't be a problem to convert it to 4e.

And of course, "artifice" is probably a unique power source.

 

[Glyfair]

Perhaps by 'dead world' the poster was referring to such an extreme change that it may as well be a new setting - such as is now known to be the case with faerun.

Given James Wyatt stated they had decided not to do the advancement of the setting they had planned, this isn't going to happen (assuming they don't change their mind again).

Originally there was going to be a small advancement of the timeline to explain the 4E changes in Eberron. In all likelihood dragonborn would have been introduced, and maybe reasons for tieflings, warlocks and such to become more prominent. They decided not to do that.

 

[Nyeshet]

Given James Wyatt stated they had decided not to do the advancement of the setting they had planned, this isn't going to happen (assuming they don't change their mind again).

The changes to the timeline are the least of the changes they had planned for faerun. Whether moved forward ten years or a hundred years - that is of little import compared to the death (&/or personality rearrangement) of 80+% of the deities and major NPCs, disruption &/or destruction of multiple organizations and kingdoms, (third) re-arrangement of the cosmology and nature of magic, and so forth.

Even without moving forward so far in the timeline, Faerun as is currently planned (based upon the 'History of the Realms' book and various blog and message board posts) is so different as to be a new setting that happens to use the same (physical) map of an older setting - as well as some of the same place names and minor NPC names.


But I'll admit that I cannot see Eberron treated in such a manner. As I pointed out in my prior post, Eberron could become a points of light setting easily enough without such apocalyptic destruction. Just remove the rails and air ships, destroy or devastate the few major centers of civilization (city of towers, for example), and set off a few major wars to further devastate those areas that are recovered or mostly recovered from the prior great war.

Originally there was going to be a small advancement of the timeline to explain the 4E changes in Eberron. In all likelihood dragonborn would have been introduced, and maybe reasons for tieflings, warlocks and such to become more prominent. They decided not to do that.

I'm guessing that dragonborn will be added in retroactively - as a race that had been minor but is becoming more numerous recently - for potentially unknown reasons. They'll be explained as the changlings and shifters were - descendants of those that had mated with dopplegangers / werecreatures (albeit dragons in the case of dragonborn), whose children retained some of the characteristics of their non-human parent. Eventually enough such descendants found and mated with each other to form a viable separate race.

As for other matters, a sudden shift in magic - perhaps caused by the qarl (spelling?) or those chaotic beings now permanently apart from the world - has caused a sudden disasterous change to the world. Perhaps it was intended to weaken magic in favor of psionics, but whatever the reason, not everything worked as planned. The city of towers collapses under its own weight now that the connection to the plane of air is weakened / lost, the elemental based air ships and railways work haphazardly or not at all, further isolating the various pockets of civilization. The various countries on the edge of war go to war, each blaming the other for what has happened - further weakening civilization as their forces are severely reduced, the winner (if any one could be considered such) gaining only a pyrric victory.

Due to the change in magic warlocks and such are enhanced and more common, sorcerers are less stable and more evocative, and wizards find that many of their spells and items no longer work. Even psions are strongly affected, gaining enhanced power in enchantment but losing power in most other fields (save, perhaps, for the soul knives, who are so focused in one area they manage to retain their ability to manifest a soul knife).


So, only a few years are actually needed. The change in magic occurs, setting off the collapse of the city of towers and several short but vicious wars. We return to the setting after the last of those wars has ended - perhaps with a victor, perhaps due to lack of funds / food / transport of replacements / reinforcements. It is a darker, less civilized setting. Introducing a new race is easy in such a situation - even if one does not assume retroactive inclusion. Everyone is a bit wary of magic, feeling out what does and does not work, as former non-magical persons suddenly display (warlock based) powers, as sorcerers seek to control power no longer fully in control, as wizards begin testing out new spells and abilities, re-learning their favorite object of study.


At least, that is how I presume it will be.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Nope. They're not advancing the setting past 998 Y.K.

 

[Destil]

I think dragonborn will be retconned as the lizardfolk tribes of Q`barra, the Cold Sun Tribes are already appropriate for a minor NPC race (though not as much as Gobilnoids).

The Cold Sun Tribes: The Cold Sun Tribes are a federation of common lizardfolk spread across the north and east of the nation. The tribes are twenty-four in number, but only seven border the territory of the settlers. While each tribe has different customs, all are bound by ancient tradition. Lizardfolk attitudes toward the common races vary considerably. Most fear and distrust humans. However, one tribe, the Twilight Walkers, is willing to work with the settlers, serving as ambassadors between the tribes and the interlopers. Twilight Walkers often visit Jarot and Newthrone.

Blackscale Lizardfolk: The blackscale lizardfolk, largest and strongest of their kind, live in the jungles around Haka’torvhak. As the chosen warriors of the dragon Rhashaak, they bully and dominate the lesser lizardfolk. They are hostile to the common races.

Poison Dusk Lizardfolk: These pygmy lizardfolk pose a considerable threat to the common races that inhabit the region. Living in small clans scattered throughout northern Q’barra, they are dedicated to Rhashaak and see the settlers as defilers. Poison dusk lizardfolk prefer to avoid their Cold Sun cousins but respect the blackscales as the chosen warriors of Haka’torvhak.

Tieflings are, similarly, corrupted by the dragon below, rather than having a feindish ancestory.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I can see the Dragonborn as some sort of odd emmisarry race of the Dragon Continent.