Which 3rd Edition Eberron books would be useful for any setting?

[Knightfall]

I just bought my first "real" Eberron book (*). A FLGS is selling off 3E books for half-price, so I picked up Sharn: City of Towers. I plan to use it in my own setting instead of in Eberron. And, now, I'm wondering which other 3e Eberron books might be useful in a different setting.

Note: I'm not really interested in getting the main 3e book; although, I might consider it (for reference) if I can find a really cheap copy. (The FLGS I mentioned doesn't have the 3e setting book.) I'm more likely to buy the 4e Eberron setting book (which isn't likely).

I'm curious about Magic of Eberron, primarily, but I'd consider any of the 3e Eberron books that might be useful in my homebrewed World of Kulan setting.

Cheers!

Knightfall

*I also own Races of Eberron, but I consider that more of a core D&D book. Of course, I haven't read it yet, so I might be wrong. So many books to read, so little time.

 

[Crothian]

None.

The Eberron books are great, don't get me wrong. But they are very ...Eberron for lack of a better word. Most settings are not Eberron and the base assumptions i9n the books won't work in many settingd.

 

[Voadam]

We took a lot of Eberron into our homebrew Ptolus game. Silver Flame sort of merged with Lothianism, Warforged were created by lord Canith using Banewarrens info to be used as troops in the theocratic imperial civil war. Lycanthropy had been suppressed just as in the Silver Flame history.

I don't own them but the 3.5 ECS has a ton of crunch that can be used by other 3e games including the classes, races, feats, dragonshard magic etc.

I would assume that Magic of Eberron fleshes out Dragonshards and magical orders that can be transformed into other settings if you find them appealing.

Similarly the Religions book will have neat stuff for a different style of religions. (In ours we mixed in Lothian Monte Cook stuff with Eberron Silver Flame plus Corean from Scarred Lands under Lothian).

Races if you are using them is an obvious one.

Sharn if you want a floating D&D noir city.

I expect the player's guide would not have much as it is mostly a cyclopedia type one for Eberron as Eberron.

 

[JeffB]

Secrets of Xendrik is probably my fave 3.x book period- the vast majority is very usable in any campaign. I don't run eberron, and have used that book for all kinds of plot ideas, adventure locations, seeds, etc. Lots to swipe.

 

[Remathilis]

In No Particular Order:

Eberron Campaign Setting: The first few chapters detail the native races (two of which could be generic enough to use in any campaign; kalashtar are fairly Eberron-specific and Warforged requires a high-level of magic. It also details the Artificer class (a good tinker-mage/rogue mix class), about two-dozen feats (some of which are very generic), some prestige classes (mostly specific, but some are adaptable), action points, and some new domains (only one of which is Eberron-specific). The end details some new magic items (many of which can be harvested for other worlds, but a number are Dragonmark-focused) and a dozen monsters (most of which are easily adaptable).

Sharn: Well, not much unless you plan on running a major magical city. Some good inspiration though.

Magic of Eberron: Surprisingly, not very generic. Most of the spells and prestige's could be adapted, but most of the fluff and adventure seeds vary.

Dragonmarked: Don't bother; nothing generic enough.

Faiths of Eberron: Again, very little that isn't a reprint of something in Complete Divine.

Five Nations: Same deal; the few monsters and prestige classes aren't really worth it.

Races of Eberron: Actually, it ATTEMPTED to be a generic book (hence the generic dress, not the Eberron-specific stuff). It reprints the races, but not all the racial options (noticeable in that the Shifter is actually incomplete, missing all the shifter-feats from the ECS). Still, if you intend to use some of these races, you can't go wrong here.

Dragons of Eberron: Useless unless you need dragon stat-blocks. Much of the book is about Argonesson and the Chamber.

Explorer's Handbook: Actually, you could get a lot of cool adventure seeds from it, but mostly its useless unless you want to use Lightning Rails or Airships prominently in your world.

Secrets of Sarlona: If you have an itch to run a primarily psionic world, GET THIS BOOK. If you could care less about psionics, (or feel them an abomination) skip.

Secrets of Xen'drik: Perhaps the most adaptable book in the Eberron line. Lots of cool monsters, plenty of adventure seeds, a lost-world feel, a mini-city detailed, and some cool new traps and magic items.

Player's Guide to Eberron: Not a generic as you'd hope; a few prestiges, some new spells, and a magic-item or two is hidden among the sidebars of a good encyclopedic player-friendly version of the ECS.

Forge of War: Skip it. VERY Eberron specific.

Stormreach: The Sharn treatment is given to Xen'driks port city. Unless you need another fairly detailed city (abet one without a lot of statblocks, it was released prior to the 4e shift) you could probably get away with the info inside the Xen'drik book.

Final Total:
Recommended: Xen'drik, Explorer's, Race's
Potential: Stormreach, Sharn, ECS, Sarlona
Skip: Magic, Player's Guide, Forge, Faith's, Nations.

 

[Merkuri]

I second (or third) Secrets of Xendrik. It's chock full of ideas and seeds. Just about everything in the book has two or three explanations, so you can take your pick or use them as inspiration for something different.

 

[Knightfall]

Secrets of Xendrik is probably my fave 3.x book period- the vast majority is very usable in any campaign. I don't run eberron, and have used that book for all kinds of plot ideas, adventure locations, seeds, etc. Lots to swipe.

Secrets of Xen'drik: Perhaps the most adaptable book in the Eberron line. Lots of cool monsters, plenty of adventure seeds, a lost-world feel, a mini-city detailed, and some cool new traps and magic items.

I second (or third) Secrets of Xendrik. It's chock full of ideas and seeds. Just about everything in the book has two or three explanations, so you can take your pick or use them as inspiration for something different.

Interesting...

Secrets of Xendrik isn't one of the books I've been considering, at all. I figured it would be too Eberron-specific. Plus, isn't Xendrik a very drow-heavy region? (FYI... there aren't any drow on my homebrewed world.)

 

[Merkuri]

Plus, isn't Xendrik a very drow-heavy region?

Yes, but they're not like drow anywhere else, and it would be pretty simple to replace them with any ol' savages with just a little reflavoring. Mostly Xendrik is giant-heavy. It was once the home of the giants who had elves as slaves.

 

[Knightfall]

Sharn: Well, not much unless you plan on running a major magical city. Some good inspiration though.

I like major, magical cities. I'm already thinking about where I want to put Sharn on my campaign world.

Races of Eberron: Actually, it ATTEMPTED to be a generic book (hence the generic dress, not the Eberron-specific stuff). It reprints the races, but not all the racial options (noticeable in that the Shifter is actually incomplete, missing all the shifter-feats from the ECS). Still, if you intend to use some of these races, you can't go wrong here.

I bought Races of Eberron mainly for the information on the Warforged. Changlings and Shifters matter less to me. The Kalashtar interest me greatly but I realize that incorporating them into my homebrew will be a chore.

Magic of Eberron: Surprisingly, not very generic. Most of the spells and prestige's could be adapted, but most of the fluff and adventure seeds vary.

Stormreach: The Sharn treatment is given to Xen'driks port city. Unless you need another fairly detailed city (abet one without a lot of statblocks, it was released prior to the 4e shift) you could probably get away with the info inside the Xen'drik book.

I really like city books, so I might give this one a look. What's the city's hook?

 

[Knightfall]

I don't own them but the 3.5 ECS has a ton of crunch that can be used by other 3e games including the classes, races, feats, dragonshard magic etc.

I would assume that Magic of Eberron fleshes out Dragonshards and magical orders that can be transformed into other settings if you find them appealing.

I'm assuming that Dragonshard magic is the secret behind the Dragonmarked Houses. Correct?

I'm thinking that I might want to incorporate Dragonshard magic into my homebrew, but I want to create my own ideas about being Dragonmarked. I'll definitely be creating my own Dragonmarked "groups" for Kulan.

So, I'd really appreciate it if someone could please give me an short summary of Dragonshard magic.

I've decided that I'm going to put Sharn somewhere on the southwestern shore of the northern half of my Kanpur continent, which is located just north of my version of the Dark Continent (from an old issue of Dragon Magazine). (Stormreach will likely end up on my Dark Continent if I decide to buy that book [likely]. The Xen'drik book sounds liek it would have a lot of good fluff and crunch to meld into the Dark Continent.)