Wizards of the Coast Reveals Revised Eberron Species Details

Wizards of the Coast has revealed some new details about Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, specifically detailing some of the changes players can expect to see from the species rules in the book. The upcoming Eberron splatbook will feature five species. Four of the species appeared in Eberron: Rising From the Last War, while the Khoravar (which have mixed human and elvish ancestries) are presented as a unique species in the book.

Today on D&D Beyond, Wizards listed some of the changes that will appear in each ruleset. Most notably, the Warforged is now presented as a Construct, while the Kalashtar are presented as aberrations. This makes these species immune to various spells that only impact humanoids. Additionally, the Khoravar has a new Lethargy Resilience feature that turns a failed saving throw to end or prevent the Unconscious condition into a success. This feature recharges after 1d4 Long Rests, which is a new design element to D&D.

According to D&D Beyond, the following changes are being made:

Changeling:

• Based on the Changeling from Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
• Shape-Shifter: You have Advantage on Charisma checks while shape-shifted.

Kalashtar:

• Creature Type: Kalashtar now have the Aberration creature type.
• Mind Link: You can now allow multiple creatures to communicate with you telepathically, and they no longer must be able to see you.
• Severed From Dreams: You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice after a Long Rest. This proficiency lasts until you finish another Long Rest.

Khoravar:

• Now included as a unique playable species in the world of Eberron
• Darkvision: Gain Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
• Fey Ancestry: You have Advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the Charmed condition.
• Fey Gift: You know the Friends cantrip. When you finish a Long Rest, you can swap it for any Cleric, Druid, or Wizard cantrip.
• Lethargy Resilience: You can turn a failed save to avoid or end the Unconscious condition into a success. You can use this trait again after you finish 1d4 Long Rests.
• Skill Versatility: Gain proficiency in one skill or tool of your choice. After you finish a Long Rest, you may swap that proficiency for a different skill or tool.

Shifter:

• Based on the Shifter from Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.
• Size: You can choose to be Medium or Small when you select this species.

Warforged:

• Creature Type: Warforged now have the Construct creature type.
• Constructed Resilience: Now have Advantage on saving throws to end the Poisoned condition and some aspects of this trait have been moved to Sentry's Rest and the new Tireless trait.
• Integrated Protection: Donning armor no longer takes an hour.
• Sentry's Rest: Now specifies Warforged don't need to sleep, and magic can't put them to sleep.
• Tireless: You don't gain Exhaustion levels from dehydration, malnutrition, or suffocation.

 

[Gradine]

It’s a term typically used for (non-human) animals, and so is dehumanizing when applied to human(oid)s

Even moreso than that, it's utilized for plant life, which is even more dehumanizing.

I am always serious.

 

[LazarusKane]

It’s a term typically used for (non-human) animals, and so is dehumanizing when applied to human(oid)s

Or maybe it's sounds odd and clinical, like "species" sounded odd and clinical - and not like fantasy but science fiction - some years ago when it replaced (as the correct term) the established fantasy term "race".

 

[Voadam]

For Eberron, it was an in-universe rumour/hypothesis that shifters were the results of having a lycanthrope in their ancestry, but never explicitly fact. This rumour was made explicitly true for the Forgotten Realms versions of shifters when they were back-ported into that setting. The same was the case for changelings with doppelgangers.

It actually started out and was explicitly fact in multiple editions.

It started out in the 3.5 Eberron Campaign Setting book as objective fact.
Page 8: "Shifters developed from the mixing of humans and lycanthropes, a union that grants them limited bestial abilities and feral instincts."
Page 11: "Shifters, the descendants of lycanthropes, able to manifest bestial characteristics for short periods of time."
Page 18: "Shifters, sometimes called “the weretouched,” are descended from humans and natural lycanthropes, now nearly extinct on Khorvaire."

Later on there was the in-world myth of alt origins as shown in the web article.

In the 4e Player's Guide to Eberron it continued with being an objective fact.
Page 40: "Shifters descended from the intermingling of humans and lycanthropes."

In 5e Eberron Rising From the Last War it is not defined as an objective fact but presented as what many believe in world.
Page 33: "Shifters are sometimes called the weretouched, as many believe they are the descendants of humans and lycanthropes. Whatever their origins, shifters have evolved into a unique race."

 

[Charlaquin]

Or maybe it's sounds odd and clinical, like "species" sounded odd and clinical - and not like fantasy but science fiction - some years ago when it replaced (as the correct term) the established fantasy term "race".

Nah. Sounding scientific wasn’t the problem with species (which I still dislike as the term to replace race, but it’s no longer a battle worth fighting) and it isn’t the problem with hybrid.

 

[Staffan]

My recollection is that the original 3e pitch was that shifters were watered down lycanthropes and changelings were watered down doppelgangers, both in mechanics and in lore. The monster was the original and the PC race was the derivation. Rising From the Last War offered an updated take on p284 that the shifters and changelings were the original line, and that the daelkyr had twisted them into monstrous versions the same way they did dolgrims and dolgaunts from goblins and hobgoblins.

This new take is not Word Of God but "shifter druids often assert" level of authority.

Oh yes, on a Doylist level shifters are definitely lycanthropes-lite and changelings dopplegangers-lite. I was thinking about the in-world lore.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

No you don't... "Human" is the species and your ancestors are from the same species.

Many modern humans have trace ancestry from H. neanderthalensis and H. denisonvans. Both of which hybridised with H. sapiens in the past.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Well, a lot of humans have some amount of Neanderthal ancestry. Same genus, different species. Probably. Paleo taxonomy is complicated.

The more you look into it, the more you realise that the entire term 'species' is a complete mess.

Ring species are especially interesting.

 

[Charlaquin]

The more you look into it, the more you realise that the entire term 'species' is a complete mess.

Ring species are especially interesting.

Well, as with all categories, it’s socially constructed, and reveals more about what the society that constructed it values than about the thing it categorizes.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Do we really need an umbrella term for mixed-heritage species? Can’t such species just have their own unique names, like Khoravar and Jhor'guntaal?

I'm mixed race and I personally am really interested in the experiences of mixed race people across Earth and in fiction.

Why are we allowed to have black, white, Asian and even Hispanic people in D&D but we can't have mixed or creole people?

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

No you don't... "Human" is the species and your ancestors are from the same species.

No, some anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens, the species and subspecies to which you and I both belong) do have ancestry from other members of the Homo genus who are not necessarily classified as species; many people of European descent have some Homo neanderthalensis in their ancestry, and some people of Desi descent have some Denisovan in their lineage.