Eberron

[Lastgrasp]

I'm interested in picking up the Eberron Campaign Setting for 3.5. Read a few reviews and seem like a pretty interesting place. A couple of questions, does the setting use guns? Also, what sourcebook are worth picking up? A looking for prestige classes/crunch. What sourcebook should be avoided at all cost?

lastgrasp

[hamishspence]

Currently, there isn't specific support for guns- however, one could reasonably use the ones from the DMG.

Most of the splatbooks are useful in some way, depending on the game. Some are much more background, and much less items and PRCs, though.

[hivedragon]

by raw there are no guns, crossbows and wands are it, but a DM can houserule otherwise.

the campaign setting is a fantastic resource.

races of eberron is great if you intend to use one of the following races:
kalashtar, great choice for a psionic character
changeling, can disguise themselves as any humanoid (not possessions)
shifters, can gain temporary bestial aspects
warforged, overpowered attempt to make constructs playable

magic of eberron has some interesting options however nothing stands out to make this a must buy

sharn city of towers sucks

[Keld Denar]

Requiired Eberron reading:1001+ things the crew of the Forgotton Freedom are not allowed to do. (http://www.angelfire.com/dragon3/captainjarlot/all.html)

Other than that, some of the better Eb books include Races of Eberron (for character building, primarily, but some good fluff), Five Nations (for setting stuff in Khorvaire), Dragonmarked (more character options, 12 houses flavor) and Secrets of Sarlona (for SOVIET ADAR flavor, also the best monk fix ever published). I've read through Sharn City of Towers and Stormreach, and they were decent if you wanted to have an adventure specifically in those locations, but otherwise not terribly useful. Dragons of Eberron and Faiths of Eberron rank pretty low on the balance factor, but could be useful primarily from a DM PoV.

I don't recall much in the way of guns. Most instances that would call for guns tend to have wands in them, and it wouldn't be hard to put a pistol grip on a wand for flavor. Eberron is very magi-tech, so anywhere where you'd expect gun powder or coal or steam in a steampunk setting, there is magic and elementals and plebonium. For instance, most large ships (including airships) are powered by a fire or air elemental bound to the "Elemental Ring", AKA engine of the vessel. Similarly, the Lighning Rail uses magically generated electricity to electromagnetically repulse the cars from the track. The electricity is mundane, but it comes from a magical generation source rather than a steam turbine or similar generation method.

[Undercroft]

I found the "Dragonmarked" splatbook really handy for getting my head around how the houses work. Plus they'd got some pretty interesting PrCs in it too (storm sentry and cyre scout stick to my mind. nifty but not too powerful). Oh and some more feats for aberant dragonmarked peopel (including lesser and greater aberant marks <3 )
The Sharn splatbook too is pretty neat, but not neccasarily essential. Oh and Magic of Eberron (extra homunculi for artificers, new feats for everybody, new spells/infusions, elemental grafts, etc)
I stole a copy of the "player's guide to eberron" from my sister. Rather handy but mostly fluff (to help with RP)

[Bayar]

Requiired Eberron reading:1001+ things the crew of the Forgotton Freedom are not allowed to do. (http://www.angelfire.com/dragon3/captainjarlot/all.html)


Please Keld Denar, for the love of the Dark Six, link this list over here (http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Forgotten_Freedom:1_1001) since it is far better updated. Plus, it has other things about the Forgotten Freedom there.

[Keld Denar]

Eh, I link the first one that comes up in my google seach. I'll try to be better in the future, please forgive me!

[Cicciograna]

If I were to DM a game in Eberron, I'd surely incorporate these (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3203504&postcount=97). My congratulations to SilverClawShift.

[Lastgrasp]

Thanks for the information guys. Was looking at a good campaign setting. I think I'm leaning towards Pathfinder Inner Sea Guide. What about forgotten realms? How was 3rd edition to it? I thought it was alright back in 2e. Any good sourcebooks?

[Keld Denar]

FR seems to get a bad rap around here. Theres a lot of rediculously poorly balanced crap out there in it (much more than Eberron).

Also, most people like the fact that Eberron is overall much lower in setting level than FR. There's a joke that you shouldn't ever start a fight in a bar in the FR, because every bartender is a retired level 18 adventurer. While its not quite EVERY bartender and stablehand, there are a lot of really powerful characters that kinda suspend belief when they come asking your level 1 character to perform a task for them.

[McSmack]

If I were to DM a game in Eberron, I'd surely incorporate these (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3203504&postcount=97). My congratulations to SilverClawShift.

Wow. That's pretty freaking awesome. I might just have to incorporate that into my Eberron games.

Going back to the topic at hand. Yeah I'd go with the Campaign Setting, Races of Eberron and possibly the Player's Guide to Eberron. Other books are more geographically specific, and there's lot of places to go and explore. If you'd like to run an urban campaign (and you should because they are awesome) Sharn City of Towers is helpful. For an exploration game go with Secrets of Xendrik or Explorer's Handbook. If you want to stay on the main continent I recommend Five Nations.

Airships and Warforged alone make this setting awesome. The fact that setting is shortly after the magical equivilent of WWII makes it even more interesting.

Another thing that sets it apart is the lack of high level NPC's. Pretty much everyone above level 12 is either dead, missing or too busy to worry about politics. So the PC's actions tend to feel more heroic and substantial.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Eberron's awesome, it's the only campaign setting where orcs are the stewards of nature and elves rampage across the land in destructive hordes. :smallcool:

[Lastgrasp]

I picked up the Campaign Setting on ebay. Going to see how it is. I might eye some of the cheaper sourcebooks. Most of the book appear to be relatively cheap with the exception of dragonmarked and last war.

[AslanCross]

Congratulations. Eberron is a great setting. I just have to warn you---the Planar Shepherd prestige class from Faiths of Eberron is horribly broken. That it's a DRUID PrC makes it even worse.

[Growin]

Keith Baker has said in some post that he never intended Eberron to be advanced at all technologically. In fact I think he went so far as to say that science, in that sense, doesn't exists.

One of the themes for Eberron was that everything could be done with magic (magical robots, magical trains, magical air ships, magical buildings that can reach heights of two miles, magical ships, etc.)

I'd suspect that if you wanted to incorporate guns they would have to be created by artificers and involve magic somehow. (If you wanted to stay true to the setting).

[Dusk Eclipse]

Keith Baker has said in some post that he never intended Eberron to be advanced at all technologically. In fact I think he went so far as to say that science, in that sense, doesn't exists.

One of the themes for Eberron was that everything could be done with magic (magical robots, magical trains, magical air ships, magical buildings that can reach heights of two miles, magical ships, etc.)

I'd suspect that if you wanted to incorporate guns they would have to be created by artificers and involve magic somehow. (If you wanted to stay true to the setting).

"Any form of sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic" :smalltongue:

Gun related: I have heard that Iron Kingdoms (3rd party setting) has pretty good rules for guns; but I don't really know as I don't have the setting...yet.

Good Eberron Books: I have to second (or third or whatever) Races of Eberron, it has some great fluff (The Beast within and the journey yet to come[from the Shifters chapter], are definitely two of my favourite pieces of fluff ever.) and some pretty good crunch too (Recaster is quite good while not being broken, Atavist can somewhat fix monk and Soulknife, and Quori Nightmare is incredibly fun, and Moonspeaker is a Druid prestige class which is not actually broken (it doesn't really increase the power of druid like Planar shepher, which coincidentally is on another Eberron Book, nor it tanks any of the Druids signature abilties.

Magic of Eberron is also a great book, it has some great options and it has one of my favourite races in there, the Daelkyr Halfblood


Eberron's awesome, it's the only campaign setting where orcs are the stewards of nature and elves rampage across the land in destructive hordes. :smallcool:


Also

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt139/Dusk_eclipse/OrcvsElfEberron.jpg

[Keld Denar]

http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt139/Dusk_eclipse/OrcvsElfEberron.jpg
Together, they fight crime. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheyFightCrime)

[Greenish]

Together, they fight crime. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheyFightCrime)Cookie for you, and one for Dusk for the poster!

Eberron is my favourite setting, and I'm going to second (or nth) Secrets of Sarlona, Five Nations and Dragonmarked. I also liked Forge of War and even Sharn, the City of Towers.

[Edit]: Where's that picture from?

[Dusk Eclipse]

Dunno, I say it first on the D&Demotivators thread and had to save it (it is great for explaining Eberron to someone whose main contact with Fantasy is LotR)

[Lastgrasp]

Bought Magic of Eberron and Player's Guide to Eberron for 10 bucks. I couldn't resist they were too cheap to pass up on ebay. The Forge of War looks interesting. I know it's mainly fluff but having a game set during a war would be kinda interesting.

Onto Forgotten Realms. Some books I"m curious about.

Champions of Ruin
Champions of Valor
Forgotten Realms Players Guide.

Any opinions? Easy portable stuff?

[Greenish]

Onto Forgotten Realms.You might need to tweak the title to attract more realms buffs.

[Ravens_cry]

Keith Baker has said in some post that he never intended Eberron to be advanced at all technologically. In fact I think he went so far as to say that science, in that sense, doesn't exists.

One of the themes for Eberron was that everything could be done with magic (magical robots, magical trains, magical air ships, magical buildings that can reach heights of two miles, magical ships, etc.)

I'd suspect that if you wanted to incorporate guns they would have to be created by artificers and involve magic somehow. (If you wanted to stay true to the setting).
Five words: "'Sufficiently Analysed Magic is Science!'"

[Greenish]

Five words: "'Sufficiently Analysed Magic is Science!'"People too often confuse science with engineering.

[Ravens_cry]

People too often confuse science with engineering.
I agree, but using magic on that scale practically begs for the scientific method. Sure, you can build an aqueduct the way that you have done since your forefathers found away didn't leak too much water, or you can do science and potentially find a more optimum method.

[Greenish]

I agree, but using magic on that scale practically begs for the scientific method.Yeah, I meant to agree with you, though on hindsight it might not be obvious. :smalltongue:

I meant that comment more towards what Baker allegedly said, about things being done with magic instead of technology.

[hamishspence]

Onto Forgotten Realms. Some books I"m curious about.

Champions of Ruin
Champions of Valor
Forgotten Realms Players Guide.

Any opinions? Easy portable stuff?

I'd say a lot of Realms material (feats, spells, PRCs, etc) is portable- just a little refluffing in the case of the PRCs.

Races of Faerun might be good for detailing those races that appear in both settings.

Even Serpent Kingdoms might be good for details on serpent and lizard races- just don't allow overpowered things like players transforming into Sarrukh- and maybe tone down one or two spells.

[askandarion]

The Champions books, as you can tell, are focused more on the divine classes and the gods of FR. I remember a lot of monk/paladin/cleric stuff, with a bit for druids and rangers. Player's Guide to Faerun's probably going to have the most stuff useful in general for a game. A lot of the other books are very closely tied to a region (Shining South, Forgotten Kingdoms, etc.) but I'd say most FR stuff is fairly portable, just find-replace region or god with a logical equivalent in the game they'll be used in. I can't think of too much that is interdependent on other FR material. Eberron material, I'm sad to say, tends to be a bit harder to port (action points integrated into artificer and PrCs, Dragonmarks, etc.) separately.

But really, just stick to Eberron. It's better. :-P

[Ravens_cry]

Yeah, I meant to agree with you, though on hindsight it might not be obvious. :smalltongue:
I meant that comment more towards what Baker allegedly said, about things being done with magic instead of technology.
I thought so, but wasn't absolutely sure. Darn you, ambiguity of text, darn you to heck!:smallbiggrin: