Buying Eberron, which are the best books?

[Larkas]

So, I've recently acquired the Eberron Campaign Setting, and wanted to expand my material on that world. Do you guys have any advice on which are the books I should aim for next?

[mattie_p]

Are you a DM or a player? If DM, I strongly recommend Five Nations, Dragons of Eberron, and The Forge of War.

Magic of Eberron and Faiths of Eberron are useful for both DM and player.

I recommend Secrets of Sarlona and Dragonmarked to players.

[Larkas]

I'm mostly a DM. Thanks for the input, Mattie!

[Invader]

The location books are pretty helpful if you're planning on spending time outside of Khorvaire but if you're never going to go to Xen'drik there's no need to really own the book, same with the other continents.

I'd say that races of eberron is probably one you could skip over.

[Lappy9001]

While it definitely isn't a good book (because it adds nothing new and just recycles old art; some from the wrong setting), the Adventurer's Guide to Eberron is a great and quick introduction to somebody new to the setting. It's a pretty light read too. I don't think it's worth the $20 price tag, though. Edit: Ah, you can buy it for 6 bucks on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Eberron-Survival-Guide-Logan-Bonner/dp/0786948558). Much better :smallcool:

Races of Eberron has some great player options, and all of Mattie's suggestions are great.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'm with Lappy9001 - RoE is actually a pretty interesting book. The Changeling chapter especially is well worth it.

[Palanan]

I actually like Dragons of Eberron, since it has some NPCs (draconic and otherwise) that can be used by a rushed and harried DM. Also, as you'd expect, a fair amount of material about draconic prophecies and the like.

[Nepenthe]

You can definitely skip Player's Guide to Eberron. I haven't found a single useful piece of crunch in it, and all the best fluff is repeated elsewhere. It's the only RPG book I regret buying. Five Nations is awesome and Magic of Eberron has some cool stuff.

[Beleron]

You can definitely skip Player's Guide to Eberron. I haven't found a single useful piece of crunch in it, and all the best fluff is repeated elsewhere. It's the only RPG book I regret buying. Five Nations is awesome and Magic of Eberron has some cool stuff.

No useful crunch? My Revenant Blade/Dervish would like a word with you...

[Lateral]

I find myself using Races of Eberron and Magic of Eberron the most. Although I have cracked open Secrets of Sarlona a couple of times for the psionic stuff.

[ArcanistSupreme]

I find myself in love with Five Nations. It's especially helpful for building homebrew campaign settings outside of Eberron, as it provides an excellent template to create a vivid and alive fantasy world.

[Lateral]

I find myself in love with Five Nations. It's especially helpful for building homebrew campaign settings outside of Eberron, as it provides an excellent template to create a vivid and alive fantasy world.
Ooh, I forgot about Five Nations. Lots of good stuff for DMs, and on top of that, it's got the Phantom Knight in it.

[Invader]

Ooh, I forgot about Five Nations. Lots of good stuff for DMs, and on top of that, it's got the Phantom Knight in it.

That's a painfully bad PrC though lol.

[Lateral]

That's a painfully bad PrC though lol.
It's actually pretty decent. I mean, it's not the best, but you're only losing two caster levels, and it's an awesome concept. It makes for a simple gish, and if not the most powerful ever, at least it's still 90% Wizard-casting.

[Invader]

It's actually pretty decent. I mean, it's not the best, but you're only minlosing two caster levels, and it's an awesome concept. It makes for a simple gish, and if not the most powerful ever, at least it's still 90% Wizard-casting.

It costs 2 caster levels and your capstone is a brilliant energy weapon 10 rounds per day and 3 other nearly useless features.

I'd say it's fair to say it can be used for a gish but not used well.

[IronFist]

Ooh, I forgot about Five Nations. Lots of good stuff for DMs, and on top of that, it's got the Phantom Knight in it.

While Phantom Knight might be controversial, Cyran Avenger is pure undilluted badass.

[Lateral]

It costs 2 caster levels and your capstone is a brilliant energy weapon 10 rounds per day and 3 other nearly useless features.

I'd say it's fair to say it can be used for a gish but not used well.
You don't need all that much. Even without class features, you're only two caster levels down from an ordinary Wizard- sure, you're not as powerful as a single-class Wizard, but so what? You're a whole lot more powerful- and a better gish- than, say, a Duskblade.

Hell, Knight Phantom only costs one caster level if you can get proficiency with all martial weapons without losing a caster level. Being an outsider should do it- being a neraph or a racial class progression Aasimar or Tiefling that doesn't take any levels should do it.

[Alleran]

Hell, Knight Phantom only costs one caster level if you can get proficiency with all martial weapons without losing a caster level. Being an outsider should do it- being a neraph or a racial class progression Aasimar or Tiefling that doesn't take any levels should do it.
Taking a level of Dragonslayer would also do it. First level gives you all martial proficiencies and no loss to spellcasting (plus immunity to Fear). Two ranks in Tumble, BAB +5, Dodge and Iron Will. The +5 BAB is the hardest - Iron Will is just an Otyugh Hole away.

[Big Fau]

Seconding Dragonmarked and Secrets of Sarlona. Secrets of Xen'Drik is also good. Dragonmarked opens up so many options for the players that it makes the namesake actually worth having, and it focuses more on buffing noncasters than it does on full casters (which is always a welcome buff).

RoE has a lot of useful stuff, but it's all very specific to Eberron's races (very little feat/PrC support for anything that isn't Warforged, Kalashtar, Shifter, or Changeling). If your players don't utilize those race very much it isn't going to help you outside of fluff, and PGtE has that in spades (less crunch though). Faiths and Pantheons and Magic of Eberron are both excellent reads, but both have a major issue (Planar Shepherd and Psionic Artificer, respectively).

[Greenish]

I'd go Dragonmarked, Five Nations, Secrets of Sarlona, in that order. Dragonmarked has way lots of player options and really fleshes out the "merchant houses as powerful as nations" concept. Combine with the details on the nations from 5N and you have enough Khorvaire to last for a long time. Secrets of Sarlona, on the other hand, has the most new material (at least in terms of fluff) of any Eberron book (except for the campaign setting, obviously), and it's very interesting, cool, and well thought out (or I found it so, YMMV). Skip it (and probably the actual continent too) if you don't want to use psionics, though.

I also loved Forge of War, but you probably rarely find yourself needing that much detail about the Last War. If you do, though, or are just curious, it's an excellent book.

Player's Guide to Eberron is a decent overview book, but I do agree it doesn't add much new info for someone familiar with the setting, and players new to the setting would probably gain more mileage from Races of Eberron. Revenant Blade is pretty cool, though.


[Edit]: Also I feel I should give a shout out to Sharn, the City of Towers and City of Stormreach, both of which are nice books and good adventuring locations. I'd even put City of Stormreach ahead of Secrets of Xen'Drik when it comes to adventuring in that continent.

[Larkas]

Thanks for all the input, guys! This should set me in the right direction when deciding what to buy next. :smallsmile:

[Psyren]

Definitely Races of Eberron, the fluff and crunch are both top-notch. I especially love the different Changeling personalities, it gives you so much meaty fodder for character concepts, and the Warforged/Shifter feats are very frequently referenced in builds here.