Eberron race in non eberron campaign

[STrain]

I'm sorry if this has been posted before but I have been looking for an answer to no avail. I'm still fairly new to DnD and I know I was told when playing 3.5 that eberron could not be used with non eberron because of balancing issues. I was looking to play a changeling but it is not a eberron campaign. We're just moving to 5.0 now and really I didn't see any that unbalanced about the race. Thanks for the help!

[Ralanr]

It's unbalanced for one setting but balanced in another? I've never heard of that.

I don't see why you can't play any of the playable races in any of the settings (not to mention homebrew settings) aside from the DM saying "No"

[Madfellow]

I was told when playing 3.5 that eberron could not be used with non eberron because of balancing issues.

I don't know who told you this, but I've never heard that before.

I don't see too much of a problem with a changeling PC, except perhaps in that their signature ability is described as a polymorph ability. If it were me, I'd just change it to, "Can cast Alter Self at will" and call it a day.

[STrain]

It's unbalanced for one setting but balanced in another? I've never heard of that.

I don't see why you can't play any of the playable races in any of the settings (not to mention homebrew settings) aside from the DM saying "No"


I don't know who told you this, but I've never heard that before.

I don't see too much of a problem with a changeling PC, except perhaps in that their signature ability is described as a polymorph ability. If it were me, I'd just change it to, "Can cast Alter Self at will" and call it a day.



Sorry I should have been more specific. I was told when playing 3.5 that the eberron classes were not balanced for use in the regular campaign but now im told that the races arent balanced. I also just didnt see anythting about it that was game breaking at all.

[Madfellow]

I was told when playing 3.5 that the eberron classes were not balanced for use in the regular campaign but now im told that the races arent balanced.

Well the 3.5 artificer was a tier 1 class, but so were the cleric, druid, and wizard. The races were and are just fine.

[Draken]

Sorry I should have been more specific. I was told when playing 3.5 that the eberron classes were not balanced for use in the regular campaign but now im told that the races arent balanced. I also just didnt see anythting about it that was game breaking at all.

There really is only one Eberron class in 3.5, the artificer, and yes, it is unbalanced, it isn't really much more unbalanced than most of 3.5, of course.

Moving to 5.0 ed, however. There ought to be no real issues with it? Changeling has wording issues, sure, but anyone who knows what the purpose of the ability is about should also know better than try to use that ability as anything but the Change Appearance function of the Alter Self spell.

[STrain]

Well the 3.5 artificer was a tier 1 class, but so were the cleric, druid, and wizard. The races were and are just fine.

Yea, I was trying to play either an artificer or a psionic but was told that you can't in non eberron campaigns. So is that just wrong? Right now I'm told that it says somewhere that in 5. only things from specific books are allowed in each campaign so I cant play and eberron race because its not an eberron campaign. I really dont see anythign about the eberron stuff that is really that much more powerful than any other of the powerful classes. Oh and also because we are in the forgotten realms is another reason i can't

[STrain]

There really is only one Eberron class in 3.5, the artificer, and yes, it is unbalanced, it isn't really much more unbalanced than most of 3.5, of course.

Moving to 5.0 ed, however. There ought to be no real issues with it? Changeling has wording issues, sure, but anyone who knows what the purpose of the ability is about should also know better than try to use that ability as anything but the Change Appearance function of the Alter Self spell.

Care to elaborate?

[Madfellow]

Yea, I was trying to play either an artificer or a psionic but was told that you can't in non eberron campaigns. So is that just wrong? Right now I'm told that it says somewhere that in 5. only things from specific books are allowed in each campaign so I cant play and eberron race because its not an eberron campaign. I really dont see anythign about the eberron stuff that is really that much more powerful than any other of the powerful classes. Oh and also because we are in the forgotten realms is another reason i can't

Psionics appeared in their own book, independent of Eberron, and they appear in other settings as well. It's OK if a DM doesn't want them in their campaign, but not on the grounds of "It's only allowed in Eberron."

The artificer was introduced in Eberron, so there is more of a case for it there, but in general 3.5's approach was to just throw everything into the blender. Again, the DM can say no, but the general assumption is usually that it's allowed. That's in 3.5 anyway.

5e's approach is different. The base assumption is that you use the core books, and anything beyond that you should talk to your DM about. Most DMs are pretty lenient, unless they have a setting or a balance reason to not allow something.

So the decision is up to the DM, but he shouldn't feel obligated to ban it, because he's not. Changelings are canonically a crossbreed between doppelgangers and humans. The Forgotten Realms has both, so there's nothing preventing changelings form existing in the Realms.

Hope this helps.

[Ralanr]

Yea, I was trying to play either an artificer or a psionic but was told that you can't in non eberron campaigns. So is that just wrong? Right now I'm told that it says somewhere that in 5. only things from specific books are allowed in each campaign so I cant play and eberron race because its not an eberron campaign. I really dont see anythign about the eberron stuff that is really that much more powerful than any other of the powerful classes. Oh and also because we are in the forgotten realms is another reason i can't

I don't think there is anything in the book that bans a race from a setting.

As for the unforgotten realms, there are no articifers or eberron stuff there so you probably wouldn't play those.

They aren't unbalanced or broken, just not there. I think you're being lied to on the reasons why you can't play those.

[Madfellow]

Care to elaborate?

Changelings have the ability to change their appearance. In 3.5, this was described as them being able to cast Alter Self at will (or at least I'm pretty sure it was Alter Self).

For whatever reason though, in the Uncharted Realms Eberron packet, this ability is described as a polymorph ability. Polymorph works differently in 5th, and it has the side effect of providing an HP buffer to the creature (when it drops to 0 HP it reverts to its true form with whatever HP it had before transforming, and any excess damage is applied to that). Being able to polymorph at will is quite powerful.

But 5e still has the Alter Self spell, so you can just use that instead.

[STrain]

Psionics appeared in their own book, independent of Eberron, and they appear in other settings as well. It's OK if a DM doesn't want them in their campaign, but not on the grounds of "It's only allowed in Eberron."

The artificer was introduced in Eberron, so there is more of a case for it there, but in general 3.5's approach was to just throw everything into the blender. Again, the DM can say no, but the general assumption is usually that it's allowed. That's in 3.5 anyway.

5e's approach is different. The base assumption is that you use the core books, and anything beyond that you should talk to your DM about. Most DMs are pretty lenient, unless they have a setting or a balance reason to not allow something.

So the decision is up to the DM, but he shouldn't feel obligated to ban it, because he's not. Changelings are canonically a crossbreed between doppelgangers and humans. The Forgotten Realms has both, so there's nothing preventing changelings form existing in the Realms.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! Yea, he is a fairly open DM but there has been this thing with the eberron stuff for awhile. Being still fairly new I havent really questioned it because they have played for years but switching to 5.0 and just reading everything I just didnt see what was so imbalanced.

[STrain]

Changelings have the ability to change their appearance. In 3.5, this was described as them being able to cast Alter Self at will (or at least I'm pretty sure it was Alter Self).

For whatever reason though, in the Uncharted Realms Eberron packet, this ability is described as a polymorph ability. Polymorph works differently in 5th, and it has the side effect of providing an HP buffer to the creature (when it drops to 0 HP it reverts to its true form with whatever HP it had before transforming, and any excess damage is applied to that). Being able to polymorph at will is quite powerful.

But 5e still has the Alter Self spell, so you can just use that instead.

Oh ok, I didn't realize it worked as a polymorph instead of the alter self. Thanks again for all of this information.

[SharkForce]

Yea, I was trying to play either an artificer or a psionic but was told that you can't in non eberron campaigns. So is that just wrong? Right now I'm told that it says somewhere that in 5. only things from specific books are allowed in each campaign so I cant play and eberron race because its not an eberron campaign. I really dont see anythign about the eberron stuff that is really that much more powerful than any other of the powerful classes. Oh and also because we are in the forgotten realms is another reason i can't

....

are you playing in adventurer's league?

in that case, psionics and artificers are not available, but that's because they aren't really officially out yet. the artificer (and for that matter, changelings) were only released as a sort of "here's something we're kinda thinking about, but we haven't really playtested them or anything like that yet" version. psionics has not been formally released at all (and the one homebrew I've seen looked like it needed some playtesting to fit in with the rest of 5e).

when they finally get around to making those formally (assuming they do), they will almost definitely be allowed for the adventures that are released at the same time, but we're not really sure if AL is limiting you to material from on add-on book or not; at present, we only *have* one such book (which came out not that long ago), and it was part of the adventure that was released (or rather, it was the adventure path that was released, and the majority of the rules material has been made freely available to us in a separate PDF).

if, on the other hand, you are not playing adventurer's league, well, whatever your DM says, goes. if your DM says no artificers and no psionics, then there are no artificers and no psionics.

as far as balance goes, though, changelings should be fine.

[STrain]

I don't think there is anything in the book that bans a race from a setting.

As for the unforgotten realms, there are no articifers or eberron stuff there so you probably wouldn't play those.

They aren't unbalanced or broken, just not there. I think you're being lied to on the reasons why you can't play those.

I don't know that I'm being lied to I just think that it is more along the lines of misinformation. I'm kind of confused now though because madfellow is saying that changelings are in the forgotten realms and you are saying they are not. Not trying to start an argument or anything I'm just unsure as to which it is now.

[STrain]

....

are you playing in adventurer's league?

in that case, psionics and artificers are not available, but that's because they aren't really officially out yet. the artificer (and for that matter, changelings) were only released as a sort of "here's something we're kinda thinking about, but we haven't really playtested them or anything like that yet" version. psionics has not been formally released at all (and the one homebrew I've seen looked like it needed some playtesting to fit in with the rest of 5e).

when they finally get around to making those formally (assuming they do), they will almost definitely be allowed for the adventures that are released at the same time, but we're not really sure if AL is limiting you to material from on add-on book or not; at present, we only *have* one such book (which came out not that long ago), and it was part of the adventure that was released (or rather, it was the adventure path that was released, and the majority of the rules material has been made freely available to us in a separate PDF).

if, on the other hand, you are not playing adventurer's league, well, whatever your DM says, goes. if your DM says no artificers and no psionics, then there are no artificers and no psionics.

as far as balance goes, though, changelings should be fine.

To clear things up, The psionic or artificer I was considering to play was when we were playing 3.5. I'm now just looking to play a changeling rogue in 5.0 but was told that I can't use the eberron races in a non eberron campaign. The first reason was because it supposedly said that somewhere that you can't mix them and the second reason being that its in the forgotten realms not eberron.

[Madfellow]

I'm kind of confused now though because madfellow is saying that changelings are in the forgotten realms and you are saying they are not.

Changelings aren't officially in the Forgotten Realms, but they are officially a crossbreed between doppelgangers and humans. The Forgotten Realms has both humans and doppelgangers, so there's really nothing to prevent changelings from existing there.

[STrain]

Changelings aren't officially in the Forgotten Realms, but they are officially a crossbreed between doppelgangers and humans. The Forgotten Realms has both humans and doppelgangers, so there's really nothing to prevent changelings from existing there.

Oh, ok I get it now. Sorry about that.

[STrain]

Thanks for all of the help everyone! Talked with the DM and I will now be playing a changeling! :biggrin:

[Daishain]

Just to clear things up for the future.

-There are no hard restrictions on races/classes in particular settings, and both are typically balanced off of the standard race/class choices, not the setting (Whether or not the races/classes actually are balanced at all might be another issue, but that's more of an individual problem)
-Some settings do not have an established population of particular races, and likewise may not have established learning sources for particular classes.
-All settings are interconnected, travel between them is rare, but far from unknown. In fact one of the more popular settings in the past involved traveling the void between the worlds.

As a result, you could be whatever the hell you want wherever the hell you want. However, some choices will leave you as an outsider and/or descendant of outsiders in the realm you're living in, which is likely to affect social encounters to at least some degree. Certain encounters might be somewhat more... interesting when the other person is trying to figure out what the hell you are.

Note: DM as always has final say, if he doesn't want to mess with a psiforged psionic warrior in his purely FR based campaign, that's his choice. You can plead your case, but he's not required to budge.

[Inevitability]

In my (technically FR) campaign we have an artificer wizard and a changeling, and we used to have a warforged playing. No big balance issues have appeared so far.