Buying one Eberron book. Which should it be?

[overduegalaxy]

My group is about to start their first Eberron game, and we need books.

In our group, everyone owns their own PHB, and, if they're prone to DMing, MM and DMG. Any other books are bought individually, and added to the group pool, but they still, ultimately, belong to the person who bought them.

So, as far as Eberron books goes, and keeping that in mind, which would be in my best interest to buy? I'm thinking the Eberron Campaign Setting would be my best bet. Player's Guide to Eberron just seems to be some fluff and general reference, as does the Explorer's Handbook. Magic of Eberron might be useful, as I am playing a Psion, but I could probably just as easily get by using someone else's book.

Suggestions?

[Bryn]

The Eberron Campaign Setting. Many of the other books are good, but none of them come even close to the main campaign setting book in the amount they cover, and they all draw on rules in the Campaign Setting as well. The ECS really needs to be the first Eberron book to buy. In terms of details about the world, the characters, the cultures, the tone of the setting, etc. the Campaign Setting is your best bet.

Your second Eberron book would be more of a problem.

[Gorbash]

What he said. Eberron CS, no doubt about it. I'd take Five Nations for the second. Or Races of Eberron.

[jcsw]

ECS++

Followed by magic item compendium, cause you can't have Eberron without lots of simple magic items making everyone's life easier.

(Yes I was just trying to be unique with the book-that-isn't-really-eberron thing)

[Uin]

The Eberron Campaign Setting. I've picked up various Eberron books since 4e was released:

Dragonmarked; I liked this in particular. Lends a lot of personality to Eberron's important organisations, ideas for a Second War of the Mark and some nice Dragonmark related crunch in the back.

Magic of Eberron; Some people don't like this one, probably because some slightly insane stuff like Daelkyr Half-Blood (Aberration charater race) and Renegade Masterforged (Fleshie to Warforged transitive PrC). Doesn't mean its not cool though and it expands a little on my favourite Eberron baddies.:smallsmile:

Explorer's Handbook; Or as my friend calls it "Airships and the funky places you can fly to." Gives you a good sense of the scope of Eberron with some great sites to go Indiana in.

I also have Sharn: City of Towers, Five Nations and the Player's Guide. While good, I'd say these don't stand out as much. You can probably tell I'm a Rule of Cool guy from my choices.

[AstralFire]

EbCS is the best. I'd pick up Races of, Sharn, or Explorer's Handbook next depending on your general interest.

Sharn is the coolest city in D&D since Sigil. ^_^

[vegetalss4]

the Eberron campain setting, hands down

[Greenfaun]

I would also say that if you're really only buying one, then it has to be ECS. It's the basic guide to all the dragonmarks and nations and special magic stuff that makes it Eberron, and furthermore all the other books refer to it instead of reprinting necessary information.

If you're just getting one other book, make it Magic of Eberron IMO.

Also, Sharn is my all-time favorite book in the line, but if you're not actually planning to run your campaign there, then it'd be next to useless.

All the others certainly have their good bits, but I don't consider them as important to playing Eberron as those two. Also, you might want to avoid Races of Eberron. It has some good racial feats and a bit more that's useful, but you definitely don't get the bang for your buck unless you're really interested in fluff about the various races.

[kpenguin]

Eberron Campaign Setting, definitely.

[overduegalaxy]

We are playing in Sharn, but the DM will be picking up the City of Towers book.

I might pick up a second book, just because I like reading about Eberron, and would much prefer to stare at paper for hours a day instead of a computer screen.

However, I'm a gnome from Zilargo, so neither RoE or 5N is much help there, at least as far as this character goes. Since it will be almost exclusively city-based, I reckon MoE would be more useful than the Explorer's Handbook or Secrets of Xin'drik (pity, that's just the sort of thing I, as a DM, would've used).

[AstralFire]

Explorer's Handbook is pretty nice on the whole actually, but the stuff in PGtE is exactly the stuff I hate to read for too long, so.

[sonofzeal]

ECS, obviously; I'd put "Magic of Eberron" second. I love the grafts, and Minor Schemas deserved to be core.

[Waspinator]

For ANY setting that has multiple books, get the main campaign setting one first. They almost always have the unique races, classes, whatever that the other books rely on.

After that, it starts becoming more of a question of what areas of the world or types of characters/campaigns you want to focus on.