Eberron books [4E]- answered, but feel free to add.

[Kol Korran]

as my nick name implies- i'm quite of an Eberron fan. but that has been due to the 3.5E material. however, i do like the 4E system (please, please, please no Edition war). i was thinking of purchasing the 4E Eberron books, but would have liked some opinions on them. to be more focused:

1) what books ARE there so far? player's guide? campaign guide? anything else?

2) have there been any notable world changes/ variations/ additions to the 3.5 material, or is it similar in most respects. please expand a bit on this subject, as it is quite importent to me (i'm not sure i want the major changes the FR campaign has gone through. though come again, it might be fun)

3) any notable rule mechanic changes or additions? obviously added races, and dragonamarks (how are those dealt with?) but anything else? classes (artificer?) monsters, region rules and such (mournland)

4) general impressions you've got from the products. always importent.

thanks in advance,
Kol.

[dragoonsgone]

1) Players handbook and Campaign Guide with the campaign guide coming out last Tuesday I got them both last Tuesday so still reading and such.
2) I don't think so. I never played 3.5 Eberron but skimed through the books. Seems pretty similar they just worked on the feel more and made it more compatible with Core.
3) 3 Added races Warforged, Changlings and Kalashtar and Artificers(leader) as well as feats/equipment for them. I like the mechanics for artificers.
Dragonmarks are feats which give nice bonuses.
Mournland is presented as a skill challenge which you can get immune too.
4) I like them a lot. I read most of players guide so far and I am on the campaign guide. I listened to the podcast on Eberron and it was interesting too. I want to go explore the other continents more than the main one. They are more full of mystery. The main continent is near anarchy and could go back to war any day now.

I hope that's enough for now. If you have any questions let me know and I will try to answer em. I recommend them.

[Godric]

I haven't gone through the old campaign guide vs. the new one, but I did enjoy it. I especially enjoyed the art! Notes:

- As was said, no changes to the world. It is the same as it's always been. People wanted to change it, but because they couldn't come up with a reason better than "We wanted to change things", it was pooh-poohed.

- I really liked the sections in the campaign guide describing the draconic prophecy, the last war, etc. But, as I said, I haven't done a blow-by-blow comparison.

- The maps are pretty.

- a new mini-adventure in the back of the campaign guide

Overall: The player's guide is a nice edition with new crunch (I do like the artificer quite a bit). The player's guide also has a section on backstories, where races like goliaths/devas/dragonborn fit into the eberron framework, etc. The campaign guide...ehhh. I wouldn't say you need it unless you want stats on eberron-specific people, monsters and soldiers. For example, there's a whole chapter on Sharn, but if you always have the 3.5 City of Towers book, it's superfluous.

[Ashes]

One really major thing they changed, are that Dragonmarks now apply to whichever race want to select them. The Houses still exist, but if a Dragonborn or a Warforged want to have the Mark of Passage, they can have it.
If I were to ever run a 4e Eberron game, that would be one of the things that would be changed back, right fast.

[NPCMook]

With the Release of Eberron, Dopplegangers no longer exist, only Changelings

[Gralamin]

as my nick name implies- i'm quite of an Eberron fan. but that has been due to the 3.5E material. however, i do like the 4E system (please, please, please no Edition war). i was thinking of purchasing the 4E Eberron books, but would have liked some opinions on them. to be more focused:

1) what books ARE there so far? player's guide? campaign guide? anything else?

2) have there been any notable world changes/ variations/ additions to the 3.5 material, or is it similar in most respects. please expand a bit on this subject, as it is quite importent to me (i'm not sure i want the major changes the FR campaign has gone through. though come again, it might be fun)

3) any notable rule mechanic changes or additions? obviously added races, and dragonamarks (how are those dealt with?) but anything else? classes (artificer?) monsters, region rules and such (mournland)

4) general impressions you've got from the products. always importent.

thanks in advance,
Kol.

1) Player's Guide and Campaign Setting

2) There are not very many changes, fluff wise, that I have seen. I'm still reading the books however. The major change is that Xoriat is no longer one of the satellite planes, Baator taking its place. Xoriat is now a realm beyond the rest of the planes. In addition they associate the planes each with a certain primordial dragon (Siberys representing the planes that would fall in the Astral Sea, Irian, Daanvi, etc., Eberron reperesenting Material, Dal Quor, Dolurrh and Thelanis, and Khyber reperesenting the planes to do with elements and chaos).

3) They added in a section detailing how every race fits in. Dragonmarks are a single feat that you can take, with no difference in size. The team has noted, however, that they want to reintroduce Siberys marks eventually. The Players guide gives the artificer, and the Campaign setting gives some rules for adventuring in the mournland.

4) They are solid products, and its easy enough to use the 3.5 fluff with the 4e version. Lord of Blades has become even more badass in the edition change, now being stronger then Vol.

One really major thing they changed, are that Dragonmarks now apply to whichever race want to select them. The Houses still exist, but if a Dragonborn or a Warforged want to have the Mark of Passage, they can have it.
If I were to ever run a 4e Eberron game, that would be one of the things that would be changed back, right fast.

This change was specifically noted away as the prophesy being able to manifest on anyone it really wants, allowing the heroes to be oddities. Do note however, being another race with the dragonmark means the houses will probably not like you much, and may very well be after you. The Change is fine, but putting it back is easy enough to do.

[Kol Korran]

thanks people! that was very helpfull! i guess that the books are worth having. i'll just order go get and order them...

thanks again!
Kol.

[Asbestos]

Is the Mournland skill challenge thing in the Campaign Guide? How badass is the new Lord of Blades? He's more than a mid-tier beatstick I hope.

[Hyozo]

4) They are solid products, and its easy enough to use the 3.5 fluff with the 4e version. Lord of Planes has become even more badass in the edition change, now being stronger then Vol.

Pre-epic Vol... What the hell were they thinking? To date, this and the alignment system change are the only parts of 4th edition to upset me.

[Gralamin]

Is the Mournland skill challenge thing in the Campaign Guide? How badass is the new Lord of Blades? He's more than a mid-tier beatstick I hope.

Mournland Affliction, The Dead-Gray Mist (as a Trap and as a skill challenge), And some Mournland creatures are listed, though, unfortunately the Corpse Crab is missing.

The Lord of Blades is a level 21 Elite Soldier (Leader), and he usually fights with his 2 homunculi (Hilt and Pommel) and whatever other warforged you wish to include.
His aura gives improved initiative to all allied constructs / living constructs in its range, He has an improved Warforged Resolve, He packs an Admantine Six-blade that ignores 10 points of any damage resistance. He can stop things from moving or shifting away from him, he has a minor action attack, he has multiple minor action attacks, he has some good beginning buffs. Grabbing onto him will damage you, and he charges like a Juggernaut.
Hilt and Pommel act as support for the Lord of Blades, getting his foes to lie at his feet.

It would be a very fun encounter to face off against the Lord of Blades.

Pre-epic Vol... What the hell were they thinking? To date, this and the alignment system change are the only parts of 4th edition to upset me.

Vol was a level 16 Elf Lich Half-dragon Wizard in 3.5 There is no particular reason why she should be epic in 4e instead of high paragon (Where she is)

[jmbrown]

One of the reasons they changed the race restrictions was because they didn't want players building characters specifically around the dragonmarks and frankly some of the dragonmarks offered very little in the realm of incentives. The only reason you'd take it is for RP fluff reasons yet you'd still be down a feat that could have went somewhere else.

I don't have my old 3.5 campaign setting on hand but the maps are more detailed in this one.

[Salt_Crow]

I'm very disappointed to find that Baator had wormed its way into Eberron. It takes something out of the unique charm Eberron always held on me. I can see how it'd help new players though, not having to learn a whole lot of different planar interactions etc.

It's just too... Faerun, if you get what I mean XD

[Gralamin]

I'm very disappointed to find that Baator had wormed its way into Eberron. It takes something out of the unique charm Eberron always held on me. I can see how it'd help new players though, not having to learn a whole lot of different planar interactions etc.

It's just too... Faerun, if you get what I mean XD

It's easy enough to send it back and reincorporate Xoriat in as a satellite plane, just make a note of it.
Also, I'm dissapointed they didn't give the time data for Countermenious / Remote, but thats easy enough to look up in my 3.5 book.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Skimmed over it, got the DDI update. Artificers and Changelings are pretty sex; will have to pick up at least the Player's Guide eventually.

[DiscipleofBob]

A couple changes I noticed while going through the Player's Guide (have yet to see that delicious Campaign Guide yet):

Q'barra is a lot bigger, mostly to accomodate a relative homeland on Khorvaire for the Dragonborn (even if they originally came from Seren which also makes sense), there are bunch of eladrin fey-tower-cities all over Khorvaire and the rest of the world.

Also, even if it says you don't have to be of a certain race to take a feat, it does make special note that dragonmarks amongst races such as, oh, Dragonborn, are so rare that a Dragonborn with such a mark is probably the only one in existence.

[dragoonsgone]

It's easy enough to send it back and reincorporate Xoriat in as a satellite plane, just make a note of it.
Also, I'm dissapointed they didn't give the time data for Countermenious / Remote, but thats easy enough to look up in my 3.5 book.

They explained that in the podcast. They left timing up to the DM so that you could make the time at the speed of plot/when you needed it and not be restricted by it. Basically their example was it was coming in and the player said didn't that happen like 2 weeks ago and its not due for another 6 months.

[Starsinger]

They explained that in the podcast. They left timing up to the DM so that you could make the time at the speed of plot/when you needed it and not be restricted by it. Basically their example was it was coming in and the player said didn't that happen like 2 weeks ago and its not due for another 6 months.

Dragonlance's lunar phases were the same way in the books, and keeping track of it in the pen and paper game was a pain.

[Gralamin]

They explained that in the podcast. They left timing up to the DM so that you could make the time at the speed of plot/when you needed it and not be restricted by it. Basically their example was it was coming in and the player said didn't that happen like 2 weeks ago and its not due for another 6 months.

Trying to keep track of Eberron's planes without a program is insane. It was just a nice fluff bit, I thought.