RPG Review: Eberron: Rising from the Last War (Part 1): Character Options

Eberron: Rising from the Last War represents the largest undertaking of Wizards of the Coast since the release of 5th Edition. After releasing The Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron on the DM’s Guild as a playtest document, WotC compiled all of the feedback they received, added a ton more material, and released this very impressive tome. Today, we’ll be tackling just the beginning of the book, because there’s a lot of ground to cover.

For those unfamiliar with Eberron, it was created by Keith Baker as part of a large “design a new world for us” contest Wizards held in the days of 3e. Lots of material for 3e was released for it, as well as a few books and adventures for it for 4e. Eberron is a world of advanced magic, where there’s a magic shop on every corner, magical items are incredibly common, airships sail the skies, and an elemental-powered train traces the landscape of Khorvaire, the continent most of the setting takes place on. Everything is different about Eberron; there is a completely different cosmology, different religions, some gods (lookin’ at you, Tiamat) are instead demons, and some races act differently than you’d expect in other settings. Also, there’s robot people called Warforged. More on them later.

I owned the core book and a couple of supplements for 3e Eberron back in the day, but never played in it until 4e, where we ran a fantastic campaign that I’d love to adapt over into an adventure some day. My players in my Deck of Many Worlds campaign even made a two session foray into Eberron, so I’ve dabbled here and there with it.

Let’s dive in.

The Covers

Let’s start with the covers. There had been some controversy with people not liking the cover WotC originally released when announcing the game, so they replaced it with one that more closely captures the mood of the setting, featuring a Halfling alongside a Warforged, traveling through a valley. The back of the book shows a velociraptor-like dinosaur in the valley with them. It’s a good cover that’s sure to catch your eye in a Barnes & Noble.

But the alternate cover!

This beautiful cover is covered in Art Deco framing and features an airship sailing over Sharn, the City of Towers. The cover is beautiful, featuring the smooth black and metallics we expect from these alternate covers. All the gold and bronze colors are metallic, so it’s VERY shiny and shimmery. It’s probably my favorite alternate cover yet.

Welcome to Eberron

From some of the rumblings I’ve heard online, much of the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron made its way into this book without any changes. Some people who picked up that PDF are concerned that they essentially payed for a playtest. I can’t speak to that, since I didn’t get the Wayfinder’s Guide, so if you did, your miles may vary, but there’s so much material here, and I prefer physical books, so even if I bought the Wayfinder’s Guide, I’d still likely pick this up.

The book has art deco stylings on the inside as well, showing you this is a very different setting than you’re used to. Right off the bat, the book explains what makes the world different, getting even into the nitty gritty of what they call their months. It emphasizes that this is a world of pulp adventures, meant to be larger than life. Your games should have the feeling of Indiana Jones, the Rocketeer, the Mummy and other movies of that ilk. There are tables to randomly determine a character’s regrets or their debts, reminding me a bit of Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, though there’s no mechanical ties for these.

They also go into the Last War, a world-altering world war that ended only a few years prior. If this game is 1930’s pulp, the Last War is World War 1, which changed our world forever. There’s a whole land shrouded in fog that no one ever returns from after some sort of WMD was set off that ended the war. Now, everyone is trying to heal. Warforged were created for the war, and now have to find their way in the world, figuring out what it means to no longer be a weapon. The whole thing is STEEPED in metaphor, which I love.

New Race Options

There are multiple new races that players can play, including goblins, bugbears, hobgoblins and orcs. These look very similar (perhaps even identical) to the same races found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. In addition, there are four races that are unique to Eberron: Changelings, Kalashtar, Shifters and Warforged.

Changelings are shapeshifter that hide in society, taking on others appearances. They make fantastic spies. Most of their traits are cosmetic. There’s no specific mechanical rules to the shapeshifting. You don’t even naturally gain advantage on deception or anything. Instead, it explains the limit to your powers, and gives you proficiency in two of four listed skills of your choice. With a DM who isn’t out to ruin everyone’s day, the changeling could be a lot of fun to play, but its lack of mechanics for deceiving other characters in the game could be a problem if you’re playing at a table whose DM demands the letter of the law.

Kalashtar are humans who have merged with spirits from the plane of dreams. Two minds live in their heads, acting in a symbiotic relationship. It reminds me a bit of the Trill from Star Trek. While in previous editions, this used a lot of Psionic mechanics, here, it’s quite simple, allowing the Kalashtar to telepathically communicate with those around them.

Shifters are not-quite lycanthropes. They are able to shift into becoming more bestial, making your appearance and abilities change based on which of the four types of shifter you chose. With the variety of types of shifters, this race would be great for anything from a rogue to a barbarian.

Finally, Warforged are a sentient race of machines who were constructed through magical means to fight in the Last War. Being constructed beings, they’re a really cool race with lots of RP options. Bridget’s Warforged that she played in 4e, Bastion, is a character she still talks about. Warforged get an automatic +1AC (which can be stacked with armor), don’t need to sleep, and can integrate armor into their bodies.

Dragonmarks

Dragonmarks are magical tattoos tied to powerful families in Eberron. You may choose to give your character a dragonmark, but only certain races can have certain marks. Depending on the mark you choose, you will get a new racial variant or subrace. Aberrant dragonmarks also exist, and are depicted as a feat.

Artificer

The big new feature of the book is a brand new class. While there’s been many new class variants, this is the first time we’re seeing a brand new class for D&D since 5e was released five years ago. The artificer creates magical items and imbues weapons with magical energy.

What I like about the artificer is that it appears to be trying to make up for being ten years behind the other classes. This class is TEN whole pages! There’s a lot of content here. Artificers use artisan’s tools as their spellcasting focus, and have their own spell list that includes a few spells from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

Artificers can infuse mundane items with magic, turning them into magical items. There’s a set of infusions that act similarly to spells, but remain permanently attached to equipment, such as the Boots of the Winding Path, Repeating Shot, or Returning Weapon. I imagine the DM’s Guild will be completely loaded with new infusions that people come up with.

The specialties Artificers can take are very interesting, including Alchemist, Artillerist, and Battle Smith. Each gives you new great options that are heavy with flavor. The Battle Smith gets their own pet construct, the Steel Defender, which can acts immediately after character, and resembles a metal dog. Alchemists can make experimental elixers that provide a random magical effect. Artillerists create magical cannons. It’s all very Eberron, though there is a sidebar explaining how to use Artificers in other D&D settings.

This review is getting out of hand! I haven’t even tackled all the other fantastic elements of the book. We’ll finish this review up tomorrow with even more info.

Eberron: Rising from the Last War releases today. The gorgeous alternate cover is only in Friendly Local Game Stores, while the standard cover is available anywhere you get your D&D books.

Wizards of the Coast sent a copy of Eberron: Rising from the Last War to Dice Monkey for Review

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