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Eberron (D&D 3.5 manuals) #1
Eberron Campaign Setting
An entirely new campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons ® roleplaying game.
During the spring and summer of 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc., put out a request to the gaming community for proposals for a new D&D game setting. 11,000 proposals and two years of development later, the Eberron Campaign Setting is the result of that search. This brand-new setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is an avenue for any D&D fan to experience swashbuckling adventure and explore mysterious new territories.
Designed to introduce a new, fresh world with unlimited possibilities for exploration, the Eberron Campaign Setting includes everything needed to develop characters and run campaigns in this exciting new arena. It includes new character races, monsters, prestige classes, feats, organizations, and equipment unique to the world, and it introduces a new base class to the D&D game. It contains substantial information on new elements of magic, including spells, domains, items, artifacts, and more. Also included are historical and cultural details of the world, along with extensive illustrations and a wealth of maps that put the setting into vivid context. This title will also include both adventure hooks and a full adventure so that players and Dungeon Masters can immediately begin enjoying everything this rich new setting has to offer.
During the spring and summer of 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc., put out a request to the gaming community for proposals for a new D&D game setting. 11,000 proposals and two years of development later, the Eberron Campaign Setting is the result of that search. This brand-new setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is an avenue for any D&D fan to experience swashbuckling adventure and explore mysterious new territories.
Designed to introduce a new, fresh world with unlimited possibilities for exploration, the Eberron Campaign Setting includes everything needed to develop characters and run campaigns in this exciting new arena. It includes new character races, monsters, prestige classes, feats, organizations, and equipment unique to the world, and it introduces a new base class to the D&D game. It contains substantial information on new elements of magic, including spells, domains, items, artifacts, and more. Also included are historical and cultural details of the world, along with extensive illustrations and a wealth of maps that put the setting into vivid context. This title will also include both adventure hooks and a full adventure so that players and Dungeon Masters can immediately begin enjoying everything this rich new setting has to offer.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
9 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
About the author
Wizards of the Coast
425 books424 followersWizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 28, 2009
I've played D&D for (gulp) about 25 years now, and I've seen any number of worlds and settings for the game. I can say, with no doubt in my mind, that Eberron is my favorite.
Keith Baker's world of noir/pulp/fantasy, described in a nutshell as "Indiana Jones meets Lord of the Rings" was the home of my longest-running D&D 3.5 campaign, and with Eberron 4E coming up, that campaign is about to be restarted. I've run several different groups through several different adventures, and there are still elements of the world that I've barely scratched the surface of.
What few gripes I have about this book (the halflings and gnomes aren't given rules differences to match up with their campaign-specific roles) are few and far between. But as a guidebook to Eberron, this is immensely useful, even for someone about to run the 4E game, for whom the rules info isn't useful.
The several page overview of each nation, the look at various organizations, the history, the suggestions on running an Eberron campaign and giving it the right flavor, these are all tremendously useful tools. And of course, it's gorgeous to look at, with great art and maps.
Keith Baker's world of noir/pulp/fantasy, described in a nutshell as "Indiana Jones meets Lord of the Rings" was the home of my longest-running D&D 3.5 campaign, and with Eberron 4E coming up, that campaign is about to be restarted. I've run several different groups through several different adventures, and there are still elements of the world that I've barely scratched the surface of.
What few gripes I have about this book (the halflings and gnomes aren't given rules differences to match up with their campaign-specific roles) are few and far between. But as a guidebook to Eberron, this is immensely useful, even for someone about to run the 4E game, for whom the rules info isn't useful.
The several page overview of each nation, the look at various organizations, the history, the suggestions on running an Eberron campaign and giving it the right flavor, these are all tremendously useful tools. And of course, it's gorgeous to look at, with great art and maps.
March 6, 2017
Eberron was the winning entry out of a contest run by Wizards of the Coast. It's a very non-traditional (for D&D) campaign setting with elements of steampunk, film noir, and dramatic flair.
This book presents a richly detailed world; it's obvious a lot of work went in to flesh out the tone and flavour of this relatively newer entry into D&D. Unlike the older settings, the types of adventures that can be had is greatly expanded. By that, I mean that it provides a lot of inherent support for non-traditional adventures. Sure, the Indiana Jones type of adventures are still plenty much available, but it also throws in urban mysteries, political intrigues, and steampunk elements.
You can have player characters playing constructs and shapechangers; psionics are built into the history of the world. A new class that exists to offer the flavour of a world with a higher level of technology advances. It's a fractured world that recently came out of a decades long war, with nations destroyed and new nations born (including monstrous nations). You have militaristic nations, a democracy, a magocracy, a theocracy, and more, traditional and non-traditional. Religion and alignment is much more fluid and unpredictable. So are the common races and exotic monsters, whose traditional roles are often turned upside down, bringing new flavour to them.
In short, it's a new world where traditional dungeon crawls can easily fit in, but at the same time, it provides rich history and lore with which to mesh them together with adventures of the non-combat variety. It has just enough of about a lot of different elements built-in that it can handle just about any sort of fantasy adventure you could throw at it.
(But... I still have a soft spot for the Forgotten Realms)
This book presents a richly detailed world; it's obvious a lot of work went in to flesh out the tone and flavour of this relatively newer entry into D&D. Unlike the older settings, the types of adventures that can be had is greatly expanded. By that, I mean that it provides a lot of inherent support for non-traditional adventures. Sure, the Indiana Jones type of adventures are still plenty much available, but it also throws in urban mysteries, political intrigues, and steampunk elements.
You can have player characters playing constructs and shapechangers; psionics are built into the history of the world. A new class that exists to offer the flavour of a world with a higher level of technology advances. It's a fractured world that recently came out of a decades long war, with nations destroyed and new nations born (including monstrous nations). You have militaristic nations, a democracy, a magocracy, a theocracy, and more, traditional and non-traditional. Religion and alignment is much more fluid and unpredictable. So are the common races and exotic monsters, whose traditional roles are often turned upside down, bringing new flavour to them.
In short, it's a new world where traditional dungeon crawls can easily fit in, but at the same time, it provides rich history and lore with which to mesh them together with adventures of the non-combat variety. It has just enough of about a lot of different elements built-in that it can handle just about any sort of fantasy adventure you could throw at it.
(But... I still have a soft spot for the Forgotten Realms)
June 4, 2023
A must have for any Eberron campaign in any edition of D&D or even another system. Tons of lore and class information to pull from.
March 9, 2014
Those who know me know that I love Dungeons & Dragons, and have been playing for about fifteen years. It took me a while to learn how to Dungeon Master on my own, without using "canned" adventures and modules, and this, the Eberron Campaign Setting by Keith Baker (and co-written with veterans Bill Slavicsek and James Wyatt), is the setting that taught me how to do so. For that matter, it also hammered home for me that of all D&D editions published so far (we are yet to see D&D Next, effectively the 5th edition, so the jury's still out there), the 3rd edition and its 3.5 variant are the best for the average player, though each edition has its justifiable partisans.
For those not in the know, Eberron was the home-grown campaign of Keith Baker, who actually won a contest sponsored by D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast to come up with a new setting for the Dungeons & Dragons game. It is something of a "fantasy noir" setting for the game, with more everyday magic and more of a pulp fiction or action adventure feel than traditional sword and sorcery settings, and it's one of several people's favorite settings for a game that, as of this year, has been around for forty years. What I liked most about it was that it provides a framework on which a player or DM can hang just about any type of campaign. Baker provides more than bare bones, and a world fleshed out just enough that almost anything goes. When you consider that the largest metropolis in the game, Sharn, is roughly the game's equivalent of New York City, London, or any other major mundane city, with all that that implies, one sees the advantages of Baker's approach.
Now, one confession: I actually learned how to DM off of the 4th Edition version of the Eberron Campaign Setting, and only came into this volume when I decided to resume running a campaign with different players. With that realization, it occurred to me that as much as I enjoyed—and enjoy—4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd and 3.5 Edition are far superior, in my opinion. This particular version of the Eberron rules—perhaps fittingly, as Baker designed the rules for nativity with this edition—flows so much more smoothly in 3.5 than it does in 4th Edition that it's almost like night and day. It's even evident where 4th edition got some of its aspects—character races such as shifters and mechanics such as action points originated in this volume, albeit in somewhat different form (though less so for shifters, for example).
The chief advantage of 3.5, particularly as opposed to 4th Edition, is that it has all the anything-goes attitude of 4th edition, without all the rules-heavy mechanics throughout. It's more self-intuitive. And Baker, Slavicsek, and Wyatt's version of the Eberron Campaign Setting demonstrate this amply.
For those not in the know, Eberron was the home-grown campaign of Keith Baker, who actually won a contest sponsored by D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast to come up with a new setting for the Dungeons & Dragons game. It is something of a "fantasy noir" setting for the game, with more everyday magic and more of a pulp fiction or action adventure feel than traditional sword and sorcery settings, and it's one of several people's favorite settings for a game that, as of this year, has been around for forty years. What I liked most about it was that it provides a framework on which a player or DM can hang just about any type of campaign. Baker provides more than bare bones, and a world fleshed out just enough that almost anything goes. When you consider that the largest metropolis in the game, Sharn, is roughly the game's equivalent of New York City, London, or any other major mundane city, with all that that implies, one sees the advantages of Baker's approach.
Now, one confession: I actually learned how to DM off of the 4th Edition version of the Eberron Campaign Setting, and only came into this volume when I decided to resume running a campaign with different players. With that realization, it occurred to me that as much as I enjoyed—and enjoy—4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, 3rd and 3.5 Edition are far superior, in my opinion. This particular version of the Eberron rules—perhaps fittingly, as Baker designed the rules for nativity with this edition—flows so much more smoothly in 3.5 than it does in 4th Edition that it's almost like night and day. It's even evident where 4th edition got some of its aspects—character races such as shifters and mechanics such as action points originated in this volume, albeit in somewhat different form (though less so for shifters, for example).
The chief advantage of 3.5, particularly as opposed to 4th Edition, is that it has all the anything-goes attitude of 4th edition, without all the rules-heavy mechanics throughout. It's more self-intuitive. And Baker, Slavicsek, and Wyatt's version of the Eberron Campaign Setting demonstrate this amply.
April 28, 2009
It's well written and easy going while someone reads this book.
Very good design and nice illustrations.
The world of Eberron is awesome, and much better than almost any other campaign setting designed from the wizards of the coast
Very good design and nice illustrations.
The world of Eberron is awesome, and much better than almost any other campaign setting designed from the wizards of the coast
October 21, 2009
It deserved to win the contest for the new D&D campaign setting. It's got intrigue and pulp adventure and vague steampunk undertones.
I just wish people ran it like it deserved to be run, and not like any other goddamned D&D campaign out there.
I just wish people ran it like it deserved to be run, and not like any other goddamned D&D campaign out there.
June 20, 2017
One of the things that drew me to D&D was maps. Maps and worldbuilding. I can, and have, just sat and read through campaign settings that I will never, ever actually use in a game. I've spent a bunch of money over the years on Forgotten Realms, and hardly used it at all. For me, Eberron is the perfect Pulp Hero Fantasy setting. It's got a coherent history and cosmology. It's not a bunch of thinly disguised real world equivalents plopped down onto the map. It's also wicked keen. It walks the fine line of being different enough to be cool, and being so different that designing adventures or adapting them becomes really difficult. Dark Sun, I'm looking at you. Since 5e came out I've gotten rid of almost all my 3e books. I don't see going back at this point. But I've kept all the Eberron books for reference.
May 23, 2020
First experience with a non-5th edition D&D setting and adventure, but I might be incorporating adapted forms of some of the mechanics. The Eberron setting is really interesting with regard to all its political relations in particular, and I think it'd be a great world to explore further.
September 27, 2023
Easily my favourite DnD setting, this sourcebook covers everything you need to know about the world and is essential for anyone looking to run a game in Eberron or just looking for background for a character.
May 30, 2012
Stuff I Read D&D Edition – Eberron Campaign Setting
Consider this a Stuff I Read sub-series, as I am sure there will be more of these, as I continue to read not only my D&D books but also others that I come across. But I am starting with the Eberron core book because it is probably the first (or at least first in a long time) that I have read cover to cover. And I must say, there is a lot of information in that book. The world is one that is fully realized, and obviously a great deal of work has gone into it all. As a setting alone it would be worth a good look, because the history and geography is interesting, and it makes me enjoy even more that people convinced me to run a campaign set in Eberron. Hilariously, I have been running my Eberron campaign for more than a year now and this is the first time I am sitting down to read the whole thing (because the version I had was a pdf which isn’t as easy to sit and read). And while I was surprised at some of the things that I didn’t follow, what surprised me more was how much stuff in the setting I agree with and have been following having not read it.
I’ll start with the innovations that Eberron brings to D&D. To begin, I am reading the 3.5 Edition books, so don’t get confused. Eberron introduces a number of new races, but perhaps the one I have found most interesting and have wanted for a long time is the Warforged. I mean, robots are just interesting, because they can be used in so many different ways, and Warforged are fantasy robots, but with a soul and personality and a rather tragic history. They allow me as a DM to have characters that see them as objects and characters that see themselves as objects and characters who are angry and resentful of the whole thing. It is fun. The Shifter, Changeling, and Kalashtar races are also interesting, and add to the tapestry of the world, but it is the Warforged that is the star of the show.
Along with the new races, though, is the idea of Dragonmarked. Which, I will admit, I have not been doing right according to the books. But hell, that never stopped me before. The idea of the Dragonmarked is that there are families that possess marks that allow them to cast spells without having to be a caster class. This has changed the landscape of the world financially and politically as these families have risen to prominence and power. This, along with the rest of the very complex political system outlined in the book, makes for a very rich and deep experience, where things aren’t black and white. I really like that the book itself says that alignments aren’t terrible important when determining people’s guilt or innocence, and that there can be well run campaigns that don’t hinge on combat.
Which sort of creates the mood of Eberron, which is at the surface a place of wonders, where magic has made a world where almost anything is possible, and where the kingdoms are still glorious and proud. At the same time, there is the feeling of unrest and barely suppressed violence and darkness. This is a world that is in transition, from the great kingdom of old to something new. What that new thing is hasn’t been determined yet. Like with revolutionary Europe, this is a time when dictators can rise to power, or democracies can flourish, or any number of things. Political manipulation, espionage, and violence are the norm, and world, while striving to maintain the shine of the past, has become gritty and tarnished. This is the world that Eberron sets up for the PCs to live in, and the sense is not that the PCs will be or should be pillars of good and justice, because the very notions have been confused and muddied by religion and intolerance.
Really, Eberron is a great setting to create a campaign that challenges the modes of more traditional or cliché D&D, where the setting almost begs the DM to throw in things that show the naivety of heroic justice. Clerics and Paladins involved in crusades, heroes that are secretly in league with undead cults or extra-planar invasions, kings and queens that seem benevolent while viciously punishing any who get in the way of their quest for power, the world of Eberron is one where what you see is rarely what is true, and I appreciate it that. It gives me enough tools to create in depth campaigns that can range from any corner of the world and beyond, giving me freedom to work personalized elements into the setting. Though it sets the scene as of a particular time, there is nothing stopping a DM from filling in some more time, which is why my campaign, for example, began after the recommended starting time. This allows me freedom to invent what happened in the years not mentioned in the book while keeping all of the history. So yes, the setting innovates while working with anything contained in the 3.5 core books or supplements, making this an extension, and a powerful one, which stands as a more complicated and mature setting to run a campaign in. And so I give it a 9/10.
Consider this a Stuff I Read sub-series, as I am sure there will be more of these, as I continue to read not only my D&D books but also others that I come across. But I am starting with the Eberron core book because it is probably the first (or at least first in a long time) that I have read cover to cover. And I must say, there is a lot of information in that book. The world is one that is fully realized, and obviously a great deal of work has gone into it all. As a setting alone it would be worth a good look, because the history and geography is interesting, and it makes me enjoy even more that people convinced me to run a campaign set in Eberron. Hilariously, I have been running my Eberron campaign for more than a year now and this is the first time I am sitting down to read the whole thing (because the version I had was a pdf which isn’t as easy to sit and read). And while I was surprised at some of the things that I didn’t follow, what surprised me more was how much stuff in the setting I agree with and have been following having not read it.
I’ll start with the innovations that Eberron brings to D&D. To begin, I am reading the 3.5 Edition books, so don’t get confused. Eberron introduces a number of new races, but perhaps the one I have found most interesting and have wanted for a long time is the Warforged. I mean, robots are just interesting, because they can be used in so many different ways, and Warforged are fantasy robots, but with a soul and personality and a rather tragic history. They allow me as a DM to have characters that see them as objects and characters that see themselves as objects and characters who are angry and resentful of the whole thing. It is fun. The Shifter, Changeling, and Kalashtar races are also interesting, and add to the tapestry of the world, but it is the Warforged that is the star of the show.
Along with the new races, though, is the idea of Dragonmarked. Which, I will admit, I have not been doing right according to the books. But hell, that never stopped me before. The idea of the Dragonmarked is that there are families that possess marks that allow them to cast spells without having to be a caster class. This has changed the landscape of the world financially and politically as these families have risen to prominence and power. This, along with the rest of the very complex political system outlined in the book, makes for a very rich and deep experience, where things aren’t black and white. I really like that the book itself says that alignments aren’t terrible important when determining people’s guilt or innocence, and that there can be well run campaigns that don’t hinge on combat.
Which sort of creates the mood of Eberron, which is at the surface a place of wonders, where magic has made a world where almost anything is possible, and where the kingdoms are still glorious and proud. At the same time, there is the feeling of unrest and barely suppressed violence and darkness. This is a world that is in transition, from the great kingdom of old to something new. What that new thing is hasn’t been determined yet. Like with revolutionary Europe, this is a time when dictators can rise to power, or democracies can flourish, or any number of things. Political manipulation, espionage, and violence are the norm, and world, while striving to maintain the shine of the past, has become gritty and tarnished. This is the world that Eberron sets up for the PCs to live in, and the sense is not that the PCs will be or should be pillars of good and justice, because the very notions have been confused and muddied by religion and intolerance.
Really, Eberron is a great setting to create a campaign that challenges the modes of more traditional or cliché D&D, where the setting almost begs the DM to throw in things that show the naivety of heroic justice. Clerics and Paladins involved in crusades, heroes that are secretly in league with undead cults or extra-planar invasions, kings and queens that seem benevolent while viciously punishing any who get in the way of their quest for power, the world of Eberron is one where what you see is rarely what is true, and I appreciate it that. It gives me enough tools to create in depth campaigns that can range from any corner of the world and beyond, giving me freedom to work personalized elements into the setting. Though it sets the scene as of a particular time, there is nothing stopping a DM from filling in some more time, which is why my campaign, for example, began after the recommended starting time. This allows me freedom to invent what happened in the years not mentioned in the book while keeping all of the history. So yes, the setting innovates while working with anything contained in the 3.5 core books or supplements, making this an extension, and a powerful one, which stands as a more complicated and mature setting to run a campaign in. And so I give it a 9/10.
April 8, 2014
The artwork style is a distinct deviation from what came before, with less of a 'high fantasy' feel and more of an 'anime/manga' tone to it, which I thought fit the setting beautifully.
The introduction of a new subsystem of magic was interesting, although I thought it could have been better explored in this core rulebook. Still, it allows an extra dimension to characters, thereby allowing for increased specialization or for some measure of covering a character's given weaknesses.
I really did like the Warforged race. It was pretty clear to me that there was a lot of potentially unexplored material for them, and unlike the glyph system, I thought that leaving them more or less 'unspoiled' was a masterstroke. My players and I sat around and talked for hours about which direction certain Warforged-centric campaigns could go, and we had a blast devising and then running through several different flavors which took advantage of this new, unique race.
I didn't really care for the rest of the new races, but one shot out of the park out of a handful of tries is enough for me. I would really recommend this book to any experienced gamer who hasn't already taken a peek. It's a different direction, but in no way did I find it jarring or discomforting.
This is what a new direction should look like.
The introduction of a new subsystem of magic was interesting, although I thought it could have been better explored in this core rulebook. Still, it allows an extra dimension to characters, thereby allowing for increased specialization or for some measure of covering a character's given weaknesses.
I really did like the Warforged race. It was pretty clear to me that there was a lot of potentially unexplored material for them, and unlike the glyph system, I thought that leaving them more or less 'unspoiled' was a masterstroke. My players and I sat around and talked for hours about which direction certain Warforged-centric campaigns could go, and we had a blast devising and then running through several different flavors which took advantage of this new, unique race.
I didn't really care for the rest of the new races, but one shot out of the park out of a handful of tries is enough for me. I would really recommend this book to any experienced gamer who hasn't already taken a peek. It's a different direction, but in no way did I find it jarring or discomforting.
This is what a new direction should look like.
January 11, 2016
This is THE book you need to run an Eberron Campaign or, at the very least, draw some awesome ideas on how to run a magicpunk/steampunk world. The lore, organizations, and happenings in this world are intriguing and naturally lend themselves to both mystery/suspense games and action/adventure.
If you are looking for an awesome campaign setting, look no further than this one. Even if you aren't running 3.5e, this will definitely still help you. I am using this in my 5e campaign, and it is the ULTIMATE resource.
If you are looking for an awesome campaign setting, look no further than this one. Even if you aren't running 3.5e, this will definitely still help you. I am using this in my 5e campaign, and it is the ULTIMATE resource.
May 12, 2008
Neat campaign setting.
Positives
Dragonmarks
Lack of overly powerful show stealing NPC's
Monster races realistically draw into world
Last War
Noir
Negatives
Artificer is too magic item dependent
Warforged are unpowered and require an Artificer
Shifters are neat but need too many feats to be cool
Changlings are annoyingly overpowered in roleplaying and underpowered in combat
Positives
Dragonmarks
Lack of overly powerful show stealing NPC's
Monster races realistically draw into world
Last War
Noir
Negatives
Artificer is too magic item dependent
Warforged are unpowered and require an Artificer
Shifters are neat but need too many feats to be cool
Changlings are annoyingly overpowered in roleplaying and underpowered in combat
August 25, 2020
Elements of Eberron are amazing (warforged, pushing dungeonpunk closer to magitech, more modern societies, some amazing art and atmosphere) but it never clicks together into an enjoyable whole. Even after years of reading through the lore, I don't get why this is a setting and not just a book about amazing ways to work with dungeonpunk tropes and tell stories in weird unique worlds.
May 23, 2007
(Dungeons and Dragons) * Noir(cos(Pulp)) = Awesome
July 29, 2008
My absolute favorite Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting!
July 24, 2010
Even though some of what's in here will be revised and changed, for a guy about to run a new Eberron campaign, this has been a big help so far.
August 12, 2012
An interesting setting incorporating adventuresque elements from later ages. A nice world to play with (and the basis for the online game).
July 28, 2013
Interesting ideas. I don't know that Eberron will ever be a setting I could play in for years, but It's got some interesting stuff going on.
February 17, 2014
The film noir, magicpunk setting that will enrapture you with its many dark plots, adventures and misteries. It feels like fantasy mixed with post war pulp novels, and they do it greatly.
September 4, 2015
An excellently rendered campaign world for D&D 3.5, combining traditional D&D tropes with steampunk and pulp adventure elements. Bet it'd be a lot of fun to play in!
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews