You Got Your Iron Man in My D&D! (Eberron: Rising from the Last War Review)

Having played Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 3.5 edition in college, when I got an actual job in 2008 and was able to afford things I started playing RPGs again. Unfortunately, I ended up playing a lot of D&D 4th edition, but at the time I was loving it. After getting the core books, I wanted to get some of the vast sourcebooks that were available. There were a ton of different settings, but the one that grabbed me was Eberron. Written by Keith Baker, it was a custom setting that was submitted to Wizards in a D&D3.5 contest that became a full setting supported in 4th edition as well.

If the idea of flying ships, magical trains powered by elementals, and huge steampunk colossi in your D&D game sounds awesome to you as it did to me, then you are in luck. Wizards of the Coast has teamed up with Keith Baker to make Eberron: Rising From The Last War, an official D&D 5th edition sourcebook that updates the lore of the world and brings its mechanical and mystical creatures into the most recent version of the game.

In the beginning, there was a beginning...

The biggest difference between Eberron and other settings is that instead of one off steampunk ideas, the entire world has a pulpy steampunk feel to it. All of its “technology” isn’t really technology in the way that we think of it, but machines that are powered by different forms of magic. Also, you can be Iron Man style androids in this game, otherwise known as “Warforged”. Although, people are uneasy around these Warforged, as they became popular during the Last War, which ended with a big magical explosion in the center of the continent.

The book starts off with giving players some backstory on the world of Eberron. In the introduction, they mention that Eberron is “D&D with a Twist”, yet one paragraph later they talk about the world being formed by a bunch of dragons making the various planes and fighting each other to make the heaven/hell/material worlds. I’m not an expert on lots of fantasy or even D&D lore, but this seems pretty par for the course when it comes to creation myths.

Eberron brings to D&D 6 new races/ new versions of existing races: Changelings, Goblinoids, Kalashtar, Orcs, Shifters, and Warforged. As previously mentioned, clearly the answer to “which one should I play” is always Warforged. The other big addition to characters is that of “Dragonmarks”, which are magical symbols that several people have that help them in performing specific types of tasks. Many of these Dragonmarked people have banned together in houses grouped by people that share the same type of mark.

Note: remember when the book claimed that Eberron was so different? Well, the leader of the “healer” dragonmarked house is a woman. Sounds pretty stereotypical D&D to me.

A quick detour to talk about RPG settings

Chapters 2 & 3 make up the next 80 pages of this 320 page sourcebook as they describe various places and locations in Eberron. Chapter 2 is a general view of the world, while Chapter 3 focuses entirely on Sharn, one of the largest cities in Eberron and a prime area to stage many adventures. Whenever I’m reviewing any type of RPG sourcebook, I always find reading/reviewing the setting descriptions so hard. I love the amount of effort and detail put into the settings to help Dungeon Masters plan out adventures, but unless you are actively planning a game in that area it can be hard to remember all the little details.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve done this as well, but I’ve found that the best solution is to read through the key points of the different areas to get a “lay of the land” per se. Enough that I understand how it plays into the larger lore of the setting. Also, when I actually need to plan an adventure in that game I have an idea of where I want it to take place. Then, when I know that I want an adventure to take place in Aundair, I go back and read that section in detail so that it is fresh in my mind when I run said adventure.

Is this just me? Anyways, in Eberron there’s a vast amount of information and artwork about the scenery, so that no matter what type of game you are planning, you can find a place in Eberron to stage it.

More material on this material plane.

Chapter 4 focuses on making sure that D&D adventures set in the world of Eberron fully take advantage of the setting. It goes into detail on major players in the world - people and organizations that players either might be hired by, or even face along their way. Each section breaks down the person/organization, highlighting their distinguishing traits and motivations behind their work. Also, the book provides tables for randomizing adventure hooks using said people/organizations. There are even sample layouts for commonly used places in Eberron adventures: various dragonmarked houses, cars on lightning rails, and the types of “dungeons” that only Eberron can produce.

The later portion of the chapter outlines a short sample adventure, called “Forgotten Relics”, that GMs can use to introduce their players to Eberron. It’s just to advance characters from level 1 to level 2, so that makes it a great starting place for a custom Eberron campaign. Characters will investigate some shady operations that some unlucky Warforged have been coerced into doing, which is only part of a plot that involves royal kidnapping, discovering arcane relics, and bringing two factions on the brink of war. The NPCs and locations will give players a sample of everything that makes Eberron unique.

My 5 Favorite Eberron Monsters

Lastly, we come to the last 2 chapters: the 7 pages of new items to include in your adventures, followed by the NPC/Bestiary section of the book. There’s a lot of great stuff in here, so instead of just saying “great stuff, good artwork, etc.”, here are my 5 favorite monsters (in no particular order):

1. Iron Defender (pg. 293). It’s a warforged doggo! How can this not be on the list? Although, the book mentions they get crafted into other animals, so now I want a warforged cat familiar.

2. Living Spells (pg. 298). I think Warhammer has a similar idea, but basically these are spells that manifest and become self-aware. How do you fight a spell...I say to myself before remembering that dispel magic is a thing.

3. Belashyrra (pg. 285). I’m not familiar with all of the Lovecraftian lore, but this seems like it has some basis in one of the Great Old Eldritch gods. If you manage to fight it in its lair, it literally controls every eye that’s in the room, altering what you see and using other eyes to shoot out eye beams like beholders do.

4. Dinosaurs (pg. 289). Because every game is made better with dinosaurs!!

5. Warforged Colossus (pg. 314). Anyone else remember the anime The Big O? Well, with these colossi, you can now act out your Big O fanfic inside your D&D game! Actually...that’s not a bad idea…

Conclusion

As you might have guessed, I was predisposed to enjoy this book. And I feel like the book delivered on everything I wanted in a 5th edition setting book, especially a setting I enjoy. I love that Wizards of the Coast is expanding D&D 5th edition into all these various settings like Ravnica, Eberron, etc. The only downside is I want to play in/run campaigns in all of these settings! The only mild critique I have of the book is the previously mentioned description of “D&D with a twist” in the introduction, when in fact it is pretty par for the course when it comes to D&D books. However, “par for the course” means excellent artwork, lots of new options when it comes to items, character creation, monsters, and the great production value that Wizards of the Coast puts into its books. If you are a D&D fan, I would put this book on the “must get” list.

Have you read the Eberron book yet? Do you have any interest in this type of setting, or would you prefer a different setting? Let me know in the comments below, or on twitter or facebook!