Wizards of the Coast first released the world of Eberron in June 2004, with the Eberron Campaign Setting. Sixteen years later, its creator, Keith Baker, is still creating material for the world, with the latest product due on the DMs Guild shortly. That book is Exploring Eberron, over 240 pages further detailing the world.

And there is a lot of material to explore. Even though over fifteen books describe Eberron, most released during the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5E run, there are significant areas that have not seen much attention. The unique planar system of Eberron was one of those. Guess what gets a bit more attention in this book?

However, the book is not only about the planes. It also introduces new player options, takes a deeper look into known areas, adds a few tools for the Eberron Dungeon Master and investigates some other areas probably unfamiliar to you and me.

So, let us have a look at Exploring Eberron. While I could do it all in one blog post, there is a lot of material here. So, I am going to devote a blog post to every chapter or two. And the first chapter of the book is entitled “Discovering Eberron”. It is 26 pages long.

The full list of chapters? Here you go:

• Discovering Eberron
• Races of Eberron
• Faiths of Eberron
• Uncharted Domains
• Planes of Existence
• Character Options
• Treasures
• Friends and Foes

(Yes, this article is based on a review copy that the Exploring Eberron team sent me. I consider this a first look rather than a formal review – I can give some initial impressions, but trying to review a book so large without using it in play is difficult. So please consider that as you read the article!)

The Ages of Eberron

The “Discovering Eberron” chapter begins with the history of Eberron, starting with the Dawn of Creation. These early events occurred over 100,000 years ago! While the descriptions of the various ages are relatively short, each also has sections of “Why Does It Matter?” and “Character Ideas”.

It is relatively easy to write things about a world that never come up in play. Linking the history to character and DM material, especially when it is a long time in the past, is more challenging. And it’s why I like these sections. Here, “Why Does it Matter?” tends to be for DMs, while the “Character Ideas” are for players.

And this is good material, focusing on significant parts of Eberron’s history, and providing suggestions for using the content in play. The only exception to this is the Dawn of Creation, which details the creation of the world – it is what occurs later that provides adventure opportunities.

Recent History

As the book gets closer to the present day of Eberron, the recounting of the world’s history becomes more detailed. A two-page timeline highlights many events that could spark future adventures.

I’m intrigued by the idea presented of “Untold History” – a random table (three d12 rolls on “Triggering Event”, “Connected To…”, and “Which Was…”) that allows you to create further inspiration for past events. There is never enough space to detail everything that happens. So, to have an inspiring way to invent additional information about the history of our Eberron campaigns is brilliant. It is something I had not considered before. Now I wonder how I can adapt the idea to other worlds!

Forgotten Cyre

The destruction of Cyre in the Day of Mourning is probably the major event in the history of Eberron. Keith Baker now takes a chance to investigate the forgotten Cyre – the nation before the creation of the Mournland. Over four pages, which likely is not enough but is at least a start, we get a view of this complicated nation.

And complicated it is. From what I read, Cyre attempted to be a multicultural nation, with all the problems and glories that implies, which then ran into considerable trouble once the Last War started. I am not sure how useful much of this information is – sections describe Cyre’s fashion, cuisine, and magic – but it gives more information than we had previously.

For me, the most exciting section is that of the lost Wonders of Cyre. Every fallen land needs some legendary ruins to explore, and this gives us those. These are not overly detailed, but I find them inspiring.

The Last War

With this section of the first chapter, we get the first game mechanics, as three magical items and siege weapons of the Last War make an appearance: the siege staff, the long rod and the blast disk.

The siege staff is quite notable. It is a huge piece of arcane artillery that rains down destruction on its targets. It has several different forms – the blast staff, force staff, and focus staff. Of note, the blast staff inflicts 2d8 force damage on each creature in a 60-foot-radius sphere; it has a range of up to 1200 feet.

This damage seems low, but the book explains why: it is because its primary targets were not player characters! Instead, the weapon’s target was often massed troops or villages – and your typical soldier only has 11 hit points. That there is an explanation for this is brilliant; it helps you understand the basis on which the mechanics of the world work.

This section also goes into explaining some of the other innovations used during the war: the air forces of the war and the magical troops known as wandslingers. I find the wandslingers particularly interesting because their history is bound up in the development of the cantrip. What if the cantrip were a more recent invention? In Eberron, they were developed during the Last War. And so, of course, some soldiers in the war cast cantrips and used arcane focuses: the wandslingers.

I like that the book describes different styles of wandslingers for each nation; each using different spells. This section also presents two new spells: the force blast cantrip and the concussive blast first-level spell. These spells help solidify the concept. Neither might be that attractive to player characters, but they are useful for NPC opponents.

A section also describes the Warforged Titans and potential upgrades for these fabulous creations of the forges of House Cannith.

The Cost of War

The next section returns to more player-facing material, as it expands on backgrounds for player characters. Mostly it does this by presenting questions for the players. For instance, if you have the acolyte background, it poses these questions for you: “Did you serve in a cloistered temple, or were you ministering to the faithful on the front lines? Did the war and the Mourning strengthen your convictions, or have you questioned your faith?”

That is nice, but I find the section that poses questions about what you lost in the war even better. The book lists eight categories of something you may have lost in the Last War and then allows you to create more details for it.

Faith. At one point you were on a path to become a priest or a paladin, but something crushed your faith. Was it something you saw? Something you did? Or just the overall horror of the war? What would it take to restore your faith?

The text also provides other questions you could use to detail your character’s background.

The Magical Economy

As you may have noticed, the “Discovering Eberron” chapter is wide ranging. The next few pages get into a discussion of how much it costs to purchase magical services in Eberron. For, as many of you know, magic is widespread in Eberron and forms a large part of the economy. I appreciate this discussion, because, as I try to make the campaign a living world, the players are going to want to buy things.

I am amused and intrigued by the inclusion of cosmetic transmutation magic. The idea of changing the colour of your hair is, as we have found in our history, very popular. However, what happens when you can also change your weight, height, sex or even species? The availability of this transmutation leads to fascinating questions about what might occur. The book does not go into the implications in detail, but it opens it up for exploration by individual groups.

Some of the material here is left up to the DM to tailor to their campaign. Yes, some members of House Jorasco can raise the dead, but how costly and common that is changes the feel of the game significantly. The book offers suggestions, but not iron-clad pronouncements, as to how you can handle these matters.

Artificers and the World

The last section of this chapter seems somewhat out of place. It describes different styles of artificer, something that might better have been in the later chapter on Character Options. However, as the text also explains a lot of lore about artificers, perhaps this is the place for it.

Some of the discussion of how to play an artificer is just brilliant:

You could even perform your alchemy using brewer’s supplies or cook’s utensils: why drink a potion when you could eat a magical pie?

Of particular use to the DM, although players looking for background details should also find it useful, are the descriptions of ten institutions that train artificers, as well as the locations of those institutions. Nationality is key to much of what drives Eberron’s history.

Only the First Chapter

And that is what is in the first chapter. Exploring Eberron is a big book – over 240 pages long – and while an individual section might only be three pages long, it packs in the information.

So, based on my reading of the first chapter, my impression is very favourable. Next up, “Races of Eberron“, the second chapter!