Eberron Books [Archive] - Wizards Community

Eberron Books [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Rerecros
01-26-07, 11:53 PM Other than the Eberron Campaign setting, what other books would you suggest and why?
law
01-27-07, 01:24 AM The best ones I would get for a good genral sense are these:

Faiths of Eberron
Magic of Eberron
Player's Guide to Eberron
(note: theres more in this section but this is what I have)

More lesser scope but still really useful:
Sharn: City of towers
Races of Eberron (fits here since its a take what you feel works for your game)
Secrets of Xen'drik
Dragonmarked

Those are the two main groups as I see them. Pick with what you want to focus on more for your game. Though the ones you can get alot of use from are these out of both groups:

Faiths of Eberron
Magic of Eberron
Player's Guide to Eberron
Races of Eberron

Those work no matter where you are in eberron as I see them. Though its up to you on what acpects you want to play with from them.
PoeticJustice
01-27-07, 04:25 AM The next book you should buy is either Sharn: City of Towers AND/OR another copy of the Campaign Setting. I know it feels like you're throwing away money, but the best games I've run have been when I had 3 copies of the campaign setting floating around.
If you already have enough copies at your table (2 will do), then strongly consider Sharn. Although somewhat limited in scope it's a fantastically well-written book and will help you no matter where you are on Eberron, though the book is of such high quality that I guarantee you'll want to at least start in Sharn.
SquirrelMortis
01-27-07, 06:48 AM Dragonmarked is my favorite eberron book apart from the ECS its self. Races of Eberron and Faiths of Eberron were both rubbish, in my opinion. Magic of Eberron is supposedly very good, but I don't own it, so I have no clue. Secrets of Xen'drik, though very narrowly focused, was also a pretty good book.

There's my advice for you...
Bluebrush
01-27-07, 08:07 AM Depends on what you want out of the setting.

Obviously, if you want to run for Sharn or Xen'drik, get the relevent setting books.
Sharn is the better book of the two, but both are excellent.

I'd also class Dragonmarked as an excellent resource.

Races of Eberron is good if you like crunchy bits, but the fluff isn't up to snuff, with the exception of the Kalashtar chapter.

The rest are mostly good with some inconsitiancies or other elements which kind of bug me. (Though partially these are biases formed from hanging out on these forums for so long.)
From_Khyber
01-29-07, 11:19 AM As mentioned earlier, it largely depends on where you base your campaign, but the overall-winners are Sharn: The City of Towers and Five Nations, IMO. Sharn, because it's plainly the best book WoTC has ever published, and Five Nations, because it covers almost main regions Khorvaire, which also make out the half of the continent (The Five Nations, that is).
mhacdebhandia
01-29-07, 04:40 PM Other than the Eberron Campaign setting, what other books would you suggest and why?
I own all of the sourcebooks.

Sharn: City of Towers is indispensible for a campaign based in the city, unless you are the kind of DM who hates having too much information already provided for them. The city's various districts and neighbourhoods are described in very useful detail, and I wouldn't do without it if I ran a game that involved Sharn at all.

Five Nations is quite a useful resource for distinguishing between the titular countries, and I would say it's all but mandatory if you anticipate your PCs travelling through Khorvaire extensively. There are some small setting errors - the description of one locale assumes that Eberron has a single moon - but nothing drastic.

Magic of Eberron is interesting and useful, but you might be disappointed if you expected a "straight" expansion of the sorts of magic found in the Eberron Campaign Setting. Rather, this book is full of strange and exotic concepts: psiforged, daelkyr halfbloods, grafts, et cetera. It's all cool, but I can see where some people would be extremely disappointed that it wasn't more straightforward.

The Explorer's Handbook is probably pretty useful if you anticipate your PCs travelling the world widely. Some have criticised it for being little more than a bunch of interesting adventure locales, vehicle descriptions, prestige classes, and the like, but I think it's reasonably designed as a resource you can turn to when you want to spice up a voyage or come up with an adventuring destination on short notice.

The Player's Guide to Eberron is organised like an encyclopedia of topics ranging from races through religions to nations to magic to organisations in the setting. I think it's indispensible, almost definitely the book I would want to buy as my second after the Eberron Campaign Setting if I were just getting into the setting; basically, this is because it expands so well on a broad variety of subjects. On the other hand, it's been criticised for stating that non-core races and subraces and classes can be found in the setting rather than suggesting where they could be found, and for not being a true player's guide due to containing just as many secrets of the setting (Kaius is a vampire, Vol the lich is a real being and secretly runs the Blood of Vol, et cetera) as the core setting book did.

Faiths of Eberron is hard for me to be objective about, because I really love the religions of Eberron and so any book on the subject that isn't a disaster would probably win me over. I think this book is great, albeit hampered by an unnecessarily uniform chapter structure and some game material of questionable balance. On the other hand, it explains the appeal of "dark" religions like the Blood of Vol and the worship of the Dark Six, has some great in-character scholarly sidebars, and even introduces some new minority cults.

Secrets of Xen'drik is a lot like the Explorer's Handbook in that it's full of locations which you can drop anywhere in the continent to customise it to your own liking. There are some fun and unexpected elements - the landforged walker druidic prestige class for warforged, for instance. I really like it.
Count Nerindil Van Seraph
01-29-07, 07:27 PM It depends on what you want.

For crunch I like:

Magic of Eberron
Secrets of Xen' Drik

Fluff:

5 Nations
Dragonmarked
Players Guide to Eberron
Sharn: CoT
Faiths of Eberrn
goblin_pride
01-29-07, 08:36 PM It depends on what you want.

Fluff wins, hands down. I can do the crunchy bits if you give me fluff that's somewhat inspiring.
Count Nerindil Van Seraph
01-30-07, 07:37 PM Fluff wins, hands down. I can do the crunchy bits if you give me fluff that's somewhat inspiring.

O.K. next question: What area are you most interested in? National politics, the houses, religion, random tidbits on just about anything, Sharn?
goblin_pride
01-30-07, 08:57 PM O.K. next question: What area are you most interested in? National politics, the houses, religion, random tidbits on just about anything, Sharn?

Why the Dhakaani Empire of course. What a silly question.

However, I'll probably disregard anything canon written by anyone other than the Infernal Bovine himself in favor of my own materials. But since he posted that he uses the Dhakaani in his own games and probably won't be adding much in the way of official material, I'm not terribly worried that I'll see sourcebooks that contradict what I've created.
Count Nerindil Van Seraph
01-31-07, 09:19 AM Why the Dhakaani Empire of course. What a silly question.

However, I'll probably disregard anything canon written by anyone other than the Infernal Bovine himself in favor of my own materials. But since he posted that he uses the Dhakaani in his own games and probably won't be adding much in the way of official material, I'm not terribly worried that I'll see sourcebooks that contradict what I've created.

Of course, how foolish of me.;)

Truth be told, there isn't a lot of good fluff for the Dhakaani outside the ECS. However, your best bet would be PGtE.

Also, the "Dragon Below" series of novels has some cool stuff in them, the second book in particular. Plus, they're damn good books!

The author is planning a second series (with the same characters) that is rumored to take place in Darguun, so if you are willing to wait for that is will likely be worth your while.
goblin_pride
01-31-07, 10:33 AM The author is planning a second series (with the same characters) that is rumored to take place in Darguun, so if you are willing to wait for that is will likely be worth your while.

Wait? I'm hoping he's been reading some of the stuff I came up with and said, "that's a pretty cool idea."
From_Khyber
01-31-07, 01:10 PM Wait? I'm hoping he's been reading some of the stuff I came up with and said, "that's a pretty cool idea."

And your stuff lies where?
goblin_pride
01-31-07, 07:39 PM And your stuff lies where?

No love for the Goblins (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=714453) It's a bit of a misnomer though, it's full of all sorts of fluffy goodness for the greenskins.
From_Khyber
02-01-07, 07:52 AM No love for the Goblins (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=714453) It's a bit of a misnomer though, it's full of all sorts of fluffy goodness for the greenskins.

Neat! *starts reading eagerly* :D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rerecros 01-26-07, 11:53 PM	Other than the Eberron Campaign setting, what other books would you suggest and why?
law 01-27-07, 01:24 AM	The best ones I would get for a good genral sense are these: Faiths of Eberron Magic of Eberron Player's Guide to Eberron (note: theres more in this section but this is what I have) More lesser scope but still really useful: Sharn: City of towers Races of Eberron (fits here since its a take what you feel works for your game) Secrets of Xen'drik Dragonmarked Those are the two main groups as I see them. Pick with what you want to focus on more for your game. Though the ones you can get alot of use from are these out of both groups: Faiths of Eberron Magic of Eberron Player's Guide to Eberron Races of Eberron Those work no matter where you are in eberron as I see them. Though its up to you on what acpects you want to play with from them.
PoeticJustice 01-27-07, 04:25 AM	The next book you should buy is either Sharn: City of Towers AND/OR another copy of the Campaign Setting. I know it feels like you're throwing away money, but the best games I've run have been when I had 3 copies of the campaign setting floating around. If you already have enough copies at your table (2 will do), then strongly consider Sharn. Although somewhat limited in scope it's a fantastically well-written book and will help you no matter where you are on Eberron, though the book is of such high quality that I guarantee you'll want to at least start in Sharn.
SquirrelMortis 01-27-07, 06:48 AM	Dragonmarked is my favorite eberron book apart from the ECS its self. Races of Eberron and Faiths of Eberron were both rubbish, in my opinion. Magic of Eberron is supposedly very good, but I don't own it, so I have no clue. Secrets of Xen'drik, though very narrowly focused, was also a pretty good book. There's my advice for you...
Bluebrush 01-27-07, 08:07 AM	Depends on what you want out of the setting. Obviously, if you want to run for Sharn or Xen'drik, get the relevent setting books. Sharn is the better book of the two, but both are excellent. I'd also class Dragonmarked as an excellent resource. Races of Eberron is good if you like crunchy bits, but the fluff isn't up to snuff, with the exception of the Kalashtar chapter. The rest are mostly good with some inconsitiancies or other elements which kind of bug me. (Though partially these are biases formed from hanging out on these forums for so long.)
From_Khyber 01-29-07, 11:19 AM	As mentioned earlier, it largely depends on where you base your campaign, but the overall-winners are Sharn: The City of Towers and Five Nations, IMO. Sharn, because it's plainly the best book WoTC has ever published, and Five Nations, because it covers almost main regions Khorvaire, which also make out the half of the continent (The Five Nations, that is).
mhacdebhandia 01-29-07, 04:40 PM	Other than the Eberron Campaign setting, what other books would you suggest and why? I own all of the sourcebooks. Sharn: City of Towers is indispensible for a campaign based in the city, unless you are the kind of DM who hates having too much information already provided for them. The city's various districts and neighbourhoods are described in very useful detail, and I wouldn't do without it if I ran a game that involved Sharn at all. Five Nations is quite a useful resource for distinguishing between the titular countries, and I would say it's all but mandatory if you anticipate your PCs travelling through Khorvaire extensively. There are some small setting errors - the description of one locale assumes that Eberron has a single moon - but nothing drastic. Magic of Eberron is interesting and useful, but you might be disappointed if you expected a "straight" expansion of the sorts of magic found in the Eberron Campaign Setting. Rather, this book is full of strange and exotic concepts: psiforged, daelkyr halfbloods, grafts, et cetera. It's all cool, but I can see where some people would be extremely disappointed that it wasn't more straightforward. The Explorer's Handbook is probably pretty useful if you anticipate your PCs travelling the world widely. Some have criticised it for being little more than a bunch of interesting adventure locales, vehicle descriptions, prestige classes, and the like, but I think it's reasonably designed as a resource you can turn to when you want to spice up a voyage or come up with an adventuring destination on short notice. The Player's Guide to Eberron is organised like an encyclopedia of topics ranging from races through religions to nations to magic to organisations in the setting. I think it's indispensible, almost definitely the book I would want to buy as my second after the Eberron Campaign Setting if I were just getting into the setting; basically, this is because it expands so well on a broad variety of subjects. On the other hand, it's been criticised for stating that non-core races and subraces and classes can be found in the setting rather than suggesting where they could be found, and for not being a true player's guide due to containing just as many secrets of the setting (Kaius is a vampire, Vol the lich is a real being and secretly runs the Blood of Vol, et cetera) as the core setting book did. Faiths of Eberron is hard for me to be objective about, because I really love the religions of Eberron and so any book on the subject that isn't a disaster would probably win me over. I think this book is great, albeit hampered by an unnecessarily uniform chapter structure and some game material of questionable balance. On the other hand, it explains the appeal of "dark" religions like the Blood of Vol and the worship of the Dark Six, has some great in-character scholarly sidebars, and even introduces some new minority cults. Secrets of Xen'drik is a lot like the Explorer's Handbook in that it's full of locations which you can drop anywhere in the continent to customise it to your own liking. There are some fun and unexpected elements - the landforged walker druidic prestige class for warforged, for instance. I really like it.
Count Nerindil Van Seraph 01-29-07, 07:27 PM	It depends on what you want. For crunch I like: Magic of Eberron Secrets of Xen' Drik Fluff: 5 Nations Dragonmarked Players Guide to Eberron Sharn: CoT Faiths of Eberrn
goblin_pride 01-29-07, 08:36 PM	It depends on what you want. Fluff wins, hands down. I can do the crunchy bits if you give me fluff that's somewhat inspiring.
Count Nerindil Van Seraph 01-30-07, 07:37 PM	Fluff wins, hands down. I can do the crunchy bits if you give me fluff that's somewhat inspiring. O.K. next question: What area are you most interested in? National politics, the houses, religion, random tidbits on just about anything, Sharn?
goblin_pride 01-30-07, 08:57 PM	O.K. next question: What area are you most interested in? National politics, the houses, religion, random tidbits on just about anything, Sharn? Why the Dhakaani Empire of course. What a silly question. However, I'll probably disregard anything canon written by anyone other than the Infernal Bovine himself in favor of my own materials. But since he posted that he uses the Dhakaani in his own games and probably won't be adding much in the way of official material, I'm not terribly worried that I'll see sourcebooks that contradict what I've created.
Count Nerindil Van Seraph 01-31-07, 09:19 AM	Why the Dhakaani Empire of course. What a silly question. However, I'll probably disregard anything canon written by anyone other than the Infernal Bovine himself in favor of my own materials. But since he posted that he uses the Dhakaani in his own games and probably won't be adding much in the way of official material, I'm not terribly worried that I'll see sourcebooks that contradict what I've created. Of course, how foolish of me.;) Truth be told, there isn't a lot of good fluff for the Dhakaani outside the ECS. However, your best bet would be PGtE. Also, the "Dragon Below" series of novels has some cool stuff in them, the second book in particular. Plus, they're damn good books! The author is planning a second series (with the same characters) that is rumored to take place in Darguun, so if you are willing to wait for that is will likely be worth your while.
goblin_pride 01-31-07, 10:33 AM	The author is planning a second series (with the same characters) that is rumored to take place in Darguun, so if you are willing to wait for that is will likely be worth your while. Wait? I'm hoping he's been reading some of the stuff I came up with and said, "that's a pretty cool idea."
From_Khyber 01-31-07, 01:10 PM	Wait? I'm hoping he's been reading some of the stuff I came up with and said, "that's a pretty cool idea." And your stuff lies where?
goblin_pride 01-31-07, 07:39 PM	And your stuff lies where? No love for the Goblins (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=714453) It's a bit of a misnomer though, it's full of all sorts of fluffy goodness for the greenskins.
From_Khyber 02-01-07, 07:52 AM	No love for the Goblins (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=714453) It's a bit of a misnomer though, it's full of all sorts of fluffy goodness for the greenskins. Neat! starts reading eagerly :D