… But It May Not Be the Place You’re Used To.
Eberron draws on the core elements of D&D. It’s a world of wizards and rogues, a setting with halflings and dwarves and elves. Want an otyugh? Orcs? Goblins? Paladins? They’re all there. Eberron draws on the same basic elements as other settings, but it often diverges from the traditional archetypes assigned to those things. A few factors here:
No fixed alignments. Mortal creatures are shaped by their culture and personal circumstances. An orc is just as likely to be lawful good as chaotic evil, depending on their personal history. A gold dragon, a beholder, a halfling; you can’t make automatic assumptions about any of them. In part this is because of Eberron’s distant gods. Orcs aren’t driven by Gruumsh’s fury, and the gnolls aren’t tied to Yeenoghu. The exceptions to this rule are creatures whose identities are shaped by magic. Fiends and celestials embody pure ideals of good and evil; lycanthropes are driven by a curse.
Monsters aren’t always villains, and the villains aren’t always monsters. Many of the gnolls of Droaam are more honorable than the human mercenaries of House Deneith. In Karrnath and Aerenal, undead are used as tools. You certainly could find yourself fighting a merciless minotaur in the slums of Sharn… but you’re just as likely to cross swords with a cruel halfling cutthroat.
There’s a place for everything in Eberron… but it may not be a prominent place. Kenku aren’t mentioned in any of the canon sourcebooks of Eberron. There’s many ways to add kenku into Eberron, but that doesn’t mean that there needs to be a kenku nation or that kenku have played a significant role in history; it may be that a dozen kenku were thrown out of the Faerie Court of Thelanis and these are all the kenku in the world. So just because it’s possible to put anything you want in the world, don’t assume that the streets of Sharn are a zoo flooded with every character race that’s ever been suggested.
Chapter 3 provides advice on adding new races to Eberron. Here’s a few other ways that you can add something into Eberron with minimal impact on the setting.
- It comes from the vast and largely unexplored continent of Xen’drik.
- It was created or caused by the Mourning — the mystical cataclysm that destroyed Cyre — and has only been around for four years.
- It’s a product of the underworld of Khyber, the source of many aberrations and monsters.
- It’s the result of recent experiments by one of the dragonmarked houses or a mad artificer.
- It comes from one of the planes and slipped into the world during a recent convergence.
Not everything has to exist in Eberron. You can find a place in Eberron for anything. But it’s also possible to say that something doesn’t exist in Eberron. For example, if you wanted to use Gruumsh in Eberron, you could re-imagine him as one of the demon overlords of the first age. You could decide that he’s the classic Gruumsh, who has recently found his way to Eberron from the core cosmology. But the DM can always say “No, there is no version of Gruumsh in my Eberron.”
This comes to a critical point. Nothing is set in stone. Like every sourcebook that’s come before it, this book is intended to be a source of inspiration: use what inspires you, but always feel empowered to change the world to better suit the story you want to tell. There’s a place in Eberron for everything in that exists in D&D… but it’s up to you whether to make use of it.
Eberron and the Multiverse
Eberron has always been a part of the multiverse. Eberron is surrounded by its thirteen planes. These planes play an important role in the setting, producing dramatic effects as they shift in and out of alignment with Eberron. But the Astral and Ethereal Planes surround and enfold Eberron, and if someone ventures into the Deep Ethereal it’s possible to pass beyond Eberron’s closed system and step into the Great Wheel or the World Tree.
As a DM, it’s up to you to decide whether such travel is trivially easy or all but impossible… and whether threats from other settings will make their way into Eberron. Most people consider the tale of the Progenitor Dragons to be a fable: a myth to explain the underworld and the golden ring in the sky. But what if it’s true? What if three divine beings joined together to build a new creation in the depths of the Ethereal? Elves, orcs, dragons; all of these could have been created in the image of the creatures of the Great Wheel but given a chance to develop beyond the reach of Lolth and Gruumsh. The Ring of Siberys could in fact be a shield: a defense that has hidden Eberron since it was first created.
If you’re not interested in connecting Eberron to other settings, then that shield is still intact. But if you do want to incorporate elements from other realms, this shield is starting to fail. Perhaps House Cannith will build a planar gateway and accidentally bring the Blood War into Eberron. Maybe Tiamat has only just discovered Eberron and is slowly corrupting its dragons. Ultimately, it’s up to you. You can avoid any contact between Eberron and other settings. You can explore the idea of that contact being recent and new (perhaps linked to the Mourning, either as cause or effect). Or you can choose to say that there has always been travel between these realms, adjusting things to incorporate these ideas.
If you choose to explore the idea that contact between settings is recent and limited, consider what that might mean for everyone involved. In the Great Wheel Asmodeus is an ancient threat, with well-established cults, lines of tieflings, and a great deal of lore to be discovered. If Asmodeus has just discovered Eberron, the sages know nothing about him. He has no power base to work with and will have to recruit new followers. And you might see unusual alliances forming against him, as both celestial and fiend might join forces to drive out the outsider. As with everything else, Eberron provides an opportunity to explore existing things in a new way.
Familiar Faces, Unfamiliar Roles
A few things to bear in mind as you step into Eberron…
Dragons have a civilization humanity knows almost nothing about. Shapeshifted dragons may be secretly manipulating human civilization.
Elves are split into two cultures. The reclusive Aereni are gifted wizards ruled by their undying ancestors. The Valenar elves are ruthless warriors who strive to be avatars of ancient heroes. Other elves live among humanity and have adopted its customs.
Gnomes are schemers and scholars who maintain order through intrigue and assassination.
Goblins once had a mighty empire, and a tradition based on honor and martial discipline. Their civilization was crushed by the daelkyr and their land was stolen by humanity. They aren’t inherently evil, but they have good reason to loathe the people of the Five Nations.
Halflings can be found as merchants and innkeepers, but in their homeland they’re dinosaur-riding rangers and barbarians.
Orcs are a proud and primal people. While they’ve never built great cities, they were the first druids of Eberron. Many continue these ancient traditions and fight to protect Eberron from aberrations… while others have fallen prey to the madness of the daelkyr.