Exploring Eberron Previews

Illustration by Kristof Koteles

March has continued to be a crazy time. I was helping with gaming events on the JoCo Cruise, so I just returned from a week on the oceans… and I did come back sick, though fortunately not with Covid-19. So I’ve been recovering from that and adjusting to the new pace of life on land. I am still writing, and this means that we don’t have a firm release date for Exploring Eberron yet; I will tell you as soon as we do. However, editing and layout continue on the completed sections of the book. Wayne Chang and Laura Hirsbrunner have been working tirelessly to keep things moving forward, and I wanted to share the week’s previews!

Above is the opening of the bestiary chapter, featuring the daelkyr Valaara. Other sections of the book discuss Valaara’s cults and symbionts, while this chapter includes statistics for the Crawling Queen. Just to maintain some suspense, we’ve concealed the names of the other creatures in the section, but at least you know what types of creatures lie ahead. These creatures are tied to the other content in the book, so there’s a few tied to the planes, a few tied to the oceans, and a few other surprises.

Image by Lucas Guerrini

We’ve also finished layout on Chapter 6, which covers magic items and other treasures. While the first page just gives examples of common, everyday items, there’s a wide range of treasures in this section tied to different cultures and places. That item hanging on the wall is a conversion of the Coat of Eyes, which originally appeared in my 4E adventure Khyber’s Harvest.

Work continues! We’ll have more news and previews next week.

21 thoughts on “Exploring Eberron Previews

  1. I cannot wait, but totally understand the delays. My quarantine-addled mind, though, wants the distraction of this lovely book — the previews have already exceeded my highest expectations, I sh*t you not!

  2. Hi Keith,

    Not technically related to ExE at all, and might need a more thorough iFAQ post, but what were the titles in Galifar? The dragonmarked houses have a handy section in the introduction to Dragonmarked, but there’s no equivalent three to four paragraphs for the ordinary nobles.

  3. The greater duster variant reminds me of how much a shame it is that d20 Modern’s Clean spell (1st level arcane. Clean “One creature, object of up to 1,000 lb./level, or room of up to 100 square feet/level”, if used on a creature it disinfects wounds and renders them scentless for a minute) never made it into 3rd edition despite being trivial to port and OGL. It and Zap (Dark Matter p. 38) wouldn’t be out of place on a high fantasy wizard at all.

  4. Can’t wait to learn what Valaara’s madness looks like!

    Will their be any new content for the Chamber, The Lords of Dust, or the draconic prophecy in this book?

  5. Does the staff of cleansing also create a sound that cause a fear effect in dogs and other animals that hear it?

    Also, do I spy 4 colors of dargonshards in that image?

    • It’s not out yet. It will be available on the DM’s Guild as soon as it’s finished.

  6. I hope aberrations means there will be Quori as well. New kinds of quori, too, along with the d’ulora and uvaspna. Dream spirits are so fascinating to me.

  7. I’m not worried about the wait; the final book is gonna be worth it.

    Any chance we can hear what the player options will be? I’m really excited for the Znir gnolls, and have some hopes for a few other things to sneak in.

  8. Awesome preview Keith! thanks for sharing.. will there be any details on materials? Crysteel, Byeshk etc?

  9. Any chance we’ll see any reprints of some previous edition “prestige classes” for 5e, such as the Atavist? or perhaps even the old feats (Mror Stalwart, Darguun Mauler, etc.)?

    The inquiring minds of Sharn want to know 😉

    • Exploring Eberron does contain a few class archetypes and racial feats, some of which are drawn from 3.5 material. But it’s more focused on lore than on mechanics, so there’s not a lot of them.

  10. Very exciting! I love the practical magic items- one of my favourite parts of Eberron.

    Someone commented about byeshk above, and I share the interest. When there was no mention of it in Rising, I prepared to just houserule it. Can you comment on whether magical/special materials will be addressed in this book?

    • Exotic materials add complexity to the game, and that’s something fifth edition has largely shifted away from. In some cases, exotic materials can be handwaved; it’s simple enough to say that an Aereni +1 breastplate is made of bronzewood without having to create unique properties for bronzewood. With that said, yes, Exploring Eberron addresses byeshk.

  11. Just saw the rendering of the cove for ExE at Enworld and have to say I can’t wait for this one! Literally. As I want to play a monk using the/a bada** archetype from this book. What does it do? I don’t know, but I want them “psychic claws” Gentle puts to use on the quori there!!

    Any news on the release date? (We are starting around May 5th…)

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