The Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron was released on Monday, and a number of questions have already come up. Are warforged transformers? Where’s the artificer? Can you get a print version? Let’s look at a few of those issues.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
Is the Wayfinder’s Guide official content?
The WGtE is a 176 page book. It explores the general themes of the setting, with a tighter focus on Khorvaire and Sharn. This includes character ideas, story hooks, and optional rules that help capture the flavor of the setting. This is my take on Eberron, but is being considered official content.
The WGtE also includes rules for races and dragonmarks, which I developed with Ruty Rutenberg over the last year. These are the rules *I* use, but we want them to receive a wider round of feedback before they are finalized for the Adventurer’s League. So this material isn’t currently legal for the AL. The WGtE is a living document. If these mechanics change, it will be updated both in D&D Beyond and on the DM’s Guild, so you won’t have to buy a revised version of this content. This is why the WGtE currently isn’t available in print: we want to make sure that it IS final before you commit to a print version. But in getting it now you have a chance to play Eberron as *I’M* playing it.
Where’s the artificer?
It’s coming. The artificer is already in development at WotC, so it was kept separate. A revised version of the artificer will be out soon in Unearthed Arcana, and Mike Mearls has said that this artificer will be added to the WGtE (which will be a free update for anyone who owns the book.
What is in WGtE for non-5e DMs who already have everything else ever written about Eberron?
The primary goal of the Wayfinder’s Guide is to give someone who knows nothing about the setting enough of a feel for the world to create a character or a story in it. It doesn’t focus on history or geography; it’s not an encyclopedia, it’s a guide to the flavor. It needs to serve the purpose of introducing someone who knows absolutely nothing to the world—but I also wanted it to be filled with inspiration for people who already know everything about it.
With this in mind, there’s generally less focus on exhaustive detail and more emphasis on what does this mean for YOU? It’s aimed both at players and DMs; it doesn’t reveal big secrets (such as, say, which rulers are vampires) but the ideas for what makes an Aundairian feel Aundairian are just as relevant when you’re making NPCs or setting a story in Fairhaven as they are for PCs. There’s ideas and optional rules that deal with capturing the FLAVOR of a pulp or noir story that aren’t in any of the existing Eberron sourcebooks.
As an example of this focus, here’s the entry on the Blood of Vol. In looking at the religions, I’m leaving out the deep details (what’s the church hierarchy like? What’s the history of it?) and focusing on if you follow this faith, what does that actually MEAN? How do you express your beliefs?
Likewise, the section on Sharn doesn’t provide the district-by-district breakdown of Sharn: City of Towers… because you can get that by buying Sharn: City of Towers, which is available on the DM’s Guild and still entirely accurate aside from the mechanics. So instead it provides ideas for what could bring characters to Sharn or keep them there. One of my favorite elements of the book is the Starting Points: three districts (Callestan, University, and Clifftop) that could be used as a starting point and ongoing hub for a campaign, with each one exploring a different style of story you can tell in Sharn.
Beyond this, the WGtE also explores a few new ideas that arise from the mechanics of 5E: specifically the introduction of wandslingers. If you read this blog you may have already encountered wandslingers, but this refines the idea and provides a variety of arcane focuses to work with.
If you own every Eberron book, you don’t NEED to buy the WGtE. But my goal was to make it interesting and inspiring for even the most experienced Eberron DM.
Has the timeline been advanced for 5e? What year is it considered to be now? Has any lore changed substantially?
I didn’t advance the timeline in the WGtE. 998 YK is a critical moment in time, and moving the timeline forward would require me to make a lot of decisions that could contradict things people have done in their own campaigns. It’s possible that the timeline could be advanced in the future, but I didn’t feel that it was necessary.
The WGtE has already been updated twice, but I don’t know what’s changed.
The current changes have been quite minor, but I’ll keep a running log of changes at the end of this post.
A spellshard is “1 gp per page”. I don’t see in the 5e rulebook how many pages per spell each spell is. I seem to remember 3e being 1 page per level of spell with 0-level spells taking up one page. Should we default to that rule?
Sure, that seems reasonable.
RACES
The Kalashtar ability score improvement reads “Your Wisdom and Charisma scores both increase by 1. In addition, one ability score of your choice increases by 1.” A number of dragonmarks also use this wording, which is different from Half-elves in the PHB which says “two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.” So could a kalashtar increase the Wisdom score by an additional point, or is the RAI for them to pick another ability besides CHA or WIS?
That is correct. A kalashtar could have +2 Wisdom, +1 Charisma; +1 Wisdom, +2 Charisma; or +1 Wisdom, +1 Charisma, +1 Intelligence (or any other ability). The use of “one ability score” as opposed to “one other ability score” was a deliberate decision to give those races and marks additional flexibility.
I have a question about the Shifters and the Kalashtar. Are they available to other races? Are there, for example, Elven Shifters and Orcish Kalashtars?
Shifters aren’t a human hybrid; they are a unique race. The lived on Eberron before humanity ever arrived. If they are based on any race, it would probably be orcs; they both have a primal nature and strong presence on the west coast of Khorvaire. However, if that’s the case, neither race is aware of it. Shifters are shifters.
Meanwhile, the kalashtar were created by a concrete event: the merging of a group of quori spirits with a group of Adaran monks. Adar is an isolated human-dominant nation. You could suggest that a character is a NEW kalashtar created from a later bond—a different quori exile. But if you want to create a dwarf kalashtar or orc kalashtar you run into the question of why they lose biological abilities of the core race. Why don’t they have darkvision? Why isn’t the dwarf kalashtar resistant to poison? And if you add those abilities, what do you take away to maintain balance? So the idea is possible, but it’s not a simple shift.
DRAGONMARKS
Can a dragonmark be obtained by a Variant Human? And does it still only replace the Ability Score Increase?
NO. “Dragonmarked Human” is a type of variant human, and you can’t take it in addition to the variant human presented in the PHB.
Is there a particular reason that the Mark of Hospitality gets Friends and not the ability to use Purify Food and Drink as a ritual?
The first draft included both, but halflings have very little design space in their subrace; compare to the Ghostwise (one-way, 30′ telepathic communication). I chose to drop purify food and drink because it rarely comes into play for PCs, and can (ironically) spoil some interesting scenarios… it’s hard to have a cool poison plot if PCs routinely purify their meals. Conversely, friends is something you want to be careful about using, but CAN be useful in any social situation. Tied to that, I like it as really broadening the concept of “hospitality.” What we’ve established about Ghallanda is that they aren’t just about food; they’re about making connections, knowing the community, etc. What’s the stereotype of the perfect bartender? They’re easy to talk to. That’s the purpose of the friends cantrip. Everyone KNOWS Ghallanda heirs have a magical ability to set people at ease. As long as they use it in a friendly manner—getting you to talk about your problems—it’s NOT going to cause anger. If you abuse it—using it to trick someone—they’ll be angry. But if you’re just talking to a friend and you turn on the charm, that’s what they EXPECT from you; you’re Ghallanda.
So essentially, I felt they couldn’t have both and that friends did more to expand the role of the house… while purify food and water could be an ability attached to a focus item. Just like…
Concerning the Mark of Scribing, where exactly did the concept of the Arcane Mark go?
It went to the scribe’s pen, a common dragonmark focus item. This comes back to the core idea that focus items are a critical part of many house services. This is a critical point for many of the changes to the mark. Jorasco can cast lesser restoration. You can have a Shadow focus that grants disguise self, and it should be about half the cost of a standard hat of disguise. Essentially, don’t get too bogged down in the concrete powers of the actual mark; the IDEA of the Mark is the key, and its full powers can manifest as class abilities or through focus items.
WARFORGED
The races of Eberron received a development pass from WotC design and have been released as Unearthed Arcana content. Because of this, I’m not the final authority on how they work. I’ll share my OPINIONS, but Sage Advice is the final authority here.
Are warforged humanoids? constructs? both?
Under 5E rules, warforged are humanoids.
So is the intent that ALL spells work normally on warforged PCs (other than, maybe, unique plot-device anti-warforged spells) including Antilife Shell & Horrid Wilting?
That is correct. Warforged are immune to disease and sleep, and resistant to poison, but otherwise they are treated like other creatures.
From a story/setting perspective, how does magical healing work for warforged?
While warforged are made from wood and metal, the idea is that the magic that suffuses them magic them functionally living creatures. Some of their mass IS organic; we’ve always send that the fibers you can see under their plating are an organic rootlike material. Beyond that, the idea is that their lifeforce is essentially tied to their material form and as they regain energy the body heals. This is tied to the fact that just like other characters, a warforged heals all damage at the end of a long rest. In my mind, this literally involves the body being mystically restored to “factory standard.” You can add cosmetic flavor to this—you can have your warforged hammering out dents in his armor—but the key point is that warforged heal like other creatures.
Warforged Integrated Protection
I would be interested in your thought process in creating the warforged integrated armor.
The warforged went through many different variations and iterations. The original 3.5 warforged set their AC at character creation with a feat and couldn’t change it going forward. The UA warforged wore armor like any other character and just received a +1 bonus to AC. With 5E, we wanted to keep the idea that armor is a part of warforged, while also allowing some degree of flexibility for a character whose capabilities change over time. We tried a version with AC tied to subrace and a version where you set AC at first level, like the 3.5 version. The final version was developed in conjunction with the WotC design team, and led us to the current version where warforged can shift their armor type at the end of a long rest. While this may seem odd, it’s always been part of the idea that warforged are LIVING creatures and can physically evolve; the reforged and warforged juggernaut were 3.5 prestige classes that embraced this concept. This just extends that idea… which is also a better match for the 5E healing model. Essentially, when a warforged completes a long rest it’s able to restore any damage its sustained. If it can do that, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine it shifting its plating.
In terms of the capabilities of integrated protection, the original Unearthed Arcana warforged had a flat +1 to AC. The WGtE warforged generally start off with an AC equivalent to the best armor a character with the appropriate proficiencies can buy. Composite plating gives a first-level warforged AC 15, the same as half-plate; heavy plating is the same as plate armor. The warforged is ahead because starting characters can’t afford those armors, but the gap closes as other character get access to better armor. At level 5, heavy plating gives you AC 19, the same as +1 plate armor. Conversely, the original UA warforged could get +1 plate armor and have its +1 inherent AC on top of that. As is, warforged are ahead of the curve, but up until the highest levels other characters CAN match their AC with the right equipment. It’s also the case that the warforged takes an opportunity cost in that they gain no benefit from armor—so they don’t get the secondary benefits another character can receive from magical armor.
Does the Warforged Heavy Plating Integrated Protection work with the Fighter’s Defense Fighting Style? Unclear on if (armor) means you’re “wearing armor” or not.
The intent is while you are using darkwood core you are not considered to be wearing armor for purposes of game effects such as Unarmored Defense, while you are considered to be wearing armor when you’re using one of the plating modes. However, as written Integrated Protection doesn’t allow you to benefit from the Defense Fighting Style. This won’t be changed until people have a chance to provide feedback on the race mechanics as they stand.
Composite Plating and Heavy Plating both say “Armored” but do they count as medium and heavy armor respectively? Specifically does a warforged Barbarian in Heavy Plating mode lack access to the benefits of rage?
As written, the current version simply specifies that plating counts as armor, not that it counts specifically as heavy or medium armor. So in this version, a warforged barbarian can rage while in the heavy plating mode… though they will have to acquire the heavy armor proficiency before they can use heavy plating.
Can a warforged using the (unarmored) mode wear a magical suit of armor and get the benefits of it?
No. Darkwood core leaves you as “unarmored” for purposes of any feature that interacts with being armored or unarmored. But that has no effect on the core Integrated Protection statement “You gain no benefit from wearing armor.” As a warforged, you don’t use armor; instead, you have warforged components.
Is it possible to enchant a warforged’s integrated plating? Would the Integrated Protection of a warforged be considered a “nonmagical object that is a suit of armor” for Forge Clerics?
No on both counts. In 5E, the idea is that a warforged is essentially a suit of magic armor. You can’t add additional enchantments to it. Instead, the strength of its enchantments inherently increases over time—which is reflected by warforged getting to add their proficiency bonus to their AC. So a warforged Forge cleric couldn’t enchant their body, but they could still enchant a weapon.
When a warforged is using the darkwood core (unarmored) mode and have light armor proficiency, can they choose whether they are considered to be armored or unarmored?
No. You are always considered to be unarmored when using darkwood core, and always considered to be armored when using plating.
If I’m playing a warforged barbarian, do I get to add my Constitution to my Integrated Protection? What about a warforged monk?
No and no. Integrated Protection and Unarmored Defense are two separate features that set your AC, and the Sage Advice ruling on this is that you pick one—you don’t combine them. If you have your Integrated Protection mode set to darkwood core, you are considered to be unarmored and can thus use Unarmored Defense—but you’re always either using one or the other to determine your AC.
Is composite plating necessarily metal? Are warforged druids stuck with darkwood core?
I put this one to Jeremy Crawford, and he said that warforged druids CAN use composite plating. “It’s their body.”
Warforged Integrated Tool
An envoy warforged has an integrated tool that’s part of its body, and gains expertise with that tool. In the PHB, tool proficiencies provided by backgrounds include vehicles. So can I have a warforged with a built-in wagon?
All things require the approval of the DM. If your DM WANTS to let you have a warforged with a built in boat, that’s great. But the design intent is that this applies to the specifically identified tools listed on page 154 of the Player’s Handbook. This does not include mounts and vehicles, which are detailed on the following page (“vehicles” are on 154, but not detailed). So again, if you and your DM agree, go for it. But it is not the design intent.
Tinker’s tools weigh ten pounds! Can an envoy have a built in tinker’s tools? Or a full dragonchess set?
Certainly. The intention is that your warforged has a functioning version of this tool. This doesn’t mean that it in any way resembles the tools a human would use to perform the same task. A warforged with an integrated herbalism kit could literally have a garden built into its back, and pull out the herbs it needs when it needs them. Most important, consider that warforged are inherently magical creatures. They CAN physically alter their bodies (as shown by healing and integrated protection) and as shown by the spell prestidigitation it’s possible to create small, temporary objects through magic. So an integrated tool could be fully functional at all times—a warforged with smith’s tools has a hand that can function as a hammer. But it’s just as valid to say that the warforged does either perform a minor transformation to produce these tools or that it literally produces a temporary tool. Your integrated thieves tools could be lockpick fingers, but you could also study a lock and manufacture a key to fit it. Essentially, the FUNCTIONAL EFFECT is that the warforged always has a working version of this tool—but it’s up to you to decide exactly what that looks like.
Do you think an Envoy Warforged equipped with a disguise kit would also be able to disguise their voice?
Sure—in the same way that a human with a disguise kit or an elf with a disguise kit could disguise their voice. They don’t have a special automatic success at doing it, but I’d consider it to be part of the ability check. If you want to have perfect Terminator style mimicry, you can get the Actor feat.
That’s all for the moment: post further questions below!
CHANGE LOG
- 7/23/17. Page numbering corrected on appendix pages.
- 7/24/17. Introduction text adjusted, kalashtar added to table of contents.
