📖 Overview
Eberron: Rising from the Last War is a sourcebook for the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons that introduces players to the world of Eberron. The book presents a fantasy setting where magic serves as technology, blending elements of noir detective stories with steampunk and traditional fantasy.
The sourcebook contains rules for creating characters native to Eberron, including four new races and a new class called the Artificer. It provides extensive detail on the continent of Khorvaire, its nations, and the aftermath of the Last War that shaped the current political landscape.
The book includes mechanics for running games in Sharn, a vertical metropolis of towers where skyships dock and magic elevators connect different levels of the city. Group Patrons, a new system for giving party members shared goals and resources, allows players to work as agents of various organizations within the setting.
This reimagining of fantasy tropes explores themes of post-war recovery, technological progress, and the price of magic in everyday life. The setting questions traditional alignments of good and evil while examining how societies rebuild after widespread conflict.
👀 Reviews
Readers emphasize the book's value as a D&D 5E conversion of Eberron's core concepts. Many note it serves as a good introduction for newcomers while maintaining the setting's noir-fantasy elements.
Liked:
- Dragonmark houses and artificer class mechanics
- Integration of warforged and new races
- Group patronage system for party organization
- Lighting rail and transportation details
- Sharn city descriptions and maps
Disliked:
- Limited content compared to 3.5E Eberron books
- Missing key setting elements (psionics, dragonshard rules)
- Brief treatment of locations outside Sharn
- Few ready-to-use adventure hooks
- No character sheet for artificer class
Ratings:
Amazon: 4.7/5 (1,200+ reviews)
Goodreads: 4.4/5 (500+ ratings)
DriveThruRPG: 4/5 (200+ reviews)
Common review quote: "Good starter book for Eberron but veterans will need supplements for full campaign creation."
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🤔 Interesting facts
🐉 Eberron began as the winning entry in Wizards of the Coast's Fantasy Setting Search contest in 2002, beating over 11,000 other submissions
🌟 The setting uniquely combines traditional fantasy with noir detective fiction, pulp adventure, and dieselpunk elements, making it stand apart from typical medieval fantasy worlds
🚂 The Lightning Rail, one of Eberron's most iconic features, was inspired by Keith Baker's love of old movies like "Murder on the Orient Express" and combines magic with industrial-age transportation
🔮 Unlike traditional D&D settings, Eberron's dragons rarely interact with the world directly, instead working through ancient prophecies and complex manipulation from behind the scenes
🏰 The continent of Khorvaire features a cold war between five nations after a century-long conflict known as The Last War, which ended with a magical catastrophe similar to a fantasy nuclear disaster