I’ve had some time to review the Eberron Player’s Guide, and it was a very solid resource book. First off, I’d like to point out that the Eberron setting has been implemented in 4E like Forgotten Realms should have been (a retroactive cannon fix). A common tactic used in television and comic books, you just act like this is how it always was. There’s no wonky time-warping or world changing.
As to the game rules, I found the new player races to be effective and desirable. While the races are not necessarily new, changinglings (as doppelgangers) and warforged were covered in the Monster Manual, I think that they work well and gained a bit by being printed formally as player races. The new class, Artificer, seems to be an effective and unique leader class. I like the alchemy path as an alternative to rituals, and I expect that future books will support this concept. Regarding the Dragonmark feats, I feel up and down. First, I do like that the dragonmarks diverged from the spellscarred system from the Realms, however I was left wanting for more. I don’t like the idea that anyone can get any dragonmark, and I will house-rule this so no problem really. However I hope that future supplements will include the ability to improve the dragonmarks, perhaps with a follow-up feat in the paragon and epic tiers for greater capabilities. Overall, I think the rules match the feel of Eberron and do not up the power curve significantly.
Regarding the setting material, I’m really not a fan of the “Cliff’s Notes” setting material found in the Eberron and Forgotten Realms Player’s Guides. Once the campaign setting book arrives, this material makes me feel like I got ripped off by getting largely reprinted material in two books. I understand that you can argue that players only need to buy the smaller book, but I still feel cheated somehow.
I started my first Eberron game a few weeks back, in anticipation of the 4E books. I’m disappointed that I’ve missed out on Eberron back in 3rd edition, and I really like the flavor of the setting over almost any other officially printed setting of 4E or 3E. I think that this book is a good start to the setting. I’m really hoping that more supplemental material will be printed after the player’s guide and campaign setting are out, however I’m not holding my breath. I am going to hold on to 3rd edition books however as they are a gold mine of valuable material (once again unlike the Realms…).
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