Let's Read Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron: Sharn, the City of Towers

Where the previous chapters of Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron gave a broad-strokes overview of the setting as a whole, the last full chapter focuses on a specific section of the world: Sharn, the City of Towers. Sharn is the Big City of Eberron; in many ways, Sharn is emblematic of the setting overall. Before digging into the metropolis, the chapter takes a look at the player character backgrounds presented in the Player's Handbook and offers suggestions on integrating them into Sharn. Unfortunately, each background only gets a meager d4 random table of Sharn-centric origins.

Sharn, as its "City of Towers" sobriquet indicates, is a city constructed from fantastically tall spires. The city's verticality is more important than its horizontal urban spread; the city's populace is stratified according to the height of the city they inhabit. The wealthy live in the highest heights of the city--this is where you find opulence, and where the City Watch is very active in suppressing crime. The middle heights are inhabited by middle-class citizens--and their shops, business, entertainments, and homes, as well as a City Watch presence that generally keeps the peace. The lower depths of the city house a mix of laborers, the destitute, and war refugees--this is the most dangerous part of the city, where the Watch doesn't dare intervene. These divisions are generalizations; the facts of city life vary a bit neighborhood by neighborhood.

Since Sharn is such a vertical city, traversing it entails walking across bridges and ramps, as well as magical lifts and gondola-like skycoaches that take advantage of Sharn's naturally occurring flight-enabling magic. Flying mounts are also a common sight within the city.

Next comes brief descriptions--complete with adventure seeds--of Sharn's districts:

• Central Plateau, where wealth and power congregate.
• Dura Quarter, the oldest section of the city, now fallen into ruin, poverty, and misery.
• Menthis Plateau, the entertainment quarter, also home to Breland's most prominent university.
• Northedge Quarter, a quiet residential area.
• Tavick's Landing Quarter, a place of coming and going.

Aside from the five districts of the city, it also has Cliffside docks, an enchanted ward called Skyway that floats above the city, the ruins of a previous city beneath the streets, and tunnels that lead to magma used for industrial production in the Cogs.

Beyond describing the city through its constituent parts, this chapter also has information on the practical matters of using the city as a whole, such as yearly events that characters could get mixed up in, communication in the city (letter boxes, gargoyle delivery service!!!), and what happens when you fall from one of Sharn's many bridges (you probably land on another bridge, and some of them are imbued with a feather fall effect).

Given the murderhobo proclivities of adventurers, we also have a section on criminal activities in Sharn, including information on the Boromar Clan (a halfling criminal syndicate), Daask (a criminal organization of monsters within the lower parts of the city), House Tarkanan (thieves and assassins possessing aberrant dragonmarks), and the Tyrants (changeling and doppelganger blackmailers and forgers). We also get information on dreamlily, an addictive drug that adds a nice grotty sheen to the Weimar-esque decadence of Sharn.

Capping this section of the pdf off are a set of "starting points," places you might start a new campaign set in Sharn. Included are notes on:

• Callestan, dark Western-esque adventure in the lower wards of the city.
• Clifftop, pulp adventure with possible jaunts to uncharted lands.
• Morgrave University, light-hearted, Harry Potter-esque coming of age adventures.

We also get random tables for quick adventure outlines, encounters on the streets of Sharn, suggestions for further reading among Eberron's back catalog of gaming materials and novels, a glossary of proper names used throughout the document (that is very helpful as a setting reference), images of the crests of all the dragonmarked houses, and full color maps of the setting.

Full review, section by section
Chapter One: What is Eberron?
Chapter Two: Welcome to Khorvaire
Chapter Three: Races of Eberron

Chapters Four and Five: Dragonmarks and Magic Items

Let's Read Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron: Dragonmarks and Magic Items

Dragonmarks
Dragonmarks are a unique facet of the Eberron campaign setting; they are essentially tattoo-like markings that appear on people related to specific bloodlines that manifest magical powers. To bear a dragonmark means that you belong to a familial dragonmarked house. The dragonmarked houses function much like megacorps in cyberpunk games: they represent powerful dynasties whose powers have enabled them to form monopolies over their areas of expertise. Not everyone born to a dragonmarked house has a dragonmark, but those who do gain powers related to the house's economic and political purposes. 

The dragonmarked houses of Eberron include:

• House Medani, the Mark of Detection, detectives and bodyguards, half-elves.
• House Tharashk, Mark of Finding, detectives and bounty hunters, humans and half-orcs.
• House Vadalis, Mark of Handling, animal breeders and trainers, humans.
• House Jorasco, Mark of Healing, healers and hospitals, halflings.
• House Ghallanda, Mark of Hospitality, inns, taverns, restaurants, halflings.
• House Cannith, Mark of Making, manufacturing, humans.
• House Orien, Mark of Passage, land transportation and the lightning rail, humans.
• House Sivis, Mark of Scribing, communications, gnomes.
• House Deneith, Mark of Sentinel, mercenaries, humans.
• House Phiarlan, Mark of Shadow, entertainment and spying, elves.
• House Thuranni, Mark of Shadow, assassins, elves.
• House Lyrandar, Mark of Storm, sea transportation and weather control, half-elves.
• House Kundarak, Mark of Warding, prisons and security, dwarves.

As you can see from the list of dragonmarked houses above, each house is linked to a D&D race from the 3.5 Player's Handbook. The integration of dragonmarks into character creation is actually quite slick. In a previous Eberron Unearthed Arcana, dragonmarks were feats, which didn't serve the setting very well. Since only the variant human race begins play with a feat at first level, this restricted dragonmarks to fourth level characters, which didn't fit the setting's lore. Wayfinder's Guide presents each dragonmark as either a mechanical replacement for a character's race or subrace, which opens up the possibility of starting a game as a member of a dragonmarked house.

The powers granted by a dragonmark include a mix of ability score increases, special powers, spells, and intuition dice. Intuition dice begin as d4s that get added to ability checks with skills and tools that are pertinent to a dragonmarked house's specialties. For example, halflings with the Mark of Hospitality get a bonus to Charisma, the friends and prestidigitation cantrips, and intuition dice on persuasion checks and checks that involve brewer's tools and cook's utensils. Each entry on a dragonmark is about a page long and gives a good overview of the house connected to it, a few ideas for characters who might possess that mark, and the abilities associated with it.

At eight level a dragonmarked character can forgo their ability score increase to take a feat called Greater Dragonmark that increases the power of their mark. Their intuition dice increase from d4 to d6, and they gain the ability to cast a few higher level spells through their dragonmark. Some of these spells are quite high in level, but since they aren't combat-centric spells they don't seem likely to create balance problems.

Another feat, Aberrant Dragonmark, is offered for characters who wish to obtain a dragonmark that is unconnected to any of the dragonmarked houses. This feat grants a cantrip and a first-level spell from the sorcerer's spell list, and the ability to spend hit dice to increase the level you cast your spell at--at the cost of taking damage equal to a roll of however many hit dice you spent on it.

Magic Items
Most settings with "magical technology" also feature magical fuel; Deadlands has ghost rock, Malifaux has Soulstones, and Eberron has dragonshards. Dragonshards come in three types. Eberron dragonshards can used in place of material components in spells, to create magic items, and to fuel lightning rail trains and elemental airships. Khyber dragonshards are used for binding planar entities, phylacteries, and necromantic rituals. Siberys dragonshards are used for dragonmark focus items, eldritch machines, and for the creation of legendary magic items and artifacts.

Dragonmark focus items are usable only by people with the relevant dragonmark; they are either standard magic items that are cheaper to produce because they are attuned to a specific mark or they amplify the power of a mark for a related purpose. Eldritch machines are plot-point devices, such as magical seals keeping cosmic evils at bay. This chapter also includes some magic items that are common conveniences in the setting (such as stones that clean your body and clothes when you touch them), arcane foci (and rules for wielding them two-handed to get some rifle vs. pistol differentiation), and warforged components (arms blades! wand sheaths!).

Let's Read Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron: Races of Eberron

The section on the races of Eberron is probably the most hefty of the new mechanical additions to 5e that Wayfinder's Guide has to offer. The first bit of the chapter gives Player's Handbook-style write-up for Eberron's unique races--changelings, kalashtar, shifters, and warforged. The second section describes how the cultural assumptions attached to the usual D&D races are altered in Eberron.

Changelings are essentially Doppelganger Juniors--they can change their appearance at will, making them the ultimate spies. Interestingly, they also take on psychological personas to match their multiple physical identities; some of these personas are passed down family lines or shared communally, so it's possible that the elf merchant you have been dealing with for a decade is actually fifty changelings playing the role.

Kalashtar...are weird. They are a compound race of humans who are bound to spirit-refugees from the plane of dreams. The relationship is more symbiosis than parasitical, but it does make the kalashtar seem alien and otherworldly--the human gets some psionic powers out of the deal.

Shifters are Lycanthrope Lite; they're (probably) the descendants of humans and were-creatures who are animalistic in appearance and can "shift" into a more bestial state to get extra hit points and some other bonus abilities. 

The warforged are Magic Robots of metal and wood that were created as soldiers in the Last War. An unexpected breakthrough led to them being fully conscious and sentient. Rules-wise, eyebrows have already been raised about the armor classes they can get due to their natural protection; a 1st level warforged fighter, for example, can have an AC of 20 if they have a shield--and their AC will increase as they gain levels.

If you just want the rules for the new races, you don't need to buy Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron. They're available in this Unearthed Arcana article.

How do the "normal" races fair in Eberron? Well dwarves...seem like the dwarves in most settings. NEXT! 

Elves, as always, come in a Baskin Robins array of flavors. The Aerenal elves worship their undead ancestors, so they are uncharacteristically okay with magic that is usually considered dark. The Valenar elves are warlike and seek to emulate the deeds of their illustrious ancestors. They also get access to a feat for use with a double-ended sword that seems to make two-weapon fighting obsolete, so that probably needs another look. Elves in Khorvaire are immigrants. Drow were made when giants used magic to bind shadows to elves and used to assassinate other elves.

Gnomes have a lust for knowledge, hate physical violence, and are inveterate schemers. They idea of gnomes as "smiling schemers" does the work of differentiating them from halflings and dwarves. Half-elves have their own communities because when a half-elf loves another half-elf very much they make another half-elf. Half-orcs are more likely to be seen as the offspring of backwoods types or primitives rather than the spawn of a naturally evil race, so you might need to re-think your baby orc strategy in Eberron. Halflings live in nomadic tribes and ride dinosaurs; that one kind of sells itself. Guess what? Humans are adaptable! Moving on. The chapter rounds out with brief notes on including other races that have not traditionally had a role as player characters in Eberron.

Next time: The Dragonmarked houses are the fantasy equivalent of cyberpunk megacorps.

Let's Read Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron: Welcome to Khorvaire

The first chapter of Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron was succinct enough in its explanation of what the setting is all about that a few of your players might even read it; the second chapter takes a much deeper dive into the setting's major locations, religions, magic, and planes of existence. This is probably detailed enough that only the DM will read it.

The continent of Khorvaire is the main focus in Eberron. In the past, Khorvaire was home to a single nation called Galifar, but the death of Galifar's king set his children at each other's throats in the optimistically titled Last War to see who would control the nation. But no one won the Last War, and Galifar was split into a number of smaller nations:

• Aundair: very focused on magic, has a floating Hogwarts-like school called Arcanix.
• Breland: home of Sharn, Khorvaire's largest city, and lots of criminal organizations.
• Cyre: now called the Mournlands because it was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm during the Last War; it might now inhabited by radicalized warforged.
• Darguun: a land of goblins, refugees, and smugglers.
• The Demon Wastes: a land of rakshasas and fiends.
• Droaam: a nation of monsters ruled by three hags known as the Daughters of Sora Kell.
• The Eldeen Reaches: druids, fey, shifters, farmland.
• Karrnath: a grim nation of militarists that has fallen under the sway of a necromantic religion called the Blood of Vol.
• The Lhazaar Principalities: pirate islands for all your Jack Sparrow needs.
• The Mror Holds: a loose confederation of dwarf clans with a lot of gold and silver; they are threatened by mountain-dwelling orcs.
• Q'barra: land of ancient ruins, lizardfolk, and dragonborn.
• The Shadow Marshes: a merged culture of humans and orc druids keeping watch over horrible aberrations. 
• The Talenta Plains: dinosaur-riding halfing barbarians, for all your Land of the Lost needs.
• Thrane: a creepy theocracy that worships the Silver Flame.
• Valenar: a land annexed by elven mercenaries during the Last War.
• Zilargo: gnome inventors with a secret police force.

As you can see, there is a lot going on in Khorvaire, and that's just one of the continents in Eberron. Although having a lot of options is nice, I've always felt like Eberron gives you too much to focus on--the core themes of the first chapter feel a little diluted when the setting tries to be all things to all people. That said, each of the regions mentioned above gets a nicely laid out page of information that prioritizes the stuff you'd want to know for adventures over deep lore, so at least the format is working in the harried DM's favor.

Next up is a section on the ever-present magic of Eberron. Eberron's magic is characterized as "wide" instead of "high"; magic is everywhere, but it isn't particularly powerful. Minor wizards called magewrights keep the streets lit with light spells, but they don't pack any really impressed arcane ability. Wandslingers, used as magic-using soldiers during the Last War, know a couple cantrips and a first level spell. There's also some discussion of how magic influences fashion, entertainment, communications, transportation (lightning rail and airships, of course!), and warfare.

As is tradition, after magic is covered we get a section on the faiths found in Khorvaire, which include:

• The Silver Flame: a religion obsessed with crusading against evil.
• The Sovereign Host: the main religion of Khorvaire; the gods of the Sovereign Host hit most of the D&Disms and to be honest they're a little boring and difficult to remember.
• The Dark Six: The evil gods, of course. There's six of them, you see.
• The Blood of Vol: necromancers who want you to seize the day.
• The Path of Light: New Age stuff.
• The Undying Court: many of the elves of Eberron worship their undead ancestors.
• The Cults of the Dragon Below: dragon cults tied into the Draconic Prophecy, which seems like a big deal in the setting but also feels somewhat distant from the big themes of Eberron.

Overall, the religions of Eberron are more functional than interesting to me, though they do get more intriguing at the periphery (The Undying Court, the Silver Flame) than they are at the center (the Sovereign Host, the Dark Six).

As if that wasn't enough, we also get some short descriptions of the lands beyond Khorvaire:

• Aerenal: the ancient land of the elves, where special trees are harvested for airships, etc.
• Argonessen: a land of the dragons and the barbarians who love them.
• Everice and the Frostfell: for all your arctic exploration needs.
• Sarlona: a land of weird psychics.
• Xen'drik: jungles! ruins! giants! drow! for all your Indiana Jones needs.

And if that wasn't expansive enough, the chapter closes on some brief descriptions of the planes connected to Eberron. This chapter kept things as quick and snappy as possible, but I'm exhausted by the breadth of detail--and possibly getting flashbacks to how big the lore drop is in the 3e Eberron books. But hey, if you were worried about buying a "prototype" campaign or eventually seeing Eberron in print again, check out Mike Mearls's tweet over on the left.

Next chapter: Our party is made up of a war robot, werewolf jr., a psychic weirdo, and one of the Faceless Men from Braavos as we tackle the unique races of Eberron.

Let's Read Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron: What is Eberron?

Eberron is back! 

Kind of. 

As the "cover" of the pdf notes, Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron is a "campaign prototype"; the material therein is still in playtest, not yet deemed official rules content, and definitely not sanctioned for Adventurer's League play. Nevertheless, the rules in the book have been crafted largely by Keith Baker: "Bear in mind: this book presents my vision of Eberron. This is the world I run at my own table, and the way that I’ve converted its ideas to the fifth edition rules. All of the material here is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination." Even if Wayfinder's Guide isn't the final word on Eberron in fifth edition, it's cool that they gave the setting's creator the opportunity to kick around in his own sandbox.

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IS EBERRON? First, we get a basic explanation of what Eberron is all about. I like that instead of launching into a gazetteer or geographic details, the explanation instead speaks to the setting's themes and aesthetics. Eberron is a setting where magic has taken the place of technological advancement, resulting in lightning rail trains, airships, etc. It's not steampunk per se, but the difference has always been small enough that it's doomed to be called steampunk anyway, much to Keith Baker's chagrin. 

Taken as a whole, one of the strongest elements in the setting is its pulp roots: the ideas of larger than life action and mysterious artifacts in far-flung locales just waiting to be found hits the Indiana Jones vibe pretty hard. In contrast to that, the setting also has a pronounced film noir component that makes D&D's usual "this race is evil, this race can be trusted" shtick unreliable--and therefore more fun. 

My favorite bit, and the one that often seemed to get the least attention in previous Eberron books, is that the setting's current era is an inter-war period--it feels like World War I has recently ended and the possibility of a World War II looms heavily on the horizon. Well, except the "Mourning" has always struck me as a magical-apocalyptic take on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the horrific aftermath that would entail.

Each of these setting elements gets expanded upon in its own section; the writing is fairly tight by WotC standards, and there is a good use of random tables and bullet-point lists to convey important information quickly. You might even be able to get a player to read about the setting before they sit down to play. The art seems to be mostly cribbed from prior Eberron products, but I've always liked Wayne Reynolds's style for this setting.

Generally speaking, I also like the attitude expressed in this pdf. It's noted that everything in D&D can have a place in Eberron, but also that the baseline assumption is Your Eberron May Vary--it's nice to see it explicitly called out that even though the setting has quite a bit of detail, your version of it doesn't have to cohere to the creator's vision and that personalizing the setting is encouraged.

The last bit of information in this first chapter gives a concrete example of how you might customize the setting: it deals with Eberron's place in the multiverse. Eberron had its own cosmology in its third edition incarnation; its planar schema does not match up with the standardized Great Wheel of the planes that forms the official version of how the D&D multiverse operates. This potential discrepancy is addressed by stating Eberron's planes separated from the Great Wheel cosmology by a shield that cuts them off from the rest of the multiverse. Options for breaching that shield and connecting Eberron's planes to the larger D&D multiverse are offered here, so your Eberron can be as sequestered or as connected as you want.

Next chapter: Little Red Khorvaire, baby you're much too fast.

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Shameful self-promotion: My setting book, Krevborna: A Gothic Blood Opera, is currently on sale as part of DriveThruRPG's Christmas in July event!