Eberron: Rising From the Last War
Eberron: Rising From the Last War is an epic fantasy supplement for Dungeons & Dragons, developed by Jeremy Crawford, Dan Dillon, Mike Mearls, Christopher Perkins, and Ben Petrisor and published by Wizards of the Coast.
By Dave Pierson
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The Homebrew DM’s Perception
Disclaimer: Published by the brilliant gnomes of House Sivis, this illustrious volume exposes truths you won’t believe about the Last War! You might think that’s enough to satisfy you, dear reader, but there’s more! The book also contains dice-fueled rules for reenacting thrilling events in the world of Eberron (dice not included). Also, don’t forget to recharge this book’s magic with a dragonshard about once a week. If you don’t, the book will turn back into a potato.
Wizards of the Coast, Eberron Rising From the Last War, 2019
When I started playing D&D again in 2001/2002, I was having difficulty becoming invested. Not sure if it was because of the complexities of 3.5 and relearning a new set of rules; or if I couldn’t find that class I really enjoyed – I mean I tried so many class/prestige class combos. I enjoyed playing with the guys, but there was a dam holding me back from really diving back in. However, in June of 2004 when Eberron was released, that dam broke. I fell in love with the overall magicpunk (kind of like steampunk, but with magic instead of steam) vibes the setting offered. The warring houses, the introduction of dragonmarks, warforged, and shifter races. I knew there were other settings, Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, but I felt late to the party on those. I had played so sparingly up to this point. Eberron gave me something to new to dive into. I gobbled up the novels and setting books. I even have multiple copies of the Shards of Eberron CD. My first DM’s experience was a pre-written 4th Edition Eberron adventure I co-opted into my own world. So, when I say this is my setting, I really mean it and therefore, this was the one 5th Edition book I’ve been waiting for ever since launch.
We’ve known for a while that an updated Eberron setting book for 5th Edition would be coming. Fans of the setting have been clamoring for it since launch due to its popularity. Wizards has been tinkering with classes and races from Eberron in their Unearthed Arcana for some time now and just last summer published the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron playtest material through the DMs Guild. I’ve personally been playing through the Unearthed Arcana artificer over the last 6 months and have incorporated some dragonmarks and other magicpunk type items into my current homebrew campaign.
So what’s new with the official release? The setting book provides great details on the unique Eberron races (changelings, kalashtar, shifters, and warforged) along with how dragonmarks are tied to a few races as variants. It also includes the official new class – the artificer, a mix of magic and tinkering. All great things we can incorporate into our homebrew worlds. No need to wait for a new campaign either. I’m sure we’ve all got secret little areas hidden away somewhere that we can incorporate these ideas in to. One of my player’s is already playing a kalashtar – a few updates and we’re back ready to go, although now he might not be the only one. Maybe there is distant continent that follows the Eberron style that may just be invading soon? Hmm, I like that idea.
Chapter 1 concludes with an entire section dedicated to Group Patrons. Now, having your party linked to one individual who will provide opportunities and pay is nothing new in the world of D&D. However, they really dove in head first on this one and provided a great comprehensive guide on how to build a team around that core concept. It is really good inspiration for character concepts and cool things your players may want to see in your campaign. Since this section is really geared towards your players, you can easily pull from here for your own campaign to flesh out your new party’s strength and goals. Maybe build out a questionnaire that your players can work through in a session zero to help cohesively come to a starting point.
Following Character Creation in Chapter 1, the majority of what remains is all about Eberron. From a 47-page history lesson; to faiths of Eberron; to building adventures within the setting, there is a breath of knowledge here that we can pull to inspire our own homebrew world. What I really liked was the timeline has remained consistent from 3.5e to now. When you get to play your campaign maybe once a month for a few hours, having a consistent timeline to pull from is nice to have. Then our setting comes to an end with Treasures and a Bestiary. Again, like previous releases, all good items and creatures that you can incorporate into your own world. My last campaign included the landforged; secret protectors of the druids. A couple modifications from the bestiary and I had my protectors for my players to deal with.
Even if you already own plenty of 3.5, 4e, or Wayfinder’s Guide Eberron content, there is still a lot of useful content here to inspire you. Because I’ve been a fan of the Eberron setting for quite some time, I’m always looking to it for inspiration and now I’ve got a 5e Campaign Setting book to assist with providing the 5e mechanics to incorporate magicpunk into my own world!
