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Welcome to Eberron, a world of swashbuckling action and dark fantasy. The features that most set Eberron apart are its tone and attitude. The setting combines traditional medieval fantasy with pulp action and dark adventure. Make no mistake – the world of Eberron proudly takes its place among the D&D worlds that have come before, with a cinematic flair and an eye toward the best action-adventure movies ever filmed. The campaign’s story elements were designed with this in mind, and also built into the game mechanics.

Dungeons and dragons is a game of high adventure and the driving force behind the world of Eberron. It is essential that players have a simple grasp of the mechanics involved. This section will walk you though the considerations you need to make as you build your character. Eberron specific material will be boxed appropriately.

Ability scores are the mechanical definition of the natural abilities each race has in common.

This is your raw ability to lift, carry, break, and inflict damage. Mechanically, this is reflected in how much weight you can carry, your ability to swing a sword, and punch somebody in the face.

This is your ability to move, dodge in coming attacks and aim with ranged weapons. Mechanically, this adds to the difficulty to hit your character and how well they can throw and fire weapons.

This is your ability to soak damage and resist attacks that seek to destroy your body. Mechanically, this reflects your ability to drink booze, resist poison, and adds to your hit point total.

Raw brain power, this is the representation of your mental faculties for things that require thought and honed technique. This is mechanically reflected in your ability to cast arcane preparation spells, the number of skills you excel at, the amount of book-smarts your poses.

This is your ability to analyze the world around you. Is he lying to you? Will this action lead to irrevocable damnation? This is mechanically reflected in your ability to resist spells that alter your mental facilities or perception, your ability to cast spells granted by divine powers, and your ability to read people.

Your force of personality and your ability to get people to like you. This is mechanically reflected in your ability to cast spells that result from blood-line abilities and the social skills that will get you though the world.

Ability scores range from 3-18. The higher the score, the better you are. 10-11 is an average score. Once you go up to 12 and above, you get a bonus to any rolls that are affiliated with that score. Any score below 10 has the consequence of causing a penalty to that skill.

While in the real world, race refers to ethnicity, in the fantastic world that is Eberron, race refers to species. These species are available to players:

Humans, unlike most races, have no predilection to profession and have an adaptability that is not shared among many races.

Stout folk of the Mror Holds, dwarves are strong in body but weak in social skills. Dwarves make for excellent fighters and craftsmen. The dwarves plumb the vast depths of the Mror Holds for precious metals and thus control a great deal of the wealth of Eberron through trade, minting, and banking.

Graceful and long lived, the Elves of Eberron take quickly to magic and are fierce warriors. Elves come from all over Khorvaire, but are especially populous in Valenar and can be found in the island kingdom of Avernal. The Valenar elves worship their heroic ancestors of millennia ago in song and deed, as do the Avernal elves, however, the elves of Avernal’s worship and magic keeps their ancestors alive in a form of pure undeath that does not tap into the negative energy usually associated with such beings.

Creatures of social graces, gnomes come from Zilargo and chase both academic pursuits and magical design pursuits. Gnomes have burning passion to know that which is kept secret. Secretive, but outwardly sociable, the Gnomes of Eberron are experts in subtle political maneuvering and are often in positions where the secrets they have obtained can be used to get what they want.

The product of a relationship between elves and humans, half-elves blend human and elven traits and abilities, thus have the advantage of being very good diplomats.

The product of a relationship between humans and orcs, the half-orc is brutish and brawny, lacking the mental facilities for much beyond hitting things. Half-Orcs favor Barbarism and are from The Shadow Marches and Droaam; although populations can be found throughout Khorvaire.

Small folk, like the gnomes, halflings are dexterous and talented in a variety of fields. Halflings are well established around Khorvaire, but a large portion of their population lives in their ancestral homeland, the Talenta Plains, as nomadic herdsmen and dinosaur tamers. (That’s right, Frodo rides a Velociraptor).

In the world of Eberron, there classically monstrous races are often seen adventuring.

Decendants of the great Dhakaani Empire, the goblins of Khorvaire today are a mere shadow of their ancestors. Short in stature and lacking sophistication often inherent in other races, goblins are spread out all over Khorvaire, having been abducted in Last War for slave labor or hiring themselves out as mercenaries. Goblins have very high populations in Droaam and especially in Darguun, the nation of goblinoids. Small and quick, goblinoids are often forced to thievery when their meager use of brawn fails.

Possibly more down-trodden than even the goblins, kobolds have no homeland of their own and are often spotted in small communities in larger settlements, essentially shunned into a reclusive existence by the other races. kobolds commonly encountered fall into two subsets – the iredar and the irvhir. Both subraces trace their ancestry back to the progenitor dragons that created Eberron as it is today. With such magical heritage, kobolds make for exceptional sorcerers.

Quite possibly one of the oldest races on Khorvaire, the orcs of the Shadow Marches essentially live today as they did then. Orcs align themselves by tribe, although other power groups exist in the form of House Tharashk, the Gatekeepers druidic sect, and the cult of the Dragon Below. Orcs, like their half-blooded kin, make for burly warriors and find the barbarian a most pleasing professional.

The world of Eberron has a number of races that are specific to its cosmology.

Although true doppelgangers exist, they have been known to breed with beings confined to one form. These relationships result in the Changeling – a creature capable of subtly changing it’s appearance from one humanoid to another. Changelings are generally not trusted and often remain “in character” when in public, so identifying them is difficult at best. Changelings are apt rogues.

To look at a kalashtar is to look at a human. However, in truth, the kalashtar are much more than human. From Dal Quor – the plane of dreams – came a race of beings persecuted. The kalashtar eventually hid themselves by discarding their physical form in the consciousness of willing human hosts. An amazing thing happened. The combination of human and quori spirit bred true. Today, they live primarily on the far away continent of Sarlona in the Adar Mountains. A few kalashtar have migrated to Khorvaire and float around human communities. The kalashtar are intelligent and thoughtful and are excellent psions.

A combination of human and ferocious beast, Shifters are descendants of lycanthropes (were-creatures), shifters can work themselves into a frenzy that gives them ferocious abilities in combat. Part animal themselves, Shifters are comfortable in natural settings and often become rangers.

The newest of all Khorvaire’s many races, the warforged as a “species” are less than 100 years old. Born into the great combat that was the Last War, the warforged are magnificent constructs crafted by the artisans of House Cannith. Made of wood, iron, stone, and steel – the warforged defied logic and understanding when they were found to have souls. With the Last War over, the warforged were granted independence, but find it difficult to integrate into a society which they were not designed for. Most warforged were trained in the Last War as fighters and since the creation of new warforged was prohibited by the Thronehold Accords, the warforged remain primarily fighters.

Classes are akin to professions. Almost all sentient races have class levels of one color or another. The classes below are core classes and are free for you to select from.

Barbarians are savage warriors who specialize in light armor and flying into a frenzied rage.

A jack of all trades, bards dabble in swordplay, arcane spellcasting, and boosting the abilities of their allies.

Priests of gods and other divine powers who can wade into melee and cast spells and turn the undead.

Where priests worship powers, druids worship the aspect of nature itself and gain a bevy of nature related spells and shape-shifting abilities.

The expert in the field of combat, fighters excel at kicking ass on the battlefield through careful honing of combative skill and in this vein, gain a slew of bonus feats.

A master of self-discipline, monks specialize in maneuvering and honing his physical and mental into a potent weapon.

The pious warrior, a paladin gains divine abilities to lay the smack down on evil-doers. Paladins gain holy mount, indomitable saving throws, and a smite attacks.

The wilderness warrior with more civility than a barbarian, but more comfortable in the wilds, the ranger specializes in specific combat techniques and at maneuvering through the wilds.

The thieves and the artisans, the nobles and the commoners, the rogue’s diverse skill-set allows them to be particularly skilled in multiple areas and their potent sneak attack makes them a danger in the dark places.

Spellcasters gifted with the blood of ancient greatness, sorcerers cast innate spells at a mere flick of the wrist.

A spellcaster more at home in a study than on the road, wizards gain their power through the study of the science that is magic.

The classes below are offered in addition to those above.

Artificer: Experts in the use of magic, artificers do not cast spells, but work magic into items and in crafting all sorts of permanent enchantments.

Spellcasters gifted with a divine spark, favored souls channel their divine spark into spells and divine abilities.

A warrior with arcane-training, Hexblades sling spells, swing swords, and throw curses.

While wizards devote study to magic, psions devote study to the very nature of the mind itself. Psions specialize in a particular branch of psionic study and are best at manifesting those powers.

Blending physical prowess with mental acuity, pschic warriors can manifest psionic powers as a psion, although through their diversity, are not as talented a psions.

A soulknife unlock the ability to manifest blade of psionic energy and use their mind to enhance their combat without resorting to manifesting powers.

A warrior expertly trained in light-combat, the swashbuckler is mobile and sociable and depends as much on intelligence as physical prowess.

Though dark packs and blood-lines, the warlock gains fell abilities including arcane rays and special abilities that act like spells at will.

After picking out your character’s ability scores, race, and class, you’re ready to begin picking out mechanical abilities. Although character creation will be handled prior to the game, I’m going to discuss the various terms that will be thrown around below:

In Dungeons and Dragons, combat is a predominant feature. Your attack bonus represents your ability to hit things – with swords, bows, and some spells.

Broken into three distinct categories, saving throws are your ability to resist certain effects. The reflex saving throw is symbolic of your ability to react to a new threat and get out of the way. The fortitude save reflects how well conditioned your body is to fighting off poisons, diseases, and negative energy effects. The will saving throw is representative of your ability to realize when you’re being tricked by a charm, illusion, or other mind-effecting spell or ability.

An abstract principle, the higher level you are, generally the more powerful you are. Earning levels grants you new abilities, spells, skills, and feats.

Another abstract principle, skills are individual talents you’ve learned to some degree. Each level grants you a specific number of skill points to allocate to skills. Modern day skills would include computer use and driving; however, the fantasy skill set includes things like spellcraft and use magic device as opposed to the skills used in the real world.

Where skills can be incrementally improved every level, feats are something more. Reflective of special training, innate talents, or magical boon – feats go above the beyond skills and are thus more powerful and in smaller supply. Some classes receive bonus feats from special lists, but all classes receive bonus feats every three times they go up in level.

Magic in Eberron is dividing into three spheres – the Arcane, the Divine, and the Psionic.

Arcane magic is that of the great wizards. They can create fireballs the size of a city bus, or they can make that sugar you added to your coffee taste like salt. Wizards, Sorcerers, and Bards in Eberron are practitioners of Arcane magic. Wizards study their spells from spellbooks and can call on their memorized arcane patterns to cast spells. Sorcerers are a granted the blood of a magical being and can cast these spells without the rigorous training required by wizards by the grace of the bloodline alone. Bards pick up little tricks here and there and learn to cast their spells spontaneously through the power of the voice. Hexblades cast arcane spells spontaneously and though warlocks do not cast spells, their special abilities are considered arcane in nature.

Divine magic is granted from very powerful creatures beyond that mere mortals. Clerics receive their powers from gods or other powers who require a strict code of conduct. Druids receive their powers from the natural world, while favored souls gain the benefit of their powers from powerful outsiders who grant them a small portion of their divine spark.

Psionic energy is a product of the mind, a physical or mental manifestation of shear willpower. Psions gain their powers trough study and self discipline, while psychic warriors gain their powers through the rigorous training they subject themselves to. Mind-blades manifest their psionic energy in the form of a mind blade and other psychic abilities.

Unlike, wizards, clerics, and psions – artificers do not cast spells. Artificers are like mechanics. They don’t design the cars/planes/helicopters – they have a good idea how they work and they can fix them up and they can follow the instructions to build one. The same goes for artificers and while they use magic to accomplish their tasks, they use the most basic form of it, before it gets branded arcane, divine, or psionic.

It started a long time ago, 3000 years to be precise, when the humans sailed across the Lhazaar Sea from Sarlona to Khorvaire. A land of bounty, the humans began settling the continent. From the Lhazaar Principalities to the Shadow Marches, humans settled everywhere. They were not alone, however. Long had the goblins of Dhakaani lived on Khorvaire, as had the ancient, nomadic orcs. The dwarves, having migrated from the far north also called Khorvaire home, as did the Talenta Halflings, the gnomes of Zilargo, and many others. But against the flood of humans, there was no resisting and within a thousand years, humans had spreat out all over Khorvaire and formed five great nations, each under the leadership of a great monarch.

So passed another thousand years, until King Galifar I took leadership of Karrnath. Soon after taking the throne, he began his quest to unit the Five Nations into a unified kingdom. Within 50 years, the Galifar I united the five nations and split their governance between his five heirs, each nation named after one of his scions. Eight-hundred years passed on Khorvaire as the humans and other races continued their advancement in things magical, martial, and mundane; however, when King Jarot, the last ruler of Galifar, died the nations went to war.

As anyone on Khorvaire why the War started and you’re likely to get a different answer. Whatever the cause, a great war spread out over Khorvaire, creating new nations and laying low the nations of old. Over the course of a century, friend raised arms against friends and borders moved daily. House Cannith, in keeping up with the demand for ever more potent weapons, perfected the most potent weapon known to date – a living creature. While they do not breathe, the warforged were just as capable of viciousness as any other humanoid race and as the war progressed, these artificial beings became more competent, branching away from being mere warriors, to becoming clerics, wizards, and rogues. All the while, war raged and people died.

That is, until 994 YK. In that quiet morning the entire nation of Cyre exploded in a brilliant blast of arcane energy. The nation crumbled as cities collapsed, lakes dried up and mountains toppled. The entire population in that one instant died, like so many candles blown out by a soft gust of wind. The dead great mists set in, hugging the boarders of Cyre. Expeditions that ventured into the mists found only death and distruction. The rest of Khorvaire, glad that the Day of Mourning struck Cyre but fearful it could strike them, ceased the majority of their hostile actions. Slowly, the voices of those calling for an official end to the Last War gained an audience and two years after the Day of Mourning, the armistice was signed. The Last War was over, but the tensions remained.

Two years have passed since Khorvaire stopped warring. Houses are back to making money without killing people (usually) and nations are looking inward instead of outward (again, usually). The time is ripe for adventure, but the tensions of the Last War still loom overhead.