Eberron Races: How Do You Play 'Em?


3.5/d20/OGL


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Hi, everyone! As a disclaimer, I'm gathering feedback for what will either be a video essay or a blog post regarding the races of Eberron, so only post here if you're okay being quoted or referenced. I will not mention names unless you specifically state you're okay with your username being used.

How do you run the races of Eberron?

Eberron, Magitek-Roaring 20s-Pulp-Political Commentary mashup that it is, contains four brand-new races of note: The Kalashtar, the Shifter, the Changeling, and the Warforged. I have a few questions regarding their usage.

Note that these questions apply to GMs and their NPCs, not just players and their PCs. Thank you very much!

1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?

2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?

3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?

4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?

5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?

6. Least favorite race?

7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs?

8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?

9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?

Liberty's Edge

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I'm ok with my username being used.

1. We feature changelings and warforged most often. I'm not sure I've ever run or played a kalashtar or a shifter (maybe built a shifter character one time?).

2. Warforged is the best-situated in the setting. And then it's the Monster Manual races before any of the Eberron book races - goblinoids especially have more of a sense of belonging than even changelings. I don't really know enough about the kalashtar home continent to say that they don't fit, but they've never had an obvious place in any of the games I've played. Shifters and changelings have enough explanation to fit into the setting, but aren't anywhere near as "core" as warforged.

3. I don't know what to do with kalashtar.

4. The gaming community has already proven that warforged fit well outside the setting. I'd argue that shifters filled an important niche until Pathfinder's skinwalkers (which I don't know much about), and changelings fill a niche that has yet to be taken by later content. Kalashtar don't really seem as interesting as the base psionic races from 3.5, and they would be hard to remove from their relationship to the quori.

A small caveat: Warforged-as-named don't fit in a lot of settings. To me their flavor is closely tied to the theme of indefinite, brutal modern war, and they need some adaptation to be appropriate for more medieval/renaissansical settings.

5. Favorite race is changelings, since first reading an adventure with a changeling villain in Dragon. I think I ought to try building a warforged or a kalashtar some time, just to see how they run.

6. My least favorite race is the kalashtar, for the reasons above.

7. Warforged and kalashtar seem like PC-only races. I wouldn't say changelings or shifters are primarily NPC, though - it's probably about even.

8. That I primarily play? Not really. That I would likely play? Human or goblin, probably.

9. Eberron's approach to playable races is decent. A different route from Pathfinder, which used the base race list and then added to it with later supplements. Eberron's method has the advantage of establishing all the major races from the beginning, so they were part of the adventures and setting books that would establish the world's theme.


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Using my username is fine

Kobold Cleaver wrote:

How do you run the races of Eberron?

Eberron, Magitek-Roaring 20s-Pulp-Political Commentary mashup that it is, contains four brand-new races of note: The Kalashtar, the Shifter, the Changeling, and the Warforged. I have a few questions regarding their usage.

Note that these questions apply to GMs and their NPCs, not just players and their PCs. Thank you very much!

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?

I find Warforged to be the most featured. They are pretty much the 'iconic' race of Eberron, and what sets it most apart from other settings as well is what is so readily 'different' about the world. I find that PCs gravitate toward the race because it is different and new, though i find that GMs tend to write them off as labor and don't really explore the complex material behind the scenes that is going on with the warforged. a newly freed race, young in the world but immediately having the physical capability of an adult, seen as nothing but labor often but trying to overcome that prejudice.

I find kalashtar to be the most neglected. They aren't common on the main contenent of the world, even though they are technically among the first humans. also they are pretty similar to humans. I haven't had a lot of GMs focus on the "mind war" going on behind the scenes in Eberron. That isn't a terrible thing, there are so many things poised to end the world in Eberron that I have played a bunch of Eberron games and really only had the same main protagonist once or twice (usually emerald claw), other than that it always something different.

As an aside, changelings are kinda ignored mostly because they are difficult to detect unless you kill someone and they revert to normal form. Shifters are usually presented as unusually hirsute humans.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?

I think all races (and all monsters) have a place in Eberron. It is an extremely large setting where everything will fit SOMEWHERE. I think Warforged are best situated, they were pretty much created with a place in mind and are trying to get out of that space in people's minds. Shifters are well situated as they can do whatever they want in the Shadow Marches or Eldeen Reach. Kalashtar aren't that well situated unless you're in Sarlona, and even there they have a tough time so I'd place them as the least at-home.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?

I can come up with something to do with each race, but I feel the shifters are the least interesting to do something with.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?

yes, though the kalashtar the least so. Warforged are also limited in what settings they might fit well in due to their artificial nature. changelings and shifters fit in most settings, changelings existed prior to the Eberron setting and any game that might have were-creatures would certainly have a spot for shifters just as half-dragons might have a place anywhere that dragons exist.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?

Honestly i like the kalashtar but they are hard to play unless you are in a game that has something to do with their struggle. otherwise you're just a strange human. as far as Eberron races go, i'd actually go with Yuan-ti as a favorite as you can play a snake-out-of-water by being from deep in the Xendrik jungles and being so strange instantly tells NPCs that you are an adventurer.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
6. Least favorite race?

Drow. the Drizzt crap is a plague that is setting-agnostic, it seems to me. But of the four presented, i'd say Shifter. You're pretty much just a hairy human.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs?

Warforged get primarily used as PCs, for reasons stated above. As far as NPCs go, not really any of them. Most of the games i have been in have focused on the national divides rather than any one race.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?

Goblin, or Yuan Ti. Goblins and hobgoblins have a rich history in Eberron and are a race that usually isn't a PC in other settings. some of the Eberron novels go deeply into this and they are great.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?

I think their handling of the races is great. However, the dwarves are stereotypical dwarves. I like that there are like 5 different flavors of elves that are distinctly different, not just a palette swap. many distinct nations of human that can differentiate two human PCs and shape their interaction with each other.


Thanks, you guys! Those are both very helpful responses!

The Exchange

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Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Hi, everyone! As a disclaimer, I'm gathering feedback for what will either be a video essay or a blog post regarding the races of Eberron, so only post here if you're okay being quoted or referenced. I will not mention names unless you specifically state you're okay with your username being used.

How do you run the races of Eberron?

Eberron, Magitek-Roaring 20s-Pulp-Political Commentary mashup that it is, contains four brand-new races of note: The Kalashtar, the Shifter, the Changeling, and the Warforged. I have a few questions regarding their usage.

Note that these questions apply to GMs and their NPCs, not just players and their PCs. Thank you very much!

1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?

2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?

3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?

4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?

5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?

6. Least favorite race?

7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs?

8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?

9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?

1. Kalashtar are a key NPC race in one of my online Eberron games. Warforged are also a significant anatognist race, as well as there being a warforged PC in the party. We also had a kalashtar PC but he was felt to be a bit weak and was replaced with a good old-fashioned dwarven cleric.

We also have a changeling PC and a fairly major antagonist NPC too. That said, they seem a bit tricky to handle in-game as PCs - it probably hard to get much out of them in a game which is combat-heavy, for example, given that their abilities are very non-combat-oriented, and what they can do will probably be ruined by the fighter in the party who cannot sneak, bluff or disguise. They may work better as NPCs. They also don't have much of a 'culture' as such, or historical role. They are just there.

The shifters hardly figure - I forget about them a bit, to be honest, as they don't have as much backstory or attention paid to them in game (I remember that the Forge of War supplement talked about elves coming out of the Eldeen Reaches to fight - elves don't live in the Eldeen Reaches, shifters do, so if WotC can't even remember about them...). That said, Eldeen might figure in something I'm working on, so shifters might have more of a role there. I've also had some very minor shifter NPCs in the past, mainly as a bit of Eberron tokenism.

2. They all have their places and seem well-integrated into the setting to me. You could probably lose the changelings and notice that the least.

3. No, they all seem fine to me. You can probably think up something to do with all of them if you tried for five minutes.

4. Yes, I think so. Warforged are probably most interesting in the setting, and the same with kalashtar, as they have some hefty setting-related baggage to go with them. the other two races have less and therefore would probably transfer more easily. But again, it doesn't require a massive feat of imagination to think up some sort of backstory for all of them in another setting.

5. Warforged.

6. Shifter or changeling. On balance, probably changeling, as they have such a specific skill-set.

7. See above.

8. I like what Eberron has done with the other races. I particularly like what it has done with the goblinids. I DM'ed a face-to-face campaign where a PC was a hobgoblin prince and that was fun, and goblinoid politics figured quite heavily. Another PC was an Aerenal elf. I tend to DM so I don't really get to 'play' in Eberron, though I have played a goblin cleric of the Silver Flame briefly.

9. Eberron is my favorite setting, so I like it a lot. They've turned things sideways without throwing stuff out, so the 'standard' races are flavourful but not bizarre. The new races, especially the warforged and the kalashtar, say quite a lot abut the setting in terms of their origins and place in the world, and so feel quite integral. The shifters and the changelings are less so, but ther are still good and playable races.


Bump!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Kobold Cleaver wrote:

Hi, everyone! As a disclaimer, I'm gathering feedback for what will either be a video essay or a blog post regarding the races of Eberron, so only post here if you're okay being quoted or referenced. I will not mention names unless you specifically state you're okay with your username being used.

How do you run the races of Eberron?

Eberron, Magitek-Roaring 20s-Pulp-Political Commentary mashup that it is, contains four brand-new races of note: The Kalashtar, the Shifter, the Changeling, and the Warforged. I have a few questions regarding their usage.

Note that these questions apply to GMs and their NPCs, not just players and their PCs. Thank you very much!

1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?

Shifters tend to be neglected, and Warforged has seen a lot of use in my games here on Paizo. The Kalashtar also tends to be neglected. The Warforged seems to have a place in the setting, and the Kalashtar's place makes sense only in Adar. Shifters have a lot of potential, just like changelings. I have a player running a changeling in my Eberron game right now. Which is based around the Kalashtar/Quori conflict.

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2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?

All of the new races have a place in the setting. For instance, Kalashtar shines with a campaign set in Sarlona. Warforged shines with a campaign set in Khorvaire the main continent. Both shifters and changelings require a player that is willing to play them. I think they are both feel the least at home.

Thanks to Pathfinder, however, the Blood of the Moon player companion actually gives shifters more of a place, than being a hirsute human.

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3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?

Simple yes or no question, that would be the shifter. The Kalashtar and Warforged come with stories, and the Changelings can be tricky. But I have little to do with the Shifter, besides the pages written about them in Races of Eberron.

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4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?

No. Warforged can be ported out of the setting to a place, say Forgotten Realms pretty easily. Kalashtar need the Inspired, so is the hardest to port outside of the setting. Changelings and Shifters are in the middle there somewhere.

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5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?

Kalashtar, obviously. I fell in love with them when I picked up Races of Eberron and read about them. Although I wish I played a changeling. They seem to fun to pass up.

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6. Least favorite race?

I don't like the shifters. I can't seem to love them. They just come across as a hairy human.

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7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs?

I have used the Inspired and the Warforged as npcs. I haven't yet been able to use the Changelings and the shifters as npcs.

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8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?

The goblinoids, hobgoblins, goblins, and bugbears; got better treatment in the game even though they are protrayed as expansionist. The other races were given better flavor because of the dragonmarks. And I like House Cannith the best.

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9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?

I wouldn't go as sofar as saying that Eberron is my favorite. My favorite campaign is Greyhawk (followed by Eberron and Birthright). Eberron handles the playable races in new and fresh ways. And the new races are built on philosophical questions like what if man made a mechanical race, how would they act? (Warforged), to what if man was guided by a righteous spirit? (Kalashtar).

Grand Lodge

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I agree with pretty much everything these guys are saying. I'll just add that I think shifters often got the short end of the stick from a player perspective because it was a race which can be customized with cool tricks and abilities- at the cost of your feats. Feats were even more precious in 3.5 and having race and class compete for the same limited resource was not an attractive option.


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Kobold Cleaver wrote:
1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?

None of my players seem all that interested in the Eberron races. I had one guy run a Shifter, but he died when his player said "I charge and attack Lady Vol." Keep in mind, this was after she gave a speech to her minions basically saying "Imma get strapped in to this machine that will revive me." Yes, he attacked the necromancer BEFORE she was tied down, AFTER she explicitly said that she was about to be tied down.

Given that he was level 5 and I statted up Lady Vol as the most munchkined-out pure necro wizard I knew how to build at the time... Yeah, Finger of Death to dead. Especially since I warned my layers beforehand that I use the 3.5 version of FoD + CoD.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?

The warforged are obviously the best-situated. Their very existence can elicit a form of existential angst that Khorvaire has become all too familiar with during the Last War. Even if the player's warforged doesn't feel this way, they can inspire that feeling in others. They also serve as a reminder of the brutality that was the Last War.

The kalashtar seems the most out of place, but that's mostly because most Eberron games mostly take place on Khorvaire, for the most part. I think it's supposed to seem a little out of place.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?

Some of the Pathfinder races don't fit very well. Wayangs, Strix, and the Shadar-Kai expies known as Fetchlings are among these. PF Changelings are fine, but they need a new name.

I've also explicitly banned the DSP Ultimate Psionic races (the only thing in that book I've disallowed) because they're all better than the kalshtar at being a psionic race. Basically, it steps on the toes of the setting's psionic races.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?

Changelings, yes. Shifters, yea. Kalashtar, redo the fluff. Warforged, no.

A lot of people try to use Warforged outside of their setting, and IMO it just doesn't work. The existence of such a race heavily implies a scientific approach to magic and a good working knowledge of humanoid physiology, both of which are effectively nonexistent in most settings. Maybe a few warforged could exist as major NPCs or McGuffins, but once they become common or become a player race it stops working.

Adventurers are weird. Shopkeepers know this. A golem that moves like a man, speaks like a man, thinks like a man, can carry on abstract philosophical discussions like a man, and is for all intents and purposes alive? That's not weird, that's something that shatters everything you thought you knew about life in the world and life in general.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?

Warforged and Warforged.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
6. Least favorite race?

Kalashtar. Take away the Dreaming Dark fluff, which only works in Sarlona or a DD campaign, and they're just kinda dull.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs?

I sometimes include changelings as NPCs. None have been discovered. I've also used WF butlers before. I'd considered running a DD game or a LoB game, but haven't yet.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?

Hobgobs and orcs have great Eberron flavor. I'd also considered making a melee-focused WF cleric of Onatar. Of course, I'd actually have to play in an Eberron campaign to do any of this.

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?

Awesome. I expecially like how they tried to make some of the typical "enemy" races, like dragons, drow, goblinoids, and harpies, something new and different to the walking XP chunks that players see them as in most campaign settings. I somehow managed to get my players to respect hobgoblins enough to not attack them on sight. If that's not a reversal of everything most TTRPG players typically know and do, I don't know what is.


Last bump I'll do. Anyone else got thoughts?


Kobold Cleaver wrote:

1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?

2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?

3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?

4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?

5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?

6. Least favorite race?

7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs?

8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?

9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?

1. I tend to emphasize warforged and changelings. Shifters show up occasionally, usually when I need a "creepy loner" character. Kalashtar almost never show up.

2. Warforged fit in wonderfully, and changelings match the tone to a 'T'—they're a very romantic species (there's a lot of expressive power with their shapeshifting), and intrigue is the changeling's friend. Shifters feel almost like an afterthought, or like a race where they had to cut half the material to make them fit. Kalashtar often feel clipped on.

3. Changelings really only seem to work as recurring NPCs. Shifters can feel awkward and one-note, and kalashtar only really have anything to do when the plot is about them. How do I fit a kalashtar into a standard Last War narrative? That's not their story.

4. Warforged are okay, but you need to do some work to fit them in—I tend to slot them in as ancient relics from forgotten wars. Changelings work great. Kalashtar could work, honestly—humans possessed by dreams could be very neat in a Ravenloft game, actually—but feel very tied to their lore. Shifters really don't feel that necessary in a game with so many "animalpeople" races already.

5. Warforged are wonderful. Just wonderful. They make you ask deep questions about society, war and sentience, and there's so many ways to run a warforged PC. I do kinda wish I'd played more with kalashtar, but they're visually very generic.

6. I'm a bit torn, but I have to go with kalashtar. They have no role in the setting outside their established narrative. They've been around for centuries, but the setting gives me no clues on how they acted during the Last War. It's all about the Inspired, and about psionics—a real gamble, considering not all games want to include psionics in a setting so focused on magic.

7. I think warforged and changelings work great as PCs—the warforged needs a chance to develop and shine, while the changeling needs to get to use their shapeshifting frequently. I think shifters might be a bit more inclined towards NPC status, though mainly because nobody seems to want to play them, and kalashtar, due to their limited perspective, definitely work best as questgivers for Inspired-related arcs. I have never seen a dwarf PC in Eberron.

8. I adore Eberron's handling of elves and halflings—primarily the Aerenal "spooky scary skeleton" elves and the everything halflings. This setting has a real respect for its halflings. I would primarily play halflings, I think—be they a dino-rider or a Mafiosa (or both), they'd be a blast. That said, I'm a big fan of how goblinoids suddenly become kinda likeable and complex. This was their land first.

9. Eberron has some great ideas, but drops the ball on some others. You can kinda tell that there was an imbalance in excitement—the devs were psyched for halflings and warforged, and really into the kalashtar's main storyline, but when it came time for questions like, "What are our dwarves like?" or "What did kalashtar do, aside from hate the Inspired?", they got really bored and nodded off.

Liberty's Edge

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Hey KC, if you’re still collecting answers I’m happy for your to use mine and my username if you like. Disclaimer, I’ve never GM’d Eberron and have only played in three campaigns (one long running, one not so long and one finished before it really got started).

1. Which of these races are frequently featured when you play Eberron? Which tend to be neglected, and why?
Warforged seem most frequently featured. I’m fairly sure I’ve never been in a game with a Shifter PC (presumably for the reasons others have mentioned up-thread).

2. Do all of the races feel like they have a place within the setting? Which races feel best-situated, and which races feel the least at-home?
Warforged feel like they are very closely tied to the setting (more so if your game is set primarily in Khorvaire than elsewhere), likewise Kalashtar (probably more so if your game has a lot to do with Inspired, quori and/or psionics). Changelings and Shifters fit in ok, but they don’t seem as ‘setting specific’ as the other two.

3. Are there any races you don't know what to do with?
I wouldn’t know what to do with Kalashtar myself, as I’ve never used psionics.

4. Do you think all of these races would play just as well outside the setting?
Changelings and Shifters would probably play just as well (or poorly) outside the setting, as they are not very setting specific. Changelings in particular should really fit in anywhere (it’s what they’re supposed to do). Warforged and Kalashtar would probably need to be re-skinned a little and/or have the right setting. Warforged could probably be re-purposed easily enough, Kalashtar just seem too tied to quori and psioincs to fit in easily elsewhere.

5. Favorite race? Any you've never played that you wish you had?
Favourite race is warforged. I like the idea of shifters (despite not feeling they are particularly unique to the setting) and wouldn’t mind trying one.

6. Least favorite race?
Probably kalashtar as they wouldn’t be particularly interesting or useful if you don’t use psionics, or if the campaign wasn’t closely tied to Sarlona /Inspired/ Quori.

7. Do any of these races primarily get used as PCs? Do any of them primarily get used as NPCs? Warforged and Changelings are probably just as likely to be PCs or NPCs. Kalashtar probably more likely to be NPCs. I think we’ve had no PC and not too many NPC Shifters.

8. Is there any non-Eberron specific race (halfling, goblin, elf, etc) that you primarily play in Eberron, because you like its Eberron flavor the best?
Apart from Warforged I have played a human and a half-elf character. I like the idea of the Dragonborn houses and the Five Nations, and I think humans (and half-elves for that house that has half-elves) are amongst the best races to explore these aspects of the setting as a player.

9. Overall, what is your opinion on Eberron's handling of the playable races?
I think the warforged is a good flavourful, mechanically decent race that really fits the setting’s lore. To a slightly lesser extent so too the kalashtar. I don’t see anything inherently wrong with the shifters or changelings, but they don’t seem as well tied to the setting. They seem a bit like they’re making up the numbers.


Thanks, Mothman! I'll continue to appreciate people's thoughts. I really do want to work on this analysis sometime—Eberron fascinates me.

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