Faiths of Eberron (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Supplement)
Faiths of Eberron (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Supplement)
Faiths of Eberron details established pantheons, secret cults, and other religious organizations of Eberron. It includes new rules material for the player, such as prestige classes, feats, spells, and magic items, while the details on the various organizations give Dungeon Masters many new options for their campaigns.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Jennifer Clarke Wilkes is an editor of roleplaying games and miniatures at Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Her previously published credits include Sandstorm and Savage Species.
Ari Marmell and C.A. Suleiman are freelance writers with extensive credits in the d20 gaming industry. Their published credits include Heroes of Horror.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Almost perfect
This supplement, a guide to the most prominent faiths of Eberron, fulfills its promise almost to perfection. The core elements are expanded well and interestingly, with the strongest development coming in the form of explications of the ideologies behind the the various faiths. The book’s only failing comes from not enough development of the lesser known religions, and as usual, from Wizards’ mystifying need to add crunch where none needs be; the most egregious examples of this are in the numerous pages wasted on map key descriptions (this is a supplement on religion in Eberron, not a collection of one-off adventure locales) and in the bizarre inclusion of a couple pages of construct grafts at the end of the chapter on “Other Faiths” (how exactly does this material fit the theme of the book, guys?). If Wizards really wanted to divide the wordcount this thin, they should have split this book and its critically important content into two volumes, but I highly doubt we can expect to see a Faiths of Eberron II any time soon. Otherwise, this book is exceptionally well done, and the writing itself — mechanics elements notwithstanding — is very accomplished; so much so that I for one would have liked to have seen more. My gaming crew and I have enjoyed the work of these authors in the past, and we look forward to reading their upcoming collaborations — Cityscape and Dragonmarked — with eagerness.
3 Stars So so
My first copy of this book was missing 18 pages. My second had two pages glued together. The editor missed a number of mistakes, mostly repeated half phrases and such. The “Dargon Below” was about where I reached my limit.
I liked the content that was there but it left me wanting more. My perspective on the Sovereign Host changed, I have a much better idea of how the Vassals would view the world and interact with the players, but I really wanted more legends and lore. If there is any book that should explain how the Shadow became separated from Aureon, shouldn’t it be this one? And while I have a better idea of how the Silver Flame religion shapes the people of Thrane, I wanted to know how the ACTUAL silver flame that’s burning in Flame Keep effects the place.
The descriptions of the church hierarchies and member names (like Cardinals and Vassals) was just enough detail for me to hang my own plot elements on.
I can’t see the Lord of Blades as a religion, unless I take the option they presented of making the LoB an abstract entity. Otherwise what happens when a cleric becomes higher level than Blade himself? Likewise the Inspired church actually creating clerics.
I need to re-read the Druid sections. I can’t buy the Children of Winter accepting and creating undead, or the Greensingers wanting to “manifest” all the other planes but spending all their time and devotion on just one. I can see people doing those things but I can’t call them Druids. Still, reading that section put me in the mood to create some “dynamic clashes” for the Eldeen Reaches.
One of the gems that really made me think was the second paragraph of the “Areni and the Divine” side-bar under the Undying Court. That’s a creation myth I can hang nearly all the other religions on. I want more of those!
There were a few points where I felt that the new content contradicted the ECS. For instance the ECS says Blood of Vol “believe that blood is the source of life and that undeath is the path to divinity” and makes it sound like becoming undead is a way to cheat death, but FoE says undead have made a sacrifice to serve and are pitied (because they have no blood) and have missed “the door to life everlasting”. The ECS says Deathless are “strongly tied to the plane of Irian…the birthplace of all souls” but FoE says “the Areni claim no knowledge as to the origin of souls”. More than once I felt like FoE drifted away from the themes I picked up in ECS.
Overall, FoE made me think, it gave me some ideas, but it wasn’t up to the standard set in ECS.
5 Stars Faiths of Eberron
This book was an incredibly useful tool. It cleared up any question I had about “Eberron Faiths.” I fully recommend it as one of the most useful titles for anyone running or playing an Eberron game.
5 Stars Faiths Of Eberron
The book arrived in a timly fashion and in mint condition. I am pleased with the services we recieved from Amazon.com. The books we were seeking are harder to obtain and so far they came through with one of the many books we are looking for.
4 Stars Good attention to detail
I do like how they filled in some of the huge gaping holes in Eberron’s theology, but Eberron’s Theology isn’t the most interesting.
If you plan on running a lot of games with Eberron then I would recommend it to you.
Though for the other gamers that wish to play in Eberron there are some nice additions to the game that you might find interesting, but I will not say it is a must have.
Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Book Reviews
