For the longest time my favorite official D&D setting was Eberron. I’ve run many adventures there, but I always found myself leaving Khorvaire for farther shores of my own invention. I think in large part this is due to the fact that Eberron was designed as a kitchen sink setting that, to paraphrase one of it’s chief creators Keith Baker, if it could fit in D&D there was a place for it in Eberron. Baker was quick to follow this statement with another saying that no two Eberron needed to look alike. I never took this to heart, but merely brushed it off as a given that each GM would change and warp the setting to their preferences and players.
My response to this is that a kitchen sink setting is too much for me, and I need to pare down Eberron to my liking. And to foreshadow a bit, my liking trends toward a humanocentric setting. In short, my response is to burn the cruft of D&D away and keep only what I think makes Eberron sing.
I’ll start with the best parts of Eberron: the new character options. The ancestries* that are introduced (warforged, shifter, kalashtar, and changeling) all present a form of humanity that is changed in either mind, body, or spirit.
The Shifter is changed in body. The Kalashtar is changed & expanded in spirit. The Changeling is changed in mind & body. And the Warforged is changed in all three (maybe this is why they seem to be the most popular part of Eberron, but also maybe it’s just because they look like robots (they’re not!)).
All other ancestries need to be removed to make the unique denizens of Khorvaire really sing. Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Gnomes and Orcs all gone. This means that the Dragonmarked Houses are all filled with Humans.
The one other ancestry I like that can stay is the Hobgoblins that have returned to the continent from long generations hiding in their vaults. In Eberron’s ancient history the land was ruled by Goblins, and in fact theirs is the empire that fought back the Daelkyr (flesh-warping monsters from the Plane of Madness) invasion and possibly jailed the Overlords?? I don’t remember right now, but they call themselves “Ghaal’Dar” meaning Mighty People and I liken them to Neanderthals. Near-mythological ancient enemies of humanity that were close to us in likeness, but still too different to never stop warring. They died out, and humanity took off. EXCEPT this society that built doomsday vaults and decided to wait an untold number of generations before coming to the surface again. I think they’re neat.
I don’t have much else to say - but my next post will tackle Shifters and their role in the world.
*As a Pathfinder 2e GM I will be referring to the peoples and species of character creation as “Ancestries.”
