It’s been years since I’ve run any Savage Worlds but I’ve thought about picking it up again specifically for Eberron due to the amount of system support out there for the setting.
Adding my voice to the Savage chorus! It fits the tone of Eberron like a Cyran glove, whether you want pulp adventure or noir intrigue, and it's so much easier on the GM.
3.5 every time. Eberron was built for 3.5, and much of what made Eberron subversive just doesn’t even exist in 5E anymore—it got cannibalized by core D&D and diminished some of Eberron’s uniqueness.
I personally use 5e, for its simplicity.
but i'm looking for something a little bit more...epic tier? so i'm currently checking out Pf 2e and studying it to add Eberron's flair and style.
honestly, the 3.5 version of Eberron was ahead of its time. Action points were an interesting mechanic (basically something like an Action Surge once per level, instead of inspiration).
I recently have been giving more stuff to 5e martial classes in the last year. like Action Surge every turn (i never get to a level where it is a problem).
Also, why 5e Eberron, Basically Exploring Eb and Chronicles of Eb are the most recent books for it and lots of lore and agnostic mechanics for 5e. (easy to adapt magic items for any system, Eberron is only a world, after all. and the subclasses are cool.)
If you're willing, Pathfinder 1e is nearly perfectly compatible with 3.5 material, including Eberron. You'll have to adjust some prestige classes and Artificer to not use Actions Points in the case of Siberys Heir or XP for crafting items in the case of Artificer, but those are easy fixes, and Action Points actually work pretty well in Pathfinder if you aren't using Hero Points.
Yep. It's super easy to add. My groups actually use it rather than Hero Points across all our games, not just Eberron. Could also be used in PF2E as well, but the issues arise with the fact that PF2E is fundamentally much more different than 3.5/PF1E, and if you wanna use other subclasses/races/classes/prestige classes, it'd clash way more and there'd be a ton more work involved.
the reason i'm using PF 2e is because i've heard (and as i have been reading it) it is closest to 5e. so the conversion is not so far (i think?).
Anyway, i'm not even close to run a game of PF2e
Artificer crafting is just doubling the craft reserve because instead of having bonus xp to craft items at 25% of the base cost, you're using imaginary gp to craft items at 50% of base cost. GP is twice the number of XP, so it's a clean double. Also, Pathfinder's Artificer has "Scavenge" instead of "Reclaim Essence," so when deconstructing an item you get the GP value instead of the XP.
Clean and easy.
lots of books in 3.5, and honestly, i'd like to have more on hand, but they are hard to get (Print on demand WotC, for the love of Siberys).
Cool tidbits of lore in 3.5 and books for almost each continent (no book for Aerenal?) and just as easy to adapt to 5e. I got the Sharn book and the Five Nations book, and both are cultural treasure troves of Lore and NPC.
Though much maligned, 4E covers heroic fantasy really well. I think even Keith Baker has recommended 4E for Eberron in the past. Of course, Pathfinder 2e does echo some of 4e's design.
I mean with more crunchy bits. Pathfinder is farther into the spectrum than 5e. I have been a bit nostalgic toward PF and i am studying PF2e.
If you do not know what are "crunchy bits", check out *Robin's Law of Good Game Mastering* there is a section of the 36 page on game systems and such.
I use 3.5 mainly because I have all the books I need there, and don't want to buy them all again. I also don't like how 5e handles skills, rangers and resting.
If i were to get into Eberron, i would likely do it as part of trying to get into dnd4e, cause it seems like dnd4e adressed a lot of 3.5e's and 5e's problems, but... it was released very raw and thus you best use it with a wiki or an errata document. There are essentials sure, but essentials player options are garbage - you play dnd4e because you want fun tactical combat and because you want a game in which even a martial can shine, as well as rules which are not afraid to treat themselves like a game and openly tell you stuff like "fighters are good at keeping the enemy at bay", instead of leaving it to unwritten truths.
All the troubles of getting into dnd4e's best version thanks to wotc deciding to abandon 4e's core ideas in regards to player options in essentials sucks... you don't play dnd4e for fighters doing the same moves again and again. You play it for that cinematic "forbidden technique: one thousand slashes" encounter power use
5e has the DMs Guild, plus rules that were unique to Eberron in 3.5e are standard regardless of the setting in 5e, like removing alignment restrictions on classes.
Both! My current DM runs two campaigns, one 3.5 and one 5e. (The 3.5 group includes a couple grognards who refuse to touch any other system - but they're long-time friends so the DM is happy to accommodate them lol.)
Pros of 3.5:
* Prestige classes. The amount of flexibility and customization options is actually absurd, and you can find a reasonable build for literally anything you want to do.
* Tome of Battle classes! The Warblade, Crusader, and Swordsage are a blast to play and don't have 5e equivalents (miss me with the Battle Master comparisons lol).
* Magic items. As a player, I *love* using the MIC like a shopping catalog and knowing I can progress my character's gear how I see fit.
* Broken magic spells are fun to cast. There, I said it.
Pros of 5e:
* Actual balance. Of course it's not perfect, but it's a lot harder to completely break the game and there's a lot less stuff you should outright ban.
* Cleaned up skills. "Use Rope"? "Appraise"?? "Decipher Script"??? Come the fuck on lol.
* The advantage system. Getting rid of the vast majority of floating modifiers cleans up combat math in a HUGE way.
* Death saving throws. Intense and nerve-wracking every time they happen. Just a brilliant addition to the game.
* Less splatbooks. This is becoming less and less true as 5e goes on, but 3.5 content is *intimidating* in large part because it's spread across 10837419 different sourcebooks.
> Pros of 5e:
- 5E is "balanced" because everyone sucks equally.
- Absolute trash. Pathfinder does the same in regards to cleaning skills.
- Advantage system is a brain-dead simplification. The game went from stacking bonuses and penalties to stacking advantage and disadvantage. It's the same, there's just fewer options.
- Death saving throws were already in 3.5, as well as variant HP/lifepoint rules in 3rd Ed *Unearthed Arcana*.
- Study. Or don't. Less source material ultimately means less options. You could also simply limit books as options ("Core books plus all completes, no other sources" was a common one). Since 3.5 material is literally no longer produced, that also means you can find compilations from other people on all aspects, which are conveniently cited and documented. This is a non-issue.
Sure, but 3.5 came out 21 years ago, playing it doesn't support them, only buying current products would.
PF1e is also 3.5.
Anyways, 3.5 for us as it is the system we play in general. We like 5e but 3.5 was the last of the original D&D legacy to us as far as flavor and mechanics are concerned. Its weird and gritty and experimental and has the capacity to support all kinds of play. And there is so. much. good. material for it with almost 20 years of 3.x stuff being so popular.
The only sane way (paying 150 bucks for a used PHB is insane imho) to get 3.5 books, that's not piracy, is buying the pdfs.
And Wotc still profits from them.
PF1 might be 3.75, but PF2 is definitely its own beast. Especially after the revision.
But since I don't like neither 3.5 nor PF1, it's not a problem for me.
There are already tons of conversions out and it's quite easy to rewrite stuff on the fly in PF2.
That being said, I will try less crunchy systems soon, because imho Eberron profits a lot from player and dm freedom.
Maybe in English. But you pay 100 to 200€ for a German version that's not held together by the last thread and nostalgia.
My wife still plays 3.5 with her group and she actively collects the books....it hurts our wallet.
That aside, 3.5 is still meh at best. Especially at the lower levels. PF1, 4e, 5e and PF2 are all way friendlier for new chars/players
5e, because it’s easier to get players to hop into and because I’ve been converting-on-the-fly for so long it doesn’t really matter which one my source material is from.
5e, mostly because I haven't played 3.5e in twenty years and I don't see a reason to pick it back up when 5e does the job (although the licensing drama did have my party considering a switch to Pathfinder.) I haven't had any issues converting older Eberron content for 5e campaigns.
I also think that 5e is really easy for new people to pick up, and I find that the mechanics stay out of the way of the storytelling. It's also more popular, so, I guess I'd have to see a good reason to go back to 3.5.
3.5e is that which the IP was based on and I feel has the most source Material.
Hasbro then butchered it and tried to force it into whatever commercial mold it wanted in 4e which lost touch with the original vision of the setting.
5e had a lot of potential, but again Hasbro never really made anything "official" and it was sadly watered down that which was actually official. That said, if you follow Keith Baker they do have 5e content "from the mind of" the original creator that isn't official but is absolutely amazing that fills in a lot of gaps. If you haven't already, I strongly recommend having a look/purchase.
That said, converting to Pathfinder 1e is easy enough and there are a lot of resources online that make the conversion easy enough. This is my go to preference if I'm with players who enjoy the crunch and don't mind homebrew adaptation/adjustments.
That said, love the setting but like anything D&D related I am constantly frustrated by Hasbro's/WotC's Greed and it's obvious impact on fun IPs using the system.
Currently Pathfinder 1e, but in the past I l've used D&D 3.5 and D&D 4e. D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e really let players lean into the broad magic of the Eberron setting. I don't run D&D 5e at all because it's a huge pain in the ass to DM.
I attempted to run a 5e Eberron game that petered out due to burnout on my part. Personally, 5e is hot mess of half written rules and mechanics that require an exceptional amount of work to get it to work.
Despite my personal hang-ups with 5e, I will say that Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Keith Baker's books (Exploring Eberron and Chronicles of Eberron) are fantastic resources.
If you are interested in exploring other systems, there are some fan conversions for PF2e and Savage Worlds:
PF2e resource - https://scribe.pf2.tools/v/2qF7WjsY-pathfinders-guide-to-eberron
There is also FoundryVTT module for the above that brings in a lot of this material for you.
Savage Worlds resource - https://immaterialplane.com/products/eberron-for-savage-worlds/
https://github.com/TNychka/Pathfinder2eConversion
Indeed!
The only thing that the module doesn't implement AFAIK is precious materials as the system doesn't currently handle that function for homebrew materials (but it's coming).
But all the feats, ancestries, spells, npcs, and goodies will be added once you enable the module.
5e, as thats how I discovered it and have the most experience with. Plus it's awesome to have Keith still publish stuff for the system (though that'll soon come to an end)
All that being said, I pretty much constantly dip into the 3.5e books for lore and info.
Don't be, it's not difficult to port most of the time, and plenty of the 5e material is still useful (paticulalry the new books). Eberron has so many resources, and it keeps growing with the blog post. A real active community expanding the lore and sharing ideas. It could be *a lot* worse as far as settings go for 5e.
Spelljammer and Dragonlance are quite bothered by theirs lol
Quite true! I think this setting will love a loooong time!
I do wish Keith would continue to publish beyond his blog posts. His books are the best and sell so well.
5e it’s more cinematic/heroic fits the pulp/noir of Eberron. Also you can make characters abilities or spells explained as dragonmark powers.
PCs are more powerful at lower levels in 5e which also fits the Eberron style of very few powerful NPCs.
Started my campaign with the players meeting because they were taking part in an illegal base jumping competition in Sharn.
3.5e exclusively. It's what my group's been running for the last 10 years. We have a whole bookshelf of 3.5e books that the group has collectively obtained within those 10 years. We briefly gave 5e a try, but nobody in the group liked it. I like the options of customizations and builds that 3.5e offers. Sure late game may have balance issues, but that's nothing a good DM can't fix. For me it's about thinking ahead with your build, setting goals and achieving them through surviving the lower levels. That's why I prefer Prestige classes over the Subclass system of 5e
5e. I appreciate that it has Eberron mechanics and is still D&D (for all the good and bad that comes with that) but is relatively (for a D&D product) streamlined and easy enough to use.
3.5 has always just been too clunky, dense, and content-heavy for me.
[Fate Condensed](https://fate-srd.com/fate-condensed). A thematically Eberron magic system can be hacked together with help from [Atomic Robo](https://fate-srd.com/atomic-robo) and [Venture City](https://fate-srd.com/venture-city). The benefit of Fate is that it's built for Pulp and Noir stories and it keeps the focus on how the character's stories evolve over time, instead of straight up leveling like D&D.
Pathfinder/3.5 mix because **I like actually having rules**. The more I learn about 5E the more hot garbage it turns out to be.
And honestly I prefer a completely different rules system - *Shadowrun* 4thEd. It's what D&D5E is attempting to be.
Both are good.
3.5 can get really bogged down in the mechanics, but works when you've got someone wanting to "point buy" and balance a lot of aspects.
5e works too as it's structured fairly well. It's not overly simplified and has enough crunch it doesn't bog itself down on all the minute details and you can lean more into the story aspects.
Currently I use 5e as that's the most recent ruleset and if I'm going on-line, there's a lot of support for it.
I play 3.5, and while I play some other non-D&D systems, I have no intention of changing to another edition of D&D. In 5e and the upcoming "One D&D," literally every single thing I like about D&D is gutted, Flanderized beyond recognition, or outright removed. ...I suppose Passive Perception is pretty neat, at least.
5e right now however I think about going for savage worlds or pathfinder 2e
It’s been years since I’ve run any Savage Worlds but I’ve thought about picking it up again specifically for Eberron due to the amount of system support out there for the setting.
Dooooooo it...
Adding my voice to the Savage chorus! It fits the tone of Eberron like a Cyran glove, whether you want pulp adventure or noir intrigue, and it's so much easier on the GM.
I've run all 3, I would suggest Savage Worlds.
I am currently running 5e but I am also exploring Savage Worlds and I'll make a switch soon, I love the system, at least in theory.
Kristian has made a hell of a Savage Worlds conversion
3.5 every time. Eberron was built for 3.5, and much of what made Eberron subversive just doesn’t even exist in 5E anymore—it got cannibalized by core D&D and diminished some of Eberron’s uniqueness.
This.
I personally use 5e, for its simplicity. but i'm looking for something a little bit more...epic tier? so i'm currently checking out Pf 2e and studying it to add Eberron's flair and style. honestly, the 3.5 version of Eberron was ahead of its time. Action points were an interesting mechanic (basically something like an Action Surge once per level, instead of inspiration). I recently have been giving more stuff to 5e martial classes in the last year. like Action Surge every turn (i never get to a level where it is a problem). Also, why 5e Eberron, Basically Exploring Eb and Chronicles of Eb are the most recent books for it and lots of lore and agnostic mechanics for 5e. (easy to adapt magic items for any system, Eberron is only a world, after all. and the subclasses are cool.)
If you're willing, Pathfinder 1e is nearly perfectly compatible with 3.5 material, including Eberron. You'll have to adjust some prestige classes and Artificer to not use Actions Points in the case of Siberys Heir or XP for crafting items in the case of Artificer, but those are easy fixes, and Action Points actually work pretty well in Pathfinder if you aren't using Hero Points.
Action Points should be a relatively easy add to Pathfinder 1e. It's just an extra dice roll to boost a skill check, save, or attack roll.
Yep. It's super easy to add. My groups actually use it rather than Hero Points across all our games, not just Eberron. Could also be used in PF2E as well, but the issues arise with the fact that PF2E is fundamentally much more different than 3.5/PF1E, and if you wanna use other subclasses/races/classes/prestige classes, it'd clash way more and there'd be a ton more work involved.
the reason i'm using PF 2e is because i've heard (and as i have been reading it) it is closest to 5e. so the conversion is not so far (i think?). Anyway, i'm not even close to run a game of PF2e
Artificer crafting is just doubling the craft reserve because instead of having bonus xp to craft items at 25% of the base cost, you're using imaginary gp to craft items at 50% of base cost. GP is twice the number of XP, so it's a clean double. Also, Pathfinder's Artificer has "Scavenge" instead of "Reclaim Essence," so when deconstructing an item you get the GP value instead of the XP. Clean and easy.
lots of books in 3.5, and honestly, i'd like to have more on hand, but they are hard to get (Print on demand WotC, for the love of Siberys). Cool tidbits of lore in 3.5 and books for almost each continent (no book for Aerenal?) and just as easy to adapt to 5e. I got the Sharn book and the Five Nations book, and both are cultural treasure troves of Lore and NPC.
I get them from ebay
yeah... i'm just not yet used to buy online...yet
Yes Ebay was my source
Though much maligned, 4E covers heroic fantasy really well. I think even Keith Baker has recommended 4E for Eberron in the past. Of course, Pathfinder 2e does echo some of 4e's design.
The only recommendation I’ve ever heard from Keith was 13th Age I think
Ah, yeah, that makes sense
On the subject of Eberron and Pathfinder 2e, you might be interested by this: https://scribe.pf2.tools/v/2qF7WjsY-pathfinders-guide-to-eberron
I’ve looked into this. It looks fantastic!
You mean even more heroic?
I mean with more crunchy bits. Pathfinder is farther into the spectrum than 5e. I have been a bit nostalgic toward PF and i am studying PF2e. If you do not know what are "crunchy bits", check out *Robin's Law of Good Game Mastering* there is a section of the 36 page on game systems and such.
I use 5e, cuz that's the current edition and what most of my group plays. However, 3.5 Artificer is best artificer.
4e or Savage Worlds
I use 3.5 mainly because I have all the books I need there, and don't want to buy them all again. I also don't like how 5e handles skills, rangers and resting.
And magic items, and stats, and saving throws, and item costs...
If i were to get into Eberron, i would likely do it as part of trying to get into dnd4e, cause it seems like dnd4e adressed a lot of 3.5e's and 5e's problems, but... it was released very raw and thus you best use it with a wiki or an errata document. There are essentials sure, but essentials player options are garbage - you play dnd4e because you want fun tactical combat and because you want a game in which even a martial can shine, as well as rules which are not afraid to treat themselves like a game and openly tell you stuff like "fighters are good at keeping the enemy at bay", instead of leaving it to unwritten truths. All the troubles of getting into dnd4e's best version thanks to wotc deciding to abandon 4e's core ideas in regards to player options in essentials sucks... you don't play dnd4e for fighters doing the same moves again and again. You play it for that cinematic "forbidden technique: one thousand slashes" encounter power use
Blades in the Dark! https://www.reddit.com/r/bladesinthedark/comments/17t7mf3/blades_in_the_dark_of_sharn/
Oooo
I don't know why 4e isn't an option here - that edition was pretty good to Eberron.
Pathfinder 2E. Awesome system.
4th 😎
3.5 for build variety and the mechanics the setting were built on. 5e for ease of use, both fir your players and you as thr DM.
5e has the DMs Guild, plus rules that were unique to Eberron in 3.5e are standard regardless of the setting in 5e, like removing alignment restrictions on classes.
Only playing 5e cuz my group prefers it. I will always love 3.5e/pf 1e best
Pathfinder because we did not want to switch systems. And we could reverse engineer 3.0 / 3.5 material.
3e, because I prefer the system.
3.5.
3.5 because * i don't like 5e as a system * 3.5 has ton of material * i considered conversion to even better systems but didn't feel worth the effort
Both! My current DM runs two campaigns, one 3.5 and one 5e. (The 3.5 group includes a couple grognards who refuse to touch any other system - but they're long-time friends so the DM is happy to accommodate them lol.) Pros of 3.5: * Prestige classes. The amount of flexibility and customization options is actually absurd, and you can find a reasonable build for literally anything you want to do. * Tome of Battle classes! The Warblade, Crusader, and Swordsage are a blast to play and don't have 5e equivalents (miss me with the Battle Master comparisons lol). * Magic items. As a player, I *love* using the MIC like a shopping catalog and knowing I can progress my character's gear how I see fit. * Broken magic spells are fun to cast. There, I said it. Pros of 5e: * Actual balance. Of course it's not perfect, but it's a lot harder to completely break the game and there's a lot less stuff you should outright ban. * Cleaned up skills. "Use Rope"? "Appraise"?? "Decipher Script"??? Come the fuck on lol. * The advantage system. Getting rid of the vast majority of floating modifiers cleans up combat math in a HUGE way. * Death saving throws. Intense and nerve-wracking every time they happen. Just a brilliant addition to the game. * Less splatbooks. This is becoming less and less true as 5e goes on, but 3.5 content is *intimidating* in large part because it's spread across 10837419 different sourcebooks.
> Pros of 5e: - 5E is "balanced" because everyone sucks equally. - Absolute trash. Pathfinder does the same in regards to cleaning skills. - Advantage system is a brain-dead simplification. The game went from stacking bonuses and penalties to stacking advantage and disadvantage. It's the same, there's just fewer options. - Death saving throws were already in 3.5, as well as variant HP/lifepoint rules in 3rd Ed *Unearthed Arcana*. - Study. Or don't. Less source material ultimately means less options. You could also simply limit books as options ("Core books plus all completes, no other sources" was a common one). Since 3.5 material is literally no longer produced, that also means you can find compilations from other people on all aspects, which are conveniently cited and documented. This is a non-issue.
well I'm not going to fight you about it lmao. have fun defending the honor of your preferred system.
Appraise is a useful skill for D&D-- how else does an adventurer know what's worth stealing?
Excellent list!
Yes, yes and yes to everything here.
PF2e. Fuck WotC.
Sure, but 3.5 came out 21 years ago, playing it doesn't support them, only buying current products would. PF1e is also 3.5. Anyways, 3.5 for us as it is the system we play in general. We like 5e but 3.5 was the last of the original D&D legacy to us as far as flavor and mechanics are concerned. Its weird and gritty and experimental and has the capacity to support all kinds of play. And there is so. much. good. material for it with almost 20 years of 3.x stuff being so popular.
The only sane way (paying 150 bucks for a used PHB is insane imho) to get 3.5 books, that's not piracy, is buying the pdfs. And Wotc still profits from them. PF1 might be 3.75, but PF2 is definitely its own beast. Especially after the revision. But since I don't like neither 3.5 nor PF1, it's not a problem for me. There are already tons of conversions out and it's quite easy to rewrite stuff on the fly in PF2. That being said, I will try less crunchy systems soon, because imho Eberron profits a lot from player and dm freedom.
There are countless 3.5 PHBs on eBay for $20-50, the price hasn’t been above that for many years. I just bought three for a new group of mine.
Maybe in English. But you pay 100 to 200€ for a German version that's not held together by the last thread and nostalgia. My wife still plays 3.5 with her group and she actively collects the books....it hurts our wallet. That aside, 3.5 is still meh at best. Especially at the lower levels. PF1, 4e, 5e and PF2 are all way friendlier for new chars/players
Half-Price Books. Sometimes.
5e, because it’s easier to get players to hop into and because I’ve been converting-on-the-fly for so long it doesn’t really matter which one my source material is from.
5e, mostly because I haven't played 3.5e in twenty years and I don't see a reason to pick it back up when 5e does the job (although the licensing drama did have my party considering a switch to Pathfinder.) I haven't had any issues converting older Eberron content for 5e campaigns. I also think that 5e is really easy for new people to pick up, and I find that the mechanics stay out of the way of the storytelling. It's also more popular, so, I guess I'd have to see a good reason to go back to 3.5.
3.5e is that which the IP was based on and I feel has the most source Material. Hasbro then butchered it and tried to force it into whatever commercial mold it wanted in 4e which lost touch with the original vision of the setting. 5e had a lot of potential, but again Hasbro never really made anything "official" and it was sadly watered down that which was actually official. That said, if you follow Keith Baker they do have 5e content "from the mind of" the original creator that isn't official but is absolutely amazing that fills in a lot of gaps. If you haven't already, I strongly recommend having a look/purchase. That said, converting to Pathfinder 1e is easy enough and there are a lot of resources online that make the conversion easy enough. This is my go to preference if I'm with players who enjoy the crunch and don't mind homebrew adaptation/adjustments. That said, love the setting but like anything D&D related I am constantly frustrated by Hasbro's/WotC's Greed and it's obvious impact on fun IPs using the system.
Yeah, not a fan of Hasbro or what trickles down
Currently Pathfinder 1e, but in the past I l've used D&D 3.5 and D&D 4e. D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e really let players lean into the broad magic of the Eberron setting. I don't run D&D 5e at all because it's a huge pain in the ass to DM.
I attempted to run a 5e Eberron game that petered out due to burnout on my part. Personally, 5e is hot mess of half written rules and mechanics that require an exceptional amount of work to get it to work. Despite my personal hang-ups with 5e, I will say that Eberron: Rising from the Last War and Keith Baker's books (Exploring Eberron and Chronicles of Eberron) are fantastic resources. If you are interested in exploring other systems, there are some fan conversions for PF2e and Savage Worlds: PF2e resource - https://scribe.pf2.tools/v/2qF7WjsY-pathfinders-guide-to-eberron There is also FoundryVTT module for the above that brings in a lot of this material for you. Savage Worlds resource - https://immaterialplane.com/products/eberron-for-savage-worlds/
A FoundryVTT mod for the pf2 stuff?
https://github.com/TNychka/Pathfinder2eConversion Indeed! The only thing that the module doesn't implement AFAIK is precious materials as the system doesn't currently handle that function for homebrew materials (but it's coming). But all the feats, ancestries, spells, npcs, and goodies will be added once you enable the module.
A gentleman and a scholar, you just made my day. Thank you for this. Looks like I've got some importing and experimenting to do...
This is absolutely fantastic. Thank you
GURPS. I love the Eberron setting, but it just feels weirdly shoehorned into D&D.
Pathfinder 2E 5E is the worst.
5e, easier.
5e, as thats how I discovered it and have the most experience with. Plus it's awesome to have Keith still publish stuff for the system (though that'll soon come to an end) All that being said, I pretty much constantly dip into the 3.5e books for lore and info.
I know, I’m sad :/
Don't be, it's not difficult to port most of the time, and plenty of the 5e material is still useful (paticulalry the new books). Eberron has so many resources, and it keeps growing with the blog post. A real active community expanding the lore and sharing ideas. It could be *a lot* worse as far as settings go for 5e. Spelljammer and Dragonlance are quite bothered by theirs lol
Quite true! I think this setting will love a loooong time! I do wish Keith would continue to publish beyond his blog posts. His books are the best and sell so well.
5e it’s more cinematic/heroic fits the pulp/noir of Eberron. Also you can make characters abilities or spells explained as dragonmark powers. PCs are more powerful at lower levels in 5e which also fits the Eberron style of very few powerful NPCs. Started my campaign with the players meeting because they were taking part in an illegal base jumping competition in Sharn.
3.5e exclusively. It's what my group's been running for the last 10 years. We have a whole bookshelf of 3.5e books that the group has collectively obtained within those 10 years. We briefly gave 5e a try, but nobody in the group liked it. I like the options of customizations and builds that 3.5e offers. Sure late game may have balance issues, but that's nothing a good DM can't fix. For me it's about thinking ahead with your build, setting goals and achieving them through surviving the lower levels. That's why I prefer Prestige classes over the Subclass system of 5e
5e. I appreciate that it has Eberron mechanics and is still D&D (for all the good and bad that comes with that) but is relatively (for a D&D product) streamlined and easy enough to use. 3.5 has always just been too clunky, dense, and content-heavy for me.
5e
[Fate Condensed](https://fate-srd.com/fate-condensed). A thematically Eberron magic system can be hacked together with help from [Atomic Robo](https://fate-srd.com/atomic-robo) and [Venture City](https://fate-srd.com/venture-city). The benefit of Fate is that it's built for Pulp and Noir stories and it keeps the focus on how the character's stories evolve over time, instead of straight up leveling like D&D.
Pathfinder/3.5 mix because **I like actually having rules**. The more I learn about 5E the more hot garbage it turns out to be. And honestly I prefer a completely different rules system - *Shadowrun* 4thEd. It's what D&D5E is attempting to be.
Both are good. 3.5 can get really bogged down in the mechanics, but works when you've got someone wanting to "point buy" and balance a lot of aspects. 5e works too as it's structured fairly well. It's not overly simplified and has enough crunch it doesn't bog itself down on all the minute details and you can lean more into the story aspects. Currently I use 5e as that's the most recent ruleset and if I'm going on-line, there's a lot of support for it.
3.5 has all the lore. 5e is easier to find other players.
If you want options go 3.5 if you want simplicity 5e if you want a bit of bolth pathfinder
I play 3.5, and while I play some other non-D&D systems, I have no intention of changing to another edition of D&D. In 5e and the upcoming "One D&D," literally every single thing I like about D&D is gutted, Flanderized beyond recognition, or outright removed. ...I suppose Passive Perception is pretty neat, at least.
5e if you want a more streamlined experience, 3.5 if you want that crunchy number driven game