"THIS BOOK IS AN EXTENSIVE SUPPLEMENT TO EBERRON: RISING FROM THE LAST WAR." That's the first sentence you'll read in D&D's newest book, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer. The block capitals are Wizards of the Coast's stylistic choice, not mine. From the get-go, this "companion" book wants to make something clear (something that, in my opinion, was not crowed about quite enough in the marketing). This is not a complete guide to the Eberron setting.
What this 112-page book is is a whistlestop tour of the core rules you'd need to run an Eberron game. The sourcebook efficiently hammers out the revised rules for the Artificer 5e class, as well as updated versions of several backgrounds, feats, and species from the steampunk-esque setting.
Rules for 'D&D 2024' Bastions feature, as does advice for running airships. Forge of the Artificer also includes three chapters of adventure 'ideas'. Structured in the same style as the encounters from Adventures in Faerûn, these are barebones adventure skeletons rather than full pre-written sessions. Entire tiers of play are summarized in a handful of sentences, and your cast of NPCs doesn't go much further than first names and stat blocks.
After this, there's not much room left for lore. A few key locations and concepts are summarized, but they often signpost you to Eberron: Rising From the Last War if you want to learn more. As a reminder, that's the Eberron setting book published for 2014's version of fifth edition. It came out almost seven years ago.
"You don't need that book to use this one", Forge of the Artificer says, "but these books work best in tandem, and you'll find frequent references to Eberron: Rising from the Last War throughout this book."
This is technically true. You could Google most things you'd need to know about the Eberron setting to flesh out your campaign or character backstory. However, if you'd prefer to have an art-stuffed book do worldbuilding for you, you absolutely need a copy of Rising from the Last War. From naming conventions to key moments in history, there's so much that Forge of the Artificer fails to touch upon.
Wizards of the Coast has clearly anticipated part of its market desiring a lore supplement, because D&DBeyond sells bundles with both Eberron books included. On the surface, that's a pretty elegant solution to the problems created by Forge of the Artificer's short page count. Players who invested in Eberron nearly a decade ago can still use their old sourcebook, while newcomers have an easy way to purchase both old and new.
What about if you don't shop on D&DBeyond? Dungeons and Dragons' official Amazon store doesn't seem to offer any similar bundles, for example. Over on the Bezos platform, the product description for Forge of the Artificer doesn't even mention Eberron: Rising From the Last War. Similarly, local game stores might have the foresight to bundle these books together, but that's not a guarantee.
When I look at this backwards-compatible product bundle, I can't help feeling a bit sorry for the fresh-faced D&D players who are now joining the hobby for the first time. I imagine the buying process to look a little something like this:
- 1. Pick up the latest Eberron book, because you like the look of a new class and a vastly different setting.
- 2. Read the first sentence, and realize this is a companion book to a different setting book.
- 3. Either content yourself with the content you've already bought, or consider buying Rising From the Last War - at a worse deal than if you'd bought the discounted bundle.
- 4. Pick up a copy of Rising From the Last War, and realize that a large portion of the rules content is out of date, replaced by Forge of the Artificer. Feel a bit confused/shortchanged/intimidated by the homework you need to do to use these books in tandem.
Ever since 'D&D 2024' was announced, Wizards of the Coast has failed to clearly define its new products. Heck, we still don't even really know what to call the new round of core rulebooks. The internet spent months debating over names like 'D&D 2024', '5.5e', and '5e Revised'.
Meanwhile, Wizards started out referring to the '2024 rulebooks', but it has since abandoned this moniker. Everything is fifth edition now, with no clear distinction between old and new - even though the vast majority of this year's products have been designed to replace older rules for DnD classes and DnD races.
The 'backwards compatibility' we were promised is an attitude rather than an actual, tangible thing. It encourages us to keep using older books, but with a surgeon's scalpel in hand, ready to amputate the parts we no longer like or need. That's good news if you already spent hundreds of dollars on fifth edition books that you still want to use, but gosh is it messy for everyone else.
D&D 6e didn't happen, and that's because Wizards of the Coast didn't want to alienate the customers that still love fifth edition. But in producing something that's not quite an edition at all, the publisher risks alienating the newer, less savvy part of its market.
Heck, Forge of the Artificer even alienated me a little bit. I'm a longtime D&D player, but I'm less adept at reading the fine print, because I was unpleasantly surprised by the book's "companion" status. I love the direction D&D's new fifth edition rules are going in. I just wish they were easier to understand - and describe to beginners.
Got your hands on a copy of Forge of the Artificer yet? Let us know your thoughts in the Wargamer Discord.