Pre-orders are now open for the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons book, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer, and the product page has given us a glimpse of the content inside. Along with the updated Artificer class, Wizards of the Coast promises 17 new backgrounds and 28 feats, plus new spells, bastions, and magic items. The new book also features five revised species – one of which is the Khoravar, an Eberron-specific type of Half-Elf.
This is notable because the Half-Elf 5e species was removed from the revised Player's Handbook. In April 2023, former Wizards of the Coast designer Jeremy Crawford called the concept of a 'half' species "inherently racist", stating "we simply aren't going to include it in the new Player's Handbook".
The Khoravar are technically distinct from the Half-Elves of the Forgotten Realms setting. They were apparently originally descended from humans and elves, but they evolved to become a species of their own.
Nevertheless, a preview page from the book refers to the Khoravar as "Eberron folk who are sometimes called Half-Elves". At this time, it's unknown whether the Khoravar will share any similarities with the DnD stats of the 2014 Half-Elf.
This same page reveals the other DnD races we can expect to see in Forge of the Artificer. Updated versions of the Changeling, the Kalashtar, the Shifter, and the Warforged are apparently on the way.
Also coming in Forge of the Artificer are Dragonmark feats, which have been updated so they are not species-specific. Additionally, any DnD spells they offer can be cast with any spell slots your character has, or even as a ritual. It seems Wizards of the Coast will also be introducing new Epic Boons, as the Boon of Siberys is named in the preview.
We don't know much about the new DnD 2024 backgrounds that will be on offer, nor do we know the details of the 20 new monsters promised. Wizards of the Coast's product page does add that the book includes "three distinct, genre-based campaign templates". These will help create fantasy noir, political thriller, and pulp adventure stories.
A physical copy of the book is reportedly priced at $29.99, with digital copies going for $19.99. This is significantly cheaper than the average 5e book, which seems to imply that the page count will be lower than usual. However, we won't know for sure until it's Eberron's turn on the DnD release schedule.
If you'd like to speculate about the rest of this book's contents, join us for a chat in the Wargamer Discord. Or, if you'd like to read up on some more rules, here's all you need to know about DnD sizes and DnD level ups.