I]
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CHARACTER CREATION
1 HE SKYSCRAPERS OF SHARN RIS E UP BEFORE YOU,
the spires glimmering with magical lights. Or
wind rushes through your hair as the airship
you're riding races toward adventure in the
jungles of Q'barra. Or you hunt Emerald Claw
agents on the lightning rail, creeping through one train
car after another. Or you chart another adventurous
course on the war-torn continent of Khorvaire. What
ever path your character takes in Eberron, consider how
the world affects your character.
Building on the book's introduction, this chapter re
veals how you can create a character shaped by Eberron
and its war-filled history. The chapter offers you the fol
lowing choices:
Race. Choose one of the playable races detailed in this
chapter, or pick a race from the Player's Handbook
and learn here how Eberron has affected that species'
development.
Dragonmark. Decide whether your character bears
one of the mystical marks associated with the dragon
marked houses.
Background. Choose the house agent background
if your character has devoted themself to serving a
dragonmarked house.
Artificer. You have the option of choosing the artificer
as your character's class, becoming an unmatched
magical inventor.
Group Patron. Working with the other players in your
group, decide which of the great powers in the world
backs your group. This decision can shape your en
tire campaign.
RACES
Humanoids of all kinds have made their mark on the
continent of Khorvaire. Presented in alphabetical order,
the playable races in this section have especially shaped
the land's recent history.
Each of the races described in the Player's Handbook
has a place in Eberron. As you make a character from
one of these races, this section can help you understand
your character's place in the world.
This section also presents other playable races that
have performed important roles in the world's evolution:
Changelings are clever shapechangers who can dis
guise themselves as other people.
Goblinoids-bugbears, goblins, and hobgoblins-ruled
Khorvaire long ago, before the madness of the daelkyr
undermined them. After serving as mercenaries in
the Last War, they now seek a place in the world's
new order.
Kalashtar are humanoids bound to spirits from the
plane of dreams, imbued with wisdom and tele
pathic talent.
Ores, along with their half-ore kin, are a fierce people
who have fought world-threatening evils for centuries.
Shifters draw on their distant lycanthropic heritage to
manifest bestial traits for short periods of time.
Warforged are artificial lifeforms built to fight in the
Last War. Created as tools of battle, they now seek a
place and purpose beyond war.
CHANGELINGS
LONG AGO THERE WAS A WOMAN NAMED JES, AND SHE
had one hundred children. Her rivals conspired against her
and swore to kill her children. ]es begged the Sovereigns for
help, but their only answer was the wind and rain. In the
depths of her despair, a lonely traveler took her hand. "I
will protect your children if they follow my path. Let them
wander the world. They may be shunned and feared, but
they will never be destroyed."]es agreed, and the traveler
gave her his cloak. When she draped it over her children,
their old faces melted away and they could be whoever they
wanted to be. And so it remains. Though the children are
shunned by all, the gift of the Traveler protects them still.
-Chance, changeling priest
Changelings can shift their forms with a thought. Many
changelings use this gift as a form of artistic and emo
tional expression. It's also an invaluable tool for grifters,
spies, and others who wish to deceive. This leads many
people to treat changelings with suspicion.
A HIDDEN PEOPLE
Wherever humans live, changelings reside also; the
question is whether their presence is known.
Changelings are born to one of three paths. A few
are raised in stable communities where changelings
are true to their nature and deal openly with the people
around them. Some are orphans, raised by other races,
who find their way in the world without ever knowing
another like themselves. Others are part of nomadic
changeling clans spread across the Five Nations, fam
ilies who keep their true nature hidden from the sin
gle-skins. Some clans maintain safe havens in major
cities and communities, but most prefer to wander the
unpredictable path of the god known as the Traveler.
CHAPTER 1 I CHARACTER CREATION