Gods & Faith in Eberron for Dungeons & Dragons

[@HoundofOdin]

The amateur theologian and anthropologist in me loves Eberron even more because its take on religion is much closer to real world polytheism than in any other D&D setting.

[@geoffreyprecht2410]

I have to agree. I think it's much easier to model theological conflicts in this setting because they so closely resemble the religious actions of people in the real world. Sure, we've all fought against cultists looking to resurrect tangible demon overlords in our campaigns, but how cool would it be to kick the collective asses of actual fantasy ISIS?

[@HoundofOdin]

Also, Eberron Gods don't depend on worshipers for their existence like in other settings. That concept, that Gods get stronger or weaker based on worship, has no basis in historical polytheisms.

[@vutava8292]

Although a critical difference between followers of the Sovereign Host and a lot of the big religious groups on Earth is that they know there's no paradise waiting for them if they live a good life. It's a proven fact that everyone ends up in Dolurrh. So the Vassals focus on improving the world around them and they see this improvement as its own reward.

[@Nemo12417]

@@vutava8292 According to Exploring Eberron, which isn't exactly canon but was written by Keith Baker for 5th Edition, Vassals do believe in a paradise after death. The guy in universe who charted out the planes used the Octagram symbol of the Sovereigns as the symbol for Dolurrh, believing that the fading that souls go through in Dolurrh was actually a transition to the realm of the Sovereigns that lies beyond Dolurrh. There is no absolute evidence for this, any more than a worshipper of the Silver Flame can prove their souls will merge with the Flame, but most Vassals do believe it. That's not even getting into the weirder sects, like the Wyrm Ascendant, who believe they can turn into the Sovereigns when the die if they emulate a Sovereign well enough.

[@csurinaga4816]

Eberron has the most Epic backstory, racial origins, geographic areas and playable races! Please bring it back in print. All of it.

[@serdna96]

There's no need for me to homebrew a setting when Eberron has everything I would want in one already

[@nohero23]

That is why Eberron is one of the finest settings D&D has to offer. Thanks Keith

[@csurinaga4816]

I have to agree. I still played Eberron using Pathfinder for years after 4th killed it.

[@AJPickett]

Good stuff! So many possibilities for excellent stories.

[@Xicarah]

AJ Pickett Love your stuff.

[@TakManSan]

Yep! I’m very pleased that Keith Baker is so involved in this Wayfinder Guide … I just wished they put together a complete setting release. Not everyone can find the original setting and want a comprehensive book they don’t need to translate into 5e. 😥

[@AJPickett]

Thanks Xicarah :)

[@AJPickett]

I think the book will be getting a lot of updates Takeda, we shall see.

[@iam_darthk]

For all we know, Eberron clerics are just a special kind of warlock :)

[@finderfinder4290]

but unlike GW clerics, they might not be. They might just be a special kind of sorcerer

[@undeadknight01]

Keith Baker is a a very different storyteller than Ed Greenwood, or even Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I love all of them but Baker is really on another lever when it comes to world building!

[@Breland1976]

Amazing Eberron content ! Keith is amazing.

[@killiancarter9091]

Damn, but I just love this lore!

[@quintinsteevessenior5568]

I haven't heard much of Ravinca... Thank you for that.

[@blurryface5926]

"That's like fighting against the ocean." So just throw plastic at a god to kill it?

[@IAmDoctorable]

Plastic kills things in the ocean, the ocean is still there.

[@blurryface5926]

IAmDoctorable sponges?

[@IAmDoctorable]

Good job, now you've infected the damn sponge with oceanitis.

[@stevenclark2188]

"They can't prove your god exists either." that must be awkward

[@paragonexperience]

Love, love, love! Eberron!

[@brightglory5734]

I love Eberron and I miss the novels.

[@whiterunguard9954]

Cool lore

[@TroySeward]

I love Eberron.

[@mauricioquintero2420]

As an atheist I love playing on the Forgotten realms because there's not really a way to deny the gods when they can come down to smack you in the face... This spin on religion in Eberron is pretty cool tho!

[@Politicallyhomeless957]

Thank u for the good content!

[@lightningandodinify]

My favourite dnd universe ❤

[@jordancunningham4962]

Aww. No Blood of Vol?

[@InquisitorThomas]

Jordan Cunningham Well the Blood of Vol is far more of a philosophy then an actual religion, it doesn't really have gods or myths of its own, they simply believe "Mortality is an injustice against all living creatures, so we have to become immortal."

[@MrWhite5150Duke]

Clerics of the eldritch shoelace, go forth! 🍺💨

[@michaellittle226]

Thanks for sharing .

[@silentjustin]

So when are they going to put Eberron on the D&D Beyond app?

[@BarrySkipp]

it's been there since the day it was announced. $20

[@silentjustin]

Barry Skipp Its been on the website but not on the app. I've checked its not there in the marketplace

[@DragonEaterT]

I think when you buy it through the webpage it automatically appears on your app

[@Josephrobrose]

Amazing

[@ghostoftanelorn9928]

Sounds like the Gods of Eberron are the very concepts themselves or some kind of animist gods.

[@angolin9352]

Sort of accurate, at least for the Sovereign Host. Eberron is fairly unique among D&D worlds in that there are multiple competing religions. One of the other religions is the Undying Court, which practices a form of ancestor worship where great elves are transformed into a weird inverse of undead (in 3.5 terms, animated by positive energy instead of negative). You could, in theory, meet an Undying Councilor and directly talk to them. Another religion is the Blood of Vol, a religion that holds that the gods probably don't exist, and even if they do they're bastards that don't deserve to be worshiped. The central focus of the Blood of Vol is the Divinity Within, a spark of greatness or even true divinity that supposedly rests in the blood of every sentient being. By learning and meditating, the Seekers (followers of the Blood of Vol, as they seek the Divinity Within) try to tap into the Divinity Within and achieve a better immortality than can be achieved by undeath, though many Seekers view sentient undeath (as a lich or vampire) as "good enough". This focus on avoiding death is really important in Eberron, since everyone goes to Dolurrh when they die, where over time their souls just fade out of existence. In most settings, the souls of the dead are judged and sent to one of the Outer Planes to be with either their alignment or their patron god, but in Eberron everyone who dies gets sent to the same place that just saps your personality, memories, and even your will to continue existing until you are totally consumed by the plane itself.

[@mikemcglasson1286]

Would Planar Ally work differently in Eberron?

[@christophercheck1590]

You're only calling non-deity entities with Planar Ally, so you can still yank an Archon from Syrania, or a Barbazu from Shavarath. Eberron has a planescape. It's just different, and not populated by gods. Just devils, angels, elementals, demons, yugoloths, aberrations, and other sorts of outsiders. They even have a different taken on Fallen Angels ("Radiant Idols" in Eberron) which are imperfect angels cast down from Syrania. They're not necessarily evil or devilish. Just not perfect as the rest of the angelic host define it. Alignments aren't as extreme, in general, in Eberron, which required a sort of re-arrangement of the Planar Wheel.

[@Acranify]

@@christophercheck1590 I immagine that to be kinda like, yes you can summon something to aid you, but they really want to get back to their own things that are, to them more important then whatever this mortal has them do.

[@arte0021]

So basically Eberron religion is like real life religion. Kinda reminds me of what neo pagans believe. In that they believe the gods are more forces of nature than actual persons. I dont know if ancient pagans believed in that too or they believed the gods were like people

[@dustinmccollum7196]

So it's kind of like shinto.

[@landonwyndham979]

it said it had no views damn it!

[@glow262]

What about the traveler? He/she is a god in the physical plane that is not some kind of force of nature well almost.

[@guyaudio632]

glow262 but nobody has seen the traveler cuz he is always in a guise. So you still need to believe him to exist with no definitive proof.

[@myveryunprofessionalvideop5830]

Kante An Jester (AKA Laura Bailey) has seen him/it/them

[@leeva1668]

Reevews There's a chance the CR traveler is not the eberron traveler

[@myveryunprofessionalvideop5830]

True, though i hope it is as the description is very similar and while i adapted The Dark Six a lot when i used them, they have to be my favourite host of gods in D and D lore that i know of

[@guyaudio632]

Reevews Matt has already confirmed it is not the same thing. So stop mixing them. Also you can have visions of a god and still have him not be real. I mean jester thinks she sees the traveller but no one else does. One person seeing something does not make it reality.

[@karenlee1741]

What about mielikki the lady of the forest .the old native American people worshipped the forest and everything in it.i want more ON her I'm like that

[@oOPPHOo]

And something like this is why I, as a newbie to the D&D multiverse who has only experienced FR and homebrew, have trouble accepting that Eberron, Toril, Oearth ect. all exist within the same prime material plane because the relationship each setting has with the other planes tend to be wholly unique. As I understand it, the D&D multiverse says there is one prime material plane, one plane of fire, one plane of the nine hells, one olympia etc. There is also but one of each god. It seems apparent that each setting has its own planes and own gods surrounding that setting rather than them being shared with the other settings. Again, I joined with 5e and I don't wanna say people are wrong for treating the multiverse the official way or even that it can't be treated the official. Planescape is popular for a reason so I imagine that it can. I just don't understand how so I simply think it easier to treat each setting as its own universe.

[@Elessar0wind]

oO PPH Oo well multiverse means many universes, so all the worlds are different layers of existence seperated from each other, yet "adjacent," for lack of a better word. If you look at the history of Forgotten Realms (that is, dnd itself) all the original human gods were all the same gods we have here on earth, because apparently Abier-Toril was once intensely connected to our Earth, (or maybe was Earth). The gods followed their human worshipers through the multiverse to protect them in the new environment by different means. Eventually they either left, were killed, somehow replaced, or completely changed to make up the current pantheon, Tyr and Tiamat are remenants of this. Multiverses are all really complicated though when you really think about it, but Planescape makes it a little easier, like laughably so sometimes, which is why people like it.The possibilities are endless, but I think the main reason people like the mutiverse can be summed in one word: Crossovers.

[@oOPPHOo]

And those crossover are possible with mere teleportation since the worlds aren't separated like planes. If I wanted crossovers, however, I would instead rely on spells like planeshift. Again, my understanding is very limited, but it's exactly the crossovers and how to explain them that cause my issue. Llolth may not interact with Eberron but she still exist as part of its cosmology. Why doesn't she interact with Eberron if Drow exist there? The easiest way for me to explain it is because she doesn't exist as part of the Eberron Cosmology.

[@Elessar0wind]

oO PPH Oo I haven't actually played Planescape at the table, so I don't actually know what the creators ruled in writing, but based on the things I've come across I'd say, for your specific example, it's not that Loth won't get involved, it's that she can't, because gods in Eberron's sphere can only take form in passive and unintelligible ways, like they are the concepts they represent themselves. Going back to Forgtten Realms, when the orginal human gods crossed over to Toril they had to go through the powers that be: the creator of the the Toril's sphere. Some could only send a portion of themselves through, others had to actually take mortal form. So you see, each universe has it's rules that outsiders have to play by, no matter how powerful they may be. But, at the end of the day, you just gotta make up a reason, (Hopfully a satisfying one).

[@oOPPHOo]

Second problem is that in Eberron, I imagine you still want to give your players access other planes like the Abyss. Her people can still enter the Demonweb Pits where she resides. Llolth doesn't walk the material plane much period as far as I understand yet Drow on Toril have a clear idea of who she is yet Eberron Drow don't. In all settings, divine power comes first and foremost from faith so the mere fact that one prophet walked the Demonwebs, witnessed the Queen of Spiders and preached her dogma should be enough to at least eventually win over the Drow of Eberron. She sustains herself on having believers so she would have no reason not to maintain her connection to Eberron. Not being able to manifest there isn't much of a barrier when you rarely leave your own domain anyway. I think I need to give up being this stubborn about it all until I actually know more... I just couldn't help but listen to these interviews and think that when Baker made Eberron, he never really intended it to be part of the same cosmology of higher entities that the existing settings were. That's something that was worked in later.

[@Spartacus547]

I was really hoping that they were going to focus on greyhawk or mystara not eberron on but oh well

[@myveryunprofessionalvideop5830]

The Dark Six...

[@abouttime837]

yeah wonder why he hasn't gotten into the more interesting gods like the traveller

[@myveryunprofessionalvideop5830]

A T my guess would be that they are awaiting response RE wayfinders to see and then release a full expaination in the proper book that gets a hard cover release and stuff Hard to say for sure though of course

[@angolin9352]

One of the first previews of WGtE was leaked ages ago. Honestly, don't hold your breath for anything. WGtE is so bare that you should really only buy it if you're a player and know nothing about Eberron or you're a DM who wants to run it in 5e and already has either the 3e or 4e version of Eberron Campaign Setting. You know how some parts of the 3e version of ECS was really bare? Where, even if the players didn't even visit it and were just rolling Knowledge checks for general background information, the DM had to homebrew a lot of stuff because it was so bare? Yeah, that's all of WGtE. It has fewer pages than 3e ECS and less information (fluff or crunch) per page. Thus continuing the trend of 5e D&D being straight-up unfinished.

[@williamvieira6125]

​@@angolin9352 Leaving parts of a published game-world (i.e. Eberron) unfinished is intentional. This allows Game Masters freedom to create their own content and personalize their campaigns. This concept has been around since the birth of our hobby in 1974. First Edition D&D campaign settings (Greyhawk, Dragon Lance, and the Forgotten Realms) were all left deliberately underdeveloped for Dungeon Masters to fill-in details as players explored their game world. Today, you will find this idea throughout the OSR movement. I am happy to see WotC harkening back to the days of yore. This freedom to imagine the hell out of our world is what make it so much fun to be the DM and surprise our players each night we run a game for them.

[@quintinsteevessenior5568]

I am not religious myself but I can totally see the "You don't needs to worship a good to play a cleric/paladin" crowd upset by this.

[@Alkonium]

Not necessarily, since Eberron has nontheistic religions as well as theistic ones.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Alex Denby Yeah I had an Idea for a Grave Domain Cleric of the Blood of Vol who was once a medic in the last war and became a cleric to save more lives.

[@Warmatt911]

Also the Silver Flame, like Backer says is like the Force. Which is more of a concept and way of life. Then it is a religion.

[@Alkonium]

Though they do act very much like an organized religion, even theocratically ruling the nation of Thrane.

[@InquisitorThomas]

Alex Denby yeah it’s a mix of the Papal States and a tiny bit of Tibet sprinkled in.

[@Filosofodeboteco2000]

Ive killed lord of blades and a vulkoor avatar in ddo

[@satanicpanicattheddtable2604]

Interesting but I still prefer dragonlance style gods always among you but you do not always know

[@sylvanvixen6887]

Yeah but those gods had some really wacky moral scruples. One of the darkest things in Faerun was even the good gods demanding the wall of the faithless be maintained and that is pretty much the dragonlance gods all the time, their 'balance' of good and evil' is really bizarre

[@RamathRS]

I agree.

[@darthbrooks4933]

Kinda missing the point of the mystery of deities IMO.

[@Sammo212]

A flood occurring isn't a myth; it iss science. the myths are the stories that came out of it.

[@h-grid3137]

sure (-_- )

[@dard1515]

those are called flood myths and all ancient cultures have them

[@paragonexperience]

No

[@ryanlynd8832]

The word "myth" does not mean "false", it just means "legendary story" it could be true or false.

[@stellaraevum799]

Dard 151 Actually not all ancient cultures had them and we know that the whole world wasn't flooded.

[@007ohboy]

Eberron blows and is a lazy Eurocentric world. I get it, most settings are Eurocentric fantasy but at least Forgotten Realms gives POC some sort of cultural representation even it is an amalgamation of different cultures. If I want to play a Persian/Middle East analog in FR, it's easy to find. Calimshan. If I wanted to play the analog of a Nigerian in FR, I could choose from the Shaar, Chult, or Sembia. Where are the equivalents of human POC culture in Eberron? Well, they basically gave those to Elves and Halflings. Meanwhile, European steampunk culture is widely represented on a whole continent. This is trashy even for 2002 standards. FR was created in the 1980s and seems to have better and wider variation on human cultures and they don't just get a generic European fantasy setting to attach their characters lore to. Deeply disappointed, Eberron needs to hire some POC and do better.

[@MonsieurWeevil]

Hey, newsflash. Not everything needs to include every culture in the world! You wouldn't complain like this if it was completely based on Africa or China either.

[@007ohboy]

@@MonsieurWeevil No, that would be dumb too. Is the Earth full of only white people? Hardly. So why is your fake fantasy world more racist than the real world is? 🤔