D&D: An Update – And New Cover – For Eberron
Eberron: Rising from the Last War has a new cover, one designed to evoke the feelings of the setting. Does it succeed? Decide for yourself.
At the tail end of last week, WotC announced and unveiled a new ‘standard edition’ cover for their upcoming book, Eberron: Rising from the Last War, bidding a bittersweet farewell to the old cover, affectionately nicknamed ‘Cosplay Angelina Jolie, Winged Pikachu, and the Shaving Robot’ which you’ll find pictured below:
This image, seen below without the trade dress, is now the Chapter 1 header art, showing off a few different elements of the game, including the Artificer’s magical firearm and alchemical homunculus, and the Warforged’s ability to upgrade their armor by adding heavy plating to themselves, which you can see equipped on that beefy bot boy right there.
Also, Angeline Jolie is revealed not to be an elf, but rather the gnome Vi out of Acquisitions Incorporated, a further cross-seeding of the canons out there. But that’s not why we’re here–we’re here to take a look at the new cover art which is right here.
This new image features a Warforged Wizard and a halfling explorer traipsing through the demon wastes, and while the cover isn’t the sharpest image, the full artwork is–and you can see the dinosaur just hanging out waiting for some screen time on the back cover.
Don’t miss the gargoyle lurking in the background, spying on Iron Man cosplaying as Dr. Strange and the Aussie Halfling. You can find an explanation of this piece here:
Though how the adventure in the Demon Wastes is meant to evoke the idea of a world recovering from war–or indeed coming to grips with nascent industrialization and all its institutions like newspapers, spy rings, and more–especially since the Demon Wastes weren’t really wrapped up in the Last War. So while the art does feature a Warforged a little more prominently, if you want a cover that shows off the themes of the book, for my money, you can’t beat Vance Kelly’s art deco dream come true:
It just is so striking as a cover. Not that the other pieces don’t belong–or indeed won’t be in the book (they both are)–but this cover just summarizes the whole world of Eberron in a single image. It’s so strikingly different, it conveys the world so elegantly in a single, beautiful image where nothing feels superfluous.
At any rate, the video also mentions the new plan for the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron. For those folks who have already bought that content, all the rules, mechanics, and extant game content that’s been included in Rising from the Last War will be updated to the latest version. The Artificer will be included, but it will only feature one subclass. So if you want the full class you’ll have to either unlock it on D&D Beyond or just grab the new book in November.
Happy Adventuring!
