History TabletopGame / Eberron

* DepletedPhlebotinumShells: Byeshk weapons don't exist in all settings. Take care when borrowing Eberron monsters fellow [[GameMaster DM]].

* PunctuationShaker: Xen'drik, Zharash'ak, Q'Barra... the list goes on. Subverted in that the ' is explicitly stated to represent a glottal stop... it's not just thrown in to make the word look all exotic-y, it's actually supposed to be pronounced. * PsychicStatic: Madness caused by daelkyr.

* BlackBox: Warforged are based on {{Magitek}} used by giants.

** OurDemonsAreDifferent: Demons and devils are actually native inhabitants of the world rather than extraplanar beings, and they ruled the planet for millions of years before being ousted from power by the dragons.

* BaseOnWheels: Argonth, a hovering fortress. Apparently there are two, but as Argonth is the more famous they never tell you anything about the other one.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve - Faith and Religion is not as codified as it is in other settings.
* ClarkesThirdLaw - Inverted.
* [[ClockworkCreature Clockwork Creatures]] - Warforged and other constructs.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience - Averted. Dragons can be of any alignment.
* ConceptArtGallery - [[http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19786482/The_Comprehensive_Eberron_Art_Thread The Comprehensive Eberron Art Thread]] and [[http://community.wizards.com/wiki/Dnd:Comprehensive_Eberron_Art_Wiki Wiki]] are not quite this, but it comes close. Still, they have a near complete collection of Eberron related art.
* CoolAirship - Elemental airships.
* CoolBoat - Elemental galleons.
* CoolGate - The Changegate, among other things.
* CoolHorse - Magebred horses and the Valenar horses.
* CoolOldGuy - King Boranel [[spoiler: and King Kaius if you count the undead.]]
* CoolTrain - The Lightning Rail.
* CorruptChurch - Cardinal Krozen of the Silver Flame is just one example.
* CorpseLand - The Mournland.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive - Dragonmark Houses aren't always led by the nicest people.
* CosmicHorror - Daelkyr.
* CrapsackWorld - Seriously, this setting is fucked.

** ButWaitTheresMore Daelkyr, the embodiment of madness itself, want to rule everything that is above the ocean. Although they are a SealedEvilInACan, they are just waiting for the seal to get loose for them go after everything.
*** And did we mention that the organization that keeps them sealed is in decline?

* CuteLittleFangs - Shifter?
* CreatingLife - House Cannith did this and created the Warforged. Things went better than expected.
* CrystalDragonJesus - The Silver Flame, led by Jaela Daran, A.K.A. [[MemeticMutation Loli Pope]].
* CyberneticsEatYourSoul - Grafts. Some of them are biological symbiotes that try to take control of your body. Or make you go evil and AxCrazy.
* DamagedSoul - When Dollurh is coterminous, this might happen.
* DarkerAndEdgier - Ultimately Averted. Despite the myriad ways things could go wrong, there is still hope.
* DarkIsNotEvil - What in most settings would be a "monster" is in Eberron a "tax payer". And the goblin nation is quite similar to the elf nation on the main continent.

* DeathWorld - Let's just say that some places are not tourist attractions.
* DeliberatelyCuteChild - A goblin girl plays this role in ''City of Towers''.
* DemonicPossession - Possession by extraplanar entities is quite common.
** Hell, the aforementioned Quori actually designed a drug which sends the user on out-of-body highs - so that they can steal the user’s body.
* DemonSlaying - The Church of the Silver Flame, the Gatekeepers and the Chamber.
* DepletedPhlebotinumShells - Byeshk weapons don't exist in all settings. Take care when borrowing Eberron monsters fellow [[GameMaster DM]].
* DepravedBisexual - King Kaius has a harem with both sexes. Being a vampire he drinks their blood. Note that this is consensual.
* DeusExHomine - The goal of the Godforged is to build their own god(s), [[MemeticMutation in a cave, with a box of scraps.]]
* DiabolicalMastermind - The Aurum is a club for Diabolical Masterminds to trade schemes, hatch plots, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking drink dwarven beer]].
* DieOrFly - The ''Test of Siberys'' for the Dragonmarked Houses.
* DoesNotLikeMagic - The Ashbound.
* DoomsdayDevice - Many Eldritch Machines are this.
* DoubleWeapon - The Double-Scimitar of the Valenar.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu - Daelkyr are in the main Eberron book for this purpose. Though, being CR 20, they would give Vol pause...
* DreamLand - Dal Quor.
* DroppedABridgetOnHim - Changelings can change their sex at will.

** It would be interesting to point out that, like warforged, their entries in the rulebooks mention that neither actually have inherent genders of their own. Almost all fluff contradicts this - including an adventure in the same book that says this which contains a female warforged.
*** Warforged lack a sex. They might or might not adopt a gender identity, meaning that the phrase "a female warforged" is perfectly in keeping with warforged not having any inherent genders of their own, allowing for female to mean 'self-identifies as female'. Changelings, on the other hand, technically have a sex and gender. It just doesn't mean much, thanks to their malleable outlook on identity and the fact that their shapeshifting is sufficiently thorough to allow them to become pregnant (if a male that is in the shape of a female) or make someone pregnant (if a female that is in the shape of a male).
* DualWielding - The aforementioned Double-Scimitar, as well as the Xen'drik drow habit of dual-wielding short swords balanced for throwing.
* DungeonPunk - Almost defines this trope.
* EitherOrProphecy - The Draconic Prophecy works this way. If X then Y, with [[TheChessmaster various]] [[MagnificentBastard groups]] attempting to cause X.
* EldritchAbomination - The Daelkyr and their creations. The Quori.
* ElectricJoybuzzer - Warforged with a Wand Sheath and a Wand of Shocking Grasp amongst others.
* ElephantGraveyard - Dragons have this in the Talenta Plains.
* ElvesVsDwarves - Talenta Halflings versus Valenar Elves.
* EmergentHuman - The Warforged.
* EmotionsVsStoicism - The Fury is very much on the side of emotion.
* EndOfAnAge - Once, Galifar was a mighty kingdom...

* TheEngineer - Artificers, albiet ''magic'' ones...
* EternalRecurrence - The Turning of the Wheel for the Quori and Dal Quor.
* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs - Dinoriding Halflings!
* EvilIsVisceral - Daelkyr.
* EvenEvilHasStandards - In Eberron, one of the hallmarks of evil is the complete disregard for standards.
* EvilCounterpart - The Blood of Vol is remarkably similar to the Undying Court, except for being less patient about it.
** This is partly because the Vol herself, is, well, an Elf, so it is in many ways an offshoot of the Undying Court.
* EvilSorcerer - Erandis Vol fills this role to a certain degree.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - Everice, Flamekeep, Thronehold
* FanNickname - Jaela "[[{{Lolicon}} Loli-Pope]]" Daran, called Jaelbait by some, and the Lord of Blades is the [[JustForPun LoBster]].
* FantasticNoir - Eberron is geared towards this.
* FantasticNuke - Cyre was apparently destroyed by one of these.
* FantasticRacism - There is hatred against Warforged, Changelings and Shifters.
** And against goblins, partially because of the events that led to the formation of Darguun. And against all the nasty things that live in Droaam, but that’s to be expected. And the lizardfolk/common races conflicts going on in Q'barra. And the dragons against everyone else, the Inspired against anyone else, the Qualitar Drow against everyone else... actually, name a canon character or a faction in this setting, there is a good chance it has racist tendencies.
* FantasticScience - Thanks to artificers and forward looking Wizards and others, we get this.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture - Averted. There are no direct equivalents to real world cultures.
** Though if you examine the nations closely you might come up with Breland = England, Karrnath = Pre-WWI Germany, and Cyre = someplace that just got nuked. Xen'drik might be India, the Lhazaar Principalities as the East Indies (albeit with a colder climate and a much, much smaller Australia), Riedra and Aerenal could be pre-open trade China and Japan... you have to dig a bit, but they are there.
** Khorvaire is roughly our world post-WW2. Cyre was nuked and that was the end of WW2. Breland (USA) escaped WW2 relatively intact as the most technological and richest nation. Post-war, warforged fought for their civil rights much like the post-WW2 Civil Rights era of the USA. Breland is known for being "constitutional". Karrnath (People's Republic of China, PRC) is dirt poor. It couldn't afford warforged like Breland, and relied on undead for that war, and still relies on undead to bolster its economic recovery. This is symbolic of the questionable strategies and morals of the government as it engineers the economic recovery of the country. It's ruled by a relatively benevolent Lawful Evil King (A vampire who faked his own death to fight the influence of the Blood of Vol in his nation, then resumed the throne by stealing his grandson's identity). This king is, despite his flaws, sincerely concerned with his country and being undermined by people in Karrnath's government (Blood of Vol and its pet Order of the Emerald Claw) is analogous to the lack of control within the not-so-monolithic single Party state. Aundair appears to be a mishmash of European countries if we look at their exports, style of education (especially their [floating] ivory towers).
* FantasyGunControl - The world is far more advanced than MedievalEuropeanFantasy standards, but no guns. The use of magic wands acts as a substitute for them.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified;]] in a world where a great-axe to the head deals 1-12 damage (plus modifiers), and your basic fireball spell does at least 5-30 damage (within a blast radius of at least 25 ft), guns are just needlessly expensive toys for people with no combat ability.
* FantasyPantheon - The Sovereign Host and the Dark Six.
* FantasyWorldMap - Like every D&D setting Eberron has a map.
* FarEast - Sarlona in general and Riedra in particular, the thing being that Riedra might resemble North Korea combined with CosmicHorror.
* {{Fembot}} - Warforged that strongly identify as female sometimes mod themselves to resemble humanoid women.
* FightingForAHomeland - The people of Cyre.
** The Eladrin in 4E are allegedly this, too.
* FisherKingdom - Dollurh.
* FirstChurchOfMecha - What The Becoming God will be. Or to meme it up: [[MemeticMutation The Warforged are building a god! IN A CAVE! WITH A MOUNTAIN OF SCRAPS!]]
* FlatEarthAtheist - Averted. Religion works differently in Eberron. Nobody knows if the Gods actually exist.
* FlayingAlive - "Excoriation" or what Dragonmarked Houses used to do to when one of their own made them angry.

* FluffyTheTerrible - One Blood of Vol sect is called "Cult of Life".
* ForgotHeWasARobot - Warforged don't have all the features of full constructs, which leads to this trope.
* FounderOfTheKingdom - Galifar I.
* GadgeteerGenius - Artificers are a magical equivalent of this.
* GambitPileup - The raw amount of [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bastards]] and [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] both mortal and immortal has an expected result.
* GameFace - Shifters.
* GenderBender - Changelings.
* GenderEqualsBreed - Kalashtar work this way. The Quori spirit is bound to the gender of the bloodline.
* GiantEnemyCrab - The Carcass Crab. And the Siege Crab.
* GlamourFailure - Changelings need to be careful with their disguises. Something as simple as wrong clothing can give them away, not to mention things like [[OohMeAccentsSlipping bad accents]].
* GlobalAirship - Elemental airships.
* GodEmperor - The Lord of Blades.
* GodOfEvil - The Dark Six is a pantheon of these. Then there are the rakshasa Rajahs...
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen - Some react like this when learning of Queen Aurala of Aundair's plans.
* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual - Cannith Goggles help in magic item creation.
* {{Golem}} - The Warforged race.
* GoodColorsEvilColors - Eberron naturally plays with this.
* GreyAndGrayMorality - The LawfulEvil Vampire King? He works for world peace. The Neutral Good Queen? She's planning world domination.

*** Also, the Queen who plans to conquer the world? [[WellIntentionedExtremist She wants to makes the world a better place]]
*** In Aurala's defense, just about EVERYONE in the Five Nations wants their nation to re-establish the Galifaran empire.
* HadToBeSharp - Drow.
* HealingFactor - There's a Shifter feat for this.
* HereThereBeDragons - The continent of Argonnessen houses 99% of all the dragons in the world.
* HiddenElfVillage - Aerenal, not quite hidden and more of a continent. Valenar might also count, though the elves there mostly stay hidden by constantly moving around in the middle of the continent's largest desert and killing anyone who enters...
* HijackedByJesus - The Sovereign Host uses this tactic.
* {{Hobbits}} - Some halflings ride dinosaurs.
* HolyCity - Lots of them. Flamekeep, Ashtakala, Greenheart, etc...
* HorseOfADifferentColor – The aforementioned dinosaurs.

* [[HumansAreDiplomats Half-Elves Are Diplomats]] - Half-Elves, or Khoravar gain a bonus to diplomacy and run the bureaucracy of one nation.
* {{Humanshifting}} - Changelings.
* HumongousMecha - Warforged Titan.
* IAmNotAGun - The warforged.
** Unless, of course, they embrace it. Which some, like Warforged Juggernauts, do.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace - The Mournland.
* ImmortalityImmorality - Averted with the Deathless, positive-energy-charged elven undead.
* ImpossiblyCoolWeapon - The double-bladed Scimitar of the Valaes Tairn elves.
** Drow also get kick-ass chains that are used like scorpion stingers.
*** And three-pronged boomerangs.
*** And short swords that can be used like massive throwing knives.

** Yuan-ti on Xen'drik have the Serpent Bow. It is a longbow with a shortsword blade built into one end. Just imagine Legolas with one of those!

* InhumanlyBeautifulRace - Kalashtar
* InterspeciesRomance - Changelings and shifters are the result of this.
* InTheDoldrums - Dollurh.
* ItemCaddy - The artificer.
* JokerImmunity - The Quori.
* KnightTemplar - Some knights and priests during the Lycanthrope Purge.
** Some of the novels portray followers of the Silver Flame this way.
*** Especially in Zed Arthen's backstory in Heirs of Ash.
** Actually ''averted'' in the case of the [[SecretPolice Trust of Zilargo]]. Sure, they're [[TheChessmaster manipulative, conniving bastards]] who will do anything to protect the peace and order of Zilargo... yet they have a pretty narrow, logical code as to what constitutes "disturbing the peace" - "Free Speech" not being one of them - and tend to fire "warning shots" before actually attacking. And frankly, ''[[CityOfSpies everyone]]'' from Zilargo is a manipulative, conniving bastard.
* KungFuWizard - The Kalashtar practice Kung Fu Psionics. Some of them. Others are just [[{{Squishy Wizard}} Squishy Psions]].
* LadyLand - Averted. Drow have an egalitarian culture, as compared to the matriarchal culture of most other drow.
* LawEnforcementInc - House Medani and in certain areas, House Deneith.
* LeftJustifiedFantasyMap - Both coasts are shown.
* LegacyImmortality - King Kaius III poses as his descendants.
* LightIsNotGood - The Church of the Silver Flame. The Silver Flame is an amalgamation of several good spiritual entities. It's also a prison to demonic forces.
* LikeABadassOutOfHell - It's quite possible to escape Dolurrh.
* LilliputianWarriors - The halflings of the Talenta Plains.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces - Type 2. Everything in D&D has a place in Eberron.
* LowFantasy - Compared to other D&D settings.
** Only in the sense that it isn't HighFantasy. It is often stated that magic is significantly more common in Eberron than standard settings (to the point that nearly every blacksmith and baker can cast at least a couple spells), not to mention the flying ships, lightning train, intelligent {{Magitek}} robots...

* MadeOfIron - Warforged. Literally.
** Warforged can have plating upgrades at first level that cause them to be made of mithril or adamantine. Both are much stronger than normal iron.
* MadeOfPhlebotinum - ''{{Eberron}}'''s {{Dungeon Punk}} world comes to mind as an especially obvious example of this trope. Without that magical-flavored {{Phlebotinum}}, everything in that world would fall apart ''hard''. It's pretty much {{Made Of Phlebotinum}}.
* {{Magitek}} - Eberron has widespread use of magic.
* ManInTheIronMask - The real king of Karrnath is one of these. The current king, er, ''was'' the real king, but technically died two generations ago.
* {{Mayincatec}} - Seen in Xen'drik.
* MechanicalHorse - The Lightning Rail. Airships.
* MechanicalLifeforms - Warforged.
* MedievalStasis - Averted. Society advances in Eberron. Unlike in some other settings...
* {{Medusa}} - They have a culture of their own and various customs relating to the eyes.
* MegaCorp - The Dragonmarked Houses.
* MerchantCity - Syrania in 4E?
* {{Metaplot}} - Averted. The setting does not advance with adventures, novels or new sourcebooks. Some [[ExecutiveMeddling executives]] tried to impose this on the setting for 4e, but they backed off when the fans strongly indicated their displeasure.
* MissionControl - Steel, an intelligent (albeit unimaginatively named) dagger, wielded by the Dark Lanterns.
* MisterSeahorse - Changelings, thanks to their Doppelganger heritage.
* MonsterClown - The Carnival of Shadows.
* MonsterTown - Entire "monster" nations, like Droaam and Darguun.
* {{Mordor}} - The Mournland.
* MotherNatureFatherScience - Played straight. In the Sovereign Host, Aureon the god of Lore and Onatar the god of Craftsmen are both males. Arawai is the goddess of Life, and is female.
* MundaneUtility - The Magewright NPC class.
* MyGrandsonMyself - King Kaius the [[strike:Third]] First, who poses as his son to avoid [[OurVampiresAreDifferent uncomfortable questions]] about his lack of aging.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch - Eberron threw most alignment restrictions away.
* MythicalMotifs - The Dragonmarked Houses.
* NayTheist - The Blood of Vol.
* NebulousEvilOrganization - [[DiabolicalMastermind The Aurum]], [[BadPowersBadPeople House Tarkanan]], [[OurDemonsAreDifferent the Lords of Dust]]... it's probably easier to list which international organizations ''aren't'' [=NEOs=].
* NightmareDreams - The Quori are this, and like to do this to others.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot - With the right templates this is possible. At the very least you can play a Robot Ninja-Pirate riding a Zombie Dinosaur.
* NoBiologicalSex - Warforged are sexless. Gender identity is something they ''may'' pick up. A Changeling's "natural" sex can be meaningless outside of high level magic that ignores their shape shifting.

* NonHumanUndead - The Deathless of Aerenal.
* OminousFog - The fog surrounding the Mournland.
* {{Omniglot}} - Changelings are capable of becoming this easily - in 3.5 terms, Speak Language is always a class skill.
* OneManArmy - By the time you're 5'th level, you've seen more than a city guard will have seen a lifetime.
** And in fourth edition, the Mark of Scribing makes one close to this.
*** The pen must be mightier than the sword, I guess.
* OnlyThePureOfHeart - There are no restrictions in using Good, Evil, Lawful or Chaotic spells.
* OrganicTechnology - Daelkyr and their fleshcraft.
* OurMonstersAreDifferent - Eberron is pretty good at this. Especially with Droaam, in which a horde of ogres and minotaurs and whatnot united under a covey of hags to make a monster nation!
** OurAngelsAreDifferent – They’re just as clueless as the rest of us.
** OurCentaursAreDifferent - Scorrow, Drow torso on scorpion body.
** OurDemonsAreDifferent - Demons and devils are actually native inhabitants of the world rather than extraplanar beings, and they ruled the planet for millions of years before being ousted from power by the dragons.
** OurDragonsAreDifferent - Freedom of will for our scaly friends is a part of Eberron.
** OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame - Except that they are also bankers.
*** And they make sweet confections!
** OurElvesAreBetter - Mostly averted, surprisingly.
** OurGnomesAreWeirder - Might have evolved from rodents.
** OurGiantsAreBigger - Giants used to be a unified race, but a magical cataclysm changed them.
** OurGoblinsAreDifferent - Goblins used to [[TheEmpire control most of Khorvaire]]. Now they're city dwellers working lower class jobs and whatnot.
** OurHomunculiAreDifferent - The Artificer can create homunculi sooner than other classes. Eberron also introduces a few specialized homunculi.
** OurLichesAreDifferent - The Deathless.
** OurOrcsAreDifferent - In Eberron, one of the oldest Druidic traditions is Orcish.
* OverlyLongName - Inverted with Changelings who prefer monosyllable names.
* OverTheShoulderPose - The Dragonmarked Heir drawing.
* ParodySue - The Inspired can be seen as a deconstruction.
* PassFail - This is something Changelings want to avoid.
* PatchworkMap - The geography can sometimes be a bit odd.
* PathOfInspiration - Eberron is the TropeNamer. The PathOfInspiration is the state religion of Riedra.
* PhysicalReligion - Eberron mainly averts this. There are legends and myths, but nothing solid for the Sovereigns and the Dark Six.

* {{PIRATE}} - The Lhazaar Principalities is responsible for this.
* PokeInTheThirdEye - Daelkyr can do this to those who try to read their minds.
* PowerBornOfMadness - The Daelkyr. And, to a lesser extent, their creations.
* PettingZooPeople - Shifters are sometimes portrayed as this.
* PowerFist - The Battlefist warforged component.
* PowerPerversionPotential - Changelings.
* PowerTattoo - The dragonmarks.
** Which are really more like birthmarks that appear later in life.
* PraetorianGuard - There are a lot of examples of these.
* PrivateEyeMonologue - Due to noir influence, this is likely to pop up in games.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors - Various. House Deneith is the most famous.
* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight - The Draconic Prophecy foretells every single possible event that has happened or can happen... with the twist that they tend to take the form of "If X happens, then Y will happen" instead of, "X, Y and Z will happen in exactly that order". This means that you can manipulate fate to a certain extent: if you want Y to happen, then you'd better make sure X happens. (This is a fact that has not escaped the attention of the various [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] of the world.)
** And for some reason this does not extend to Sarlona, which has zero Draconic Prophecy and Dragonmarks don't manifest in the newborn, even if there is potential.
*** Technically, Adar has some connection to the prophecy. Which kind of makes sense, given that that's the only place the dragons themselves have any influence.
* ProphetEyes - Kalashtar and the Inspired.
* ProudScholarRaceGuy - The gnomes of Zilargo.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy - The Valenar. And the Darguul.
* PunctuationShaker - Xen'drik, Zharash'ak, Q'Barra and the list goes on.
** Subverted in that the ' is explicitly stated to represent a glottal stop... it's not just thrown in to make the word look all exotic-y, it's actually supposed to be pronounced. Played straight in that it's often hard to figure out what kind of demented language would choose to put a glottal stop at that particular location in many of these names, or how it's supposed to be pronounced. "Xen'drik" is a particularly notable example.
*** That isn't quite as hard as you might think -- it's possible that in some cases it's easier to pronounce it as a schwa sound, and in the case of something like "Xen'drik", there's two possible ways -- one is to pronounce "en" nasalized as in French or Portuguese with the glottal stop slammed in at the end, and the other is to swallow the n so it sounds something like "ent".
* PsychicStatic - Madness caused by Daelkyr.
* PurpleEyes - The Inspired and sometimes Kalashtar.
* RealityIsOutToLunch - The Mournland.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure - Many of the leaders of the 5 Nations.
* RedLightDistrict - Sharn has ''three'' of these!
* ReedRichardsIsUseless - Averted. There is a lot of public use of magic.
* ReleasedToElsewhere - You live in Sarlona? Don't go around saying bad things about the Inspired.
* ReligionOfEvil - The Dark Six.
** The 4E campaign guide points out that they're really more like the Greek gods (i.e., still epic {{Jerk Ass}}es, but really more the embodiments of destructive nature than truly malicious). Even before then, one of them wasn't really evil, just... mysterious. Terribly mysterious.
** The Blood of Vol and the cults of the Dragon Below, especially as seen in the first Blade of the Flame book and the Dragon Below trilogy.
*** While the cults of the Dragon Below certainly qualify, the Blood of Vol is a little more ambiguous; yes, the people ''secretly in charge'' of the religion are evil, but the followers are mostly people who simply live in grim and inhospitable places (such as Karrnath) and hold a similarly grim (but not evil) set of beliefs.

* ReligiousRobot: Many Warforged adhere to the faiths of other races, such as the Sovereign Host and the Silver Flame. In addition, some Warforged have their own RobotReligion in the form of the Lord of Blades.
* RobotWar - The Lord of Blades is trying to start one of these.
* RocketPunch - Check the Self-Forged paragon path. Alternatively, a +1 Returning Battlefist.
* RuleOfCool - Warforged and halflings that ride Dinosaurs. Bedouin elves with double-ended scimitars. Viet Cong drow who worship scorpions. Elementals making longships fly. Half the setting is based on the RuleOfCool, for Flame's sake!
* SaintlyChurch - Despite the corrupt clergy and atrocities associated with the Church of the Silver Flame, it's still a powerful force of good. The Sovereign Host is a straighter example of this trope. At least it tries.
* SchizoTech - Does come up a bit.
* ScienceHero - The artificer.
* ScrewYouElves - The elves can be argued with. Some, like the Valenar, will need more violent persuasion.
* ShroudedInMyth - Xen'drik. Partially because of the Traveler's Curse (things will never be in the same place twice).
* SealedEvilInACan - Rakshasa Rajahs, Quori, Daelkyr... and the list goes on.
* SecretPolice - Don't mess with the Gnomes in Zilargo. The Trust is to be feared. As is the Dreaming Dark and the Thousand Eyes, who seek the Quori's foes abroad and at home.

* SeriesMascot - Warforged.
* SexyBack - The Dragonmarked Heir picture.
* ShapeshifterDefaultForm - Changelings.
* ShapeShiftersDoItForAChange - Changelings.
* ShapeShifterSwanSong - Seen in an adventure path.
* ShapeshiftingSeducer - Changelings.
* ShapeshiftingSquick - Changelings.
* ShrugOfGod - Some things are left intentionally vague for the DM to fill in.
** I believe you mean MOST things are left intentionally vague for the DM to fill in.
* SinisterMinister - Cardinal Krozen.
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset - The Bone Knight prestige class.
* SlidingScaleOfFreeWillVsFate - Eberron is a type 3.
* SlidingScaleOfGenderInequality - Mostly egalitarian.
* SomedayThisWillComeInHandy - Gnomes like to collect information. Just in case.
* SomewhereAPalaeontologistIsCrying - The dino-riding Halflings.
** Though, to be fair, halflings are actually the right size to ride a velociraptor.
* SpaceJews - Dwarves control the banks. Or rather, House Kundarak does. And House Kundarak is composed of dwarves. (And dwarves also happen to rule a sinister organization of bankers and financiers, secretly pulling the strings of Khorvaire's economy...)
** D&D-esque Dwarves also traditionally hoard gold and hide it underground vaults. The Dragonmarked Houses resemble medieval fantasy corporations so it's closer to a CorruptCorporateExecutive twist on OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame.
** Considering the setting creator's wife at the time was of Jewish descent (and their separation was amicable) it's probably not intended as Anti-Semitic.
* SpaceWhale - Seen in the Dreaming Dark Trilogy.
* SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome - Might become a bit tempting.
* SpellBlade - The Heroes' Blade spell.
* SpikesOfVillainy - The Lord of Blades. Erdis Cai in the Blade of the Flame books also has very spiky armor. That drains your soul if you touch it.
* StandardFantasySetting - Not quite...
* StarfishLanguage - Daelkyr.
* StarScraper - Sharn, the city of towers.
* {{Steampunk}} - Eberron is often mistaken for Steampunk.
** Given that it practically invented (at the very least codified and made famous) DungeonPunk, it's rather understandable since that's the closest thing.
* SuccessionCrisis - What set off the Last War.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic - One of the cornerstones of the setting.
* TastesLikePurple - Dal Quor might cause this, and Kalashtar might have memories of this.
* TechnicolorEyes - Changelings can change their appearance at will.
* ThankTheMaker - The Becoming God.
* TheAlcatraz - Dreadhold.
* TheChessmaster - As a general rule of thumb, any creature that has a lifespan greater than that of an average half-elf is a Chessmaster. To wit, the Lords Of Dust, the Dreaming Dark and the Draconic Chamber are organisations ''full'' of Chessmasters... and naturally, they [[GambitPileup tend not to get along]].

* TheDarkTimes - The Age of Demons.
* TheHeretic - Quite common for a D&D setting.
* TheHighQueen - Queen Aurala, a somewhat unconventional representative of the trope.
* TheHorde - Goblinoids, settled down, created empire, fell due to circumstances beyond their control.
* JackOfAllStats - The artificer.
* TheMultiverse - 13 planes, of which one has been severed from the rest and remains unreachable through conventional magic. And for good reason, as it is currently the plane of nightmares. Another is going to be out of close contact with the main world for the next twenty thousand years, which is also good, as it is the plane of insanity and non-Euclidean geometries and the sort of place Cthulhu might fit in very well.
* TheNecrocracy - Karrnath, Aerenal and the Blood of Vol.
* TheNothingAfterDeath - Dolurrh.
** 4E introduces a few exit strategies to avert this. They're all [[NightmareFuel creepy, though.]]

* TheOnlyOne - Most [=NPC=]s are low level characters with [=NPC=] classes. Thus the [=PC=]s are the only ones capable of handling any major disasters.
* TheOrder - The Knights Arcane.
* TheRightHandOfDoom - The Battlefist.
* TheSavageSouth - Xen'drik and Argonnessen
* TheSleepless - Warforged.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky - Eberron used to have thirteen moons, thirteen Dragonmarks (with associated lineages), thirteen coterminous planes, thirteen dwarven clans, and the continent of Khorvaire had thirteen regions. One of the moons has vanished, one of the dragonmarks had the entire line who had it exterminated by dragons and angry elves [[spoiler:(though it lives on in one person; however, that person - being undead – can't use her mark)]], two dragonmarked houses now share a mark, contact with one of the planes was severed forever (when its CosmicHorror inhabitants tried to invade), and one region in Khorvaire was rendered a wasteland.
** As noted above, thirteen minus one is the setting's ArcNumber, so whatever event resulted in the "minus one" was probably rather unfortunate for that thirteenth thing.
*** They almost added the extra moon and plane back in the Dreaming Dark books, but the heroes managed to fix it in time.
*** When the setting was updated to 4e, [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Baator]] was added to the cosmology. However, this was to make up for the fact that Xoriat technically stopped being a plane and became Eberron's Far Realm, which is supposed to be beyond the universe.
* TookALevelInBadass - A few prestige classes, like the Extreme Explorer or the Heir of Siberys. Manifesting a dragonmark can also lead to this.
* TouchedByVorlons - The Kalashtar origin story.
* TragicMulatto - Half-Orcs have a good opportunity for social advancement in the Shadow Marches, since they are seen as lacking bias against either humans or orcs. In some tribes, they are even celebrated.
* TraintopBattle - One of the reasons why the Lightning Rail exists.
** Try [[RuleOfCool 'the only reason']].
* TraumaInn - The "Last Chance", a co-operation by Ghallanda and Jorasco. Situated in Xen'drik
* TwoFistedTales - Eberron takes a lot of inspiration from these.
* TheRemnant - Warforged are sometimes this. Darguun is the remnant of the ancient empire of Dakhaan (sort of). Cyre has a lot of dispossessed citizens wandering around.
* [[{{Uberwald}} Überwald]] - Karrnath used to be this. Still is in some places.
* UltimateEvil - ''Khyber, the dragon below.''
* UndeadTaxExemption - [[spoiler:King Kaius III.]]
* UndeathAlwaysEnds - A few religions actually hold Undeath as a good thing.
* UniverseChronology - From the birth of the world to present time.
* {{Unobtainium}} - Dragonshards.
* UnwittingPawn - You're in a world full of competing [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]] and {{Magnificent Bastard}}s. Expect to get the short end of the stick every single time.
* UrbanSegregation - Sharn. The lower you go the tougher things get.
* UtilityMagic - One of the more notable examples, magic is used for everything from airships to architecture.
* VestigialEmpire - The Dhakaani Empire and the Giant Empire of Xen'Drik.
* VillainsOutShopping - [[http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=11874207&postcount=6 Erandis Vol also practices knitting]].
* WalletOfHolding - Thanks to House Kundarak, you need not carry all that gold, silver and platinum! Not to mention anything else you might want to store.
* WarriorMonk - Kalashtar.
* WeirdMoon - [[ArcNumber 12 moons plus one that's missing]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist - The Ashbound. And certain groups within the Silver Flame.
* WhenTreesAttack - Oalian, the strongest known NPC, is a Tree. Not a treant, just a tree. Awakened by druids into sapience, to be more specific.
** 4e removes this making the way he came into existence a secret lost to time.
* WildMagic - The Living Spells in the Mournland.
* WiseTree - Oalian the Druid.
* WitchSpecies - Kalashtar can be seen as this, with psionics replacing magic.
* WizardingSchool - A lot of these exist. The school at Arcanix even has floating castles.
* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman - Warforged.
* WordOfGod - Keith Baker posts on the Eberron forums every now and then, though he can only give his opinion on certain things since Wizards has control over the direction of the setting.
** He also has a [[http://gloomforge.livejournal.com/ blog]] and a [[http://www.bossythecow.com/ website]].
* WorldOfHam - And it is GLORIOUS!
* WretchedHive - Stormreach.
* WrittenByTheWinner - War of the Mark
* {{Wutai}} - Sarlona and the country of Riedra.
* XanatosGambit: The gnomes of Zilargo do this as a ''hobby''.
** The dragons make them look like amateurs, though.
* YearInsideHourOutside - Dal Quor and Thelanis.
* YouAllMeetInAnInn - This old trope is actually honored in supplemental rules.

* YouAreNumberSix - Some Warforged are known by numbers instead of names.

* AbusivePrecursors - The Rakshasa. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation The dragons of Argonnessen might also be.]]
* AChildShallLeadThem - Jaela Daran.
* AdventureGuild - There are a few, such as the Clifftop and Deathsgate guilds in Sharn.
* AdventurerArchaeologist - An archetype you can use while designing your next character. Common enough to be mentioned every now and then in sourcebooks.

* AirborneAircraftCarrier - Argonth has docking towers for airships.
* AlienSky - 13-1 moons and a ring composed of Siberys dragonshards.
** Which makes this a CrapsackWorld if you're a lycanthrope, since there's at least one full moon every couple of days.
*** Oh, that's alright, the lycanthropes were hunted nearly to extinction before play begins... wait, that doesn't make it better for lycanthropes?
*** And the prejudice from that purge still exists today. To the point where even those with a connection to the lycanthrope family tree (their far less dangerous player counterparts, the Shifters) are discriminated against.
* AllThereInTheManual - Common to all D&D settings.
* AlternativeCalendar - 13-1 months. They share their names with the moons.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil - Averted. Eberron is very flexible when it comes to alignment. There is a trustworthy, non-evil ''fiend'' in the setting.

** Have you ever met a non-Chaotic [[StarfishAliens Daelkyr]]? Or a non-evil any one of their misbegotten creations? No? Didn't think so.
*** The setting handbook does indicate the existence of neutrally-aligned mind flayers and/or beholders, though these are usually Lawful Evil instead of Chaotic Evil.
*** Interestingly, the alignment listed for daelkyr is "usually neutral evil," which means that technically there ''can'' be good daelkyr. It's just [[MindScrew there's no possible way a good daelkyr could exist.]]
* AmalgamOfSouls - The Silver Flame is the amalgamation of Couatl souls. They sacrificed themselves to bind the Rakshasa Rajahs and other forces of Khyber. The Faithful believe that they will become a part of the Silver Flame after death. [[spoiler:There's also a Rajah soul in there too. Uh-oh]].
* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife - The Tribex.
* AnimalWrongsGroup - The Ashbound and the Children of Winter.
* {{Applied Phlebotinum}} - Dragonshards. Chunks of magic crystal used to power everything. Good for everything from making a ship fly, to infusing a random scrub with infinite cosmic power, to making a flying island crash.
* ArchEnemy - The Eberron books and adventures have a few of these.
* ArcNumber - Everything important follows the pattern of there being 13 of them with one lost/evil/destroyed.
** Or all of the above.

* ArmCannon - Warforged have this little friend called "Armbow." It needs MoreDakka.

* ArtificialLimbs - Grafts.
* AscendedDemon - Kalashtar with their Quori.
* AsLongAsThereIsEvil - The Rakshasa.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking - [[FanNickname Loli Pope]] Jaela Daran- normally a 3rd level character- gains the powers of an ''18th level character'' within the walls of Flamekeep simply by virtue of being the head of the Silver Flame church.
** Not to mention that by the setting level standards, level 3 is something.
*** To top it off, she is eleven years old. YOU READ IT RIGHT, AN ELEVEN YEAR-OLD CHILD IS STRONGER THAN YOUR INITIAL PC.
*** Her predecessor is in prison, and is an 11th level Cleric. However, this turns into a ''21st'' level cleric when in Flamekeep. It's a very good thing that she was locked up and is now kept far away.

** At the end of 3.5, a permanent dragon resident named [[MeaningfulName Haze-of-Death]] was introduced to the Mournland. He's CR 26.
*** To clarify, in the dragon homeland of Argonnessen, your rank and status depend on your power, which is connected to age in 3.5. Haze-of-Death is really, really, old.
** An article in ''Dragon Magazine'' had statistics for one of the [[SealedEvilInACan rakshasa rajahs]], the fiends the Lords of Dust hope to free (or siphon power from). In a campaign setting where level 10 is considered masterful and level 15+ legendary, the rajahs ''[[AGodAmI are level 60.]]''
*** Make note that 20 is the traditional level cap of the system, and though supplemental rules do allow for and support higher levels, these officially only go up to level 40 for [=PCs=]. This puts them literally on par with gods who ''rarely'' have more than 60 levels, and only a few are even that high.

** [[WordOfGod Hellcow himself]] [[http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=11874207&postcount=6 claims]], "The general premise in Eberron is that influence does not equal personal physical power. Typically, the king won't be the mightiest warrior in the kingdom (Boranel aside)." And many groups like the Aurum have their power based on money and influence rather than personal power. But with all of the examples above, AuthorityEqualsAsskicking ''definitely'' has not been averted.
*** This seems to be drifting from the trope, which states "The higher a person is in a hierarchy, the tougher they are in a fight... could the president of the US beat up Rambo?" Bringing dragons and rakshasa rajahs into the mix seems like an entirely different point; is it really that surprising that the ultimate evil force in the world is also powerful? And ancient dragons being powerful is simply a basic conceit of D&D itself, not something specific to Eberron; Haze-of-Death isn't part of a hierarchy, so how is it relevant to this trope? Meanwhile, looking to Oalian and Jaela, both do have great power, but they are also limited. Jaela is the most powerful cleric in the world - until you take her out of town and take her lunch money. Oalian is powerful, but he's also literally a talking tree; if something happens a hundred miles away, there's not much he can do about it. Furthermore, they are the exceptions to the rule. If you look at the majority of the influential figures in the world - nobles, dragonmarked lords - they are below tenth level and often don't even use PC classes. Queen Aurala of Aundair is an 8th level aristocrat. Her power derives from the fact that she has a kingdom loyal to her - but if you got her in a back alley, you could easily beat her up. If the question is "Are their powerful people in Eberron," the answer is clearly "Yes." If it's "does high position in a hierarchy automatically equal physical power", reviewing Five Nations and Dragonmarked shows that it's not a reliable rule.
*** Oalian can do something about it. That's what Wild Shape and the resultant change to animal forms that can move rapidly are for. Or various spells that can be used to instantly move from point to point. There are ways, by the system, around Jaela's limitations as well. They simply remain unused so that the players aren't overshadowed.
* AwesomeMcCoolname - Warforged are encouraged to do this.
* BackgroundMagicField - The Mists of Cyre.
* {{Badass}} - The Valenar Elves. Elves of the "Sociopathic Klingon Riders of Rohan Vietcong Vikings with Scimitars" variety.
** The dinosaur-riding halflings, who held their own in war against Karrnathi undead armies and the aforementioned Valenar Elves. At the same time. We are FAR from the Tolkien-esque Hobbits here.
* BadPowersBadPeople - People with aberrant dragonmarks, to some extent. The powers they gain vary widely, but on the whole tend to be associated with madness, fear, anger, illness, plague, and fire; and their bearers are hunted ruthlessly by all of the dragonmarked houses, which basically form the basis of industry on Khorvaire... so perhaps it's not surprising that they turn out to be villains, madmen, pyromaniacs, and members of aberrant-founded [[NebulousEvilOrganization House Tarkanan]].
** [[GreyAndGrayMorality The books point out that Tarkanan has a good point however, and the founders were pretty nice people]].
*** The Dreaming Dark trilogy plays them as rather eccentric, but mostly harmless. Except for a few bad eggs who sell powerful artifacts to one of the numerous {{Big Bad}}s of the setting.
*** 4e specifcally says that how House Tarkanan is portrayed depends on how the DM wishes to portray the Dragonmarked houses in turn.
* BaseOnWheels - Argonth, a hovering fortress. Apparently there are two, but as Argonth is the more famous they never tell you anything about the other ones.
* BattleBoomerang - Eberron has more boomerangs and goodies than other settings.
* BeastMan - Shifters.
* BecomingTheMask - The Passer philosophy for Changelings.
* BedTrick - Some Changelings might try this.
* BeneathTheEarth - Khyber.
* BerserkButton - ''Vadis nia'', meaning "disgracer of the blood," is THE worst insult in the culture of the Valaes Tairn.
* BigBad - the Dreaming Dark, the Daelkyr, the rakshasa Rajahs, and Vol are some of the most common, but there are a lot of forces out there that can be story-spanning antagonists if rubbed wrong. Even some of the supposedly nice ones, as Secrets of Argonnessen tells us.
* BigBookOfWar - Karrn the Conqueror's Analects of War.
* {{Bishounen}} - Kalashtar.
* BishounenLine - Daelkyr, the ultimate rulers of the plane of madness, lords and creators of monstrosities such as beholders and mind flayers, resemble "perfectly formed athletic human males, possessing unearthly beauty." Well... mostly. They don't actually have certain characteristics necessary to be considered 'male', after all...

** TheDragonBelow trilogy has a Khyber cultist encounter a daelkyr, and he contemplates some of his cult's lore: "They have no flaws except those that they choose to have..."
*** That particular Daelkyr was called the Master of Silence, and had no mouth.
* BlackAndGrayMorality - Your [=PCs=] are one of the few things people can count on.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality - Subverted as often as possible.
* BlackBox - Warforged are based on {{Magitek}} used by giants.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder - The Armblade component.
** For that matter, 'Forged can do it with any weapon, even if it's not actually a sword.
* BloodKnight - The Valenar Elves, who live for battle, so much that some of them are considering starting another WorldWar simply to get more fighting.
* BoisterousBruiser - King Boranel of Breland, many Valenar elves.
* BondCreatures - Kalashtar.
* BreadAndCircuses - One Modus Operandi of the Dreaming Dark.
* CallARabbitASmeerp - The dinosaur names.
** Pretty much the rule for all settings in 4e (theropods fall under drakes now, while ornithischians are called behemoths).
** In a world where Latin and the like doesn't exist, and science has a lot more mysticism in it, it's no wonder that no-one calls a dinosaur a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
* CannotDream - Kalashtar.
* CanonDisContinuity - Novels and videogames are not canon.
* CanonWelding - You can connect to other settings via the World Serpent Inn.
* CameBackWrong - When Dolurrh is coterminous resurrection spells might give you unexpected results...
* CantArgueWithElves - Averted. Some Elves, such as the Valaes Tairn, might however get violent about it.

* CapitalCity - Sharn & Stormreach.
** As much a Capital City as New York, anyway...
** Every nation has one, but some are just weird. Ashtakala, the capital of the Demon Wastes, is mostly composed of illusions of its thirty-thousand-year gone height of glory. The capital of Aerenal is almost entirely composed of tombs. The Great Craig, capital of Droaam, is a giant spire housing such creatures as minotaurs, ogres, orcs, and harpies. Though places like Flamekeep and Korth are perfectly normal cities, if you discount the oppressive theocracy in Flamekeep and the martial law in Korth... all right, maybe they aren't.
* CatGirl - Shifters can be played like this.
** [[CuteMonsterGirl Can]]?
*** Official artwork tends to vary on the "animal-ness" of the Shifter. A good deal are closer to the classical WolfMan look of early monster movies than [[PettingZooPeople truly anthropomorphic]].
* CharacterAlignment - Corrupt Clerics of good religions and Good Clerics of evil religions can still cast spells as long their faith is strong enough. Unlike normal D&D, which has a "one-step rule" for clerics.
** While the Church of the Silver Flame is based on noble ideals and the binding of evil supernatural beings, the powerful rakshasa Rajah bound under Flamekeep is said to whisper ideas into the minds of the faithful, misguiding them to do evil in the name of good.
* ChestBlaster - With a lenient DM and some trickery, this can be achieved.
* ChildMage - Jaela Daran.
* ChurchMilitant - The Church of the Silver Flame and orders of Dol Arrah.
* CityOfAdventure - Sharn and Stormreach.
* CityOfCanals - Zarash'ak, the City of Stilts, built over a swamp.

* TokenLoli - Jaela Daran.

** 4e states the other was destroyed in the war.

* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace - The Mournlands.

* {{Mordor}} - The Mournlands.

* OminousFog - The fog surrounding the Mournlands.

* RealityIsOutToLunch - The Mournlands.

* WildMagic - The Living Spells in the Mournlands.

** Another threat is the Quori, the lords of the dream. Omnipotent on their plane, they want to extend their domains to the rest of the planes. And they already have spies in every nation of the world. And they ''also'' control a continent. The kicker? They've made it so that their human slaves ''[[{{Brainwashed}} like it]]''.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedmagic - One of the cornerstones of the setting.

* WrittenByTheWinner War of the Mark

** But wait, there's more! Daelkyr, the embodiment of madness itself, want to rule everything that is above the ocean. Although they are a SealedEvilInACan, they are just waiting for the seal to get loose for them go after everything.

The setting focuses on the continent of Khorvaire, which has just concluded a hundred-year long war between five nations that has left a once-unified kingdom shattered. But even though the articles of peace have been signed, everyone knows that the enmity still lingers, and a new Cold War is being fought in the shadows of the four remaining thrones. The world of Eberron is full of [[TheChessmaster Chessmasters]], from the lowly mob boss that wants to rule the underworld of his city to an entire race of extraplanar [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that have used a century-long XanatosGambit to bring an entire continent under their control. And above of all this is the mysterious Draconic Prophecy and those who seek to control it; and by extension, the very fate of Eberron itself. Cue the BigDamnHeroes.

* [[{{Gotterdammerung}} Götterdämmerung]] - Once, Galifar was a mighty kingdom...
** Once mighty demons ruled the world...
** Once the giants built a mighty empire...

** Unless, of course, they embrace it. Which some, like Warforged Juggernauts, do.

*** Make note that 20 is the traditional level cap of the system, and though supplemental rules do allow for and support higher levels, these officially only go up to level 40 for PCs. This puts them literally on par with gods who ''rarely'' have more than 60 levels, and only a few are even that high.

** In the setting's 'old country' the Dwarves were almost entirely wiped out by a nation which had built a fanatical regime from the ashes of war and chaos. The genocide was instigated because they had no place in the future of the nation's eugenically-crafted master race. So... yeah.
*** Um... no. The Akiak Dwarves of Sarlona have no common connection to the Dwarves of Khorvaire, who immigrated to Khorvaire from the Frostfell twelve thousand years ago (over ten thousand years before the Sundering of Sarlona which led to the founding Riedra). Meanwhile, said Sundering targeted all sorts of groups, including the wizards of Ohr Kaluun, the benevolent Yuan-Ti of Khalesh, the dromites, the kalashtar, etc, etc. The Akiak weren't targeted because they were "eugenically impure"; they were targeted because the Inspired got everything it needed from them and wanted their lands and resources. The Akiak Dwarves aren't bankers; they are guerilla warriors and psionic engineers. There was no Akiak Exodus to Khorvaire.