Dungeons and Dragons players are getting a new expansion on August 19, 2025 and it is bringing back an old fan favorite, the Artificer, alongside a slew of updated lineages, backgrounds, and a new subclass. Eberron: Forge of the Artificer‘s release will shake up tables for many players with its new features and three campaign frameworks that make the most out of the changes that the expansion brings.
Veteran Dungeons and Dragons players will be familiar with Eberron, which first hit tables in 2004 thanks to a fan vote. The 2024 overhaul includes some changes to established lineages, such as the Construct Warforged. There will be 17 backgrounds relevant to Eberron, and 28 feats that relate specifically to Dragonmarks, a unique feature of Eberron that ties deeply into its social structure.
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Eberron: Forge of the Artificer Brings DnD to New Heights
Eberron is a world away from other DnD settings like Baldur’s Gate or Ravenloft, and is built around a steampunk-like world where magic and technology work together in harmony. For this setting, the new healing rules that make healing spell effects apply to constructs will make an enormous change from previous Eberron ventures.
Artificers are one of the key ways that reflect Eberron in that they combine magic and technology as a core characteristic of their class. The new Artificer subclass, the Cartographer, was previously encountered in Unearthed Arcana. Cartographers will bring out a new side to the Artificer thanks to their ability to connect party members across space using their handcrafted maps that they imbue with magic. The addition of the Cartographer now brings the Artificer subclasses up to five, a contrast to the standard subclass number of four that DnD 2024 introduced.
Eberron: Forge of the Artificer brings more than class mechanics. Its setting of Eberron brings an entirely new atmosphere and lore to DnD, featuring a mix between steampunk and old-school noir. Its social structure, monsters, and technology go a long way in reflecting it, and the expansion should go a long way in highlighting new ways to tell stories within Eberron.
DnD DMs and Players Can Tell New Stories
Dragonmarks are one of the defining characteristics of Eberron, and their importance has resulted in a shift from them being their own system to being integrated with feats, which allows characters from all species to possess any Dragonmark for storytelling and backstory purposes.
Dragonmarks were once closely tied to species, which have also undergone some changes. Because of the removal of “half” species, the Khoravar, or half-elves, make a return as a playable species. This is great news for many players who were upset at their exclusion from the 2024 ruleset.
Rather than including complete campaigns, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will come with three campaign frameworks, which serve as a guide for Dungeons and Dragons DMs to create their own campaigns. The frameworks will come with sample chapters and are built around different areas of Eberron’s setting, including some detective noir work, a political thriller, and skyships. The new frameworks are titled Sharn Inquisitives, Dragonmark Intrigue, and Morgrave Expeditions, which should give clues as to their content and focus.
One final but notable addition is the new Bastion options, which allow players to use an airship as their base of operations, giving players a mobile base and means of transport while adventuring. Bastion airships will have their own expanded set of rules, but will open up the world for players and the DM in exciting ways.
- Franchise
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Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
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1974
- Designer
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E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson
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