So, I wasn't really too interested in Eberron. Just kind of ignored it all the way until the point where I found myself buying the campaign book. Shortly thereafter, I've made 5+ (some characters are really only variations on the same character, so can't really count them) characters (as some know, I'm a character creating fanatic, few things help me learn more about the rules than making various characters of various levels), two of which I'm actually playing! One in a campaign by Ry, one in a campaign by Jenn.
So, what do I think about Eberron? I think its fantastic! I'm really looking forward to playing in the official series of modules (Jenn is starting with the adventure from the campaign book, then moving on to the first module in the series of modules for Eberron, should be really exciting). Ry's campaign is more like a normal campaign so far, its set in Eberron, but we haven't experienced anything “Eberron”-like yet, though to be fair, most of us hadn't even fully read the campaign book when we started it, so I look forward to more “eberron” flavor in the future.
My character, which I'll probably post around here sometime, as he expands, is a bit more interesting than most characters I play. I usually take a concept, and push it to its extreme. Such as the ultimate evil-smiting paladin, or the uber-fireball/lightning bolt war wizard of cormyr. This character, Jarou, is starting as a druid razorclaw shifter. Not too intelligent (Int 6) or social (cha 6), Jarou is at home in the forest. Him and his hyena (Heckle) he picked up near the Demon Wastes, have wandered quite far, for being so low level. Jarou finds himself equally uncomfortable around most other druids as he does around “cityfolk”, but he also finds himself strangely intrigued by those from the city. While Jarou barely understands most higher social concepts (such as good and evil), Jarou is very interested in the concept of his Kalashtar's ultimate good. Jarou can't quite dedicate himself to good with the fervor that his friend has, but the concepts whirling around in his brain have him determined to at least try and be good. He doesn't always succeed, and wanton destruction of natural things has a tendency to bring out his more savage side, but Jarou is trying.
Jarou's stats would be equally good for a fighter or ranger, (Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 6) as he is a druid, maybe even better, and his Eberron druid sect feat gives him +2 deflection bonus to AC, so his starting AC of 19 puts him pretty squarely as a tank (in addition to his limited healing abilites as a druid). When Jarou “shifts”, his strength goes up to 20 and he sprouts claws, which gives him a good combat bonus for 1 combat a day, given that he doesn't have an ECL and he's a caster. Around lvl 6, I'm looking for him to take WereTouched Master, and he'll choose to go the path of the weretiger. It should be awesome. I think we'll be playing this campaign next week, so once I have experienced it more, I'll post more about it.
At any rate, if you haven't looked at Eberron yet, or if you're one of those people who doesn't want to look at something because too many people say its good (you know who you are!), give it a try, I think its worth your time.