I find it wonky that a person trapped in a cauldron of boiling water takes more damage with their head out of the cauldron then when completely submerged, by RAW.
Do you have any evidence of that claim? I don't remember any RAW on being trapped in a cauldron of boiling water, and the only similar example from the books suggests otherwise.
It's Eberron, not ebberon.
It's not high magic, it's wide magic.
And it's definitely not steampunk. The only time steam gets involved is when the fire and water elementals break loose.