Forgotten Realms Player's Guide?

[Jürgen Hubert]

According to package tracking, I should be getting my copy of the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide today (in the evening, since I'm still at work). And I'm surprised that no one has started a thread about it.

So, from those who already have it: What are your first impressions?

 

[MerricB]

So, from those who already have it: What are your first impressions?

Ooh! Shiny! And no shrink-wrap!

Cheers!

 

[pemerton]

The background mechanics are pretty similar to those in the much-debated Dragon article.

The Drow racial attack power (the Faerie-Fire substitute) has an additional +2 to hit compared to the MM.

The new feats are all either racial or class feats. No new generic feats that I noticed.

There are a number of variant Daily powers for the Demigod Epic Destiny, which is rebadged as chosen-of-X.

I can't comment on the FR-related stuff, as it's not a campaign world I've ever paid much attentiont to.

 

[MerricB]

A bit more seriously...

It's been somewhat overwhelmed by the Adventurer's Vault. My first thought upon picking it up was: It's thin. At only 160 pages, it somewhat heftier than my C&C PH, but not by that much.

Then I started flipping through it. Chapter 2, Character Classes, is about 50 pages of crunch with the Swordmage, the Dark Warlock, and a bunch of other powers and paragon paths. Interestingly, the Sword Coast Corsair can be taken by any character class.

I must say, I like the "dress" and appearance of the book far, far more than I did any of the 3e books. It's attractive and actually easy to read.

After Chapter 2, we move into the "Backgrounds" chapter, which details the regions of the Realms. This is really, really, really impressive. Each region (e.g. Aglarond, Cormyr, the Dalelands) is described in two pages, including...

* Regional Benefit which all characters from that culture have
* Common Knowledge the PC knows
* Regional Features - cities, terrain
* People of Aglarond - what races live there
* Adventurers - a number of motivations and backgrounds for possible PCs, including roleplaying tips.

"Adventurers from Aglarond are more likely to focus on internal perils or Thay's threat rather than on the broader dangers facing the world."

Stuff like that.

Chapter 4 is "Feats". Most are based around the new races (drow, genasi) or class (swordmage), or deities of Faerun (for the clerics).

In Chapter 5, a bunch of new rituals.

In Chapter 6, the Almanac - Deities, Calendar, Roll of Years, Languages, Coin and Commerce, how the rest of the world feals about Adventurers, and - yes - what is commonly known about the Spellplague.

Even as a non-FR DM, I'm pretty happy with the book. The loads of mechanics easily make it more impressive than the FRCS.

Cheers!

 

[Fenes]

I'd like to know if they offer more details about the two genasi states and the new Imaskari Empire. The FRCS was a let down, nothing really useful or detailed about those regions.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

The background mechanics are pretty similar to those in the much-debated Dragon article.

It is very similar, but there are also notable differences - no +3 skill bonuses, instead rerolls. Avoids the excess stacking problem.

The crunch is mostly (aside maybe the backgrounds) usable in any setting - just as advertised.

I like the double page reserved for each region. Nicely organized.

I'd like to know if they offer more details about the two genasi states and the new Imaskari Empire. The FRCS was a let down, nothing really useful or detailed about those regions.

I haven't read the FRCS in detail, but it seemed to contained a lot of information. But I can't compare it to 3E. I am not much into FR, so I don't know how much is new. It didn't appear to me so far as if there wasn't enough for me to start a game. (But that's a discussion for another thread)

 

[Engilbrand]

I love the Genasi. I love the Swordmage. I love using Genasi Swordmages against my players as "boss monsters".
I like the Spellscar stuff. The feats have the prereq that the character has a spellscar. Did I miss them, or are they just listed in the FRCS? I didn't get that, but I'm thinking that I might want to.

 

[Crothian]

So far I'm liking it.

 

[Runestar]

Seems like there is a ritual which lets you craft astral diamonds on the cheap...

 

[Zaukrie]

I like the book so far.

The spellscar stuff is great inspiration for some things I was about to start desigining in my alternate FR world - perfect even.

It is well laid out, easy to read, but does seem thin at first. But, the content is nearly all very useful, even if you are not an FR player.

I liked this much more than the campaign guide for reasons I wont' go into to avoid derailing the thread.

Big fan of this book.