D&D 5E On the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

[TheLastRogue]

I especially like the way it's back third addresses not only new character options, but also parses how the races & classes 'fit' in the Realms.

That being said, I'm not sure I am a huge fan of this in-depth look at locales. Its not that it is a hard read (I think the writing is fine and fairly entertaining), its just that I miss the little paragraph snippets on a bunch of locales... any of which may spark my imagination.

Also, it feels by focusing in deeply on fewer places, that the Realms seems smaller--there is so much excluded, even within the Sword Coast, that I think even a page or 2 dedicated to potential ruins, adventuring sites, and small towns would have helped 'flesh' the region out more.

Small concerns. Not harping. And, the design/story teams are still feeling things out obviously.

 

[Celtavian]

In what way other than subclasses would they? They're working on the Artificer, the Mystic and the Neo-Ranger, but other than those Mearls has made it pretty clear that new classes really aren't on the horizon, that space is for subclasses.

And I wish they would make hybrid classes like the Magus. Those classes were extremely popular at my table. Players loved having classes that had enough cleric and enough fighter or enough mage and enough fighter to allow them to mix it up in battle. And they had nifty abilities that added to the enjoyment of the classes. Given how popular those classes were, I'd like to see WotC make some true hybrids with unique abilities all their own. I thought those hybrid classes were a brilliant addition by the Pathfinder team that added a lot of usable options to the game.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

As a long time player of swordmages and other gish concepts, what's missing from the 5e iteration as it stands? The Bladesinger has plenty of spell casting capability (full caster progression!), the game's best concentration saves, the best AC, and reasonable melee capability- especially with the subclass capstone feature letting you add your intelligence into the mix. Meanwhile If you wanted a less spell casting, we have the eldritch knight and arcane trickster- between the three of them what on earth are you missing? I was wary of the archetype being relegated to subclasses, but quite truthfully the 5e designers have done an excellent job in this variety of dedicated hybrid builds.

 

[Celtavian]

As a long time player of swordmages and other gish concepts, what's missing from the 5e iteration as it stands? The Bladesinger has plenty of spell casting capability (full caster progression!), the game's best concentration saves, the best AC, and reasonable melee capability- especially with the subclass capstone feature letting you add your intelligence into the mix. Meanwhile If you wanted a less spell casting, we have the eldritch knight and arcane trickster- between the three of them what on earth are you missing? I was wary of the archetype being relegated to subclasses, but quite truthfully the 5e designers have done an excellent job in this variety of dedicated hybrid builds.

What am I missing? A traditional bladesinger that truly blends magic and blade with near equal competence. Two attacks for a wizard archetype that will never use them? What possible reason would a wizard with d6 hit points enter melee combat? He's not going to stand up very well to the beating. Why can't he do more with the blade? Why exactly do you think they have the best concentration saves? Because they get their intelligence modifier? Any class with a good Con save has better.

The Magus and other hybrid subclasses did a lot more. The Bladesinger is a wizard archetype looking to die. Anyone that has played Pathfinder characters like the Magus, Warpriest, Swashbuckler, or the like knows what is missing.

If you're stalking Swordmage, I guess you must have started with 4E because the past Bladesingers had a lot more ability. If you haven't a played a Pathfinder Magus, you are truly missing out. That was one extraordinarily fun and interesting class. If you had played that class, you would very much feel the SCAG Bladesinger to missing something, in fact, to be missing a whole lot.

 

[pukunui]

It's really a book I would have liked new players to the Realms to have sitting next to them as they played through Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the storyline so far that has really shown off the Sword Coast.

And yet, Tyranny of Dragons is the one storyline that gets (slightly) spoiled in the SCAG.

Are there things that could be improved? Absolutely - including the horrid printing of the map - but this is a book that makes me very happy to read and have in my possession.

My biggest issue with the map is that there are some places mentioned in the text that aren't on the map - like the Ffolk capital of the Moonshaes, Caer Callidyrr, which is also misspelled in the text ... which leads me to my only other gripe with the book: its glaring lack of proofreading. The number of spelling errors and other typos is about what I would expect from a 3PP product, not a WotC one.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

What am I missing? A traditional bladesinger that truly blends magic and blade with near equal competence. Two attacks for a wizard archetype that will never use them? What possible reason would a wizard with d6 hit points enter melee combat? He's not going to stand up very well to the beating. Why can't he do more with the blade? Why exactly do you think they have the best concentration saves? Because they get their intelligence modifier? Any class with a good Con save has better.

The Magus and other hybrid subclasses did a lot more. The Bladesinger is a wizard archetype looking to die. Anyone that has played Pathfinder characters like the Magus, Warpriest, Swashbuckler, or the like knows what is missing.

If you're stalking Swordmage, I guess you must have started with 4E because the past Bladesingers had a lot more ability. If you haven't a played a Pathfinder Magus, you are truly missing out. That was one extraordinarily fun and interesting class. If you had played that class, you would very much feel the SCAG Bladesinger to missing something, in fact, to be missing a whole lot.

I disagree entirely, the Bladesinger has plenty of reasons to be active in melee- it can fulfill the same party role as a fighter or barbarian in front lining and protecting squishier party members. the wizards low health is offset by the highest AC in the game while bladesong is in use, and concentration checks are also the highest- when i build a bladesinger i don't just make a wizard, I make a character designed to take this path at level 2- they have high con, high intelligence, and high dexterity from point buy. Which means they have a +5 to Concentration saves, up from +3 with 16 CON- throw in a lovely initiative bonus and the ability to burn spell slots to reduce the damage, cantrips that allow the Bladesingers to scale in a fashion similar to fighters and it becomes a very strong melee-character option.

edit: it's also worth mentioning that with the great deal of versatility from it's full caster progression, and the future addition of wizard compatible spells, and the prevalence of int checks in the skill list it's probably the melee character in the game with the greatest utility.

 

[Shasarak]

My first experiences with the Forgotten Realms were during the late 1980s, just after the Campaign Set was released, although I drifted away once 2E came along. I've got the original Campaign Set books sitting next to me as I type, and it's amazing to see how little information is in them on many of the places that would later become quite important.

Cormyr is one of the few places to get an extended description - almost three pages! - and that's a lot more than the two-thirds of a page devoted to Waterdeep (although, admittedly, the book was written with the knowledge that a lot more information on Waterdeep was about to be released).

In comparison, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide gives a lot more information about the places it's concerned with. Luskan gets three pages! It's really a book I would have liked new players to the Realms to have sitting next to them as they played through Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the storyline so far that has really shown off the Sword Coast.

If Luskan got 3 pages then how many pages did Cormyr get this time?

 

[pukunui]

If Luskan got 3 pages then how many pages did Cormyr get this time?

It gets two paragraphs.

 

[TerraDave]

Some people want WotC to release books that they are not releasing.

So they are taking it out on SCAG.

 

[Shasarak]

It gets two paragraphs.

I guess that explains how Luskan got 3 pages then.

Just think how many pages it could have gotten if we cut out the Dalelands, Zhentil Keep and the rest of the Moonsea cities.