D&D General Is the SCAG Still Useful?

[Dragonhelm]

Now that the new Forgotten Realms books are out, I'm wondering if they cover everything from the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. Is that book still a keeper, or has everything from it been redone?

 

[Charlaquin]

The new FR book is focused much more on areas other than the sword coast. In terms of setting information I think SCAG is still relevant. In terms of PC options, I don’t think SCAG has ever really had much going for it, except the bladesinger (which is updated in the new book), and booming blade/green flame blade (which haven’t been, but aren’t as essential for gish builds thanks to the new version of True Strike).

 

[Remathilis]

Now that the new Forgotten Realms books are out, I'm wondering if they cover everything from the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. Is that book still a keeper, or has everything from it been redone?

There are nuggets you can mine from it, but mechanically it's very outdated. Every species (except ghostwise halfling) was redone in MotM, bladesinger and banneret is in FRAG. The cantrips are in Tasha. Undying patron is functionally replaced with undeath patron, arcana domain and swashbuckler was in UAs and probably will be reprinted eventually. The remaining subs will either be forgotten or possibly reprinted, but you aren't missing much from battlerager or long death monk.

 

[THEMNGMNT]

...was it ever useful?

 

[Remathilis]

...was it ever useful?

As the first real supplement (ignoring the few species and spells from the Elemental Evil Players Guide) it was very useful. It gave enough general info on the SC to work as a players guide for most of the APs during that time. Plus it had enough Player Options to feel like a reasonable rules expansion. The problem was that it was severely underpowered and had some weird exploitable options as well, and it was frequently mined for content to be used in Xanathar, Tasha's, etc. All the good stuff was reprinted and the rest isn't worth it. (To be honest the banneret is a good example of why much of the Chaff in that book isn't worth redoing. They fumbled that one twice.)

 

[Henadic Theologian]

There are nuggets you can mine from it, but mechanically it's very outdated. Every species (except ghostwise halfling) was redone in MotM, bladesinger and banneret is in FRAG. The cantrips are in Tasha. Undying patron is functionally replaced with undeath patron, arcana domain and swashbuckler was in UAs and probably will be reprinted eventually. The remaining subs will either be forgotten or possibly reprinted, but you aren't missing much from battlerager or long death monk.

I would say Undying got split in two, Undead Patron and the upcoming Sorcerer King Pact (which works well for like Gilgeams warlocks).

And lore wish, the SCAG focuses more on history and it covers, abit in a paragraph each, Halruaa, Luirien, and Durpur abd maybe some other regions these books don't cover, as well as more Gods.

 

[Horwath]

(To be honest the banneret is a good example of why much of the Chaff in that book isn't worth redoing. They fumbled that one twice.)

this is what happens when you do not do a public playtest of final idea.
Dragon rider variant was trashed by public and they did not put next idea for testing.

but it can be easily buffed.

3rd level:
knightly envoy: add expertise to chosen skill
Group recovery:
remove cha mechanics,
you can target 3 allies, 4 at level 7, 5 at level 15. 6 at level 18
radius increased to 60ft
ally healing improved from d4 to d10, equal healing for all.
no limit per Short rest.

level 10: target can use Attack action instead of 1 attack. Move full speed+ take Dodge action if not using Attack action.

level 15: Shared resilience: 1 free usage per Long rest.

level 18: instead of area increase, Second wind heals 3d10 instead of 1d10.

 

[Burnside]

...was it ever useful?

I liked:

• playable svirfneblin and duergar (later reprinted elsewhere, but for a while this was the only source)
• half-elf sub-types
• Swashbuckler Rogue & Sun Soul Monk & Bladesinger Wizard are good subclasses (later reprinted elsewhere, but again, for years these were only available here)
• The lore sections were just the right amount information for somebody like me who in interested in FR and wants a capsule amount of general knowledge/regional highlights but doesn't really care much about "canon" or all the novels, etc.
• Most of the backgrounds are good

 

[Parmandur]

The lore sections were just the right amount information for somebody like me who in interested in FR and wants a capsule amount of general knowledge/regional highlights but doesn't really care much about "canon" or all the novels, etc.

And this is actually still pretty usable, since it covers a lot of specific areas that are not addressed by the new more big picture book, other than Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate and the Moonshae Isles specifically.

 

[Remathilis]

this is what happens when you do not do a public playtest of final idea.
Dragon rider variant was trashed by public and they did not put next idea for testing.

Honestly, i think WotC reacted to what it was being told. People didn't want the PDK tied to a dragon. They preferred the idea of old subclass, and they didn't want it tied to the PDK name to make it more portable. So WotC probably scratched their heads and said "ok..." And kept the few things that didn't get bright red down votes and added it to the old banneret and called it a day. I don't know if they did that out of honest miscommunication from people hating it for so many reasons, malice for rejecting it, or just because they needed to fill that page spread with something and opted for the path of least resistance.

What I do know is they made the ultimate compromise: a subclass that doesn't have a Realms specific name or lore, doesn't tie it to a dragon pet, and updates the old subclass. It just does all those things in a way that pleases nobody. It's the perfect example of the community getting what they wish for when the monkey paw finger curls.