Anyone have Five Nations yet?

[zen_hydra]

I may have missed a thread discussing this, but does anyone have the book yet? If you do, how good / bad is it?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Solid book that feels a little light.

5 things that everyone knows for each nation.

People of power for each nation (most of them fairly low level compared to say FR, GH)

A new PrC or so for each nation.

Lots of plot hooks.

Review probably up this weekend but 4 so far.

 

[Bobitron]

I think it's the best Wizards setting book in a while. More of my thoughts can be found in the thread at Wizards linked below, but to summarize, it has great information and the prestige classes renew a flicker of faith in the entire concept.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=460655

 

[Timeboxer]

I like it so far. It's very flavorful, which lets me know what each nation, um, tastes like, and lets me have a distinctively different sort of adventure in each one.

You will dislike it if you worry overmuch about the internal consistency of the setting and how much it adheres to Keith Baker's vision and so on.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I think it's the best Wizards setting book in a while. More of my thoughts can be found in the thread at Wizards linked below, but to summarize, it has great information and the prestige classes renew a flicker of faith in the entire concept.

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=460655

You should organize those thoughts and turn it into a review. The old review database hungers for more opinions on products and I know that Five Nations is in the database since I've got my review in there.

 

[strockrodan]

So far it seems pretty good. I only picked it up a couple of days ago though, so I'm not that far into it yet.

 

[jasamcarl]

It comes off as a bit abbreviated, but i think it is probably Wotc's best 'fluff' product.

Unlike the Forgotten Realm setting books, which overwhelm the reader with a great deal of basic detail that may stroke a certain kind of anal fantasy fan (I may or may not be one of these) the right way but which is of little interest to most games, the fluff here is actually zeroes in on the adventuring material; its very broad, but very suggestive. It even ties the 'hook' into the game's skill mechanics.

Some think the prestige classes are overpowered, but I tend to disagree. The special abilities, though flashy, tend to come at a large cost, either explicit or oppurtunity; if anything, they tend to point to why earlier (pre-Theurge) prcs were underpowered. There is a lot of fluff surrounding these pcs as well, though it tends to be a bit crunchier than in other setting books, with the aforementioned skill mods, benefits, and the like.

Some also seem to think that the fluff has skewed too much into a 'high magic' direction, more akin to FR. Of course, they are looking at it as a cohesive ultra integrated 'world'. I look at it more as a basket of suggestions, the actual tone to be created by my players and myself. In the interest of diverse combat challenges and scenery, most plot hooks would have to involve mechanics that have a 'fantastic' sense of fluffiness. If the mix of elements in the hooks were constrained by the need to make the immediate reader feel that the settings 'tone' were being adhered to, the hooks would come off as repetitive and boring in play.

So, in conclusion, if you are a hardcore fan of the setting in itself, than you might find the criticisms of the book compelling. If you are a fan not so much of the setting, but of the elements of the setting you can bring into your game, than the book is quite good for that, though more dm focused than player.

 

[Klaus]

The main complaint I hear about 5N is the ressurrection-capable Jorasco cleric in Aundair. The way I see it, the NPC is there in case the DM wants to make ressurrection easier for the PCs. If that's not the case, the DM simply never mentions the cleric.