D&D 5E Best Parts of SCAG

[Orlax]

Can you or someone clarify how the melee cantrips work for Paladins? Other than the rare Elf Paladin or multiclass, or through Magic Initiate feat or some other rare option, none of which arise with much frequency, I'm not aware of how Paladins are getting cantrips.

Magic initiate with green flame Blade on a paladin would be awesome! You could stack smites on it too!

 

[IlluminatedSeraph]

Things I completely loved:

Both Monk subclasses immediately made me want to roll characters. So did the Purple Dragon Knight, both Rogue classes and the Storm Sorc (though I've seen it before in UA, but it's still cool), and the Bladesinger. For a book that didn't include a huge quantity of class information - I thought the guide to the Realms was well done for new arrivals, but less up my alley - it really delighted me with how much fresh life it brought to the existing ruleset.

 

[dmdcdubs]

2. The artwork at the start of Chapter 1 (page 6) depicting the Old Mage telling stories to children, his pipe smoke forming into images to go along with the tale. Awesome, awesome, awesome. That's Elminster done right.

I was surprised by this opinion. I found this particular artist's work to be incredibly subpar for the 5E series. It feels to me like an amateur mural from a recreation center. Those kids! Many of the big paintings in this book are flat and lifeless (not sure if the bad ones are all by the same artist). The art quality varies drastically in this volume. As an artist myself, the initial launch 5E artwork was significantly responsible for drawing me back into playing D&D again after a long break. No offense intended. Just an opinion from someone who otherwise loved SCAG and wishes it was bigger! PS: I agree about the coin artwork. This is an example of the quality I've come to expect from WotC.

 

[Jessica]

I like the new options for Tieflings. More options for one of my favorite races is awesome.

 

[garnuk]

So, you knew it wasn't very appropriate, but you did it anyway? Ask yourself why folks should listen to you, if you're not listening to them?

There was no need to put this here - we have other threads for such feedback, or you could have created your own. When folks ask to have a "dumping free zone" It'd be really, really cool if others respected that request.

On the other hand, threads get more exposure if there is disagreement, or things to discuss.

So far my favorite aspect is racial restrictions on subclasses and how they worded it.

 

[Charles Rampant]

I agree with dmdcdubs that the artwork is pretty ropey, and I think that it compares poorly on that front with equivalently priced geek books (especially Warhammer books, which cost about the same and are about the same size, but have vastly more art of higher quality). It should be noted that I think that Warhammer books are overpriced, a qualm that I equally have for SCAG.

However, the writing is really good; I've found the place descriptions to be full of flavour, evoke images in the mind and give me a reason to want to steer some players towards the location in question. I especially like the fact that they avoided a formula; though the 3e FRCS was a monster beast, it was also really dry, in part because of the formulaic nature of each entry. The SCAG, by contrast, does a good job of mentioning the interesting things about each place without feeling the need to say the exact same things about them. An interesting example was the way that it will mention 'X place doesn't have great examples of Y, unlike place Z' - but they won't repeat that information in the entry for Z, since that would be dull. Nicely done. They did the same for the religion section, and I particularly enjoyed the way that they made me feel that a LG sailor might maintain a shrine to Umberlee without qualms.

My favourite lines thus far have to be these: "Ironmaster is built in these spires and into the walls of the canyon, the tunnels and towers strung together by high bridges and cliff-side walkways. To hear Storn talk of the place, you would think that dwarves scrabbling about at such heights through the open aid was as normal as badgers in a burrow, but I don't mind saying that I set aside my ale after he spoke of it."

Can we have a whole book narrated just by the Dwarf?

 

[Ath-kethin]

My favorite things are the backgrounds (which really surprised me; before reading them I thought the very idea of additional backgrounds was silly and superfluous, but I really ended up liking what they did with them in this book), the bladesinger, the racial restrictions on class options, and the way some of the text hinted at things to come. I like the bladesinger and I think it was very well done - some have complained about it's lack of 'tankiness,' but I think that such complaints miss the point. A bladesinger isn't a tank, it's a skirmisher, and works really well in that regard.

Like Garnuk above, I like the wording of the racial restrictions. I think that restricting access to class and other options adds a valuable layer to the game and to worldbuilding, and I liked how in the SCAG, the designers played to that idea while still making it clear that individual game tables can and will vary dramatically from that assumed norm. But then, this book was written by Steve Kenson, who knows a thing or six about game design.

Lastly, I like the way they basically told us that the 5e interpretation of Al-Qadim's Sha'ir was a sorcerer, without ever saying so directly. I actually think that a warlock pact fits the sha'ir idea better, but the text on page 14 is a great example of how this book manages to pack an enormous amount of ideas and information into its relatively short runtime. Though again, this is Steve Kenson we're talking about.

 

[gyor]

I like the Tiefling section, both crunch and fluff that makes Tieflings more then just normal humans with an infernal twist, they're experiences are unique depending on region, with a Calashite Tiefling with a background of being a merc in the Skyfire wars being a very different experience from being a Mulhorand Tiefling with the blood of a God and the respect and status that goes with that, vs. being an Agalorond Tiefling whose ancestors escaped from Thay, ect... and the religious tiefling section, with Tiefling verisons of good deities being seen in dreams.

I like the Sun Soul, Purple Dragon, Swashbuckler, Mastermind, Undying Warlock (or as I see it the sorceror king), Elk and Tiger Barbarian Totems, Storm Sorceror, and Oath of the crown Paladin, Long Death Monk.

I liked the subraces too.

I like at least getting a basic idea of what happened in the Old Empires region.

I like that Calimshan had a Gandi like Chosen of Ilmater for a time.

I like that parts of 4e were saved like floating Airspur and the important parts of Tymanther.

I like the Far Traveller and Urbane Bounty Hunter backgrounds.

I like the Evermeet and Moonshaes enteries.

I like the style of journal like sections and wish the whole book had been done that way.

I liked what they did with Nimbral and Lantan.

I like that Agalorond still reminds me of Canada.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The best part of SCAG was that as soon as I got it, both the campaign I'm running and the campaign I'm playing in had the majority of their characters be modified (either in minor or significant ways), or be replaced entirely, by options presented in the book. The fact that happened showed both the utility and the value of the book.

Specific things I liked:

I liked the very nice run-down of the various gods of the setting - each entry was just about the perfect length, giving a good overview without getting bogged down in detail. And the holy symbol artwork that accompanied them was very well done. I liked that the non-human deities weren't just consigned to lists, but got extra (though brief) descriptions later in the book in the sections on each race.

I liked the "unreliable narrator" vibe of the geography section. Has that gnome sailor actually been to Evermeet, or is it a sailor's tall tale (note that the whole section has nary a actual hard detail of what she saw in Evermeet)? Are the Zhentarim of Darkhold and the realm of Elturgard really as nice as that elf ranger reported, or did she naively ignore (or was steered away from) some of their potentially less savory aspects? I'd love to see the rest of the setting described in such a way in potential future Adventurer's Guides (come on an Adventurer's Guide covering the greater AL region, i.e north-central Faerun!).

I liked getting the most comprehensive update on the Moonshaes since the FR2 accessory in freakin' 1987!

I very much want a decent update on the Old Empires now - not only haven't they been detailed in decades, there are some really interesting new dynamics there now. Although I'm by no means fond of the 4e changes to the setting, I'm glad they kept part of Tymanther around in the region.

And I very much enjoyed the entire final section of the book on races, classes, and backgrounds. As I said, I, and the people I play the game with, have already gotten their money worth just from these chapters alone.

 

[Parmandur]

My favorite things are the backgrounds (which really surprised me; before reading them I thought the very idea of additional backgrounds was silly and superfluous, but I really ended up liking what they did with them in this book), the bladesinger, the racial restrictions on class options, and the way some of the text hinted at things to come. I like the bladesinger and I think it was very well done - some have complained about it's lack of 'tankiness,' but I think that such complaints miss the point. A bladesinger isn't a tank, it's a skirmisher, and works really well in that regard.



Like Garnuk above, I like the wording of the racial restrictions. I think that restricting access to class and other options adds a valuable layer to the game and to worldbuilding, and I liked how in the SCAG, the designers played to that idea while still making it clear that individual game tables can and will vary dramatically from that assumed norm. But then, this book was written by Steve Kenson, who knows a thing or six about game design.



Lastly, I like the way they basically told us that the 5e interpretation of Al-Qadim's Sha'ir was a sorcerer, without ever saying so directly. I actually think that a warlock pact fits the sha'ir idea better, but the text on page 14 is a great example of how this book manages to pack an enormous amount of ideas and information into its relatively short runtime. Though again, this is Steve Kenson we're talking about.

Dollars to donuts, if we get an "Al-Qadim Adventurers' Guide," there are genie options for Sorcerers, Warlocks AND Wizards. If not Clerics and Bards.