D&D General Forgotten Realms Book preview from NYCC

Nerd Initiative on YouTube previewed the new Forgotten Realms books with Mackenzie De Armas in this short video, including a quick flip-through of the Adventures in Faerun book.



During the quick flip-through, he shows off blurry but mostly readable pages from the Dalelands section of the book, including a few of the DMG-style adventures, including a level 13 adventure called Heart of Fire, where the party is asked to recover a magic item in an Adult Red Dragon's hoard.

Notably, none of the adventures you can see in the video seem to have any new monsters from the book included. Also, not all of the adventures are confined to a single page. Some seem to be at least a page and a half, while others are even smaller to just a half page.

 

[GarrettKP]

They really should have playtested the feats and spells at the same time as Subclasses, wildly unbalanced with each other. My personal favourite Boon of Fluid Form.

Also those Chosen Feats, don't exist, being Chosen appears to be purely fluff.

I think the intent is that the Epic Boons are the Chosen feats.

I think the Origin and General feats are pretty well balanced, but some of the Epic Boons are wild misfires.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I think the intent is that the Epic Boons are the Chosen feats.

I think the Origin and General feats are pretty well balanced, but some of the Epic Boons are wild misfires.

I disagree, I think ones like Spellfire Spark are far more powerful then most others.

Also something weird about the Faction Origin ones, a human can end up a member of two separate factions at level 1, say Cult of the Dragon and Purple Dragon Knight because they aren't mutually exclusive.

And most of the general feats are not really interesting or exciting, with a couple of exceptions like Genie Magic, that ones crazy.

Honestly instead of being cool, the Faction Rep system feels like its just taking up space that could have gone to expanding the Guide to the Realms chapter. And making one of them the Cult of the Dragon was goofy, if they'd playtested that as well, I think it would never have been a playable faction, there were far more sensible options even listed in the same section that aren't represented by mechanics.

 

[Burnside]

There's a minor exploit they may have overlooked with the Spellfire Sorcerer being able to recharge Sorcery Points by Counterspelling low-level spells cast by friendlies willing to voluntarily fail saves.

 

[GarrettKP]

There's a minor exploit they may have overlooked with the Spellfire Sorcerer being able to recharge Sorcery Points by Counterspelling low-level spells cast by friendlies willing to voluntarily fail saves.

Why not just… spend the spell slot to gain the sorcery points instead of cast it and hope you roll well?

 

[Parmandur]

Waterdeep seems more like Venice to me (without the waterways). What about Waterdeep specifically says Toronto? I mean, other than things that you would expect to find in any major port city.

I mean, starting from the 1970s in Greenwood's home game, having decades ahead of it's time diversity and representation.

It is tailor built for Canadian Great Lakers to just slip into barely disguised Rennfaire play, it is not terribly European in vibe to me, but very Canadian. The approach to society, to government, etc. It's a subtle flavor thing?

 

[Parmandur]

The big reason for Stockholm is the conscientiousness culture and benign government with prosperous economy. Plus the vast forest!

That's the Canadianess.

As an American, watching a Canadian crime procedural is hilarious, a completely foreign approach to authority structures and laws, and a very different empatheticview on criminality. See also, Paw Patrol.

 

[Parmandur]

Also something weird about the Faction Origin ones, a human can end up a member of two separate factions at level 1, say Cult of the Dragon and Purple Dragon Knight because they aren't mutually exclusive.

Sounds like a feature, not a bug.

 

[Parmandur]

For the Factions, specifically the overtly evil Factions...how do they handle player characters? Like, can the player be part of a splinter section of the Cult of the Dragon that has a different modern theology or something...?

 

[Yaarel]

That's the Canadianess.

As an American, watching a Canadian crime procedural is hilarious, a completely foreign approach to authority structures and laws, and a very different empatheticview on criminality. See also, Paw Patrol.

Heh. Well I take for granted that D&D presents the American wild west version of historic European Stockholm.

So a Montreal-ish (?) version of Neverwinter Stockholm tracks.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I’m seriously considering running Elminster as a standard mage (if a lecherous one) with a very good PR firm and a flair for the dramatic to make himself seem grander than he is. Almost wizard of oz like. Definitely an illusionist specialist wizard.

Back when, I ran Elminster like the Dread Pirate Roberts ... he wasn't a single individual, but a series of charlatans who would take the name as a pretense to greatness.