Forgotten Realms: Players Guide to Faerun
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Selvarin
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The player's Guide to Faerun is a 192-page hardcover from WotC that just hit the shelves Friday (in the States anyway, apparently gamers in Germany recieved their copies earlier). Written by Rich baker, travis Stout, and James Wyatt, PGtF was written in order to update previous FR material (both 2.0 and 3.0) to 3.5 D&D as well as provide new bits for gamers
to munch on. that's the intent, at least. Does it live up to expectations? We'll see.
First, the look-over. PGtF looks a lot like previous FR hardcovers, such as Underdark and the Unapproachable East editions. Same layout, etc....Interestingly enough, I don't see Todd Lockwood's name among the artist credits. Not that he should be in every WotC product, mind you, still he's a bit of a mainstay. The overall art quality in this book is average, not a lot sticks out although the Vhaeraun-Selvetarm battle is an exception. I can't tell who made it, alas, the artist's mark looks like a wizard's rune and I'm no wizard--they should've included artists' names on the page margins like they did with the Complete Warrior book. There are some nice renditions of certain planar destinations (e.g., Gates of the Moon on p. 154) and the redone images of various races aren't bad, either. If you don't care about artwork in your game books, naturally, this won't matter, but for blokes like me a picture paints a thousand words.
The Player's Guide to Faerun starts off with the rehauled regional feat system. Here, it's been separated into the various human region listings followed by those for nonhumans. I'm not 100% sure why they did this, was the old FRCS version that confoozling? Regardless, I suppose it does streamline things a little and the good part is that races that weren't paid as much attention to in this area (such as half-elves, planetouched, etc.) get the same treatment. Now there's a little more clarity on where that fire genasi is more likely to come from, and you won't have to thumb through the FRCS or Races of Faerun to read the race descriptions for that little bit of info. Another improvement is that the vital statistics follow right after the region tables. Again, no more flipping through RoF just to check the height/weight/ starting age for a taer or volodni.
Then there are the feats, which are a mix of new and old, the latter of which some were updated (or nerfed, in the case of Spellcasting Prodigy). Since some from the FRCS were adopted by the PHB, and since people don't like paying for the same thing twice, a few new ones were included (such as Otherworldly, which turns you into a 'native outsider'). The new regional feat system only allows you to take one regional feat, at 1st level. In return, there's a little more 'oomph' when you take one. This is fine and dandy but some of these 'regional feats' don't make sense being restricted in that manner. Daylight Adaptation, for example, is now a regional feat that can only be taken at 1st level if you're a Cormanthor Drow, kuo toa, dwarf, or orc. It doesn't feel right limiting the feat in this manner. It's as easy for me to imagine a drow who's lived all his life in the Underdark becoming accustomed to bright light (through certain means, mind you) as it is to imagine a drow on the surface who's done so since they were little whelps. I see no reason why it should be a regional/1st level only feat, perhaps it was a mistake. If not, it'll be Rule-zeroed in my campaign. Spellwise replaces Courteous Magocracy, other changes are mentioned in a sidebar on p. 42. New feats that I found to be worth taking included Dreadful Wrath (which is what happens when I'm denied my morning cups of cofee) and Swift and Silent--with this, you can move up to your normal speed will using Hide or Move Silently at no penalty. Also, a number of new non-region based feats are interspersed within: epic feats, flavor feats (like Blessed of the Seven Sisters and Favored of the Zulkirs), the 'Initiate' feats which seek to add more flavor for clerics, and Exalted/Vile related feats.
In the prestige class ection, the FrCs PrC's get a facelift (minor in most cases) and about21 or so new ones. The Divine Disciple PrC isn't as front-loaded as the 3.0 version, and the Harper Scout is replaced by the Harper Agent. The fear capability of the 3.0 Hathran has been replaced by 'Awe of the Wychlaran', which is more fitting. The Incantatrix (from Magic of Faerun) likewise gets a little touch-up. The rest get minor tucks and tweaks. As for the new ones, there are a few gems. Many of them spice up choices some of us would otherwise avoid. There's the Justiciar of Tyr, and the Shaaryan Hunter(essentially a nomadic horseman), both well done. Some may be too regionally placed, such as the Evereskan Tomb Guardian and Spellguard of Silverymoon. One thing I'm glad for is the extensive use of 5-level PrC's--yes, some people hate 'em but does every prestige class need 10 levels to define them? Hardly. A complete list of prestige classes can be found on p. 47 but many are actually found in the Appendix: Expanded Play section, in the back of the book.
Domains & Spells is just that. Here, you'll find the 'initiate' feats fleshed out, as well as a complete list of 3.5 FR spells from products up to/including Underdark. The domains themselves didn't see much tweaking, but looks can be decieving. 10 pages of spells, some taken from prior 3.0 FR sources and others entirely new, so it isn't exactly a rehash of what you bought a few years ago. Does anything here really jump out at me? Perhaps. Mystra's Miasma is pretty good, creating a fog with a'sinkhole' in the Weave that inhibits spellcasting. Since the designers did go through the old Pages from the Mages 2e accessory, expect some oldies but goodies in here like Caligarde's Claw and Presper's Moonbow. In fact, expect any number of 'new' spells to come from Faiths & Avatars,Pages from the Mages, and other 2e sources. I'm glad that they've been updated, although it does make it difficult to discern what's entirely new without going through every book or PDF in my collection.
If there's one section which perked me up, it would have to be the one on magic items--only 8 pages, but I think they picked some really nice goodies for this. A lot of
magic items found in Page from the Mages as well as the Hellgate Keep adventure (both 2e) found their way here. You'll also find Najjar's Cloak of Weaponry (from the Calimport accessory) updated and ready for use, but my favorites are definitely the Hellgate Keep-derived magic items such as the Shattering Swords of Coronal Ynloeth. In addition, several armor and weapon properties have been rewritten. Sure Striking, for example, has been changed so that it overcomes damage reduction as if it were aligned chaotic, evil, good, or lawful---whatever's appropriate against that foe, that's how it acts.
Epic Levels in Faerun deal with...well, you know. I haven't been an epic gamer so I can't say how good this is. The Netherese arcanist did pique my interest, although the Spellfire Heirophant puzzles me more than anything. Just the idea of an epic spellfire wielder...Oh well, just a matter of taste. Past that, Toril's cosmology is discussed at length (27 pages worth), detailing what kinds of petitioners are found on a given plane, the traits of that plane, and so forth. Those seeking a more coherent view of the outer planes should be satisfied with what they find here. The good-aligned planes are seen as being connected
to the world Tree as different 'branches', while those of the lower planes are linked by the River of Blood. Nice, eh? There's more to it than that, of course. Each of the planes, from Arvandor to Warrior's Rest, are handled adequately, while minor planes and and foreign cosmologies are explained in lesser detail, such as Zakhara (of al Qadim) and the Spirit World.
The Campaign Journal, a short chapter in the back, brings the timeline found in the FRCS up to speed (Kythorn 1373 DR). For those who don't read a lot of FR novels or just like a recap of what's been going on, it's a quick and easy chapter to breeze through that includes a few adventure hooks towards the end. Beyond that, there's the helpful
Expanded Play appendix for those who want to add psionics to their campaign, or better integrate material from the Books of Vile/Exalted Deeds. As mentioned before, some of the PrC's listed elsewhere are actually here. Of those, the Black Blood Hunter and Yathrinshee will make PC's a little edgy once the DM gives them a little dose. The Celebrant of Sharess is a exalted PrC with a flirty twist, while the Harper Paragon is among the elite of the Harpers. The Maiden of Pain (Loviatar) and the Martyred Champion of Ilmater can also be found in this section. Personally, I think these PrCs will have a broader appeal than some of the region-centered PrC's.
Conclusions
The Player's Guide to Faerun tries to do a number of things. It provides a needed update to certain prestige classes, it overhauls the regional feat system, and it gives a needed 3.5 polish to older AD&D FR spells and magic. It satisfies the desire for 'new' by including a fair amount of new feats, PrC's, and advice on integrating psionics as well as material from the Exalted/Vile books. Last but not least, the PGtF tries very hard to make itself into a handy reference by consolidating other things, such as spell lists and height/weight tables. Does it do a good job? I think so. It does make a stumble or two, such as what happened with the Daylight adaptation feat, but that's minor. Is it a necessary must-have to get? Ehhhh.
For FR gamers, yes. I'm not as excited about it as I was with Races of Faerun, but that may be for other reasons. Non-FR gamers can still get use from it (the aforementioned crunch factor, as it were), although paying $32.95 retail for a book you'll only want bits from isn't that economical. The PGtF won't entirely replace the FRCS, but it will take a load off just by having so much in a single reference. Now you can leave most of your books behind the next time you slog over to your DM's house for a friendly game of Smack the Goblin (or Phaerimm, however far your character's progressed).
to munch on. that's the intent, at least. Does it live up to expectations? We'll see.
First, the look-over. PGtF looks a lot like previous FR hardcovers, such as Underdark and the Unapproachable East editions. Same layout, etc....Interestingly enough, I don't see Todd Lockwood's name among the artist credits. Not that he should be in every WotC product, mind you, still he's a bit of a mainstay. The overall art quality in this book is average, not a lot sticks out although the Vhaeraun-Selvetarm battle is an exception. I can't tell who made it, alas, the artist's mark looks like a wizard's rune and I'm no wizard--they should've included artists' names on the page margins like they did with the Complete Warrior book. There are some nice renditions of certain planar destinations (e.g., Gates of the Moon on p. 154) and the redone images of various races aren't bad, either. If you don't care about artwork in your game books, naturally, this won't matter, but for blokes like me a picture paints a thousand words.
The Player's Guide to Faerun starts off with the rehauled regional feat system. Here, it's been separated into the various human region listings followed by those for nonhumans. I'm not 100% sure why they did this, was the old FRCS version that confoozling? Regardless, I suppose it does streamline things a little and the good part is that races that weren't paid as much attention to in this area (such as half-elves, planetouched, etc.) get the same treatment. Now there's a little more clarity on where that fire genasi is more likely to come from, and you won't have to thumb through the FRCS or Races of Faerun to read the race descriptions for that little bit of info. Another improvement is that the vital statistics follow right after the region tables. Again, no more flipping through RoF just to check the height/weight/ starting age for a taer or volodni.
Then there are the feats, which are a mix of new and old, the latter of which some were updated (or nerfed, in the case of Spellcasting Prodigy). Since some from the FRCS were adopted by the PHB, and since people don't like paying for the same thing twice, a few new ones were included (such as Otherworldly, which turns you into a 'native outsider'). The new regional feat system only allows you to take one regional feat, at 1st level. In return, there's a little more 'oomph' when you take one. This is fine and dandy but some of these 'regional feats' don't make sense being restricted in that manner. Daylight Adaptation, for example, is now a regional feat that can only be taken at 1st level if you're a Cormanthor Drow, kuo toa, dwarf, or orc. It doesn't feel right limiting the feat in this manner. It's as easy for me to imagine a drow who's lived all his life in the Underdark becoming accustomed to bright light (through certain means, mind you) as it is to imagine a drow on the surface who's done so since they were little whelps. I see no reason why it should be a regional/1st level only feat, perhaps it was a mistake. If not, it'll be Rule-zeroed in my campaign. Spellwise replaces Courteous Magocracy, other changes are mentioned in a sidebar on p. 42. New feats that I found to be worth taking included Dreadful Wrath (which is what happens when I'm denied my morning cups of cofee) and Swift and Silent--with this, you can move up to your normal speed will using Hide or Move Silently at no penalty. Also, a number of new non-region based feats are interspersed within: epic feats, flavor feats (like Blessed of the Seven Sisters and Favored of the Zulkirs), the 'Initiate' feats which seek to add more flavor for clerics, and Exalted/Vile related feats.
In the prestige class ection, the FrCs PrC's get a facelift (minor in most cases) and about21 or so new ones. The Divine Disciple PrC isn't as front-loaded as the 3.0 version, and the Harper Scout is replaced by the Harper Agent. The fear capability of the 3.0 Hathran has been replaced by 'Awe of the Wychlaran', which is more fitting. The Incantatrix (from Magic of Faerun) likewise gets a little touch-up. The rest get minor tucks and tweaks. As for the new ones, there are a few gems. Many of them spice up choices some of us would otherwise avoid. There's the Justiciar of Tyr, and the Shaaryan Hunter(essentially a nomadic horseman), both well done. Some may be too regionally placed, such as the Evereskan Tomb Guardian and Spellguard of Silverymoon. One thing I'm glad for is the extensive use of 5-level PrC's--yes, some people hate 'em but does every prestige class need 10 levels to define them? Hardly. A complete list of prestige classes can be found on p. 47 but many are actually found in the Appendix: Expanded Play section, in the back of the book.
Domains & Spells is just that. Here, you'll find the 'initiate' feats fleshed out, as well as a complete list of 3.5 FR spells from products up to/including Underdark. The domains themselves didn't see much tweaking, but looks can be decieving. 10 pages of spells, some taken from prior 3.0 FR sources and others entirely new, so it isn't exactly a rehash of what you bought a few years ago. Does anything here really jump out at me? Perhaps. Mystra's Miasma is pretty good, creating a fog with a'sinkhole' in the Weave that inhibits spellcasting. Since the designers did go through the old Pages from the Mages 2e accessory, expect some oldies but goodies in here like Caligarde's Claw and Presper's Moonbow. In fact, expect any number of 'new' spells to come from Faiths & Avatars,Pages from the Mages, and other 2e sources. I'm glad that they've been updated, although it does make it difficult to discern what's entirely new without going through every book or PDF in my collection.
If there's one section which perked me up, it would have to be the one on magic items--only 8 pages, but I think they picked some really nice goodies for this. A lot of
magic items found in Page from the Mages as well as the Hellgate Keep adventure (both 2e) found their way here. You'll also find Najjar's Cloak of Weaponry (from the Calimport accessory) updated and ready for use, but my favorites are definitely the Hellgate Keep-derived magic items such as the Shattering Swords of Coronal Ynloeth. In addition, several armor and weapon properties have been rewritten. Sure Striking, for example, has been changed so that it overcomes damage reduction as if it were aligned chaotic, evil, good, or lawful---whatever's appropriate against that foe, that's how it acts.
Epic Levels in Faerun deal with...well, you know. I haven't been an epic gamer so I can't say how good this is. The Netherese arcanist did pique my interest, although the Spellfire Heirophant puzzles me more than anything. Just the idea of an epic spellfire wielder...Oh well, just a matter of taste. Past that, Toril's cosmology is discussed at length (27 pages worth), detailing what kinds of petitioners are found on a given plane, the traits of that plane, and so forth. Those seeking a more coherent view of the outer planes should be satisfied with what they find here. The good-aligned planes are seen as being connected
to the world Tree as different 'branches', while those of the lower planes are linked by the River of Blood. Nice, eh? There's more to it than that, of course. Each of the planes, from Arvandor to Warrior's Rest, are handled adequately, while minor planes and and foreign cosmologies are explained in lesser detail, such as Zakhara (of al Qadim) and the Spirit World.
The Campaign Journal, a short chapter in the back, brings the timeline found in the FRCS up to speed (Kythorn 1373 DR). For those who don't read a lot of FR novels or just like a recap of what's been going on, it's a quick and easy chapter to breeze through that includes a few adventure hooks towards the end. Beyond that, there's the helpful
Expanded Play appendix for those who want to add psionics to their campaign, or better integrate material from the Books of Vile/Exalted Deeds. As mentioned before, some of the PrC's listed elsewhere are actually here. Of those, the Black Blood Hunter and Yathrinshee will make PC's a little edgy once the DM gives them a little dose. The Celebrant of Sharess is a exalted PrC with a flirty twist, while the Harper Paragon is among the elite of the Harpers. The Maiden of Pain (Loviatar) and the Martyred Champion of Ilmater can also be found in this section. Personally, I think these PrCs will have a broader appeal than some of the region-centered PrC's.
Conclusions
The Player's Guide to Faerun tries to do a number of things. It provides a needed update to certain prestige classes, it overhauls the regional feat system, and it gives a needed 3.5 polish to older AD&D FR spells and magic. It satisfies the desire for 'new' by including a fair amount of new feats, PrC's, and advice on integrating psionics as well as material from the Exalted/Vile books. Last but not least, the PGtF tries very hard to make itself into a handy reference by consolidating other things, such as spell lists and height/weight tables. Does it do a good job? I think so. It does make a stumble or two, such as what happened with the Daylight adaptation feat, but that's minor. Is it a necessary must-have to get? Ehhhh.
For FR gamers, yes. I'm not as excited about it as I was with Races of Faerun, but that may be for other reasons. Non-FR gamers can still get use from it (the aforementioned crunch factor, as it were), although paying $32.95 retail for a book you'll only want bits from isn't that economical. The PGtF won't entirely replace the FRCS, but it will take a load off just by having so much in a single reference. Now you can leave most of your books behind the next time you slog over to your DM's house for a friendly game of Smack the Goblin (or Phaerimm, however far your character's progressed).
A Review of the Player's Guide to Faerun
I waited for this book on the edge of my seat, hoping that it would be great, and hoping that it wouldn't nerf my favorite abilities too much
I ran to the store the moment they emailed me saying it was in, and got home with it in my hands. I was both impressed and disappointed. I'll start by discussing what I really like about the book, because some of my later criticism is fairly harsh, and I don't want anyone to think that I'm ragging on what is essentially a pretty good FR release.
Good Stuff: Feats, Regional and Otherwise
I really like what they did to the regional feats. Having them slightly stronger than normal feats, and restricting them to one only really highlights the flavour of the feats, and it encourages character builds that use the regional feat as a very integral component to the character, thus making it more likely that characters will have regional FR flavour.
I like the change to Innate Spell, making it use a spell slot of the spell's level, so you basically pay a feat and a slot for a spell-like ability of that slot's level usable 3/day -- I am much more likely to take this than the old Innate Spell. I also like making portal creation a Create Wondrous Item function, and then adding Portal Mastery which takes the costs down to 50%. This makes portal creation much more palatable to players. I know I would sure have been pretty strongly against taking a feat just to be able to make one or two portals in my entire PC's lifetime, the old Create Portal feat was really something useful for NPCs only. I also really like the changes to the Shadow Weave Magic feats. Removing the drawbacks not only makes the feats more attractive, but it reduces the amount of rolling necessary with a Shadow Weave character. It got really tedious before, when basically every single time your character's magic interacted with another spellcaster's magic, you had to make an extra roll. Woe to the Shadow Weave Magic user who casted detect magic in a Weave mage's tower. That's gone now.
I also like the concept of the Initiate of [God's name goes here] feats, that give a cleric a special ability similar to a domain ability and some fairly powerful additional spells(Note that many of these spells have been powered up from their MoF versions, and some didn't exist in MoF). It makes a cleric of a certain god more notably different from other clerics, much like regional feats highlight the difference in characters from different regions.
Good Stuff: Cosmology and Campaign Journal
The Cosmology of Toril chapter and the Campaign Journal were both much appreciated by me. The short writeups on each of the planes, which gods make their home in them, etc, were quite interesting and I know I'll be flipping back to this reference quite often whenever I'm playing in a game where I have some planar travel capability. The Campaign Journal is just nice to get all the stuff that's happened since the FRCS in one place, so that I don't need to go read 5 novels to refresh my memory
Good Stuff: Prestige Classes
The Prestige Classes are overall well done. I particularly like the Morninglord of Lathander, Eye of Horus-Re, and the Yathrinshee(although due the amount of multiclassing you need with this PrC, and the drow ECL on top of it, this is really more of a cool NPC PrC than something for players). The Netherse Arcanist is also pretty interesting, and quite powerful, though high level, of course. Some of the exalted PrCs are particularly interesting, the Celebrant of Sharess in particular being a sort of seduction-focused bard-like caster, with a couple of really powerful abilities like being able to full attack after a charge mixed in with enchantment/seduction oriented stuff. The Prestige Class chapter is mostly well done, with a couple glaring exceptions I'll cover below.
Now, the bad stuff.
Bad Stuff: Spell Section
I'll say one good thing about the spell section -- the index of all the FR spells published so far for 3e is a great little reference. Kudos for including it. Otherwise...
The spells section makes me think it was written by monkeys, or something. Honestly. The balance of the Initiate feats is haphazard at best, with more than one blatantly exploitable thing.(Yes, the Initiate feats are detailed in the spell section, not in the Feats section) An Initiate of Mystra can make a caster level check against DC 11 + caster level of an Antimagic Field to be able to cast in the field. So, uh, a high level cieric with this feat can cast a CL 11 scroll of antimagic field and then proceed to cast most of their spells freely while being basically immune to magic. You'd think that someone might have noticed an obvious exploit like that, and said something before the book went to print! In contrast, some Initiate feat powers are just plain silly and useless. Initiate of Nature grants the ability to turn plants... but wait, the Plant domain already grants that. And most clerics who are going to take this Initiate feat have the Plant domain... The power delta between the Initiate feats shows that if there was any effort for balance made here, it failed outright.
That's only the tip of the iceberg. Spells were changed for apparently no reason other than to change them. Elminster's Effulgent Epuration, instead of being a pretty useful 9th level variant on spell turning that negates(not turns) all spells(including area of effects and ranged touch spells), was turned into a vastly overpowered version of spell turning. You get 1 orb per caster level, as before, but each orb negates a targeted spell of ANY spell level! So instead of a useful variant on spell turning, it's now useful for just basically making yourself invulnerable to targeted spells. Great. The Simbul's Spell Trigger spells were heavily nerfed, all of them(even the 9th level version!) limited to making 3rd level spells as free actions, and chaining 2nd level or lower spells only. No idea why the Simbul spent her time researching 'em now
A number of the Initiate spells are clearly broken. Initiate of Nature's 4th level Thorn Spray gives you 1d6/caster level untyped damage on a regular ranged attack, and a 2d4 round sickening effect if the target fails a fort save. What happened to the divine spell damage cap for 4th level spells here?!? I don't mind 1d6/caster level damage, since it is a regular ranged attack, but last time I checked, a 20d6 cap on a 4th level spell of any kind was ridiculous, let alone a spell usable by clerics.
Mace of Odo is a 3rd level spell that can deal 10d6 force damage(no save, single target), OR you can choose to just have it sit around... and absorb a targeted spell of ANY spell level. 10d6 force damage, no save, is pretty awesome as it is for a 3rd level cleric spell, but the secondary effect bounces this spell's power into the stratosphere.
If you thought Battletide was strong because of it's 3.0-haste style effect, guess again. It's still just as bad, if not worse. As long as one target is taking a penalty from Battletide, each round you can cast a spell quickened FOR FREE, with a spell level limit of 1 + 1 spell level for each 2 levels beyond 9th. That's right, a 17th level caster of this spell can fire off a 9th level spell(5th level quickened spell) every single round without even needing the Quicken Spell feat. And they get the +1 attack and dodge bonus to AC and doubled movement speed of the 3.5 Haste spell on top of that.
Bombardment, an 8th level Druid spell, deals 1d8/caster level damage up to 20d8 in a 15ft-radius burst, untyped damage, reflex half and if you fail the reflex save you get Buried(as the buried effect on page 304 of the DMG). Uh, 8th level Druid spells are supposed to make a mockery of Horrid Wilting now? Where's my wizard's d8 hitdie, damnit?!
And of course, to add insult to injury of the continuing 3.5 nerf on spell saving throw DCs, Spell Enhancer gives a +2 caster level bonus instead of a +2 bonus to save DC's. Why is this a 4th level spell again?
All I have to say about the spell's section, is, man, what a mess.
Bad Stuff: Feats
There are a couple of not-especially-great feat changes in the book. Persistent Spell is now rendered basically useless with a flat +6 level adjustment instead of the much more sensible duration-scaled adjustment that Richard Baker had mentioned previously(unless you're an Incantatrix, see my PrC comments) because of cleric abuse. Of course, Spellcasting Prodigy took the obligatory nerf that it no longer affects your DCs.
Bad Stuff: Prestige Classes
While most of the prestige classes were well done, the revision to the Shadow Adept wasn't thought through all the way, it seems. The Spell Power was removed completely, but nothing replaced it. So now, the relatively mediocre benefits of Shadow Defense, Greater Shield of Shadow, and Shadow Double are not buffed up at all, but the very sweet plum of the 3 Shadow Weave Magic feats for free at 1st level remains. And it's much sweeter than before as those feats were improved, making this PrC an excellent target for a single level cherry pick. Given that one of the most well executed 3.5 changes to date has been the reduction of cherry picking opportunities amoung the core classes and various PrCs, this miss is particularly glaring.
The Incantatrix is the one single thing in the book that makes me almost want to cry, especially because this was my favourite Magic of Faerun PrC. A very well-intentioned, excellent idea of removing the anti-outsider abilities of the PrC and making it focused purely on metamagic is destroyed by completely careless and inattentively balanced abilities. This PrC is at least twice as powerful as the MoF PrC, and given how easy it would have been to fix the glaring, obvious errors that make it broken, it is truly sad that it was printed in this state.
The Incantatrix now must perform Focused Studies at 1st level, picking a single school of magic(not abjuration or divination) that will act as a prohibited school. This is much simpler than the old strange method of forcing Abjuration specialization, and is much appreciated.
Instant Metamagic remains, at 7th and 9th level, and Improved Metamagic at 10th level of the PrC. The huge mistakes, however, are made at 2nd and 3rd level of the PrC.
Cooperative Metamagic allows you to ready an action on the spellcasting of an ally, and then make a DC 18 + (3 x fully adjusted spell level) Spellcraft check to apply one of your metamagic feats to the ally's spell in casting. The Incantatrix can use the ability 3 + int mod times per day. So, with a Spellcraft check(of high DC, admittedly) this Incantatrix can extend, and more disturbingly, persist an ally's spells a large number of times per day, for free. The ally doesn't even need to know Persistent Spell or use a higher spell slot. The Persistent Buff Cleric is stolen and returned in the same book, and this time at lower cost, as long as you have an Incantatrix in the party.
The 3rd level ability, Metamagic Effect, is similar to Cooperative Metamagic, in that you can apply a metamagic feat to a spell, however, this is to an existing spell effect. It is a Full Round Action. So our Incantatrix can cast a persistable or extendable spell on himself, and then make his spellcraft check and metamagic it after the casting. Lovely.
What's the simple fix for this obviously super-broken stuff? Make the number of uses per day expended equal to the slot level adjustment of the feat you're using! Using Persistent Spell? You expend 6 uses of the ability. This is quite feasible, as 3+ int mod is a LOT of uses per day. Unfortunately, it apparently did not occur to the designer of this version of the Incantatrix that you could abuse it in the above manner, or the simple fix to hold down the abuse.
That is the Player's Guide to Faerun. I hope that future Realms products are as good as this one, but I wish the developers would do a better job watching out for glaringly broken things.
Sancus
sancus@off.net
I waited for this book on the edge of my seat, hoping that it would be great, and hoping that it wouldn't nerf my favorite abilities too much
I ran to the store the moment they emailed me saying it was in, and got home with it in my hands. I was both impressed and disappointed. I'll start by discussing what I really like about the book, because some of my later criticism is fairly harsh, and I don't want anyone to think that I'm ragging on what is essentially a pretty good FR release.Good Stuff: Feats, Regional and Otherwise
I really like what they did to the regional feats. Having them slightly stronger than normal feats, and restricting them to one only really highlights the flavour of the feats, and it encourages character builds that use the regional feat as a very integral component to the character, thus making it more likely that characters will have regional FR flavour.
I like the change to Innate Spell, making it use a spell slot of the spell's level, so you basically pay a feat and a slot for a spell-like ability of that slot's level usable 3/day -- I am much more likely to take this than the old Innate Spell. I also like making portal creation a Create Wondrous Item function, and then adding Portal Mastery which takes the costs down to 50%. This makes portal creation much more palatable to players. I know I would sure have been pretty strongly against taking a feat just to be able to make one or two portals in my entire PC's lifetime, the old Create Portal feat was really something useful for NPCs only. I also really like the changes to the Shadow Weave Magic feats. Removing the drawbacks not only makes the feats more attractive, but it reduces the amount of rolling necessary with a Shadow Weave character. It got really tedious before, when basically every single time your character's magic interacted with another spellcaster's magic, you had to make an extra roll. Woe to the Shadow Weave Magic user who casted detect magic in a Weave mage's tower. That's gone now.
I also like the concept of the Initiate of [God's name goes here] feats, that give a cleric a special ability similar to a domain ability and some fairly powerful additional spells(Note that many of these spells have been powered up from their MoF versions, and some didn't exist in MoF). It makes a cleric of a certain god more notably different from other clerics, much like regional feats highlight the difference in characters from different regions.
Good Stuff: Cosmology and Campaign Journal
The Cosmology of Toril chapter and the Campaign Journal were both much appreciated by me. The short writeups on each of the planes, which gods make their home in them, etc, were quite interesting and I know I'll be flipping back to this reference quite often whenever I'm playing in a game where I have some planar travel capability. The Campaign Journal is just nice to get all the stuff that's happened since the FRCS in one place, so that I don't need to go read 5 novels to refresh my memory
Good Stuff: Prestige Classes
The Prestige Classes are overall well done. I particularly like the Morninglord of Lathander, Eye of Horus-Re, and the Yathrinshee(although due the amount of multiclassing you need with this PrC, and the drow ECL on top of it, this is really more of a cool NPC PrC than something for players). The Netherse Arcanist is also pretty interesting, and quite powerful, though high level, of course. Some of the exalted PrCs are particularly interesting, the Celebrant of Sharess in particular being a sort of seduction-focused bard-like caster, with a couple of really powerful abilities like being able to full attack after a charge mixed in with enchantment/seduction oriented stuff. The Prestige Class chapter is mostly well done, with a couple glaring exceptions I'll cover below.
Now, the bad stuff.
Bad Stuff: Spell Section
I'll say one good thing about the spell section -- the index of all the FR spells published so far for 3e is a great little reference. Kudos for including it. Otherwise...
The spells section makes me think it was written by monkeys, or something. Honestly. The balance of the Initiate feats is haphazard at best, with more than one blatantly exploitable thing.(Yes, the Initiate feats are detailed in the spell section, not in the Feats section) An Initiate of Mystra can make a caster level check against DC 11 + caster level of an Antimagic Field to be able to cast in the field. So, uh, a high level cieric with this feat can cast a CL 11 scroll of antimagic field and then proceed to cast most of their spells freely while being basically immune to magic. You'd think that someone might have noticed an obvious exploit like that, and said something before the book went to print! In contrast, some Initiate feat powers are just plain silly and useless. Initiate of Nature grants the ability to turn plants... but wait, the Plant domain already grants that. And most clerics who are going to take this Initiate feat have the Plant domain... The power delta between the Initiate feats shows that if there was any effort for balance made here, it failed outright.
That's only the tip of the iceberg. Spells were changed for apparently no reason other than to change them. Elminster's Effulgent Epuration, instead of being a pretty useful 9th level variant on spell turning that negates(not turns) all spells(including area of effects and ranged touch spells), was turned into a vastly overpowered version of spell turning. You get 1 orb per caster level, as before, but each orb negates a targeted spell of ANY spell level! So instead of a useful variant on spell turning, it's now useful for just basically making yourself invulnerable to targeted spells. Great. The Simbul's Spell Trigger spells were heavily nerfed, all of them(even the 9th level version!) limited to making 3rd level spells as free actions, and chaining 2nd level or lower spells only. No idea why the Simbul spent her time researching 'em now
A number of the Initiate spells are clearly broken. Initiate of Nature's 4th level Thorn Spray gives you 1d6/caster level untyped damage on a regular ranged attack, and a 2d4 round sickening effect if the target fails a fort save. What happened to the divine spell damage cap for 4th level spells here?!? I don't mind 1d6/caster level damage, since it is a regular ranged attack, but last time I checked, a 20d6 cap on a 4th level spell of any kind was ridiculous, let alone a spell usable by clerics.
Mace of Odo is a 3rd level spell that can deal 10d6 force damage(no save, single target), OR you can choose to just have it sit around... and absorb a targeted spell of ANY spell level. 10d6 force damage, no save, is pretty awesome as it is for a 3rd level cleric spell, but the secondary effect bounces this spell's power into the stratosphere.
If you thought Battletide was strong because of it's 3.0-haste style effect, guess again. It's still just as bad, if not worse. As long as one target is taking a penalty from Battletide, each round you can cast a spell quickened FOR FREE, with a spell level limit of 1 + 1 spell level for each 2 levels beyond 9th. That's right, a 17th level caster of this spell can fire off a 9th level spell(5th level quickened spell) every single round without even needing the Quicken Spell feat. And they get the +1 attack and dodge bonus to AC and doubled movement speed of the 3.5 Haste spell on top of that.
Bombardment, an 8th level Druid spell, deals 1d8/caster level damage up to 20d8 in a 15ft-radius burst, untyped damage, reflex half and if you fail the reflex save you get Buried(as the buried effect on page 304 of the DMG). Uh, 8th level Druid spells are supposed to make a mockery of Horrid Wilting now? Where's my wizard's d8 hitdie, damnit?!
And of course, to add insult to injury of the continuing 3.5 nerf on spell saving throw DCs, Spell Enhancer gives a +2 caster level bonus instead of a +2 bonus to save DC's. Why is this a 4th level spell again?
All I have to say about the spell's section, is, man, what a mess.
Bad Stuff: Feats
There are a couple of not-especially-great feat changes in the book. Persistent Spell is now rendered basically useless with a flat +6 level adjustment instead of the much more sensible duration-scaled adjustment that Richard Baker had mentioned previously(unless you're an Incantatrix, see my PrC comments) because of cleric abuse. Of course, Spellcasting Prodigy took the obligatory nerf that it no longer affects your DCs.
Bad Stuff: Prestige Classes
While most of the prestige classes were well done, the revision to the Shadow Adept wasn't thought through all the way, it seems. The Spell Power was removed completely, but nothing replaced it. So now, the relatively mediocre benefits of Shadow Defense, Greater Shield of Shadow, and Shadow Double are not buffed up at all, but the very sweet plum of the 3 Shadow Weave Magic feats for free at 1st level remains. And it's much sweeter than before as those feats were improved, making this PrC an excellent target for a single level cherry pick. Given that one of the most well executed 3.5 changes to date has been the reduction of cherry picking opportunities amoung the core classes and various PrCs, this miss is particularly glaring.
The Incantatrix is the one single thing in the book that makes me almost want to cry, especially because this was my favourite Magic of Faerun PrC. A very well-intentioned, excellent idea of removing the anti-outsider abilities of the PrC and making it focused purely on metamagic is destroyed by completely careless and inattentively balanced abilities. This PrC is at least twice as powerful as the MoF PrC, and given how easy it would have been to fix the glaring, obvious errors that make it broken, it is truly sad that it was printed in this state.
The Incantatrix now must perform Focused Studies at 1st level, picking a single school of magic(not abjuration or divination) that will act as a prohibited school. This is much simpler than the old strange method of forcing Abjuration specialization, and is much appreciated.
Instant Metamagic remains, at 7th and 9th level, and Improved Metamagic at 10th level of the PrC. The huge mistakes, however, are made at 2nd and 3rd level of the PrC.
Cooperative Metamagic allows you to ready an action on the spellcasting of an ally, and then make a DC 18 + (3 x fully adjusted spell level) Spellcraft check to apply one of your metamagic feats to the ally's spell in casting. The Incantatrix can use the ability 3 + int mod times per day. So, with a Spellcraft check(of high DC, admittedly) this Incantatrix can extend, and more disturbingly, persist an ally's spells a large number of times per day, for free. The ally doesn't even need to know Persistent Spell or use a higher spell slot. The Persistent Buff Cleric is stolen and returned in the same book, and this time at lower cost, as long as you have an Incantatrix in the party.
The 3rd level ability, Metamagic Effect, is similar to Cooperative Metamagic, in that you can apply a metamagic feat to a spell, however, this is to an existing spell effect. It is a Full Round Action. So our Incantatrix can cast a persistable or extendable spell on himself, and then make his spellcraft check and metamagic it after the casting. Lovely.
What's the simple fix for this obviously super-broken stuff? Make the number of uses per day expended equal to the slot level adjustment of the feat you're using! Using Persistent Spell? You expend 6 uses of the ability. This is quite feasible, as 3+ int mod is a LOT of uses per day. Unfortunately, it apparently did not occur to the designer of this version of the Incantatrix that you could abuse it in the above manner, or the simple fix to hold down the abuse.
That is the Player's Guide to Faerun. I hope that future Realms products are as good as this one, but I wish the developers would do a better job watching out for glaringly broken things.
Sancus
sancus@off.net
Trickstergod
First Post
Just to throw in due to your comment on not wanting to look like you're ragging on the book, it's typically better to put the bad stuff first, and then the good stuff, when you don't want people to have a poor opinion of something. The last thing people read or hear is typically going to be what they remember or just have rattling in the back of their brains. Better to get the bad stuff out of the way, and then leave people with all the high points at the end.
Sorry Trickstergod, you are wrong. According to psychological studies the FIRST things you hear impacts you judgment the most. In a study people would see a picture of a person and then the good stuff in the persons personality and then the flaws. Another group would first hear the flaws and then the good sides of the personality. The group that heard the bad stuff first got a much more negative view of the person than the group that heard the good stuff. So if you don't want to bias a review on the bad side, write the positive stuff first and the critique at the end, just like Sancus did. If you want i can post a reference to the studies if you don't believe me.
JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Let me start with where I’m coming from. I’m a GM of the Forgotten Realms. Right now my group is in the Unapproachable East. I’m a longtime fan of the setting. I enjoy revisions that do more that just update skill lists and put in minimal work like changing spells names. I think that the regional feats, despite lacking perfect game balance, are an interesting idea and will become standard in new settings. Lastly, as I’ve noted before, I like hard covers that are in full color.
Now that I’ve gotten some basic information out of the way, what do I have to say about the Player’s Guide to Faerun? Put simply, if you’re a player in the Forgotten Realms, especially a new player, this great resource can generate ideas for dozens of characters. If you’re a GM, it updates a lot of the game mechanics in previous 3.0 products and adds a few new touches, not all of which everyone will agree with.
The book is broken into seven chapters with a lot of extras in the appendix. Chapter one covers races and feats. It reintroduces the idea of character regional feats and provides an excellent breakdown of race and location so that almost any type of character can be covered. In this version, regional feats are intended to be more powerful than standard ones. In addition, you can only ever have one regional feat. Something that goes against the grain but if every player has access to them, what’s the harm I figure. It can make evaluating opponents a little more tricky for the GM and does provide new Gming challenges but not overly so.
For example, in my campaign, almost all of the characters are from the Moonsea region with a few from nearby areas. Not a single player took a regional feat. Now I’m not blind. They just didn’t feel that any of their existing character meshed with the feats presented for their region and I’m sure that when the next batch of characters role out, as a GM I’ll have to veto regions left and right to avoid the dread min-maxing and of course, keep it in the campaign. “Well Tom, as we’re currently playing in the Great Glacier, what makes you think that a character from the Lake of Steam is a viable choice?”
Some of the feats are standard with a little extra thrown on top. For example, Thunder Twin is meant for Dwarves and allows the user to sense the general direction of his twin with a Wisdom check versus a DC of 12. It also gives the user a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate. In a similar vein, Silver Palm provides a +2 bonus to Appraise, Bluff and Sense Motive. A little better than a standard feat but overwhelmingly so? Not really. This isn’t to say that everything is so simple. What about Daylight Adaptation, meant for kuo-toa and the good old drow, where you don’t suffer from bright light or sunlight?
In terms of prestige class, we’ve got over two dozen to select from. Some of these are updates from previous material and some I’ve never seen before. Some are similar to other PrCs I’ve seen. For example, the Divine Champion is very much in the spirit of a Paladin, something that Librum Equitis Two covered well. Others I’ve seen from games like the Monk of the Long Death, a monk who studies the process of dying. It’s a good selection of material and GMs should have plenty of options when making villains ranging from the Maiden of Pain to the Shadow Thief of Amn.
Players also have options. One of my players decided to try out the Morninglord of Lathander. I’ve got to note that while some of the material seems overpowered, in the game it didn’t really matter. The fighters still held the high ground.
Spellcasters of all types should be well pleased. Domains and Spells introduces deity specific spells that require the cleric to have an initiate feat. The only bad thing is that some very obvious candidates for such feats were left out. For example, where is Tempus? Where’s Azuth? The ‘good’ or proper ones are covered, as are the ‘evil’ or main enemy ones. For example, we’ve got Bane, Cyric, and Malar on one side, and Helm, Ilmater, Lathander, Mystra, Selune and Tyr on the other, along with a few whose presence I question like Nature and Gond.
So what are the spells like? How about Sword and Hammer, a 4th level Tyr spell that crates two weapons of force? How about Strength of the Beast where you gain the benefits of your lycanthropic animal form while still in human form? Good stuff right?
Now one thing that WoTC have usually done well is a proper breakdown in their spell lists. This book is no different. It starts off with classes, including prestige classes from the DMG, and then by level, and then by alphabetical order. Wizard spells are further broken up by school. This doesn’t include just the spells though, but also the domains. Where domain changes have occurred from the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting, they’re noted.
Domains include balance and charm, as well as cavern and cold among others. Each one includes deities, granted power and 1st through 9th level spells appropriate for the character. The only bad thing is that there is only one prestige domain, that of Watery Death, for Blibdoolpoolp and Umberlee worshipers. My own favorite is probably the Metal Domain. With spells like Magic Weapon, Wall of Iron, Blade Barrier and Iron Body, what’s not to like? The bonus weapon proficiency and weapon focus with your choice of hammer is icing on the cake.
Since one of my players is a mage, I’ve already started using the material here. For example, Improved Mage Armor (the guy’s a Conjurer), granting the user a +3 armor bonus with an extra +1 every two levels. The nice thing about this book is that the spells fall under a wide range of classes and levels. Playing a paladin? Try Forceward and create an unmoving sphere of force about yourself. Playing an evil cleric? Try General of Undeath and control five times your caster level in undead.
Beyond spells, there are magic items. This includes new abilities for items in addition to new specific items. I hate to say it, but my favorite section is the Baneblades of Demron, a set of swords that are highly powerful but full of personality. Of these blades, my personal favorite is Morvian, a greatsword that requires the user to be lawful good and is an axiomatic weapon with the daylight ability, in addition to the standard abilities of all the blades of Demron like +4 holy, evil outside and undead bane. Nice stuff there.
Some of the other material isn’t appropriate for all campaigns. For example, there is a large amount of information on Epic levels in Faerun. This includes making all the 10 level PrCs introduced here into the epic range in addition to two new classes, the Netherese Arcanist and the Spellfire Hierophhant. Both are exceptionally powerful and I’d have to playtest more to comment on the viability of these classes, but at these levels, minimum of 22nd to even start, what really is overpowered? In addition to the PrCs, there are also new Epic Feats.
Now the section about the Cosmology of Toril is similar in scope. Unlike the standard Great Wheel, the planes are described as following a tree shape with some planes making up the trunk, roots and branches. The full-page illustration makes understanding the concept easier than reading alone. The descriptions of the landscapes are often a paragraph or two with specifics on how the gods or other powerful entities fit here in addition to planar traits.
For example, Arvandor supports the Crescent Grove where Corellon Larethian and Sehanine Moonbow reside even as you can read about game mechanics like how the Abyss has normal gravity and mixed energy traits. There’s so much information on so many planes that sometimes you could skip over something without even realizing it. For example, Lolth is famous for her Demonweb Pits, a separate plane, and no longer part of the Abyss here.
Now one chapter that I pretty much skipped over is Campaign Journal. I know that some may find it hard to believe that I didn’t give it a solid reading but to be honest, it’s my Forgotten Realms when I GM. I hardly need WoTC to tell me what’s going on, especially since my fiction reading has fallen way behind. While I’m sure that there are many who want to know about the Return of the Archwizards and the War of the Spider Queen, I don’t. It’s great information for fans of the fiction and for those who want to incorporate it, but from what friends have told me, these series haven’t concluded yet despite going on for over a year in some cases. To me, this is one of the biggest weaknesses of the Realms.
Now the appendix is a great tool for the complete collector of all things Wizards of the Coast. It includes information on how to incorporate material ranging from psionics, to Exalted Deeds and Vile Darkness. It does this by including NPC’s, organizations, prestige classes, feats, and general ideas on how it all fits into the Forgotten Realms.
I regret that I haven’t read the Expanded Psionics Handbook yet so I can’t tell you if the information here is new or old, but as much of it is role playing, it should be useful with either. I myself found the charts and details on how Vile and Exalted Deities fit into the Forgotten Realms, for example, which deity gets which domain, as well as how the archfiends and paragons fit into the Forgotten Realms, useful. One of my players is a paladin-fighter who follows or works from one of the paragons. An odd situation as those beings do not want worship but help those of pure heart slay evil.
The book closes out with some variants on how to deal with level adjustment races. The first is using powerful races at first level. In essence, you are heavily penalized with a –1 per ECL on almost everything until you gain enough experience to go past your ECL. The examples used in the book include a tielfling, who is +1 so gets a –1 to most things and a drow, whose +2 so gets a –2.
The second option is for lesser versions. They provide stats for gray dwarves, drow, planetouched and deep gnomes. These are pared down versions of the standard and the book recommends going all the way with such a change. If the players are lesser drow, the NPCs should be too. In some ways I can see that logic but in others, well, variety is the spice of life.
The book does an excellent job of updating many things but doesn’t go far enough in some aspects. For example, the initiate feat. Great start but its got to be filled out more. If there are going to be no more specialty priests of tempus as battleguards running around, at least give us some unique spells. In addition, because the fiction line hasn’t really changed that much (for example, finished the storylines), leave it out.
The book has the standard layout of a Forgotten Realms book which looks like faded parchment. It uses full color illustrations that don’t stand out in harsh contrast to the rest of the book. It makes good use of tables and illustrations to help flesh out the book. Editing looks like it could’ve been a touch better with some of the material looking suspicious compared to other bits. For example, why don’t the hit dice of the epic versions always match their standard PrCs?
This book is not for everyone. If you don’t like 3.5, then this isn’t your book. If you don’t want to compare the changes in this book with those in your old 3.0 books, this isn’t your book. Believe me, there are a lot of changes, far too many to list in feats and PrCs. If you believe that everything should be balanced, this book probably isn’t for you. The regional feats and some of the other material tends to be on the high powered side.
For players of any campaign that want more options, this is a great book. For GMs who want to keep up to date with the happenings of the Realm, this is a great book. I’ve already been using it and will continue to do so.
Now that I’ve gotten some basic information out of the way, what do I have to say about the Player’s Guide to Faerun? Put simply, if you’re a player in the Forgotten Realms, especially a new player, this great resource can generate ideas for dozens of characters. If you’re a GM, it updates a lot of the game mechanics in previous 3.0 products and adds a few new touches, not all of which everyone will agree with.
The book is broken into seven chapters with a lot of extras in the appendix. Chapter one covers races and feats. It reintroduces the idea of character regional feats and provides an excellent breakdown of race and location so that almost any type of character can be covered. In this version, regional feats are intended to be more powerful than standard ones. In addition, you can only ever have one regional feat. Something that goes against the grain but if every player has access to them, what’s the harm I figure. It can make evaluating opponents a little more tricky for the GM and does provide new Gming challenges but not overly so.
For example, in my campaign, almost all of the characters are from the Moonsea region with a few from nearby areas. Not a single player took a regional feat. Now I’m not blind. They just didn’t feel that any of their existing character meshed with the feats presented for their region and I’m sure that when the next batch of characters role out, as a GM I’ll have to veto regions left and right to avoid the dread min-maxing and of course, keep it in the campaign. “Well Tom, as we’re currently playing in the Great Glacier, what makes you think that a character from the Lake of Steam is a viable choice?”
Some of the feats are standard with a little extra thrown on top. For example, Thunder Twin is meant for Dwarves and allows the user to sense the general direction of his twin with a Wisdom check versus a DC of 12. It also gives the user a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate. In a similar vein, Silver Palm provides a +2 bonus to Appraise, Bluff and Sense Motive. A little better than a standard feat but overwhelmingly so? Not really. This isn’t to say that everything is so simple. What about Daylight Adaptation, meant for kuo-toa and the good old drow, where you don’t suffer from bright light or sunlight?
In terms of prestige class, we’ve got over two dozen to select from. Some of these are updates from previous material and some I’ve never seen before. Some are similar to other PrCs I’ve seen. For example, the Divine Champion is very much in the spirit of a Paladin, something that Librum Equitis Two covered well. Others I’ve seen from games like the Monk of the Long Death, a monk who studies the process of dying. It’s a good selection of material and GMs should have plenty of options when making villains ranging from the Maiden of Pain to the Shadow Thief of Amn.
Players also have options. One of my players decided to try out the Morninglord of Lathander. I’ve got to note that while some of the material seems overpowered, in the game it didn’t really matter. The fighters still held the high ground.
Spellcasters of all types should be well pleased. Domains and Spells introduces deity specific spells that require the cleric to have an initiate feat. The only bad thing is that some very obvious candidates for such feats were left out. For example, where is Tempus? Where’s Azuth? The ‘good’ or proper ones are covered, as are the ‘evil’ or main enemy ones. For example, we’ve got Bane, Cyric, and Malar on one side, and Helm, Ilmater, Lathander, Mystra, Selune and Tyr on the other, along with a few whose presence I question like Nature and Gond.
So what are the spells like? How about Sword and Hammer, a 4th level Tyr spell that crates two weapons of force? How about Strength of the Beast where you gain the benefits of your lycanthropic animal form while still in human form? Good stuff right?
Now one thing that WoTC have usually done well is a proper breakdown in their spell lists. This book is no different. It starts off with classes, including prestige classes from the DMG, and then by level, and then by alphabetical order. Wizard spells are further broken up by school. This doesn’t include just the spells though, but also the domains. Where domain changes have occurred from the Forgotten Realms Campaign setting, they’re noted.
Domains include balance and charm, as well as cavern and cold among others. Each one includes deities, granted power and 1st through 9th level spells appropriate for the character. The only bad thing is that there is only one prestige domain, that of Watery Death, for Blibdoolpoolp and Umberlee worshipers. My own favorite is probably the Metal Domain. With spells like Magic Weapon, Wall of Iron, Blade Barrier and Iron Body, what’s not to like? The bonus weapon proficiency and weapon focus with your choice of hammer is icing on the cake.
Since one of my players is a mage, I’ve already started using the material here. For example, Improved Mage Armor (the guy’s a Conjurer), granting the user a +3 armor bonus with an extra +1 every two levels. The nice thing about this book is that the spells fall under a wide range of classes and levels. Playing a paladin? Try Forceward and create an unmoving sphere of force about yourself. Playing an evil cleric? Try General of Undeath and control five times your caster level in undead.
Beyond spells, there are magic items. This includes new abilities for items in addition to new specific items. I hate to say it, but my favorite section is the Baneblades of Demron, a set of swords that are highly powerful but full of personality. Of these blades, my personal favorite is Morvian, a greatsword that requires the user to be lawful good and is an axiomatic weapon with the daylight ability, in addition to the standard abilities of all the blades of Demron like +4 holy, evil outside and undead bane. Nice stuff there.
Some of the other material isn’t appropriate for all campaigns. For example, there is a large amount of information on Epic levels in Faerun. This includes making all the 10 level PrCs introduced here into the epic range in addition to two new classes, the Netherese Arcanist and the Spellfire Hierophhant. Both are exceptionally powerful and I’d have to playtest more to comment on the viability of these classes, but at these levels, minimum of 22nd to even start, what really is overpowered? In addition to the PrCs, there are also new Epic Feats.
Now the section about the Cosmology of Toril is similar in scope. Unlike the standard Great Wheel, the planes are described as following a tree shape with some planes making up the trunk, roots and branches. The full-page illustration makes understanding the concept easier than reading alone. The descriptions of the landscapes are often a paragraph or two with specifics on how the gods or other powerful entities fit here in addition to planar traits.
For example, Arvandor supports the Crescent Grove where Corellon Larethian and Sehanine Moonbow reside even as you can read about game mechanics like how the Abyss has normal gravity and mixed energy traits. There’s so much information on so many planes that sometimes you could skip over something without even realizing it. For example, Lolth is famous for her Demonweb Pits, a separate plane, and no longer part of the Abyss here.
Now one chapter that I pretty much skipped over is Campaign Journal. I know that some may find it hard to believe that I didn’t give it a solid reading but to be honest, it’s my Forgotten Realms when I GM. I hardly need WoTC to tell me what’s going on, especially since my fiction reading has fallen way behind. While I’m sure that there are many who want to know about the Return of the Archwizards and the War of the Spider Queen, I don’t. It’s great information for fans of the fiction and for those who want to incorporate it, but from what friends have told me, these series haven’t concluded yet despite going on for over a year in some cases. To me, this is one of the biggest weaknesses of the Realms.
Now the appendix is a great tool for the complete collector of all things Wizards of the Coast. It includes information on how to incorporate material ranging from psionics, to Exalted Deeds and Vile Darkness. It does this by including NPC’s, organizations, prestige classes, feats, and general ideas on how it all fits into the Forgotten Realms.
I regret that I haven’t read the Expanded Psionics Handbook yet so I can’t tell you if the information here is new or old, but as much of it is role playing, it should be useful with either. I myself found the charts and details on how Vile and Exalted Deities fit into the Forgotten Realms, for example, which deity gets which domain, as well as how the archfiends and paragons fit into the Forgotten Realms, useful. One of my players is a paladin-fighter who follows or works from one of the paragons. An odd situation as those beings do not want worship but help those of pure heart slay evil.
The book closes out with some variants on how to deal with level adjustment races. The first is using powerful races at first level. In essence, you are heavily penalized with a –1 per ECL on almost everything until you gain enough experience to go past your ECL. The examples used in the book include a tielfling, who is +1 so gets a –1 to most things and a drow, whose +2 so gets a –2.
The second option is for lesser versions. They provide stats for gray dwarves, drow, planetouched and deep gnomes. These are pared down versions of the standard and the book recommends going all the way with such a change. If the players are lesser drow, the NPCs should be too. In some ways I can see that logic but in others, well, variety is the spice of life.
The book does an excellent job of updating many things but doesn’t go far enough in some aspects. For example, the initiate feat. Great start but its got to be filled out more. If there are going to be no more specialty priests of tempus as battleguards running around, at least give us some unique spells. In addition, because the fiction line hasn’t really changed that much (for example, finished the storylines), leave it out.
The book has the standard layout of a Forgotten Realms book which looks like faded parchment. It uses full color illustrations that don’t stand out in harsh contrast to the rest of the book. It makes good use of tables and illustrations to help flesh out the book. Editing looks like it could’ve been a touch better with some of the material looking suspicious compared to other bits. For example, why don’t the hit dice of the epic versions always match their standard PrCs?
This book is not for everyone. If you don’t like 3.5, then this isn’t your book. If you don’t want to compare the changes in this book with those in your old 3.0 books, this isn’t your book. Believe me, there are a lot of changes, far too many to list in feats and PrCs. If you believe that everything should be balanced, this book probably isn’t for you. The regional feats and some of the other material tends to be on the high powered side.
For players of any campaign that want more options, this is a great book. For GMs who want to keep up to date with the happenings of the Realm, this is a great book. I’ve already been using it and will continue to do so.
As I stated in a review for the FR-L, I liked this product. I liked what they did with the changes, they are much more balanced and I can't find any that I thought were bad changes. But overall, I couldn't help but be left with the feeling that this was the biggest, baddest and best web-enhancement I had ever seen. I felt like I paid for the very well done corrections to things I had already paid for. The worst part is that if someone new were thinking of buying into the FR stuff I feel they would still need all the old books with their glut of world information and this book would pretty much be the last I would suggest to help them run a good campaign.
Sean Mahoney
Sean Mahoney
