D&D 5E (2024) Here's The Covers of BOTH of November's Forgotten Realms Books

We've known for some time that in November, WotC will be releasing not one but two Forgotten Realms books--one aimed at players, the other at Dungeon Masters. Thanks to Game Informer, we now have a look at the covers of Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerun and Forgotten Realms: Adventures in Faerun. The article showcases more art, and is well worth checking out--and for those who want more, the print magazine has a full feature previewing the books.

 

[Corinnguard]

That looks cool! Where is that from?

I came across it on Yahoo Images. I tried accessing the webpage it came from but ran into a dead end.

If this fella was in 5e, I could picture it having a breath weapon made of heated sap. Adventurers who failed their saving throw would not only suffer from Fire damage, but they would also find themselves entangled as the sap hardened.

 

[TravDoc42]

I came across it on Yahoo Images. I tried accessing the webpage it came from but ran into a dead end.

If this fella was in 5e, I could picture it having a breath weapon made of heated sap. Adventurers who failed their saving throw would not only suffer from Fire damage, but they would also find themselves entangled as the sap hardened.

I think there's an amber dragon in 2e that breathes heated sap?

 

[Demetrios1453]

View attachment 412490
On a side note, is that supposed to be a green dragon? The antlers are odd. I wonder if that's a spirit dragon?

The closest thing I can find is the emerald dragon in Bigby's, which has roughly the same coloration (dark green on top/back, pale on the bottom/stomach), but the horns are definitely not a match - an emerald dragon's horns are floating crystals, and not branched.

I was also possibly thinking moonstone dragon, but the coloration is different, and they only have a single horn in the back.

It's definitely not a spirit dragon, as they don't have any wings. Granted, they haven't been around since early 3e, so maybe they'll retcon that, but not having wings was a hallmark of the various lung dragons (the ones broadly based on Chinese dragons).

 

[TravDoc42]

The closest thing I can find is the emerald dragon in Bigby's, which has roughly the same coloration (dark green on top/back, pale on the bottom/stomach), but the horns are definitely not a match - an emerald dragon's horns are floating crystals, and not branched.

I was also possibly thinking moonstone dragon, but the coloration is different, and they only have a single horn in the back.

That really has me thinking that it's a sneak peek of the spirit dragons they mentioned in the Game Informer article!

 

[Demetrios1453]

That really has me thinking that it's a sneak peek of the spirit dragons they mentioned in the Game Informer article!

Oh, sorry, I must have been editing when you quoted the post. As I said, it's nothing like the old 1e - 3e spirit dragons, which didn't possess wings.

 

[TravDoc42]

Oh, sorry, I must have been editing when you quoted the post. As I said, it's nothing like the old 1e - 3e spirit dragons, which didn't possess wings.

Oh shoot, I definitely missed that!! Good point!!

Well, I guess that might mean two new types of dragons in the book?

 

[Corinnguard]

I think there's an amber dragon in 2e that breathes heated sap?

Lunar Games' Endless Realms: Creature Compendium for 5e has an Amber Dragon.

Endless Realms bestiary - Amber Dragon by jocarra on DeviantArt

www.deviantart.com

Its' Amber Breath is a golden gel that rapidly hardens to stone in a 60ft. cone. In addition to the bludgeoning damage, a target creature is affected as if they were hit with the Flesh to Stone spell.

In addition to the Amber dragon, the Endless Realms: Creature Compendium has a lot of other dragons in it.

Amber, Amethyst, Chaos, Citrine, Death, Earth, Emerald, Fairy, Fire, Frost, Opal, Order, Prismatic, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Sapphire, Storm, Topaz, Water and Wind. The Gem Dragons in this book aren't psionic in nature.

Here's their website btw: Business

 

[Remathilis]

There's also a lot of expectation riding on it. No FRCS type book 15+ years and the last one was a dud.

This means the books are probably going to be compared to the 3.0 FRCS. It's cover holds up today and it's generally regarded as one of the best ever (and 3.0 isn't well regarded generally).

4e Forgotten Realms books says "what am I, a joke to you?!" (Actually don't answer that.)

I have a confession to make: I'm not a big fan of the 3e FRCS. It's a mile wide and an inch deep. It's horrible to navigate without the index, gives enough info on an area to be encompassing, but not enough to actually use an area without additional sources, and feels like an encyclopedia with prettier pictures. And that size 6 font seals the deal. For the same size and density, I much preferred how the Eberron book gave me better actionable info by keeping the focus more narrow and I actually liked the Sword Coast Guide in the fact it gave me far greater feel for the SC than the FRCS did.

I've got high hopes for the new book focusing on a few areas in detail rather than repeating 3e's limited info over the entire world.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

4e Forgotten Realms books says "what am I, a joke to you?!" (Actually don't answer that.)

I have a confession to make: I'm not a big fan of the 3e FRCS. It's a mile wide and an inch deep. It's horrible to navigate without the index, gives enough info on an area to be encompassing, but not enough to actually use an area without additional sources, and feels like an encyclopedia with prettier pictures. And that size 6 font seals the deal. For the same size and density, I much preferred how the Eberron book gave me better actionable info by keeping the focus more narrow and I actually liked the Sword Coast Guide in the fact it gave me far greater feel for the SC than the FRCS did.

I've got high hopes for the new book focusing on a few areas in detail rather than repeating 3e's limited info over the entire world.

Actually I've been looking at the ToC of both 3e & 4e FR setting books and all evidence suggests in many ways FR: AiF will resemble 4e more then 3e, in that if you look through the 3e ToC most of the type of content in alot of chapters actually will be shifted to the FR: HoF book, just like 4e FRCG shifted those kinds of chapters to it's players Guide.

A bigger chunk of 4e FRCG is devoted to geography then 3e FRSG, even though 3e FRSG is a fair sized bigger book.

FR: AiF is a mix of the best of both perhaps, splitting the book like FRCS and FRPG, but the higher page count of the FRSG, so the breadth and depth should be higher then either. Imagine if FRCS was 320 Pages, plus DLCs.

 

[Parmandur]

feels like an encyclopedia with prettier pictures.

As somebody who read the Encyclopedia for fun as a child...that is kind of a fun part?

But, yes, hopefully these books take more of a cue form the game able structure of the new core books.