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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6758132" data-attributes="member: 5834">My friend picked this book up. I've read through it more thoroughly. I can't find much in it I would use.Fluff: Better fluff in all the previous books. There's no new fluff that is very interesting. I couldn't and wouldn't keep track of all the fluff changes if I wanted to and I don't. I use the Realms to tell stories about the characters my players are playing and I don't care what other characters are doing.Deities: Same old deities. Fewer domains which makes them seem more alike. If they wanted to make the Realms deities more interesting, they would have come up with more domains. They add the Arcana domain, then divide the small number of domains among the 40 or so gods. Makes for very boring deities. No specialty priests. Very little flavor or thought put into the religions of the Forgotten Realms. Races: The half-elf extra options were nothing that couldn't have been thought up by a DM and player in a few minutes. They added the Duergar. They talk about them walking about invisible all the time, yet it only lasts an hour. That is hardly all the time. The Duergar could have been released in the Monster Manual.Archetypes:Barbarian: Battlerager is a weak archetype. Battlerager armor is supposed to be plate armor from the books. Instead the spiked armor is some weak AC 14 armor. Bad conceptual and implemented design. Extra totems might see some use, but probably not.Bard: Lots of fluff talk about colleges. Some different instruments. Mostly useless.Cleric: One new domain with forty plus deities. Start writing domains and show some creativity. This game could use 5 or 10 more domains easily.Druid: More fluffy fluff.Fighter: Purple Dragon Knight will likely never see any use in my campaigns. Monk: A couple of decent archetypes that might see use. I guess I'll see in time. Sun Monk is better than the elemental monk. Paladin: I haven't see anyone play much besides vengeance. Oath of the Crown likely won't change that. Ranger: Not much going on with the ranger. Wish they would do something to get the beastmaster class right.Rogue: A couple of ok archetypes that might see some use, not by me, but maybe by someone. Swashbuckler too melee oriented with the limitations on rogue AC and hit points. Mastermind could be interesting in certain types of campaigns.Sorcerous Origin: Storm sorcerer might see some use. Removal of bonus spells huge minus. Shadow sorcerer was much cooler than this storm sorcerer. High level flight is pretty good though.Warlock: Undying doesn't look particularly appealing. Wizard: Bladesinger archetype looks like a good way to waste your time. I much prefer Pathfinder's Magus class which better models a bladesinger. Bladesinger and similar classes should be a five level wizard/fighter hybrid like paladins or rangers with bladesinger as an archetype. I believe making the Bladesinger an archetype of the wizard to be a poor design choice that will make it unattractive in the long run.Overall, Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide was a poorly done book that shows a real lack of creativity whether you are looking at mechanics or lore. I'm very disappointed. Last time I was purchasing WotC products was during the 3E era. From the time FR became WotC's default world, the FR books were some of their highest quality books in 2E and 3E. It's very disappointing to see such a drop in quality in all areas from those eras. I look at the FR boxed and guides from 2E as well as the region books and campaign setting from 3E, I wonder where the creativity and pride are at WotC. When I purchased the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting in the 3E era, that book made me feel like WotC was giving me a bargain. It was a big, beautifully made book with a large pullout well detailed map. I had regional feats, traits, prestige classes, spells, god information, magic items, feats, and each region had a section. It was a beautiful book that made you feel like WotC was really putting effort and money into producing an amazing book. This Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide really makes me wonder, "What happened to WotC?" I know other people have to remember the 3E FR books. I don't mean some of the insanely overpowered options like the first release of the archmage and hierophant I mean the quality of the books themselves. I felt like those books were on par with Pathfinder, heck, they were better than Pathfinder regional books. This Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is not at all on par. I get nearly as much information in a couple of issues of a Pathfinder adventure path as I received in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. What happened to the creative minds that used to put out those great books during 2E and 3E? Are they all gone?</blockquote>

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