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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2008848" data-attributes="member: 18387">First, let me start out with saying that I'm reviewing this product first and foremost for what it is: "A FR Sourcebook of Magic" and not as a "Sourcebook about Magic" even though this tome certainly is both. There is no doubt that this book looses value if viewed as a generic product and/or without the FRCS. Just remember - all books carrying the FR logo REQUIRE the FRCS IN ADDITION to the 3 core rulebooks. If you buy it on any other merits than that, you shouldn't be complaining if you feel you don't get the full bang for your buck. On to the real review.... The Tome of Magic feel... When I first finished reading Magic of Faerûn, I was left with a strange feeling in my gut - one I recognised as being the same I had when I first read the 2E Tome of Magic. Anyone who's familiar with that product will know what a great compliment that would be to any product. Let's look into the meat of the book: Introduction and Chapter 1: Understanding Magic Magic of Faerûn - beautifully and originally illustrated from back to back and printed on wonderful glossy paper - starts out with an entertaining introduction by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun. We are then swirled through a 7 page guide to understanding the nature of Faerûnian magic. This includes detailed info on the gods and goddesses of Magic (especially Mystryl/Mystra/Midnight), the Fall of Netheril, the Art and the Power (Arcane and Divine) as well as the Weave, the Shadow Weave, Wild Magic, and Dead Magic. All in all - this material expands nicely on that in the FRCS and brings much more flavour to the DnD magic system (so much that I use it in any DnD campaign I run). Chapter 2: Magic Variants This chapter continues to expand on some of the concepts from the FRCS - adding flavour with short paragraphs of prose and introducing us in detail to the various forms and practices of magic:Elemental Magic: Not quite what one could hope for - but still an interesting description on how your philosophical perception of magic shapes your art. It does offer nice an easy suggestions on how to introduce elementalists without creating new PrCs....Elven High Magic: This is only touched briefly upon as Elven High Magic is due to be described in the upcoming Epic Level Handbook.  Gem Magic: Gem magic offers a versatile and very quick way of affixing spells to items through the use of the Attune Gem feat.The Mageduel: Definitely my favourite part of this chapter - Mageduels offer a simple and fast-paced way for competing spellcasters to go head-to-head without necessarily killing each other in the proces. The structure also allows for much longer and more tactical battles than would normally be possible. This is one concept you got to love....Moonfire: This is the low-point of the chapter. It's not useless - just not particularly interesting either. Moonfire is nothing but a holy salve granted to select follower's of Selûne that can be used in the creation of various special "moon" themed magic items.Rune Magic: Is included only for the sake of completeness and is fully described in the FRCS.Spellfire: Finally! Clear rules for Spellfire (yes - I know they were presented in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical) - the rules resemble the old 2E quite a bit but the real gem is that you now have clear rules on how to implement it in your games. Magic of Faerûn expands quite a bit on Spellfire in the later chapters - see below...Spellpools: This essential concept finally gives wizards a reason to band together in guilds. Very plainly described: Spellpools allow the wizard to cast spells he hasn't memorised (he just needs to keep a spell slot of the equivalent level open) by drawing on the energy of the guild's spellpool. This incurs a debt, however, that the wizard needs to repay (in the form of spells cast into the spellpool). This debt does not have to be repaid immediately and the wizards can pay ahead. This concept makes a wizard's guild a formidable opponent if they can draw upon a heavily charged spellpool. Chapter 3: Practitioners of Magic In this chapter the meat of the book really begins. New uses and DCs for existing skills are introduced as well as a few feats. Spellfire Wielder is surely an interesting addition for every DM with the nerve (or audacity) to allow such as character into my campaign.What then follows is a large section of inspiring PrCs. The Gnome Artificer revives the "tinker gnome" concept from 2E (in a well-done fashion I may add), Guild Wizards take advantage of spellpools, Harper Mages and Priests add further to the growing list of PrCs for that organisation, and the Incantatrix specialises in metamagic feats. We then get the Mage-killer - a fairly simple - but conceptually essential PrC that should prepare head-aches for quite a few wizards I imagine. The Master Alchemist - likewise conceptually essential - is a master of potion brewing and while I doubt many players will choose it, it makes a great NPC class. The Mystic Wanderer is a witch-like PrCs with lots of flavourful powers dealing with enchantments, potions and gem magic (this class may need to be scaled down a bit!). The chapter then rounds off with first the Spelldancer - a short PrCs very suited for Elves and Fey, the long-awaited Spellfire Channeler that finally allows us to customise and describe Spellfire wielders in a balanced customisable way and the War Wizards of Cormyr, a short and essential class for any FR player and DM  (and which will be of great use as martial wizards from warrior cultures as well).  Chapter 4: Places of Power This great chapter introduces us to a variety of magical sites such as Mystic Maelstroms, Fey Mounds, Mythals, Druidic Circles, Monasteries, Bard Colleges, Mage Fairs and many more. This material is of great use in most campaigns and includes detailed maps, statistics and other nifty game mechanics like the Mage Fair Events Table. Lots of great adventures is destined to spring from this chapter. Chapter 5: Spells This chapter - the main part of the book - treats us with almost 70 pages of spells (in comparison the PHB had a little less than 120 pages of spells). There's a too wide variety of spells to describe in any detail here - suffice it to say that it is VERY unlikely that you'll find nothing to love in this chapter. There are many deity specific spells (as it should be) and old favourites like Ball Lightning, Blackstaff, Black Blade of Disaster, Combust, Mass Teleport and Simbul's Spell Trigger.You'll find many great new spells such as Drown, Fiendform, Energy Transformation Field and Infestation of Maggots as well.This chapter alone should be massively useful in most any campaign and the spell list clearly beats the one's in Tome and Blood (with miles) and Relics and Rituals (with a goal of two <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ). Chapter 6: Magic Items Another useful expansion to the ever growing list of magical items and weapon and armor qualities. Even more so - you've got to love a chapter that has Berserker Blades and Cormyrean Goblintrashers. The best feature is probably that the tables included in this chapter expand upon those in the DMG - making them much easier to integrate and use if you like to roll for random magic items (and who doesn't?). In addition - we are introduced to magical spellbooks - which wizard wouldn't like a Levitating Major Resistent Dragonhide Spellbook. Finally we get a host of new magical materials ranging from a variety of gems to strange metals and woods. This chapter is really an essential add-on to the equivalent chapter in the DMG. Chapter 7: Creatures A few really nice creatures here. The Spectator returns along with the Scalamagdrion (an anti-magic dragon!). In addition to these two monsters we get three new templates: the Cryptspawn (undead creatures created by the Undeath after Death spell), The Magister (The wizard chosen to by the deities of magic to encourge ever-wider use of magic) and the good ol' Spectral Mage (a wizard given unlife through magic) a nice variation on the ghost theme. Conclusion If you love magic, you shouldn't be missing this book. It's a fabulous work that adds tremendously to any campaign.  As far as I am concerned Magic of Faerûn is the current leader of the Magical Sourcebook pack (closely followed by the BoEMI and II, well ahead of Relics and Rituals and far ahead of Tome and Blood). Spells and Spellcraft from FFG and Bastion Press's Spells and Magic are the next to explore this field - they have their work cut out ....-Zarrock</blockquote>

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