D&D 5E On the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

[MerricB]

My first experiences with the Forgotten Realms were during the late 1980s, just after the Campaign Set was released, although I drifted away once 2E came along. I've got the original Campaign Set books sitting next to me as I type, and it's amazing to see how little information is in them on many of the places that would later become quite important.

Cormyr is one of the few places to get an extended description - almost three pages! - and that's a lot more than the two-thirds of a page devoted to Waterdeep (although, admittedly, the book was written with the knowledge that a lot more information on Waterdeep was about to be released).

In comparison, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide gives a lot more information about the places it's concerned with. Luskan gets three pages! It's really a book I would have liked new players to the Realms to have sitting next to them as they played through Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the storyline so far that has really shown off the Sword Coast.

I've written a bit more about the Sword Coast Adventurers's Guide on my blog, but I'm enjoying it a great deal. I love the way it's written. I find it very easy to read, and it's proving a wonderful companion to all the Realms adventures I've been playing over the last few years.

Are there things that could be improved? Absolutely - including the horrid printing of the map - but this is a book that makes me very happy to read and have in my possession.

Cheers!

 

[wedgeski]

I agree! With all the negativity around here I didn't buy it sight-unseen, but it only took a couple of minutes' browsing in my FLGS to decide it was worth the purchase. A very nicely done, very targeted product.

 

[Uchawi]

It really depends on what you want out of a book and when considering specific views on maps, crunch or story. We have discussed a diverse set of viewpoints on Enworld in regards to what purchasers of the book wanted. It does not make specific viewpoints wrong, but there is only so much you can get out of controlled content release over a longer period of time.

 

[wedgeski]

It really depends on what you want out of a book and when considering specific views on maps, crunch or story. We have discussed a diverse set of viewpoints on Enworld in regards to what purchasers of the book wanted. It does not make specific viewpoints wrong, but there is only so much you can get out of controlled content release over a longer period of time.

Well let's not rehash all of that. For me, personally, it's a very nice product, and surprisingly dense with info.

 

[Celtavian]

It is likely a good product for a new FR fan. Smaller than a giant book like the 3E FRCS, yet enough information to introduce a new FR fan to the Sword Coast region. And that was probably the target market since 5E seems to be focused on retaining as much of the old fan base as possible, while trying to attract a new younger fan base to carry the game into the next decades.

It wasn't useful to me as a long time FR fan highly familiar with the setting mostly because I don't care about the fluff much since there is as much FR fluff as I'll ever need to do anything I want. I didn't and won't purchase it because I found the mechanics uninteresting creatively and mechanically. I felt it would find little use at my table. The available options felt lacking. I might have rewrite a few into something else like the Bladesinger. I don't think the Bladesinger is a wizard archetype. I wish 5E had a Magus hybrid class to build a Bladesinger off of. It may be some time before WotC starts making hybrids other than as archetypes.

 

[Rhenny]

Nice post, MerricB. I think someone in some review said it best when he/she stated that The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide did what it set out to do well. It was written for the player, not necessarily the DM. It gives enough information about locations without dwelling heavily on minute detail. It provides very well-integrated character options (including specific world related sub-classes and backgrounds).

I really do like it although, I feel that it is a little expensive for what it does. To me, this book develops about 1/3 of what the PHB develops..so I'd like to see it priced closer to $20/25...rather than over $35/40 - even if it meant making a paperback version or softer cover version. For most people, I think it is the character options that sparkle.

 

[darjr]

Also with mixed reviews it might not get a second printing, so if you think you might want one I'd get it sooner rather than later.

 

[Parmandur]

It is likely a good product for a new FR fan. Smaller than a giant book like the 3E FRCS, yet enough information to introduce a new FR fan to the Sword Coast region. And that was probably the target market since 5E seems to be focused on retaining as much of the old fan base as possible, while trying to attract a new younger fan base to carry the game into the next decades.



It wasn't useful to me as a long time FR fan highly familiar with the setting mostly because I don't care about the fluff much since there is as much FR fluff as I'll ever need to do anything I want. I didn't and won't purchase it because I found the mechanics uninteresting creatively and mechanically. I felt it would find little use at my table. The available options felt lacking. I might have rewrite a few into something else like the Bladesinger. I don't think the Bladesinger is a wizard archetype. I wish 5E had a Magus hybrid class to build a Bladesinger off of. It may be some time before WotC starts making hybrids other than as archetypes.

In what way other than subclasses would they? They're working on the Artificer, the Mystic and the Neo-Ranger, but other than those Mearls has made it pretty clear that new classes really aren't on the horizon, that space is for subclasses.

 

[Guest 6801718]

I can only speak for my group, but we really like the book. I've run various FR games for my groups since AD&D. So I'm fairly familiar with the Realms. Though I'm not currently the DM for my group. Our DM wanted to take a shot at running the Realms for the first time. So I picked up SCAG, looking to add some Realms flavor to our group. We found that the player options fit really well into our already established concepts and added some Realms flavor. The kind of broad strokes overview of some of the areas of FR are really handy for my DM. So for us, this was the right book at the right time. I found things like using the player content in other setting to be very helpful and an unexpected bonus for the book. For us, this book works really well and we love it.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Mine arrived yesterday, and I'm loving it. I still have my 3E FRCS nearby for reference, but this one is perfect for offering to a player just starting to create a new character for a Realms game. Good job, Wizards.