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<blockquote data-quote="Vigwyn the Unruly" data-source="post: 2011925" data-attributes="member: 20345"><p>I was really looking forward to this book for several reasons. First, the Forgotten Realms line has seen some of the best work that WotC has released for D&D (the FRCS and Silver Marches are both extremely good—if you don’t own them yet, go buy them now). Second, the designers were promising. Ed Greenwood, of course, is a legend and a creative genius. Darrin Drader wrote a nice little 3rd level adventure I really enjoyed running (Dry Spell, available as a free download on the WotC site). Third, I have loved scaly creatures ever since I played against the lizard men of 1e as a young child.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, while there are some nice and interesting things in this book, it was a very disappointing purchase overall.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Bad:</strong></p><p></p><p>The first part of this book consists of a detailed examination of the different scaled ones, their history in the Forgotten Realms, and their relationships to one another. The biggest new thing here is the introduction of the sarrukh as a progenitor race for most of the scaled ones on Toril. This is the major theme tying the first part of the book together.</p><p></p><p>This entire section of the book is very uninspiring, and mostly just frustrating and disappointing. It feels forced and tortuous. It is almost as if the designers were given the task of coming up with a back-story that would tie all the scaled ones together, and this was the best they could come up with off the tops of their heads. The only thing I will use from this part of the book is some of the background info on the yuan-ti.</p><p></p><p>Something that was a serious disappointment was the fact that so many of the important monsters in this section of the book come with no stat-blocks or write-ups. Instead, you have to refer back to the Monsters of Faerun or the Fiend Folio. So, to properly use this book, you will also need to own the Monsters of Faerun and the Fiend Folio—and, oh yeah—the web enhancements that update the monsters from those other two books to 3.5e. I mean, seriously, this is exactly the kind of thing that people hated about 2e. The write-ups and stat blocks for these monsters, updated for 3.5e, should have been included in this book.</p><p></p><p>A major problem with the book has to do with the sarrukh. They are supposed to be an “extraordinarily powerful” progenitor race according to the flavor text. In fact, in discussing the idea of playing sarrukh as characters, the book actually says, “all sarrukh with class levels are automatically epic-level characters.” When you turn to the new monsters section, the sarrukh stat block backs this up with a CR of 21. However, reading the actual abilities and special attacks/qualities leaves one to wonder how they came up with CR 21. This CR seems to be very inflated, and a CR of 11 or 12 is probably more appropriate for this monster as it is currently written. Moreover, the Appendix lists their level adjustment as +8!? Things like this usually don’t bother me that much (hey, mistakes happen), but given that the sarrukh constitute the major unifying theme of the book, this dichotomy is a huge and embarrassing flaw. The DM has to either figure out why the sarrukh are so weak now, and somehow weave that into the rest of the back-story, or beef them up. That’s not my job, it’s the job of the designers.</p><p></p><p>I used to look forward to the artwork in the 3e Forgotten Realms products. The art in this book is mostly pretty bad, though there are some notable exceptions. Some of the worst pieces were turned out by Kalman Andrasofszky; I’m hardly ever a fan of computer generated artwork, and these are actually <em>pixilated</em>—in a print product that just looks cheap. Some of the best pieces in the book were produced by Wayne England, who continues to put out consistently good artwork. Most of the other artists fall into the middle category: they turned out some really nice pieces, but just as many or more poor ones. This group includes Jeremy Jarvis, Thomas Baxa, and Richard Sardinha. I hope that the art directors at WotC will start to be a little more selective in terms of the pieces they accept from these artists. (The full page pieces in this book are a pet peeve of mine; they break up the “old book on parchment” feel of the FR products, and they look like ads.)</p><p></p><p>Once again, there was no index. Now, a lot of people seem not to mind the lack of an index as long as there is a good table of contents. I am not one of them. I want to be able to use my source books like reference works. They should have an index, and preferably an extensive one like in the FRCS.</p><p></p><p>The book also lacks maps. The only maps are of very specific small locations (such as a temple or a ruin) in the short “adventures” at the end of the book. I think that a lot of the fun of D&D is in the cartography. What’s more, 3e Forgotten Realms maps have been very nice. You can spend lots of time just looking them over and imagining what it’s like there. Unfortunately, you won’t get that in this book. Maps of the important areas in this book should have been included; specifically, a pull-out map of the Chultan peninsula would have been nice, along with a detailed map of the Najara region, including the Serpent Hills and the Forest of Wyrms.</p><p></p><p>The feats, PrCs, and spells in this book are all pretty pedestrian. In addition, they are mostly for DM use. You probably won’t use them at all unless you’re inspired to write a scaly themed adventure or campaign, and unfortunately, this book won’t inspire you. PCs will only be able to use most of them if you allow scaled ones as characters.</p><p></p><p>By far, the biggest problem with this book is that it was poorly edited. This is manifested in a variety of ways. Most obvious are things like frequent misspellings and failure to consistently stick to standard WotC style (such as sometimes not italicizing spells). However, the major problem is the failure to pull the book together as a coherent whole. It reads more like a collection of disorganized notes than a polished final product. This leads to reader confusion and frustration. Even some minor organizational touches would have helped. For example, the book introduces several yuan-ti words, but they are scattered throughout the chapter on yuan-ti. So if you run across the term <em>vrael olo</em> later in the book and you have forgotten what it means, good luck finding it. A table of new words (such as for Draconic in the Draconomicon) would have been very helpful here, as would an index—<em>ahem</em>. This book would have benefited greatly from a strong editorial hand.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Good:</strong></p><p></p><p>Once again, Ed Greenwood and crew have come up with a bunch of evocative place descriptions. This is what I really like about the Forgotten Realms—they are just full of interesting places. The chapter on geographical locations is laid out in a format that will be familiar to any readers of 3e FR products. This chapter is a joy to read, and is the only really inspiring part of the book. More, more, give us more. Once again, though, this part of the book would have benefited from some maps.</p><p></p><p>The book does a pretty good job of fleshing out the yuan-ti. There is a ton of information on their lifestyle, organization, outlook, etc. An entire chapter is devoted to this, and an additional chapter is devoted to ideas and advice for running a yuan-ti based campaign. I think this is the most useful aspect of the book. Much of this could be fairly easily disentangled from the rest of the book and used in basically any campaign setting and without the rest of the sarrukh-based scheme.</p><p></p><p>The book contains a number of short “adventures” that are really more like detailed location descriptions with ready-made NPCs and maps. In addition, there are many ready-to-use NPCs scattered throughout the book. I have to give WotC kudos on this. I really love getting interesting NPCs, monsters with class levels, advanced monsters, etc., in my books. After all, I buy books so I won’t have to do all of the work myself, and this kind of thing really increases the value of a book. Give me a bunch already made and rules to make more of my own if I want them. Unfortunately, most of the NPCs in the book suffer from being too powerful. One or two very powerful NPCs is OK, because they can be used as background, plothooks, etc., but please give me a bunch that my players can actually defeat or use as less powerful allies.</p><p></p><p>As always, the physical quality of the book is very good. The pages are of a nice thick stock with a glossy finish. The binding is intact and feels solid. The cover is the standard 3e FR cover, which I like. I want to give WotC kudos here. Many publishers skimp on the physical part of the book and it shows. However, WotC consistently puts out a physically beautiful book with a solid, quality feel. Even though I probably won’t use this book much, I’m proud to have it on my shelf.</p><p></p><p>Many of the new monsters in this book are pretty cool. There are two things I like to see in collections of monsters. First, give me a lot of low level monsters. They are useful as solo encounters against low level PCs, and as minions or in larger groups against higher level PCs. We need a wider variety of these monsters in D&D. Second, I like to see monsters with interesting special attacks and special qualities. This book has a good selection of both. (As an aside, Monster Manual III also has a bunch of good monsters in it—if you don’t own it yet, you should buy it.)</p><p></p><p>Finally, the six-page Appendix is very nice. It contains a list of historical eras of the Forgotten Realms, details on the deities of the scaled ones (including a “pantheon-style” table), and a table of racial traits for scaled ones. This last bit is especially useful for PCs. It contains info on 13 scaled ones suitable for use as PCs, including several monsters from other sources (e.g., Monsters of Faerun and Fiend Folio).</p><p></p><p><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p><p></p><p>While there are some very nice things in this book, all-in-all it is a pretty big disappointment for me. I almost wrote that I wish I had my $29.95 back. But what I <em>really</em> wish is that this project had been done right. The attempt to tie all of the scaled ones together was completely unnecessary; moreover, it was poorly executed. Unfortunately, I guess it is now “canon” and will become part of FR history.</p><p></p><p>I would like to give this book a 2.5, meaning that it is a poor book overall, but with some good bits and pieces. However, there is no 2.5 option, so in the grand tradition of D&D I am rounding down.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Vigwyn the Unruly, post: 2011925, member: 20345"] I was really looking forward to this book for several reasons. First, the Forgotten Realms line has seen some of the best work that WotC has released for D&D (the FRCS and Silver Marches are both extremely good—if you don’t own them yet, go buy them now). Second, the designers were promising. Ed Greenwood, of course, is a legend and a creative genius. Darrin Drader wrote a nice little 3rd level adventure I really enjoyed running (Dry Spell, available as a free download on the WotC site). Third, I have loved scaly creatures ever since I played against the lizard men of 1e as a young child. Unfortunately, while there are some nice and interesting things in this book, it was a very disappointing purchase overall. [b]The Bad:[/b] The first part of this book consists of a detailed examination of the different scaled ones, their history in the Forgotten Realms, and their relationships to one another. The biggest new thing here is the introduction of the sarrukh as a progenitor race for most of the scaled ones on Toril. This is the major theme tying the first part of the book together. This entire section of the book is very uninspiring, and mostly just frustrating and disappointing. It feels forced and tortuous. It is almost as if the designers were given the task of coming up with a back-story that would tie all the scaled ones together, and this was the best they could come up with off the tops of their heads. The only thing I will use from this part of the book is some of the background info on the yuan-ti. Something that was a serious disappointment was the fact that so many of the important monsters in this section of the book come with no stat-blocks or write-ups. Instead, you have to refer back to the Monsters of Faerun or the Fiend Folio. So, to properly use this book, you will also need to own the Monsters of Faerun and the Fiend Folio—and, oh yeah—the web enhancements that update the monsters from those other two books to 3.5e. I mean, seriously, this is exactly the kind of thing that people hated about 2e. The write-ups and stat blocks for these monsters, updated for 3.5e, should have been included in this book. A major problem with the book has to do with the sarrukh. They are supposed to be an “extraordinarily powerful” progenitor race according to the flavor text. In fact, in discussing the idea of playing sarrukh as characters, the book actually says, “all sarrukh with class levels are automatically epic-level characters.” When you turn to the new monsters section, the sarrukh stat block backs this up with a CR of 21. However, reading the actual abilities and special attacks/qualities leaves one to wonder how they came up with CR 21. This CR seems to be very inflated, and a CR of 11 or 12 is probably more appropriate for this monster as it is currently written. Moreover, the Appendix lists their level adjustment as +8!? Things like this usually don’t bother me that much (hey, mistakes happen), but given that the sarrukh constitute the major unifying theme of the book, this dichotomy is a huge and embarrassing flaw. The DM has to either figure out why the sarrukh are so weak now, and somehow weave that into the rest of the back-story, or beef them up. That’s not my job, it’s the job of the designers. I used to look forward to the artwork in the 3e Forgotten Realms products. The art in this book is mostly pretty bad, though there are some notable exceptions. Some of the worst pieces were turned out by Kalman Andrasofszky; I’m hardly ever a fan of computer generated artwork, and these are actually [i]pixilated[/i]—in a print product that just looks cheap. Some of the best pieces in the book were produced by Wayne England, who continues to put out consistently good artwork. Most of the other artists fall into the middle category: they turned out some really nice pieces, but just as many or more poor ones. This group includes Jeremy Jarvis, Thomas Baxa, and Richard Sardinha. I hope that the art directors at WotC will start to be a little more selective in terms of the pieces they accept from these artists. (The full page pieces in this book are a pet peeve of mine; they break up the “old book on parchment” feel of the FR products, and they look like ads.) Once again, there was no index. Now, a lot of people seem not to mind the lack of an index as long as there is a good table of contents. I am not one of them. I want to be able to use my source books like reference works. They should have an index, and preferably an extensive one like in the FRCS. The book also lacks maps. The only maps are of very specific small locations (such as a temple or a ruin) in the short “adventures” at the end of the book. I think that a lot of the fun of D&D is in the cartography. What’s more, 3e Forgotten Realms maps have been very nice. You can spend lots of time just looking them over and imagining what it’s like there. Unfortunately, you won’t get that in this book. Maps of the important areas in this book should have been included; specifically, a pull-out map of the Chultan peninsula would have been nice, along with a detailed map of the Najara region, including the Serpent Hills and the Forest of Wyrms. The feats, PrCs, and spells in this book are all pretty pedestrian. In addition, they are mostly for DM use. You probably won’t use them at all unless you’re inspired to write a scaly themed adventure or campaign, and unfortunately, this book won’t inspire you. PCs will only be able to use most of them if you allow scaled ones as characters. By far, the biggest problem with this book is that it was poorly edited. This is manifested in a variety of ways. Most obvious are things like frequent misspellings and failure to consistently stick to standard WotC style (such as sometimes not italicizing spells). However, the major problem is the failure to pull the book together as a coherent whole. It reads more like a collection of disorganized notes than a polished final product. This leads to reader confusion and frustration. Even some minor organizational touches would have helped. For example, the book introduces several yuan-ti words, but they are scattered throughout the chapter on yuan-ti. So if you run across the term [i]vrael olo[/i] later in the book and you have forgotten what it means, good luck finding it. A table of new words (such as for Draconic in the Draconomicon) would have been very helpful here, as would an index—[i]ahem[/i]. This book would have benefited greatly from a strong editorial hand. [b]The Good:[/b] Once again, Ed Greenwood and crew have come up with a bunch of evocative place descriptions. This is what I really like about the Forgotten Realms—they are just full of interesting places. The chapter on geographical locations is laid out in a format that will be familiar to any readers of 3e FR products. This chapter is a joy to read, and is the only really inspiring part of the book. More, more, give us more. Once again, though, this part of the book would have benefited from some maps. The book does a pretty good job of fleshing out the yuan-ti. There is a ton of information on their lifestyle, organization, outlook, etc. An entire chapter is devoted to this, and an additional chapter is devoted to ideas and advice for running a yuan-ti based campaign. I think this is the most useful aspect of the book. Much of this could be fairly easily disentangled from the rest of the book and used in basically any campaign setting and without the rest of the sarrukh-based scheme. The book contains a number of short “adventures” that are really more like detailed location descriptions with ready-made NPCs and maps. In addition, there are many ready-to-use NPCs scattered throughout the book. I have to give WotC kudos on this. I really love getting interesting NPCs, monsters with class levels, advanced monsters, etc., in my books. After all, I buy books so I won’t have to do all of the work myself, and this kind of thing really increases the value of a book. Give me a bunch already made and rules to make more of my own if I want them. Unfortunately, most of the NPCs in the book suffer from being too powerful. One or two very powerful NPCs is OK, because they can be used as background, plothooks, etc., but please give me a bunch that my players can actually defeat or use as less powerful allies. As always, the physical quality of the book is very good. The pages are of a nice thick stock with a glossy finish. The binding is intact and feels solid. The cover is the standard 3e FR cover, which I like. I want to give WotC kudos here. Many publishers skimp on the physical part of the book and it shows. However, WotC consistently puts out a physically beautiful book with a solid, quality feel. Even though I probably won’t use this book much, I’m proud to have it on my shelf. Many of the new monsters in this book are pretty cool. There are two things I like to see in collections of monsters. First, give me a lot of low level monsters. They are useful as solo encounters against low level PCs, and as minions or in larger groups against higher level PCs. We need a wider variety of these monsters in D&D. Second, I like to see monsters with interesting special attacks and special qualities. This book has a good selection of both. (As an aside, Monster Manual III also has a bunch of good monsters in it—if you don’t own it yet, you should buy it.) Finally, the six-page Appendix is very nice. It contains a list of historical eras of the Forgotten Realms, details on the deities of the scaled ones (including a “pantheon-style” table), and a table of racial traits for scaled ones. This last bit is especially useful for PCs. It contains info on 13 scaled ones suitable for use as PCs, including several monsters from other sources (e.g., Monsters of Faerun and Fiend Folio). [b]Conclusion:[/b] While there are some very nice things in this book, all-in-all it is a pretty big disappointment for me. I almost wrote that I wish I had my $29.95 back. But what I [i]really[/i] wish is that this project had been done right. The attempt to tie all of the scaled ones together was completely unnecessary; moreover, it was poorly executed. Unfortunately, I guess it is now “canon” and will become part of FR history. I would like to give this book a 2.5, meaning that it is a poor book overall, but with some good bits and pieces. However, there is no 2.5 option, so in the grand tradition of D&D I am rounding down. [/QUOTE]
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