Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide: The First Official D&D 5E Setting

Yes, it is new, I was just creating a thread for it myself.

 

[Barantor]

Seems like they did this purely to tie in to the video game, gonna pass.

 

[justinj3x3]

Seems like they did this purely to tie in to the video game, gonna pass.

That occurred to me too, but after a year it's good to see WOTC put out ANYTHING.

 

[Staffan]

Not that excited. I for one had hopes on books that were entire settings. Not only that, but that area of the world has like . . . a bunch of sourcebooks.

Actually, it doesn't. OK, the northern Sword Coast (Waterdeep and north of that) is fairly well covered, but information on the southern part (formerly known as Western Heartlands) is surprisingly hard to come by. The sources are mainly:

* The relevant parts of the various setting books/boxes.
* Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast (which focuses a lot on "touristy" information).
* Forgotten Realms Adventures (the 1e-to-2e update book on FR, which also had two-page descriptions of cities/towns across the Heartlands - but pretty much nothing on the lands in between the settlements).

That's pretty much it. There are scattered details across other sourcebooks - for example, a book about mercenaries might have a mercenary company based in the Western Heartland (or it might not - I can't remember), but there's precious little about the area itself.

 

[designbot]

I wonder if their work on this product is what prompted them to change the map scale midway through work on the Princes of the Apocalypse.

 

[Morrus]

That occurred to me too, but after a year it's good to see WOTC put out ANYTHING.

A year? They've put out 6 hardcovers and a boxed set in 10 months. And licensed two DM screens and a bunch of card sets. Another hardcover in a couple of weeks. Then this is also coming, too, in November! Loads of stuff!

 

[Paraxis]

I wont read a word of the setting material but I am looking forward to the new crunch.

I hope the bladesinger is very close the 4e version of that class, it wasn't very optimal but it was sure fun to play.

 

[justinj3x3]

A year? They've put out 6 hardcovers and a boxed set in 10 months. And licensed two DM screens and a bunch of card sets. Another hardcover in a couple of weeks. Then this is also coming, too, in November! Loads of stuff!

Oh Morrus, I'm being positive and happy here. Do we really need to start debating about how all the products besides the core books DM screen and starter set were outsourced.

I'll rephrase....

That occurred to me too, but after a year it's good to see WOTC put out ANYTHING without it being outsourced.

Is that better?

And you knew exactly what I meant.

 

[Lancelot]

I'll (probably) buy it for new PC options, but the setting information is of limited value for my homebrew. On the upside, at least it's focused on one of the only areas of the Forgotten Realms in which I actually have some interest. That's thanks to the CRPGs: Neverwinter Nights, NWN 2, Baldur's Gate, Eye of the Beholder, etc. A book focused on Cormyr, the Dalelands, Rashemen, Mulhorand, etc would probably be an automatic no-buy for me, even if it had some generic PC options that could be imported into another campaign. I doubt I'd feel I was getting my money's worth.

Things that will further elevate the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide in my eyes: some new monsters, good quality maps of the major cities (sufficient to capture their unique character; not list every single location of interest), new cleric domains, and anything that references lore from the CRPGs (e.g. Bhaalspawn, Sarevok, Minsc and Boo, the pirate captains and wizards of Luskan, the Mere of Dead Men, Xanathar the Beholder, the Temple of Darkmoon, Undermountain, Halaster, etc).

 

[Jester David]

I just hope Sword Coast Legends doesn't get delayed too long. Of course, it's currently aimed at late September, so they have a couple months of wiggle room.

It's a curious idea for a product. An update on the Realms AND a campaign sourcebook (coming out to months after the campaign book (and thus too late for Encounters to use) AND a splatbook for everyone.
This makes the product sound rather... bloated actually. And the $40 price suggests it'll be in the 250-page range They can't possibly do the Realms justice in that short of space and provide enough PC content to satisfy people.

Seems like they did this purely to tie in to the video game, gonna pass.

They did the same thing for the Neverwinter book and that was quality. You'd never know it was timed to coincide with the planned release.
And all their adventures seem to be set on the Sword Coast region, so it ties into the focus of most of their recent products.

 

[greylurk]

That occurred to me too, but after a year it's good to see WOTC put out ANYTHING without it being outsourced.

Well, actually this is a Green Ronin partnership, according to the announcement.