D&D 5E (2014) What is the point of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide?

[cmad1977]

Fun?


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[I'm A Banana]

I was at my local game store and looking at the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. From what I saw, it looked like a bunch of lore for the Sword Coast. Among this lore were several things to expand the main game, such as Deurgar, 2 Rogue Archetypes (Swashbuckler and Mastermind), some cantrips, etc...

But some of what I saw seemed unfinished or not fleshed out. I saw some Bard Colleges that look like they were nothing but text, no mechanical benefit to the actual characters. Some expanded sub-races for elves and the such, but no mechanical benefits yet again.

Did it feel unfinished to everyone else? Is there a point to it other than those few game additions other than the lore? I felt like it should of been more. Needless to say, I didn't buy it.

If you want to run a campaign in the Sword Coast (the setting of choice for D&D adventures until this most recent season), it's handy. Also good if you like the mechanical options.

It's not a splatbook. 5e's not so into the splatbooks (though there'll probably be a big 'un coming down the pipe in the next year or so, I imagine).

 

[MechaPilot]

It's not a splatbook. 5e's not so into the splatbooks (though there'll probably be a big 'un coming down the pipe in the next year or so, I imagine).

There will be 'un. How big it will be remains to be seen. With the way 5e's going, I honestly expect the "biggest expansion since the core release" to be a book with 10+ feats, 5+ subclasses, maybe one class (Artificer or Psion makes sense), maybe 5+ races and/or subraces, and probably 20+ spells. If the book isn't smaller than the SCAG, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[DaveDash]

I have it and I enjoy it. They changed a lot between 3e, 4e, and 5e and its good to get a lay of the land now.

I also love all the new subclasses. I am looking forward to playing a Bladesong.

 

[bedir than]

Aerie in Baldur's Gate II was a winged elf (Avariel). I didn't know they went extinct, or were thought to of went extinct.

Who owns this book? And do you enjoy it?

5th edition did a wonderful job of bringing new people into the game and old people who haven't played for decades back to the game. These people don't own all those guides from 3rd edition and 4th edition, but the do want to know what's going on in these Forgotten Realms, in some cases it's because we forgot.

Now, I won't DM the Realms. I will play there when I must, but it isn't my favorite place because it's got too much of everything. I still bought the SCAG. I enjoyed the way the lore was narrated. Rather than an almanac or gazetteer the travelogue is a fun style. It let's you experience a place in a different way. It also leaves more to a DM to tell because one to four visits to a community don't tell you much.

The mechanics section is split. About 2/3rds of it is how to fit "Base 5th edition" into the Realms and the other third is new stuff. Both Rogues have popped into my homebrew. WotC did a fine job presenting some new backgrounds as well. It's a solid book, if just a bit over-priced when judged by page count.

I hope they do more. I don't need a huge dive into other settings. I prefer to have more influence as either a DM or a player. A huge tome prevents that.

SCAG is a good book for what it is.

 

[flametitan]

Aerie in Baldur's Gate II was a winged elf (Avariel). I didn't know they went extinct, or were thought to of went extinct.

Who owns this book? And do you enjoy it?

Not quite extinct; Think more in terms of the Jedi in the Original Trilogy. They're still around, but they're so rare that the average person will think they've been driven to extinction, or never existed to begin with.

I have the book, and I rather enjoy it, being new to the Realms myself. I thought it was full of neat ideas to start a game with, but not so much detail that I feel constrained by it.

 

[Jester David]

1) It updates the setting slightly to 5e, tiding people over until more content could be released.

2) It serves as an introduction to the Realms for people playing the storyline adventures or in the Adventurer's League.

3) It works as a player's guide to the Realms for gamers playing in that setting in himegames.

4) It provides a small amount of crunch to satisfy that craving.

5) It served as a cross-promotional product with Neverwinter and Sword Coast Legends.

 

[rgoodbb]

Among this lore were several things to expand the main game, such as Deurgar, 2 Rogue Archetypes (Swashbuckler and Mastermind), some cantrips, etc...


Quite a lot really

3 Subraces
2 Races with multiple variants
11 yes 11 Subclasses!
12 really nice Backgrounds
4 Cantrips and 1 Feat


Plus a whole world to immerse your PC's background into. 4th edition PHB2 this is not, but it doesn't pretend to be.

Really enjoyable and for me, worth the price. Maybe worth another look?

 

[CapnZapp]

You've basically just asked "Is there a point to this book besides its content?'.

No, he did not. You said those words.

What he did was to echo the very common sentiment that SCAG is very light on crunch, very light on new fluff; yet somehow not very light on price.

 

[CapnZapp]

1) It updates the setting slightly to 5e, tiding people over until more content could be released.

2) It serves as an introduction to the Realms for people playing the storyline adventures or in the Adventurer's League.

3) It works as a player's guide to the Realms for gamers playing in that setting in himegames.

4) It provides a small amount of crunch to satisfy that craving.

5) It served as a cross-promotional product with Neverwinter and Sword Coast Legends.

Just stop it Jester, it's getting ridiculous. Are you selling WotC's merchandize for them, or what?

Let's comb through your own post and see what it says, okay?

"tiding people over" is your opinion but you don't present it as such. Lots of people aren't, but you choose to ignore this.

Why would you even write "until more content could be released". The 3E FRCS was published in 2001, just one year after the edition it serves was published. It is 320 pages long, with a font size smaller than SCAG. It won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game Supplement for that year.

By any reasonable standard of comparison, we are right in being disappointed. Why do you let WotC off the hook in this case as in so many others? Why not support the very valid criticism that in roughly the same time frame, WotC has managed only to publish something "to tide us over", instead of publishing perhaps the richest and deepest campaign guide ever published, something that truly is tiding myself over even now, 14 years later?

You could have said "SCAG is a pale shadow of the FRCS'es of yesterday", yet you don't. And never do.

Moving on...

2) nothing to add here; you're right, it's an introduction. But only an introduction.
3) it does not do anything of the sort. SCAG is definitely not working as a stand-alone product - it is definitely leeching off the efforts of past editions. Introduction yes; complete campaign guide no. And as a player's guide, assuming you mean "stuff for players", meaning "crunch", it is very light. Yet none of this can be learnt from your post.
4) "It provides a small amount of crunch to satisfy that craving." Wow. You even turn the small amount into a positive. And you speak for all of us when you feel satisfied by that small amount.

You know Jester, if people still take you seriously after spewing that sales pitch...

SCAG isn't completely void of useful info. But this is a thread where the OP is asking if he has somehow missed something or if it really is that light.

A much shorter reply from you could simply have been "yes, it's much lighter than for previous editions, but I bought it anyway and recommend you do too, because it's all we're likely to get in quite some time."

Just sayin'