I’ve never really been a fan of the Forgotten Realms. I bought the AD&D 2nd Edition setting primarily because a friend gave me a couple FR adventure modules and I wanted to be sure I was familiar with the setting. As it turned out, however, that particular boxed set had a tendency to gather dust on my shelf for months at a time.
I was therefore not planning to buy the new incarnation of the setting – especially given its rather steep price. But that, I suppose, only proves the point I’ll be striving to make: the Realms have changed.
Yes, this book managed to accomplish something none of its predecessors could ever manage – it caught my attention straight off. The minute I pulled the book off the shelf (figuring I’d flip through it to convince myself that it wasn’t worth the effort and put it back), I was captivated. Where previous editions of the setting had focused on what various NPCs were up to and what had happened recently in the Realms’ esoteric metaplot, this new version was all about the characters. Yes, there was setting information; yes, there was a history chapter; but these were the icing on the cake rather than the whole bloody thing.
As might be expected, the first things to catch my eye were the sections on characters. The FR setting book introduces a variety of new character races; in addition to several variations on the core species and updated versions of tieflings and aasimar, it adds four versions of genasi – the product, in essence, of matings between humans and elementally-based genies. This section also discusses the concept of “effective character level” or ECL. Essentially, some species (such as genasi, of course; also drow, duergar, svirfneblin, etc.) start at a higher effective level – for example, a 1st-level drow rogue would actually be considered a 3rd-level character. This idea was touched upon in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, of course, but it was nice to see it given better treatment. (One thing I did find irritating – the authors neglected to mention how they determined the ECLs of the races in the Characters chapter and the species mentioned as possible PC races in the Running the Realms chapter. I would really like to see some hard and fast rules for assigning effective levels to various monsters.)
While no new core classes are added, the professions from the Player’s Handbook are discussed briefly – mainly in order to clarify how they tend to operate in the Realms and which regions tend to have them in abundance. The concept of “character regions” is discussed; depending on which area a given PC calls home, he has access to different languages, feats and equipment. 13 new prestige classes are also introduced, and all seem quite worthwhile. The Red Wizard, Hathran and Purple Dragon Knight classes all caught my fancy in particular.
Oh, yes – a number of new feats have been published in the new book, and once again, I can’t really find any I have a problem with. One or two might seem mildly redundant upon first glance (the Artist feat comes to mind – my first thought was, why not just take Skill Focus [Perform]?), but even these generally turn out to be worthwhile (upon closer inspection I found that the Artist feat grants a 2 bonus to both Perform and one art-related Craft skill, so it is indeed as useful as Skill Focus in the right circumstances, if not more so).
Since the Forgotten Realms are a land of high fantasy and magic, a good deal of emphasis is placed on this subject. Naturally the dead magic and wild magic zones found in the 2nd Edition version are described; the book also discusses such intriguing topics as spellfire (raw energy that can be wielded by some fortunate mages), the Shadow Weave (a sort of “negative space” within the tapestry of the Realms’ magic from which a few spellcasters – mainly minions of the dark goddess Shar – can draw power), and circle magic, rituals involving multiple spellcasters which can enhance the leader’s power. Elven high magic is touched upon but unfortunately not discussed in great detail – I was especially annoyed by the fact that the book kept referring to “mythals” but no one ever adequately explained what in the world a “mythal” is. However, the lack of information in the section on elven magic is more than made up for by the great detail and attention given to the entries on portals (more or less what they sound like – gateways that can transport folk anywhere under the proper conditions) and the rune magic wielded by shield dwarves. And of course a nice variety of new clerical domains, divine spells and arcane spells are introduced, though one spell mentioned in the profile of Elminster printed near the front of the book was not ultimately detailed.
A few new mundane items (but sadly, no magical items that I can see) are introduced; I was particularly amused by the fact that contraceptives (for both males and females!) were described. (Frankly, this makes me wonder just what went on in the designers’ games…) Rules for firearms in the Realms are provided; I was mildly disappointed when I found that smokepowder was not described in great detail, but if I am correct in thinking that it’s ultimately just like gunpowder, it’s ultimately no big deal.
I called the setting information the icing on the cake, and I did mean that. In previous versions, I found the descriptions of various nations to be rather dull; this has changed dramatically. The overview of each region is clear, crisp and concise, and often quite fascinating. I wish they could have gone into more detail in some areas, but this is of course a core book, so basic overviews are really the best one can expect. The designers even touched briefly on the regions beyond the Realms (though as an Al-Qadim fan I would have been happier if they’d given a nice fat section over to Zakhara – unreasonable, I know, but I would’ve like to see it). The poster map included with the book actually turned out to be quite lovely; the pictures I’d seen of it didn’t do it justice at all.
Moving right along, an entire chapter is devoted to life on the continent of Faerun; everything from daily activities to timekeeping is described therein, and this section really does help the setting come to life. On the other hand, the history chapter, while somewhat useful, still didn’t capture my imagination as the rest of the book did…but it was mercifully short. I was glad to see less emphasis placed on NPCs – yes, the more famous Faerunians (Elminster, Storm Silverhand, Drizzt, etc.) are described in various sections of the book, but the designers didn’t give quite as much space over to them as they have in the past. (And the adventures, which I’ll go into shortly, didn’t involve the big-time NPC heroes at all, which was very nice.)
I do wish, however, that more emphasis had been placed on the deities of the Realms. The chapter on gods covers the entire Faerunian pantheon, and a few alternate pantheons, very briefly, but only discusses a handful of gods and goddesses in any great detail. My disappointment in this section is tempered somewhat by the inclusion of a discussion on the cosmology of the setting as well as the afterlife faced by most Faerunians.
The organizations described in the book were very interesting indeed; I was already familiar with the major ones, of course, but all of the descriptions were well-written and captivating. I’m rather impressed with the new direction the Red Wizards of Thay are taking – while in previous incarnations they were yet another Evil Wizard’s Union (Local 246), the Red Wizards of the new, improved setting are far more devious and dangerous. They seem to have adopted a policy of quiet infiltration rather than open conflict, and have managed to open enclaves in other nations under the pretense of selling magic items. Very clever indeed.
Now on to the adventures included in the book: The Color of Ambition and Green Bones. The former is a rather short quest for low-level characters involving a Red Wizard enclave and some missing people; and when I say short, I mean three and a half pages. Any DM who decides to run this adventure will likely need or want to do a good bit of preparation before sending her players through. Green Bones, an adventure for 16th-level characters, is a couple pages longer (including the map) and somewhat more impressive. I probably won’t use either; I’d much rather write my own adventures.
Of course, if you can’t come up with a good Forgotten Realms adventure, you can always flip through the Running the Realms chapter, which describes in brief a number of infamous locations throughout the land. It also has tips on timekeeping, terrain types, running campaigns and much more. Experienced DMs can probably skip most of this chapter but may find one or two things of use.
Finally, a number of monsters native to the Realms are described, such as zombie beholders (death tyrants – one of my favorite 2nd Edition monsters) and dracoliches (which are now a template rather than a single monster). I was confused by one bit, however – the smallest rothe (a herd animal rather like a buffalo, based on the picture) detailed in this chapter is Medium-size, or roughly on par with a human when it comes to size. However, in one of R.A. Salvatore’s novels, Drizzt eats fully half of a rothe, which implies to me that they’re somewhat smaller. Is there a midget version native to the Underdark, perhaps? And if so, why wasn’t it described?
For those who care about such things, the art is quite delightful. Sam Wood in particular appears to be steadily improving (I was mildly disappointed by his illustrations in the core rulebooks). I spent several minutes flipping through the book just looking at the pretty pictures. Also, the pages don’t have those annoying lines found in the core books and the text seems easier to read because of it.
I’m not sure I’ve successfully conveyed to you just how wonderful this book is, despite its flaws, but I’d like to assure you that I was very impressed by it – more so than my words may be able to express. I may just end up running a Forgotten Realms campaign after all. Is it worth forty bucks? Some might argue that it is not; and I do wish it was cheaper. But when I ask myself if I regret spending so much on a single campaign setting, the answer is a resounding no. If you can find it for less, go for it, but if not – well, in my humble opinion, this delightful little book is worth every penny.
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