Went to my Favorite Local Game Store yesterday. They were doing downtown business trick or treating, oh, and I picked up the new D&D 5.5 Forgotten Realms books.
I have actually been looking forward to getting these. I'll save a long and detailed review for a later date when they come up in my regular explorations into the Realms.
The Shadow of Baldur's Gate
If you were new to the Forgotten Realms and this was your first exposure, you would be excused in thinking that Karlach Cliffgate, the tiefling barbarian with a heart of gold (well, really a heart of infernal machinery), was the most important character in the Realms.
And she is. Full Stop.
But seriously. Karlach is all over these two books. There is one picture of Elminster, maybe one or two of Drizzt, one of The Simbul, a few of the D&D cartoon kids, and a ton of Karlach, with some more of Shadowheart, Astarion, and even Enver Gortash. Even Duke Ravengard gets a couple more than his son Wyl, anyway.
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| Everybody Loves Karlach |
The Baldur's Gate III video game looms large here.
Honestly, this is a good thing.
The tone of the book is, "this is a big old world and there have been heroes before you, but now is your time to be the epic hero." This is exactly what they should do. Drizzt even is taking a lesser role so his daughter Briennelle can do more. And really, who better than Karlach to lead that charge?
The Books and their Contents
The two books, Heroes of Faerûn and Adventures in Faerûn are what you expect. Full color, plenty of art and new rules. Both books have expansive indexes.
I feel that these two books are the way D&D 5.5 (and this is really a continuation of D&D 5) should move forward with their Campaign settings.
Both books cover the lands and people. The Heroes of Faerûn book for Players is an overview of everything, the Adventures in Faerûn book for Dungeon Masters covers some areas in more detail.
Again, just very briefly. The lands seem brighter (as one should now expect from D&D 5.5) but that should never mean "safe." There is less emphasis on "this type of monster is a threat" and more on "this faction is a threat." Which is honestly much better. And there are plenty of factions to keep good characters busy fighting and evil characters, well also fighting them or even joining their ranks.
Though there are still monsters.
There are changes, and really, I am the *least* qualified person to find these given how "new" my Realms education is, but a couple stick out.
Baldur's Gate, as expected, has eclipsed Waterdeep as the "city of choice" in this era. I think "in game" I'll say the Baldur's Gate has had an in-rush of tourism. Everyone wants to catch a glimpse of "The Hero of the Gate" Karlach.
The Moonshae Isles have gone from the quasi-Celtic meets quasi-Vikings to a combined people living in an area where the Feywild bleeds through. And I like that.
The Heroes of Faerûn book has expansions to the subclasses, including a College of the Moon Bard and a Spellfire Sorcerer. I want to try out both. Lots of new backgrounds, lots of new feats. Not as many spells as I would have expected. Adventures in Faerûn has lots of 1-page encounters and mini-adventures. Enough to get anyone going. The first ones can be used anywhere, and then there are location-specific ones.
Of course, some of this covers the same ground as previous books, and they encourage people to check out these other sources too.
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| Inside cover maps |
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| Venger and Presto still at it all these years later |
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| Enver Gortash from Baldur's Gate III |
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| Hank is now a King |
I'll dig into these books more in the future. I still to finish my 2nd Ed AD&D exploration of the Realms.
The Player's book comes with a nice map. It reminds me of the map that came with the 3rd Edition D&D book.
on the backside is a Calendar of Harptos.
In my first pass these books fit well with my other Realms books and continue the saga of the Realms.
Of note. Ed Greenwood is not listed as a contributor in these volumes, but he is given a special thanks. Jeff Grubb is given a special thanks as well.
I am looking forward to delving deeper into these books.
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