Dungeons & Dragon to Add Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide This Fall

[StewShearerOld]

Dungeons & Dragon to Add Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide This Fall

The new Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide will include new backgrounds, subclasses, subraces and more.

When it comes to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/dungeons++dragons>Dungeons & Dragons there are few settings as popular as the Sword Coast. Home to beloved locales like Baldur's Gate and a whole host of fan favorite characters, it's not hard to figure out why <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/wizards%20of%20the%20coast?os=wizards+of+the+coast>Wizards of the Coast have based much of their 5th Edition adventure content in that region. That being the case, the company, in a release this morning, has announced plans for a new book aimed at giving 5th Edition players even more insight into the setting.

The book in question, which will be produced in cooperation with Green Ronin Publishing, has been dubbed the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide and will include a wide variety of content that both expands the 5th Edition game and dives deeper into the setting. On the expansion front, the book will add a variety of new subclasses to give players more options for their characters. Wizards of the Coast has yet to release the entire list but has confirmed that players will gain access to the Swashbuckler, Purple Dragon Knight and Bladesinger subclasses. It will also add new backgrounds and subraces to further augment character creation and progression. Outside of that, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide will also include updated maps, background info and a whole slew of "mysterious locations and story hooks" for DMs looking to improve their games.

Wizards of the Coast has yet to release any pricing information for the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. That said, the company has confirmed that it will be hitting store shelves on November 3rd, 2015. What do you think? Will the draw of new subclasses and subraces be enough to secure your purchase?


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[Rituro]

What do you think? Will the draw of new subclasses and subraces be enough to secure your purchase?

No, but the maps and area background info in a format other than off-brand wiki entries has me salivating. Show me a sub-$30 price and I'm there.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

All these people going to organized play, and I'm just sitting here waiting for a new Greyhawk book...

I joke (kind of; I really want to see something other than more freaking Forgotten Realms stuff. Literally everything they've released is either FR or setting-agnostic, which doesn't really provide the modular flexibility they promised). You can generally mine the Sword Coast for some pretty solid adventure hooks, so I'll take a look when it comes out. Green Ronin does good work.

 

[Basement Cat]

When WotC brought out 4th ed. they rewrote the multiverse--and especially the Forgotten Realms--like a junior high school fan boy might: "Um...Asmodeus killed a minor god and became all powerful and destroyed the Abyss and most of the multiverse...um...yeah..."

When they then released game books on the 4th ed. Forgotten Realms they had officially jumped decades into the future--and left the setting such a pathetic wreck that it's only claim to being the FR's was its name.


So, does anyone know if 5th ed. retconned that BS out of existence? Seriously, 4th ed. was D&D in name only but the way WotC went out of its way to destroy the established D&D realms was so bad it...it...

*sighs*

So...anyway...does anyone know the current "official" status of Greyhawk and the Realms?

 

[VoidWanderer]

When WotC brought out 4th ed. they rewrote the multiverse--and especially the Forgotten Realms--like a junior high school fan boy might: "Um...Asmodeus killed a minor god and became all powerful and destroyed the Abyss and most of the multiverse...um...yeah..."

When they then released game books on the 4th ed. Forgotten Realms they had officially jumped decades into the future--and left the setting such a pathetic wreck that it's only claim to being the FR's was its name.


So, does anyone know if 5th ed. retconned that BS out of existence? Seriously, 4th ed. was D&D in name only but the way WotC went out of its way to destroy the established D&D realms was so bad it...it...

*sighs*

So...anyway...does anyone know the current "official" status of Greyhawk and the Realms?

Not sure about Greyhawk, but the pantheon has undergone some interesting changes. Bahamut is the new God of Justice, after Tyr was killed over a misunderstanding, Bhaal is back as a god, Thay is being run be a very powerful lich, causing people to flee.

Interesting times for the Forgotten Realms, while the original iconic world becomes me forgotten.

5th ed is a mix of AD&D and 3.5e. A lot of things have been stripped back to basics. BAB and saves are gone, to be replaced with 'Proficieny' which covers attacks and saving throws, which are based on your stats. Each base class has a minimum of two variants which come into play at level 3.

Paladins have some nice options, and aren't constricted to the paladin alignment. Honestly, I am really happy with the changes for 5th edition and I will pre-order any game based on this system, because it is the system that we deserve... Get the starter kit, it is like $20, and well worth the price.

I personally hated 4th edition for the copy-paste feel of the game, and while I respect what Pathfinder did for ./3.5, this feels truer to the 'core' system. Hell, I even appreciate the Baldur's Gate series more know that I have a slightly better grip on the item mechanics.

 

[Adam Gomez]

This is pretty much an auto-buy for me. Digging through online wiki pages and previous adventures just doesn't quite cut it. My group and I didn't start playing D&D UNTIL 5e, so we don't have the background knowledge that most players have built up over the years. If this can present the information in a cohesive and thematic way, then there's no way that I'm going to pass it up. I don't blame them for focusing so heavily on the sword coast. I'd venture that 5e brought in a fair number of new players, and WoTC wants to do everything they can to keep them.