Magic of Faerun (Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms Campaign Accessory)

Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Useful D&D Accessory
Review: When I first saw the title "Magic of Faerun", I thought the whole book would be mostly magic spells and a few magic items. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn upon reading it that I was wrong and that the book contained feats, prestige classes, quick adventure ideas and other various magic related information.

Rather than focusing solely on spells or items in the beginning of the book, "Magic of Faerun" takes some time to fully describe the situation regarding magic and its history in the Forgotten Realms. This gives some great background for the slew of prestige classes and ideas that follow. I was impressed by the new feats which can add both role-playing and more choices to a campaign. The new skill descriptions (and ideas for skills) were wonderful, since I love the D&D 3E skills. The various prestige classes were numerous and some seemed a bit repetitive, but on the whole they're great and they would be terrific to use on creating some NPCs. I especially enjoyed the "magical places" section which described temples, mage fairs, mageduels, and other such things. I can't wait to intergrate some of the ideas into my own campaign.

The magic spells and magic items take up the largest section of the book, but that is to be expected. They were mostly a touch above mediocre, but there were some wonderful additions. I think what I liked best was that some of the spells seemed to add spell choices to classes (such as druids or bards) that helped expand their spell lists greatly.

While I wish more of the book had been like the beginning rather than mostly spells and magical items, I still think this is a great tool for both DMs and players. No matter what world your campaign is in, consider picking up this book. It can only help your game.

Rating:
Summary: Very good source book, but lacking in some areas.
Review: You know, I didn't really mind paying for this. Sure, it's overpriced, but it's darn useful.

This book is, rather obviously, intended primarily for Forgotten Realms. I still think that the setting is on the rather obnoxiously silly side, but the material is more or less first-rate, and thus easily stealable for better d20 settings.

The meat of this book is the massive number of new spells, a great number of which are useful. There's Speed Swim (1st-level spell, gives a Swim speed of 30), Hunter's Mercy (ranger spell, 4th-level, if the arrow hits, it crits), and the utterly awesome Wieldskill (1st-level spell for clerics of Gond, gives +10 competence bonus to ANY skill, or a half rank in one skill you don't have, *or* any feat). All classes get good spells, and some are multi-use; Mace of Odo, for example, can be used for damage or to block incoming spells.

You'll also find a good chunk of the book devoted to the various methods and practices of magic in Faerun, including sample temples, mage guilds, mage fairs, and odd schools of magic. These are okay, but not particularly great.

There are also nifty prestige magic-based prestige classes, like the mystic wanderer, mage-killer, and the Harper Mage and Harper Priest. There are mostly okay, though some are too dependant on the setting to be useful elsewhere. The Guild Mage of Waterdeep is an almost exact copy of the Mage of the Arcane Order from Tome & Blood.

Magic items and stuff are also well-represented. There are a great many new weapons and armor enchantments, as well as specific varieties of items. Some aren't particularly useful; the Rod of Cats springs to mind as one of the more pointless items (yes, darkvision is nice, but there are easier/cheaper ways of doing that...). The magical materials available are greatly expanded, including special weapon/armor materials and gems that enhance spells. Last, but not least, you'll find a selection of monsters and templates that appear in the setting.

All in all, this is a pretty decent book. The production value is very high, and they obviously put a lot of effort into it. If I liked Forgotten Realms at all, it'd get 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Mmm...useful magic...
Review: You know, I didn't really mind paying for this. Sure, it's overpriced, but it's darn useful.

This book is, rather obviously, intended primarily for Forgotten Realms. I still think that the setting is on the rather obnoxiously silly side, but the material is more or less first-rate, and thus easily stealable for better d20 settings.

The meat of this book is the massive number of new spells, a great number of which are useful. There's Speed Swim (1st-level spell, gives a Swim speed of 30), Hunter's Mercy (ranger spell, 4th-level, if the arrow hits, it crits), and the utterly awesome Wieldskill (1st-level spell for clerics of Gond, gives +10 competence bonus to ANY skill, or a half rank in one skill you don't have, *or* any feat). All classes get good spells, and some are multi-use; Mace of Odo, for example, can be used for damage or to block incoming spells.

You'll also find a good chunk of the book devoted to the various methods and practices of magic in Faerun, including sample temples, mage guilds, mage fairs, and odd schools of magic. These are okay, but not particularly great.

There are also nifty prestige magic-based prestige classes, like the mystic wanderer, mage-killer, and the Harper Mage and Harper Priest. There are mostly okay, though some are too dependant on the setting to be useful elsewhere. The Guild Mage of Waterdeep is an almost exact copy of the Mage of the Arcane Order from Tome & Blood.

Magic items and stuff are also well-represented. There are a great many new weapons and armor enchantments, as well as specific varieties of items. Some aren't particularly useful; the Rod of Cats springs to mind as one of the more pointless items (yes, darkvision is nice, but there are easier/cheaper ways of doing that...). The magical materials available are greatly expanded, including special weapon/armor materials and gems that enhance spells. Last, but not least, you'll find a selection of monsters and templates that appear in the setting.

All in all, this is a pretty decent book. The production value is very high, and they obviously put a lot of effort into it. If I liked Forgotten Realms at all, it'd get 5 stars.