Because I can't get the review page to work...
Four out of five stars
Races of Faerun
This is a 192-page, full color, hardback book costing $29.95 U.S. It is done in the Realms' style, with the faux leather lacing on the cover and the parchment-like inner pages. The cover is of a deepspawn fighting a group of adventurers, done by Greg Staples.
This book has nine chapters, an index and an appendix.
Introduction
The introduction defines what the word race, subrace, and ethnic group mean in terms of this book. They also explain how to read the various entries.
One of the first things explained is why certain races are included and other excluded. The races included were the ones that were considered the most important, noteworthy, or widespread. Things like dragons and giants were not included as they would rarely be encountered in an adventuring band. Other races that might be found as adventurers (such as a troglodyte or quaggoth), but their societies as a whole are both low in numbers and very reclusive.
Thus the races included are the ones that are the most widespread, or those that might be encountered frequently.
Chapter One: Dwarves
Each race that has multiple subraces in a chapter opens with a racial history for the race as a whole. Then each individual subrace is looked at. You are told their regions, racial feats available, and their level adjustment. Then you are given a general overview of the race; basic history, appearance, and philosophy. If any differences in height, weight, or age are necessary, the tables are listed here. Then follow the specific racial history, outlook, typical player characters for that race, society, language and literacy, abilities and racial features, magic and lore, spells and spellcasting, magic items, deities, relations with other regions, typical equipment, arms and armor, and animals and pets. Finally a racial region is included, if necessary. By choosing a particular class from a short list for that race, a character can get a regional bonus equipment, languages, and choice of regional feats for that race. This is just like choosing a character region normally; by choosing a racial region, they don't get a second one for their place of birth.
Now, to start on the dwarven subraces:
Arctic Dwarf: The arctic dwarves are particularly short and stout members of the dwarven race, with an ECL of +2. The live on the Great Glacier, and are generally more primitive than other dwarves.
Gold Dwarf: These are the confident, empire-minded dwarves, more focused on wealth and pride than the average shield dwarf. None of the racial adjustments for races already given in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting are presented here, so if you want to know how a gold dwarf differs from a shield dwarf, you have to have the FRCS out. This becomes irksome when you get to races like the svirfneblin or the drow, with many racial abilities. One thing of interest is one of their racial prestige classes, the Great Rift Skyguard, which is a group of hippogriff-riding gold dwarves.
Gray Dwarf: The pessimistic, psionically-inclined gray dwarves are essentially the dwarven race's dark side. One thing of interest is that the gray dwarves will occasionally use giant spiders as mounts, which means that PCs can no longer assume only drow when such beasts are about.
Shield Dwarf: This is the typical PHB dwarf. Dwarf enthusiasts will be pleased to see the return of the battlerager prestige class for this subrace.
Urdunnir Dwarf: The urdunnir dwarves, also known as the orecutter dwarves, are strange creatures that have the ability to walk through stone and shape stone and metal as if it were clay. They are fairly isolated, deep beneath the earth in their homes. They have an ECL of +4 and a favored class of expert, to reflect their non-aggressive tendencies.
Wild Dwarf: These are the jungle dwarves of Chult and are quite barbaric in compared to other dwarves. They have an ECL of +0, and exchange typical dwarven abilities for ones more suited to jungle dwelling, such as fire resistance, poison use, and saving throw bonuses against disease.
Chapter Two: Elves:
Aquatic Elf: These are the saltwater natives of the elven nations. They have an ECL of +1, and are more martial than other elves. They can breath salt water, but fresh water makes them uncomfortable, and they can suffocate if out of the water too long.
Avariel (winged elf): These are the reclusive flying elves. They are extraordinarily graceful, smart, and perceptive, as well as having the power of flight. Though only a single aerie of avariels is left, the remaining ones are slowly starting to join the world at large. They have and ECL of +3.
Drow Elf: These are the evil dark elves of the Underdark. One thing of interest is that they include a Surface Drow region, for drow either stranded or purposefully sent to the surface for long periods of time.
Moon Elf: These are the typical PHB elves. The classic bladesingers, and those most tolerant of travelers.
Sun Elf: These elves represent the height of elven refinement and haughtiness. Obsessed with perfection in their craft, it can take them decades to complete one item, in which another race could produce hundreds of equal quality. More sun elves are found in prestige classes that require study of the mind rather than the body, such as archmage or loremaster.
Wild Elf: These are the elves that feel the closest to nature. Their favored class is sorcerer, and many of them also take up the path of the druid. They even have a bit of aversion to magic items, if they feel they are too removed from the natural world.
Wood Elf: They are called the most numerous elven subrace in Faerun. Also closely tied to nature, all arcane magic and clerical divine magic is suspect. The druid holds most of the power of magic in their society. Their favored class is ranger.
Chapter Three: Gnomes
Deep Gnome (svirfneblin): They are about one of the only Underdark races that aren’t evil, to most peoples' mistake. They are often lumped together with the duegar and drow and assumed to be evil. Thus most svirfneblin just want to be left alone. They excel at making magic items from gems (such as ioun stones).
Forest Gnome: These are the most shy of all the gnomes, and fairly reclusive and private. They feel a connection to nature above and beyond that of the average gnome. They have an ECL of +1, due to an excellent racial Hide bonus and some additional spell like abilities relating to their forest homes.
Rock Gnome: This is the typical PHB gnome. They are curious, outgoing, and loquacious. They are also great inventors, so smokepowder and firearms are more common (cheaper) amongst the rock gnomes.
Chapter Four: Half-Elves
Common Half-Elves: These are half-elves descended from humans and either moon elves, sun elves, wild elves, or wood elves. They are the typical PHB half-elves. One thing of note is that in Relkath's Foot in the Yuirwood resides a large (over 5,000) half-elven community.
Half-Aquatic Elves: These elves have a swim speed and a racial bonus to Swim checks. They also have a great longing for the sea, and suffer penalties when away from it for too long.
Half-Drow: The stigma of being a half-drow can be lessened by being from Dambrath, a land once ruled by the drow. Half-drow in that region are essentially considered aristocrats. They are basically the same, game mechanic-wise as normal half-elves, but they do have darvision.
Chapter Five: Orcs
Gray Orc: These orcs are from the east, are more civilized and wiser than their northern kin. Their favored class is cleric, and they have an ECL of +1.
Half-Orc: This is the typical PHB half-orc.
Mountain Orc: This is the typical orc, strong but fairly stupid. Racial prestige classes include the Orc Warlord.
Orog: These are the deep orcs, the orc equivalent of drow. They have an ECL of +2 due to their incredible strength, elemental resistances, and natural armor, amongst other things.
Chapter Six: Halflings
Ghostwise Halflings: These are the nomadic, reclusive halfings of the Chondalwood. There is an interesting account of their society, including how each member of the tribe carries a piece of a significant feature of their home region with them at all times. Also the ghostwise halflings are known to ride giant ravens, owls, or dire bats into battle.
Lightfoot Halflings: These are the typical PHB halfings. Racial prestige class includes the halfling warsniper, an expert with the halfling skiprock and battle sling.
Strongheart Halflings: These are the less nomadic halfings. Unlike the lightfoot or ghostwise, the stronghearts build and live in fortresses and cities.
Chapter Seven: Humans
While I won't go over every single ethic group, seven groups are gone over in the same kind of detail as in previous chapters, and several more are given a paragraph or two to help flesh them out. The more detailed groups are Calishite, Chondathan, Damaran, Illuskan, Mulan, Rashemi, and Tethyrian. Fleshing out these human ethnic groups gives a wonderful amount of plot hooks for adventures, particularly diplomatic ones. It would be very interesting to do such an adventure or even a campaign where the differences that have to be solved were purely cultural rather than racial as well.
Also, the general outlook of the various ethnic groups gives you an idea of how a character from your region might act. Also a nice handy chart is included that gives the general ethnic groups of various geographical regions of Faerun, if you need to know how a certain NPC is going to act.
Chapter Eight: Planetouched
In this chapter are the four genasi (earth, air, fire, and water), along with the aasimar, tiefling, fey'ri (demonic elves), and tanarukk (demonic orcs). The first six only have a ECL of +1, but the ECLs for the fey'ri and tanarukk have a variation from +2 to +3, depending on the power of their bloodlines.
Chapter Nine: Minor Races
Included here are the aarakocra, centaur, goblinoids, kir-lanan, lizardfolk, lycanthropes, shade, wemic, and yuan-ti. For more powerful races such as the centaur or yuan-ti, monster hit dice, feats, skills, and etc. are included.
Appendix
Equipment: This includes a list of various special equipment, including weapons, armor (like mud, sharkskin, or chitin), and some general adventuring gear (like armor lubricant, drogue wings (like a hang glider), or snowshoes).
Feats: There are nearly eighty feats in this section. Most are racial obviously. Many of the more interesting ones are for the planetouched, such as Outsider Wings, Celestial or Fiendish Bloodline, Eyes of Light, Improved Energy Resistance, and Light to Daylight. A few, including ones for Calishite humans and halfings, give spellcasters of those races bonuses for casting spells of a certain tradition.
Magic Items: Included here are magic items crafted for the various races, like the shield dwarves' foesplitter axes, or the orcish spear of impaling.
Monsters: Most of the creatures listed here are either common pets, attack animals, or typical familiars for a certain race. Included here are hounds, flying snakes, and the osquip.
Prestige Classes: Included here are the Battlerager, Bladesinger, Breachgnome, Elven High Mage (epic class), Great Rift Skyguard, Orc Warlord, Spellsinger (a bardic PrC), the Warrior Skald, and the Warsling Sniper.
Finally,
Spells: Here are spells that tend to be unique to certain races, like the aerial summoning dance of the aarakocra or Verraketh's shadow crown, popular among the bards of the Tethyrian humans.
A word on art: Some art I liked, and some I did not. I am not a huge fan of Wayne England or David Cramer, so I was not enthused by the inclusion of many of their pieces. However, Vinod Rams did some wonderful work in the Planetouched chapter.
Overall: I found this book full of great ideas and roleplaying suggestions for almost any FR race I'd care to play. The constant having to reference back to other books was annoying, and the price is high for the amount of content. An excellent resource for Realms players.
Four out of five stars
Races of Faerun
This is a 192-page, full color, hardback book costing $29.95 U.S. It is done in the Realms' style, with the faux leather lacing on the cover and the parchment-like inner pages. The cover is of a deepspawn fighting a group of adventurers, done by Greg Staples.
This book has nine chapters, an index and an appendix.
Introduction
The introduction defines what the word race, subrace, and ethnic group mean in terms of this book. They also explain how to read the various entries.
One of the first things explained is why certain races are included and other excluded. The races included were the ones that were considered the most important, noteworthy, or widespread. Things like dragons and giants were not included as they would rarely be encountered in an adventuring band. Other races that might be found as adventurers (such as a troglodyte or quaggoth), but their societies as a whole are both low in numbers and very reclusive.
Thus the races included are the ones that are the most widespread, or those that might be encountered frequently.
Chapter One: Dwarves
Each race that has multiple subraces in a chapter opens with a racial history for the race as a whole. Then each individual subrace is looked at. You are told their regions, racial feats available, and their level adjustment. Then you are given a general overview of the race; basic history, appearance, and philosophy. If any differences in height, weight, or age are necessary, the tables are listed here. Then follow the specific racial history, outlook, typical player characters for that race, society, language and literacy, abilities and racial features, magic and lore, spells and spellcasting, magic items, deities, relations with other regions, typical equipment, arms and armor, and animals and pets. Finally a racial region is included, if necessary. By choosing a particular class from a short list for that race, a character can get a regional bonus equipment, languages, and choice of regional feats for that race. This is just like choosing a character region normally; by choosing a racial region, they don't get a second one for their place of birth.
Now, to start on the dwarven subraces:
Arctic Dwarf: The arctic dwarves are particularly short and stout members of the dwarven race, with an ECL of +2. The live on the Great Glacier, and are generally more primitive than other dwarves.
Gold Dwarf: These are the confident, empire-minded dwarves, more focused on wealth and pride than the average shield dwarf. None of the racial adjustments for races already given in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting are presented here, so if you want to know how a gold dwarf differs from a shield dwarf, you have to have the FRCS out. This becomes irksome when you get to races like the svirfneblin or the drow, with many racial abilities. One thing of interest is one of their racial prestige classes, the Great Rift Skyguard, which is a group of hippogriff-riding gold dwarves.
Gray Dwarf: The pessimistic, psionically-inclined gray dwarves are essentially the dwarven race's dark side. One thing of interest is that the gray dwarves will occasionally use giant spiders as mounts, which means that PCs can no longer assume only drow when such beasts are about.
Shield Dwarf: This is the typical PHB dwarf. Dwarf enthusiasts will be pleased to see the return of the battlerager prestige class for this subrace.
Urdunnir Dwarf: The urdunnir dwarves, also known as the orecutter dwarves, are strange creatures that have the ability to walk through stone and shape stone and metal as if it were clay. They are fairly isolated, deep beneath the earth in their homes. They have an ECL of +4 and a favored class of expert, to reflect their non-aggressive tendencies.
Wild Dwarf: These are the jungle dwarves of Chult and are quite barbaric in compared to other dwarves. They have an ECL of +0, and exchange typical dwarven abilities for ones more suited to jungle dwelling, such as fire resistance, poison use, and saving throw bonuses against disease.
Chapter Two: Elves:
Aquatic Elf: These are the saltwater natives of the elven nations. They have an ECL of +1, and are more martial than other elves. They can breath salt water, but fresh water makes them uncomfortable, and they can suffocate if out of the water too long.
Avariel (winged elf): These are the reclusive flying elves. They are extraordinarily graceful, smart, and perceptive, as well as having the power of flight. Though only a single aerie of avariels is left, the remaining ones are slowly starting to join the world at large. They have and ECL of +3.
Drow Elf: These are the evil dark elves of the Underdark. One thing of interest is that they include a Surface Drow region, for drow either stranded or purposefully sent to the surface for long periods of time.
Moon Elf: These are the typical PHB elves. The classic bladesingers, and those most tolerant of travelers.
Sun Elf: These elves represent the height of elven refinement and haughtiness. Obsessed with perfection in their craft, it can take them decades to complete one item, in which another race could produce hundreds of equal quality. More sun elves are found in prestige classes that require study of the mind rather than the body, such as archmage or loremaster.
Wild Elf: These are the elves that feel the closest to nature. Their favored class is sorcerer, and many of them also take up the path of the druid. They even have a bit of aversion to magic items, if they feel they are too removed from the natural world.
Wood Elf: They are called the most numerous elven subrace in Faerun. Also closely tied to nature, all arcane magic and clerical divine magic is suspect. The druid holds most of the power of magic in their society. Their favored class is ranger.
Chapter Three: Gnomes
Deep Gnome (svirfneblin): They are about one of the only Underdark races that aren’t evil, to most peoples' mistake. They are often lumped together with the duegar and drow and assumed to be evil. Thus most svirfneblin just want to be left alone. They excel at making magic items from gems (such as ioun stones).
Forest Gnome: These are the most shy of all the gnomes, and fairly reclusive and private. They feel a connection to nature above and beyond that of the average gnome. They have an ECL of +1, due to an excellent racial Hide bonus and some additional spell like abilities relating to their forest homes.
Rock Gnome: This is the typical PHB gnome. They are curious, outgoing, and loquacious. They are also great inventors, so smokepowder and firearms are more common (cheaper) amongst the rock gnomes.
Chapter Four: Half-Elves
Common Half-Elves: These are half-elves descended from humans and either moon elves, sun elves, wild elves, or wood elves. They are the typical PHB half-elves. One thing of note is that in Relkath's Foot in the Yuirwood resides a large (over 5,000) half-elven community.
Half-Aquatic Elves: These elves have a swim speed and a racial bonus to Swim checks. They also have a great longing for the sea, and suffer penalties when away from it for too long.
Half-Drow: The stigma of being a half-drow can be lessened by being from Dambrath, a land once ruled by the drow. Half-drow in that region are essentially considered aristocrats. They are basically the same, game mechanic-wise as normal half-elves, but they do have darvision.
Chapter Five: Orcs
Gray Orc: These orcs are from the east, are more civilized and wiser than their northern kin. Their favored class is cleric, and they have an ECL of +1.
Half-Orc: This is the typical PHB half-orc.
Mountain Orc: This is the typical orc, strong but fairly stupid. Racial prestige classes include the Orc Warlord.
Orog: These are the deep orcs, the orc equivalent of drow. They have an ECL of +2 due to their incredible strength, elemental resistances, and natural armor, amongst other things.
Chapter Six: Halflings
Ghostwise Halflings: These are the nomadic, reclusive halfings of the Chondalwood. There is an interesting account of their society, including how each member of the tribe carries a piece of a significant feature of their home region with them at all times. Also the ghostwise halflings are known to ride giant ravens, owls, or dire bats into battle.
Lightfoot Halflings: These are the typical PHB halfings. Racial prestige class includes the halfling warsniper, an expert with the halfling skiprock and battle sling.
Strongheart Halflings: These are the less nomadic halfings. Unlike the lightfoot or ghostwise, the stronghearts build and live in fortresses and cities.
Chapter Seven: Humans
While I won't go over every single ethic group, seven groups are gone over in the same kind of detail as in previous chapters, and several more are given a paragraph or two to help flesh them out. The more detailed groups are Calishite, Chondathan, Damaran, Illuskan, Mulan, Rashemi, and Tethyrian. Fleshing out these human ethnic groups gives a wonderful amount of plot hooks for adventures, particularly diplomatic ones. It would be very interesting to do such an adventure or even a campaign where the differences that have to be solved were purely cultural rather than racial as well.
Also, the general outlook of the various ethnic groups gives you an idea of how a character from your region might act. Also a nice handy chart is included that gives the general ethnic groups of various geographical regions of Faerun, if you need to know how a certain NPC is going to act.
Chapter Eight: Planetouched
In this chapter are the four genasi (earth, air, fire, and water), along with the aasimar, tiefling, fey'ri (demonic elves), and tanarukk (demonic orcs). The first six only have a ECL of +1, but the ECLs for the fey'ri and tanarukk have a variation from +2 to +3, depending on the power of their bloodlines.
Chapter Nine: Minor Races
Included here are the aarakocra, centaur, goblinoids, kir-lanan, lizardfolk, lycanthropes, shade, wemic, and yuan-ti. For more powerful races such as the centaur or yuan-ti, monster hit dice, feats, skills, and etc. are included.
Appendix
Equipment: This includes a list of various special equipment, including weapons, armor (like mud, sharkskin, or chitin), and some general adventuring gear (like armor lubricant, drogue wings (like a hang glider), or snowshoes).
Feats: There are nearly eighty feats in this section. Most are racial obviously. Many of the more interesting ones are for the planetouched, such as Outsider Wings, Celestial or Fiendish Bloodline, Eyes of Light, Improved Energy Resistance, and Light to Daylight. A few, including ones for Calishite humans and halfings, give spellcasters of those races bonuses for casting spells of a certain tradition.
Magic Items: Included here are magic items crafted for the various races, like the shield dwarves' foesplitter axes, or the orcish spear of impaling.
Monsters: Most of the creatures listed here are either common pets, attack animals, or typical familiars for a certain race. Included here are hounds, flying snakes, and the osquip.
Prestige Classes: Included here are the Battlerager, Bladesinger, Breachgnome, Elven High Mage (epic class), Great Rift Skyguard, Orc Warlord, Spellsinger (a bardic PrC), the Warrior Skald, and the Warsling Sniper.
Finally,
Spells: Here are spells that tend to be unique to certain races, like the aerial summoning dance of the aarakocra or Verraketh's shadow crown, popular among the bards of the Tethyrian humans.
A word on art: Some art I liked, and some I did not. I am not a huge fan of Wayne England or David Cramer, so I was not enthused by the inclusion of many of their pieces. However, Vinod Rams did some wonderful work in the Planetouched chapter.
Overall: I found this book full of great ideas and roleplaying suggestions for almost any FR race I'd care to play. The constant having to reference back to other books was annoying, and the price is high for the amount of content. An excellent resource for Realms players.
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