9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Critical info for Faerun, February 12, 2004
This review is from: Races of Faerun (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting) (Hardcover)
Well, this book covers many races for Forgotten Realms. It also adds in a few interesting feats and a few items. It gives much greater depth to all the races already covered in FRCS. However, there is one problem here- if the race already had it's base stats covered in FRCS, only the extra "fluff" is here, none of the "crunch". This means you'll need both books, and note that Race of Faerun is 3.5 and FRCS is 3.0, so there's a little problem here. I'd have prefered a bit less fluff, and the basic race stats redone for all.
However, there are also quite a few interesting new races here, some which were only covered lightly in another supplement. For instance, there are complete rules for playing a Shade or a Wemic.
There is also a lot of background fluff on the various human "races'. This may thrill you or bore you- depending.
Anyway, if you play in the FR, at least one of your group should get this book.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Book, Wizards is Outdoing Themselves, July 12, 2003
This review is from: Races of Faerun (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting) (Hardcover)
Three years ago, Wizards of the Coast breathed life into the shriveled, wheezing husk that the Dungeons & Dragons game had become. With few exceptions, their experience with Magic: The Gathering and their other product lines has proven to be a key element in their design of this newest edition of the D&D game, and Races of Faerun is no exception.
This book is an accessory for use with the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (which was very thorough and in this reviewer's opinion a tough act to beat). As usual, the Wizards have outdone themselves with an organized layout, quality artwork, and, most importantly, useful, enjoyable content. This book discusses the history, motivations, societal structure, and character elements of the major races on Faerun (elves, dwarves, halfings, humans, half-elves, gnomes, and half-orces), as well as some of the rarer and more obscure races (planetouched beings such as fey'ir, for example).
The histories are richly details and well-written, making them readable and understandable for all levels of player. Perhaps most interestingly, the histories also shed some much-needed light on the origins of many of the until-now-obscure special abilities of many of the races (for example,a nd most prominently, the preternatural resistance of elves to sleep and charm spells).
For players interested in playing these races, the effective level adjustment system is an innovative way to balance powerful races. This system trades power for advancement speed, slowing a more powerful race's level progression in exchange for special abilities and advantages.
If I have one criticism, it is the quantity of race-specific feats included in the appendix of the book. While scads of new feats are always a welcomed addition for the sake of diversity (and I know the book is called RACES of Faerun), some of these feats are extremely specialized, to the point where I believe they simply could have been included as special racial abilities, or made more general to allow other races to take advantage of them with the proper prerequisite training.
Overall, an excellent book, an excellent buy, and one of the many reason for Wizard's success with the new D&D game.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Resource!, March 21, 2003
This review is from: Races of Faerun (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.0 Fantasy Roleplaying, Forgotten Realms Setting) (Hardcover)
Races of Faerun provides more background to some of the lesser known, but just as popular other races that populate the Dungeons and Dragons world of Faerun. For the more experienced players old friends such as the Winged Elves are finally brought up in the Third Edition rules. For the new player many more choices will be laid out before them to make thier character truly unique, and game masters across the world will be pulling thier hair out as players try to utilize as much as possible in making the game their own. Each of the 50 or so races are explored well, and in a fair amount of depth. The book explores region, equipment, religion, and even feelings toward some of the other races. The art is nice, and the game content is just first rate.
This is one sourcebook that EVERYONE can use, and not have to worry about learning too much information. The price is a bit steep for the half hearted player, but the book really is very nice, and worth the money you are going to shell out. I was just happy to see one of my favorite raves the Wemic included, but was a bit disappointed that the Saurials were dropped for "Lack of Interest". I was interested! I won't let that one decision override or cloud a glowing review of another excellent product put out by Wizards of the Coast.
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