Review: Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

A friend got me the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, it was not a book I was looking to purchase myself.  I’ve given some time to going over it and here is my review of the book.   Though I must admit my review is on the biased side but I’ll explain that as you read further.

If you are setting your campaign in Faerun but aren’t very familiar with the Sword Coast then I’d say this book is very valuable.  There’s loads of information about how different races and classes act in this world.  I’d say for someone who is new to the Sword Coast, either setting a first campaign there or thinking about setting a campaign there, this book could be quite valuable.  Even then I don’t think it’s worth the WOTC asking price of $39.95, instead head over to Amazon.com where you can purchase it for $26.74 at the time this post is being written. 

Let’s say you’re not new to Faerun, you’re actually quite familiar with the realm.  When that’s the case I see this book as a lot less valuable.  It really isn’t going to tell you any information you don’t already know.  In this instance all it’s going to give you is some minor variations on classes and a few new backgrounds for characters.  There’s really not a whole lot of new information here.  There are no new classes and really no new races as the races listed just refer you back to the Player’s Handbook.

If, like me, you’re not into Faerun and you were just looking for some new material to incorporate into your world then this is not a book for you.  Other than the new backgrounds you’re not going to find features here to add to your game play.  This is why I say I’m biased about the book because it wasn’t intended for my demographic.  As I said I had never intended to buy it but since it was given to me I gave it a chance.

So is the book worth the money?  If you aren’t very familiar with the Sword Coast but are interested in starting to set your campaigns there then for you it’s probably worth the Amazon price as it tells you a lot about the basics of Faerun.  For anyone else, you have to ask yourself if getting a couple of new character backgrounds and a few minor class variations is worth the price to you.