# Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide



## Morrus (Sep 1, 2015)

Product information... View for more details


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## LapBandit (Oct 23, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Good info about Faerun post-Sundering and the remaining gods.  Nice crunch and refinement of some UA stuff.  Great descriptions on the state of the Sword Coast.


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## hardvice (Oct 23, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

The first real sourcebook for 5e doesn't disappoint. At around 150 pages for $40, it seems a bit short for the price, but what's there really packs a punch. About two-thirds of the book is setting material, including a wondrously detailed section on the state of the gods and religion, detailed updates and profiles of major locations and factions, and more.  There are a few peeks outside the Sword Coast itself thrown in, too. The last third is character options, and the only place the book stumbles a little. The options that are presented are all pretty great — they clearly set out to fill holes mechanically while presenting options that tie well to the setting, and I have no complaints. However, the lack of options for bards, druids, and rangers — now the only three classes with only two available subclass options — is disappointing.  Balance in general seems good — I can imagine using any of the new options, but there are none that are so powerful I'd feel at a disadvantage for not using them.  The changes to the previously-playtested Storm Sorcerer and Swashbuckler show Wizards' continued commitment to the playtest model, and each is better for it (though not all players will agree). The racial and cultural restrictions on some of the new subclass options also might not sit well with some AL players. Still, overall it's a great book that gives us a much-needed update on the best-known section of the Realms while somewhat satisfying players' urges for new options without succumbing wholly to feature creep.


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## Serpine (Oct 24, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

This reminds me a great deal of the 2e Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover from 1990. The size is about the same as the older book, it is also early in the lifecycle of the edition, and the vast majority I will read for amusement / getting more fulfillment from novels but never actually use in my custom campaign world. There is a lot of FR campaign material, covering more areas then I expected thanks to relatively sparse art. The wall of text level just skimming through made me a little sleepy actually. The detail of a lot of the signature areas is sufficient that I'd be able to use it well if I was running games in the setting, and the data on deities is about right to cover the major ones. The only big problem with the deities specifically is a general problem so far in this edition: Tons of gods, and far to few released domains to divvy up among them: The one new one in this book is still just a drop in the bucket. The game material in the back is solid and doesn't seem game breaking on the surface. The stuff recycled from the UA pdfs definitely has had the benefit of a few balance passes. I love the new paladin / fighter builds as they fill some armored tanking / warlord niches that were lacking so far in 5e. I'm not happy about stat block declared race / class build restrictions on a couple of builds (even if it says it can be ignored both in the blocks and the other worlds campaign info) but otherwise its all a nice range of new options that should be useful in most campaigns. I would definitely have appreciated an actual new bard college (raid the old Complete Bard's Handbook for something, sheesh) and druid circle so all classes got a new build though. The backgrounds are intentionally covering older ground in more specialized ways, but the features are different enough to provide variety to them or as substitutions in existing backgrounds. The new race variants are cool, though I'd have liked full write-ups for ghostwise halflings and aasimar rather then just small side bars. In summary, not regretting the purchase as it has sufficient good stuff, though I certainly wouldn't have minded a higher percentage of rules to fluff.


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## Xaelvaen (Oct 26, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

By the page count, the guide might seem a bit pricey, but in all honesty, it feels well worth the cost for me.  The information is simple, but enough to give you a rundown of how 5e is affecting Faerun.  No, its not by any means a complete campaign guide for Faerun, but its very rich.  The maps are quite interesting; most of them are drawn with minimalism in mind, as though drawn from the hands of an actual Faerun citizen.  I really like the feel this gives the guide.  So, a quick conclusion:  Do I hope they make a full-blown Faerun campaign book and not just rely on this guide?  Yes. Does that detract from the quality of this guide?  Not at all.


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## was (Oct 28, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Two thirds fluff, recycled/altered from previous editions.  Crunch is good, but there's not nearly enough to put a $40 price tag on this thin book.


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## I'm A Banana (Nov 2, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

It's a solid good product if you're big into FR lore, which is most of the book, or if you're currently playing in the Sword Coast (such as playing through WotC adventures). For anyone interested in it mainly for the character options, it's pretty anemic. The options themselves are solid enough, though the backgrounds chapter is of note: many of them are outright improvements on PHB backgrounds, and few of them have the usual charts for ideals/bonds/flaws/traits that the PHB backgrounds have (they direct you to the PHB for creating these, when they're lacking, which is most of the time). The FR lore itself is pretty high-level, and suffers from the perennial problem of the Forgotten Realms in that it is *very generic* - little to loot or inspire. If you've got the 3e _Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting_, you own a better lore reference already, aside from some timeline updates of primary interest to the canon aficionados. As an intro and a casual reference, the book does its job, and there's some interesting character options in here (my favorite: the Long Death Monk, a kind of necrotic monk that contemplates and gets power from death), but nothing transformative or must-have. For me, this is a book that, aside from a character or two, will probably be mostly shelf decor. And $40 for ~5 pages of material isn't a great return on investment. Still, it might be a good purchase at the group level, if you're playing through the WotC adventures - a group of 5 buying one would reduce the price to $8 each, which still seems a _little_ high, but maybe more feasible if you're not just looting it for character ideas.


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## WayneLigon (Nov 4, 2015)

*2 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I caught a look at the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide at the FLGS today, and I was disappointed enough to cancel my pre-order. It's a terribly thin book for the flagship world for D&D, with very little in the way of crunch everyone can use. I'd expect a guidebook to BE mostly fluff, of course, but I was very surprised at how little actual game material was in here, especially considering this is likely the only FR book we're likely to get. My biggest disappointment, though, are the maps. Any game world needs clear workable maps and this provides nothing useful. The big beautiful faerun map we've been teased with is probably fantastic as a poster and something beautiful you'd use as a wall decoration. It's much less appealing when part of it is crushed down to a single page, the artistic embellishments making it almost unreadable and certainly of little value to gaming. The city maps are useless jokes, done in a smeared sepia-and-black that I suppose was supposed to come off as 'old paper' but really just looks like someone spilled coffee all over the art. The city blocks are smudgy and run-together - most of the Waterdeep map is just one big jumbled mess, with the addition of some large useless labels obscuring huge parts of the city map, while other parts are just solid black blobs - certainly nothing like the clear maps we had in the 2E book.


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## Michael Long (Nov 4, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I think this is a great resource and highly recommended.

[http://tribality.com/2015/11/09/sword-coast-adventurers-guide-review/]


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## Americancyco (Nov 4, 2015)

*2 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

too much fluff


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## Jester David (Nov 5, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I liked this book. But I’m still conflicted on whether it was the book I wanted.

It’s unquestionably a good book. As mentioned, this book is really a updated version of the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide. Arguably, it’s much better than that book, with stronger descriptions and more detail on the places, gods, and races. It is more focused than its predecessor on being a player-friendly book of lore. It’s probably a useful book to hand to any player new to the Realms, regardless of the era being played.I’m uncertain if it’s the best choice for the first non-adventure book for 5th Edition. It’s great to give players involved in the Forgotten Realms a product that introduces them to the setting, but that’s weakened if there’s nothing comparable for the Dungeon Master to help them set a story in the Realms. It’s nice to have some new mechanical options for Realms characters, but that’s weakened by the need for more generic content. Conversely, new options are desirable, but paying $40 for a dozen pages of content is steep.

To some extent it makes sense as a business decision. There is a wealth of Forgotten Realms campaign books for past editions available from used game stores or as PDFs, so a new campaign guide is less needed. But making the first splatbook a sourcebook encourages people to buy that book even if they wouldn’t normally buy a setting book, introducing new people to the Realms and possibly making them fans of the setting.

But this is all beside the point and is pretty much completely and totally irrelevant to an actual review of this book. At the end of the day, this book is excellent at what it does and for what it is. It may be a poor splatbook, but that’s like calling an apple a poor orange. If you want a player’s guide to the Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms or an introduction to that setting, this is an excellent product.

Read my full review HERE


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## Wulfang (Nov 5, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

My gripe with this product is not so much the content within, but its presentation.Its not quite a regional sourcebook, not quite a campaign setting and not quite a player's guide. So what is it? Honestly, its just a splat book to cover the Rage of Demons storyline and upcoming game Sword Coast Legends game. Its a much needed interim-book that updates the Realms and gives us Realms-specific PC backgrounds and sub-classes. The problem with this is, the steep price for the few pages and the feeling that something is missing. Even though the material within is great, I couldn't help but feeling cheated when comparing to my mighty 3.5 tome Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Wheres my box-set? Wheres my printed fold-out map? Wheres the rest of the realms? Why does the book look like every other 5E book rather than having its own art-style?


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## EthanSental (Nov 6, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

My copy came in via Amazon today and looking through it, I'm still impressed by the art and overall design and layout.  I probably dropped it a star due to the gods getting too much attention but other seem to like it.  I'd rather have more story content and as others have mentioned, character options but overall a solid book to own.I don't get the posts about the price and the page count.  I do try to support my local store where I spend $100 a month on comics but its hard to complain about the price when you can get it for 24 and some change on Amazon, all the book are around $30.  If full prices is seen as a drawback, then look at other options that are easy to find so a person doesn't have to pay full retail price.


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## Chimpy (Nov 6, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I was pretty impressed with the sections about the lands and organisations of the Sword Coast area. For someone like me who is only vaguely familiar with the setting, the level of detail seemed about right and the quality was very good.But then it just stops and goes into a few player options...If there had been some sections on adventure sites, local threats and dangers, perhaps some monsters, adventure inspiration and so on, the product would have been great.3.5/5


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## The Escapist (Nov 6, 2015)

*1 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, taken as a whole, is not a very good roleplaying game book. It's a 20-page whirlwind tour of thirty-some years of Forgotten Realms history and geography, a kinda-useful 40-page whirlwind tour of the Sword Coast region. The rest of the book is 60 pages of mostly-superfluous descriptions of what standard D&D characters are like in the realms, with scattered nuggets of game mechanics customizing specific classes, a few alternate racial mechanics, and a trove of backgrounds. None of these sections particularly excels. It's a 160 page, $40, full color hardback book - and much of what sets the high standard it fails to achieve is that $40 price point.


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## Sizzlan (Nov 6, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

My impression is very positive. The book finds the right level of detail for my needs. Little is defined, much is only noted, most things remain somewhat nebulous. Somehow everything from past editions falls into place. This book is definitely something you can build on and actually use at the gaming table.


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## Jeff Carlsen (Nov 7, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is a player focused introduction to the Realms with a lot of flavor, the right amount of detail for a player, and a light amount of additional crunch. It fills it's role perfectly. I particularly like the long descriptions of how each subclass fits into the setting. 

It has a few flaws. The decision to place the map so that the Neverwinter region is falling into the gutter of the book was very unfortunate, and I'm not particularly fond of the style of the city maps. 

 The biggest flaw with this book doesn't have anything to do with the book itself. It's the secrecy of Wizards of the Coast. I'm a DM, and the SCAG isn't a sufficient update to the Realms for that role. It clearly isn't intended to be. But I have no idea when, or even if I'm going to ever see the product I really want. I've sat down for a meal, but they've only given me the drink menu. 

 That aside, I recommend the book for any Realms player.


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## Ancalimon417 (Nov 8, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

It seems as though most of the content being delivered by WOTC to support the 5e rules has come across in a disjointed and unorganized way.  This in my opinion also shows up in the content of the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide.  Its like the development team for D&D doesn't have a well defined vision for where they want to take D&D and just keeps throwing stuff against the wall to see if it sticks, or they don't have the resources left to make the content rich products of editions past.  The SCAG throws more stuff into the D&D mix with disjointed sections on describing the Sword Coast and its environs, repeats a lot of information on races which we already knew, puts some mix and match together of some limited new class features and some backgrounds to go with them and even puts some icing on the cake with some new cantrips for wizards, warlocks etc.  The book just seems - random?  Its like the developers wanted to put out a book with something in it so they threw what limited information they had on some paper and sold it to a marketplace that is hungry for D&D 5e content.  Previous editions of books such as the "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting" published in 2001 was an actual resource book that puts the information contained in the SCAG to shame.  I understand that the older book had more of the Forgotten Realms world to describe, but it felt much more rich in content.  I would have given a lower rating but gave it a 3 star just because something is better than nothing at this point.


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## Hand of Evil (Nov 9, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

It is good but a lot of material that we know from past editions, this should have been produced as a PDF.


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## Osgood (Nov 9, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Nice amount of fluff for those interested in the Forgotten Realms, though I would have preferred more locations and adventure hooks and less emphasis on the gods. The character options are pretty good, though I wish there would have been more of them. I felt some of the new class options were cop outs--new fluff for an existing PHB option. I was disappointed that only one of the new backgrounds had new traits/ideals/bonds/flaws. A worthwhile buy if you are interested in the Realms, but it falls a bit flat if you are mostly looking for new crunch options.


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## pukunui (Nov 11, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I keep seeing people comparing this book to the 3e _Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting_. This isn't a campaign setting book. It's a player's guide. It would be more fair to compare it to 3e's _Player's Guide to Faerûn_ and 4e's _Forgotten Realms Player's Guide_. It's also a lot like 2e's _Forgotten Realms Adventures_ book, which was really just a quick update to bring the 1e "gray box" into the 2e era before the 2e "gold box" came out. Anyway, this book does what it was advertised to do: namely, it serves as a decent springboard for adventure on the Sword Coast. There's enough detail to whet your appetite and get you playing, but there's also enough wiggle room for your group to fill in the blanks yourselves. I, for one, am also glad that it's not overflowing with new character options. I'm pleased with WotC's new slow and steady approach in that regard. It does feel a bit thin, and there are a few embarrassing errors ("Moonshaes" misspelled as "Moonsheas" being one, and the lack of a scale on the map being another), but I think it gets the job done.


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## Pauper (Nov 11, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

If you're looking for a comprehensive setting guide for the entire Forgotten Realms setting, this isn't it. If you're looking for a player's guide with shiny new options for every class and race in the Player's Handbook, this isn't it. What this is is a book that contains a general overview of the changes in the nations of Faerun since the end of Fourth Edition, a more detailed view of the areas of the Sword Coast from the perspective of folks who live and travel there (a nice touch), and a section (about a third of the book) containing specific options for sub-classes specific to the Realms (like the bladesinger and battlerager), as well as ways to take existing Fifth Edition mechanics and adapt them to the Realms (for instance, the totems used by different Uthgardt barbarian tribes, or the bardic schools used by the different Faerunian bardic colleges). Given the small size, the book might have been better as a slightly cheaper soft-cover, but if you don't care about the price, you'll likely get a lot of use out of this book.


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## chibi graz'zt (Nov 15, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

This is a handy reference with many class/racial options. The book, however, is not a comprehensive setting guide, (akin to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book from 3.5e) Id say this book is more of a Gazette. The book covers the entire Faerunian pantheon, and in this chapter, covers all the domains that clerics will use. While each deity entry is short, it gives you what you need to get you going. Id say this book is more for players than for DMs.  Nevertheless, the production values continue to be those of the high caliber for 5e products.


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## neobolts (Nov 16, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

SCAG is a attractive and well laid out introduction to the Sword Coast region of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. There's a gentle primer for the rich-but-comfortable lore of FR: the various faiths, points of interest, and factions that seem familiar to fans of fantasy settings. It would be ideal for introducing first time players to the setting. Also, I've really enjoyed the additional class options and backgrounds added in SCAG. Arcana domain, City Watch, and Far Traveler are all standouts.While SCAG could certainly stand tall as a setting primer alongside the gazetteers of previous editions, it's hardcover release with a $40 MSRP is bound to create comparisons to previous setting megabooks, such as the full setting books of 3rd and 4th edition D&D. As such, it's important to understand that you are getting something equivalent to 3.x's Eberron Explorer's Handbook (a similar width hardcover) rather than the Eberron Campaign Setting book, and enjoy it for what it is.


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## Nimor (Nov 22, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

The book looks somewhat slim, but it packs a lot of background information that neatly connects the Player's Handbook to the Forgotten Realms game world. Plus it adds this depth without overwhelming the reader with a full-fledged campaign setting. I own the 3e and 4e Forgotten Realms campaign settings, which both felt more like a lexicon than like a book one would enjoy reading front to back. SCAG works better for me in this regard.


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## lkj (Nov 24, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I think this makes an excellent player's guide and a useful resource for DM's as well. It gives enough information about FR and its history to give you context without overwhelming with detail. I very much enjoyed the style of having each region detailed by a potentially unreliable narrator-- made for an easy read. The class options are fun, relevant and fairly easily convertible to other settings. Overall, a good book.


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## MNblockhead (Nov 28, 2015)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I paid an early-buyer tax. $40 was a bit too much for the book and it already sells for $26 on Amazon. At around $25, this book would be well worth the cost. Even at the $40, however, it is not a rip off.  Like the core rule books for 5e, the quality of the printing and the writing are top notch. I run a home-brew campaign and have no intention of running or playing in a FR campaign, but I really enjoyed reading through the book. I appreciate the section at the end that provides suggestions for adopting some of the character classes and races to other campaign settings, including home-brew settings. I don't understand reviewers complaining about the amount of "fluff."  I would expect that a campaign-setting book would be primarily flavor. That's what I was hoping for and that's what I got, and I enjoyed it. I do agree with reviewers complaining about the map. At the $40 I spent on the book, I would have felt that money was better spent if it came with a fold out map or a poster map. Having the left-side of the map get lost in the fold is thoughtless. It is annoying not being able to see certain areas referred to in the text because part of the map is lost to the crack. The city maps are also not so useful, but I see this is the high-level stuff. One would hope that future adventure modules or perhaps some city-specific guides will be released that give more detail to the cities. I read the recent Chris Perkins interview about them looking into other campaign settings. I would rather they focus their efforts for the first couple years on fleshing out FR in more detail. Publish some atlas style books, city guides, and adventurer guides for other parts of the world.  Even thought I'm not playing FR, more detailed maps could be repurposed for my custom campaign. I'm more likely to buy such materials than the adventure paths they've been putting out.In short, now that you can buy this book new for around $25, it is well worth adding to your collection.


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## Corpsetaker (Nov 30, 2015)

*1 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I'm going to have to give this book a 2 because it doesn't know exactly what it's trying to be. The bread and butter of the Forgotten Realms is it's attention to detail and it's deep lore, this books fail to give any of that. What makes it worse is it doesn't even give that for the Sword Coast even though it's in the name. It does a poor job at being an overall guide and an even poorer job of being a regional guide.   This should have been a free PDF download.


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## DiceClay (Dec 2, 2015)

*1 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Brutal. Fluff re the Realms. Nothing so hot about races classes


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## darjr (Dec 5, 2015)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

The writing in this book is excellent and while I'm not a huge Forgotten Realms fan I do appreciate it and the content in this book.

What can I add that others have not? Well, I haven't seen this pointed out, the Bibliography is fantastic. I intend to hunt down many if not all of the material referenced in it.


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## Cody C. Lewis (Dec 13, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I waited a bit before doing a review of this book, most likely because I kept changing my opinion of it. This book has been very confusing for me in how much I have enjoyed it mostly because of the difficulties in defining it. It is hard to tell if the book is successful at doing what it wanted well, because it is hard to tell what it was trying to do in the first place. After some consideration I believe it did in fact do what it wanted to do, but the question now is, is that something that appeals to everyone. So in short, if you have the correct expectations, this book is good, not great. If you have unrealistic expectations, you will be disappointed. 

*What should you expect?
*A 5e guide of sorts for players and possibly GMs, that will lay a good foundation as an introduction to the realms. *This 'guide' is a skeleton, it is a foundation, it is an introduction.* I imagine that WotC was afraid that 4e caused a lot of people to push to other systems, and felt like they needed a book to lay the groundwork for both returning players and new players that may have fallen into the gap of being introduced to TTRPGs with another system. 

*The Fluff
*The fluff is ok. It is not spectacular. It is presented in a sweeping overview. It is painted with the broad stroke of a large brush. Again, I want to reiterate this book is laying the foundation for people to understand Faerun. This book doesn't go into depth with who are the current masked lords, but instead describes the brief history of Waterdeep. It doesn't define NPCs of a city. But instead describes the layout of Baulder's Gate. Broad. Broad.Even the details on the deities are very generic. "This deity covers these things. These types of people worship them. This is their symbol. This is whether or not their altar's are large or small and if their worship is open or secretive." Which, by and large is all you NEED to know to incorporate them into a campaign. But things like X deity is plotting against Y deity for what they said at a deity class reunion 30 years ago... anything that specific is left out. Do not expect plot hooks.

So nothing regarding the fluff is done poorly. It accomplishes exactly what it tries to do.

*Crunch
*The crunch is good, but not great. My opinion is less based on the amount of options the book has or even the actual crunch itself, and rather the circumstances around the crunch. I'll explain; this is the first real expansion on the rules for 5e, outside of some sub-races and spells from Princes, as such this book feels like it just threw in some new stuff because... stuffs. The backgrounds are cool, but only 1 maybe two of them were completely new, while the others just gave variant features on existing backgrounds. The new archetypes are very cool... but Wizards didn't spread around the archetypes at all. Some classes received 2 new archetypes, some received 1, and others were completely ignored. Is this a positive or a negative? I'm not sure either way. If I had expected Wizards to release a single new archetype for each class, would they all have been good? Maybe they would have felt forced, or worse yet, been unbalanced. Chris Perkins has stated Wizards has no intention of publishing material just to publish material, so asking them to make new archetypes, just to produce material would have gone against this train of thought. However, on the other hand, as an example, there was nothing of real weight for my Bard in this book at all. Sure, it did have some nice background on the colleges, but even that was very small, and only usable as backgrounds for new characters.The spells in this book were interesting, but nearly unusable by anyone already playing a game. They would be fun for a very niche character concept, but I absolutely felt like they were in the book, just to fill the pages up.

*Conclusion
*I do not regret my purchase of this book. However, I intend on acquiring everything 5e. As far as my recommendation, it would be to pick up this book either only if you are a serious hobbyist, or to absolutely not pay $40/msrp for it. I purchased mine on Amazon for $23. That is about the correct value for this book. Unfortunately, that, more likely than not, means that this is not something I would recommend to pick up at a local shop.


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## Cascade (Dec 21, 2015)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Opening background is thought out and well done. Many locations have generic maps to allow a DM to jump in. A lot of the story that a player could use is semi informative but just not deep enough to fully vet out.  
The deity section is fairly well done. Locations of the main churches are very support with broad backgrounds. Probably my favorite part of the book.  

Overall sword coast information was shallow. It was open ended for adding on to the base story line but just seemed to try and grab so much, but simply didn't have room to expand. This section is either too general or far too rambling for a generic feel.  

Race section jumped around; either have options for the players or don't. Detailing out a race and then adding another without expansion just seemed hoj-poj.  Some of the class section was well thought out and informative...just not thorough or equal for all of the classes.  

Spells and factions were nice, again too brief.  Overall, I get the feeling that was a collection of basic summaries for someone completely new wanting a brief over view of the Sword Coast with some splashes of detail to try and drag in the old gamers. 

It's either too basic or lacks depth.   It's pretty expensive for a new gamer and not enough content for a hard core one. If you have the cash, nice flavor but you can find it elsewhere.


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## LordStorm (Jan 6, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I really liked the book. I am puzzled they call it Sword Coast and yet they put lots of other FR background in it. I hope we see more FR books. The classes and races info is good. The book has a lot of updated material. My biggest gripe is the cost - List Price is too high for the amount of material.


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## biotech66 (Jan 11, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

TL; DR-A doughnut-great fluff, but no crunch! 87%


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## steppedonad4 (Jan 19, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I don't get the hate. Yes, it's expensive, but it's a damn fine book. Putting price aside, it updates the realms nicely, provides a lot of good information in a concise and easy to read format, and gives good mechanical options to add to play. Don't see what there is to really hate about it.


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## Cristian Andreu (Jan 22, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

It is a short book, no doubts about it. Perhaps one might even say slightly overpriced considering the page number, although nothing scandalous. It's the only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5. That said, the SCAG attempts -and I think succeeds- in presenting two usually contradictory things: A book that's useful both to introduce new players to the Realms, and at the same time provide material for older players wishing to update into D&D 5e, all wrapped in a book of excellent production values. Focusing on a rather specific part of the Realms -the Sword Coast- helps achieve this, as well as acknowledging most long-time fans of the setting already own books from previous edition. The intent seems clear: Minimizing the reprinting of stuff we can already find elsewhere -and in far more detail-, and focusing on delivering a framework to plug old material into the new ruleset.With that in mind, I find the book a very good addition. It is more on the fluffy rather than the crunchy side, however, so bear that in mind if you prefer a more rules-packed product.


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## SigmaOne (Mar 2, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

This has a ton of content that breathes life into the forgotten realms. Perhaps a lot of the info could be found in other sources, but for players who are new to the realms and want a world that is rich, this is absolutely worthwhile. It's also a very enjoyable read even for those who already have some experience with the forgotten realms.


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## BookBarbarian (Mar 9, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I bought this mostly because I wanted to see the new sub-classes, backgrounds, and spells. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the rest of the book. Basically I can hand this book to any of my players and say "An adventurer in the sword coast would know this kind of stuff". Too bad my players never ask these kind of questions.


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## Fildrigar (Mar 16, 2016)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

An excellent book. Perfect for newer players without access to years of older FR products.


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## PatriotofKarrnath (Mar 30, 2016)

*2 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I found this book underwhelming, not bad, but not particularly good. Where I was most dissapointed was the physical quality of the book. It was bad, and because it was mail order I didnt get to see it before I bought it. This would have been put back on the shelf. Pages were starting to fall out, ink was smudging on the pictures and the glue was all over the place. Hopefully this was a rare occurance. But since I couldnt return it and it is in such bad shape, giving it a low rating. I was hoping for more in the character creation part, just seemed to meh to justify it.


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## akr71 (Apr 21, 2016)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

There's a lot of good stuff in this book, don't get me wrong.  As someone who hasn't spent a lot of time with the Forgotten Realms, this was useful.  The religion & deity info was useful, the history of the region and the nations were all good.  However its a pretty thin book for the cost.  The map is gorgeous, but small and lacks a scale.  Also I'm not a big fan of the other artwork in the book - it feels a little cartoony at times and is not up to the level of the other books in my opinion.


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## TheSwartz (Apr 26, 2016)

*2 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I was expecting a book full of useful things. Backgrounds, maybe some subclasses, cool magic items specific to the Forgotten Realms. A bunch of lore. Updates on where the FR is in 5th ed... and more. Maybe I was expecting too much. There are some things in this book that can be used so it's not a 1 star item, but I'm sorry to say that it's just not necessary to ever purchase this book. It's the sort of thing that you wish they'd put up a PDF version on DMs guild at 50% the list price, and then maybe it'd be worth purchasing.


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## sim-h (Apr 26, 2016)

*4 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I found the guide pretty useful in comparison with some of the reviewers here. The Storm Sorceror, Mastermind and Swashbuckler Rogues and the specific backgrounds such as Town Watch and Cloistered Scholar are all nice additions.  The subject matter on Dieties was also very useful although I understand much of that would be available elsewhere.  On the downside the region map is very small scale, and the price for the book is quite high. Nevertheless I can recommend it, especially for people new to D&D running the published campaigns such as Princes of the Apocalypse or Out of the Abyss.


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## timbannock (Oct 13, 2016)

*2 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Unsure of who the target audience is, Wizards of the Coast makes its first critical fumble with the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, a slim book featuring some real diamonds in terms of character creation (Backgrounds, Races, and Classes), but ultimately covering the Realms (not just the Sword Coast) in weak, vague terms. With over 100 pages geared mainly towards providing information useful strictly for filling out a Player Character’s backstory, this is the type of release that can easily be skipped unless you need the crunchy bits, in which case you’re better off finding it on a steep discount for the (at best) 50 pages you will end up using.

Rating: Content 2/5 and Form 3/5.

Read the full review on neuronphaser.com!


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## Evhelm (Nov 8, 2016)

*5 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

It is exactly what it purports to be: a source of juicy morsels about the landscape of the Sword Coast as it recommends itself to 5e.

Do not come a-knockin' lookin' for crunch, because this book is all about the fluff. And such sweet fluff it is!


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## akr71 (Nov 30, 2016)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

I like it, I really do.  Its a little light on the page count for the cover price though.

For someone who is not terribly familiar with the Sword Coast and points nearby, it is really interesting - the fluff is what I expected out of this book.  The extra class options were nice, but not what I bought it for.  Reading it, I kept thinking "Cool, I could put my adventurers here - its just asking for me to write something."  I'm not the kind of DM that gets hung up on canon - this book offers enough background and fluff to take the heavy lifting out of campaign design, but still leaves enough flexibility to let my imagination run wild.


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## guachi (Nov 17, 2017)

*2 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

If you aren't really interested in the Forgotten Realms information there is nothing to recommend in _Sword Coast_ as many of the best subclasses and spells were reprinted in _​Everything._


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## Jesse David (Feb 5, 2019)

*1 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

If you're committed to running a lot of games in the north sword coast, than MAYBE this book is worth your money.  Or for players, if your DM is planning to stick to the prepackaged lore of the north sword coast (and run most of their adventures there) and you want to familiarize yourself with the setting, than MAYBE this is worth your money. Pretty bland and unevocative though (and I'm not coming at this with any FR hate). Not recommended.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 11, 2019)

*3 out of 5 rating for Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*

Odd kind of book, roughly 2/3rds fluff with a bit of crunch. What crunch there is is really good but its not really a campaign guide book and not really a splat. Even then the fluff was done better in previous editions. 

Overall its a book. Its not great its not terrible.


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