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Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

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  • Create Date：2021-11-19 06:53:13
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
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  • Author：Steve Kenson
  • ISBN：0786965800
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Summary

Get everything you need to adventure in the Forgotten Realms on the exciting Sword Coast， home to the cities of Baldur’s Gate， Waterdeep， and Neverwinter。 Crafted by the scribes at Green Ronin in conjunction with the Dungeons & Dragons team at Wizards of the Coast， the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide provides D&D fans with a wealth of detail on the places， cultures， and deities of northwestern Faerûn。
 
The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is also a great way to catch up on recent events in the Forgotten Realms， to get background on locations featured in the Rage of Demons storyline coming in September， and to learn the lore behind video games like Neverwinter and Sword Coast Legends。
 
Here are just a few of the features you’ll find in the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide:
 
· Immersive Adventuring: This campaign sourcebook provides players and Dungeon Masters material for creating vibrant fantasy stories along the Sword Coast。
 
· New Character Options: The book offers new subclass options， such as the Purple Dragon Knight and the Swashbuckler， for many of the classes presented in the Player’s Handbook， as well as new subraces and backgrounds specific to the Forgotten Realms。
 
· Adventure in the Forgotten Realms: Discover the current state of the Forgotten Realms and its deities after the Spellplague and the second Sundering。 You’ll also get updated maps of this area of the Realms。

· Compatible with Rage of Demons storyline: Make characters for use with the Out of the Abyss adventure and fight back the influence of the demon lords in the Underdark below the Sword Coast。
 
· Insider Information: Learn the background behind locations， such as Luskan and Gracklstugh， featured in the upcoming digital RPG， Sword Coast Legends， from n-Space。
 
With new character backgrounds and class options， players will love the storytelling possibilities of playing a noble of Waterdeep， an elf bladesinger， or one of the other new options， while Dungeon Masters will relish a book full of mysterious locations and story hooks to keep players adventuring on the Sword Coast for years to come。

Look for Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide to be available on November 3。

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Reviews

Pádraic ，

Not quite as dull as I was expecting， but pretty close。 After a broad overview of the Realms， including references to many intriguing sounding places， we instead zoom in for great detail on a boring little stretch called the Sword Coast， a setting I'd already grown to dislike from reading Storm King's Thunder and however many other bloody adventure modules are set there。 The information concerning gods is particularly mind-numbing， and the whole thing starts to feel like a list of （bad） names。 Not quite as dull as I was expecting， but pretty close。 After a broad overview of the Realms， including references to many intriguing sounding places， we instead zoom in for great detail on a boring little stretch called the Sword Coast， a setting I'd already grown to dislike from reading Storm King's Thunder and however many other bloody adventure modules are set there。 The information concerning gods is particularly mind-numbing， and the whole thing starts to feel like a list of （bad） names。 。。。more

Cat Webling ，

Super fun read！ Especially good if， like me， you're still relatively new to D&D and don't know all the ins and outs of the Forgotten Realms。 It's lovely to have a full reference guide while I'm playing。 Super fun read！ Especially good if， like me， you're still relatively new to D&D and don't know all the ins and outs of the Forgotten Realms。 It's lovely to have a full reference guide while I'm playing。 。。。more

Mouse ，

95% fluff， 5% crunch。 Not a bad book， has some great art and info， but not worth $40。If you’re new to the Forgotten Realms then this book is a good primer， otherwise it can be easily skipped。

Dan Hyer ，

Lot of details。 Geographical maps， cities， details of regions。 Requires a lot of reading before utilizing。Ch。 1， Welcome to the Realms。 P。7-23: BackgroundCh。 2， The Sword Coast and the North。 P43-99: Maps and details about cities and regions。Ch。 3， Races。 P103-118: Introduces variantsCh。 4， Classes。 P。121-142: More variantsCh。 5， Backgrounds。 P145-154: city watch， inheritor， urban bounty hunter， cloistered scholar， etc。Appendix: Class options in other worlds: Dragonlance， Eberron， Greyhawk， home Lot of details。 Geographical maps， cities， details of regions。 Requires a lot of reading before utilizing。Ch。 1， Welcome to the Realms。 P。7-23: BackgroundCh。 2， The Sword Coast and the North。 P43-99: Maps and details about cities and regions。Ch。 3， Races。 P103-118: Introduces variantsCh。 4， Classes。 P。121-142: More variantsCh。 5， Backgrounds。 P145-154: city watch， inheritor， urban bounty hunter， cloistered scholar， etc。Appendix: Class options in other worlds: Dragonlance， Eberron， Greyhawk， homemade worlds。 。。。more

Rob Moore ，

Fantastic setting for Northwest Faerûn and as a reference for the Forgotten Realms。 So many good little ideas， tons of plot hooks。 You could tell stories in this setting for years and years and years。

Alex Meeres ，

The content that is included is quite good， but this book is very short for the price。 This is not a 5th edition "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting" tome， but a collection of some useful area briefs， character options， and a smattering of details。 The content that is included is quite good， but this book is very short for the price。 This is not a 5th edition "Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting" tome， but a collection of some useful area briefs， character options， and a smattering of details。 。。。more

Jason Drummond ，

A decent guide in terms of background information for the land。 I could have used more fleshed out lore and adventure hooks。 The class options and spells add a little flavor but largely pale in comparison to other guides。 You can tell it's an early book in the 5e cycle and they definitively improved over time。 I think it's useful enough to justify picking up。 However， I'd prioritize later guides over this one if resources are limited。 A decent guide in terms of background information for the land。 I could have used more fleshed out lore and adventure hooks。 The class options and spells add a little flavor but largely pale in comparison to other guides。 You can tell it's an early book in the 5e cycle and they definitively improved over time。 I think it's useful enough to justify picking up。 However， I'd prioritize later guides over this one if resources are limited。 。。。more

Hillary ，

A decent supplemental to learn more about the lore of the Sword Coast and some additional character classes。

Robert Hernandez ，

I think this book allowed for me as a little bit above beginner player of dungeon and dragon to allow me to understand the world of Faerun and how each of the races live with the ever evolving world of Toril。 The usage of high magic and the sundering， with the spellplague， and the whims of the gods， the book provides many story hooks to build or be inspired to build a world with this lore in mind。 I wish they explained what greyhawk， dragonlance， and eberron are more in detail in comparison to F I think this book allowed for me as a little bit above beginner player of dungeon and dragon to allow me to understand the world of Faerun and how each of the races live with the ever evolving world of Toril。 The usage of high magic and the sundering， with the spellplague， and the whims of the gods， the book provides many story hooks to build or be inspired to build a world with this lore in mind。 I wish they explained what greyhawk， dragonlance， and eberron are more in detail in comparison to Faerun， but I’m glad there is a snippet of it at the end to see how the classes are different。 I know there is an eberron book so I will read that one but not sure if the other two are。 One thing that was interesting was the fact that dragonborns are supposably from another world？ Thats crazy but also awesome。 I had a good time with the story format， but in the end not five because even with this lore， I feel like there is a lot of context that I am missing to dive in deeper， and this exist more as a 101 on faerun and should provide a list of what to read next。 。。。more

Mary ，

Det är inte bra att jag läser dessa böcker。 Har nu spenderat pengar på en klass och bakgrund på D&D Beyond till en ny karaktär som jag inte kommer att kunna spela på väldigt länge。 xD

Regan ，

Campaign settings are fine， they all have something to offer。 I mean， they are SUPER handy if you're USING the campaign setting。 I was just revisiting to see if I wanted any of the extra content， I don't use Faerun as a setting， but it's a good， accessible， well organized book for sure。 Campaign settings are fine， they all have something to offer。 I mean， they are SUPER handy if you're USING the campaign setting。 I was just revisiting to see if I wanted any of the extra content， I don't use Faerun as a setting， but it's a good， accessible， well organized book for sure。 。。。more

Mournblade94 ，

If you're expecting the great works of 2nd edition or 3rd edition you'll be disappointed。 This is still the best source book for 5e If you're expecting the great works of 2nd edition or 3rd edition you'll be disappointed。 This is still the best source book for 5e 。。。more

Robert ，

Needed more background on the places。

Jeff ，

If you play in Faerun。。。 You should have this guide。

Nick Vossen ，

I haven't ventured into the Forgotten Realms alot before so I can't speak much for the ongoing lore side of things。 For a DM this book is great， all the info you could need for a campaign setting。 For a player， you'd probably think your character isn't *that* versed in the world lore。 So you'd end up skipping a lot of the lore that isn't directly of use to you and your character right away。 That said， isn't that true for just about any sourcebook， though？ I'd say the most useful allround info is I haven't ventured into the Forgotten Realms alot before so I can't speak much for the ongoing lore side of things。 For a DM this book is great， all the info you could need for a campaign setting。 For a player， you'd probably think your character isn't *that* versed in the world lore。 So you'd end up skipping a lot of the lore that isn't directly of use to you and your character right away。 That said， isn't that true for just about any sourcebook， though？ I'd say the most useful allround info is all of the customisation options in the back。 But it's a fine supplement as is。 。。。more

Kaitlin ，

Moderately useful reference， mostly for location descriptions。

Steven Wendell ，

Good info for giving my games more depth and nuance。

Daniel ，

Fun refresher on the sword coast setting with a lot of detail

Jer Clarke ，

This is a sourcebook for D&D 5th Edition， not a story book or anything。 It's also not an "adventure" book， so it's not full of missions or anything。 What it offers is a general background on the default "Setting" for D&D 5e， known as the "Forgotten Realms"， i。e。 the continent of Faerun on the planet of Toril。 It's full of general background on the places， peoples， and history of the region， and is a REALLY useful resource if you're a DM who wants to run campaigns in the described area。 I started This is a sourcebook for D&D 5th Edition， not a story book or anything。 It's also not an "adventure" book， so it's not full of missions or anything。 What it offers is a general background on the default "Setting" for D&D 5e， known as the "Forgotten Realms"， i。e。 the continent of Faerun on the planet of Toril。 It's full of general background on the places， peoples， and history of the region， and is a REALLY useful resource if you're a DM who wants to run campaigns in the described area。 I started reading it as a player in a game set in the Sword Coast （part of Faerun） and it was useful for that too。 For any given game it will have WAY too much information on WAY too many places， it describes a HUGE area that's so spread out no adventurer could ever try to see most of it in a single lifetime。 What I'd recommend is reading it once through to get a feel for all it's content， then return to re-read sections that apply to your games， and look for ideas that way。 The elephant in this room is the Forgotten Realms Wiki （https://forgottenrealms。fandom。com/wi。。。） which describes most things that are in this book in FAR more detail， as well has having the Wiki feature of inter-linking。 What I found was that SCaG （as the book is often called） is a more pleasant and interesting read than the Wiki， and also that it gives a really good intro to all the subjects。 Once you've finished this book， the Forgotten Realms Wiki will make a LOT more sense， and you'll have the grounding to dive into the areas that are specific to your campaign！Notably， for players I think SCaG is "safer" than the Wiki， as it is by nature vague and just gives an overview of things， whereas the wiki is so detailed it can effectively spoil aspects of a campaign that haven't come up yet。 When it comes to games I DM， I would say to players "You can read all of SCaG if you want， and just remember to RP your character as only knowing the things they would know"， but in terms of the Wiki， I'd say "Please avoid reading the wiki as it might spoil the game。 If you think your character would know something， ask me and I'll tell you the exact entries that are OK to read。"Anyway， an interesting book！Highlights:- Descriptions of the gods！ Great overview and not bogged down with all the intricate history found on the matching wiki articles- Descriptions of the regions and cities。 The lack of maps is annoying， but the descriptions get you started and give you ideas for plot hooksLowlights:- The included new sub-classes are a bit lacklustre and not really considered official at this point。 Look to Xanathar's Guide to Everything for a better set of sub-classes。 。。。more

Meredith Katz ，

A note up frontI do want to lead with the fact that this is a great resource with a lot of information about the Forgotten Realms。 I'd recommend reading it， especially to get an idea of what kind of character you might want to play！ It's got a lot of detail on the world， its gods， locations （with a focus on the sword coast） and has suggestions for more setting-specific classes， races， and backgrounds you can choose instead of having to go off the Player's Handbook alone。That said， I often found A note up frontI do want to lead with the fact that this is a great resource with a lot of information about the Forgotten Realms。 I'd recommend reading it， especially to get an idea of what kind of character you might want to play！ It's got a lot of detail on the world， its gods， locations （with a focus on the sword coast） and has suggestions for more setting-specific classes， races， and backgrounds you can choose instead of having to go off the Player's Handbook alone。That said， I often found myself frustrated reading it that the book it claimed to be in the title wasn't actually the book it was。 With a title like "Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide" it's positioning itself as a travel guide with a focus on explaining the environment of the Sword Coast itself， but while it was in there， that was the minority。 I'm going to get specifics with my criticisms not because I want to rip this supplement apart （I don't！ It was useful！ There was a lot in it I enjoyed！） but because I want fellow readers to go in knowing what bits to look for and what not to in order to avoid my same frustrations。 And also， in the off chance the designers/editors read this， I want it to be detailed feedback they can potentially use for future supplements since I know that game designers don't often have focus groups of end readers （hi！ Sorry this is so long！ Again， I definitely don't mean to be ripping this apart here in any way， it was very useful！ I just kept finding ways it was butting up against my expectations or I found that it wasn't fulfilling my needs entirely）。My expectationsIn earlier D&D editions， you could get the big core books hardcover， but also softcover versions of smaller supplemental books like the "Deities and Demigods" supplement book which explains all the available gods for D&D settings and who follows them， or Campaign Settings books for specific worlds （ie Forgotten Realm Adventures， Dragonlance Adventures， Grayhawk Adventures， Ravenloft: Domains of Dread）。 And frankly， I miss that， because when I pick up a D&D supplement to read， it's because its title has indicated this book fulfills a need I have in my gaming life， and having to wade through things that seem totally unrelated to the title is a bit frustrating。 It felt like there should have been a general Forgotten Realms book， and then an additional supplement focused on the Sword Coast， and a Deities and Demigods supplement that included gods of various settings， or some combination thereof。 I guess the tl;dr of my reoccurring frustration is that the title promises me that this book is about information within a specific category （The Sword Coast）， but the book isn't actually about that Category， it just includes that category in a larger amount than other categories。 I picked this up as someone GMing a campaign set in the Sword Coast and playing characters from the Sword Coast。 So by reading it start to back with the assumption this would be specifically about the Sword Coast instead of emphasizing the Sword Coast， kept alternating me between genuine enjoyment of the content， confusion （"Wait， is that on the Sword Coast？ I thought that was farther away"） and frustration （"When am I getting to the Sword Coast specifics？"）。 More detail on the book itselfThe flow of the guide is as below， with my notes on each section。CHAPTER 1 - general Realms-specific overview （18 pages）- This includes the sections "Welcome to the Realms"， "Toril and its Lands"， "Time in the Realms"， A Brief History"， and "Magic in the Realms": I'm putting all these parts together because they have to go together for any of them to make sense， and I wish these had been melded into one part in actuality instead of being broken out into subsections because together they form a summary of the entire history of the full Forgotten Realms setting， with no particular focus to the Sword Coast。 I do think a history of the realms is important in understanding any one part of it， so I agree it'd be hard to present a guide to a specific location without some general overview。 This content should have been here in some form， but if there was any part of the book I felt needed revisions， it was this one。 The history was confusingly written and weirdly devoid of context， and bounced around between locations without giving us a better grasp of the timeline of events and how the world worked as a whole， let alone its immediate impact on the Sword Coast。 As an opening thesis to a book called "The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide"， it lacked direction and didn't really let me know what to expect。 I think this could have been improved by starting with a map of the full world （there wasn't one -- there was a sword coast map and a northern faerun map， but no world map， which meant I was googling where Thay and Kara-Tur was and so on since it went over world history in general）。 It would also have been helped by focusing on a holistic timeline rather than scattering it between different locations and subject headings。 A holistic view would allow me to see where the rise and fall of empires etc were in relationship to each other and better understand what went into the current character of the cities and locales in Faerun in general as well as on the Sword's Coast。The holistic view would have also made it easier to understand what our players are actually dealing with and what their lives have been like。 Again: Keeping in mind I picked the supplement up to read about the Sword Coast， as a DM running a 5e game and a player running in them， I feel it's important to know the environment of like。。。 for example， what it was like during the Sundering for your average person。 Your character just came out of the Spellplagues - what was that experience？ Did it or did it not affect their upbringing？ I don't think any of my fellow players are aware that 5 years ago several of the major cities were trashed by earthquakes， because we picked up in 5e either new or after a long break -- in my case， I stopped playing after AD&D 2nd ed and picked up again in 5e -- and I don't want that information buried， I want a clear and concise understanding of what it would have been like as an adventurer to live through those times。 - Religion and gods/goddesses in the realms。 （25 pages）In its current form this felt to me to be extraneous to the purpose of the book。 I understand including it: your characters probably worship someone or several someones （especially if they are a cleric or paladin） and the gods are obviously active in the realms since they were walking around in it （this again could have had more focus in the history section）。 But either this should have been shortened considerably into a briefer list for players to start with and research further into elsewhere （perhaps in a Deities and Demigods book， for example）， or it should have been focused on and expanded more -- tell us the history of that god and how they relate to the Sword Coast specifically （there are a few cases of this， as with Asmodeus， but they are few or far between）。 To illustrate what I mean， here's an example of something I'd have loved to see mentioned in this book， but which I found out about elsewhere: the drow goddess Eilistraee was recently walking around under Waterdeep's City Walls and caused a fairly significant shift in the view of Non-Evil drow aboveground due to them actually making a legit temple to her in response to this， and this temple was permitted to be hosted in Waterdeep after support from a high elf noble member of the council。 That changes a reader's understanding of the drow， of Waterdeep and what it's willing to accept， and ties into the explanation of the gods。 However， she wasn't mentioned in any detail and her connection to the Sword Coast wasn't in this book。 The other thing I'd like was， again， more tie in to the lived history players would be dealing with so they could understand it better。 A lot of gods apparently died recently and were resurrected or melded with other gods， and the specifics of this are things I'm finding out about by wiki diving instead of reading about in this book。 I'd just have liked to see it be more specific to the experience an Adventurer on the Sword Coast might have had in the last 10-20 years in relating to the gods， their appearance， and their worship。CHAPTER 2: The Sword Coast and the North （60 pgs）This was the section I was reading for， and I had imagined the whole book would be this section when I picked it up -- that was essentially the resource I was hoping for from the title。 It was great， and I would have loved to have even more detail。 I was envisioning something like Volo's Enchiridion of Waterdeep but for every major location （so going into the character of the city， coinage， navigation， some cool tourist spots that GMs or Players could mine for ideas）， and this was significantly lighter on the information than that was。 It was still a really great read and I loved digging into this part significantly （shoutout to Purple Rocks for coming out of NOWHERE with that one， I wasn't ready）， but it had two things I would have loved to see improved:- Organization & Flow - it was broken out into various 'categories' （The Lord's Alliance， Dwarfholds of the North， Island Kingdoms etc） and then they were alphabetized within that。 I get the purpose of that for quickly flipping to and looking things up， but in terms of envisioning how to actively use it in-setting， the understanding of what it would be like to travel in that space was deprioritized since it was geographically all over the place。 Since there's an index we could use to quickly find a page， I'd rather the geography was emphasized in terms of organization rather than the name of the city -- start at the north or south and move from there geographically。 Or， if you were going to keep the alphabetizing， it would have been greatly helpful to pop a map on each sidebar showing the full Sword Coast and put a star over the current location to provide context。- Lack of in-depth information - it was a good overview of a lot of locations， but I wanted to dig in to the understanding of what it was like there。 For example， I know （through outside reading） that there's a LOT going on in Luskan right now behind the scenes that weren't even hinted at in its write-up。 In addition: what are the political environments like and how does this affect adventuring on the Sword Coast？ Sticking with the Luskan example， the start of the Lords' Alliance section mentions keeping Luskan's ambitions in check， and then Luskan is not mentioned anywhere in the individual city sections of the Lords' Alliance， and its ambitions toward the Lords' Alliance were not mentioned anywhere in Luskan's section。 （I loved， btw， that different narrative voices were describing the different locations！ I just wish they were all equally readable， because unfortunately， Andwe and Aedyn were a bit more narratively floral and thus harder to follow than Gardorra and Oshgir）CHAPTER 3: Races of the Realms （15 pages）- A good summary of how the races from the phb are represented in the general culture of the Realms。 It went enough into deities that I found it a bit repetitive from earlier， and would probably have preferred the earlier bit get shortened and worked in here instead。 It was also very generally-realms focused again， but I didn't mind that here （different peoples travel， cities are melting pots of different cultures）。CHAPTER 4: Classes （21 pages）- This， like the races section， was meant to be a view of how the standard classes were represented in the Realms， but was a bit more frustrating because this felt it should be more Swords-Coast specific。 I wasn't sure why we were， for example， getting full write-ups in the Sword Coast Guide of the Purple Dragon Knights of Cormyr。 This was the point where I started to feel like the book was silently explaining to me that we weren't going to get a general Forgotten Realms guide to the rest of these realms in 5e， because if we were， these classes would have been saved for that。 CHAPTER 5: Backgrounds （9 pages）- These were great！ I have no criticism here。 If anything I'd just have wanted even more of them， especially if this is the main FR campaign book we're going to get， since most of the adventure modules are set in the Forgotten Realms。APPENDIX: Class Options in Other Worlds （2 pages）- Also very neat！ Useful for adaptation （I wonder if anyone looking for a conversion will think to look in this book since it says it's something very specific， but honestly， if someone has read this book and later starts a campaign in another setting， it's a nice to have）。My general summary， tl;drAgain -- I want to stress this book WAS very informative， and I wanted to lay these details out mostly in case they are useful。 There was a lot I enjoyed in this book。 It's a solid 4star， and this review is just an attempt for me to wade through and break out expectations vs results for other people's use so they can avoid having their goals frutsrated。As I mentioned， by the time I got to the Classes chapter， I began to feel strongly as if this book was silently， subtly informing me that we weren't going to get a general Forgotten Realms guide to the rest of these realms in 5e。 This felt especially weird since most of the supplements we've got so far are general world guides （Eberron， Ravnica， Theros， Wildemount）。 I wouldn't mind if this were the case， actually！ But I would have preferred to know going in that this was The Guide to the Forgotten Realms， and just have an added note early on that since most adventurers hail from the Swords Coast， there is a specific focus on the Sword Coast that is greater than the other cultures of the Realms。 That would have solved basically all my frustrations with the book since I'd be reading it from the right perspective and would know to flip for the sections I was specifically looking for with the Sword Coast， rather than go in from the perspective "this is going to teach me specifically about Adventuring Life On The Sword Coast" and getting stymied as I read it front to back。 As is， without that understanding up front， I would have preferred a more focused text and/or additional supplements。 Don't get me wrong -- I love not having to buy multiple books！ But it was marketed in one way， so although I found a lot of unexpected use in this， I was definitely approaching it with a different need than the one the book wanted to address。 。。。more

Redsteve ，

Decent campaign setting for a specific region of the "Forgotten Realms。" Has a brief overview of the world and then gets down to details of the region。 In addition to geography， religion， politics， legends and the like， this book includes setting-specifics for races， classes as well as new subclasses， backgrounds etc。 One aspect of this book that I liked was that much of the write-ups of the campaign setting were from the POV of a number of travelers， which allows them not to be considered "set Decent campaign setting for a specific region of the "Forgotten Realms。" Has a brief overview of the world and then gets down to details of the region。 In addition to geography， religion， politics， legends and the like， this book includes setting-specifics for races， classes as well as new subclasses， backgrounds etc。 One aspect of this book that I liked was that much of the write-ups of the campaign setting were from the POV of a number of travelers， which allows them not to be considered "set in stone。" On the other hand， like many other "traditional D&D" settings， I felt that the Sword Coast is excessively monster and magic-heavy， but that's just my opinion （and， I realize， not a popular one in this genre）。 Also， while I found the format decently presented， I'd have preferred if the author had included a timeline of major events as well。UPDATE: 6/20/21 Picked up a hard copy at Crescent City Comics （previously just read the online version on D&D Beyond）。 。。。more

Brandon Barney ，

This is an excellent resource for Forgotten Realms history and geography， especially for the northwest of Faerun。 Great for DMs who want to run a campaign in the FR。 it is a little thin on character options and such but overall， really good

Chris ，

Great for filling general knowledge of the Sword Coast， where many of the published adventures take place。 But be aware that some of the material in this book is now dated。 Newer books have improved or more fully realized versions of some of the class specializations， etc。 Particularly Xanathar's Guide to Everything。 Great for filling general knowledge of the Sword Coast， where many of the published adventures take place。 But be aware that some of the material in this book is now dated。 Newer books have improved or more fully realized versions of some of the class specializations， etc。 Particularly Xanathar's Guide to Everything。 。。。more

Rod ，

A fun read。 It has a few subclasses which are not particularly good， given that some are on XGE as well， but what this book excels at is providing flavor to adventures set in the Forgotten Realms。 Not as necessary as the PHB， MM， DMG， XGE， or even Volo's guide。 A fun read。 It has a few subclasses which are not particularly good， given that some are on XGE as well， but what this book excels at is providing flavor to adventures set in the Forgotten Realms。 Not as necessary as the PHB， MM， DMG， XGE， or even Volo's guide。 。。。more

Marvin ，

A fairly competent introduction to the busiest， or at least most in-demand at the moment， corner of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting。 I have a hard time imagining exactly what it looks like to people who haven't dug through so many of the old box sets and supplements of earlier editions or haven't been reading the novel line for decades， but it's a solid enough entry point， I think， for the 5e era。 Makes the world still feel a bit cluttered with personalities and history， but there's plenty A fairly competent introduction to the busiest， or at least most in-demand at the moment， corner of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting。 I have a hard time imagining exactly what it looks like to people who haven't dug through so many of the old box sets and supplements of earlier editions or haven't been reading the novel line for decades， but it's a solid enough entry point， I think， for the 5e era。 Makes the world still feel a bit cluttered with personalities and history， but there's plenty of room to adventure。 Mostly fluff with a bit of new mechanics in the form of a few racial subtypes and subclasses。 。。。more

Rick ，

Interesting， but overall this was a bit disappointing。 I played for several years in a Forgotten Realms campaign and enjoyed it enormously。 In many ways this was just a superficial update， but even there it does not really offer enough information。 As a quick introduction， it does rather leaves more out than it provides。 The new player options for characters was probably the best thing in the book。 Enjoyable， but needed more detail。

Marco Bizzarri ，

Very nice addition for those who wants to play in the Forgotten Realms。

Kevin Leung ，

I'm planning to run the "Heroes of Baldur's Gate" adventure and wanted to get a refresher on the Sword Coast。 I finally got around to pick up this sourcebook， and it is solidly okay。 I admittedly skipped a large chunk in the middle because I wasn't getting much from it。 This book is stuck in an uncomfortable valley between a survey and an in-depth study of the Sword Coast。 It's too long to be a survey， so it's easy to get lost in the lore and forget most of what you read immediately。 It's too sh I'm planning to run the "Heroes of Baldur's Gate" adventure and wanted to get a refresher on the Sword Coast。 I finally got around to pick up this sourcebook， and it is solidly okay。 I admittedly skipped a large chunk in the middle because I wasn't getting much from it。 This book is stuck in an uncomfortable valley between a survey and an in-depth study of the Sword Coast。 It's too long to be a survey， so it's easy to get lost in the lore and forget most of what you read immediately。 It's too short on any one particular section to actually flesh out an entire adventure setting。If you're looking for more depth to bake into your game， I recommend reading Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes， which has great depth on Elves， Dwaves， Halflings， and Gnomes。 Or maybe just play one of the video games （e。g。 Baldur's Gate， Neverwinter Nights） to really live it。If you're looking for a survey of the world， just browse the Forgotten Realms Wikia site with a map handy to connect the dotsI haven't played with the character options in the back， though they also just seem fine。 。。。more

Harold Smithson ，

The sword coast was never the most interesting or unusual DnD setting。 This book only emphasizes that with over one hundred pages of explanation dedicated to this setting and， for no reason I can understand， its history。 In some ways it reads like all the worst elements of an epic fantasy book， and it convinced me that I was just better off ignoring the setting for something else。Even Baldur's Gate struggled to make the Sword Coast interesting。 The best moments in those games arose from its mech The sword coast was never the most interesting or unusual DnD setting。 This book only emphasizes that with over one hundred pages of explanation dedicated to this setting and， for no reason I can understand， its history。 In some ways it reads like all the worst elements of an epic fantasy book， and it convinced me that I was just better off ignoring the setting for something else。Even Baldur's Gate struggled to make the Sword Coast interesting。 The best moments in those games arose from its mechanical depth， its exploration， its characters， its more introspective moments and the surprising plot twists it sometimes pulled off。 There's a reason the second game's story is more personal and psychological than the first and much stronger for it。The subclasses introduced here are fun， but they were reprinted in Xanathar's Guide to Everything， which is also a dull read that at least cuts to the chase。 。。。more

Jeremy Blum ，

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is a fine reference， but completely unnecessary if you don't play in a Forgotten Realms campaign that focuses on the very specific stretch of land that it covers。 It's something of an outlier in 5e's collection of products in that it's a pure "fluff" tome focused mostly on lore with only a tiny sprinkling of character options in the back， and in earlier editions of the game this probably would have been released as a cheap black and white splatbook - or gazetteer， Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is a fine reference， but completely unnecessary if you don't play in a Forgotten Realms campaign that focuses on the very specific stretch of land that it covers。 It's something of an outlier in 5e's collection of products in that it's a pure "fluff" tome focused mostly on lore with only a tiny sprinkling of character options in the back， and in earlier editions of the game this probably would have been released as a cheap black and white splatbook - or gazetteer， if you prefer。 The guide details the northwest section of Faerun that Ed Greenwood first developed and later creators like R。A。 Salvatore popularized in their novels。 I like to joke that EVERYTHING in the Realms happens on this dinky stretch of medieval fantasy real estate （release a revised book on Kara-tur， you Wizards of the Coast cowards） and if you're DMing/playing one of the official 5th edition adventures set in the region then this book may come in handy。 If you're at least semi-familiar with the Realms （or have read the Legend of Drizzt books） this is also a handy reference for summarizing the Faerun gods and the wacky reboot stuff that's happened since 3e， like the Spellplague and Sundering。 For people playing in other settings， totally new players and DMs who have no prior knowledge of the Realms， this book's probably not worth a purchase， because it throws a lot of names at you fast and hard。 While the fluff's decent， some of the text is dry， especially in the second chapter on locations that just goes on and on with names and descriptions of places without showing you exactly where they are on the Sword Coast map。 Additionally， the character options in the back feel underpowered， and Xanathar's Guide to Everything swiped the four best ones， which means that this material's kinda outdated， as well。I'll still be using this on occasion in my games for flavor， but I do wish Wizards had produced a massive 300+ page tome serving as an ULTIMATE Guide to the Realms， instead of just a tiny peek at the Sword Coast。 。。。more

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0