Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn

by Wizards of the Coast

Genres: Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Role Playing Games, Gaming, Fiction, Forgotten Realms, Games

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2025

About the author

Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]

Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.

Reviews

[Nigel Roberts]

3.5 stars

This is a good guide, but could have been better. The new sub-classes and backgrounds are good, as well as the feats. The guides to factions and deities are useful, but the regional guides are poor. I still have my 3.5 guide and in that even minor areas get at least half a page, but in this version they get little more than a paragraph, if they are mentioned at all.

[D]

WOW, what an amazing addition to 5.5!! And what a gorgeous book! The art is magnificent, and there is a large fold-out map of Faerun at the end. Love it.

There are many new character backgrounds (yay! We needed those!) and a few new subclasses. One of them is - finally!! - a vanilla-flavoured sorcerer subclass. I've been waiting for this for so long! The updated Bladesinger is good too. The book also contains species information tailored to Faerun as well as new feats and spells.

Lore-wise, there's a large section that goes over the different regions of Faerun. Lot's of great maps. The lore is well explained, and I found it more accessible here than what I've seen in other resources. We get short profiles for most of the important gods, 4 pages for every faction, and the new "circle casting" mechanic. Aurora's Catalogue with gorgeous new items for players to purchase is one of my favourite sections of the book.

Overall, I'm super pleased with how this turned out. The art is so perfect, and the book really delivered on those new player options and lore. Very interesting. this book really delivered, and I highly recommend it to all 5.5 players.

[Messorem Animarum]

Tip: for a far superior and more interesting Forgotten Realms experience, buy any of the guides or the superb boxed sets from the D&D 1E, 2E, or 3E eras.

Hasbro and WoTC have neutered the Forgotten Realms, stripping anway all that made it unique and rendering it no more than a bland, flat, corporate mush.

Gone is the evocative flavor and tone that Ed Greenwood created. Gone is the sense of adventuring in a distinct fantasy world with verisimilitude.

Replacing this is political correctness, reflecting the preferred leftist politics of Hasbro, WoTC and their Seattle area home. Seattle is now literally led by a Socialist. The Forgotten Realms reflects this, infested with all manner of DEI, in both writing and the absurd art.

As the icing on the cake of disappointment, the included poster map contains font so tiny as to render it nigh-unreadable to anyone more than a few inhes away from the map.

Fare thee well Forgotten Realms. It was nice knowing ye.

[Ross Kitson]

A welcome book on the Realms geared towards 5.5e (which I haven’t got) and moving timeline on 6 or 7 years.
Not playing 5.5e the classes etc were lost in me, although some ideas and flavour could be poached.
The gazetteer is the highlight, with a broad outline of each area that goes far beyond the prior supplement based in greater detail around the saturated Sword Coast. Mike Schleys maps are gorgeous as always. Some areas I wasn’t overly keen on the authors ideas (so Unther Tymanthor) but as ever it’s up to yourself what you use.
Both the religions and factions sections were strong and gave me some nice ideas.
Overall very useful, even without 5.5e and recommended as an overview. Could have detailed more history and timeline IMO.

[Kurt Vosper]

Another gift from the family that I appreciate very much. Been a D&D fan since I was about 10 and it’s given me a lot of interesting reading over the years.

This a great add on rule book about heroes in the most popular campaign setting the Forgotten Realms. Great read with back information on famous characters and groups. Great artwork.

[Bookwalker]

Another cool addition to the Dungeons and Dragons library. It makes a lot of things from the "Honour Among Thieves" movie make waaay more sense. The sections about the gods and the factions of Faerûn were particularly interesting. The only thing I didn't like was the tiny print on the smaller maps. It made them difficult to read properly. But otherwise a good read and definitely a reread.

[Will Cooper]

Some fun subclasses and new Circle Magic mechanic, but too short for the amount they charge.

[Beth]

My full review can be found at https://www.enworld.org/threads/a-dee...

[Luna's Little Library]

3.5 Stars.
I'm new to D and D, this was interesting and overwhelming to read. So much information, I'm sure I'll return to this in future.

[Andy Schwartz]

Nifty compendium finally giving some info about locations beyond the sword coast. I especially liked the cheese bag table.

[Holly]

someones real genuine review of this on here called it too woke and leftist so you know its a good time.

[António Massena]

Uma obra informativa sobre a criação de personagens nos Forgotten Realms e as suas diferentes facções. É uma leitura interessante para o efeito de criação de mundos.

[Sean]

A useful if slightly slim sourcebook on the Forgotten Realms DnD world introducing supplemental player options and updated Realmslore. The player options are a mixed bag with highs and lows, or maybe just things I’m more and less interested in. The lore is pretty well balanced. While I know the companion Adventures book for DNs digs into several regions in more depth, I wouldn’t have minded an extra 25 pages expanding on the organizations (and the regions not covered in Adventures), to bring it to the prior typical length for Wizards hardcover releases. It’s nice to see this cover a wider swath of the world after 5e’s intense focus on the Sword Coast.