Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn

by Wizards of the Coast

Genres: Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Role Playing Games, 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 · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Will Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Luna's Little Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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