Verdict
It’s refreshing to see a D&D book take the time to explore a setting in detail. The worldbuilding presented is entertaining to read and practical to use, making this an excellent gateway product for DMs who want to start telling their own Forgotten Realms stories. Players benefit from some truly exciting new subclasses and spellcasting rules, though not every fresh mechanic is a winner worth exploring.
- Detailed worldbuilding
- Some excellent subclasses
- Inventive Circle Magic rules
- Also some underwhelming subclasses
- Situational feats
Dungeons and Dragons is repeating its product cycles from the early days of fifth edition, but this time around, it's brandishing hindsight as a weapon. If you remember the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, you might be worried that D&D's new Forgotten Realms setting book will be plagued by balance problems and boring concepts. Thankfully, this couldn't be further from the truth.
In fact, I'd say that Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn is a must-have for anyone planning to go all-in on the new 'edition-ish' of D&D now that the dust has settled.
What is Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn?
Heroes of Faerûn is entirely dedicated to fleshing out D&D's most famous setting. That means it performs a feat that, these days, is quite rare for a Wizards of the Coast product. It actually gives us lore.
Over the years, we've seen official D&D sourcebooks grow more and more efficient when presenting new rules, settings, and stories. That often means providing short, unsatisfying summaries of rich worlds - or skipping lore descriptions entirely. It's been my biggest gripe with modern D&D products. Where rival RPG Pathfinder publishes dense setting books stuffed with story hooks, Dungeons and Dragons' storytelling tools have felt lacking in recent times.
Imagine my delight when, on opening Heroes of Faerûn, I discovered three entire chapters dedicated to worldbuilding. There are still plenty of new character options for anyone hungry for fresh mechanics, and these are front-and-center in chapter one. That includes eight new options for DnD classes, 34 new feats, and 18 new DnD backgrounds. There's no new rules for DnD races, but this chapter gives a bit more narrative background to each option from the Player's Handbook.
Chapter two provides an overview of the Faerûn's most famous regions, and it provides useful practical details that any character in this setting would know. Think languages, currency, and key calendar dates. This is the kind of stuff that was included in the 2014 core rulebooks (but it didn't make much sense to make a home there).
Chapter three is all lore, covering the most important deities of Faerûn. After that comes a shopping spree chapter, where you'll find handy adventuring basics. Chapter five covers magic, including new spells and the all-new Circle Magic rules.
Lastly, chapter six offers a deep dive into the most influential factions of the Forgotten Realms. We've seen these kinds of chapters in books like Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse, but the attention paid to the factions feels more detailed here. Maybe it's because many of these factions directly tie into the background and feat mechanics presented earlier in the book.
Who is Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn for?
Heroes of Faerûn is part one of a two-book bundle focusing on the Forgotten Realms setting. Of the two, this is more clearly aimed at players, but Dungeon Masters would still benefit from the setting content it includes. If you're a new DM that wants to start homebrewing your own campaigns but doesn't feel confident enough to construct an entire world, this book has done a lot of the hard work for you.
There's another clear target audience for this book: Baldur's Gate 3 fans. Faerûn is,l after all, the primary setting for the hit CRPG series. If you're starting your D&D journey because of BG3, this book will help you dive deeper into a setting you already love. There aren't many overt references to your favorite characters, but if that's what you're after, there's always the digital-only Astarion supplement (something I'm still in the process of reviewing - watch this space).
What's good about Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn?
I've already sung this book's praises for its setting detail, but the good news is that the rules content is also pretty strong. Take the magic items, for example. Most of them are rather limited in scope, so don't expect to turn the tide of battle with them. But, man, are they practical. It was nice to scan the list and say to myself 'I would actually use this, like, all the time'.
Circle Magic is a little more on the ridiculous side when it comes to power levels. I've already written about the best spells for Circle casting, and based on those experiments, I genuinely think this mechanic is going to change how we think about magic going forward. I'm not sure yet how broken it could turn out to be, but the concept is inventive and exciting.
In my experience, almost everyone in modern D&D parties can cast spells - so Circle Magic is likely to be prominent and practical. It is a bit of a kick in the teeth for martial characters, who will be excluded from the fun. Hopefully their weapon masteries will be enough to keep them content for a while longer.
Now onto the meat of our meal: the subclasses. I'm yet to see a sourcebook where every subclass knocks it out of the park, and Heroes of Faerûn is no different. The Banneret feels like a bit of a dud, and the Winter Walker is thematic, but it's tough to build with that theme in mind and still produce a Ranger with satisfying power levels. Similarly, the Scion of the Three Rogue is brimming with flavor, but it doesn't offer much to enhance the already middling class design.
The remaining classes fare far better. The Moon Bard and Knowledge Cleric offer some pleasing options for utility and support, and the Spellfire Sorcerer and Bladesinger Wizard are both extremely competent spellcasters. By far my favorite is the Oath of Noble Genies Paladin, which, after some theorycrafting, seems like a genuinely excellent Dex-based damage dealer.
What's not good about Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn?
The least impressive additions to the character creator toolkit are the backgrounds and feats. There are many pros to the fresh round of backgrounds. For example, Wizards of the Coast has finally filled the gap in the market for Barbarian backgrounds created by the 2024 Player's Handbook. Plus, many of these backgrounds offer slightly altered versions of the backgrounds from that rulebook - which is great if the exact stat spread or backstory didn't fit your character concept.
My real gripe with these new backgrounds is the Faerûn-specific origin feats. Most of them are extremely situational, and it's tough to picture a character build where they're a natural fit. That's a shame for anyone that wanted to go all-in on playing a Harper or a member of the Emerald Enclave.
It's also worth noting that a large portion of the new feats are Epic Boon feats. These are designed to be taken at level 19, so the vast majority of players will never actually see these feats in action. I'm glad they exist for the rare table that plays to level 20, but perhaps we didn't need 13 new ones.
These few bumps in the road to Faerûn mean the new book isn't a perfect home run from Wizards of the Coast. However, I think it's a genuinely useful, entertaining resource for anyone that's committed to the next generation of fifth edition.
Got your own opinions on the new Forgotten Realms book? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord.