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Light reading. A bunch of elves fought...yada yada yada...bunch of elves died. Next.

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Originally posted by hammer of Moradin

Still have to wait to pick my copy up tomorrow, but I read through some of it tonight at work (bookstore) and almost got in trouble, with myself (I am the manager) because I couldn't put it down.

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Originally posted by hammer of Moradin

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Light reading. A bunch of elves fought...yada yada yada...bunch of elves died. Next.

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Tell me about it. What I loved about this book so far is all of the good information on dwarves!
George, if you had any say on some of that information I could kiss you.
Still have to wait to pick my copy up tomorrow, but I read through some of it tonight at work (bookstore) and almost got in trouble, with myself (I am the manager) because I couldn't put it down. I definately agree that this is one of the finest Forgotten Realms tomes to come out in quite a while.

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by hammer of Moradin

Still have to wait to pick my copy up tomorrow, but I read through some of it tonight at work (bookstore) and almost got in trouble, with myself (I am the manager) because I couldn't put it down.

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I hope you gave yourself a stern admonition for that!

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Originally posted by edbonny
Here's the behind the scenes on the dwarves: Rich Baker was the man who picked which dwarven kingdoms were to be focused on. I wrote 'em up. Places like Delzoun had a lot already published so new changes were minor. Ammarindar was another story, however, with lots of unknown bits of lore just ready to be written. George scrutinized them all, corrected the errors, dug up overlooked lore, and suggested new approaches. Eric was in there too! A wonderful collaborative environment.

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In other matters LEoF (now that I have my copy), I do believe there is a certain mountain in Narfell which has George's imprint all over it? Care to confirm this, Mr. Krashos?

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Originally posted by Elf_Friend


I like what I've read so far, the PRC's are done better than any PRC I've read from WoTC yet.

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Originally posted by Brother Ezra

I have a question concerning chapter 4: God Kings of the East. In both this chapter and also in Unapproachable East, a location named Mount Nar is mentioned as one of the capitals of the petty Nar kingdoms prior to the formation of the empire.

Where the heck is this place? I can't find it on any maps at all. Are this old scribe's eyes finally failing him?

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Originally posted by Reefy

I'd come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to pick up yet simply because of a lack of money currently but I keep hearing so many good things about this book. If I starve, I blame you lot.

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Originally posted by SiriusBlack

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Originally posted by Reefy

I'd come to the conclusion that I wasn't going to pick up yet simply because of a lack of money currently but I keep hearing so many good things about this book. If I starve, I blame you lot.

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I'd have to check with a nurse I know, but I'm almost positive it will take you at least a month to starve to death. Thus, that's plenty of time for you to read the book and enjoy before passing on into Kelemvor's hands.

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Originally posted by Twilight Herald

In fact, given that high magic is empowered by the elven gods themselves, wouldn't the Seldarine have been liable for punishment by Lord Ao for dereliction of their portfolios, by allowing their divine power to be unjustly directed against their own loyal worshippers ( to whom they owed a duty of guardianship )? Moot issues, perhaps, but troubling ones.

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Two words, Reefy: Ramen noodles.

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Originally posted by The Simbul

There are about a million nice adventure hooks in this book, the most favored one that comes to mind at the moment is the one dealing with a rival for the City of Shade, as I have become a little irritated with their arrogance and territorial entitlement complex. Also, having historical tidbits about Elminster, Khelben, and Laeral was nice, since I dont recall too much discussed of their earlier days, specifically in terms of the latter of the three.

I like the listing of NPC's, however with the exception of Ioulaum, almost all of the NPC's who are listed as having Netherese Arcanist levels are incapable of meeting the excessive prerequisites for that prestige class. I believe Wulgreth of Ascalorn is listed as a Wizard 20/Archmage3/Netherese Arcanist 5, whereas Larloch's scribe is listed as a Wizard 22/Archmage 5/Netherese Arcanist 5. Gaining the prestige class requires you to take Improved Spell Capacity four times, plus Improved Metamagic(which cannot be taken by anyone until they are 27th level, since it requires 30 ranks in spellcraft). Thus at a bare minimum you need to be a 27th level before you can gain levels in the class (that is, you take your first netherese arcanist level when you level up to 28). Even if improved metamagic was dropped, you still need four epic feats, which wont be possesed by any of the above characters before they would begin their progression into the class.

I really liked the Mythal rules, I think that is about as close as you can get to reconciling the Epic Spellcasting system with the obscure effects of Mythals in 2E (specifically with regard to things like corruption, death of the caster, being tied to the land, etc). My main qualm is that having a "costs" table for each power, and then dividing the costs by 1000 to get the DC modifification seems a bit unecessary. If the cost of adding a prevalent power is always going to be +50 to the DC (or +25 if in a limited area, or +100 if keyed), then why not just list it as such, since the "costs" dont seem to ever come into play. Unless of course I am missing something...
Otherwise I am pleased with the Mythal rules, the only things that really bothered me are two-fold

1) The number of powers that a Mythal can possess should be based purely on increasing the modifiers of the spellcraft DC of the spell, rather than being based off your caster level. In fact, no other epic spell or epic spell seed has it's affects based off your caster level, since the entire epic spellcasting system is supposed to be based on your spellcraft skill. Amoung other things, incorporating caster level into the system means that characters with the Elven High Mage prestige class will be creating INFERIOR mythals when compared to their full-caster level progression contemporaries, since the EHM only gets 1/2 caster level progression. In fact, the higher you progress in the Elven High Mage prc, the weaker your mythals are when compared to those fashioned by an equal level non EHM spellcaster, which surely doesnt make sense, either from a statistical standpoint or a "fluff" perspective. In addition, having the number of powers a Mythal can hold restricted by your caster level means that Alustriel's sample mythal spell listed at the end of the chapter is invalid, since it has over 35 powers while she has a caster level of only 22 (It would be worthwhile to make sure that any 3.5 updates of her statistics include the Epic Spellcasting feat, since the existance of a Mythal around Silverymoon wasnt taken into account when her stats were revised in the epic level handbook). Given that all the actual powers of a Mythal contain inredibly high DC modifiers to compensate for them, there really isnt a reason for the Mythal seed to contain such a restriction.

2) Numerous Mythals briefly described in the book have traits that are similar to Planar Magic traits in the DMG (Enhanced Magic, Impeded Magic, etc), while there is no listed method in the Mythal seed to apply such powers. Are these prevalent powers? Or are they just something that was overlooked?

As for other features, Srinshee's Spellshift is probably one of the nicest and fairest 2e to 3.5 spell conversions I have seen yet. I am also glad to see that the conversion of Shalantha's Delicate Disks still allowed it to be viable, without it trumping the recently butchered effects of the Simbul's Spell Trigger chain (although multiple Disks and a Telekinesis [Violent Thrust] spell could make for a very abusive combination).

I liked the Prestige Class section, primarily the fact that more attention was paid to how to ROLEPLAY or use such an obscure character rather than presenting the player with a hodgepoge series of abilities and powers in a slightly different arrangement than the last one, with little or no background in the Campaign setting itself (I have yet to even once hear of an Incantatrix in any FR book other than Magic of Faerun). On a purely statistical note, the Magelord's spellcasting requirements should be dropped to 4th level spells, since no core rules character could ever complete the class before they become epic (in which case the BAB and BSB progression for the class at 10th level will never even come into play).

The artifacts section was nice, but I was kind of dissapointed to see lesser staffs of silverymoon, but no mention of the actual greater staff itself. And what does it mean when it says that a Mythallar is like a mythal but it also allows you to create quasi-magic items? Is the reference to a mythal simply to describe that it creates a large magical area of effect, or do Mythallars actually have individual mythal traits like Arointed Spells, Vanguard spells, etc?

Also, if the nether scrolls are intended to only grant 1 free arcane spellcasting class level, then having an FAQ to explain that would be a good idea, since everything in D&D needs to be made airtight against Munchkin players unless you want someone to assume free reign to abuse any "holes" in the wording of a game feature. Unless of course it is intended for readers to gain upwards of 50 class levels by reading , in which case I forsee a mad rush to find windsong tower about to break loose in 90% of the campaigns out there......

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Originally posted by Mumadar Ibn Huzal

One of the things that I can't wrap my hands around yet is how 'technology' advances. The Realms is an ancient place, with a variety of influential cultures over time, yet there seems little evidence of technological growth/advancement or even a sort of wave pattern of growth and decline (due to disasters ala Fall of Netheril)

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