Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The Simbul 04-12-06, 10:36 PM	Perhaps Ive brought this up before, but Ive yet again been considering rounding out my Forgotten Realms 3E-3.5 collection, despite the absurd amount of money I sacrifice to WoTC, and was considering adding Shining South to my library. The only region in the book that interests me is Halruaa, and what I have seen thus far hasnt impressed me. The Halruaan Elder, Halruaan Magehound, and Jordain Vizier seem woefully underpowered and somewhat "unfinished" prestige classes, specifically when you compare them to some of the re-worked PrCs in the PGtF (Hathran, Incantratrix, etc). Secondly, as far as I can tell, none of the major cities, including the capital, have city stat-blocks....which are a bit of a mainstay of regional sourcebooks. This is especially painful, given the fact that Halruaa does not have a population that follows the standard NPC demographics in the DMG and the FRCS. They arguably have the highest concentration of Wizards in Faerun, despite having relatively low populations for given cities. Well over 10% of the population has at least one level in the Wizard class, which means they have over 160,000+ Wizards. Compare that to the Red Wizards of Thay, whose entire organiation consists of 6,000 Wizards, 1,000 of which have levels in the Red Wizard PrC. IIRC, according to the FRCS the capital has approximately 8,000 inhabitants, which includes over 3,000 Wizards. By contrast the typical Faerunian Metropolis of 25,000 people, with maximum dice results, would only have 124 NPC Wizards (or less than that, as I may have done the math wrong). Of all the capitals in Faerun to not have a city stat-block, Halruaa's was probably the one that needed it the most. So is there something worthwhile that I missed when hastily persuing the tome in the bookstore?
Yokinobu 04-12-06, 11:01 PM	I agree. What fluff was in it was good, it was simply missing alot. I didn't notice the missing stat blocks, but now that you bring it up, I feel further cheated. Those are definately important. They could have simply skipped Halruaa in SS and waited for a chance to further elaborate on that nation. The jordain vizier's problems was that, assuming it had monk levels, it needs every stat for something. Charisma for grace, non-detection and spell resistance(which become weak in the long run because their power is based off levels in the PrC only), intelligence for eidetic memory, and wisdom for AC, plus all the physical stats. And for a class that is supposed to help protect against magic, it only has one good saving throw. If it got to apply Int to AC as well, it might have been worth it. The incantatrix's final class ability alone makes a mockery of almost the entire Halruuan Elder PrC, and as a PrC that is supposed to represent greater mastery of the art it was sorely lacking. I was hoping for something that could rival the Red Wizard in power, but was dissappointed. The magehound would have been decent if it didn't lose two caster levels. Obviously I'm most critical of PrC's, and I wish they would be revamped. Most of the ones in SS come out looking a lot better than those in UE, though.
Bloodtide_the_Red 04-12-06, 11:16 PM	If the only reason you want the Shining South is for the information on Halruaa then the book is not realy worth it. It's not even 20 pages. Though you do get some more bits in the Region and magic parts too. It does have a bunch of lore, if your into that type of information. So if you want to know the year an event happend, or the level of Zalathorm or how many people live in Halarahh...the book is for you. Of course, this is the problem with any region book...they have to cover several places. If the book was Halruaa:Land of Magic, it would have much more detail. BT
nbnmare 04-13-06, 03:08 AM	I'd recommend getting a copy of the 2nd Edition The Shining South instead, if you can find one.