your opinion on Lost empires of Faerun? [Archive] - Wizards Community

your opinion on Lost empires of Faerun? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Joneleth
10-02-05, 07:37 PM I've already read what wizards has to say about it, but every books seems a must have for all dungeon-masters and players. So I'd like some objective opinions. It's gonna be the next supplement I'm buying (or not depending on your views ;) ) Is it any good? I'm hoping it has lots of background, lots of history, and not too much of the power and prc crap.
People who bought it are... satisfied? dissapointed?
Thysl
10-02-05, 08:32 PM In my opinion LEoF was one of the most lore heavy 3E books yet. In fact I'd say 1/3 of it is crunch, the rest history/plot hooks/lore. All in all its a good DM buy, mediocre player by.
Hope that helps
Thysl in Silver
warlockco
10-02-05, 09:35 PM LEoF is very nice, especially if you want lore on the old empires and stuff.

Just becareful of some of the NPCs listed though. Some don't qualify for the PrCs they have listed. Not sure about full stats for any that were provided though. I know Champions of Ruin had a good number of errors in it.
Zevox
10-02-05, 09:56 PM Its probably one of the best 3e Forgotten Realms sourcebooks out there. There are, of course, a few PrCs, some feats, a handful of new spells, and a number of items varying from minorly magical to artifacts, but the vast majority of the book is good lore. And there are some pretty nice monsters to use too - Helmed Horrors, Phaerimm, Nishruu, Baneguards, and Curst, amongst others.

Zevox
Bloodtide_the_Red
10-02-05, 11:21 PM I'd say it's a good Realms book. It has tons and tons of Realmslore and history, maybe more then any other 3E book to date. It's also nice to have a book that clears up and combines 15 some years of information. The best had to be the Old North section, that stuff has been so scattered over 2E Realmslore.

And if your not lucky enough to have all the 2E books, this one will more then fill in the blanks. The book is full of adventure seeds, though you hardly need them with all the Relamslore, but they are nice if your short on time.

Now, granted, the book does not have all the Realmslore of each area...but of course that would be a 1,000 page $200 book.

Now some of the crunchy stuff is powerful.....but that's kind of the whole point. It is one of the maxium's of the Realms-'there once were great empires with powerful magic, that are nothing but ruins for your character to explore'.

BT
msatran
10-02-05, 11:29 PM That's my big problem right now. A lot of the stuff they've been releasing should have been for the DM to develop, rather than bombard us with CR 33 things and the like.
Davidw
10-03-05, 02:41 AM If you don't like the printed stats, just change them. There's no rule that says you have to use the stats from rulebooks.
warlockco
10-03-05, 02:49 AM If you don't like the printed stats, just change them. There's no rule that says you have to use the stats from rulebooks.

Yep, just when they do print Stats.
The Stats should follow the rules, and not be a mishmash of who knows what.
Like several of the NPCs from Champions of Ruin.
Joneleth
10-03-05, 12:51 PM In my opinion LEoF was one of the most lore heavy 3E books yet. Hope that helps
Thysl in Silver
That certainly helps. The others seem to agree that it's lore heavy. That was just what I was hoping for. The last few books I bought were so dissapointing. The frc book itself still feels as my best buy so far. Just a few prc's for organizations or otherwise flavour-heavy (most of 'em), a few monsters, items, feats, etc, and TONS of background, history and realms lore. The way the books come rolling off the press these days however, I wanted to be sure.
Thanks all, for the information. Lost empires of faerun is next!
Shemeska the Marauder
10-04-05, 01:36 AM As far as the lore goes, it was a damn good book. It's rare that I'm disappointed by an FR book*. LEoF had some seriously cool ideas to use. The info on Jhammdath and Imaskar made me drool.

*(PGtF and CoR being the only cases)
Kadasbrass
10-04-05, 04:10 AM I agree with all of the above. LEoF was a fantastic book.
Ninja_Steve
10-04-05, 06:58 PM Yes It was a very good book to buy for my campaign.
Thelandrach
10-05-05, 09:11 AM I bought it without taking too close a look inside, expecting it to be about what ruins of ancient empires are like in Faerun, which is how they originally hyped it. I expected to find lots of information on what a 2,000-year-old Dwarven ruin would be like, or an elven one, or whatever. There was some of that in there, but not as much as I expected--it was originally advertised as being of use to GM's who needed information to spice up adventures by tailoring the generic "dwarven mine", "elven forest ruin," etc. from 3rd-party modules so that they fit into the FR campaign history.

So, for me, not so useful. Had I paid more attention to what I was buying, I'd have saved $30. Caveat emptor.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Joneleth 10-02-05, 07:37 PM	I've already read what wizards has to say about it, but every books seems a must have for all dungeon-masters and players. So I'd like some objective opinions. It's gonna be the next supplement I'm buying (or not depending on your views ;) ) Is it any good? I'm hoping it has lots of background, lots of history, and not too much of the power and prc crap. People who bought it are... satisfied? dissapointed?
Thysl 10-02-05, 08:32 PM	In my opinion LEoF was one of the most lore heavy 3E books yet. In fact I'd say 1/3 of it is crunch, the rest history/plot hooks/lore. All in all its a good DM buy, mediocre player by. Hope that helps Thysl in Silver
warlockco 10-02-05, 09:35 PM	LEoF is very nice, especially if you want lore on the old empires and stuff. Just becareful of some of the NPCs listed though. Some don't qualify for the PrCs they have listed. Not sure about full stats for any that were provided though. I know Champions of Ruin had a good number of errors in it.
Zevox 10-02-05, 09:56 PM	Its probably one of the best 3e Forgotten Realms sourcebooks out there. There are, of course, a few PrCs, some feats, a handful of new spells, and a number of items varying from minorly magical to artifacts, but the vast majority of the book is good lore. And there are some pretty nice monsters to use too - Helmed Horrors, Phaerimm, Nishruu, Baneguards, and Curst, amongst others. Zevox
Bloodtide_the_Red 10-02-05, 11:21 PM	I'd say it's a good Realms book. It has tons and tons of Realmslore and history, maybe more then any other 3E book to date. It's also nice to have a book that clears up and combines 15 some years of information. The best had to be the Old North section, that stuff has been so scattered over 2E Realmslore. And if your not lucky enough to have all the 2E books, this one will more then fill in the blanks. The book is full of adventure seeds, though you hardly need them with all the Relamslore, but they are nice if your short on time. Now, granted, the book does not have all the Realmslore of each area...but of course that would be a 1,000 page $200 book. Now some of the crunchy stuff is powerful.....but that's kind of the whole point. It is one of the maxium's of the Realms-'there once were great empires with powerful magic, that are nothing but ruins for your character to explore'. BT
msatran 10-02-05, 11:29 PM	That's my big problem right now. A lot of the stuff they've been releasing should have been for the DM to develop, rather than bombard us with CR 33 things and the like.
Davidw 10-03-05, 02:41 AM	If you don't like the printed stats, just change them. There's no rule that says you have to use the stats from rulebooks.
warlockco 10-03-05, 02:49 AM	If you don't like the printed stats, just change them. There's no rule that says you have to use the stats from rulebooks. Yep, just when they do print Stats. The Stats should follow the rules, and not be a mishmash of who knows what. Like several of the NPCs from Champions of Ruin.
Joneleth 10-03-05, 12:51 PM	In my opinion LEoF was one of the most lore heavy 3E books yet. Hope that helps Thysl in Silver That certainly helps. The others seem to agree that it's lore heavy. That was just what I was hoping for. The last few books I bought were so dissapointing. The frc book itself still feels as my best buy so far. Just a few prc's for organizations or otherwise flavour-heavy (most of 'em), a few monsters, items, feats, etc, and TONS of background, history and realms lore. The way the books come rolling off the press these days however, I wanted to be sure. Thanks all, for the information. Lost empires of faerun is next!
Shemeska the Marauder 10-04-05, 01:36 AM	As far as the lore goes, it was a damn good book. It's rare that I'm disappointed by an FR book. LEoF had some seriously cool ideas to use. The info on Jhammdath and Imaskar made me drool. (PGtF and CoR being the only cases)
Kadasbrass 10-04-05, 04:10 AM	I agree with all of the above. LEoF was a fantastic book.
Ninja_Steve 10-04-05, 06:58 PM	Yes It was a very good book to buy for my campaign.
Thelandrach 10-05-05, 09:11 AM	I bought it without taking too close a look inside, expecting it to be about what ruins of ancient empires are like in Faerun, which is how they originally hyped it. I expected to find lots of information on what a 2,000-year-old Dwarven ruin would be like, or an elven one, or whatever. There was some of that in there, but not as much as I expected--it was originally advertised as being of use to GM's who needed information to spice up adventures by tailoring the generic "dwarven mine", "elven forest ruin," etc. from 3rd-party modules so that they fit into the FR campaign history. So, for me, not so useful. Had I paid more attention to what I was buying, I'd have saved $30. Caveat emptor.