Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms: An Essential Dungeons & Dragons Supplement (4th Edition D&d) [Paperback]

After seeing the innovative class offerings in Heroes of the Fallen Lands, I was eagerly anticipating this next installment. So eager, in fact, that I picked it up at my FLGS a few days early. Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms includes two of the most problematic classes from the PHB - the Paladin and the Warlock - and one class (the druid) from PHB2 which probably could have been implemented better. Well, I'm pleased to say, I'm not disappointed.

Just like Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, this book can be used as (1) a standalone game, (2) a supplement for an Essentials-Only game, or (3) a supplement to a full-featured 4e game with a mixture of classes from all different sources. It's this last option which I, and I think many others, will end up taking.

Now, on the down-side, there's a lot of overlap with Heroes of the Fallen Lands. For one thing, the rules section is identical, so you're losing some pagecount here if you have both. Many of the feats and magic items are duplicated as well, although a few new ones are added and a few are missing. I expected this, so I wasn't disappointed, but your mileage may vary. It makes the book self-contained, which should be useful for players who want to travel light.

On the up-side, this book has some REALLY cool stuff in it.

Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms opens up with a new take on the Druid - the Sentinel. When last seen in PHB2, the Druid was a wildshaping Controller with melee and ranged flexibility. In its Essentials incarnation, the Druid is a Leader with some features of Strikers and Defenders. If you're familiar with other 4e options, it resembles a Cleric/Beastmaster Ranger/Warden. It's focused on melee attacks, and in fact lacks Implement powers. You take an Aspect - Spring and Summer are presented - which sets a few things in stone, like some class features, and your Pet. Yes, much like in 3e, this Sentinel Druid gets an animal companion. They hit *hard*. Your melee abilities and pet are supplemented by a good assortment of Daily Powers and Daily Utilities; many of the latter last a full day. Some of the favorite features from the 1e and 3e druids are included, like the eventual ability to disguise themselves as different people, much like a Changeling. It's an interesting class, and one of my Dark Sun players is going to switch over to it next session.

Next up is the Paladin, which was just barely playable in the PHB since it suffered from such crazy multiple-attribute dependency. The class was largely fixed in Divine Power, but it's still one of the most deeply flawed 4e classes, IMO. The Cavalier presented here doesn't look like it's all that much better a Defender, but on the up-side, it looks like it will work well right out of the box. On first glance, lots of features are weaker - for example, Lay on Hands is nowhere to be seen, being replaced by damage-blocking powers - but it only needs two attributes now, plus a decent Constitution. I'm not convinced I'd enjoy playing one, but I think it's a much stronger option in general than the core Paladin. It certainly doesn't require a ton of optimization to make a Cavalier passable, at least.

Then we get not one, but two different flavors of Ranger. The first is the Hunter. He's a mythical figure - the Martial Controller. Primal abilities are mixed in pretty liberally, too. I'm finding it hard to get a bead on the class, but it looks like it will work similarly to a Seeker, and possibly exceed them. On the downside, they lack some of the more serious debuffs the Seeker can lay out. On the upside, they have a ton of versatility at-will, and get an Encounter power which scales upwards very nicely at higher levels. They get three full At-Will powers - an accurate damaging shot, a trick shot with control effects, and a pseudo-area-attack which lets them attack monsters in a 3x3 area. I'm a bit worried they'll step on a seeker's toes, but given that they lack most of the seeker's more overtly magical effects, I think there's still a place for both. (Watch, though, for Hunters multiclassing to Seeker to pick up some of that class's Ranged Basic boosting feats, like Primal Eye.)

The second is the Scout, which is a simpler-looking version of the two-weapon Ranger. I've never been a big fan of this particular Ranger flavor, but it looks like it does its striking job pretty effectively. Unlike the PHB Ranger, which will pick up two exotic weapons and spam Twin Strike every round, the Scout will pick up a heavy weapon and an off-hand one and spam basic attacks. Their main striker feature is Dual Weapon strike, which lets them make an off-hand attack whenever they hit with the main hand. Per strike, this does more damage than Twin Strike, but the second attack is contingent on the first one hitting. It's interesting.

Both flavors of Rangers get at-will Stances (called Aspects) which give them movement and attack buffs, and they share Wilderness Knacks with the Druid - neat out-of-combat features which give Primal characters an edge in Wilderness Survival.

Up last is my personal favorite - the Hexblade Warlock. Now, the Warlock is another problematic class from PHB1 in that it's a striker who does relatively low damage, but adds in some good control effects. Their main issue was - like with the Paladin - some heavy attribute demand. (Star Pact warlocks in particular were hit hard because they needed Con, Cha, and Int, and usually had no AC to speak of.) This was counterbalanced by the coolest flavor and deepest roleplay hooks in the game. The new Hexblade also seems a bit mechanically curious, and also has flavor dripping off every page, but clears up the stat issues. They use Charisma for all attacks. Unlike the PHB Warlock, which is mainly Ranged, the Hexblade is a range/melee hybrid and threatens both up-close and at range. Their main features are tied to their pact weapon, which they can summon with a thought; Fey Hexblades get an icy light blade with stats like a bastard sword, and Infernal Hexblades get a heavy blade with stats like a waraxe. In addition to this great stuff, they pick up various pact abilities, like summoning fey or infernal creatures to aid them in and out of combat. They are weak on Encounter abilities, but pick up Dailies at about the normal rate.

Afterwards, we find some new write-ups of Dragonborn, Drow, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Humans (again), and Tieflings. All of the races get flexible stats like their counterparts in HotFL, and the Half-Elf gets the choice of an encounter Leader-like power instead of Versatility. Each has several pages of flavor text, and you get a much better idea how they fit in the Nentir Vale setting.

Rounding all of this up are the Feats and Magic Items, most of which are retreads of those found in the other Heroes book. Notably, Rod Expertise makes an appearance, but Flail Expertise is still nowhere to be seen. Oh well. There are also new primal-oriented feats for your Rangers and Druids, and Underdark-oriented feats for those who can fight in the dark. Like I said, this is mostly a repeat, though it's invaluable if you - as a player - are only picking up this volume.

Anyway, if you're a player of 4e, I recommend this book. The new options can slide seamlessly into an existing game. It was well worth the wait.

When I first started getting into Fourth Edition DnD, I had my misgivings. The books were hard to follow, I would lose myself in the powers, and I just felt overwhelmed. When I opened Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, I was relieved to find that the class breakdown was actually broken down. It is easy to understand, and simplified the classes for me very nicely. I also like the tips for roleplaying in the races sections. This is a feature that was not in earlier books, and I really like how it was included here. Because of my good experience with this book, I have already purchased Heroes of the Fallen Lands, the counterpart to this book. Well done WotC! My hat is off to you!

These books are definitely not for everyone but if you're using the essentials D&D line to introduce new players this a strong book for following up from the initial box set. Good layout, book has been durable, no obvious typographic errors and its easy to keep at the game table. I'm fond out of habit of the old big hardbacks but this is proving more useful than I thought though I can't lay it flat on the table. The art is decent though not great and I'd personally like more to illustrate various powers and that kind of thing. Easy to read and flows well. Only reason it's not 5 stars is that its very good and utilitarian but doesn't jump out at me as a great, wow kind of book but at Amazon's price I didn't hesitate to buy the others too.