I'll admit that I wasn't originally looking forward to it when WotC announced that they were doing a Forgotten Realms set of sourcebooks. They'd been doing so well in expanding the “default” setting of D&D beyond it with books on Spelljammer, Planescape, Dragonlance, and even Greyhawk in the 2024 Dungeon Masters Guide, that having a 2-book set for Forgotten Realms felt like a step back.
Fortunately, they don't read that way at all, and they're actually really solid overall and fun to play. They’re not perfect, but if you actually want to live in Faerûn instead of just using it as a name on a cover, this is the strongest the setting has been in years.
Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast has provided Geek to Geek Media with review copies of these titles.
Heroes of Faerûn: Finally, A Real Player Book
Heroes of Faerûn is a 192‑page love letter to Realms‑rooted characters, and it finally feels like the “player’s guide to Faerûn” people have been asking for since 5e launched. You get 8 new subclasses, 18 backgrounds, 34 feats, 19 spells (with a fun little “circle magic” subsystem), 8 factions with renown rewards, 42 deities, and a bunch of regional gear all aimed at making your character feel like they actually grew up somewhere in the Realms instead of Ye Olde Generic Fantasyland.
The subclasses themselves are a mixed bag: some flavorful, some niche, none of them the kind of raw power that will break your campaign, which I actually appreciate even if they don’t all scream to be used immediately.
Where the book really sings is in the ecosystem around those options—backgrounds tied to specific regions, factions that matter at the table, and deity lists that give clerics and paladins something more grounded than “I worship the god of vaguely good vibes.” On top of that, you get high‑level overviews of 10 major regions, complete with maps and cultural notes, which makes it much easier to say, “I’m from here, and here’s why that matters.”
If you’re the kind of player who loves tying your character to a faction (Harpers, Zhentarim, etc.), or if you’ve ever been frustrated that your Realms cleric didn’t feel particularly part of the world, Heroes of Faerûn is the book that fixes that.
Adventures in Faerûn: A Big Box of DM Lego Bricks
Adventures in Faerûn, on the other hand, is very clearly for DMs who like to tinker. It’s built around 5 key regions—Baldur’s Gate, the Dalelands, Icewind Dale, Calimshan, and the Moonshae Isles—each with its own history, locations, and a nice spread of maps you can show players or crib from for your own prep.
On top of that, it packs in more than 50 short adventure frameworks, a more detailed mini‑campaign called “The Lost Library of Lethchauntos,” around 40 monsters, and some region‑specific bastion options to tie it into the 2024 rules.
Here’s the catch: most of those “adventures” aren't full adventures, but really a couple of hooks and a loose structure. There's enough to spark ideas, not enough to run straight from the page on game night without filling in the gaps. If you like improvising and building around cool seeds, this is gold; if you want plug‑and‑play, you’re going to be disappointed and maybe a little annoyed. The regional chapters and maps, though, are consistently strong and honestly might be worth the price of admission on their own if you plan to bounce around the Realms in a longer campaign.
How They Play Together at the Table
The real magic here is using both books at once. Heroes of Faerûn gives you characters with meaningful ties—to gods, factions, and specific regions—while Adventures in Faerûn gives you the places and situations to pay those ties off. A Harper‑aligned rogue from Baldur’s Gate or a Moonshae druid devoted to a particular goddess doesn’t just exist in backstory anymore; they have hooks into the exact regions and conflicts the DM book is set up to support.
You can also see WotC's newer philosophy in how these books are structured: the 2024 core books stay pretty lean on lore, and setting books like these pick up the slack with heavy lore and bespoke options. If you’re running a Forgotten Realms‑centric campaign, that split works well. You use the core books for basics, these for flavor and crunch where it matters.
Strengths, Weaknesses, and Who They’re For
Heroes of Faerûn
- Strengths: Tons of player options, strong Realms flavor, great for gods, factions, and regional identity.
- Weaknesses: Subclasses can feel underwhelming or niche, and it assumes you care about the Forgotten Realms enough to dig into the lore.
- Best for: Players who want their characters to be deeply, mechanically tied to Faerûn—especially clerics, paladins, and anyone faction‑minded.
Adventures in Faerûn
- Strengths: Evocative regional chapters, strong maps, tons of flexible hooks, and a broad snapshot of iconic Realms locations.
- Weaknesses: Adventure content is shallow; hooks often need heavy DM prep to become full sessions.
- Best for: DMs who like turning loose ideas into full adventures and want a Forgotten Realms toolbox more than a stack of ready‑made modules.
Final Thoughts: Should You Buy Them?
If you mostly play in the Forgotten Realms and your group actually cares about where their characters are from, which gods they serve, and which factions they’re tangled up in, Heroes of Faerûn is an easy recommend. It’s the kind of book that quietly improves every character you make for years, even if you never touch every subclass or feat inside.
Adventures in Faerûn is a bit more conditional. If you’re a DM who enjoys building from more of a collection of ideas more than a full adventure and who wants a solid, modern survey of some of the Realms’ most iconic regions, you’ll get a lot of mileage out of it. If you want polished, start‑to‑finish adventures that you can run with minimal prep, you’re going to find it lacking.
Together, though, these two books finally make the Forgotten Realms feel like a living, breathing place again under the new rules. For a Realms‑centered campaign on the current edition, I’d happily put Heroes of Faerûn on the “must own” shelf and Adventures in Faerûn in the “strongly recommended if you like to tinker” slot.