The book is just what most of the other "splat" books are. The book outlines different kits for Wizards and Rogues in the Forgotten Realms. The majority of the book (maybe two thirds or more) is dedicated to wizards. Each portion takes a look at the class as they would exist in nations inside the Realms.
There are also two new classes described. For wizards it is the Spellsinger and for rogues it is the Shadow Walker. I will need to be honest and say that I can't see me allowing either of these into any campaign I would run. The Spellsinger is so open to abuse that they address that inside the description of the class. The Shadow Walker is does not suffer from being over powered it is just a modified MU/Thief that does not need to split experience. It loses some of the thief abilities and has a lower spell count. I am not sure the other abilities make it a fair trade.
The space spent on the new classes is small though. The vast majority of the book is going over the new class kits available for each of the nations in Faerun. There are some nice variations on the classes mixed in among the huge number of variants. I think that even though I would never use it as I would not find a reason to use the setting there are some things that can be extracted for external use.
Published: 1995
Pages: 128
From the back of the book...
From Waterdeep to Thay, from the great Galcier to Calimshan, wizards and rogues dress, think, and behave in ways that tell the learned observer just where they hail from. Sometimes the differences are obvious - anyone can distinguish a seafaring mage from a turban-crowned spellcaster, or a thief of Lantan from a burglar of Amn. But often, appearance gives no clue: even wizards and rogues of the Dalelands vary from Dale to Dale, though one may look the same as another.Faerunians are fiercely proud of their heritage, and they carry their native traits with them wherever they go.
Within these pages are dozens of kits designed to help players in a Forgotten Realms campaign discover their characters' roots and reflect them in role-playing. Special benefits and disadvantages related to each particular home town or territory allow players to create unique kits that can be applied to mages, specialist wizards, and rogues, and they can even be layered over other kits. As a bonus, two new player character subclasses have been included: the intriguing spellsinger and the stealthy shadow walker.
Spell:
Miser's Bane
Level: Fourth
Range: 12"
Duration: Instantaneous
Area of Effect: One Target
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 2 Segments
Saving Throw: Special
This spell allows the magic user to inflict damage onto those who have the misfortune of carrying around more wealth than they should. The spell allows the victim an option to avoid some of the damage though at a cost.
When this spell is cast the magic user will compare the amount of coins that they have on their person versus that of what the target of the spell is carrying. For each type of coin that the target has in excess of the caster they will suffer a varying amount of damage. The dice used for each type of coin is below:
Copper - 1d4
Silver - 1d6
Electrum - 1d8
Gold - 1d10
Platinum - 1d12
In addition to the dice the caster will also cause 1 point per level they posses. The victim is not entitled to a saving through unless the caster elects to allow it. The caster can in advance elect to allow the victim a save. If this is done and the save is made then any wealth in excess is immediately teleported to the casters person and the victim takes half the damage they would have. If the save fails then they take full damage. The caster must declare the option before rolling the damage.
The material component of this spell is one coin of each type that the caster will use to compare wealth against. If the caster does not have a coin of the appropriate type it is not used. These coins are destroyed with the casting of the spell and do not count against the totals when being compared.
Disclaimer: The spells that you will see, for how ever long the write ups last, were all written up or conceived of back in the 80's so the terminology may not appropriate for anything other than 1e and depending on how well I did back then it may be slightly off for that as well. If there is any duplication of spells that exist now it is most likely I wrote mine first :) Please feel free to comment on them but try not to be too hard on me. If anyone wishes to use these in anything they print please let me know in advance and all I ask is proper credit.
