Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
Heroes of Forgotten Kingdoms is a supplement to the 4th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Content Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms includes new builds and character options for the druid (the Sentinel), the paladin (the Cavalier), the ranger (the Hunter and the Scout), and the warlock (the Hexblade). "Each class comes with a set of new powers, class features, paragon paths, epic destinies, and more [...]. In addition to new builds, this book presents expanded information and racial traits for some of the game’s most popular races, including dragonborn, drow, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings". The table of contents lists the follow sections: Introduction Chapter 1: Game Overview Chapter 2: Making Characters Chapter 3: Understanding Powers Chapter 4: Character Classes Chapter 5: Character Races Chapter 6: Skills Chapter 7: Feats Chapter 8: Gear and Weapons Glossary Index Shannon Appelcline, author of Designers & Dragons, commented that "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms was a close match for Heroes of the Fallen Lands; they were both books solely focused on the creation of characters, harking back to the original AD&D Players Handbook (1977). In fact, they were so similar to each other that they included considerable duplication, particularly for sections covering: game overview (chapter 1), making characters (chapter 2), understanding powers (chapter 3), skills (chapter 6), feats (chapter 7), and gears and weapon (chapter 8). The only major expansions in these sections were rules on summoning in chapter 3 (which were needed to support the warlock) and feats for the new races and classes in chapter 7". Publication history Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms was the second players book in the Essentials line, after Heroes of the Fallen Lands (2010). It was published on November 16, 2010 as a trade paperback in digest size. Greg Tito, for Escapist Magazine, wrote that Mike Mearls "intended the Essentials line - essentially a repackaging of 4E rules into easier-to-digest books - to get back to the shared language that unites all D&D players". Appelcline wrote that "September and October 2010 saw the publication of the first four books of the Essentials line: Dungeons & Dragons Starter Set (2010), Rules Compendium (2010), Dungeon Master's Kit (2010), and the first players book, Heroes of the Fallen Lands (2010). Now, in November 2010, the set of six rules-oriented releases for Essentials was drawing to a close. The DM-oriented Monster Vault (2010) and the second players book, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom (2010), were both published on November 16". On September 1, 2015, Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom was re-released as a PDF. Reception On the Essentials line, M.J. Harnish, for Wired, commented that "for the past few years, starting with the very announcement of 4E and the Virtual Tabletop debacle, Wizards has been very poor at communicating honestly and openly with its fan base and has put out a string of very sub-par or poorly supported products, many of which saw errata almost immediately after their release. [...] Confusing titles and formats (for example, the adoption