Heroes of Baldur’s Gate review — The most beautiful Baldur’s Gate can be

Welcome to Baldur’s Gate

Baldur’s Gate is an infamous city within the Forgotten Realms that sits along the southern Sword Coast. A city of the highest highs and the lowest lows where great fortune and/or deep betrayal can be found. Known for its thievery, commerce, and recurring dead gods; most of the lore surrounding Baldur’s Gate stems from the 1998 2nd edition video games. While Baldur’s Gate (the city) does appear in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus it is not the main focus of the campaign with only the first act taking place within the city. While Descent into Avernus had a lot of information on Baldur’s Gate, I wanted more. So I went looking for more detailed information and I found Heroes of Baldur’s Gate. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate is written by James Ohlen, the lead designer of Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. How does the video games translate into the tabletop? And now with Baldur’s Gate 3 released using the 5th edition ruleset, is this book the needed bridge for players to explore the iconic city on the tabletop?

An Update for Everyone

Heroes of Baldur’s Gate contains 160 pages and features an adventure that will take a party from levels one to six. Beginning outside the city players will journey into the Baldur’s Gate, underneath into its vast sewers, venture to nearby Cloakwood Forest and back into the mean streets of the city. A significant part of the adventure takes place in the Cloakwood Forest giving players a reprieve from the oppressive city and changing up the pace for more exploration. Players will face encounters ranging from urban gangs, invasive aberrations, and even a cunning hag coven. The adventure displays the many diverse threats Baldur’s Gate regularly thwarts to keep from being overrun. There isn’t a single overall villain, but instead multiple interweaving plots that a group of do-gooders need to untangle to save the city from a grisly fate. The story presented within Heroes of Baldur’s Gate is a good representation of adventures 5e has to offer and holds up the three pillars of play that are key to 5e. (Exploration, social interaction, and combat.)

Along with the adventure path, Heroes of Baldur’s Gate has an incredible overview of the city of Baldur’s Gate and the nearby areas. This section is perfect for anyone wanting to run adventures in Baldur’s Gate and contains detailed information for anyone brand new to the city. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate also recaps the story of the video games Baldur’s Gate one and two so that a DM will be familiar with the recent history of the city. This section contains information on the culture, government, religion, factions, and dead gods that all shape the city. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate details the Sword Coast, The Cloudpeaks, The Cloakwood, and the Wood of Sharp Teeth. All of the locations have detailed maps and with this a DM could easily create their own adventures set within Baldur’s Gate. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate is the best update for the city even beyond that of Descent into Avernus.

Considering this is an update for 5e, how does Heroes of Baldur’s Gate handle the ever important lore? Heroes of Baldur’s Gate presents two options for when to run the adventure. The first being 1369 DR and the other timeline updating Heroes of Baldur’s Gate to the current 5e timeline at 1489 DR. This gives a DM the option to set the storyline near the Baldur’s Gate video games or with the current timeline for those more familiar with 5e material. While Heroes of Baldur’s Gate defaults to 1369 DR, chapter one gives suggestions for what to change in order to update the story to 1489 DR. This is a brilliant option allowing for those who love the older lore to revisit the city and for those new to Baldur’s Gate a way to visit with the current timeline. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate is also consistent with the information presented in Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus if set in 1489 DR so you don’t have to worry about any contradictions between the two books.

“Baldur’s Gate is a viper’s nest of schemes and schemers.”— Coran

Friends, Foes, and Monsters

Throughout Heroes of Baldur’s Gate players will meet characters from the video games, both as helpful NPCs and dangerous foes. Familiar friends such as Jaheira, Imoen and the famous duo: Minsc and Boo make an appearance. Other companions from the games return as enemies such as Viconia or Edwin. Those familiar with the games will know who these characters are and are assumedly happy (or unhappy) to see them again. Even as someone not familiar with the video games, I found every NPCs entry interesting. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate has a diverse cast of NPCs to interact with that will challenge any DM putting them on the table. Each major NPC has one full page detailing their history and personality along with their stat block. Opposite this page is a stunning full page piece of artwork for the corresponding NPC. This amazing artwork also applies to the eight unique monsters within the book. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate doesn’t have a lot of new creatures, but the ones it does have are all interesting evolutions. Some of the creatures on display are dread dopplegangers, wolfweres, and hamadryads each being a twisted version of the familiar Monster Manual denizens. The city of Baldur’s Gate just has a way to bring out the worst in everyone.

Sadly, Heroes of Baldur’s Gate doesn’t have much in the way of player material. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate adds four new “legendary backgrounds.” “Child of Bhaal, The Awakened Clone, The Last Emperor, and Reincarnated,” are each tailored for the adventures within Heroes of Baldur’s Gate, but these backgrounds may be fun to experiment with in other adventures. As backgrounds they are different from a normal profession with a lot of roleplaying potential if integrated into other games. As always, ask your DM.

Heroes of Baldur’s Gate has a few unique magic items as well; these range from ankheg half plate to a crossbow of speed. A unique cloak and a helm can even be found that once belonged to the city’s founder Balduran. These are small touches that add to the lore of Heroes of Baldur’s Gate. While there isn’t much player facing material, what is here has potential to be used with Heroes of Baldur’s Gate or in homebrew games.

Acquiring Sorcerous Sundries

If you go to your local game store looking for his book, you will not find it there. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate is available on the DMs guild website that offers first and third party content for DMs and players. DMs guild is a wonderful website full of amazing content, but it does have a few downsides. A pdf of Heroes of Baldur’s Gate costs $19.95 and if you want a hardcover print of the book that will cost $53.95. These books are printed on demand meaning they are not printed until someone orders a copy. The copy I ordered took about 3 weeks to arrive. That being said, the print quality of the book is on par with the normal print books such as Descent into Avernus. Other than the small DMs guild logo at the top of the book, I wouldn’t have even noticed the difference had I not already known . In addition there is a Fantasy Grounds version and a supplemental map pack featuring additional maps not included in Heroes of Baldur’s Gate. Both of these seemed tailored for VTT players. The format options are nice, but I wonder why Heroes of Baldur’s Gate couldn’t have been a regular physical release as the quality is fantastic.

Visit Baldur’s Gate they said, it’ll be fun they said

If you’re looking for a book about the city of Baldur’s Gate, I can’t recommend Heroes of Baldur’s Gate highly enough. The adventure within is a good starting point for veterans and those who are first visiting the city. The themes of the adventure are a bit dark which is reflective of the city, and the returning companions from the games may give some players a hit of nostalgia. I think there is something for everyone to discover within these pages. Heroes of Baldur’s Gate gives a DM everything they need to explore the “The City of Blood,’ featuring a campaign that explores not only Baldur’s Gate, but also its culture and contributions to D&D as a whole.

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