Anyone pick up the Guide to Wildemount?

[Spriteless]

I recall the thread about it, before it came out. Many a forum member said they were not going to buy it. Has anyone here bought it? Do people have complex opinions to share on the subclasses space wizard, time wizard, and dupe knight? Any choice spells? Any feats or backgrounds at all?

From the DMs side, I recall promotional material said it would have several starting adventures for different regions of wildemount. Also, that wildmounte is a continent at war. Any of the adventures start in the midst of a war? Most of the adventures I have in my library are fetch-quests through ruins or investigations in populated areas, so that would be something to bank for a new situation. Any monsters that imply nifty stories, or introduce cool mechanics that don't need a ton of bookkeeping?

[Ekzanimus]

It is really interesting but there are so many problems with wording of spells and subclass features... I had to listen to the authors talking about the book in some podcasts and previews to understand how some of the mechanics are meant to work. And there are some very strange design choices - for example, why all the graviturgist spells require Con saving throw to not be moved by them when there is a clear statement in the DMG that opposing forced movement requires Str saving throw?
But overall it is a very interesting book with a lot of new mechanics that can be used in your games.

[micahaphone]

I think it's a pretty damn good book, I like his worldbuilding, how the governments are more than "there's a king in the castle and we pay tithes" level medieval fantasy. There's a good bit more nuance to the "good" and "evil", which I'm sure is commonplace in plenty of homebrew worlds, but damn the standard Forgotten Realms WotC books are kind of bland with that. "Here's 4 organizations, the secretive do-gooders, the druid-y do-gooders, the knightly do-gooders, the evil mercs, aaaaaaand idk there's regional governments or something." And languages and cultures that are more region-specific than race-specific feels very good.

-Having all the races together is nice, the rebalanced orc is good, and the new race, Hollow One, seems ripe with story potential too.

-The echo knight subclass is cool and doesn't seem OP.
-The time wizard seems strong but not necessarily more than a divination wizard.
-The Gravity wizard seems alright and fun.
-As previously stated, I might want to include some errata, like just write in above the 10th level Chronurgist feature "casting a spell through the bead takes its normal casting time" if you don't want your players to be able to drop a Leomund's Tiny Hut or a Magic Circle onto the battlefield at the drop of a hat.

-The spells don't seem OP, I wouldn't mind my players having them. They're mostly higher level stuff it feels like.

-Heroic Chronicler system seems like it might be worth using.

-I have not used any of the included adventures or any of the included monsters, so I can't speak to them.

-Maps are nice.

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Honestly, there's a lot to the book, I think it's a good value for my money. It's thicker than I was expecting!
Even though I'm not going to directly play in this setting, there's a lot of good stuff that I'm going to lift for my homebrew world. when I'm hitting writer's block for a new region or town, I'll probably pick and choose bits from this book.

[Millstone85]

I would love to go out and buy it, but that will have to wait after the quarantine.

[LudicSavant]

I haven't been able to buy it yet, but saw most of the mechanics in the preview video. Chronurgist is setting off some red flags for me, particularly the level 10 feature. At the very least, it really ought to have had a similar wording to the Artificer's spell storing item (e.g. you shouldn't be able to put things with a casting time longer than one action into it. This would prevent things like handing everyone in the world their very own familiar, or casting Leomund's Tiny Hut out of the blue, etc).

In addition to features ranging from strong to exploitable, it also has access to some noteworthy new spells, like Concentrationless buffs including what is basically new and improved Nerveskitter (those familiar with older editions will remember that Nerveskitter was oft remembered as a notable example of Wizard power creep even by 3.5e standards).

By contrast the Graviturgist looks like it might be the opposite, undertuned as far as features go (though I didn't get to look at much of their expanded spell list in the preview video).


-As previously stated, I might want to include some errata, like just write in above the 10th level Chronurgist feature "casting a spell through the bead takes its normal casting time" if you don't want your players to be able to drop a Leomund's Tiny Hut or a Magic Circle onto the battlefield at the drop of a hat.

That would still leave you with the ability to hand everyone familiars or the like as soon as you hit 10. I recommend "you can't store a spell that has a casting time longer than 1 action."

[micahaphone]

I guess I don't see the big risk in a level 10 party all having familiars? That's barely more powerful than the 2nd level spell Flock of Familiars.

[LudicSavant]

That's barely more powerful than the 2nd level spell Flock of Familiars.

Flock of Familiars isn't even in the same ballpark. Flock of Familiars takes Concentration, a level 2 spell slot, and has a limited duration. Find Familiar provides a permanent companion, and can do it for as many people as you want (up to and including handing familiars to everyone in town).

Frankly there's no reason that the ability should be granting that (or other similar benefits that it can also grant).

[micahaphone]

But what's so strong about a party of 4 all having familiars? Maybe my table is just not fully utilizing our familiars, but the wizard/warlocks with them mostly use them for scouting and maybe mid-battle courier. I guess with 4 separate familiars you could scout a large area a lot quicker, but I'm not sure what else. Are they being used for the help action in combat? Whenever I see that tried, some AOE usually puts a stop to it rather quickly.

[LudicSavant]

But what's so strong about a party of 4 all having familiars? Maybe my table is just not fully utilizing our familiars, but the wizard/warlocks with them mostly use them for scouting and maybe mid-battle courier. I guess with 4 separate familiars you could scout a large area a lot quicker, but I'm not sure what else. Are they being used for the help action in combat? Whenever I see that tried, some AOE usually puts a stop to it rather quickly.

It does sound like you're not fully utilizing your familiars. At a very minimum, owl familiars can be using the Help action in combat while using their Flyby ability to stay out of range of AoEs and the like.

[Ekzanimus]

By contrast the Graviturgist looks like it might be the opposite, undertuned as far as features go (though I didn't get to look at much of their expanded spell list in the preview video).

After hearing in the preview video how one of the authors meant graviturgist's 6th level ability to work (it affects multiple creatures) I'd say that it can be very interesting. Also it's spells do somewhat less damage than other spells of their levels but provide additional effects like pushing or pulling creatures and objects around. But they all are based on Con saves that frankly don't make any sense. I'd say that graviturgist is very creative and fun subclass if maps aren't flat plains. If there are environmental hazards or different height levels than he can wreak some serious havoc.

[Belac93]

I'll do a mini review:

Chapter 1: Story of Wildemount. Basically what it says on the tin. I skimmed most of it, but it's got some neat history, cool ideas for non-evil monstrous races, etc. The pantheon section is incredibly well-written: gods are divided up into:

Prime/good/neutral gods, who each get a writeup, depiction, holy day, and commandments.
Betrayer/evil gods, who get a writeup, depiction, enemies, and commandments.
Lesser Idols/warlock patrons, who get a writeup and appearance.


It's also pretty interesting in that gods can be both warlock patrons and cleric deities, such as Asmodeus or the Hag Mother.

Chapter 2: Factions and Societies has each large organization/government body, along with their goals, relationships with other factions, a bunch of NPCs, and laws. Not a whole lot to talk about, but cool.

Chapter 3: Wildemount Gazetter is a description of each and every area on the continent, along with a couple of adventure hooks for each, divided up into low level, mid level, epic level, and any level. It's got descriptions of regions, but also of cities and towns.

One interesting character option of note here is called Pride Silk, which costs 500 gp to make armour out of, but gives 11+Dexterity Modifier AC with no proficiency required.

Also has some neat sections on bizarre terrain, drugs, and other continents. Overall, even if you aren't interested in the setting, the book might be worth it just to mine this chapter for ideas.

Chapter 4: Character Options. You probably know what to expect here.

Race highlights:

New elf subraces called Pallid Elf, who is probably the strongest elf subrace ever, along with reprinted sea elves.
A new spellcasting halfling druidic subrace, that gets really powerful spells and some plantwalk abilities.
Reprinted aarakocra, aasimar, firbolgs, genasi, goblinoids, goliaths, kenku, tabaxi, and tortles.
Two variant dragonborn: ones with tails who are social and smart, and ones without tails that are more martial. Both get darkvision too
A Hollow One supernatural gift, similar to werewolves or charms, which is a sorta half-undead thing.


Echo Knight: Probably the best fighter subclass. Creates copies, can scout with them, teleport between them, and all sorts of cool stuff. Most of it unlimited.
Chronurgy Wizard: Quite strong, kinda divination-lite, initiative bonuses, dice manipulation, freezing people and spells in time, and taking exhaustion to automatically succeed on rolls.
Graviturgy Wizard: Change creature's weight, forced movement, giving people extra damage, and creating mini black holes. Kinda average but neat abilities.

The spells are all really powerful. Most interesting are a 1st level spell that gives +1d8 to initiative for 8 hours, a spell that creates immovable objects, and a spell called 'Time Ravage' that ages a creature up to 30 days before they die.

The Heroic Chronicle system is cool, but the Fateful Moments section is probably the one big part of the book I'd say is just plain bad. It's a cool idea, but you also have a 1-in-10 chance to be a were-creature of some kind if you roll on it, which feels kinda ridiculous. If it was a D100, that'd be a bit more feasible, but on a d20, two of the options shouldn't be 'immunity to mundane damage.' Even without those, you have a pretty even chance of getting proficiency in weapons and armour + indefinite madness, or getting proficiency in a weapon of your choice + a free feat.

Also a couple of backgrounds: a secret bard society, and an assassin society.

Chapter 5: Adventures in Wildemount: Gotta admit, haven't read through this properly. The adventures seem cool, and a lot less linear than typical WotC fare.

Chapter 6: Wildemount Treasures: This chapter is awesome. Got some cool magic items, but the highlight is a bunch of legendary/artifact magic items that evolve as your character levels up.

Chapter 7: Wildemount Bestiary: Highlights of this are an anti-magic monster, a couple low CR aberrations, frost giant zombies, a fifty-foot-long turtle, more powerful zombies, and the 'sea fury,' a legendary sea hag.

[iTreeby]

I really like echo knight, I don't think they are over powered, archer style fighters still want to be battlemaster, casters still want to be eldritch knights. It does increase the amount of attacks you can make slightly and gives situational mobility but doesn't auto escape grapples like I've seen some people say.

[Segev]

I really like echo knight, I don't think they are over powered, archer style fighters still want to be battlemaster, casters still want to be eldritch knights. It does increase the amount of attacks you can make slightly and gives situational mobility but doesn't auto escape grapples like I've seen some people say.

Why doesn't it? Teleport not allowed when movement is 0, or something?

[Pixel_Kitsune]

Why doesn't it? Teleport not allowed when movement is 0, or something?

The ability uses your bonus action and costs 15' of movement.

[iTreeby]

The ability uses your bonus action and costs 15' of movement.
Yup, and the grappled and restrained conditions
Reduce speed to zero so you can't teleport.

[HappyDaze]

I've read through it, and I'm glad I didn't spend a dime to do so. It has nothing I'd want to add to a game and is now on the list of "no, nothing from this is allowed" sources for my games.

[False God]

I honestly bought it just for the number of existing race options compiled into one book. I'm not a Critical Role fan(not a hater, just not my thing), I'll probably pick through it for more stuff one of these days. If, as mentioned above, there's more detail to society/government/economy I'll probably enjoy that.

[Sparky McDibben]

I did, and it was money well spent at the price point I got it at ($35).

The first chapter is all narrative. It's a good example of top-down worldbuilding, and fleshing out patron/deity descriptions. Good inspiration for new DMs.

Second chapter is all factions and organizations. Again, good inspiration, but I'm a fan of how Ravnica took its factions and used that as a springboard for adventure design while also hooking them into the backgrounds. This product kind of hooks the factions into backgrounds later, but only provides a couple adventure seeds per faction.

Third chapter is a travelogue. I don't like this model of worldbuilding personally, but it works well for newer DMs. Includes some really creative ideas, hooks, and locations. Solid content.

Chapter 4 is character options. I'll just say that a hardcore optimizer could probably break some of this, but no more than most standard WotC options. Seems to be filling in some unexplored conceptual space, and are very well done. The Heroic Chronicle is awesome. This links backgrounds to places, to potential story hooks in your PCs background. This is how you get more cards and hooks from your PCs. There are also cool fateful moments that have a relatively low probability of occurence but which represent you having a survived an extraordinary circumstance and developed a mechanical benefit (like a skill proficiency) because of it. The "Fateful Moments will break your game" crowd might take issue with this stance, but I think it's a fantastic example of plugging your PCs into the game. Also, the chances of getting a fateful moment aren't great (30%, with an ally or rival attached). Love it, and worth the cost of the book for me. Didn't need the favorite foods tables, though.

Chapter 5 are four decently written adventures, about 10-15 pages long each. Nice and easy intros to a Wildemount campaign; I love it.

Chapter 6 is magic items! These are really good ideas and some awesome evil artifacts you can repurpose for your game. Very cool **** here, y'all.

Chapter 7 is new monsters, including an aquatic basilisk, a handful of stuff that's very Mass Effect inspired, and the udaak, and big ol' bunch of ugly to chuck at your table.

As you can probably tell, I really love this book. It feels like an effort made to onboard new DMs, and I really appreciate that. It feels like passing a torch.

[Azuresun]

My impression is that it's well-written and hangs together well as a world, but it doesn't trigger that "I want to run this right now!" urge that I got from settings like Eberron, Primeval Thule, or Dark Sun. That said, there are a lot of cool bits I may pull out and transplant to other worlds, such as the ruins of a civilisation that was trying to find a way to destroy the gods, or a giant frozen god-worm that's being harvested for meat.

One thing I really liked was the "Lesser Idols" section, which are various demigods, aspiring gods and other entities of great power which are presented as patrons for warlocks. It even makes a valiant attempt at giving the Hexblade desperately needed flavour.