You'll see heroes -- monstrous and humanoid, large and small. But the new Realms is all about villains. We'll be detailing villains old and new, powerful forces of evil that can populate your Realms and challenge the heroes adventuring there. You'll still see information on some of the more popular heroes, of course, but we're not going to spend a lot of time detailing the heroes. You get to play the hero; we get to play the villain. ;-)

Rich Baker, Creative Director:

We want your character to be the star of your campaign, not our iconic FR characters. That means that when we provide a NPC for you to interact with, most of the time that NPC should be a villain your character can square off against, not a patron or guide or super-hero you're just helping out in a pinch.

Sean Reynolds, Designer:

And since we're setting up this book to allow greater communication and transport between the various parts of the Realms, we're able to show heroes and villains from remote parts of the world, who might be able to show up just about anywhere. A revolutionary in Unther, an evil dwarf wizard from the great rift, a Zhentarim blackguard, an Amnian monk, and a troll fighter mercenary from the Lake of Steam are just a few examples of our new faces.

Okay, now for the really big question: In all the Realms, who is your favorite hero or villain?

Rich: That's a tough one. I guess my favorite villain is a brand-new one, King Obould of the Citadel of Many Arrows. He's "just" an orc, but in 3rd edition, you can stack classes and levels on anybody -- an orc chieftain can be a 10th-level fighter/10th-level sorcerer, way smarter and tougher than your typical mid-level character. You just can't take these guys for saps anymore.

Sean: My vote for favorite villain would be for Bronnia Stonesplitter, the gold dwarf wizard. She's mean, but tough enough that you wouldn't try to fight her head-on, and knows enough that you'd want to keep her around anyway.

Jim: I think my favorite villain changes depending on where I am in the Realms at the time. We've done a lot of work to make sure that these villains are well-detailed and usable in your campaign, so I think DMs are going to adopt a number of favorites.

Rich Baker: As far as heroes, I like Caladnei, the new Mage Royal in Cormyr. She's a fighting sorceress who strikes me as a long-overdue break from the old, male, crotchety arch-wizard stereotype that seems to be so prevalent in the Realms, and she follows all the rules, unlike the Seven Sisters.

Ready to check out Rich's favorite villain? Visit our Realmswatch Sneak Peek!

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