Creation Note 3: Picking a Region (Packages, Feats, and Knowledge)

The Forgotten Realms campaign setting makes a big deal of what part of Faerun your character originates from--you gain access to specific bonus equipment, new feat choices, and a skill based on this decision. If you do not have access to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting or Player's Guide to Faerun, ask a DM for help with this decision. If you wish to originate from the immediate area, pick Waterdeep. And because the two books mentioned above conflict somewhat when describing region-dependent benefits, the notes below will clarify matters.

Regional Feats: We use the Regional Feat system as described in the Player's Guide to Faerun, not the FRCS. This means that a character may only take one regional feat, and it must be taken at 1st-level, but players may choose from the more powerful Regional Feats included in the PGtF. Also, a clarification: regional feats are not free feats received alongside normal feats, but additional options that can be taken in place of a normal feat! We see many submissions delayed by people taking this as a bonus feat when it's not, so don't fall into that trap!

Regional Equipment: The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting and Player's Guide to Faerun offer free equipment to starting characters based on which region they originate from. At DM discretion, certain items may be changed to similar items to fit the proficiencies of the character in question. This equipment cannot be sold back at creation, and money cannot be taken instead; you either take one of the available packages or leave them all. There is an  additional packages available as well:

• Half-Elf Silverymoon, Elf-High Forest, Elf-Silverymoon, Human-The North, Human-Silverymoon: The "longsword*" may be replaced with a Chondathan Steelsword (see Races of Faerun).

Regional Knowledges: If you've already been to the SCORES character registry, you've seen that the Knowledge (local) skill must be taken for each region specifically; ranks in Knowledge (Cormyr local), for instance, don't help you remember facts about the Silver Marches. (This is specific to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in general, not just our game.) Further, having 5+ ranks in (local) for a specific region grants you a +2 synergy bonus to many other Knowledge checks relating to that region. Finally, as a house rule, Knowledge (local) for your character's region of origin (and that region only) is considered a class skill for all classes.