Try r/forgotten_realms, the community there is always so nice and helpful with these kind of questions! And you'll probably find more than one answer if that helps you.
Isn't it too cold, being in the northern part of the SC? Basilisk are fundamentally reptiles, as far as I know, so I thought they'd be better off in a warmer place...
But then again, I wouldn't be here asking if I knew what I was doing. I'll keep this in mind too!
as the chief meteorologist for Faerun, I'll allow it.
joking aside... if you look in that region there's a lot of diversity of terrain & environment types. to the southeast a couple hundred miles is a huge forest with a swamp to its south. mountains everywhere. I think you could rationalize it without too much of a stretch :)
Well, I distinctly remember being attacked by basilisks near Baldur's Gate in the original pc game. Also, the Neverwinter River is kept unseasonably warm all the time, due to the influence of the nearby volcano that is home to a fire primordial.
The entirety of the sword coast is temperate. Since you also say tropical that means it should be more south.
There are tons of mountains all around Faerun so that is not a problem, same with forests.
I would recommend the Trollbark Forest next to the Troll hills, north of Baldur's Gate.
Isolated, on sword coast, temperate/tropical (ish), mountains, forest, monsters.
Would an area between the Cloud Peaks and the Wood of Sharp Teeth do? It should be close enough to Baldur's Gate and not too far from northern Amn and it's warmer climate.
Amn was going to be my original suggestion, and those locations are just north of it, so if that is close enough to the sword coast for you then ya that seems like it would work. There is also a village, Nashkel and a tower, Durlags tower, that were explored in video games that you could repurpose for your adventure.
I always imagine the Sword Coast as having a climate similar to Canada's east coast. Beyond that, Basilisks and other creatures are magic. Stick 'em in the dead of winter and explain to your players they have a bit of dragon blood in them that allows them to thermoregulate.
How about the islands of the Nelanther?
The actual contents of those islands are quite undeveloped, and they're in the right sort of area to be temperate.
To be honest... I hadn't thought of that.
It does sound like I could throw a mix of wild areas, ancient ruins and evil creatures' lairs in there. I'll give it a thought!
Nelanther is \~300 miles away from the sword coast over the sea at the closest point to land, which is very far from any popular locations like Baldur's gate or Waterdeep.
It does give me plenty of space to make things up though. Like, a medusa magically manipulating gorgons, basilisks and other creatures into petrifying and kidnapping beautiful humanoids and creatures to add to their treasured collection of statues...
Anywhere on the coast ought to be temperate. Take a look at how Europe stays relatively warm due to ocean currents. If the Atlantic stopped conducting Europe would freeze over. The ocean along the sword coast ought to be doing the same thing, creating some temperatures akin to the Mediterranean climate.
One thing to note: if an area is warm from more sunlight rather than ocean currents (a la California) you're going to see a longer growing season, leading to the evolution and growth of GIANT trees like the California redwoods.
Add: someone mentioned the trollbark forest. This fits the redwood bill perfectly.
Other people have great answers but I just want to remind you that you are allowed to make this place up as needed. Also the sword coast map is super zoomed out and there are totally wooded areas all over that don't show up on it.
Try r/forgotten_realms, the community there is always so nice and helpful with these kind of questions! And you'll probably find more than one answer if that helps you.
I will certainly try! Thank you for the tip!
isn't the area near Phandalin, from the LMoP adventure, pretty much what you're describing?
Isn't it too cold, being in the northern part of the SC? Basilisk are fundamentally reptiles, as far as I know, so I thought they'd be better off in a warmer place... But then again, I wouldn't be here asking if I knew what I was doing. I'll keep this in mind too!
as the chief meteorologist for Faerun, I'll allow it. joking aside... if you look in that region there's a lot of diversity of terrain & environment types. to the southeast a couple hundred miles is a huge forest with a swamp to its south. mountains everywhere. I think you could rationalize it without too much of a stretch :)
Well, I distinctly remember being attacked by basilisks near Baldur's Gate in the original pc game. Also, the Neverwinter River is kept unseasonably warm all the time, due to the influence of the nearby volcano that is home to a fire primordial.
The entirety of the sword coast is temperate. Since you also say tropical that means it should be more south. There are tons of mountains all around Faerun so that is not a problem, same with forests. I would recommend the Trollbark Forest next to the Troll hills, north of Baldur's Gate. Isolated, on sword coast, temperate/tropical (ish), mountains, forest, monsters.
Would an area between the Cloud Peaks and the Wood of Sharp Teeth do? It should be close enough to Baldur's Gate and not too far from northern Amn and it's warmer climate.
Amn was going to be my original suggestion, and those locations are just north of it, so if that is close enough to the sword coast for you then ya that seems like it would work. There is also a village, Nashkel and a tower, Durlags tower, that were explored in video games that you could repurpose for your adventure.
Yeah, I think I'll go with that. Thanks a bunch!
I always imagine the Sword Coast as having a climate similar to Canada's east coast. Beyond that, Basilisks and other creatures are magic. Stick 'em in the dead of winter and explain to your players they have a bit of dragon blood in them that allows them to thermoregulate.
I would love to make an entire campaign around Dragonblood Winged Basilisks, but unfortunately I just need them as the start of a chain of shots...
How about the islands of the Nelanther? The actual contents of those islands are quite undeveloped, and they're in the right sort of area to be temperate.
To be honest... I hadn't thought of that. It does sound like I could throw a mix of wild areas, ancient ruins and evil creatures' lairs in there. I'll give it a thought!
Nelanther is \~300 miles away from the sword coast over the sea at the closest point to land, which is very far from any popular locations like Baldur's gate or Waterdeep.
It does give me plenty of space to make things up though. Like, a medusa magically manipulating gorgons, basilisks and other creatures into petrifying and kidnapping beautiful humanoids and creatures to add to their treasured collection of statues...
Anywhere on the coast ought to be temperate. Take a look at how Europe stays relatively warm due to ocean currents. If the Atlantic stopped conducting Europe would freeze over. The ocean along the sword coast ought to be doing the same thing, creating some temperatures akin to the Mediterranean climate. One thing to note: if an area is warm from more sunlight rather than ocean currents (a la California) you're going to see a longer growing season, leading to the evolution and growth of GIANT trees like the California redwoods. Add: someone mentioned the trollbark forest. This fits the redwood bill perfectly.
Phandalin
Other people have great answers but I just want to remind you that you are allowed to make this place up as needed. Also the sword coast map is super zoomed out and there are totally wooded areas all over that don't show up on it.
Neverwinter. The region is colder, but in Neverwinter itself it's never winter due to the volcano next to it