Product Description

The first of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master. The Players Handbook presents the official Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game rules as well as everything a player needs to create D&D characters worthy of song and legend: new character races, base classes, paragon paths, epic destinies, powers, magic items, weapons, armor, and much more.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #646 in Books
• Brand: Wizards of the Coast
• Published on: 2008-06-06
• Released on: 2008-06-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

Horrible Edition
I've played D&D since 2nd Edition. I thought 2nd Edition had tons of issues with Thac0 and lack of flavor to the rules. 3rd Edition came along, added a tons of options and despite having it's flaws thought it was the best thought out of all the editions. The new edition of D&D is dumb-downed version made for people who play World of Warcraft and Everquest.

A worthy successor
The new edition of Dungeons and Dragons is a worthy successor to 3.5. In many ways it is more consistently d20. For example, all attacks involve a d20 roll with appropriate modifier against a static defence. In 3.5, weapon attacks were like that, but spell attacks had a fixed attack (the Spell DC) and a D20 was rolled with modifiers for a defence. Now all attacks are the same.

It looks to me like Wizards/Hasbro has built off of the Magic the Gathering model of a game. You have a basic game with general rules and various classes and races have exceptions to those rules (as various decks do in Magic). Specific wins over general. Mostly, these exceptions are called "Powers", with each class having a specific name for it's power type (Prayers, Spells and Exploits...so far).

By placing all classes in this structure, they may have the most balanced version of D&D yet. It also means that you cannot choose to play a fighter to avoid learning the complexity of spells. Every class has powers and if you aren't using your powers you won't prevail.

Overall, the book and the system is well structured and the PHB 4e continues the trend of needing fewer rulings to clarify the written rules. There are still a few "what happens if..." questions that arise, but generally when I look something up I have a usable answer.

One difficulty with the book is that while it is internally consistent, it doesn't (and may not be able to) build from first principles. There were a number of times when the text would refer to something that hand't been defined yet (e.g. the "Marked" state). I couldn't really understand it all until I had read the whole book and actually tried some combat.

As I titled this, D&D 4e is a worthy successor to D&D 3.5. However, I would not say it is a must have. As the many folks out there still playing 2nd ed and even 1st ed will tell you, the story you build together is what is important, not the mechanics which facilitate that. If someone is just starting D&D, 4e is the way to go. It is where new material will be. If you have a going 3.5 (or earlier) campaign, you may find less source material available, but there is no reason to end your campaign and switch.

The other aspect of 4e and it's Magic the Gathering model is that it is designed for expansion. This PHB is missing many beloved classes and even races (no PC Gnomes yet, for example). But given the structure, it is very easy to add a new class or race. It appears that Druids, Monks, Psionicists, Barbarians and many others are under design for the PBH2 due out next year. And given the structure, it is likely that these new classes will actually balance the original classes, unlike the repeated attempts to add classes to previous version (e.g. psionics was notorious for being unbalanced). The game is complete in that it you don't need Druids to run a campaign, but certainly Wizards/Hasbro is hoping supplement releases will provide an ongowing cashflow just as new editions of Magic the Gathering did.

Out with the old, in with the new - not your grandfather's D&D
I have played D&D for 30 years and have played all editions. I am currently DMing a 3.5 edition Forgotten Reams campaign. My group has been highly anticipating the new edition. Sadly, we are all disappointed with what the new edition has become. One member of the group even called it blasphemous. The game has changed so much now that it is almost not recognizable as our beloved D&D. It is so different than any of the earlier editions. No backward compatibility and really no comparison.

I have read the Player's Handbook from cover to cover and tried to have an open mind. I summarized my thoughts while reading and many of these thoughts were not favorable. I know that many people will like it and many new people will be brought to the game but there will also be many players that will dislike it. The few that are on the fence will most likely admit that it is a very different game but will play it because it will still be a fun game to play. The following are my thoughts:

Things I like
* Ability Scores - seem balanced across classes and realistic.
* Difficulty Checks - d20 is still a Core Mechanic which is great.
* The powers are intricately thought out and balanced. Keywords in powers are informative and clear and provide the balance in the game. They are also well written and easy to understand. Spells in 3rd edition should be written like this.
* Milestone and Action Points - I like the idea that characters can earn extra action if they are more successful. Somewhat like being more inspired.
* Rituals are cool because they are the most like spells and have a unique feeling.
* Action types seem to be the same which I have liked. They are actually much more flushed out with actions such as Delay Action, Ready an Action, and Shifting.
* The wizard class still seems cool though not as varied as the old rules. They still wield mighty powers but so does every character.
* Great strategy is now involved in combat. Each combat round is now an opportunity to be unpredictable, cooperative, and creative in your use of attack and utility powers.

Things I don't like
* Healing surges - Every character should not have the ability to heal themselves. This is the most ridiculous new rule in my opinion. Also, after an extended rest, a character can regain all hit points. What happens to that deep gash on your leg? Oh, just sleep it off.
* Alignment - Some alignments are no longer valid (Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, Neutral). This does not sit well with me because I very much like the old alignment system. Mentions in the rules that similar aligned people are on the same "team". Also mentioned when "law becomes exploitation, it crosses into evil territory" which sounds like Lawful Evil. Without Lawful Evil, where can Darth Vader turn? Chaotic Good gone? What happens to all the planes? Alignment was an area of brilliance in the game and was another way to completely customize your character. By simplifying this formula, it can be seen how the game is catering to those who don't have the patience to learn a rich and complex system.
* Retraining - Apparently, when a character goes up a level, you can discard an old feat, power, or skill and learn a new one. Characters should not be able to discard things they already know. It is not very realistic and doesn't make sense. I used to be an Olympic quality swimmer but one day I forget how to swim well so I dumped my athletics skill and really have been into history lately.
* Powers - I don't like that so many attack powers also give bonuses to others while attacking. Too much to keep track of and all characters become much too powerful. Within blast areas, quite often enemies take damage and allies get bonuses... not very realistic. How is this determined? If you have a bad thought about one of the members in your party, are you no longer an ally so that fireball turns your skin black? Not to worry though because you can just spend a healing surge and shake your ally's hand and all is well. There are also so many numbers (bonuses, penalties, conditions) that need to be remembered for each character every round that it seems complicated. A computer would be able to keep track of these which may be the point.
* Combat - Almost required to play on a grid map. This must have been the way it had to be to make the game successful online. Putting together a party is starting to feel like putting together a Magic The Gathering deck and then people can battle parties (and powers) online.
* Skills - Very limited list now and no way to customize proficiency in each skill. Seems like each skill now includes a group of skills from edition 3.5.
* Magic Items - They can be identified after a short rest. Disenchanting an item provides a fine silvery dust that can be sold for gold pieces. This dust is considered concentrated magic and is used in rituals. A magic item power can be recharged by spending a healing surge. Huh? Thrown magic weapons rematerialize in the character's hand after the combat round. Double huh?? Magic items are very different now and there are not nearly as many Wondrous Items and Potions.
* Seems like the powers of the Ranger are very geared towards either being a two-weapon fighter or a ranged fighter. What if I want a Ranger for the roleplaying aspects but don't want to be forced to fight with two weapons or ranged attack. The biggest problem with this arrangement is that you become pigeon-holed into playing a Ranger in a very limited number of ways.
* Warlords are mandated to be leaders. I always felt that leadership was earned in a party through respect of the other characters. Paladins can already be pretty pretentious. If a Warlord attempts to join your party, run away as fast as you can.
* Most wizard spell powers do not increase in damage as a character goes up in levels. This is a huge change from the old rules. No longer can you do 40d6 with a single spell. Bummer!
* The Destiny Quest and achieving immortality at 30th level is silly. Not all characters need to move on out of the world when they reach 30th level and the fact that it can only happen when all characters of the party reach 30th level is stupid.
* Savings throws are too simplified. Everyone has the same chance of success or failure regardless of level or the type of save being performed.
* Keywords seem very related to keywords in Magic The Gathering and have the same sort of effect in the game. Actually, the entire game has a checks & balances similar to Magic The Gathering. The game also seems like a battle in a Warlords video game. One member of my group even considered the Player's Handbook a strategy guide for Diablo II.

General Thoughts
* Some of the magic and mystique of what make D&D so great is gone from the game. It seems to be more about how well you can beat up on those around you. Very combat focused now.
* Seems like there are very limited character choices from the Player's Handbook. This might be intentional in order to sell additional books.
* This game is now so different that it should not have been called D&D. It's as though this was a new game system from another manufacturer. It would be like someone telling me that someone rewrote The Lord of the Rings such that Gandalf decided to wear the ring and battle Sauron himself. This may have made a good video game but I can't see playing with this system for the long-term. Too restrictive so I would be moving on to the next game.
* Seems like some of the mystery is taken out of the game. Used to be that a character might not know why attacks were not affecting monsters. Now it looks like some of that will go away. Do characters and monsters always know what effects are in play?

General Information
* I looked at the difference between 3rd and 4th editions for a particular class. In 3rd edition, there are 405 choices of spells for the cleric. In 4th edition, there are only 94 different powers. This limits creativity, options, and customization of cleric characters. The Fighter, however, goes from having virtually no special abilities (except bonus feats) to having 89 powers which provides much more variety to that character class. The Paladin has gone from 53 spells and special abilities to 83 powers. Rangers go from 51 to 88. Rogues go from 12 (and extra skill points) to 87. The wizard goes from 371 spells (and bonus feats and spells from other supplements) to 101 class features and powers. The 4th edition does not contain the Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Monk, and Sorcerer classes from the 3rd edition. Warlock and Warlord are new character classes in the 4th edition.