Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3246 in Books
• Brand: Wizards of the Coast
• Published on: 2003-07-18
• Released on: 2003-07-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Amazon.com
This Revised Edition (also called 3.5) of one-third of the Dungeons & Dragons trinity of core rulebooks (the other two being The Dungeon Master's Guide and The Monster Manual) contains errata, rules updates, and outright changes to the already-published Third Edition rules. The majority of changes are made in a quest for the holy grail of game rules: balance. To prevent boredom and enable creative choices, no single ability, spell, character class, or weapon should have an overwhelming advantage over another. So what has changed?

• The spells Harm, Heal, and Haste have been toned down. Other spells have been adjusted or renamed.
• Weapons are classified by the Size of the intended wielder, not the size of the individual weapons. A noteworthy effect of this new weapon size system is that Small characters can wield small-size greatswords, longswords, longspears (with reach), and other two-handed weapons.
• Classes have been tweaked. Bards and rangers received the most changes.
• New feats have been added (some original, some from the builder books), and some feats have been altered (a Power Attack now gives double benefit for two-handed weapons).
• Redundant skills have been rolled into one (such as sense motive and read lips) while others have been renamed (such as "wilderness lore" becoming "survival"). Skill synergies have been expanded and knowledge skills now include appropriate monster lore.

In addition to outright rules changes and tweaks, much of the core rule content has been clarified and updated with 3E errata. The combat section, in particular, is organized much better. Even the dreaded grapple rules are now relatively clear. A much-appreciated import from the D&D Miniatures game are new and simple rules for cover and line of sight, as well as clear photographic illustrations of the concepts of facing, attacks of opportunity, and reach.

All in all, 3.5 is a welcome update. The typographical errors are forgivable, given the extent of the update. The new options available to players (in the form of new class features and feats) make the play experience more fun. Veterans will enjoy re-learning the game they love and exploring all the new character possibilities. Perhaps more importantly, they'll find that introducing new gamers to the admittedly formidable D&D ruleset is easier with 3.5 than it was with 3E--call it a +2 circumstance bonus. --Mike Fehlauer

Customer Reviews

A must for any player
This is the say all end all when it comes to D&D. With character creation, detailed explanations of combat, skills, feats, and an impressive starting spell library, this book is a must for all players.

If you're new, this is a wonderful text to get a feel for the game. As reference material, I give it an A+ (yes, even for Dungeon Masters).

Everything as it should be
Really it doesn't need reviews by me, there are plenty. If you're ordering it you've probably already held one and you know what it does and what is in it.
All I can really say is that Amazon shipped it out fast, UPS (or who ever delivered it) got it here in 2 days, regular shipping, and it was in perfect condition.

Still the one
Dungeons and Dragons is still the best and most popular table top role-playing game on the market today. My only complaint about this book and the game in general is the sheer volume of companion books you have to get in order to play the game. It'd be nice for them to break down one day and make a good all-in-one product for a change.