D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

For a man that never grew upon the 3rd and 4th editions of this game (although I don't hate all of them), I must say that it was a surprise such a book, that captures some of the better initiatives from prior editions avoiding all the cheese. I think overall that this game will be less how to craft a broken build and exploit obscure rules (although clearly there is a place for clasic munchkins) and more about roleplaying a character, were wit and intelligence, creativity and fidelity to a character no to a defined "place on a party", are actually rewarded and encouraged by the rules. This game is a solid argument, not to attack -not edition wars, please, every game has his own merits and flaws-, but to show, the people that think that a heavy focus on one aspect -name them broken builds, rules, fixed positions, heavy and slow combat, or obscurity- doesn't matter for the roleplay, that it isn't actually true. A well balanced game between relatively simple but enough complex and diverse rules, appliable to most situations, and a lot of flavor, roleplaying advices. The best of every prior D&D plus his own merits.

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

Nothing will be perfect but, managed to get me interested in playing again. A step in the right direction.

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

Recommended to try it out if you haven't yet. For me, it is the best edition so far. A lot of fun and enjoyable to play.

4 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

I really like 5e: Basic is great, I like the way the game plays, and I think Phandelver may be the best D&D adventure WotC have ever published. And the truth is that if you're going to play the edition to any extent, you'll probably want the PHB - it's a worthwhile expansion to the options in Basic, and for an edition you're actually playing the PHB is always fantastic value for money.

And yet... somehow, this PHB just leaves me cold.

I think it's a combination of two things. The first is simply one of style: by this point I know what a Fighter is, I know what hit points are, and I therefore just don't need lots of text explaining these things. I'd be much happier with a simple reference book giving the rules, with maybe 100 pages less flavour text around it. Plus, I'm less than keen on the constant references to the Forgotten Realms that are dotted around the text (other settings are mentioned, but far less often). Of course, those are just matters of style, and I can certainly appreciate why they were done this way and not the other!

Of more concern, though, is that this PHB just feels limited, in a way that even Basic did not. I think this is more to do with the PHB's place in the overall product lineup. With each previous edition (since 2nd, when I came in), the PHB has been the first book of many, and it has been clear that supplements of various types were coming. Thus, if the PHB only included 8 classes and a few powers for each, that was fine - the splatbooks would quickly fill the void. But when reading this PHB I was constantly struck by game structures that seemed tailor-made for expansion (notably the subraces, the various sub-class structures, and the backgrounds). In each case, some examples were given that were perfectly servicable in themselves... but they felt lacking somehow. I could play a Cleric of any of seven domains (good)... but where were the rest?

And that's both inevitable and fine - even with 320 pages they can't include everything. The only problem is that those supplements are apparently not forthcoming, which means that this PHB is, basically, 'it' for the game. At which point those limits become a whole lot more significant, and I found myself increasingly aware of what I couldn't do with the game, which was a shame.

(For obvious reasons, it's also the case that the PHB covers the core ground of the D&D experience. I wouldn't expect anything else. Sadly, that also means it's again covering material I've played expensively for 30 years now - I've pretty much done Fighters, Wizards, Clerics, and Rogues to death by this point! And so I found myself asking, "Is that it? What else have you got?")

That may well be unfair criticism. As I said right at the outset, I like 5e. And it's probably unfair to judge the PHB for the non-existence of other books. It's just how I felt.

Anyway, the book is recommended, but with a caveat: you should check out Basic first, and probably play a couple of sessions. If you like it, you'll probably want this one, if only to serve as a supplement to those Basic rules.

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

The 5e Player’s Handbook looks great. The layout and design is top notch and the art looks great. The changes really open things up a lot and grant more freedom to DMs and players. The rules are fairly modular and you can use those you like and ignore or remove the ones you don’t fairly easily. See my full review here: http://www.play-board-games.com/dd-5e-players-handbook-review/

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

It combines all the good things of the previous versions and drops the bad and smashes it into a new one fluidly and with less dependency on dice rolls and more on roleplaying!

3 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

No, really....Grumble.

3 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

This book is a mixed bag. The game is pretty good, perhaps a little overly simplified at times and with a few gameplay issue depending on individual style; but it's easily modified with house rules. Far more fluid and supporting of actual roleplaying than 4e, and more balanced and focused than 3e. This is probably the best version of the game I've seen yet. That said there are some issues. From a book perspective, this book is a little disappointing. The binding feeks weak, so I worry pages may fall out after extended use; and the book smells odd, like an old moldy scratch-and-sniff card. The flavour text inside is also terrible. By trying to set the scene and filling every page with cinematic crap, the book actually fails to adequately describe what the races and classes actually are. A complete newbie to dungeons and dragons, and/or fantasy RPGs in general, would likely lack the background knowledge to be able to visualise these classes and races interacting properly because they're so poorly described. The artwork is generally good, though some pictures look a little goofy. So, in short, it's a good game, but an unfortunately badly written book that doesn't feel as high quality as it should. Perhaps my copy is from a bad batch. Still, it was worth picking up.

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

I came back to RPGs after nearly 20 years away; to find a divided fan base and the vitriolic arguments known as the "edition wars". I picked up the 5e playtest, because my group consisted of myself and all entirely new players and I didn't know if they'd be interested in playing longterm. The playtest was quite easy to get into, and it was fairly well-developed as it was somewhat late in the play-testing cycle. The players had no trouble picking things up, and everything was fairly intuitive. We were having a blast, and we haven't looked back since then. Of course we preordered this book, and we absolutely love it. The Player's Handbook represents an extraordinary effort by the Wizards of the Coast RPG team to both bring in fans of previous editions, and create a game easily approachable to new players. The book itself is beautiful. It reads extremely well, and its packed with information. It isn't perfect, for example I don't love the halfling art; and they could use more tables for spells. But in all, this book represents a new era of D&D.

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's Handbook

This gave us the first real look at the rules set for the new edition. This allowed us to create full characters from a number of class and race options. Integrating background mechanics went over well with the majority of players and the new edition became an instant hit in the community. I enjoyed the artwork and progressive nature of this book. The classes held my interest and each had plenty of options while keeping character creation simple. This is a must-have if you are even a little bit interested in this edition. It will hook you.