D&D Fan Rewrites the 5E Player's Handbook Index

Yeah, the index is a running joke in my group.

Sorry, but I don't have time to contribute right now, but I'll be interested to see how this thread goes.

 

[delericho]

Yeah, but here would be my response to all the criticism if I were the one who made the index:

"Are you freaking kidding me? We looked at the indexes of previous books, weren't too impressed with them, and set out to make one that was more complete and functional. We slaved away at it, and think we've come up with the best one yet. So, apparently that isn't 'good enough'? Well screw that. No more indexes. You can all just make your own then, because we aren't putting any more time into it for future books."

They're big boys (and girls) - they can take a little criticism. And if they can't, they're seriously in the wrong field, because this is trivial next to some of the nonsense they get.

Heck, it's entirely possible they'll go the other way - they'll identify that, sure enough, the index isn't as useful as they'd hoped, and so they'll fix it in the next reprint.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Neat! Ever thought of doing a combined PHB/DMG one?

 

[basilforth]

I was grateful that they included an index. Had to be a lot of work for somebody. My main distress was the small font. I am sure that was constrained by physical construction of the book and page count though.

 

[The Human Target]

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/DnD_SpellLists_1.0.pdf

Huh interesting.

It still baffles me that there isn't a page listing next to those, or what classes can take what spellsin the actual spell description.

 

[Farland]

OP, you deserve a medal.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Using the index in play has been a nightmare. I long for something like the hyperlinked D20 SRD site to use on my tablet.

Kudos for the work! Between the weak index and seemingly every PH, and my other 5e books, starting to fall apart at my table the 5e books have lost a bit of luster in my group.

 

[shadowva]

Wanted to jump in and also say thanks! Great effort that is appreciated.

 

[delericho]

Between the weak index and seemingly every PH, and my other 5e books...

I hear you on the binding issue! My DMG already had loose pages before I'd even completed my read-through, and with no at-table use at all. Which for a $50 book (for which I paid full price, no less) I find frankly inexcusable.

(Though my other 5e books seem to be holding up better. And the DMG isn't the only recent offender - my Firefly RPG book was also $50, I think, and is also suffering.)

starting to fall apart at my table the 5e books have lost a bit of luster in my group.

Yeah. They've created a great game here, but there's just one or two weaknesses that annoy disproportionately. I'm almost inclined to call for a 5.1e with no rules changes whatsoever (except the existing errata) but with a better index, better binding, a better character sheet, and some sections rewritten for better clarity/ease-of-use. I'd probably rebuy all three books, even at $50 each, just to get rid of those few "proud nails".

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I hear you on the binding issue! My DMG already had loose pages before I'd even completed my read-through, and with no at-table use at all. Which for a $50 book (for which I paid full price, no less) I find frankly inexcusable.

(Though my other 5e books seem to be holding up better. And the DMG isn't the only recent offender - my Firefly RPG book was also $50, I think, and is also suffering.)



Yeah. They've created a great game here, but there's just one or two weaknesses that annoy disproportionately. I'm almost inclined to call for a 5.1e with no rules changes whatsoever (except the existing errata) but with a better index, better binding, a better character sheet, and some sections rewritten for better clarity/ease-of-use. I'd probably rebuy all three books, even at $50 each, just to get rid of those few "proud nails".

The idea of buying another 150 dollars of books, well cheaper on Amazon, just over a year after buying them originally is not making me happy. Heck HotDQ and OotA are both showing binding issues as well. Granted nothing has come out but I can see pages that are nearly loose but held on by the glue sticking them to the page next to them.

Yeah bad binding on game books really gets me mad. I don't know how many books I've bought that were just ready to fall apart as soon as you opened them, GURPS 3e I'm looking at you! But D&D books were usually pretty good. My 1e books are still super tight since they stapled the paged together before gluing the bundle in the cover AFAIK. 2e I sold so long ago I don't recall but I don't remember problems. 3e/3.5e I thought were going to fall apart but they held together fine. 4e I skipped. Game books are manuals that should be ready to lay flat on the game table while being flipped through and used dammit!

 

[copperdogma]

Neat! Ever thought of doing a combined PHB/DMG one?

Yeah, I thought of that a couple of times. *I* wouldn't use it so I don't think I'll make it The best projects come from something you personally want.

It's all open-sourced on my github page, though, for anyone who wants to use the one I made as a starting point! https://github.com/copperdogma/dnd-phb-5e-index

The biggest trick would be that EVERY page reference would also have to identify which book it refers to. So instead of:

Armor Class (AC), 7, 14, 144, 177

You'd have (I made up the DMG numbers):

Armor Class (AC), p7, p14, p144, p177, d16, d27, d105, d188

or maybe:

Armor Class (AC), PHB: 7, 14, 144, 177; DMG: 16, 27, 105, 188