The Actual Table of Contents for Xanathar's Guide to Everything

A lot of good stuff there.

Of course, on the DM side, a lot of stuff is not there, but I like what I see.

Actually, one of the most useful things will be the appendix of sample names.

 

[Morrus]

I don’t really know anything about DDAL rules. I’m not keen on the fact that I’m being asked to buy reprinted content to subsidise a club I’m not part of. I’d rather they just changed their rules.

 

[Guest 6801328]

You know Weapon feats, Skill Feats, Mass Combat rules, ect... we're supposed to go in that space, but they were popular enough, and they didn't have the time to fix them, or the staff, or the money, so they grew desperate and decided on the names as filler, but they way over did it, they should have come up with a few other ideas.

No, I don't "know" this. In fact I find it improbable.

While a list of names isn't the most exciting and useful content I can imagine, let's look at your suggestions:

Here are five easy, none game breaking things they could filled those 17 pages with that would have been better and more interesting.

1. Every Deity in official D&D that has ever existed, including the obscure ones, including domains and home planes info. No one would have to go without their favourite God again.

I would never use this.

2. Warlock Patrons in table form by Patron type.

I would never use this.

3. Basic mechanics for other settings, Warforged, Lender, Defiling rules, and so on. I know the books for other settings are never going to happen, this makes that glaringly obvious, but you could have given them the mechanical elements at least, like races and key setting mechanics.

I would never use this.

4. Convert 4e fighter/ranger/rogue/warlord at will powers into 5e feats, once you figure out the first one, the rest would be easy.

I would definitely never use this.

5. Fluff for the Subclasses. Where are the best places to find Shadow Magic Sorcerors, what academies teach War Magic, Divine Souls are common in the Old, Empires, Samurai and Kenzai are native to Kara Tur and can be found often in these places, The Celestial can be used in Darksun thusly, and so on.

I would find this about as useful as a list of names. Or maybe less. I'm not even remotely interested in "official" settings (FR is bad enough...I don't need more) so anything that is setting specific is wasted on me. But I might borrow some of the names in order to save time. In other words, a list of cool names can be useful. Oh, jeez, look...we've come full circle.

I mean seriously, gathering those names was an hour of work.

Your argument would be better served by less hyperbole.

As for the complaint about reprints from SCAG, I don't own SCAG (because it's mostly FR-specific stuff) so I'm actually pleased XGtE will have those sub-classes.

TL;DR: "One man's meat..." etc.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

But this is the mechanical expansion -- the one they have been teasing for a couple years now. And it doesn't fit my (most people's?) definition of a mechanical expansion.

Yes. Disappointing in a way... I hope we get the missing content in a different way. But I omce again repeat myself. Better no bad content. In 3rd edition for example PHB 2, epic level handbook were all bad actually...
I really want more content... really. And better sooner tham later. But I want dnd 5e products for some more years and want it to be healthy.
Only the price point is too high for xgte. 50 dollars are too much for a 175 pages book.

 

[tuxedoraptor]

[Edited — do not promote piracy on my site. - Morrus.]

 

[Parmandur]

Where did you hear that?

He had an extended conversation on Twitter about that a while back: said it wasn't coming too soon, but what was on his radar for 5E.

 

[Guest 6801328]

The definition of a working strategy is “Parmandur has bought every book so far”?

I mean, I haven’t. I haven’t seen ToA; last one I bought was CoS. Does that mean it’s not working? Or is it only when you buy them?

Off-topic, but you should get it. CoS is my favorite so far, but ToA is second (especially if you get some of the 3rd party content off of DM's guild). I don't even know which one is in distant third place. Maybe OotA.

Only the price point is too high for xgte. 50 dollars are too much for a 175 pages book.

Yeah, that complaint I will agree with. Whether or not you're happy with the content, the price is too high. I suppose that just makes it hurt all the more if you're not happy with the content.

 

[Morrus]

especially if you get some of the 3rd party content off of DM's guild).

I’ve never been to DMs Guild. I’m not really plugged in to the WotC ecosystem any more.

 

[Parmandur]

The definition of a working strategy is “Parmandur has bought every book so far”?

I mean, I haven’t. I haven’t seen ToA; last one I bought was CoS. Does that mean it’s not working? Or is it only when you buy them?

I say "working" in two senses: primarily, their strategy is working for me, insofar as for the first time in my time playing D&D (over 16 years) I am buying and reading all the books. They keep delighting me, and that is what matters to me.

Secondarily, and important to me entirely because it helps with the primary consideration (my interests) in the long term, it is working for WotC sales numbers and growing the game.

Whether it works for any other given individual is unimportant to me (if I cared about that, I wouldn't be I to Do&D in the first place), as long as the commercial winds continue to blow my way. Hopefully the MCU style movie plans work by the time my children are old enough to get into them and the merchandising, that would be fantastic.

 

[EthanSental]

I think you may be confused. It’s not a “public outcry”. It’s not a moral judgement. It’s a conversation between people about whether they want a particular product. This is a perfectly normal, healthy thing.

Don’t get upset because some people don’t want an item as much as you do.

I'm not the one upset Pkt post right after yours summed up my sentiments as well.

 

[Parmandur]

But this is the mechanical expansion -- the one they have been teasing for a couple years now. And it doesn't fit my (most people's?) definition of a mechanical expansion.

I mean, it is a book full of mechanical expansions: they called it a first major expansion, but never the last or only. It nearly doubles the PC concepts from the core book, has a new background system, a new downtime system, new trap rules and then a bunch of odds and ends based on popular input.