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.

 

[reelo]

Then I saw all the names at the back. I'm an Arabic linguist. I'm sure the butchering of Arabic names will make me cry. Of course, the names already get butchered in the attempted transliteration into the Roman alphabet every day here on Earth. I wonder if they'll eliminate the overtly religious names referencing Allah that won't really make sense in a fantasy context.

If I had known they were adding names I could have given them hundreds of Arabic names along with rough meanings of the names.

Good to know. My wife is Algerian-French, so she has an arabic name (Hayet). We have a big book of arabic names (for babies) and there's still plenty of them that don't reference Allah directly. (Though if you also eliminate his 99 other names, it's getting more difficult) I've had 2 semesters of islamic studies at University (I've studied archaeology of the middle east) but I hardly know any arabic. Can decipher the script but don't know what it means, more often than not. :-D I'm in a strange place, I love the culture, the people and the food, but as a staunch atheist, I really don't like religion. But it's interesting nonetheless. I'm glad I've been to Saudi-Arabia *before* it started getting too dangerous for westerners in that general area.

/Offtopic

Sent from my Nexus 6P using EN World mobile app

 

[guachi]

As to a gosh class

Typo, but a gosh class would be fun. With the subclasses of golly and gee-willikers!

 

[guachi]

Good to know. My wife is Algerian-French, so she has an arabic name (Hayet). We have a big book of arabic names (for babies) and there's still plenty of them that don't reference Allah directly. (Though if you also eliminate his 99 other names, it's getting more difficult) I've had 2 semesters of islamic studies at University (I've studied archaeology of the middle east) but I hardly know any arabic. Can decipher the script but don't know what it means, more often than not. :-D I'm in a strange place, I love the culture, the people and the food, but as a staunch atheist, I really don't like religion. But it's interesting nonetheless. I'm glad I've been to Saudi-Arabia *before* it started getting too dangerous for westerners in that general area.

/Offtopic

Sent from my Nexus 6P using EN World mobile app

Even eliminating the obviously religious names referencing Allah (basically anything 'Abd-al-<something>) and the names related to historical Islamic religious figures like Muhammad you're still left with lots of names. When I was in Arabic class our teachers gave us to choose from that conveniently eliminated the aforementioned names (school policy, though they didn't come out and say it).

It's unfortunate that the Arabic list probably was assembled by someone who has no real clue about Arabic. Lots of players would probably be interested in the (rough) meaning of the names, especially female names which have a greater tendency to be actual words. E.g, Hayat means "life" and would be a fun name for a Life Cleric!

Name a Knight Faris. Cuz, like, Faris means Knight! And it's a name!
Name a Fighter Muharib. Cuz, like, Muharib means Warrior! And it's a name! (I've never actually encountered anyone called Muharib. But it *is* a name).

If they are going to fill 17 pages with names, there either better be a *lot* of names or they need some kind of value added material like telling you how names are formed in various cultures or telling you what the name means.

 

[Parmandur]

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

Not knocking anyone who wants it in print. Just providing a bookmark-able link to put it all in one spot . I've found that site to be reasonably good. I don't like any singular list of names, as there's some aesthetic sense to it (I've found that the gender of Japanese names sounds backwards to my group and I, so we don't use them appropriately). But, this is where I say that a list of names in a book is a casualty of the Internet age. It's really the sort of tool that I'd kind of expect DDB to add to their suite independent of anything WotC publishes.

Having a published list has the implication that anything Curse does either needs to be limited to just these lists or segregated from them, somehow. Come to think of it, the same could be said for the random wilderness encounter tables, though I think that's something that Curse should turn into a "create your own list" tool, using the XGtE lists as formal samples. If someone isn't planning on using DDB, then it's a non-issue because lists like what I linked exist and are easy enough to add to your toolbox.

Maybe I'm working from a false assumption, though, that all GMs have a folder of bookmarks (or equivalent) to a variety of resources to help them during play and/or prep.

D&D is analog time for me: might do a touch of research in prep, but certainly not digital resources in play. Pencil, paper, my imagination: though the latter appreciates help from a book.

 

[Tia Nadiezja]

We have now reached the culmination of the negative effects of Adventurer's League's stupid insistence on limiting character creation options (folks, it's Fifth Edition, if it ain't broke by itself you ain't gonna break it giving it interactions, and if you do it'll be easier to spot-ban). We now have the equivalent to Magic reprinting cards to keep them in Standard going on in D&D, except that it doesn't come with another actual physical copy of the card for me to put in my deck with new art that I might like better.

Adventurer's League is kinda godawful.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/

I hate that site. It makes the worst names. It's incredibly ugly, clunky and uses very simplistic algorithms that just mash some names taken from various sources together to form random blotches. How it's gained such popularity is beyond me. I always resented that it came up first in every search for a random name generator and actively avoided it.

But, this is where I say that a list of names in a book is a casualty of the Internet age. It's really the sort of tool that I'd kind of expect DDB to add to their suite independent of anything WotC publishes.

I hope that DDB eventually creates a random name generator using the names from the PHB, SCAG, Volo's and Xanathar's. That would actually be cool. Be even cooler if it was based on race with a filter of some type.

Having a published list has the implication that anything Curse does either needs to be limited to just these lists or segregated from them, somehow.

I don't understand what you're saying. You know that DDB uses the same site you linked in order to generate random names, right?

Adventurer's League is kinda godawful.

Like I said previously, like it, hate it, play in it or don't, AL has played a significant role in expanding the hobby, which benefits us all.

 

[Tia Nadiezja]

Like I said previously, like it, hate it, play in it or don't, AL has played a significant role in expanding the hobby, which benefits us all.

Yes. Yes, it has, because it exists as an organized play thing for D&D when D&D itself is the best game it's ever been. It would be BETTER at that if it didn't make tons of boneheaded decisions because apparently restricting options for players is seen as a virtue among its leadership.

And now those boneheaded decisions are infecting printed product used by non-AL players, too. That's bad. That's really, really bad. I no longer have the option of not playing, and thus not being affected by the decisions of, Adventurer's League. I get to live with them in the product I buy.

Seriously. We get one printed rules supplement a year, one book of stuff we're not playtesting and just get to sit down and use. Reprints, especially of stuff in the most recent book, shouldn't be necessary, but AL's restrict-first philosophy makes them so, and that sucks for everyone.

 

[Superchunk77]

Very glad I cancelled my pre-order of this book. Even the Amazon price is high for the amount of reprinted and questionable filler material in this tome.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Yes. Yes, it has, because it exists as an organized play thing for D&D when D&D itself is the best game it's ever been. It would be BETTER at that if it didn't make tons of boneheaded decisions because apparently restricting options for players is seen as a virtue among its leadership.

And now those boneheaded decisions are infecting printed product used by non-AL players, too. That's bad. That's really, really bad. I no longer have the option of not playing, and thus not being affected by the decisions of, Adventurer's League. I get to live with them in the product I buy.

Seriously. We get one printed rules supplement a year, one book of stuff we're not playtesting and just get to sit down and use. Reprints, especially of stuff in the most recent book, shouldn't be necessary, but AL's restrict-first philosophy makes them so, and that sucks for everyone.

If you're not playing AL you can literally use ANY UA, DM's guild, or other 3rd party homebrew that you can find. Or just make your own. All you gotta do is persuade your DM. And if you are the DM then it's even easier. What on earth are you griping about?

Personally, even though I play about 50% AL, I'm glad they are not releasing more options. Seriously. I do not believe that "more" equals "better". Often it means worse. So I don't find it boneheaded, and I don't find it "bad" or "really, really bad". I find it good. I find it to be judicious curation of an excellent product, which I greatly prefer to an endless stream of poorly conceived splatbooks.

It really is possible that they are trying to maintain the quality of their product rather than milking their customer base for every penny.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes. Yes, it has, because it exists as an organized play thing for D&D when D&D itself is the best game it's ever been. It would be BETTER at that if it didn't make tons of boneheaded decisions because apparently restricting options for players is seen as a virtue among its leadership.

And now those boneheaded decisions are infecting printed product used by non-AL players, too. That's bad. That's really, really bad. I no longer have the option of not playing, and thus not being affected by the decisions of, Adventurer's League. I get to live with them in the product I buy.

Seriously. We get one printed rules supplement a year, one book of stuff we're not playtesting and just get to sit down and use. Reprints, especially of stuff in the most recent book, shouldn't be necessary, but AL's restrict-first philosophy makes them so, and that sucks for everyone.

They aren't reprinting anything from Volo's Guide. Two pages from a two year old product that many people wouldn't have bought...small potatoes.

If the PHB +1 is working to grow the game, that's for the good.