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.

 

[Parmandur]

17 pages of names. I guarantee that NOBODY will use that. What a waste of space.

Factually incorrect: I love name tables, extremely useful.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Factually incorrect: I love name tables, extremely useful.

You can love name tables all you want, but they are factually useless.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

By that logic, no one should express an opinion either way -- criticism or excitement -- because Hasbro isn't reading what we write. We should all just silently "vote with our pocketbooks" and keep our opinions to ourselves. That wouldn't make for a very interesting forum, though, would it?

Forums are extremely useful for clarifying issues, solving problems, and sharing content. This, however, is not an issue that will be solved by a forum discussion.

 

[IchneumonWasp]

You can love name tables all you want, but they are factually useless.

You must have never played with a group of characters with long full of unpronouncable elvish sounding names. As a DM I have started naming my NPCs with 'normal' names (like John, William etc.), because players will never remember the Elf named X. These tables will in a sense form the backbone for my world-building.

 

[Gladius Legis]

You must have never played with a group of characters with long full of unpronouncable elvish sounding names. As a DM I have started naming my NPCs with 'normal' names (like John, William etc.), because players will never remember the Elf named X. These tables will in a sense form the backbone for my world-building.

Tables you could've compiled with Google. Bottom line, this is 17 pages that could've been spent on more feats, subclasses, spells, alternate class options, etc., etc. You know, stuff that (a) players will actually USE, and (b) didn't already exist somewhere else in some form for free.

 

[Greg K]

You must have never played with a group of characters with long full of unpronouncable elvish sounding names. As a DM I have started naming my NPCs with 'normal' names (like John, William etc.), because players will never remember the Elf named X. These tables will in a sense form the backbone for my world-building.

I use name tables, but, if one is going to pay for them, there are cheaper options (e.g., Lee's Lists).

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

You can love name tables all you want, but they are factually useless.

Umm, if someone uses it, then it's factually useful.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Umm, if someone uses it, then it's factually useful.

For those of use who don't use electronics at the gaming table, it's quite useful.

 

[Greg K]

I would expect a book as slim as the SCAG to be priced the same as the SCAG (i.e. $40).

Plus, there's nothing in the Table of Contents that interests me. Player options are a detriment to the game, most of the content is reprinted from other sources, and the only new content appears to be useless filler. No thanks.

While there is very little, if anything in the table of contents that interests me or would see use in a game that I run, I disagree that player options are necessarily, detrimental.

 

[Panda-s1]

You can look up names from real cultures online for free, so I can see sample names from none humans being useful, but the names from real world culture feels like filler and I don't like that, I would preferred that space going to maybe more none racial feats.

Y'know a list of human names is one of those cases where I trust a book over the internet. The cynical outcome would be they just copy and pasted some names from the internet, but I'd like to believe they did some actual research into naming conventions around the world. Also they'd presumably include lists of family names, which aren't as easy to find on the internet.

Also I'd rather have the filler be something marginally useful than functionally bad. They might have had 11 pages to spare and decided on something everyone could use than pushing some undercooked feats out the door.