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Xanathar's Guide to Everything
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<blockquote data-quote="Prakriti" data-source="post: 7281117" data-attributes="member: 6855149"><p><strong>2 out of 5 rating for Xanathar's Guide to Everything</strong></p><p></p><p><em>Xanathar's Guide</em>, a slim 192 pages, is an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise excellent edition.</p><p></p><p>Before I get into the book's contents, I want to point out that <em>Xanathar's Guide</em> is comprised of a shocking amount of reprinted material: approximately 4-5 pages of subclasses (from <em>The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide</em>) and 10-14 pages of spells. 37 out of the 77 wizard spells in <em>Xanathar's Guide </em>are reprinted from <em>Princes of the Apocalypse</em> (the same spells also appear in the free <em>Elemental Evil Player's Companion</em>). </p><p></p><p>When you subtract 14-19 pages of reprinted material and 20 pages of appendices that many people will find useless (the last chunk of <em>Xanathar's Guide </em>is compromised of random name tables -- yes, really), <em>Xanathar's Guide</em> is a mere ~155 pages. Ouch.</p><p></p><p><strong>Player Options</strong></p><p>I'm not a fan of the new subclasses. At all. Almost all of them fail at the conceptual level, meaning they have no place alongside such iconic archetypes as the Thief, Beastmaster, Wild Mage, Assassin, etc. Players aren't likely to come to the game wanting to play a Shampoo Druid or a Peanut Bard, so why add them to the game? D&D thrives on big, splashy icons of fantasy: wizards, fighters, thieves, and clerics, the primary colors of the fantasy genre. The way to achieve different shades and colors is by blending the primary classes through feats and multiclassing. If someone wants to play a purple class with green polkadots, then they can multiclass a red class with a blue one and take a green feat. There's no need to codify purple-with-green-polkadots alongside the primary color classes. It's a hierarchical nightmare. </p><p></p><p>And while some subclasses have a strong concept -- the Samurai and the Cavalier, for example -- their inclusion can't be justified in the face of existing player options. What is a Samurai if not a Fighter with the Noble background? And a Cavalier is just a Fighter with a horse. Why do these concepts need to be codified as unique subclasses when players already have the tools for creating them? Another hierarchical nightmare. </p><p></p><p>Then there's the fact that the new subclasses have very poor thematic consistency, meaning that their abilities have little to nothing to do with their concept. Take the Circle of Dreams Druid, for example. What would you expect its 2nd level ability to be? Putting enemies to sleep? That would make sense. But instead, they are given the ability to heal their allies. A nice ability, to be sure, but what does it have to do with dreams? Not even the fluff can adequately explain. </p><p></p><p>Ultimately, the player options in <em>Xanathar's Guide </em>are a poor addition the game. This is all the more frustrating because 5E was supposed to be the evergreen edition, something that seems more and more unlikely with each new release. (Note to the future developers of 6E: an "evergreen" edition and player options are mutually exclusive. Choose one.)</p><p></p><p><strong>DM Tools </strong></p><p><strong></strong>The book's second half is targeted at DMs, and almost all the material was already published in <em>Unearthed Arcana </em>with very few changes. As a result, many of us will feel like we already own a large portion of this book. On top of that, the DM tools are lackluster and add unnecessary complications to the game by introducing practical problems at the table. </p><p></p><p>For example, the new magic crafting system doesn't fix the existing system so much as replace it, which might be alright if the new system didn't have its own inherent problems. So now we have a choice between using Flawed System A or Flawed System B. That sort of conundrum is introduced by other sections of the book as well. This is all the more problematic when you consider that <em>Xanathar's Guide </em>is a player-facing book. DM's might feel pressured to use the new crafting and downtime rules simply on the basis that their players are familiar with them.</p><p></p><p>Yet <em>Xanathar's Guide</em> isn't all bad. A few sections offer welcome solutions to existing rules problems (identifying spells as they are cast, sleeping in armor, tying knots, and rate of falling). Unfortunately, these comprise no more than a few paragraphs in total, and some of the new rules are already the subject of massive player revolt. Identifying spells, for instance, uses up a reaction, precluding <em>counterspell</em>, and sleeping in armor is penalized with a reduction in Hit Dice recovery. Similarly, returning briefly to the player options, some of the subclasses have been nerfed from their play-test versions, prompting some players to cling to the original iterations.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, the second half of <em>Xanathar's Guide</em> is a lackluster and unwelcome addition to the game. Instead of the mechanical expansion we were promised, it serves as little more than a half-baked revision of existing systems, introducing more problems than it solves.</p><p></p><p>Final Rating: </p><p>2/5</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Prakriti, post: 7281117, member: 6855149"] [b]2 out of 5 rating for Xanathar's Guide to Everything[/b] [I]Xanathar's Guide[/I], a slim 192 pages, is an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise excellent edition. Before I get into the book's contents, I want to point out that [I]Xanathar's Guide[/I] is comprised of a shocking amount of reprinted material: approximately 4-5 pages of subclasses (from [I]The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide[/I]) and 10-14 pages of spells. 37 out of the 77 wizard spells in [I]Xanathar's Guide [/I]are reprinted from [I]Princes of the Apocalypse[/I] (the same spells also appear in the free [I]Elemental Evil Player's Companion[/I]). When you subtract 14-19 pages of reprinted material and 20 pages of appendices that many people will find useless (the last chunk of [I]Xanathar's Guide [/I]is compromised of random name tables -- yes, really), [I]Xanathar's Guide[/I] is a mere ~155 pages. Ouch. [B]Player Options[/B] I'm not a fan of the new subclasses. At all. Almost all of them fail at the conceptual level, meaning they have no place alongside such iconic archetypes as the Thief, Beastmaster, Wild Mage, Assassin, etc. Players aren't likely to come to the game wanting to play a Shampoo Druid or a Peanut Bard, so why add them to the game? D&D thrives on big, splashy icons of fantasy: wizards, fighters, thieves, and clerics, the primary colors of the fantasy genre. The way to achieve different shades and colors is by blending the primary classes through feats and multiclassing. If someone wants to play a purple class with green polkadots, then they can multiclass a red class with a blue one and take a green feat. There's no need to codify purple-with-green-polkadots alongside the primary color classes. It's a hierarchical nightmare. And while some subclasses have a strong concept -- the Samurai and the Cavalier, for example -- their inclusion can't be justified in the face of existing player options. What is a Samurai if not a Fighter with the Noble background? And a Cavalier is just a Fighter with a horse. Why do these concepts need to be codified as unique subclasses when players already have the tools for creating them? Another hierarchical nightmare. Then there's the fact that the new subclasses have very poor thematic consistency, meaning that their abilities have little to nothing to do with their concept. Take the Circle of Dreams Druid, for example. What would you expect its 2nd level ability to be? Putting enemies to sleep? That would make sense. But instead, they are given the ability to heal their allies. A nice ability, to be sure, but what does it have to do with dreams? Not even the fluff can adequately explain. Ultimately, the player options in [I]Xanathar's Guide [/I]are a poor addition the game. This is all the more frustrating because 5E was supposed to be the evergreen edition, something that seems more and more unlikely with each new release. (Note to the future developers of 6E: an "evergreen" edition and player options are mutually exclusive. Choose one.) [B]DM Tools [/B]The book's second half is targeted at DMs, and almost all the material was already published in [I]Unearthed Arcana [/I]with very few changes. As a result, many of us will feel like we already own a large portion of this book. On top of that, the DM tools are lackluster and add unnecessary complications to the game by introducing practical problems at the table. For example, the new magic crafting system doesn't fix the existing system so much as replace it, which might be alright if the new system didn't have its own inherent problems. So now we have a choice between using Flawed System A or Flawed System B. That sort of conundrum is introduced by other sections of the book as well. This is all the more problematic when you consider that [I]Xanathar's Guide [/I]is a player-facing book. DM's might feel pressured to use the new crafting and downtime rules simply on the basis that their players are familiar with them. Yet [I]Xanathar's Guide[/I] isn't all bad. A few sections offer welcome solutions to existing rules problems (identifying spells as they are cast, sleeping in armor, tying knots, and rate of falling). Unfortunately, these comprise no more than a few paragraphs in total, and some of the new rules are already the subject of massive player revolt. Identifying spells, for instance, uses up a reaction, precluding [I]counterspell[/I], and sleeping in armor is penalized with a reduction in Hit Dice recovery. Similarly, returning briefly to the player options, some of the subclasses have been nerfed from their play-test versions, prompting some players to cling to the original iterations. Ultimately, the second half of [I]Xanathar's Guide[/I] is a lackluster and unwelcome addition to the game. Instead of the mechanical expansion we were promised, it serves as little more than a half-baked revision of existing systems, introducing more problems than it solves. Final Rating: 2/5 [/QUOTE]
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