Essentials Rules Compendium preview copy in hand

[thalmin]

This is the essentials product I have been waiting for and am most excited about. I've been resisting the urge to cut/paste errata into my core books, or carry print outs, so having an updated, portable reference is super exciting for me.

Does the book feature any cross-indexing or references to other books? Would love if it told me where in the DMG I can find disease tracks, or what chapter in PHB2 contains alchemy, or whatever.

Sorry. While I have looked for just that, so far I find no instances of cross-referencing.
But to be fair, which books could it cross reference?

 

[Henry]

Question: When is it offered in premiere stores? Sept. 10?

 

[thalmin]

Question: When is it offered in premiere stores? Sept. 10?

Core+ sale date is Sept 10 for this, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, and the Master Tile Set.

 

[fjw70]

The book is about 5/8 inch thick. It measures 6x9 inches (convert to metric on your own)

No conversion necessary. I am a Yankee too (but my southern relatives would shoot me for saying that).

Thanks. About 10.5 days to go and this and the HotFL will be mine.

 

[fjw70]

Yes. Indexed under Rarity. Explanations of types of items in each catagory are mostly:
Common item: single enhancement or property. But few cities have magic shops where items can be freely purchased. Adventurers will need to seek out the artisans who can create these items, but "without the shopping trip becoming an adventure in its own right."
Uncommon and Rare items were created in the distant past, their cration secrets lost in time.

Now that's my kind of D&D.

 

[thalmin]

I am starting to see the Essentials books a little differently now. The 3.5 books made the 3.0 books obsolete. The Essential books might make some of the pre-Essential books redundant.

 

[JohnSnow]

The book is about 5/8 inch thick. It measures 6x9 inches (convert to metric on your own)

Thickness: ~1.5 cm
Height: 22.86 cm
Width: 15.24 cm

 

[JohnSnow]

I am starting to see the Essentials books a little differently now. The 3.5 books made the 3.0 books obsolete. The Essential books might make some of the pre-Essential books redundant.

I think that is largely the point. An updated version that in no way invalidates what came before.

I freely admit Essentials is "a revision" to 4th Edition (the latest), but I don't think that makes it 4.5, because 4e has been continuously revised since its introduction. That somewhat begs the question: "With this model going forward, will there ever NEED to be a 5e?"

But I guess that's kinda off-topic.

 

[Thraug]

Core+ sale date is Sept 10 for this, Heroes of the Fallen Lands, and the Master Tile Set.

Amazon is still saying the release date is Sept 21. Where is Sept 10 coming from?

 

[fjw70]

Amazon is still saying the release date is Sept 21. Where is Sept 10 coming from?

My LGS guy said that Premier stores can sell 11 days early.