Complete Idiot's Guide to Character Creation.(for D&D 3.5)

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And comics! Has D&D had those since the heyday of the 1E DMG?

 

[pawsplay]

www.amazon.com/Complete-Creating-Dungeons-Dragons-Characters/dp/1592576885/

Just saw this...now I'll admit the complexity of creating a character has IMHO grown with the editions, but come on is it really this complicated? I'm kinda speechless on what exactly needing a book like this means. What do you guys think.

I can totally understand wishing to substitute a couple of evenings' reading for several months of trial and error, especially when joining a more veteran group. It could also be of help if you realize that time and again, you just aren't succeeding at what you are aiming at, character wise.

 

[Reynard]

I can totally understand wishing to substitute a couple of evenings' reading for several months of trial and error, especially when joining a more veteran group. It could also be of help if you realize that time and again, you just aren't succeeding at what you are aiming at, character wise.

Also, even if you're an old hand, I have found that player/GM advice type materials -- books, online articles, EN World threads -- often point out things you just plain never bothered to consider, which helps ina way that is almost indescribable. I mean, that's why we are here, right, to express and consider ideas that are different than what goes on in our own heads *all the time*. That's why I'm here, anyway -- I have had more "certaintyies" in my own mind overturned by a well reasoned, varied discussion on a messsage board than I care to enumerate, and I consider that a good thing.

Being close minded or wrong sucks, until your suddenly get exposed to new ideas and can make that connection to ideas that click for you.

 

[Mercule]

I'll happily pay a few bucks for a book that gives me ideas on how to evoke a certain feel or style in my characters or gives me new concepts. I've been at this for two and a half decades (I know, less than some). I can use all the new blood I can get.

 

[zakon]

How did they fill 352 pages with that?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

How did they fill 352 pages with that?

Look at a Complete Idiot's Guide sometime. It would be probably 64 pages or less if WotC did it.

 

[SiderisAnon]

I have a basic problem with the concept of this book: Everything you need to know to start making characters is in the PHB. If someone is not willing to read the PHB through well enough to understand, what makes you think they'll actually read a 352 page book that explains all the stuff they missed?


Or maybe I'm just too cynical...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Your question assumes the PHB is written in a way that is user friendly for a new player.

 

[Thunderfoot]

<SNIP>
Or maybe I'm just too cynical...

That's probably it.

No, I think the idea of this book is to help totally new players get a grasp on basic creation theory and less experienced players learn to manipulate the system to break the DMs game...

Oh wait, now I'm being cynical.

 

[Imaro]

What I wonder is who is this book suppose to appeal to. Someone trying to get into the game? Entry price just went up from $30 to $50 .

Someone already playing the game? I'm sorry but if a game I want to get into for enjoyment is so complicated/obtuse/dry a read that I have to buy a book to help me get into it, I'm more likely to find a new past time then spend money on a decoder book.

The only people I could see purchasing this are die-hards and people who want to teach or induct new players (DM's ?)

Why doesn't WotC just do a revised paperback PHB that's a simpler read and laid out in a less textbook format, maybe with sidebars for new players(BESM 3e uses this to great effect for advice on playing a simpler version of the full game.). Charge $20 or $25 dollars for it and call it a day. The problem I see with this book is you still gotta go get a PHB too.