Confusion on Essentials

[Dax Doomslayer]

OK folks,
I'm a bit confused on the Essentials product and the basic "Red Box" set. It indicates that the Red Box is for beginners. Is it this product that gives the revised Wizard; Fighter etc.? Or is that the Heroes of the Fallen Lands and/or Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdom? I guess I'm not clear as to where the Red Box fits into all this 'reimaging' / new options for classes. My apologies for being a bit dense and any help straightening me out is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[thalmin]

Red Box is for beginners. While it has revealed a few Essentials changes, it only gives some of the rules. Red Box is only an intro.

 

[TerraDave]

Dex, you are not alone.

Apparently you get one version of each class in that box, for levels 1-2. So the slayer, but not the knight, (or the PHB or MP versions of fighter). I think the others are the warpriest for cleric, thief for rogue and evoker (?) for wizard. You get human, dwarf, elf and halfling and some options for those.

The other versions, races, and stuff for levels 3+ are in the heroes products you cite. Basically, if you want all the stuff for essential charecters, you have to get those products.

EDIT: And or DDI! Presumably this stuff will be added. Though I remain curious on labeling.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Thanks for the replies folks. So, does that mean that those covered in the Red Box are not covered in the later products? Thus in order to get the Slayer; Thief; Warpriest (and I think even the 'traditional' Magic User), I need the Red Box also? Thanks again!

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

My understanding is this

The Red Box is part of the 10 Essential Products. I know of the following 8 items (more may have already been announced) The 10 items are:

• Red Box
• PHB Heroes of the Fallen Lands - Classes: Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard
• PHB Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms - Classes: Warlock, Druid, Ranger, Paladin
• Rules Compendium
• Essential DMG Box Set
• Essential Monsters
• Essential Dungeon Tiles - Dungeons
• Essential Dungeon Tiles - Cities
• Essential Dungeon Tiles - Wilderness (Thanks FireLance)
• Essential Dice! (Thanks FireLance)

The only thing I'm aware of in the Red Box that isn't covered in other books is the self-guided intro adventure.

 

[thalmin]

Thanks for the replies folks. So, does that mean that those covered in the Red Box are not covered in the later products? Thus in order to get the Slayer; Thief; Warpriest (and I think even the 'traditional' Magic User), I need the Red Box also? Thanks again!

No, these are covered in the later products. They are only partially covered in the Red Box. I believe the adventures are not included elsewhere.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

Terrific - thanks for clearing this up for me folks. I'll save my dollars for the other Essentials products then. I appreciate everyone's time.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Terrific - thanks for clearing this up for me folks. I'll save my dollars for the other Essentials products then. I appreciate everyone's time.

That would seem like the logical way to go for people that are already playing 4e, unless you just really want to have a Red Box . The more tricky questions are going to be about exactly how the different rules are split up between the Heroes books, the Compendium, and the DM's Kit. Obviously people are going to need a Heroes book, presumably a Monster Vault at some point, but it is a bit unclear how much overlap there is between say the Heroes books and the DM's Kit and the Compendium. Are all the core rules in each Heroes book, or do you really NEED a Compendium to have everything? Or is a Heroes book and DM's Kit pretty much covering all the rules? Hard to say exactly.

 

[Dax Doomslayer]

I was under the impression (mistaken?) that the Rules Compendium had all the rules in one easy to find place. Even if the other books have these, the fact that the Compendium has it all in one spot is still attractive to me. I would hope that WoTC wouldn't reprint the rules and just leave it all in the Compendium but stranger things have been done ...

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

It sounds to mel like the Heroes books will look like a Power book - Class, Builds, Powers, Feats, and maybe some magic items or some RP type material.

The Rules Compendium will have the rules and that's it.

So conceivably new players might end up with a Heroes Book and a Rules compendium and no PHB1 and be able to play with just those 2 items.