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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 6593044" data-attributes="member: 22424">4 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Player's HandbookI really like 5e: Basic is great, I like the way the game plays, and I think Phandelver may be the best D&D adventure WotC have ever published. And the truth is that if you're going to play the edition to any extent, you'll probably want the PHB - it's a worthwhile expansion to the options in Basic, and for an edition you're actually playing the PHB is always fantastic value for money.And yet... somehow, this PHB just leaves me cold.I think it's a combination of two things. The first is simply one of style: by this point I know what a Fighter is, I know what hit points are, and I therefore just don't need lots of text explaining these things. I'd be much happier with a simple reference book giving the rules, with maybe 100 pages less flavour text around it. Plus, I'm less than keen on the constant references to the Forgotten Realms that are dotted around the text (other settings are mentioned, but far less often). Of course, those are just matters of style, and I can certainly appreciate why they were done this way and not the other!Of more concern, though, is that this PHB just feels limited, in a way that even Basic did not. I think this is more to do with the PHB's place in the overall product lineup. With each previous edition (since 2nd, when I came in), the PHB has been the first book of many, and it has been clear that supplements of various types were coming. Thus, if the PHB only included 8 classes and a few powers for each, that was fine - the splatbooks would quickly fill the void. But when reading this PHB I was constantly struck by game structures that seemed tailor-made for expansion (notably the subraces, the various sub-class structures, and the backgrounds). In each case, some examples were given that were perfectly servicable in themselves... but they felt lacking somehow. I could play a Cleric of any of seven domains (good)... but where were the rest?And that's both inevitable and fine - even with 320 pages they can't include everything. The only problem is that those supplements are apparently not forthcoming, which means that this PHB is, basically, 'it' for the game. At which point those limits become a whole lot more significant, and I found myself increasingly aware of what I couldn't do with the game, which was a shame.(For obvious reasons, it's also the case that the PHB covers the core ground of the D&D experience. I wouldn't expect anything else. Sadly, that also means it's again covering material I've played expensively for 30 years now - I've pretty much done Fighters, Wizards, Clerics, and Rogues to death by this point! And so I found myself asking, "Is that it? What else have you got?")That may well be unfair criticism. As I said right at the outset, I like 5e. And it's probably unfair to judge the PHB for the non-existence of other books. It's just how I felt.Anyway, the book is recommended, but with a caveat: you should check out Basic first, and probably play a couple of sessions. If you like it, you'll probably want this one, if only to serve as a supplement to those Basic rules.</blockquote>

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