Wik
First Post
So, I picked up the Player's Kit yesterday, for a few reasons.
The boxed set includes a full set of dice, a character sheet, and a SOFTCOVER PHB. Also, while it's not listed on the box, mine came with a booster pack of Aberrations minis. Since the whole set cost 39$ cdn (and a new hardcover PHB costs the same), I figured it was a good deal - I need a new PHB anyways (the one I have is in great condition, but I find that it gets passed around so much at my gaming table that another one wouldn't hurt).
The PHB itself is pretty nice - it's SOFTCOVER. Do you *know* how cool that is? I haven't checked to see if it includes errata from previous 3.5 PHBs, but I assume it has. Also, for those of you who want a softcover PHB without buying the Player's kit, the book had it's own list price/bar code on the back, which makes me think it'll be for sale by itself sometime in the near future (suggested retail price - 20 bucks american, or 27$ cdn).
The kit comes with three pamphlets for newer players - one for making your character, one for playing the game, and one that's a solo adventure.
The "making your character" pamphlet is really a simplified system for character generation that refers you to the PHB quite often. It's alright, as far as these things go, but I was a little miffed when it said that the four easiest classes to play are cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and fighter. I would never recommend a new player take on a sorcerer or rogue, simply because of the difficulties involved in keeping a low-level character of those classes alive. And fighters, with their numerous feats, mean that the player has a lot of reading to do before he even starts playing! Personally, I would have recommended new players try a barbarian, paladin, or (maybe) the cleric - but I can understand how they wanted to encourage players to try out the "big four" character classes.
The rules summary booklet is probably the best of the three pamphlets, since it summarizes all of the basics of the D&D game - how to make a skill check, how to make an attack roll, etc. I seriously doubt anyone who frequents these message boards would make use of it, but I could see how it would be handy if you had a new player on your hands (and, really, that's sort of what the player's kit is, isn't it?).
The solo adventure is tiny, and revolves around slaying a troglodyte that's been killing sheep. Many of the choices you make don't lead you to another choice, so you have to backtrack to your last choice and head from there. For example, after identifying some creatures as kobolds, you have no "go to page X" option... you have to go back to your previous paragraph and make another selection. The solo adventure has been written for whatever character you decide to create, and is very loosely written - as a player, you need to be at least a little knowledgeable about the rules to run the combats, since really, the pamphlet says "here are the stats for the monster, run the combat yourself". It's really rather stupid. And tough, for a single PC - you fight a medium spider, three kobolds (at once), and a troglodyte. By yourself. I could see PCs dying during a solo adventure...
The dice are pretty cool - you get a full set, with 4d6's and percentile dice. They have this black base with multiple colors splashed against them - my d6s were mottled black and red, the te d20 was a dark blue/black combo, etc. All of them are inked with a dull gold ink, and I found that they were fairly hard to read. I was hoping for more of the simply-coloured dice that I found in the d20 miniatures line: a nice orange or blue d20 with plain white ink would have been more to my tastes than the mottled dice they chose to go with. Of course, since this is a starter set for new players, I can see why they chose to go with the more aesthetic, darker dice. They also chose to include the easier to read version of the d4, with the number at the point of pyramid, instead of at the base.
My big pet peeve with the set is the fact that there is only a single character sheet included - and it's not protected in any way. It's just sitting there, at the bottom of the box. Since the text on the box proudly proclaims "Everything you need to create your own dungeons and dragons characters!" I would have figured multiple character sheets would have been included. But, no, there's just one (and the sheet in the PHB, I suppose). Kind of sucks.
Oh, and the box itself is very nice - you can easily fit in your PHB, A sourcebook or two, some minis, your dice, and your character sheet.
I don't know if all of the player's kits come with mini packages - mine had a layer of wrapping and a box of minis attached, with a sticker proclaiming "free abberations minis booster pack with purchase!", and the player's kit was wrapped seperately from the minis. I honestly wouldn't have bought the kit if the minis weren't included, though. I don't know if it was something done by that particular gaming store, the distributor, or a last-minute decision by wotc.
All in all, if any of you are wondering if this is a decent buy... no. If you can get the softcover PHB seperately, do it, unless yours comes with the abberations minis too (you can't buy them anymore, at least in my neck of the woods). Everything in the kit but the PHB is pretty much second-rate, and stuff a new player doesn't really need.
The boxed set includes a full set of dice, a character sheet, and a SOFTCOVER PHB. Also, while it's not listed on the box, mine came with a booster pack of Aberrations minis. Since the whole set cost 39$ cdn (and a new hardcover PHB costs the same), I figured it was a good deal - I need a new PHB anyways (the one I have is in great condition, but I find that it gets passed around so much at my gaming table that another one wouldn't hurt).
The PHB itself is pretty nice - it's SOFTCOVER. Do you *know* how cool that is? I haven't checked to see if it includes errata from previous 3.5 PHBs, but I assume it has. Also, for those of you who want a softcover PHB without buying the Player's kit, the book had it's own list price/bar code on the back, which makes me think it'll be for sale by itself sometime in the near future (suggested retail price - 20 bucks american, or 27$ cdn).
The kit comes with three pamphlets for newer players - one for making your character, one for playing the game, and one that's a solo adventure.
The "making your character" pamphlet is really a simplified system for character generation that refers you to the PHB quite often. It's alright, as far as these things go, but I was a little miffed when it said that the four easiest classes to play are cleric, rogue, sorcerer, and fighter. I would never recommend a new player take on a sorcerer or rogue, simply because of the difficulties involved in keeping a low-level character of those classes alive. And fighters, with their numerous feats, mean that the player has a lot of reading to do before he even starts playing! Personally, I would have recommended new players try a barbarian, paladin, or (maybe) the cleric - but I can understand how they wanted to encourage players to try out the "big four" character classes.
The rules summary booklet is probably the best of the three pamphlets, since it summarizes all of the basics of the D&D game - how to make a skill check, how to make an attack roll, etc. I seriously doubt anyone who frequents these message boards would make use of it, but I could see how it would be handy if you had a new player on your hands (and, really, that's sort of what the player's kit is, isn't it?).
The solo adventure is tiny, and revolves around slaying a troglodyte that's been killing sheep. Many of the choices you make don't lead you to another choice, so you have to backtrack to your last choice and head from there. For example, after identifying some creatures as kobolds, you have no "go to page X" option... you have to go back to your previous paragraph and make another selection. The solo adventure has been written for whatever character you decide to create, and is very loosely written - as a player, you need to be at least a little knowledgeable about the rules to run the combats, since really, the pamphlet says "here are the stats for the monster, run the combat yourself". It's really rather stupid. And tough, for a single PC - you fight a medium spider, three kobolds (at once), and a troglodyte. By yourself. I could see PCs dying during a solo adventure...
The dice are pretty cool - you get a full set, with 4d6's and percentile dice. They have this black base with multiple colors splashed against them - my d6s were mottled black and red, the te d20 was a dark blue/black combo, etc. All of them are inked with a dull gold ink, and I found that they were fairly hard to read. I was hoping for more of the simply-coloured dice that I found in the d20 miniatures line: a nice orange or blue d20 with plain white ink would have been more to my tastes than the mottled dice they chose to go with. Of course, since this is a starter set for new players, I can see why they chose to go with the more aesthetic, darker dice. They also chose to include the easier to read version of the d4, with the number at the point of pyramid, instead of at the base.
My big pet peeve with the set is the fact that there is only a single character sheet included - and it's not protected in any way. It's just sitting there, at the bottom of the box. Since the text on the box proudly proclaims "Everything you need to create your own dungeons and dragons characters!" I would have figured multiple character sheets would have been included. But, no, there's just one (and the sheet in the PHB, I suppose). Kind of sucks.
Oh, and the box itself is very nice - you can easily fit in your PHB, A sourcebook or two, some minis, your dice, and your character sheet.
I don't know if all of the player's kits come with mini packages - mine had a layer of wrapping and a box of minis attached, with a sticker proclaiming "free abberations minis booster pack with purchase!", and the player's kit was wrapped seperately from the minis. I honestly wouldn't have bought the kit if the minis weren't included, though. I don't know if it was something done by that particular gaming store, the distributor, or a last-minute decision by wotc.
All in all, if any of you are wondering if this is a decent buy... no. If you can get the softcover PHB seperately, do it, unless yours comes with the abberations minis too (you can't buy them anymore, at least in my neck of the woods). Everything in the kit but the PHB is pretty much second-rate, and stuff a new player doesn't really need.
) and then the Abberations Booster Pack set along side and the whole thing wrapped again.
now.
