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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5326794" data-attributes="member: 82106">You will have all the rules you NEED to run games. Essentials by itself has all the core RULES of the game. It doesn't have all of the content from earlier player books like PHB1. The class builds that are provided don't cover all the options available in the 3 PHBs and the various Power books. It does have a set of classes that are intended to give you all you need to play. You could run an RPGA game assuming nobody in the game decided to use say a Warlord. That being said realistically you probably can handle these other classes OK as long as you can have a look at a complete character sheet with power cards and such. You won't be missing any rules you need, just the details of specific powers and class features that class uses. DDI would be pretty helpful too.You'd really have to ask WotC about that. From what they have said they feel that the existing 4e books were difficult for a new player to pick up and start playing with. Some people didn't like the way some of the classes were designed, etc. Essentials IS "just an update" effectively but it is a cheaper and quicker way to get into the game and has classes that the designers apparently think will work better for new players.No, they won't be weaker or out of date. They will be SLIGHTLY different. Most of the stuff that is added or slightly changed in Essentials is available to PHB players. If a PHB wizard wants to use an at-will wizard power from Essentials he can. Well, technically the new wizard is an option, assuming you have the PHB as well. A player could certainly run either one. There isn't going to be a huge difference however. A player might decide to use the older class because some specific class features appeal to them, etc. Generally speaking using the newer classes should be fine. In the case of other classes like say Fighter there is a more substantial difference. Some players may well really want to play the PHB fighter, others may really want to play the Essentials fighter. They work somewhat differently and probably appeal to different people. At least in theory they should be pretty comparable though.[qouote]With past incarnations of the game there's always a point at which the new material coming out seems unnecessary to me. I like shiny new things, but what I like more is having a complete system. It seems that 4e has come to that point with me with this essential line. It's as if the essentials name should really be "non-essentials", with everything up to that point being actually essential.</blockquote>Well, you really don't need Essentials, no. OTOH you didn't absolutely need PHB2 either. It is really up to you and the people you play with which material you want to use. You can pick and choose. The nice thing is adventures and supplements and such going forward should pretty much be usable with whatever material you pick. Unlike 3.5 where a lot of core rules changed in incompatible ways nothing in Essentials really invalidates any of the existing stuff. Some people will argue this endlessly, but 4e is one consistent game. It just has a couple of sets of books you can use to play it that give you different variations for player options.[/QUOTE]

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