Perhaps not, but I think it could be doable with something like what I wrote: "This Xanathar's thing is a really good fit, but this core thing works pretty well too."
Actually, I didn't mean to whine - my first thought on reading what you wrote was "not going to happen that they send off the reader to another non-core book". I just remembered the reprint alternative at that point.
What I dislike about the reprint strategy isn't so much the actual reprint. I acknowledge the argument that the actual space used up isn't much to fuss about in itself.
What I dislike is instead two other things:
a) if the pace of supplement weren't already glacial, I would be better disposed to already starting to reprint material. As it is, I don't object to the wasted space so much because its 20 cents of my book that I already have, but because if we're only going to get a single book of crunch a year, it better all be brand new content! It raises my hackles that they have the temerity to first lower the crunch pace that much and then
on top of that offer reheated content too! Talk about wanting to find out exactly how little they can get away with!
b) the way WotC defenders make reprints out to be a
good thing because "PHB+1"*.
Hell no. Reprints is never a
good thing. At best, it's better than the alternative "Optimal use of this book requires the Pancake Juggler's Handbook I & III". That does not make it an actual good thing, especially given the slow pace of a).
Zapp
PS. And don't even get me started on those who actually
want "PHB+1"** to be a thing for general play...
If we only have a handful of supplements, and almost zero options that actually make the build complexity
deeper (as opposed to "wider"; that is build choices that provides more decision points on a
single given character as opposed to just providing more ways to build new different characters), they all better be usable and balanced
together. I am paying WotC to do
something, after all - and they don't get to walk away from the difficult part! For organized play PHB+1 is a necessary evil (since the individual DM is no longer empowered to cut out the inevitable corner cases), but for general play there would only be one winner: WotC, who would be able to charge us the same amount of money, but with a
vastly lower work effort.
*) In the reasonable sense, that is "we have decided not to publish a book that requires a non-core book". Great. Now if that were an actual problem, we might feel a bit grateful. At the current slow trickle of new crunch, however, this won't have the intended impact (that there's three books you decide between, and you want to make sure you don't buy one that relies on content you don't have).
**) In the unreasonable sense, that is "we won't spend our time balancing this book's content with earlier splatbooks, because we don't want to spend time on actually difficult design. We'd rather just count the money you spent. This PHB+1 thing is great!"
PHB+1 was supposed to be a convenience
for us. Not a cost saver or excuse for unambitious balancing for WotC!!
