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<blockquote data-quote="wlmartin" data-source="post: 5657973" data-attributes="member: 6679380">In my opinion (which is worth less than many others who will post since I have avoided essentials like the plague until recently deciding to do some solid research on it) the following seems accurateEssentials is not a different rule system that 4e, it instead does the following1 : The essentials books explain the rules of D&amp;D in a different way than the corebooks. I think they overexplain things a little but I believe they do this to appeal to the non-hardcore player and to those who have never played D&amp;D before it explains the rules in a way that make more sense2 : The essentials classes are designed to allow you to start playing the game quickly without such a steep learning curveNo matter if you choose to pickup an essentials book or essentials class, or one from the 4e corebooks - the game is 100% identical, same d20 system, same overall rules etc.The explanation given by WotC to explain the difference between the 2 is as followsIf the D&amp;D 4e system pre-essentials was the Highway, Essentials is the onramp. It doesnt give you any different instructions to play the game, just gives you a more dumbed down explanation of them.No matter which book you pick up, you will still be playing the same game.If you go and buy the PHB, read it through a few times and understand it quite well, Essentials is not needed... you are fineIf you do as I suggest above but the PHB may as well be written in chinese for the sense it is making, Essentials may be a good idea for you.There is no shame in accepting that you can't grasp the rules as well as some may, after all D&amp;D is a game that people are still learning different ways how to play after 30 years of experience!!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="wlmartin, post: 5657973, member: 6679380"] In my opinion (which is worth less than many others who will post since I have avoided essentials like the plague until recently deciding to do some solid research on it) the following seems accurate Essentials is not a different rule system that 4e, it instead does the following 1 : The essentials books explain the rules of D&D in a different way than the corebooks. I think they overexplain things a little but I believe they do this to appeal to the non-hardcore player and to those who have never played D&D before it explains the rules in a way that make more sense 2 : The essentials classes are designed to allow you to start playing the game quickly without such a steep learning curve No matter if you choose to pickup an essentials book or essentials class, or one from the 4e corebooks - the game is 100% identical, same d20 system, same overall rules etc. The explanation given by WotC to explain the difference between the 2 is as follows If the D&D 4e system pre-essentials was the Highway, Essentials is the onramp. It doesnt give you any different instructions to play the game, just gives you a more dumbed down explanation of them. No matter which book you pick up, you will still be playing the same game. If you go and buy the PHB, read it through a few times and understand it quite well, Essentials is not needed... you are fine If you do as I suggest above but the PHB may as well be written in chinese for the sense it is making, Essentials may be a good idea for you. There is no shame in accepting that you can't grasp the rules as well as some may, after all D&D is a game that people are still learning different ways how to play after 30 years of experience!! [/QUOTE]

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