Player's Handbook II (and other May releases)

[Maggan]

Pay to play?

Oh, goody. I was just sthinking the other day, you know what would make D&D better? another 200+ pages of rules. I will skip this book, well all of these books. Since when did playing RPGs become an expensive hobby? Someone Yuppyized us without us even knowing it.

Playing RPGs has never been expensive as a hobby. Collecting RPG books can be expensive, though.

But you don't need to collect to play, funnily enough.

So when did playing RPGs become an expensive hobby? In my opinion, it hasn't.

/M

 

[M.L. Martin]

The only prediction I have is that Mike Mearls will be the one writing it. Probably right now.

Nope. The author's listed on the Amazon page. David Noonan.

Matthew L. Martin

 

[the black knight]

That explains it, I stopped playing in the mid to late eighties and picked it up again with 3E.

My experience exactly.

 

[Maggan]

Darn

Nope. The author's listed on the Amazon page. David Noonan.

Matthew L. Martin

Darn!

Well, I take solace in the fact that I was probably as wrong as most others who are making predictions.

A shame my prediction was so easy to disprove.

I hope the PH II contains a section on how players can help out the DM during playtime and how players also should put in some prep time.

Also ... also ... hmmmm ... I can't think of anything actually ... a background generator? Name tables? More equipment?

Nah, it's a good thing I'm not writing it, because then it would be a really, really thin book.

Cheers!

/M

 

[DaveMage]

IIRC, Wizards has a 14+ month lead time in writing. Since Mike Mearls joined WotC in May(?) or so, it will probably be at least the next GenCon before he's an author on a WotC release (unless, of course, he had freelance projects going with WotC at the time).

 

[johnsemlak]

Any RPG books coming out besides PHB II? I've been doing some searching around amazon.com and amazon.ca and can't find much. Still, there ought ot be more than one release, right?

 

[A'koss]

IIRC, Wizards has a 14+ month lead time in writing. Since Mike Mearls joined WotC in May(?) or so, it will probably be at least the next GenCon before he's an author on a WotC release (unless, of course, he had freelance projects going with WotC at the time).

At the very least. Mike's position at WotC isn't as game designer (yet ), he's a game developer which means he makes sure the designer's work follows the rules, is consistant, etc...

 

[delericho]

Perhaps people should look at this book in the light of how DMG II was developed, i.e. crafted to the new and aspiring DM...

PH II could well be designed for the new and aspiring players, step by step instructions on character creation, weighing class abiliities and feats when considering class types you wish to play (e.g. fighter - archer versus fighter sword/shield). Probably several examples of planned out character types. Planning out character class progression and for prestige classes, i.e. the full spectrum of developing your character....

Ooh, I like this.

Two other things I'd like to see (although not in the same book): a book focussed on high-level adventures, with expanded feat chains, prestige classes with deliberately high entry requirements (BAB 10+, or equivalent for 10-level classes, BAB 15+ for 5-level classes), or a book replicating the chapters of the existing PHB with new options in each chapter. So, new playable races, or new options for the existing races, new special abilities for rogues, new fighting styles for rangers, new options for paladin mounts, druid animal companions, or wizard familiars, more feats, more uses for skills, more equipment, more combat actions (for instance, an action that prevents an opponent from closing within the reach of your weapon), more spells, and so on.

What I really don't want to see are a lot of reprints of the classes from Complete X and the races from Races of Y. Once you factor in all the supplementary materials that would also be needed to support these elements (Warlock invocations are the most obvious example), you've eaten up a lot of the space in the book just for reprints of material that a lot of people must have anyway.

Anyway, this is a book I'll almost certainly get. Whether I gripe about it afterwards remains to be seen Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to it.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Seeing as the Complete books contained revised material from the original 3e splatbooks, I really hope that the PHB II is all new!

Cheers


Richard

 

[Silveras]

I think TrollWizard's suggestion to look at the PHB II in light of the DMG II is a good way to approach it.

I would expect a chapter on the Players' side of the social dynamics of the game. The tricky part there is how to offer good advice without sounding like you are scolding people for possibly bad habits they may already have. As a result, I would expect advice like: "Try to listen at the table for the first few sessions with an established group, and get a feel for how the group likes things to flow. Then try to match that flow." instead of: "Don't hog the spotlight." or "Don't be unprepared when the DM asks what your character is going to do".

The DMG II has some guidelines for creating Prestige Classes, and some advice to DMs on letting the Players help with them. I would suspect that the PHB II would have Players' perspective advice on the same topic, like "Don't be upset if the DM says the concept does not work." and "Work with the DM to achieve a balance of powers you can agree to."

Some of the variants from Unearthed Arcana may make their way in, as well. The variant for buying off level adjustment, for example, would probably be of interest to many people, and a revision of a few of the more interesting options from Savage Species might be in line (though the book was *almost* 3.5 anyway).

Some of the more salient bits of rules from the Complete XXX series might be included, too. The material in Complete Arcane about not creating new Item Creation feats for minor variants of existing items (ie., potions as "sticks" or "tiles" instead of liquids) would be useful in most campaigns, I think.

Character backgrounds are covered in-depth in the Hero-Builders' Guidebook, and an alternate system is presented in Unearthed Arcana, so I doubt that the PHB II will present much, if anything, along that line.