Players Handbook II
- Thread starter Frostmarrow
- Start date
I'm A Banana
Potassium-Rich
I think there's a lot of unnessecary confusion here.
The originator seemed to pretty much agree with the idea of "Big Bootylicious Splatbook", but without all the negativity or narrow focus of a spatbook.
IT *WILL* be supplemental, as far as I can tell. Maybe, at the far end, reprinting all the PHB stuff that has to do with the new stuff in the book, but nothing more. Self-contained, but with BRAND NEW STUFF!!!
It won't be a splatbook in the sense that it is narrow in focus, or a campaign setting whose flavor wouldn't mesh with D&D....
It won't be replacing the PHB or supplementing it as a "core" book any more than the Monster Manual 2 is doing to the MM.
Think of what the MM2 is doing...more monsters. A sequel to a book that taught us how to do the basic stuff with monsters, and this one takes what the first one did (namely: give us monsters) and does it one better (namely: give us MORE monsters).
A PHB2, as far as I could tell, would take what the first one did (give us races, classes, feats, gods, etc.) and give us MORE of that.
It won't replace the original at all. At the most, if everything was reprinted from the original PHB that applied to the second PHB, it may be able to be used alongside or instead of the original PHB, but with different races, classes, etc.
There's no reason to think that it would be required for anything or be anything but one big honkin' book of races and classes and such.
Campaign settings do that, but they also carry a LOT of baggage, and not all DM's have the time, patience, or dedication to buy, say, a $50 campaign setting that only has a few races, feats, or PrC's that they might be interested in....
I know *I* would (that's why I baught the FRsetting), but not everyone would.
They also don't nessecarily want to take the effort to divorce it from it's setting to apply to their world.
So, what should a PHB2 do?
* NOT replace the original PHB. Follow it in style, maybe compliment it, but probably not utterly replace it. At most, perhaps be a PHB with different races, classes, etc. that could be used indepenant of the original PHB. No publishers would need to reference this, it would not be a "core" book. At most, it could be a great OGL trove of stuff that *could* be used in future books. No need to get rid of the original, but perhaps a PHB2 could work without having the original PHB (but maybe not)
* NOT be a massive reprint of the previous splatbooks. At most, if you had a class that could benefit from metamagic, maybe put a few of those in there, or similar things.
* NOT be a revision of the current PHB. Not a sequel, or a D&D 3.1e or anything like that. NEW CRUNCHY STUFF THAT CAN BE USED IN DEFAULT D&D....LOTS OF IT....WITHOUT A NARROW FOCUS OR CAMPAIGN SETTING STRINGS. SORRY CAPS LOCK!
* Include new races, classes, etc., readily compatible with a defualt D&D campaign. At most, maybe some "greyhawk" flavor. But these races, classes, etc. should be able to be stuck into something that, currently, only uses the three Core Books.
Somehow, I think people are getting caught up on the name "PHB2" and expecting it to be some sort of revision or replacement or something.
It isn't that, as far as I can tell, anymore than the MM2 is a replacement and revision of the original MM.
.....are we all talking about the same thing, now?
The originator seemed to pretty much agree with the idea of "Big Bootylicious Splatbook", but without all the negativity or narrow focus of a spatbook.
IT *WILL* be supplemental, as far as I can tell. Maybe, at the far end, reprinting all the PHB stuff that has to do with the new stuff in the book, but nothing more. Self-contained, but with BRAND NEW STUFF!!!
It won't be a splatbook in the sense that it is narrow in focus, or a campaign setting whose flavor wouldn't mesh with D&D....
It won't be replacing the PHB or supplementing it as a "core" book any more than the Monster Manual 2 is doing to the MM.
Think of what the MM2 is doing...more monsters. A sequel to a book that taught us how to do the basic stuff with monsters, and this one takes what the first one did (namely: give us monsters) and does it one better (namely: give us MORE monsters).
A PHB2, as far as I could tell, would take what the first one did (give us races, classes, feats, gods, etc.) and give us MORE of that.
It won't replace the original at all. At the most, if everything was reprinted from the original PHB that applied to the second PHB, it may be able to be used alongside or instead of the original PHB, but with different races, classes, etc.
There's no reason to think that it would be required for anything or be anything but one big honkin' book of races and classes and such.
Campaign settings do that, but they also carry a LOT of baggage, and not all DM's have the time, patience, or dedication to buy, say, a $50 campaign setting that only has a few races, feats, or PrC's that they might be interested in....
I know *I* would (that's why I baught the FRsetting), but not everyone would.
They also don't nessecarily want to take the effort to divorce it from it's setting to apply to their world.
So, what should a PHB2 do?
* NOT replace the original PHB. Follow it in style, maybe compliment it, but probably not utterly replace it. At most, perhaps be a PHB with different races, classes, etc. that could be used indepenant of the original PHB. No publishers would need to reference this, it would not be a "core" book. At most, it could be a great OGL trove of stuff that *could* be used in future books. No need to get rid of the original, but perhaps a PHB2 could work without having the original PHB (but maybe not)
* NOT be a massive reprint of the previous splatbooks. At most, if you had a class that could benefit from metamagic, maybe put a few of those in there, or similar things.
* NOT be a revision of the current PHB. Not a sequel, or a D&D 3.1e or anything like that. NEW CRUNCHY STUFF THAT CAN BE USED IN DEFAULT D&D....LOTS OF IT....WITHOUT A NARROW FOCUS OR CAMPAIGN SETTING STRINGS. SORRY CAPS LOCK!
* Include new races, classes, etc., readily compatible with a defualt D&D campaign. At most, maybe some "greyhawk" flavor. But these races, classes, etc. should be able to be stuck into something that, currently, only uses the three Core Books.
Somehow, I think people are getting caught up on the name "PHB2" and expecting it to be some sort of revision or replacement or something.
It isn't that, as far as I can tell, anymore than the MM2 is a replacement and revision of the original MM.
.....are we all talking about the same thing, now?
WizarDru
Adventurer
Kamikaze Midget said:The originator seemed to pretty much agree with the idea of "Big Bootylicious Splatbook", but without all the negativity or narrow focus of a spatbook.
[snip]
It isn't that, as far as I can tell, anymore than the MM2 is a replacement and revision of the original MM.
.....are we all talking about the same thing, now?
Well, not to put to fine a point on it, but the thread originated with THIS statement:
He went on to modify this statement later in the thread and clarify that he didn't exactly mean this....but this merely caused confusion. He's agreed to the big supplement idea, after we've presented a case that it's what he really wants, even if he didn't originally ask for it.
Frostmarrow
First Post
WizarDru said:
No, Kamikaze is right. I wouldn't mind a UA but I was hoping for a PHB2.
The PHB is next to perfect. Why change a winning format?
Zappo
Explorer
Part of its "winningness" is that everybody owns it. I would love a new book like the one you described, but it shouldn't substitute the PHB. Because we'd end up with newbies who don't have the PHB and don't know what a cleric is. The poor boys would be unable to get killed in RttToEE, for exampleFrostmarrow said:No, Kamikaze is right. I wouldn't mind a UA but I was hoping for a PHB2.
, or use the splatbooks because they keep talking about classes that their PHB2 doesn't describe. Confusion!You want this book because you have already seen and tried everything in the PHB. This implies that you own the PHB, of course, so if the new book is an add-on and not a substitute, it should make little difference, right? It's not that you have to lug around the PHB for this reason - think about it, if you take away the classes, feats, races and spells from the PHB, not much remains, and what remains you likely know perfectly, can photocopy, or can write down on a couple sheets of paper.
If it's quality you're worried about - playtesting, that sort of things - well, noone said that only core manuals are allowed to be good!
A book can be an UA and still be well playtested and all, if WotC wants it to be so.Similar Threads
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