The 4E Players Handbook: good...bad...ugly..

[TerraDave]

So we have had a couple of months to read through, play around, think over…what is your opinion of the fourth edition Players Handbook?

 

[Keefe the Thief]

Good:
- It´s a very good game
- There is finally layout that deserves the name
- Goodbye wall of spells

Bad
- Smudging. What gives? Not much, though. But some is too much.

Ugly
- Not. Enough. Rituals. But i admit i would have said that if the book consisted only of rituals. I like them, i do.

 

[Festivus]

The good:

You don't need all three books to run a game, you only need to bring a PHB to the table to play, and it's actually rather fun to play.

The bad:

Missing classes (I want my bard class)

The ugly:

Ink used not tested with cheeto and mountain dew crowd for durability.

 

[Cadfan]

Voted "best yet," because it is. Isn't perfect, but is really great.

The layout was really useful and intuitive. The amount of material per class is extremely high, and while I kind of want more, particularly in certain places, I don't feel so bad when I look back and realize that there's just so much of it overall.

Little light on rituals for clerics, I felt.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I like it a lot.

I will give its direct predecessors (D&D 3.0 and 3.5 PHBs) a up in the "feel" - the colors, the faux tome, they all had a certain style. By comparision, the 4E PHB is a little more "technical", with liberal use of whitespace and cleanly organized text.

But it's so good to use. The layout is easy to grasp, and critical information is usually presented on one double page (a result of the fair use of whitespace).
Maybe it's just me, but the book feels just so much easier to use at the table. I think the same applies to the content - the rules. It feels optimized for use at the table, stream-lined to get the most relevant information for a typical D&D adventure game.

The index and the table of contents might be more exhaustive, but so far this has never turned out to be a problem (except in the one case where I was looking for a rule that just didn't exist - I had previously assumed that Saving Throws increased over tiers, and so did my DM. Asking a game system to tell you what is not the rule in its index might be little much. )

 

[Vael]

I am really impressed with the PHB. It's efficient and easy to use, and I find the use of white-space makes it look a lot prettier than the 3.5 tome-style. I love the art.

Really, all I want is more. More content, classes, magic items, rituals and feats.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Best one yet, I am more then content with the amount of stuff in it, since everything is so easily spelled out and easy to read. That it is much easier to adapt.

As for the quality of the books, I haven't had any smudging, warping, etc. so even better!

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Meh. It's flaws and cons far out weight its pros.

 

[Mercule]

I like it. It could use more rituals, but it's really a good book that's useful for both learning and reference. I dislike 4e magic items, but that isn't the fault of the 4e PHB so much as a general failing of the system, but the Adventurer's Vault gives a shot at redemption.

 

[TerraDave]

Good, bad, ugly

Good: Streamlined rules and focused charecters that still leave players a lot of options.

Bad: Maybe a little too streamlined regarding: rituals, equipment, and (least) wizard powers.

Ugly: Defualt setting. Don't want it. Don't need it. Especially not in a PHB.