D&D 5E The 5th edition PHB: Sorry but when it comes to functionality, it deserves a 'one star' rating.

[Kaychsea]

Are people having problems with change? The PHB made me very happy.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Are people having problems with change? The PHB made me very happy.

People always have problems with change

 

[drjones]

On second thought, it would have been easier to list the spells by class and level, and then group with the class description like 4e. That was IMO the best organization so far.

But opinions differ on that.

The spells in 5e are shared more often than not. Listing them by class will involve tons of entries that say 'see page 54 in the wizard section for these three spells then page 16 in the clerics section for these other two' or complete repetition of the same information. Or you know, just list the spells each class gets to chose from then list all the spells alphabetically so everyone knows where to look.

I am not hearing a lot here but magical thinking and armchair quarterbacking. The text is available digitally and has been for a while, if you think you can lay it out better and keep the same amount of art and the same page count go for it. Show us.

 

[thalmin]

Also, the glue in my copy has already started to go, resulting in pages falling out. I've got probably 50 other D&D books, some as far back as 1E, and this is the first time I've had that happen with any of them at all.

Contact Wizards Customer Service. We had the same problem with one of the books we sold.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

1. Races are organized based on being common and uncommon.
2. So?
3. No idea what you are talking about. All the skill information is in chapter 7.
4. Only thing I would have liked with the spells is labeling their spell school on the spell lists.

It's getting a high start rating because people don't see the problems you are seeing. Meaning the issue is primarily with you, not the book.

Yeah, we blew through character creation with only one copy of the book.

I don't get the complaint.

 

[Lanefan]

I for one don't want monster stat blocks to be full of information that is centrally located elsewhere.

I do; if for no other reason than I might not *have* the aforementioned "elsewhere" where the information is centrally located.

Do you want every creature that has poison to describe what the poisoned condition is in it's statblock?

I want it to describe the poisoned condition which that particular monster inflicts, which I hope will be at least somewhat different from the poisoned condition the last poisonous monster inflicted (unless, of course, they are the same species of monster).

In the larger view, problem can and do arise when too many things try to get shoehorned into one rule or spell or whatever. Someone mentioned that the mechanics of petrification should be different depending on whether it's a Gorgon or a Flesh-to-Stone spell or a Basilisk getting you, and this is quite right. A shapechanging Dragon shouldn't have to use the same rules as the Polymorph (Self) spell. And so on.

Lanefan

 

[Lanefan]

The spells in 5e are shared more often than not. Listing them by class will involve tons of entries that say 'see page 54 in the wizard section for these three spells then page 16 in the clerics section for these other two' or complete repetition of the same information. Or you know, just list the spells each class gets to chose from then list all the spells alphabetically so everyone knows where to look.

All true. Even the 1e PH had some of that page-flipping, you'd look up MU "Detect Magic" and it'd refer you to the Clerical version except note these changes... you'd end up having to read both at once.

Spell listing is something 3e pretty much got right, at least in the initial PH. Also, the way it was done there - where each spell write-up showed what classes could cast it at what level - allowed the design freedom to have different classes get access to functionally the same spell at different levels.

Lanefan

 

[Plaguescarred]

I would have like the PHB to include an Spell By School index as it would have made it easier for spellcasters that interact with certain spell schools, like the Death domain Cleric, the Arcane Trickster Rogue and Eldritch Knight Fighters etc...