The Actual Table of Contents for Xanathar's Guide to Everything

A lot of good stuff there.

Of course, on the DM side, a lot of stuff is not there, but I like what I see.

Actually, one of the most useful things will be the appendix of sample names.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Looks great (and I like the name lists, btw) but I thought there were going to be a few new classes (like the mystic) in this one?

 

[Prakriti]

So how much reprinted content is in Xanathar's Guide?

~4-5 pages of subclasses
~10-14 pages of spells

37 out of the 77 wizard spells in XG are reprinted from Princes of the Apocalypse (the same spells also appear in the Elemental Evil Player's Companion). Every wizard spell from POTA is being reprinted and, based on that, I think we can expect that every other classes' spells will be printed in full as well. Since 3-5 spells tend to fit on a single page, we can expect ~10-14 pages' worth of reprinted spells.

When you subtract 14-19 pages of reprinted material and 20 pages of appendices that many people find useless, Xanathar's Guide is a mere ~155 pages. Ouch.

Then there's the fact that almost all of the content is taken from UA. Frankly, I don't expect the DM tools to differ all that much from their UA versions, so I feel like I already own a large portion of this book.

 

[Guest 6801328]

(egad! previously quoted posts deleted. how does one clear the multi-quote queue?)

So how much reprinted content is in Xanathar's Guide?

~4-5 pages of subclasses
~10-14 pages of spells

37 out of the 77 wizard spells in XG are reprinted from Princes of the Apocalypse (the same spells also appear in the Elemental Evil Player's Companion). Every wizard spell from POTA is being reprinted and, based on that, I think we can expect that every other classes' spells will be printed in full as well. Since 3-5 spells tend to fit on a single page, we can expect ~10-14 pages' worth of reprinted spells.

When you subtract 14-19 pages of reprinted material and 20 pages of appendices that many people find useless, Xanathar's Guide is a mere ~155 pages. Ouch.

Then there's the fact that almost all of the content is taken from UA. Frankly, I don't expect the DM tools to differ all that much from their UA versions, so I feel like I already own a large portion of this book.

For that matter, the free D&D 5e starter kit includes Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, and Rogue, with one sub-class each. So I'm starting to feel cheated that they included that material in the PHB.

Really, what they should do to avoid reprinting the UA subclasses is to only print the words that change, and not the original text. That would squeeze it into fewer pages, to make room for more name lists.

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Ergo, the only reason there aren't more player options in Xan's is because of AL. It has absolutely nothing to do with WotC's desire to maintain a quality product.

"Oh, it's for the AL players". WotC sets the rules for AL. So they could just say "here's a list of things from Xanthar's that's AL-legit and this supersedes the +1 rule". I mean specific beats general, right?

Like many other people here IMO Xanthar's appears to be shaping up to be filler-heavy at its price point, though not to the level of SCAG. 20 pages of character names? Volo's was also pretty filler-heavy, though at least it had a lot of good monsters and the filler that was there was potentially useful to DMs. If they're going to have repeated content, at least revise it.

I guess I'll give Xanthar's a look, but increasingly I've been coming to the point that I just don't much care what WotC releases. Recently they seem to be pretty much focused on different electronic formats of the same material and have even been dialing back their releases of APs. In short, being a rentier.

 

[Prakriti]

For that matter, the free D&D 5e starter kit includes Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, and Rogue, with one sub-class each. So I'm starting to feel cheated that they included that material in the PHB.

No doubt there are people who actually felt that way. At the very least, owning the Starter Kit probably impacted their decision to buy or not buy a PHB. Giving them a list of the reprinted material, as I've tried to do for Xanathar's Guide, would have helped them make a better-informed decision. Belittling them, probably not so much.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Recently they seem to be pretty much focused on different electronic formats of the same material and have even been dialing back their releases of APs. In short, being a rentier.

What irks me about WotC far more than padded content does is having to pay full price for each separate format. They are worse than textbook publishers (who themselves are the spawn of Jubilex) in this regard. I'd love to play around with D&D Beyond but the free content is useless and there is just no #$%&ing way I am going to buy another PHB.

 

[martinlochsen]

The question is: how do we express our disappointment? Do we say on the forums, "Gee, I really don't like this decision, and here's why.." Or do we ramp it up and try to offer incontrovertible proof that WotC sucks and we have a right to be apoplectic? Or do we leave the game entirely? (Honestly, it should be a or c but never b.)

Well, to be clear. I absolutely agree with this! I never said Wizards suck or anything like that, and if you got that impression, then I have failed badly in my attempts at communication. I was speculating about whether it would be wise of them to reconsider one part of their design strategy. That's very far from claiming people suck, I hope.

 

[Satyrn]

I feel sorry for all the home gamers sitting in a darkened room, building a character from core and two or more other sourcebooks, fearing every knock at the door is the +1 Police come to take their D&D Player Permit away.

I'm terrified they'll learn I've been playing without a permit!

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

I'm sorry that you're incapable of following an argument and have to respond with pointless inanities. If you can't follow a simple argument, don't bother posting in this thread.

My comment pointed out that you didn't have real evidence, you imagined evidence. Xanathar's isn't proof of anything, therefore your argument is invalid. That I chose to use humour to express that instead of explaining it meant that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt that you could extrapolate my meaning. I guess I shouldn't have expected you to be able to do that. Won't happen again.

 

[jmucchiello]

On the discussion about the value of names tables... some folks don’t allow tech near a game table with the game in progress.

I expect that folks on an online forum will expect to be able to google at a session and tech proliferation in the early 21st century is what it is. But low tech is only useless if you have access to better.

How is the game in progress if you trying to come up with a name? If the DM needs a name, there are million DM tips about generating names ahead of time.