Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

I have played DnD for way too many years, and I like this new edition.

I found all three books worth buying. That said, the player's handbook is the one book every DnD player should have. Finally, all the 'player' stuff, including the loot, is between just two covers. Magic items are now in the same book, admitting finally that player do read this stuff, and memorize it.

THe only negative I have is the limited list of classes. No enchanters, no illusionists, and no bards. Despite that, I really thought Wizard's did a good job with this book.

Worth buying.

For me, 4th ed comes down to this: It's a workable, pretty fast-paced game, with more emphasis on combat than on roleplaying. It's enjoyable. In addition, it may be the most novice-friendly of all the game's incarnations: someone who has never before played a tabletop RPG may just be able to puzzle this one out in less than a week. (Such was manifestly *not* the case with any earlier D&D edition.)

But (and this thought is not original with me), as enjoyable as this game is, it doesn't seem much like Dungeons & Dragons. Fourth edition D&D, with it's emphasis on visual battles (miniatures and battle grids) and superpowered species (Dragonborn & such), seems clearly targeted at the X-Box and WoW audience.

Perhaps that's okay. After all, for players who are less than thrilled with 4th ed, there are still plenty of 3.5 books floating around out there. And for those of us who prefer truly old-school, text-based gaming in the style of the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game, there's always HackMaster. Further, although HackMaster is essentially farcical, it's no more ludicrous than much of 4th edition D&D and--unlike 4th ed D&D--is hilarious *intentionally*.

I was very happy with the book but the way Amazon handles their products and the costumer service is among the best that I have ever dealt with!!

In 3.5, we had the Complete series of books that expanded your character options beyond what the PHB had to offer. These books were the most common optional books at my table. WotC would be remiss in not creating a similar set of books for 4e, and sure enough, the concept is being recycled for the new edition in the form of Power books.

What does this have to do with the 4e PHB? A lot. Without any books from the Complete series, you could make a unique character in 3.5. Especially if you were a caster. The options in the 3.5 PHB were broad enough that it never felt to me like I had to have the optional books. Yes, the Complete books added to my possibilities, but they never felt as if they were required to play. Character options in the 4e PHB; however, feel so limited that they almost scream "if you want an interesting and unique character, please preorder the Martial, Arcane and Devine Power books that are just around the corner."

Never until now have I read a rule book where it felt like options were being left out on purpose. Want more than a handful of available spells? Buy `Arcane Power'. Want more than a handful of magic items? Buy `Adventurer's Vault'. Want the rest of 3.5's core classes back? Buy `Players Handbook II'.

This is where my major disappointment with the 4e experience lies. Not with what they put in, but with what they left out.

My feelings about the rules themselves are mixed. Role Play has always been up to the player in my mind. I don't really need rules governing how my character should behave in a given situation. 4e doesn't step on that. And that's a good thing to me.

What we're left with is examining how the 4e rules deal with things outside of role play. It's a mixed bag. The at-will/encounter/daily power system is an interesting change. A 1st level Wizard is no longer required to be meek, weak and cautious. And unlike previous editions, Martial classes don't take a backseat at higher levels. Class balance in combat seems to have been addressed. The notion that an adventuring party is a team that needs a balanced group of Strikers, Defenders, Leaders and Controllers to survive is nice.

But therein lays one of the problems for me. It feels like almost everything in the new rules revolves around defeating your enemies on a battle-mat. When a combat encounter starts, 4e becomes a first-person miniatures wargame. Without figures and a grid, combat is almost incomprehensible. With so many powers focused on pushing foes around the battlefield to gain advantage for your other party members, and everything measured in squares, a mat is pretty much a must.

Now I know that Original D&D was pretty much a miniatures wargame. It says as much on the box. And there are plenty of people who have said that 4e returns the game to these roots. But aside from needing a ruler for measuring distance, line of sight and area of effect, combat in OD&D was pretty abstract. Cinematic action concepts were nowhere to be found. Combat didn't take 30 pages of rules to explain. On the plus side, 4e does have more races and classes than OD&D. Too bad 4e has the 3.5 PHB to stand up to.

Also, a big focus in OD&D was reaching a high enough level of power and wealth to build a stronghold/wizard tower/temple and hire men-at-arms to go fight larger scale battles with. I don't see any rules for that in 4e.

Now D&D 4e isn't all bad. As a first-person miniatures wargame, it does pretty well. Once you get the hang of it, combat can be fun. If all 4e was selling itself as was this, I'd say WotC did a pretty decent job. Even more so if the game had a name other than 'Dungeons and Dragons' on the cover.

Unfortunately, `Dungeons and Dragons' is printed on the cover. And with that title comes 34 years of history, both good and bad, that 4e must be held up against. And against that history, core 4e feels lacking. From OD&D up to 3.5, we had a game that evolved and expanded beyond the edition that came before. 4e feels like a step in the opposite direction to me. But that step back is more of a marketing move than anything else. The complexity of choice that players of previous editions enjoyed will be back. Just look at the products coming down the pipeline. But some of what's in that pipe is material that 3.5 had in its core PHB. In 4e, you'll have to pay extra for it. And that's a shame.

I have to say that I think this is an excellent tabletop game for beginning rpg gaming. The rules are simple and constrained in a way that simplifies the Dungeon Master's job tremendously.
However it is really bad in terms of encouraging its DM and players in creating their own 'realistic' fantasy world. Examples include:
Mages will be firing off a spell every round. I can't think of a fantasy literature mage who would do this.
Everything is graded by its effect on combat, so creating an illusory monster is easier than creating an illusory wall because the latter is a stronger defence!
Invisibilty only lasts while the creature is in line of sight (I can just about get my head around this concept).
If you've used up your encounter ability you can't try again later, even if the ablility is just outmaneuvering a foe.
Buy this game if you want to start tabletop monster bashing. Pick up an older version if you want a tool to help you build your own universe.