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179 of 186 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Marvelous Product With Clear Writing, Excellent Artwork, August 13, 2000
This review is from: Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Hardcover)
The new Player's Handbook (PH) D&D Design Team has created a marvelous product--filled with generally clear writing and excellent artwork--containing a major change in game mechanics. The PH nonetheless manages to retain the spirit of the D&D game created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974. The 3rd edition replaces the old movement system, denoted in confusing scale inches--which goes back even before D&D to Gygax's Chainmail rules for medieval combat--with a clear system of speed denoted in feet. Yet the 3rd edition includes familiar races and character classes. It retains the bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, paladin, and wizard, and resurrects the barbarian, monk and half-orc. Fans of clerics and druids will cheer the addition of 8th- and 9th-level spells. Clerics will love the 9th-level Miracle spell, similar to a Wish. Barbarian fans will rejoice that the 3rd edition removes the unplayable restrictions of the original barbarian, even at the cost of somewhat reduced physical prowess. Fans of the monk and druid will celebrate elimination of limited levels. Each class now requires the same amount of experience to advance in level. Regardless of which class you choose, your character initially will advance rapidly because reaching the lower levels requires relatively small amounts of experience; earning a mere 1,000 experience points, for example, will gain your character second level. The 3rd edition grants each 1st level character full hit points. Combining easy advancement at lower levels with full hit points at 1st level will help keep characters alive through their fragile early days. The 3rd edition introduces a sorcerer class. The sorcerer gains access to the same spells as the wizard, gets more per day, and needn't carry spell books or prepare spells, but can't learn as large a repertoire. The sorcerer can't specialize in schools of magic like the wizard, while the wizard specialist now has some control over the school from which she can't learn spells. All spellcasters except the ranger and paladin now have access to zero-level spells, the way Gygax intended in 1982 when he introduced cantrips in Dragon magazine issues 59-61. The spellcaster will find that she's more effective because a touch spell no longer needs to penetrate an opponent's armor. She also gains the ability to counterspell an enemy's spell, which, when successful, negates the enemy's spell entirely. A rogue will find that his sneak attack comes into play more often than did the old backstab, making him more useful in combat. Your rogue or barbarian will learn to avoid a surprise attack which leaves the rest of the party flat-footed. Your warrior continues to grow in power at higher levels by gaining up to 4 attacks per round, substantial bonuses to hit, and even more hit dice. Characters continue to gain hit dice right up through 20th level. All character classes also eventually get more than one melee attack per round, but the warriors get more and get them faster than anyone except monks. Any character, regardless of race, can now belong to any class. You can play hafling paladins, dwarven rangers or anything else you choose. Any character, regardless of race, can belong to multiple classes. The 3rd edition removes limits on class combinations and maximum levels. It allows you to decide in which class your character will advance with each new level she gains. Best of all, your character gains all the skills and benefits of each level she gains in each class! You can decide, for instance, that when your 4th level wizard reaches 5th level she should take her new level as a fighter. She will remain a 4th level wizard and become 1st level fighter, adding the hit points, skill points, and combat bonus normally gained by a 1st-level fighter to her existing hit points, skill points and combat bonus. She can train as a wizard or fighter, or in another class, each time she earns a new level. Humans gain small advantages over non-humans when advancing in multiple classes. Humans gain a small advantage in acquiring skills too. The 3rd edition divides the old non-weapon proficiencies into skills, which you can "buy" with points your character earns at each level, and feats, which your character acquires more slowly. Skills include more ordinary abilities like Climb, Swim, and Wilderness Lore. Feats include more extraordinary abilities like Alertness, Endurance, and Lightning Reflexes. The 3rd edition fully integrates skills and feats into play, making often-neglected ability scores more important. Your barbarian, for example, may find the Intimidate skill quite useful, but if he has a low charisma he'll find that it won't work as often as he might like. The 3rd edition bases the results of virtually every attempted action on the roll of a 20-sided die (d20). You roll a d20 to determine initiative in combat, whether your attack hits an opponent, whether you successfully save against a spell, and whether you successfully use a skill or perform a feat. In the 3rd edition, the higher you roll on the d20, the better. A higher roll hits a higher armor class (which now sensibly rises as it improves), performs a tougher feat, gives you a faster initiative (which likewise rises as it improves), and saves against a more powerful spell. Unlike the old system, which varied between high and low rolls being better, the new system always makes high rolls better. The 3rd edition simplifies combat by generally limiting the initiative roll to the start of each encounter and eliminating weapon speeds and numbered casting times; it complicates combat with rules on movement, surprise attacks, partial actions, attacks of opportunity and being caught flat-footed. I believe that players will tend to have the most trouble adjusting to the new combat system. After a cursory examination, however, I think they'll find the adjustment worthwhile...
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantasy RPGs take a quantum leap forward, August 15, 2000
This review is from: Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Hardcover)
Well met! Gary Gygax's magnum opus, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, is somewhat akin to holy writ in the world of fantasy RPGs. And needless to say, the Wizards of the Coast were a little squeamish to tinker with the very best game of all time! It seems heretical - like trying shave off Zeus' beard, to see if he looks better without it. But, they made the right choice - instead of arbitrarily implementing a drastic system overhaul that nobody wanted, they implemented a drastic system overhaul that *everyone* wanted. By having this system play-tested, co-designed, torn apart, and rebuilt by hundreds of fanatical players and DMs, and giving the fans a loud (yet cohesive) voice in the reconstructive process, WotC have done the impossible - Dungeons & Dragons (farewell, "Advanced") is now far superior to any other previous incarnation of itself. The first thing that strikes you when you crack the cover is the bold new artwork. If you've played Magic, or love the convoluted machinations of Planescape, you will be delighted. Fans of older, more conservatively heroic styles (like me) will dearly miss the graceful touch of Larry Elmore, or even David Trampier. But the new look is infectious, and it (a) is evocative enough to get you into the mood for a game, and (b) actually illustrates key points in the internal logic of the rules. That's a huge bonus. The bad news? Anyone who's played since 1st Edition (or before) is going to have a stroke. Ability scores have been stratified and cleaned (dare we say scoured?); bonuses and penalties are different from what they were before, Exceptional Strength is gone, Strength now progresses way beyond 25, Charisma actually matters, etc. What this all means is that the game is much more logical now, but your old characters may not fit comfortably into their new surroundings. For a game where a single character's story can often last for years, this can be a serious concern. The nail in the coffin for your old character is this: now, PCs actually gain attribute points (1 every 4 levels) as they progress. So, if you have an "old school" level 24 arch-mage, his stats are now 6 points lower than they should be in 3rd Edition! The best aspect of the new system is its customized universality. What I mean by that is, you can make ANY kind of character. Gnomish Paladin? Go for it. Halfling Mage? No problem. Elvish Ranger/Druid/Monk? Hmmm, ask your DM, and come up with a great backstory, and you're good to go. It's a bit of a system shock for old-timers ("Gasp! A Dwarven Mage? No..."), but for everyone else, it becomes obvious even before the first game that every single character will be a unique creation, and by level 3 or so, the idea of "cookie cutter characters" entirely disappears. And with the new Feat system (which rewards all progressing characters with new abilities chosen by the player), even single-class Fighters are immediately and vastly different from one another! A few brief class notes: Barbarians are back! Monks are back! Cavaliers are still missing in action (overshadowed by Paladins, as they always were), Acrobats are integrated into the existing rogue class, Assassins are missing (and lamented), and a new class, the Sorcerer, makes a wonderfully bright appearance. And gameplay changes: Clerics can now turn undead only a few times per day, making this ability similar to a spell, and far more dramatic; mages can wear armor (if they don't mind their spells fizzling); proficiencies have been vaulted into the realm of a complete new skill system (you knew it was coming!); task management is now understandable and easy (if you take your 1st edition DMG, and look in the index under "Door," you'll see why old school Dungeon Masters lose their hair prematurely); Greyhawk is again the default world for official D&D (rejoice!); counterspells now exist (a nod to Magic: The Gathering); and to answer the question... no, your 2nd Edition character won't fare too well through the conversion process. This is the one (huge) problem I have with this amazing book. But when I slept on it, I decided this was actually a blessing. With all of the new rules for character design, customization, and growth potential, why not leave our old heroes in the vaunted halls of history? I, for one, am going to go roll up a new Half-Elven Ranger/Mage of Celene tonight, point my ears in the direction of the Free City of Greyhawk, and rejoice in the glorious heroic chants a new age. It's that kind of day.
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46 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Up from the ashes, August 14, 2000
This review is from: Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Hardcover)
It's not easy overturning 25 years of role-playing history, but the 3rd edition PHB takes on the job of cleaning up the most-played RPG in the world. It doesn't do too bad a job, either. Gone are the bizarre 18/% Strength rules, the 1-hit point/1 spell "magic user", and negative armor classes. Any race can now be any class, but bonuses come from the right combinations. The real downside to the book is that it isn't very well suited for beginners. There's a lot of assumption of familiarity with earlier versions, and this can lead to confusion for new people. For example, a character's alignment is mentioned quite often in the character creation chapters, but isn't actually defined in depth until page 87. Granted, there is a nice glossary in the back that defines most terms, but unfortunately, it's not cross-indexed with the main text. It is a good deal for the money, though. It weighs in at 228 clay-coated pages, fully illustrated, for a mere $19.95. If you're a long-time player, it could be just the fresh start you need. There is a free conversion guide on their website for owners of the older editions, so you won't have to toss all of your old 1st/2nd edition stuff. (Some stores have paper copies of this that you can get free with purchase.) The book also comes with a CD_ROM (Win 9x only) of a demo character generation program. So pull out your swords and your Cheetos, and kill some Friday nights with the new version of the grand-daddy of RPGs!
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