Customer Reviews

Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn: A 4th Edition D&D Supplement

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall, the book was good.

PROS
- The pages are similar in color, content and style to the Player's Handbook.
- Nice colors and illustrations
- 32 pages of content dedicated to Dragonborn, their world views, and how they fit into the current world
- New Feats, Paragon paths, an epic destiny, and magic items

CONS
- Price. For $10, I was expecting more. The book is 32 pages, the Player's Handbook at $25 is 315 pages.
- Quality of the cover. The cover is thin paper, and my copy does not feel laminated or coated. I purchased a plastic sheath to keep it in, but it is still starting to show some wear on the edges


While a lot of good stuff on Dragonborn is in the book, there is nothing you wouldn't expect after reading much of the other literature out there on them. I liked the book, but the $10 price can be hard to justify.

Dragonborn were the most interesting of the new races in the PHB1, and I am glad they were selected to get this treatment first. Lots of great new fluff in this book. The only disappointing part is that out of all the new feats (and there are plenty) most of them are related to the dragonbreath power. Really a lot of overkill if you ask me. I would have like to have seen more class related feats or maybe power source (divine, martial, primal, etc) specific feats.

I assume at some point a collection of these race paperbacks will be bound in a hardback edition so if your not planning on playing Dragonborn anytime soon, it might be worth waiting.

I am a long time gamer (30yrs of D&D) and I must say that I love 4th edition (this is almost heresy amongst older gamers). Almost all the supplements have been well thought out and designed and dare I say it ... value for money.

NOT SO for the Dragonborn Supplement, I was so disappointed, it was a flimsy paper cover of 32 pages. For $10 not value for money at all, and the content was very little new material - essentially the article from Dragon Magazine fleshed out a bit. Compared to the wealth of information that they have produced for other races this is pitiful. My Dragonborn Paladin still feels a little thin in character background when compared to my mates Elven Ranger.

Beautifully produced, richly illustrated and well written, but sadly lacking in content and the paper cover is not going to last

This book is pretty much a fleshed out version of the online-only Dragon Magazine article on the Dragonborn, one of the new classes added to the 4th edition of D&D. If you've read the online version, you'll be pretty familiar with what's here--though they throw in some new elements that I totally love, like a new political spin on dragonborn's position within society (basically in the early days of the rise of the human empire, dragonborn clans would war against them--which when the humans eventually won out caused the repression of dragonborn culture and a lot of forced assimilation into human culture). The biggest improvement over the online version though is the most obvious: It's there in print for to touch and hold. I'd heard promises that the online stuff would start to become available in print and it's great to see it happening.

There's a few other similar products we've seen so far, or which are set to come out soon, and I'm really excited: There's the Dragon Annual that's already come out, which was great Dragon Magazine Annual, Volume 1: A 4th Edition D&D Compilation. There's also the Dungeon Annual which is slated to come out here pretty soon and I'm stoked forDungeon Magazine Annual, Vol. 1: A 4th Edition D&D Compilation (D&D Supplement). Plus there's a similar product out soon for the Tieflings that will be cool too Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings (4th Edition D&D).

That said, it would really be nice to see the covers on these be a better, glossier, more sturdy grade of paper. I love the folio format and the nice low price point, but I'd just like something that feels like it will hold up a bit better.

Before we even start let me adress the price issue: yes your 30 dollar hard cover probably gives you more for you buck. But let us not forget: this is an age of nine dollar soft cover novels, and six to seven dollar magazines. So examining it from that perspective its still pricey for what is basically a magazined sized book, but not hideously so.
And some of the crunch in there is pretty good to. Presenting you with any number of different ways in which to make your Dragonborn character's race more of a defining characteristic.
Fluff is so so, but then again since i tend totally rewrite all that my opinion may be biased. Newer gamers might get a lot more millage out of it.