Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)

~ Wizards of the Coast (Author) "In your role as Dungeon Master, you're the focus of the game..." (more)
Key Phrases: mundane melee, planar cohort, impromptu sneak attack, Disable Device, Material Plane, Hit Die (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Weave exciting tales of heroism filled with magic and monsters. Within these pages, you’ll discover the tools and options you need to create detailed worlds and dynamic adventures for your players to experience in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game.

The revised Dungeon Master's Guide is an essential rulebook for Dungeon Masters of the D&D game. The Dungeon Master's Guide has been reorganized to be more user friendly. It features information on running a D&D game, adjudicating play, writing adventures, nonplayer characters (including nonplayer character classes), running a campaign, characters, magic items (including intelligent and cursed items, and artifacts), and a dictionary of special abilities and conditions. Changes have been made to the item creation rules and pricing, and prestige classes new to the Dungeon Master's Guide are included (over 10 prestige classes). The revision includes expanded advice on how to run a campaign and instructs players on how to take full advantage of the tie-in D&D miniatures line.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786928891
• ISBN-13: 978-0786928897
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #10,562 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where Once I Was Blind, Now I Can See, August 4, 2003

By	"nicodemusd" (Cherry Hill, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

I was among the most vehemently obstinate when it came time to make the decision to convert to the 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons. I've been playing using the first and second edition rules sets for nearly 15 years, and my first read-through of the 3e core rules made me think about only one thing - Magic: The Gathering.

However, my group and I have recently seen the light and moved into the realm of Third Edition, and I will admit that I was very wrong to cast it aside so quickly. Streamlined rules, simplified spell descriptions, combat rounds that don't seem to stand still - I could go on an on. But this review is about the Dungeon Master's Guide, and I have but one word - OUTSTANDING.

One of the fatal flaws of the second edition DMG was its apparently convenient "parallel organization" - that is, the chapters were organized in the same order in both books to make reference easier. However, the 3e DMG has done away with this, and for good reason - most of the information in the PLayer's Handbook doesn't need to be repeated in the DMG.

The new DMG is chock-full of Dungeon Master stuff. Combat? See the PHB. Character class or race? See the PHB. Encumbrance, alignment, magic? See the PHB. The DMG boasts such goodies as presitge classes, a modularized magic item system, a complete (finally) description of every extraordinary and supernatural ability in the game, prestige classes, the fundamentals for Epic Characters, and on and on.

Bravo, Wizards. Bravo.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3.5 is not your old 3.0, December 17, 2003

By	David C. Harris "davethekey" (Huntingtown, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well when they did 3.5 I would have thought that is was a fill in on the holes in 3.0. It is not. Most things have the basics from 3.0 but many things are totaly different from the ground up. If you want to do 3.5, you have to do all the books. This is not a partial switch, it is an all or nothing. When you first switch you keep finding more changes that on first look make no sense. After playing 4 or 5 sessions, you start to realize that , hey this is really good. My first impression was that 3.5 was the pitts, but after a good while, I realized it is much better than 3.0. I started playing d&d in 1977, and this is a really nice version, once you realize that it is a new total rework, not just a half step. If you are going to switch and need to get all three books, by them as the set. The price drop for the set makes it much easer on the money.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A better revision than the 3.5 PHB, July 21, 2003

By	C. Bedford Crenshaw "the Rebel Rockhopper" (Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Even if you refuse to pick up the 3.5 PHB, I seriously recommend getting the 3.5 DMG, for these reasons.

1) More prestige classes. The ones in the old 3.0 were subpar; the new ones added are great, even through they should have left out the Red Wizard one if they insist on it being a Forgotten Realms only class.

2) You want to have extra-planar or epic level adventures. Well, you can buy the new DMG and skip buying the Manual of the Planes and Epic Handbooks, as the core stuff in both books is in the new DMG as well. However, you probably don't want to use the Epic system used here, as without the Epic Book's spell seeds, spellcasters are rather subpar.

The new DMg is basically the old DMG with all the best stuff from the past 3 years included. A must buy for any DM, even if you have the old 3e DMG, especially for the ... price.