The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Let me just start off with the following statement: I was, at one point, infamous among my local gaming community for my hatred and spite for all things Dungeons and Dragons (except the cartoon).

It just goes to show you even old gamers can change, I guess...

Through a convulted and highly secret (well, not really, but I feel like building a bit of suspense and enigma about me) I managed to get ahold (legally) of a copy of the 3e PHB. Why did I do it if I hated D&D so much?

Quite honestly, I was going to try to rip it a new one. That and, just in case it turned out to be decent I could develop my own sourcebook(s) through the OGL.

I can't rip it a new one. I love the new Dungeons and Dragons. It is the utter bomb. After getting and reading through my copy (which is a pre-release copy and doesn't have any of the extremely cool artwork) of the rules, I immediately swore my group to secrecy and began running the game. And, believe me, we tried our best to pick it apart.

There were no complaints. Every situation we ran up against was either covered in the PHB or easily adjudicated by me.

The standard resolution system is brilliant and should have been integrated into the game from its inception. It's easy to learn. Very, very easy to learn. This doesn't mean it's a simple game however. It can get quite complex, but it is intuitive. Very, very intuitive. And rolling initiative only one time in combat speeds it up like you would not believe.

Gone are many of the clunky old rules (such as "I need to roll high to hit, but low on proficiency checks. I need to subtract the beastie's AC from my Thac0..or, wait, or do I need to add it? Gah!"), and all the character classes and races have been vastly improved. And humans are worthy of playing now!

An addition to the game are Feats, which are things that you can do that are tres cool and lets your character break out of the "I hit it with my sword" mode. A few examples would be the ability to prepare spells at higher levels to be able to cast them without somatic components, or to use your dex for a strike bonus for a weapon instead of your str bonus. That swashbuckling, armor wearing wizard you've always dreamed about..you can play him now.

Speaking of wizards, it is possible to have a 1st level wizard character that has up to 11 hit points (provided you take the right feat and have a high con..hmm..come to think of it, if you are a human, you could have a wizard with 14 hit points at first level..). The same holds true of sorcerers, who are like wizards that don't need spellbooks (a tres cool class IMHO).

Multiclassing is dealt with intelligently and in detail, and seems to actually be quite a common thing to do.

The one thing that irked me when I was making a character, however, was the organization of the spells chapter. Instead of spells being broken down by level, they're listed alphabetically, and all spells are in one chapter instead of having one chapter for clerics and one for wizards. The lists of the spells at the beginning of the spell chapter helps alleviate this somewhat, but it still was a bit annoying flipping through all the spells while I was creating a spell caster.

HOWEVER, as a counterpoint to the above statement, this is a CLEVER thing during gameplay, as it greatly reduces book-flip time when the wizard's player is trying to find what his 4th level spell does...

All in all, I highly, HIGHLY recommend D&D 3e. And remember..I used to hate D&D with a passion far surpassing that of most mortal men!

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, 3rd Edition
Author: Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook and Skkp Williams Category: game Company/Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Line: D&D Cost: $20.00 Page count: 285 ISBN: 0-7869-1550-1 SKU: TSR11550 Playtest Review by Prince Nightchilde on 08/04/00. Genre tags: Fantasy	Let me just start off with the following statement: I was, at one point, infamous among my local gaming community for my hatred and spite for all things Dungeons and Dragons (except the cartoon). It just goes to show you even old gamers can change, I guess... Through a convulted and highly secret (well, not really, but I feel like building a bit of suspense and enigma about me) I managed to get ahold (legally) of a copy of the 3e PHB. Why did I do it if I hated D&D so much? Quite honestly, I was going to try to rip it a new one. That and, just in case it turned out to be decent I could develop my own sourcebook(s) through the OGL. I can't rip it a new one. I love the new Dungeons and Dragons. It is the utter bomb. After getting and reading through my copy (which is a pre-release copy and doesn't have any of the extremely cool artwork) of the rules, I immediately swore my group to secrecy and began running the game. And, believe me, we tried our best to pick it apart. There were no complaints. Every situation we ran up against was either covered in the PHB or easily adjudicated by me. The standard resolution system is brilliant and should have been integrated into the game from its inception. It's easy to learn. Very, very easy to learn. This doesn't mean it's a simple game however. It can get quite complex, but it is intuitive. Very, very intuitive. And rolling initiative only one time in combat speeds it up like you would not believe. Gone are many of the clunky old rules (such as "I need to roll high to hit, but low on proficiency checks. I need to subtract the beastie's AC from my Thac0..or, wait, or do I need to add it? Gah!"), and all the character classes and races have been vastly improved. And humans are worthy of playing now! An addition to the game are Feats, which are things that you can do that are tres cool and lets your character break out of the "I hit it with my sword" mode. A few examples would be the ability to prepare spells at higher levels to be able to cast them without somatic components, or to use your dex for a strike bonus for a weapon instead of your str bonus. That swashbuckling, armor wearing wizard you've always dreamed about..you can play him now. Speaking of wizards, it is possible to have a 1st level wizard character that has up to 11 hit points (provided you take the right feat and have a high con..hmm..come to think of it, if you are a human, you could have a wizard with 14 hit points at first level..). The same holds true of sorcerers, who are like wizards that don't need spellbooks (a tres cool class IMHO). Multiclassing is dealt with intelligently and in detail, and seems to actually be quite a common thing to do. The one thing that irked me when I was making a character, however, was the organization of the spells chapter. Instead of spells being broken down by level, they're listed alphabetically, and all spells are in one chapter instead of having one chapter for clerics and one for wizards. The lists of the spells at the beginning of the spell chapter helps alleviate this somewhat, but it still was a bit annoying flipping through all the spells while I was creating a spell caster. HOWEVER, as a counterpoint to the above statement, this is a CLEVER thing during gameplay, as it greatly reduces book-flip time when the wizard's player is trying to find what his 4th level spell does... All in all, I highly, HIGHLY recommend D&D 3e. And remember..I used to hate D&D with a passion far surpassing that of most mortal men! Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, 3rd Edition