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Wizards of the Coast decided to create an edition of the game that deviates greatly from its predecessors which has obviously alienated some of the game's traditional base, though I suspect this will cool off some as system shock wears off and players get used to the new system. A great deal has changed in this edition from the previous versions and while I know that many reviewers will focus on these changes I will only mention them briefly in each section of this review and will stick to discussing the new system in isolation of its predecessors as I feel it's the only way to offer a review in a way that is even remotely fair to its value as an individual game. The book is divided into ten chapters: 1. How to play; 2. Making characters; 3. Character races; 4. Character classes; 5. Skills; 6. Feats; 7. Equipment; 8. Adventuring; 9. Combat; 10. Rituals. The overall order and structures is fairly intuitive with the possible exception of the rituals chapter which I feel would have been better placed near the equipment section since the method of acquisition is similar.
The first chapter of the book covers the basic concepts of the games mechanics. This, along with the chapter on adventuring are the shortest chapters in the book. Beyond the typical digression on what a role-playing game is and how to play pretend the chapter introduces the reader to the core D20 mechanic and how that system infects every aspect of the game. This is your typical introductory chapter that your likely to find in almost any RPG book you pick up off the shelf, it has almost become compulsory in the industry.
The second chapter is where the true meat of the book begins. It covers the basics of how exactly one goes about making a character. For those of you who played previous editions of the game, the old system of rolling your stats has been relegated to optional status with the preferred methods now being a default array of statistics or a point-buy method. Personally I like the point buy method best as it allows characters the maximum amount of flexibility with out creating to much of a power gap that the rolling method tends to impose on players. Aside from stats this chapter also covers alignments and deities. There are now only five alignments to choose from and many of the gods have changed from the previous edition. The alignments offer only a minor impact in the game and each is described in broadly drawn strokes that allow for a great deal of wiggle room. The gods also have little impact on character creation beyond offering players a context for which to shape their character's mannerisms. Lastly the chapter discusses the tiers of play (heroic, paragon, and epic) and the steps of leveling up a character which includes a handy table of the changes that apply to all characters regardless of class.
The next chapter details the eight player races that characters can choose from. For those of you who are curious the races that have been dropped are Gnomes and Half-Orcs. The races that now appear are: Dragonborn; Dwarves; Eldarin; Elves; Half-Elves; Halflings; Humans; and Tieflings. Each race offers a splat that modifies stats and offers some unique abilities. Special powers are fewer for some races in this edition with many of their old abilities appearing as feats later in the book. Each race is fairly distinct both in look and in abilities with each race being more predisposed to certain classes than others. For the most part the races seem to be fairly well balanced though the races that receive an inherent power having a slight advantage over the others. This chapter also gives a decent description of the physical and behavioral characteristics of each race. Overall I feel the race description lacked somewhat in the depth department. While stereotypes may help with the overall understanding of the race they tend to make each race feel somewhat one-dimensional. This is only a minor annoyance though since it allows th DM more flexibility in hammering each race into his/her home brewed setting.
Chapter four covers classes and their unique abilities. There are some big changes here from 3.5. Five of the classes are gone and there are two new ones. The classes that have been evicted are Barbarians, Bards, Druids, Monks, and Sorcerers. Those that now appear are: Clerics; Fighters; Paladins; Rangers; Rogues; Warlocks; Warlords; and Wizards. The classes are divided in two ways. The first is by power source (arcane, divine, and martial as the subtitle of the book suggests) this is arbitrary and seems to have virtually no impact on the game at all, perhaps some abilities or monsters will generate special effects on certain power sources but as of yet I haven't seen much. The second is by role in the party, this division is helpful as it gives the players a better understanding of what they should be doing in a giving encounter. All the powers a character can get are outlined in each classes description offering what is effectively a mini-chapter for each class. The powers are divided by type and level. Without an index of powers by alphabet this can make finding what your looking for a little frustrating when you're wondering what a given class can do. Paragon paths and epic destinies are outlined here as well, though unfortunately they seem to be offered in a somewhat afterthought fashion.
The next chapter covers skills. Compared to most RPGs on the market this chapter is oddly quite short. The skills have been cut, streamlined, and condensed from the previous edition with many of the old skills being combined to create a single skill (the various sneaking skills now being summed up in sneak for example). Players choose a few skills to be trained in for a better bonus based on what their class allows. What is lacking here is anyway to show an inferiority in certain skills beyond just having no training, but that involves a level of depth rarely seen in games focusing on adventure so it's no real surprise or loss in this case.
Chapter six focuses on feats, for those of you who don't know, these represent special training and talents that cant really be defined by the skill system. little has changed here from the previous edition in terms of how they work though the actual feats themselves are quite different. The biggest thing to note here is that feats are divided into three major groups. One list covers feats for the first ten levels, the next list covering levels 11-20, the third covering 21-30, and the last covers the new multiclassing system. Of all the list the epic tier feats (21st - 30th level) are the most disappointing with many of them being essentially the same feat for different weapons and little else to really play with. Feats can really change the way a character feels which is why I'm not really fond of the ability to change any feat choice you may have made every time you level up, it makes the feats seem like the are just interchangeable parts with little bearing on a characters background.
Chapter seven discusses the equipment players may find or buy along their adventures. This is standard fare for most games so I wont spend a great deal of space on it. What is of particular note is the decision to include magic items here. while I wouldn't expect to find them in any other chapter the truth is I didn't expect to find them in the PHB at all. I suppose it does make for ease of reference for players. With players no longer needing an identify spell it does make some since to put the list here.
The next chapter covers adventuring. This is a very short and straightforward chapter that covers exactly what an adventure is. It covers such wonderfully fascinating topics as overland movement rates, exploration, rewards, and rest and recovery. There isn't much overly shocking here I'm not sure it really warranted its own chapter, though I don't really no where else to put it.
Chapter nine covers a major (some would central) component of the game, namely combat. Ironically, for a game that puts so much of a focus on combat this chapter is surprising short. I suppose this does speak to WotC's ability to keep combat fairly simple. In this chapter they do take care to explain mechanics and modifiers in excruciating detail (again, surprising considering the length of the chapter). One thing that returning D and D fans will find interesting is the absence of oddly shaped templates like cones. While this does simplify things I do find it somewhat ridiculous that things like breath weapons now shoot out and form a large square in front of the user. One other thing to notice heavily the system relies on miniatures. The game is now virtually unplayable with out some sort of a battle grid and tokens to represent players and monsters. Personally I find this a little frustrating due to my limited budget but then I play wargames so I suppose I don't have much room to gripe.
And lastly we have the chapter on rituals. This something entirely new to D & D and I personally feel it is a welcome addition. Rituals to some degree take the place of some of the functionality spells of classes from previous editions. Whats interesting is as long as you have either a feat or a class feature that allows it you can buy, learn, and use rituals, so if you want your rogue to learn knock without multiclassing you can. The down side is that most rituals have long casting times so they have somewhat limited use, the aforementioned Knock ritual takes ten minutes to cast, an amount of time that most rogues could just pick the lock in. Still rituals are an interesting addition.
Overall I am impressed with the new system and am sure I will get flamed some for saying so, but thats okay, I expect it when I right a review. I tried to write an review with less bias and I hope that I accomplished this and that you may find it helpful. My advice would be to read this and perhaps some of the negative reviews and then realize the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.
