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A review by thewallflower00
Player's Handbook by Wizards RPG Team
5.0
Well, it's what you expect--a standard manual for playing Dungeons & Dragons. As I understand it, version 5.0 simplified many of the rules from previous editions. I don't have any frame of reference, but I've played Pathfinder, which is based on D&D 3.5 and can vouch for that.
This is both good and bad. It allows the players more freedom, more imagination to do and go where they want. And obviously, this has its other side of the coin too, which you'd know if you subscribe to the RPGhorrorstories subreddit (quick clue: It's not about RPGs like Vampire: The Masquerade or Call of Cthulu). So that means the game is easier to play without a bunch of implements, like minis and maps. You could play it around a campfire. There's a bigger focus on storytelling than Pathfinder. But that means it's missing the mechanics that make combat so fun, like flanking and combat manuveur damage.
As a book itself, it's very beautiful. The art is spot on and the charts are easy to read. The text gets fairly dense, and it's not as subdivided in the general categories as I would like (meaning, I would like things to be sectionalized more for easy lookup). And don't forget to read the disclaimer in the front.
So if you thought previous D&Ds were too combat heavy, you might be into this. Otherwise, I suggest Pathfinder.
This is both good and bad. It allows the players more freedom, more imagination to do and go where they want. And obviously, this has its other side of the coin too, which you'd know if you subscribe to the RPGhorrorstories subreddit (quick clue: It's not about RPGs like Vampire: The Masquerade or Call of Cthulu). So that means the game is easier to play without a bunch of implements, like minis and maps. You could play it around a campfire. There's a bigger focus on storytelling than Pathfinder. But that means it's missing the mechanics that make combat so fun, like flanking and combat manuveur damage.
As a book itself, it's very beautiful. The art is spot on and the charts are easy to read. The text gets fairly dense, and it's not as subdivided in the general categories as I would like (meaning, I would like things to be sectionalized more for easy lookup). And don't forget to read the disclaimer in the front.
So if you thought previous D&Ds were too combat heavy, you might be into this. Otherwise, I suggest Pathfinder.