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| Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Wizards Rpg Team
Brand: Wizards of the Coast
Category: Book
List Price: $104.95
Buy New: $55.62
You Save: $49.33 (47%)
New (25) Used (8) from $55.62
Avg. Customer Rating:  153 reviews
Sales Rank: 581
Format: Box Set
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 4th
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 832
Shipping Weight (lbs): 6.9
Dimensions (in): 11.6 x 8.7 x 2.4
ISBN: 0786950633
Dewey Decimal Number: 793
EAN: 9780786950638
ASIN: 0786950633
Publication Date: June 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Review from a DM June 8, 2008
45 out of 66 found this review helpful
Alright, here's a warning: if you do like 3.5, don't look at this. If you've found all the flaws I have, then do look.
3.5's flaws were painfully clear. Powergamers were frequent and cheap, using tactics that allow 16th level characters to one shot monsters double their level. The system actually discouraged roleplaying and skill use, since the wizard could just do all of that. Long live the wizard and the sorcerer, they were the only classes really worth using. Story took a backseat because roleplaying took a backseat.
4th has fixed these flaws. Every class has been made even. This means that non-casters can actually do cool stuff.
The main power of powergamers, multiclassing, has been made fair. You wanna multiclass? Take a feat for it. Granted, I don't like the actual feats given, but that's what houserules are for.
The skills have been consolidated into a sensible few. C'mon, if you're gonna be good at climbing you'll be good at swimming. The skill point system has been removed, turning it from the longest to the shortest area you spend on your character sheet.
Combat has sped up, and has gotten alot better. Movement is expected and encouraged, giving the game a more cinematic feel.
There are a few flaws besides the multiclassing feats, and here they are:
Most of the classes are more homogeneous, with the descriptive text and name being the only difference in some powers.
There just isn't...enough, to the system, but it's really not a flaw, it's a fact. The Player's Hand is so full of stuff that it couldn't hold anymore, which is why there are supplements coming out. As time goes on, the homogeneous feel of the classes will vanish, since new options will open up as time goes on. And that's what homebrewing's for anyway.
My two games of 4th have been better than the last two years of 3.5. Long live 4th. Don't listen to the others, this is the real deal. This is fantasy roleplaying. This is Dungeons and Dragons.
4th edition D&D -- a great game June 9, 2008
43 out of 59 found this review helpful
I call the new rule set:
"Everything that is old is new again"
As other reviewers have mentioned, there are significant changes to the rules. Having lived with the rules for the past 6 months, I can say that the game is much more balanced (in general) and most importantly -- REALLY FUN TO PLAY AND DM.
I played and ran a significant amount of 3.5 rules and the system had come to the natural conclusion. There were so many rules and options that it was becoming unplayable.
I'll give a few examples:
* The "Dunkin Donuts" effect of prestige classes was getting silly. The "I'm a fighter...well, really a Fighter 4, Barbarian 1, Occult Slayer 2, Reaping Mauler 2, etc..." was becoming the normal with high level characters...fighter types in particular.
This was a nightmare for the DM to keep track of everyone's abilities at high level
* Monsters had too much to do...that's right, monsters, especially complicated or high level monsters, were just a pain to run. I can cast this laundry list of spells -- but really, I only cast 3-4 of my most powerful spells ever
* One word -- grappling. Let's use it in a sentence:
In 3.5, some of the most difficult and annoying rules revolve around...grappling.
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I have already heard the complaints -- it's too simple, it doesn't allow flexibility, etc..
At least for me, I am more than willing to give up flexibility (at least for now...you know there are more books on the way in the next year) for now in order to have a system that is fast and fun to play
What's great about 4th edition?
* Skill Challenges -- awesome mechanic -- basically allows you to abstract almost any situation and roleplay with very little restrictions.
Negotiations with the town council -- skill challenge
Trying to get out of a maze -- skill challenge
Playing a game of poker against an opponent -- skill challenge
You can use just about any skill or ability to try to influence the challenge -- one person used streetwise in the poker game to try to tip me off on the other person's hand.
* Race matters -- just like in the original rule books, race plays a big part. A dwarven fighter really is different than an elf or eladrin fighter and that's just cool
* The DMG is a great book. They are not afraid to call it as they see it and "expose" the various types of gamers, what they want and how to handle them well in a group.
* Easy for the target market (12+ -- especially on the lower end of the age range) to pick up the game and run with it.
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I was a huge skeptic going into this new editon but I have converted and become an advocate for 4th edition
 Incomplete and overly Simplistic (also Smudges!) June 10, 2008
39 out of 89 found this review helpful
Good:
* Faster combat (depending on class choice)
* Good Artwork
Bad:
*Pages smudge - poor quality printing
* No druid - have to continuously pay for more core books and who knows which one this class will be in?
* Erasure of old cosmology, replaced with simplistic game that resembles video game but way more expensive to support
* Rows upon rows of tables will not draw MMORPG players
* Supplementary online material costs $15/month - the cost for ALL of WoW
* Resused a good deal of art but no savings passed to consumer
* Limited creativity - lots of things you can't do
* Classes feel generic - playing a fighter is like playing a wizard
Good financial deal.... still... just say no... June 14, 2008
39 out of 56 found this review helpful
OK....... I really REALLY REALLY wanted to love this game. To be honest I've been a sucker for every incarnation of DnD that's come out. I liked all of em in their own way. I prebought this one and every 'pre-book' they've put out... We were all so eager for this new incarnation. It read so well. I can't believe this, but this game has actually managed to depress me!! I HAVE played it. Just spent three hours playing, in fact.
When we finished the party reported that they had the distinct feeling that we had just played a board game version of WOW. Now we all LOVE WOW in our gaming group.. but that's NOT what we sat down to play around a table. We saw nothing 'quick' or 'streamlined' about the gaming experience. We moved pieces around a board adhereing to movement rules and 'squares' for this and that in a fashion that reminded me way too much of the old 'Heroes Quest', albeit a complicated version! Were the game mechanics good? Yes. Why did I give it a 'one star'? Because whilst the game is a good miniature warfare game it seemed to rob the flavor of DnD. The character creation was extrememly confined and the selections were limited. Gone was the ability to customize your character to the point that you actually felt like you had something unique. You will feel as if WOC is controlling the direction your character takes. The game DEMANDED a board and game pieces.. I've always felt that DnD's flavor relied on the 'minds eye', which is so much more colorful in my head than staring at plastic pieces on a piece of cardboard. I do realize that the 'original' DnD was just that, a wargame with a fantasy element. But I feel it evolved into so much more... I guess we've 'returned to our roots'... so why do I feel like we climbed back into the primordial ooze?!
A great deal of the time the magic users felt like they were 'hitting the hot button key'. They had one or two actions that they relied on every round to cause the maximum amount of damage. No inovation or imagination. Everything was geared towards 'how does this directly effect combat'.
The DM's guide isn't that bad. Reminds me a LOT of the first edition book. Information on how to be an effective dm, traps, dungeons, and artifacts. Not what 'thirders' would expect, but not bad.
The Monster Manual is awful. A third of the pictures are just rehashed from all the previous Monster Manuals. The book is concerned with stats so you can play your miniature game effectively. Again.... great if your into miniature gaming. The ecology and culture information is virtually non-existant. Make all the arguments you want about this now being in the pervue of the DM.. the honest answer is that WOC is being lazy. You have a vast variety of stats to place against your carefully created stats, but very little flavor to guide you in roleplaying the encounters.
I have read that the streamlined combat will enhance the rolplaying as you'll have more time available.... that was really exciting.. too bad this wasn't the case. Going to miniatures and a combat board, whilst carefully figuring out where your party and the encounter is, everytime combat arose was time consuming. You'll also notice that you'll have to change the map everytime, of course, which is also time consuming.
If you LOVE miniature wargaming. If Warhammer is something you daydream about.... this is the game for you! As a miniature game experience it ranks a three or four...
If you love games that take place in your head fired by limitless imagination then your probably going to be disappointed.
I really feel like power gamers are going to LOVE this game and probably flame me for my remarks. The game is geared towards being 'godlike'. I'm not knocking this. If you love powergaming and twinking then this is DEFFINITLEY the game for you. To each his or her own. You should buy it immediately... and keep DnD fiscally sound enough to perhaps manage an inevitable rewrite that might restore my faith.
Ironically I'll be keeping my set... I think it'll make a great board game for those rare nights when I just wanna run through dungeons killings things and working off frustrations. According to the DMG I don't even need a DM to do this..... Sound like any RPG you ever heard of???? No story teller... no RPG. Just another board wargame.. albeit a pretty good one.
Good day!
 The Good and The Bad June 9, 2008
30 out of 49 found this review helpful
I really wanted to like this edition but I can't get over the fact that some of the 'fixes' to streamline the system either were unneeded or are very limiting. It gives you the feel that it is more of a supplement designed for the D&D Insider, then a stand alone game system.
A few notes about the individual books.
The Players Handbook: Being a new system, with new terminology and definitions, a glossary should have been included. I have spent far too much time paging through the book `double checking' to see if I understood some of the new terms. I enjoyed the power system, it opened play to some fun tactical options and cinematic abilities, but it really neutered the flexibility of spell casters. The skill system is okay at best. Most skills are well defined and are duly compressed, like stealth, but others are out of place, like Dungeoneering, or poorly defined, like Diplomacy. I still can not figure out the need to fix the healing system, and completely dislike the surge idea.
The Monster Manual: My favorite parts of the MM are the new powers and the glossary =). Averaging about two pages per creature and giving differing level examples, the space doesn't feel too wasted, but at the same time there is a distinct feeling you are missing out on a lot of monsters.
The Dungeon Masters Guide: Wow, Ummm... Yeah. I would like to balance the good with the bad in my review but I find it difficult to do with this book. I enjoyed the experience point system, the artwork is nice, and I like the system for traps, but I can honestly tell you I don't think I will ever use the book. I was also very disappointed with the near destruction of the magic items system. I understand the `balance' concept they were trying to achieve, but magic items are one of the core untouchables of the D&D system. I think they forgot the fact that the ultimate balance within the magic item system was the DM =).
Overall I think the system is a great source to `borrow' ideas from to supplement your current 3.5 system, but it doesn't have enough substance to stand on it own.
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