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| Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Wizards Rpg Team
Brand: Wizards of the Coast
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $18.39
You Save: $16.56 (47%)
New (47) Used (14) from $18.39
Avg. Customer Rating:  195 reviews
Sales Rank: 2342
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 4th
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 0786948671
Dewey Decimal Number: 793
EAN: 9780786948673
ASIN: 0786948671
Publication Date: June 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 One Huge Leap Backwards in RPGs June 6, 2008
60 out of 117 found this review helpful
I have been playing DND since good ole first edition and every one since up to nad including 3.5...so there was some excitement about the new system. In terms of pure roleplaying this new edition was going to either rock or blow chunks as it was quite different. I am reviewing the system in the terms of the roleplaying aspect(What DND is supposed to be) and not as any other game type. The end result....yup you guessed it...a huge step backwards.
Gone is the incredible detail of characters that is the trademark of DND and in place is now AT WILL POWERS...or more simply...DND for Dummies. The true flavor of being a character is gone and now there are powers that remind you of playing a video game or an even better comparison...a Miniatures game! The Monster Manual shows the creature(The artwork is the one huge plus in this edition, but I dont buy games just for art) and the stats...which have symbols....very much like the minis game. The feel is hack and slash and the idea that you add half your level to attack...crazy no matter the class. I do like that there are 30 levels now, but to breadk them up into 3 tiers...no need.
All in all our gaming group is staying with 3.5 and we will be fine with that...sad really....this is the first DND system we will not switch to. Different can be good, not just this edition. Too bad WOC listened to the online gamers instead of the true source of money (The Pure PRGers).
As a side note, If I were going to rate this system as part of a minis game with the touch of roleplaying thrown on top of it....I think it is quite good. Similar to Battletech minis and adding the Mechwarrior RPG on top of it. It is simple and has clear and limited choices for advancement...all good for minis games....not RPGs.
Any hope of a real RPG...say 4.5?
could have been a lot better June 7, 2008
48 out of 90 found this review helpful
OK, look, this product has been in development for about two years now. So while we're all spending oodles of cash on 3.5 rulebooks, Wizards is working on 4.0. That was insulting. To make it worse, this new set of rules is just a MMORPG waiting to happen.
First of all, where did the character classes go?!? No barbarian, no bard, no druid, no monk, no sorcerer. Huh?!? I can forgive the omission of the bard, but the monk and barbarian and druid and sorcerer?!? There went almost all of my favourite character classes. Gnomes? Gone. Half-orcs, they're gone as well. Worse? NONE of the races have any penalties. What happened to playing an elf knowing you'd take a constitution hit? Nope, not any more! Add +2 to Dex and Intelligence, but no penalties. Pure power-gaming.
The rules are totally off the wall. I spend way too much time trying to decipher how to level a character up, figuring out BAB, saves, etc. 3/3.5 had it perfect. Each class had great strengths and weaknesses, this ruleset is just ungainly. This is above figuring out AC and HP, all of which is practically done for you.
Alignment? GONE. I have been gaming for 25 years, and always had alignment. I'm on the fence about it being gone as it gives players a bit more room to maneuver, but I think they needed to flesh the section out a bit more to make the game more newb-friendly.
Spells? GONE. All those neat little books you got to get your spells together? Toss 'em. Worse, half the spells have become rituals, and a slew of good spells just disappeared! Half the challenge of playing a spellcaster was finding the right spells and sometimes giving up a great spell for a necessary spell. Now, not a problem! Who needs detect magic; it's a skill now! Divination? Moved right into rituals. What a disaster.
The whole system is basically "Diablo" by Blizzard meets "The Book of the Nine Swords" by Wizards of the Coast. A lot of people have said that the new changes in regards to abilities, rituals, etc. will make the game less dull. I disagree. It's too frustrating to be of any fun. And of course, the rules include retraining and allowances to swap abilities, because we all know the set this game is geared to hates feeling constrained by practical rules and tough decision-making.
I will give the developers credit for improving the skills and feats in terms of combining various ones; for example, no one takes Listen but not Spot, and they've been combined. These little things do not make up for the problems, however.
Basically, Wizards has now embraced munchkinism and hack and slash. If you want to role play, this is probably NOT the ruleset for you. If you just wanna throw some dice around and move your miniatures across a map full of squares, this is your rule set.
I remember the original DnD box set; I played it! I played 1.0. I played (and hated) 2.0. Fell in love with 3.0 and 3.5. This one? Not loving it.
I suspect Wizards will be back to the drawing board within three years preparing version 5.0. Hopefully it will be better than this.
 seems like a real step backwards and more complex June 6, 2008
46 out of 84 found this review helpful
I was quite excited for 4th edition but am now hoping my group will stay with 3.5. This isn't an update, its a whole new game which changes everything and makes it seemingly much more complex. Now I really don't want to be a negative force here, but it just seems like an abandonment of so much we have come to know. In all honest, I have not yet played this game only read the new PHB. I've played D&D since the 80s and had stopped for 10 years before 3.5 I had no trouble switching into 3.5 and learning the new rules. Everything was familiar, the spells were the same. Just had to learn about skills and feats. This seems like it was created by people who play too many video games and abandons the old spells and basic things which we know how to play with. The entire "powers" system with daily, at will, and utility powers seems directly from videogames and makes your D&D character into something seemingly very complex and yet overpowered. One of the beautiful things about the previous editions is that 1st level characters are vulnerable and have very few abilities and could die pretty easily. You played them with care and savored their development. These really seem like complex videogame characters which change the whole game for the worse. I am very disappointed.
Healing also seems radically changed with all characters seemingly able to heal themselves once during an encounter and quite a bit afterwards. Clerics no longer seem necessary in a party. Some may see this as an improvement, but I used to play a cleric and its nice to have that needed, defined role.
Also, Wizards just came out with the Spell Compendium, which many of us bought as an excellent conglomeration of all previous spells. Thats all thrown out here too. Just seems like a money making venture that ruins the game.
I hope that there are many who will enjoy this new seemingly more video-game oriented version, but I hope my group will stick to the more familiar and Tolkienesque 3.5
Makes less sense, bad for role playing. June 8, 2008
45 out of 83 found this review helpful
This book gets rid of all the things that role-play oriented folks like me enjoy.
For example: while role-playing a combat, I found my character yelling over to a commoner: "Use your healing serge while I hold them off!"
That instantly struck me as the stupidest thing any of my PCs ever said, because no one in real life or even a fantasy movie would say that. This game is cheese and stupidly rolled up in a videogame style burrito and served with an extra portion of combat, hold the role-playing.
I miss a lot from 3.5. For example, crits merely do max damage. With a d4, that's nothing! My 3.5 barbarian does 1d12+48 (power attacking) and thus when it critted, that would be exciting and the whole table took notice! Now, no one cares and the fear of the dark cloaked scythe wielder is gone.
I do like the fact that level 1 PCs have some staying power, but they took it too far. Our 5 level 1 PCs laid waste to a large dragon, doing over 200hp to take it down! That's absurd and destroys the spirit of the game as I know it: where dragons are feared and respected because they eat level one PCs for breakfast.
It also seems the lines between the classes are very blurred and backwards in MANY ways.
For example: we could tell that the dragon was just holding on by a thread, so I cast a magic missile (which used to guarantee SOME damage), but like the last 4 magic missiles I cast, I couldn't hit the reflex-armor class of the dragon (no damage). But the fighter guy went right after me and MISSED with his sword, BUT because of his ability, even a miss lets him do 3 points of damage and HE kills the dragon WITHOUT hitting it!!!!!!
Other examples include the fact that wizards attack as well as warriors and they seem to take-out magical traps better than rogues. My wizard actually was the primary healer in the dragon battle as it seems when a PC goes negative, I could restore them to 25% of total health with a skill check of only 10 (which triggers a healing serge). I did this for all the PCs during the battle at some point as my ability to magic missile AT WILL had no effect in the combat.
Roles are so blurred now I truly felt like it was not D&D, but some other off-shoot, look-a-like boardgame.
I never really liked the mass-multi-player games so I played D&D and other RPGs (like Shadowrun). This game feels so much like that sort of computer cheese that I'd rather not play it.
Bottom line: As a gamer of over 20yrs, I'm really disappointed as to where Hasbro has taken this game.
 More Balanced, More Mainstream, More Fun June 6, 2008
44 out of 68 found this review helpful
As has always been the case in the past 30 years, you'd do best to consider what you and your gaming group like to play before you commit fully to any particular game system. Some games reward detailed simulationist/tactical play and some favor looser, quicker play with an emphasis on story. And some, like D&D 4th Edition, fall right in the middle.
From my perspective, as a 20-year veteran of RPGs and D&D through every major edition, the new 4th Edition rules strike a careful and excellent balance between battlemap-and-minis tactical play, and storytelling RP. Due to this careful, middle-of-the-road balance, it's no surprise that there's been resistance by players on the far ends of the RPG "style" spectrum.
4th Edition is, to be certain, a more mainstream game; it's easier to get new players interested in it, it has compelling character choices all the way through 30th level, and it gives DMs (and Wizards of the Coast) more latitude in developing interesting monsters, powers, NPCs, and stories.
This last bit is, I think, the new edition's greatest strength. The new philosophy of design, while it may not satisfy some groups, can provide the freedom necessary to build truly heroic tales with characters that feel more personal for each player at the table.
Preview games I've already run have got my normal gaming group super-psyched about the new system. I've got players building backstories and poring over their brand-new PHBs, who never were as interested in their characters' stories in our 3e campaigns. I consider that a clear mark of 4e success.
Many of the things complained about by other reviewers could very well be valid, depending on what you liked about previous editions. But if you found that in your 3e games, you and/or other players often made the same choices, memorized the same spells, and played your characters the same way every time, you may find that 4th edition has removed a lot of that tedium and left you with the core fun that matters and emphasized the kinds of choices and options that make every character unique and interesting.
My final take:
It's up to you and the others around your kitchen table to make the game session fun... no amount of books or rules will do that for you. If you have a good DM and like a balance of story, RP, and combat, 4th Edition does a better job than any previous edition of enabling that.
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