brentp256's Full Review: Andy Collins and James Wyatt - Dungeons & Dragons ...
The Player’s Handbook: Arcane, Divine, and Martial Heroes is one of the three primary core books for the 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. Released in June of 2008, it represents years of design work and feedback from 3rd edition products to make a better game for 4th edition.
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)is a roleplaying game based on fantasy tropes designed around a pseudo-medieval feel. A roleplaying game is a game of make-believe that has rules to help structure the game. D&D, as a fantasy roleplaying game, allows a group of players to create characters that are mighty warriors, powerful wizards, rogues, and other exciting characters that go on adventures, fight monsters, hunt for treasure, and that have to deal with intrigue, mystery, devils, the undead, and more! As the characters go through adventures, they grow in power and face more powerful and more dangerous foes!
Dungeons & Dragons is run by a person known as the Dungeon Master (DM) who guides the game by playing narrator, judge, and referee while running an adventure and any characters or monsters not in control of the players. Since the game is in control of the DM, anything can happen. The game is only bound by the player’s imaginations and the rule-set is used to judge the outcome of actions.
This edition focuses on the concept of “points-of-light” by framing that game on a world that is between empires—an ancient world of ruins and civilizations long gone, with small kingdoms, cities, and states being the points of light in-between the dark, dangerous, unknown lands. It is a land where magic is everywhere, but not many master its powerful forces. It is a land where the gods can grant powers to their followers, and where monsters beyond our greatest fears can dwell. It is a great setting for a fantasy game!
While it is the DM that creates and runs adventures, it is the players and their characters (PCs—player characters) that are running through the adventure. The Player’s Handbook is the core rulebook that provides everything that a player needs to create a character and begin playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Characters in 4th edition each derive their abilities from what is termed a “power source”. This, the first player’s handbook in a yearly series, focuses on characters that derive their powers from arcane (magical powers), divine (from the gods), and martial (physical) powers.
Cover
The front artwork by Wayne Reynolds depicts two adventurers…a fighter of the new dragonborn race, and a human female wizard. They are standing in a cave, ready to fight. While not my favorite piece of Dungeons & Dragons art, it still does a better job then the 3rd edition jeweled tome covers of conveying what the material is about.
Chapter 1: How to PlayPages 4-11
Chapter 1 is exactly the type of first chapter that a role-playing game (RPG) should have. It discusses what a role-playing game is, what a Dungeons & Dragons game is, how to play, and how to use the core mechanic that makes up the d20 rule-set that the entire game is based on. It does this through well-written sections and evocative artwork that helps you envision the characters and the worlds that are being discussed. Each section nicely walks you through the ideas behind the game. This is the best introductory chapter to an RPG that I have ever read! Nicely done!
The quick explanation role-playing games is very concise and includes a nice, brief history of D&D. This is a nice touch that recognizes the 30-plus years of history behind this game. A few pages are then devoted to explaining the four basic ingredients of a D&D game: player characters, a DM, the adventure, and game books and dice.
The core mechanic of the game takes only a few sentences to describe: Roll a 20-sided dice, add any modifiers, compare to a target to see if you succeed. Basically everything else in the game is based off of the concept. This part of the game was introduced with 3rd edition and has been even more tightly integrated into the rule in 4th edition. The rest of the game is based on exception-based design, which is different from 3rd edition. 3rd edition tried to make uniform rules for how everything worked (kind of simulationist), whereas 4th edition is exception-based design, with a simple set of core rules, and many, many smaller rules that break those rules (exceptions—a more gamist approach to the game.) This design allows 4th edition to create many unique and interesting approaches to characters and monsters that would have been more problematic in 3rd edition.
Chapter 2: Making CharactersPages 12-31
A character is a combination of game statistics and what this edition calls “roleplaying hooks” or things such as a character’s personality, outlook on life, history, etc. Characters are the primary purpose of this book, and this chapter covers character creation, ability scores, roles, roleplaying, making checks, gaining levels, and using the character sheet. It does a nice job of walking you through not only the process of character creation, but some of the thought process behind it that you should pay attention to.
It is nice to see that the main layout of D&D hasn’t changed much in all of the editions: you create a character with six stats (strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma), a race, and a character class. 4th edition has taken the additional step of codifying the role that a character plays (generally) in the game (defender, controller, striker, leader) and further codifies the types of powers and abilities that characters have (attack powers and utility powers). The upshot of all of the changes is that characters feel more logically built, with custom building blocks that can be used in a variety of ways and still be balanced in the game. There appears to be much less that falls in the grey-areas of rules and design and much more that is well-defined in this edition. I like it! Also, by emphasizing the importance of—and giving assistance on—roll-playing, it adds some great advice for newer players to help get them into the experience of Dungeons & Dragons!
Just reading this chapter already had me itching to start creating new characters with an excitement I hadn’t felt since the early 1980’s when I began playing! While being an evolution of the game, it feels brand new and exciting again!
Other highlights:
I love how the way the process of character creation seems more tightly bucketed and codified. This makes the process appear much simpler then in previous edition, even if there are lots of fiddly bits later on. By making the structure easy to understand, the complexity of the rest fits in easily and should be easy to learn! I love it!
I also love the new alignment system! (Alignment has always represented where a character falls on the scales of good/evil and Law/Chaos). It hit me how much better it was, especially as I started to read the entry on the new default gods. It makes so much more sense, now.
I also love how the gods all have purposes that can really aid in how you Role-play. Between the great info on race/class/alignment/god, it feels like there is more Role-playing being encouraged then I can remember in prior editions. There are even sections on how to use personality in the game. I may have the rose-colored glasses on, but the role-playing side seems easier to grasp and teach with this edition.
Chapter 3: Character RacesPages 32-49
Races are the unique creature-types that you can play. Each has special abilities, stats, and role-playing hooks to make each stand out. The races in this book are: human, elf, dwarf, eladrin, tiefling, and dragonborn.
The layout for each race is in the new standard 4e layout, where it almost looks like a card. Colors, symbols, bolding, and brevity make each initial entry really easy to read and reference. Each race then has several pages of explanatory text. A nice addition is three sample characters of each race
New to this edition are the strong, breath-weapon dealing dragonborn. While not to everyone’s taste, they can make a great addition to the game. They are fierce warriors with a cool look.
Each of the races has a stronger niche, with flavor and stats the really make sense. For example, Dwarves are sturdy, hard to push down, hard to move, and are heartier. Their game stats all match this. I really like the total package for each race, and now I want to play races that I never did in prior editions! (Elves, I’m talking to you!). In fact, elves have been split into two, to better represent both archetypes that people have been trying to play over the years: the forest-dwelling elf, and the more magical faeries (eladrin).
Chapter 4: Character ClassesPages 50-175
A character class represents the archetype of abilities that a player character possesses. For example, a wizard has arcane abilities, a fighter is a great melee fighter, a cleric can call upon the powers of the gods, etc.
This chapter focuses on the core classes: cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, warlock, warlord, and wizard. New to this edition is the warlord, a leader-type character that helps other on the battlefield heal, move around, and attack. It is a great class for tactical players!
Classes all go from 1st to 30th level and are given cool new abilities and bonuses at each level. As a character advances in level, he will always feel like he gained a worthwhile benefit—there are no more “dead” levels as in previous editions.
The other largest difference in this edition is the codification of roles. Roles include defender, leader, striker, and controller, which helps define how you should use your character on the battlefield. These roles are only combat related and help allow a group of players balance their characters to be more effective. This is a great idea that really helps build a company of adventurers, and allows the DM to tailor games if needed. For example, you could play with only strikers and defenders, but the DM would probably need to tailor encounters to balance the fact that the adventurers won’t have much healing or battlefield control. As a DM, this makes my life a lot easier—as in the past, balancing was much tougher for me.
The classes call their power from a power source (arcane, martial, and divine) and each has neat powers that they can select to reflect this as they level up.
A major paradigm shift from 3rd edition is that once you select your class at the beginning of the game that really defines your class—there is no more true multi-classing, you will always continue down the path of your class. However, 4th edition is very flexible in that you can take pieces of other classes and you have the paragon paths and epic destinies that will allow you to customize quite a bit. 4th edition encourages you to be what you are…your race…your class…your path…and your destiny.
Replacing the 10,000 or so prestige classes in 3rd edition is the idea of the paragon path and epic destiny. At 10th level, you can choose a paragon path which allows you to continue growth as your primary class, but also allows you to specialize (much like a prestige class did). At 20th level, you choose your ultimate destiny with your epic destiny. This is a path towards your “ultimate fate…as you define it.” The four in the Player’s Handbook are: archmage, deadly trickster, demigod, and eternal seeker.
Basically, characters seem much easier, cleaner, and more definable to me, while still being very customizable. I love it!
Chapter 5: SkillsPages 176-189
The skill system has been nicely simplified from 3rd edition. With only 17 skills, many skills from the old system are now combined and the uses are more varied. My favorite part of the new skills: the game assumes all adventurers have the basics covered in all skills that grow with you through your levels. This means that any adventurer should be able to ride a horse, swim, climb, etc., without worry. Some are better then others (trained = +5 bonus), but a hero shouldn’t have to worry about basic horse riding, or such.
Chapter 6: FeatsPages 190-209
Feats are options that you choose for your character as they level up. Generally feats help improve something your character can already do, as opposed to being a new power. This chapter covers how to choose them, what they are, and how to multi-class with feats. I really like the inclusion of racial feats that make your characters race more important in this edition.
Chapter 7: EquipmentPages 210-255
The equipment chapter includes weapons, armor, shields, adventuring gear, and magical items. This edition does a good job of simplifying and grouping weapons and armor. It is easy to understand and use.
One of the greatest new ideas is that magic items all now have levels, which measures the average level of a character that should use it. Magic items, also are limited by usage, and a character can only use so many daily-use magic items in a day. These changes take a bit of verisimilitude out of the experience, but it is more then made up by a better balanced game. This change does a great job at keeping magic items useful, fun, but not game-breakers (unbalanced) as many are in prior editions.
Luckily, if you choose to have a game that doesn’t have these restrictions, you can easily take them out and ignore the guidelines (assuming balance is less important to your game then world-simulation).
Chapter 8: Adventuring Pages 256-263
This chapter walks the player through the new quest system, encounters, rewards, exploration, and rest and recovery. This is a quick look from the player’s perspective. The Dungeon Master’s Guide has more in-depth information on this.
Chapter 9: Combat Pages 264-295
Combat in 4th edition is quicker per round then 3rd edition and has more rounds. The combats I’ve been in have taken about as long as in 3rd edition, but many more rounds and tons more action has occurred! 4th edition makes combat for a player very tactically interesting, and highly encourage cooperation between players. This is a great benefit! Combat still is like 3rd edition, with rounds, turns, and lots of rolling of the twenty-sided dice (d20). The mechanics for death, healing, and action points have all been changed from 3rd edition into a format that makes for a more cinematic and exciting game!
Chapter 10: RitualsPages 296-315
I love rituals! Rituals are magic that is decoupled from the battlefield. Rituals take time and cost to do, but allow you to travel long distances, see afar, and more. This fixes one of my complaints about all prior editions of D&D: if you played a mage, rarely did you memorize any spells that weren’t combat spells. The game made it difficult to play a utility mage, as combat really needed the combat spells. By separating those types of spells into rituals, the mage no longer has to decide between cool, fun, stuff and cool combat stuff. I love this!
Artwork and Design
The new sharp, clean design of the book makes it easy to find what is needed and is pleasing to the eye. I like how most powers and such are standardized and are formatted as if they were on cards, as I assume that will be an upcoming product. The artwork is great (with apparently a bit of computer-assisting) and rather evocative, if a little dragonborn heavy. Overall, I really like the new look!
Final Thoughts
The 4th edition Player’s Handbook is a must have for any player or DM of 4th edition D&D. It contains all of the rules that a player needs to create a character and begin playing. The game itself feels more like a balanced game that allows everyone (including the DM) to have more fun, but to do this, the feel of the game has changed a bit. I very much enjoy 4th edition and look forward to the first actual campaign that I will be joining in July! This is highly recommended!
__________________________________________________________________
Title: Player’s Handbook: Arcane, Divine, and Martial Heroes
Setting: Generic Dungeons & Dragons
Design: Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins, James Wyatt, Bill Slavicsek, Mike Mearls
Cover Artist: Wayne Reynolds (front), Rob Alexander (back)
Interior Artists: Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai, Matt Cavotta, Eric Deschamps, Wayne England, David Griffith, Ralph Horsley, Howard Lyon, Raven Mimura, Lee Moyer, William O’Connor, Steve Prescott, Dan Scott, Anne Stokes, Franz Vohwinkel, Eva Widermann
Publisher:: Wizards of the Coast
Original Publication Date: June 2008
Type: Hardcover
Item Code: 217367200
ISBN: 978-0-7869-4867-3
Cost: $34.95
Pages: 320
Role Playing & Fantasy - General Games - The first of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game . The Dungeons & Dr...More at Barnes and Noble
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