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320 (Player's Handbook)/224 (Dungeon Master's Guide)/288 (Monster Manual) pages, 2008, $34.95/ea
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Core Handbooks
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17
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Character Generation
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17
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Game Rules
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18
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Intelligibility
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16
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Overall
17
Solid Hit
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Review Scoring
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With Dungeons and Dragons, 4th Edition Wizards of the
Coast's game designers set out create a game that was easier to play, easier to teach,
and more attractive to new players. The end result might not be perfect, but it meets
those design goals.
The graphic elements of all three core rulebooks have been upgraded to the level one
would expect to find in a graphic novel or computer game. All three books are bursting
with color, from vivid illustrations to the intelligent use of color in order to make reading
power entries quick and pain-free. Page and a half illustrations frequently grace
the pages, to the point that some might complain they are there simply to increase the
page count. Even pages that are lacking in illustrations are easy on the eyes, with
the text placed on white backgrounds and broken up in easy to read chunks.
Many steps were taken to make the game easier to play, and for the most part these
all succeed. The races and classes are presented succinctly, with information on the
benefits and character roles best suited for each and powers detailed with the race or
class entry. Despite earlier insistance that races like the Gnome and Drow have been
relagated to "monster only status"; the Monster Manual does provide information on how
to generate player characters in those and 14 other races. The books spell out the
core mechanic in a manner easy to understand, but occasionally there are references
to game mechanics that are either explained several pages (or chapters) later, or
reference a page in another book with an incomplete reference. A main example of this
is how damage from powers (martial attacks and arcane or divine spells, with others to
be detailed in future supplements) is described. The mechanic is listed as "X[W]+..."
where X is a positive number and the [W] refers to the damage dice of the weapon the
player character is wielding. Every attack power with the weapon keyword makes use of
this notation, but the [W] notation is not explained until page 276 of the Player's Handbook,
after it has been used over 100 times.
To help new and old dungeon master's alike, the Dungeon Master's Guide focuses
heavily on providing tips, tricks, and solid advice on how to be a good dungeon
master. James Wyatt, the author, has expressed before his concerns and personal
trepidation about the first time he was the dungeon master for his co-workers. It
seems he has set allaying these fears of other dungeon masters as his number one
goal for the book, and has come through with flying colors. The entire book is
very accessible to new dungeon masters, but more importantly it is very helpful. The
Dungeon Master's Guide is the shortest of the three core books, but it also
seems like the one that comes closest to meeting all the goals for 4th Edition. The
Monster Manual has been redesigned as well, no longer presenting multiple
monsters per page, but the reorganizing of the monsters has resulted in some odd quirks.
Specifically, the classification of some monsters has changed from previous
verisons, resulting in things such as the Tarrasque appearing under "A" with all the
other Abominations. With the improved and easy to read monster stat blocks, however,
these quirks are mostly overlooked.
For players of the previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons, picking up the
new edition will not be a monumental task. While a large number of changes have
been made to the game, they mostly lie in the character generation and powers area, as
the core mechanic of the d20 remains in place. Some returning players may find some
changes annoying, such as the restriction on what languages a first level character can learn and
the fact that there are no longer penalties for choosing a fantasy race (all races but
Human get a +2 bonus to two abilities). Another big change is the fact that if a
Ritual (either Divine or Arcane magic that is complex and cannot be used in encounters)
has been placed on a scroll, anyone can finish the steps needed to complete the Ritual,
regardless of whether or not they hail from a class with magical training. Along with
going to 30 levels standard, a massive overhaul to the level up system results in
player characters gaining many more ability score enhancements (a total of 28 points)
over the course of those 30 levels than in previous editions. This, and some other
changes that seem to have been made simply because changes were being made, are
sure to further angry some purists who have been complaining for a long time that each
subsequent edition of Dungeons and Dragons has made the game too easy.
In the grander scheme of things, these changes are largely irrelevant for the player.
What remains to be seen is whether or not the 4th Edition is embraced as well as 3rd and
3.5 were especially by third parties. Several issues have been raised about the new GSL
which replaces the OGL that existed with those previous editions, but so far major
third party publishers have remained quiet as to what extent they will support the new
edition.
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