Wizards demonstrate their money-wringing approach again.
|
This book is full of stuff that is either included in other supplements or totally fluffed-up elements that should and could have been included in the Player's Handbook. There never has and never will be a good enough reason to justify the need for a Player's Handbook 2. Wizards are bordering on offensive with their recent batch of accessories, so obvious is the attempt to wring every last drop of cash from loyal gamers.
|
|
|
One of Wizards' worst supplements...
|
OK... I was very, very disappointed with this book. Wizards of the Coast is rapidly descending into being a nothing more than a repackaging/recycling company, one with a fraction of the creativity and vision of its former self and TSR before it. This book is a shining example of WotC's worst traits, which is disappointing because some of their material of the last couple of years is pretty strong.
For the entrance fee, we get four new classes, only two of which are mildly interesting (the knight has been around for so long and in so many forms that its inclusion here seems pointless). And both of the interesting classes, the duskblade and beguiler, are little more than rogue/sorceror and fighter/sorceror mixes respectively, just with the ability to cast an incredibly minor list of spells while wearing armour. Gee, thanks. One could do better with some creativity and, dare I say it, a smattering of house rules.
Chapter 2, "Expanded Classes", is particularly poor. Here we have 37 pages of fluff. None of us needs to pay money for a book that will teach how a Cleric of Pelor should reference his deity in every sentence he utters, nor do we need such a book to tell us what obvious "themes" I can pick to round out the personality of my character.
Chapters 3 and 4 are new spells and feats. Usual fare here.
Wizards are really struggling for new angles to pitch more supplements from, and the only way they can do it is to strip the imagination of out role-playing my extrapolating every possible detail they can think of. If they carry on like that much longer, they might as well play the game for us as well.
Chapter 7 is all about "affiliations", adventuring groups/clans that your PC may hail from. David Noonan should be embarassed. You get stuff like "the Bloodfist Tribe," which is - you guessed it - a wandering half-orc band. There are the Elves of the High Forest, Dragon Island, dwarves who mine deep into the mountain, gnomes who like to make stuff, etc. Again, I return to my gripe about creativity. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of fantasy roleplaying and D&D can create better groups than these to populate a campaign world. They're obviously just included here as filler.
Chapter 8 is more filler, and is basically filled with rules on how to switch your character over from one class to another, for all those indecisive players out there. This section could have been released online as an option for those who want to pursue it.
Overall, what I'm left with thinking about this book is, why was it necessary to publish something called "Player's Handbook 2"? The few useful bits, the new feats, spells, and rules governing teamwork benefits, should have been included in the FIRST Player's Handbook the first time around. Draw your own conclusions...
Wizards of the Coast's D&D 3.5 rules are really a wonder of marketing and I tip my hat to them. They now have approximately 700(!) prestige classes and god knows how many races, spells, monsters, feats and examples of how to make your bard talk scattered throughout dozens of books. There are many fans of D&D that will buy all the books just to see what the new stuff is. My advice to avoid this book, because it's an insult to intelligent gamers like ourselves.
|
|
What D&D sourcebooks *should* be like
|
Although the pre-publication excerpts on the WOTC website looked good it was good word-of-mouth from other buyers that tipped me into buying this book. Word of mouth was right.
The now customary Classes + Feats + Spells + extras section will be familiar to those who own other WOTC D&D sourcebooks.
The four new base classes (Beguiler, Dragon Shaman, Duskblade and Knight) are interesting and characterful variations on existing classes. Many of the feats fill longstanding gaps in the core system and a lot of the new spells are interesting changes from the norm.
The overall quality of this 'expected' content is above the norm.
The real meat of the book comes after the obligatory 'player crunch' section. Teamwork benefits (in effect group feats that require certain skills of characters, but do not cost a valuable feat slot) turn an adventuring group into a *real* act-as-one team. Affiliations (memberships in knightly orders, thieves guilds, mystical colleges, etc.) bring that worldbuilding detail and social context your GM has worked so hard to add to the game out of the background and into immediate play.
Character rebuilding, the controlled, plot-advancing swapping of every facet of a D&D character from feats and skill points up to fundamentals like character race and classes, is also dissected for the confused. What was previously a cause of squabbling and discontent at the gaming table becomes another adventure hook. Regret taking that once roxxorz, but now sub-par feat? Want to adopt a new race template? Fancy retconning a racial or planar substitution level into your character progression? Instead of being stuck with what you have a character can now journey in search of the transformative Gates of Dawn.
The chapter on 'characterisation' will be of little interest to longstanding role-players, but may serve to give new players an insight into how to give their character personal history and depth. Even this, arguably the weakest chapter in the book, is still thought-provoking and worth the time to read.
Production qualities are to WOTC's usual high standard with hardback cover with full colour art throughout. The contents page and index are clear and accurate. The wording of rules is almost legalistic in precision, but much with a much greater clarity of intent.
Is PHB2 worth the money? Only if you play D&D. Then it's worth its' weight in gold!
|
|
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada