Review Details

D&D 5E RPG: Player's Handbook (Hardcover)

Product Review (submitted on September 30, 2015):

This is probably my favorite edition of D&D yet. Gone are 4e's miniature combat focus and the abusability of 3e/3.5e, 5e is a refreshing journey back to 2e sensibilities while also acknowledging the advancements pen and paper RPGs have made over the years. One of the hall marks of this newest system is the notion of bounded accuracy which is this design notion to keep numbers from bloating and instead uses a system of advantage and disadvantage (roll 2d20, taking higher or lower result respectively). This also helps keep the need for a constant stream of magic items to a minimum that tended to plague higher level play in 4e, making the ones you do get really exciting.

In an attempt to streamline the rules and breath some simplicity back into the game, this edition is plagued at times by muddled wording. The action economy we've grown used to between 3.5/Pathfinder/4e is more or less still there, but the language around is awkward as the writers seem to be trying to acknowledge it's still there. As with any system, there's a ton of debate over certain ambiguous wording of abilities, feats, spells, etc. but this edition does a great job of reinforcing the role of the DM and letting people play the way they want to play.

While the newest edition of D&D is on the pricier side, the book itself is beautiful and you can tell where they can get off on charging a bit more. This is certainly one of the best illustrated rule books I've ever seen.