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A Veteran GM's Preview of the D&D Player's Handbook 2

Posted by Soulskill on from the new-and-improved dept.

Martin Ralya writes "I've had the Player's Handbook 2 for two weeks (it releases on the 17th), and I've written an in-depth preview of the book from a GM's perspective for Gnome Stew. It's billed as 'the most significant expansion' of D&D 4th Edition yet, and that's accurate. The short version: No power creep, no balance problems, and all of the new classes are excellent — even the bard. They'll become part of D&D's lore in nothing flat."

2 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. 2nd edition was great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I learned to play on 2nd edition, and it was great, except for the fact that you had to check on each die roll whether you wanted a high result, or a low result.

    Atk roll high
    Skill Check, low
    saving throw high
    Turning undead???? I still can't remember

    3rd edition simplified all of this, as well as initiative, Players ALWAYS want to roll high.

    A higher AC is always better than a lower AC.

  2. Re:The Power Creep by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The to-hit thing sounds like an interesting point. I used Google to find this forum discussion of it.

    Some people claim that hit rates aren't really that low (people are always trying to optimize, so few people really have "average" characters) and that team cooperation can more than make up for it.

    I have no idea. The only contact I have with 4e has been the Penny Arcade podcasts.