Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook PDF

Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook: Core Rulebook 1, Vol. 3.5 Hardcover – July 1, 2003
Author: Wizards Team ID: 0786928867

.com Review

This Revised Edition (also called 3.5) of one-third of the Dungeons & Dragons trinity of core rulebooks (the other two being The Dungeon Master’s Guide and The Monster Manual) contains errata, rules updates, and outright changes to the already-published Third Edition rules. The majority of changes are made in a quest for the holy grail of game rules: balance. To prevent boredom and enable creative choices, no single ability, spell, character class, or weapon should have an overwhelming advantage over another. So what has changed?

• The spells Harm, Heal, and Haste have been toned down. Other spells have been adjusted or renamed.
• Weapons are classified by the Size of the intended wielder, not the size of the individual weapons. A noteworthy effect of this new weapon size system is that Small characters can wield small-size greatswords, longswords, longspears (with reach), and other two-handed weapons.
• Classes have been tweaked. Bards and rangers received the most changes.
• New feats have been added (some original, some from the builder books), and some feats have been altered (a Power Attack now gives double benefit for two-handed weapons).
• Redundant skills have been rolled into one (such as sense motive and read lips) while others have been renamed (such as “wilderness lore” becoming “survival”). Skill synergies have been expanded and knowledge skills now include appropriate monster lore.

In addition to outright rules changes and tweaks, much of the core rule content has been clarified and updated with 3E errata. The combat section, in particular, is organized much better. Even the dreaded grapple rules are now relatively clear. A much-appreciated import from the D&D Miniatures game are new and simple rules for cover and line of sight, as well as clear photographic illustrations of the concepts of facing, attacks of opportunity, and reach.

All in all, 3.5 is a welcome update. The typographical errors are forgivable, given the extent of the update. The new options available to players (in the form of new class features and feats) make the play experience more fun. Veterans will enjoy re-learning the game they love and exploring all the new character possibilities. Perhaps more importantly, they’ll find that introducing new gamers to the admittedly formidable D&D ruleset is easier with 3.5 than it was with 3E–call it a +2 circumstance bonus. –Mike Fehlauer

Hardcover: 320 pagesPublisher: Wizards of the Coast; 3.5 edition (July 1, 2003)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0786928867ISBN-13: 978-0786928866 Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.8 x 11 inches Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds Best Sellers Rank: #37,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #22 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Gaming > Dungeons & Dragons
My gaming group has switched to edition 3.5 mainly becuase we started adding new players, and the 3.0 books were no longer available. Also, I’d been rough on my 3.0 books and they were falling apart. It was a matter of convenience.
It is not a perfect system. As a matter of fact, it’s only margionally "better" than the 3.0 game it’s replaced. It is not a new edition – that will be D&D 4.0. But it’s changed more than a simple errata sheet could explain, so it’s not really 3.0 any more either.
It probably did not need to be made.
That said, I think some of the reviews here have been rather unfair.
There’s the "I’ve been playing D&D since the 70’s and this sucks" reviews. Version 3.x is a different game. Get over it. You can still play D&D the way you like – nobody’s stopping you. Dust off your old rulebooks and have yourself a good time. It’s awefully childish complaining that the new version of the game isn’t the game you fell in love with 25 years ago. Of course it isn’t! When you complain that the things you loved about D&D have changed, you don’t come off as a seasoned, intelligent role-player, you come off as a whiney old fogey pining for the "good ol’ days."
There’s the "how come they have to make everything balanced?" reviews. D&D has never made sense. No matter what edition you played, if you were a God and set up a world that followed the D&D rules, it would fall into chaos within weeks becuase things don’t make sense. Why compain that wizards and fighters are now pretty close to each other in terms of power? Why does it "make sense" to do it some other way? This is, ultimately, a game, not some sort of simulation. All the players around the table deserve to have equal amounts of fun.
I’ve heard all the backlash before I got a chance to review this. I heard that this update was not only not needed, but an ill concieved attempt just to boost Wizard’s profits for the year. I’ve heard numerous people describe the evils of the D20 system. I heard it all, and needless to say, I feel that critism was unfounded.
The Player’s Handbook 3.5 does a fixes many of the problems of the original book. Wizards of the Coast came up with a much overdue and spectacular idea a few years ago when they opened up their game mechanics wth the open gaming license making source books for any type of character (gladiators, necromancers, and even shamans) easy to find, and it all fit together. 3rd edtion was the grandaddy that started it, and it gets an overhall.
Most notably, they change 3 of the classes. The Bard finally gets more skill points (6) so that he can more resemble the "Jack of all Trades" than a low rent, underpowered mage/theif that nobody wanted to play.
The Ranger, perhaps one of the most loved classes in First and Second Edition D and D was nearly unplayable in 3rd edition (past 1st level anyway.) This problem is fixed, with choices in specialization with the bow or two weapon fighting, more skill points, and increases in power more in line with the other classes. (No more playing for one favored enemy and a few cantrips you can cast at 8 level.)
The Monks are no longer cookie cutters of each other, as you have choices to make along the way so that you can do things that not every other monk you’d meet would be able to do.
Oh, by the way, now every race that has a special weapon (Dwarven Warhaxe) can fight with it without a feat. What an idea!!
First things first: If you already have Third Edition, you probably don’t need this book unless you’re the Dungeon Master. The material is by and large similar enough to 3.0 that you can continue using your PHB and trust your DM to advise you of any important changes.
If you don’t have 3e, though, or if you’re a DM, this is the most usable, accessible, thoroughly playtested version of D&D yet. 3.5 came out of tons of feedback WotC received on 3rd edition, particularly through the RPGA’s Living Greyhawk (basically a huge international multi-party campaign for D&D). It seems that there were a lot of play-balance issues that were not obvious during in-house development, but quickly emerged in the face of thousands of min-maxers trying to game the system. Some things were too strong, others too weak, etc., for the game to be as fun as it could have been.
3.5 is an attempt to fix those imbalances, as well as make everything just a little easier for the players and the DM. Examples:
–Skills have been condensed, so your hard-earned skill points go farther
–Rules for concealment and cover have been simplified. No longer does the DM have to try to figure out whether that rogue sniper has three-quarters’ cover or only half cover.
–Spells that were being rampantly abused, such as haste, were doctored to fit the original design intent — no more hasted sorcerers walloping your party with two fireballs per round.
Some things were just altered so they made more *sense*. For example, 3rd edition rangers all had Two-Weapon Fighting, period. But the archetypal rangers, LOTR’s Aragorn and Legolas, were known far more for their archery skills than for two-weapon fighting (Legs’ tricky knife work in the movie version notwithstanding).
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