D&D
was the first game that I ever played. Back in 1990 my brother asked
me to fill in for a missing player as his group attempted to solve
the mysteries presented in Night of the Walking Dead. Those of you
that have played a campaign with me will not be shocked to hear about
my early run in with Night of the Walking Dead after all, that
adventure usually shows up in some guise in every campaign that I’ve
ever run. My character at the time, Charles, was a heavily armored
warrior that was often out of his league in every arena of his life
except melee. His story is one of duty, betrayal by those he was
loyal to, and ultimately corruption as he sank to the level required
of him by his new lord. All of that is a story for another day
however.
When
I first heard that there was a new edition coming out I was equal
parts excited, relieved, and curious. I have played every version of
the game that was released during my 24 year tenure – AD&D, 2nd
Edition, 3rd
edition, 3.5, 4th
edition, and Pathfinder.
When the playtest was released I jumped on it and guided an
incredibly motley group of heroes through the first stages of an
adventure line that culminated in them largely ignoring the subtle
political threat posed by the yuan-ti, killing a ship full of pirates
on a river dock in broad daylight, and sailing off into the sunset on
said pirate ship. By the time that cycle was finishing our group had
switched back to 2nd
edition because we were
having some nostalgic cravings. One of the beauties of this game is
that the stories of heroic adventure (and misadventure!) are
independent of the rule mechanics through which we form them.
According
to the design team of D&D Next they had a number of stated goals,
some of which I will reiterate here. The first design paradigm that
they laid out was simplicity and elegance in design. Their idea from
the beginning was that a player should be able to quickly generate a
character that has some depth and learn the basic rules of the game
without too much difficulty. Following from this premise was the idea
that adventurers should be single session phenomena where the arch of
the story and action can take place in a few hours of real time
rather than becoming ordeals that last for many sessions. The
stories themselves didn’t change but the mechanics used to tell
those stories were streamlined. The second design paradigm was to
shift the emphasis of the game from solely combat back to a more even
split between Exploration, Roleplaying, and Combat. The third concept
was character balance at all levels of play between the classes. I’ll
go into this a little more below. Finally, and most importantly,
their objective was to appeal to Players from all editions. The
Design Team doesn’t care what edition you play, they just want you
to play. To me, D&D Next resembles 2nd
edition while other people
in my group say it resembles their favorite edition. They tried to
create an edition that anyone will recognize as having elements of
their favorite version and I think they succeeded.
The
first thing that you will notice about the Player’s Handbook is the
hefty price tag. At $50 this PHB is one of the most expensive books
Wizards has ever released. The Player’s Handbook is full of new
artwork (like the great piece on the cover of King Snurre) and contains all of the rules necessary to play more than 12
different character races (Human, Wood Elf, High Elf, Drow Elf, Rock
Gnome, Forest Gnome, Hill Dwarf, Mountain Dwarf, Hairfoot Halfling,
Tallfellow Halfling, Dragonborn, Tiefling, Half-orc) and 12 different
classes (Cleric, Bard, Barbarian, Monk, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard,
Sorcerer, Warlock, Paladin, Ranger, Druid). Each character chooses a
path to specialize in during their progression through their class.
Some characters choose it early such as Clerics devotion to a deity
or a Wizard choosing their school of study. While other will not
focus until later, like the Rogue that becomes an Assassin or a
paladin that choose the path of vengeance. The character paths are
reminiscent of the prestige classes and paragon paths of old.
A
new addition to the core rules of the game is the Background section.
It is this section that makes character generation and early
character development shine. From Kriv’s (dragonborn rogue) over
enjoyment of alcohol to Meeshak’s (human fighter) hatred of nobles
many of the traits that help make those first adventures where you
are still feeling out your characters personality are based in the
background section. This is the part where you find out who your
character was before they embarked on (or had thrust upon them) a
life of adventuring. The power level of characters has been reduced
across the board. This reduction is evident in the spell list where
spells no longer get better every time the character attains a new
level. It can also be seen in attack bonus and saving throws.
Characters are still quite powerful and are now better balanced
between the classes than ever before (Fighters have some neat
abilities that allow them to dominate the ebb and flow of combat) but
there is an element of danger that has been missing from the game for
a while.
If
you have talked to me at any time since we were at the Pittsburgh
Comicon then you have probably heard me talk about how awesome the
new Monster Manual is. The first thing we all notice about Monster
Manual's is the artwork. The art in the new book is a mix between
amazing (beholder), mediocre (most of the demons), and recycled
(umberhulk). I can’t think of any artwork that is purely bad
though. The next thing you’ll notice as you flip through is that it
looks like they included everything! The first night I had the book I
texted all of my usual playing companion that the modrons were back.
Of course that message was autocorrected to “The morons are
back!!!” but the point remains that the book is full of
monsters from the days of yore as well as those that will be familiar
to newer players. For example, there is a chart in the demon section
that explains the classification system used by mortal demonologists.
On that chart Nalfeshnee are listed as Type IV, which is what they
were called a LONG time ago.
A
more in depth analysis will reveal that the layout of the book is
excellent for ease of use. Each page denotes the letter of the
alphabet covered on that page for quick referencing and the monster
statistic blocks themselves are well organized for quickly
referencing during play. Some monsters have Lair traits which provide
details for the influence that those monsters have on the surrounding
world. For example, animals living in the area around the copper
dragon lair sometimes gain the ability to speak (although they never
reveal any information about the dragon). The Monster Manual is the
best gaming purchase I’ve made in a long time.
I
hope that these reviews have been helpful for you. If you are
interested in learning more about the new D&D edition (or just
D&D in general) then you can download a free sample of the rules
from Wizards of the Coast:
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules.
The link will take you to a page where you can download a roughly 100
page version of the Player's Handbook and a roughly 100 page version
of the Monster Manual/Dungeon Master's Guide. Enjoy!
