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| #1kev777Aug 14, 2014 8:36:27 | With only a cursory review here are my initial thoughts on the PHB.
1. The book looks nice and it has some nice art. I was expecting the book to be full of art that I hated (like the soldier and warlock pictures), but that isn't he case. The internal art that was previewed was horrible compared everything else that's in the PHB. I'd give the art a C+.
2. I like the clean design because it's easy to read and it's void of visual garbage. What I'm not impressed with is the the lack of page header and footer information. This makes the book less functional as a game manual. I think the PHB is about as friendly to flip through as a Tolkien novel. It should be more functional. For example, I shouldn't have to read the contents of the page to know that I'm looking at spells that start with the letter "S". The same is true for the classes and backgrounds. That information should be in the header/footer of each page. In addition, the small faded footer font makes the book even more difficult to use.
3. I'm very disapointed with the Battlemaster. It looks like they gave the battlemaster a bunch of basic combat actions that all characters should have access to. Unlike some of the playtest packages, the combat section is completely void of these basic actions. I'm not sure I'll be able to play with the battlemaster since it has a number of 4e warlord style powers that I'm just not interested in. Now, I'm sure there are people who will like the Battlemaster and that's fine, but the fact that its maneuvers are used by other classes and those maneuvers are not available as basic combat actions really irks me the wrong way. This does not make the game very modular at all.
4. I noticed that the Transmuter can Raise Dead. IMO, that's odd since traditional D&D places that spell in the cleric, druid, or necromancer's hand.
5. I'm very upset that the game does not have the number of optional rules I was expecting in the PHB. In fact, I'd like to see less images and more optional rules. I also think that some optional rules are missing. Apparently it's perfectly fine to include optional encumbrance and size rules, but not optional resting rules. IMO, these rules should be in the PHB and not in the DMG. The designers know that healing was something that greatly divided the community and yet they chose to pick the "one true way" for the PHB. Players reading the PHB, are not even notified that the DM might be using optional resting rules. I think that sets a very bad precedent for the game. It makes some playstyles feel left out and excluded. Because of this, I feel that the game is NOT the game for me until the DMG is out, and even then I'm not sure what optional rules will be in the DMG.
6. I play with a few players who are not going to be impressed with the simplicity of this game as presented in the PHB. Personaly, I don't mind the game being simple, but the PHB is certainly not akin to "Advanced" Dungeons and Dragons. The PHB IS basic D&D. Of course, the designers could have added in more complexity by way of optional rules in the PHB, but as I stated above they failed in that regard.
Now, I'm not completely disapointed about this PHB, there are somethings I noticed that I liked. For example, I liked the fact that when I opened the book toowards the middle I was still fliping through character stuff. The book is certainly jamed packed full of character creation information. In fact, the spells really are at the back of the book this time, which is great. I also loved all the role playing options that have been included.
Even with all things I like about this book, that I haven't mentioned, I still find myself asking what this book offers me that isn't already in the free basic rules? Other than having a shiny new book for my collection, I'm not seeing what would gain from purchasing it. I could order it online today for $30 (including free shipping) and it would arrive tomorrow, but I'm not convinced.
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