I am not the kind of person to get advanced copies of anything, much to my chagrin. I’m also on a schedule where I don’t post as much as someone who might be an actual influencer. Still, I thought it worthwhile to offer my perspective on the latest D&D PHB, having lived with it for about a month at this point:
The Intro Teaches You How to Play
One of the best additions to this PHB is that it actually, in the first chapter TEACHES YOU HOW TO PLAY. It explains what a TTRPG is, and how it works. THIS IS AMAZING AND IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE A BOOK THAT DOESN’T DO THIS!
This follows what some of my favorite books have done (shout out to the Dragon Age book from Green Ronin specifically).
Character Creation is Changed, Mostly for the Better
While I don’t like all the changes, I think the new character creation is a much better experience. I can imagine thinking about my character in depth and not being tied to some of the decisions the last 5e PHB did. It gives solid overviews of the choices you make before you make them, not requiring you to flip through all the classes before choosing, but having tables and summary pages to reference for those wanting to create their first character on the fly.
Characters now are a combination of their Class and Origin; Origin is the combination of the background and species (species is now officially the word for what used to be termed “race”). Backgrounds also give your character one of a variety of “origin feats” at level 1; I’ve always thought my characters didn’t feel complete until they had at least one feat, so this is very exciting!
And, this actually still leaves me room to do the kind of work I’m excited to get back to (but put on hold while the new PHB was on its way) for an Origin to include Homeland. But I can post more on that later…
With tables that help you choose a good standard array based on class, choosing description words based on whether you have high or low stats and based on alignment (which is no longer based on race/species), this is a solid way to walk through the process.
Classes
Some classes have new subclasses, like the Path of the World Tree for the Barbarian, but some are just facelifts to old ones. Some are better, some are just tweaked. If there is a deficit to the changes it comes to the classes which used to get their subclass at levels 1 or 2; now all classes get their subclass at level 3. While this might make everything a little simpler and might be a little more fair in some ways, it does mean that some inherent aspects of a character don’t emerge until level 3. If I worship a sun god as a cleric, I don’t look any different than a cleric who worships a love god until then.
One of the best changes to the classes is a layout change: the spells for the spellcasting classes are IN the section for the class. Instead of flipping to the Magic chapter, you can now see all of the spells available to you in one spot.
Another great change? I’m really excited for the weapon mastery traits that weapons now have. A character who is primarily a martial character gains the ability to unlock a feature of their favored weapon so that it does an additional ability. About half of my players got this feature when we switched to this book and it has already lead to some more interesting combat choices!
Art and Layout
It’s hard to go any further in talking about this book without talking about how GORGEOUS it is. There are a few pieces from the older 5e books, but there is a lot more art and it is overwhelmingly NEW. In one respect, this is great for players looking for inspiration, but the thing that stands out to me as a creator is that this means that ARTISTS were actually given what I can only imagine would be the coolest job: creating art for D&D. I picked up the “collector’s” edition from my local shop and I was not disappointed. (I put the collector’s in quotes because it’s actually the same cost– and I highly recommend getting that version if you’re picking up the book.) This feels like an art book as much as it is practical.
Speaking of practical, something that I keep noticing everytime I pick up the book is how well organized it is. For example, the tools section in the equipment chapter now tells you what tools can actually be used for, there’s now a table which tells you how much it is to hire a mage to cast a spell, AND the stat blocks are easier to read than ever. It feels like they had a lot of feedback on organization before and they’ve made some excellent changes.
Worth It
It’s a little lame that they’re not even trying to acknowledge all the changes they’ve made to the system as a 5.5 or Advanced 5e, but that very much is what is here in the new PHB. While there are still a few parts that I might quibble about, I think this system has overall improved. If you’re picking up a TTRPG system, D&D is still one of the most accessible and without a doubt the most popular (meaning you’re more likely to find someone to play with you). This is a book well worth getting.
Thank You For Reading!
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