I will just put this here for good measure :P
With that little tangent and digression out of the way, let's begin working our way through the books one at a time!
Booke the First: Player's Handbook
Let me first begin with the wonderful cover-art direction that was taken for not only this book but they other two. I simply love it. Don't get me wrong, I also loved the very simplistic stylings of 3/3.5, but there is something about having an image just thrusted into your eye sockets like this. It is the best form of eye candy plain and simple. Plus, we have moved away from the comic book stylings of 4E (not entirely though, as I will state later).
I will also place the statement here that, much like I am sure many of you have, I have watched Noah Antwiler's (aka the Spoony One) lambasting 5E in the most harsh ways possible, stating that the edition coddles players and doesn't describe shit. He also said the book smelled to, which, I will signal boost. My book reeked to be honest, and the binding is utter garbage. I'm so scared one day I am going to open this book and the pages are going to escape faster a little coat on a fat guy (or is it fat guy in a little coat). These things are minor and now my PHB smells like the rest of my room, for the most part, but still, legit things to complain about, especially with the binding. I heard that they allow you to return the book for one with better binding, but I think I might end up trying to preserve my copy for as long as humanly possible.
And now comes the point that I completely disagree with Spoony as I am oft to do when it comes to his movie reviews (still watch/read them, he is, after all, a very funny guy) and tell you about how this book is AWESOME! I just love how many options they give you with character creation right from the get-go. Turn to the Dwarf page, and you get Dwarven sub-races to play, they do this for all the races. Turn to the Fighter page, and you get awesome paths you can take your fighter (fighters can now do more than lift things up and put them down), it's like the Unearthed Arcana had a baby with the 3.5 PHB and this was it! Go back to races, look at the Halfling page and...... OH MY GODS!
KILL IT, KILL IT WITH FIRE!
What in Baator is this?!? Nothing inside the PHB whatsoever describes Halflings as "Goldeneye 007 Big-Head Mode but in D&D" monstrosities. Nope, the art simply just hates you and everything you stand for Halfling players. Back in 3/3.5E, Lidda the Halfling Rogue was, admitedly, fap material for me. NOT ANYMORE! While we are on art, let's talk about the weirdly dueling art styles of this edition. We have a lot of the old, smooth, classical art of 2E and 3/3.5E, nice beautiful imagery. Then, on another page, we get this 4E comic book style that is in your face, bold, and meant to draw the eyes of the MMO crowd, as well as anyone else. The art isn't bad at all, all the art is good, but can we please pick one style please? This would be like having a Superman comic but with different art on every panel. Pop-art on one, Japanese Anime on another. It's actually really distracting in a way.
Getting back to the myriad of options you are given, every character will feel fresh and new. Feats can now be chosen instead of a stat boost, and these feats are much more eye-popping than they were before, changing up how one plays a character. Again, this is D&D how you want it! With backgrounds to add to your characters, the customability is endless. The big goal was to make each class do more at all stages of play, Wizards can contribute more in the early game, and Fighters in the end game, and so on. Does Linear Fighters/Quadratic Wizards still come into play? It does, it is an unavoidable problem within the D&D system, but at least it seems to be less noticeable and not as wide a gap is formed as there was in 3/3.5E. Now play is more about strategy and working as a team instead of having the Wizard carry the party (sometimes literally).
I will state right now as part of my closing that everything in this edition flows together. there is no detriment to getting all three core books at all. This has become D&D as you like it. I once again refer back to Spoony's statement about this edition coddling players. Well, there are options within this book, as well as in the Dungeon Master's Guide that can change that and make the game more brutal and make the players use their heads more. I for one would not want to coddle my players. Sure, not every quest is Tomb of Horrors, but if they want to walk through a swamp with no protection, that is their problem.
Next Week: Monster Manual!
