Rules of the Game Books

Of the three core rulebooks to receive an update in 2003, the Dungeon Master's Guide serves as the best argument that the 3rd edition needed a revision. The original guide, while containing some useful DMing advice, was poorly laid out and contained very little useful information to people who had experienced role-playing games before (and, for that matter, not enough useful information to people who hadn't). This revision, while far from perfect, is a definite upgrade from the original. The layout is more coherent, the chapter on world-building is specifically quite useful, and a number of useful variant and expanded rules are scattered throughout the book. Here you'll find details of other planes of existence, of new magic items, and of rules for epic-level characters, just for starters. Additionally, there's plenty of good advice for novice and experienced DMs alike, as well as a number of side bars that not only explain why a certain rule is written the way it is, but variants to expand the game beyond its core confines.

Not all of the book is a welcome update, however. The epic-level rules are very limited, and require the use of the Epic Level Handbook to really be useful. The NPCs section has become more generic and therefore less useful to someone who needs a quick character on the fly. Finally, while the manifold of character options discussed are useful, most of the prestige classes that have been added in the revision are dull a flavorless, mostly serving only as a poor fix to the multiclassing rules. In the case of the epic rules and prestige classes, it's a no-harm, no-foul situation; those rules weren't in the original version, and therefore are by default an added perk of the revision. In the case of the NPCs section, the revision actually made things worse, not better.

Nonetheless, the 3.5 revision of the Dungeon Master's Guide makes this version of the guide the best one that we've seen in almost 30 years. Barring the original DM's Guide by Gary Gygax, which is famous as a role-playing bible regardless of the actual edition played, this version of the book provides the most comprehensive breakdown of what it means to be a Dungeon Master and how you can improve your games for everyone. Even if you still hold a grudge against Wizards of the Coast for their poor decision to revise the rules so quickly after the release of a new edition, this version of the Dungeon Master's Guide is such an improvement over the last that it is worth a look.

Everything was here faster than all other orders and in great shape!!!

Pros

* Increased detail in the Adventure's section. Encounter charts, for example.

* The inclusion of a section on the planes. While this has little use for those who own Manual of the Planes, it considerably opens up the options to d20 companies.

* Epic Level rules, while simple, open up characters above 20th level to other game designers.

* Many additional prestige classes. While most of these are published elsewhere, their inclusion here (and therefore in the SRD) means that game designers can now include arch mages and duelists (to name two examples) in their d20 products.

* Many great changes in the magic items department. They gave Adamantium a purpose, finally, made certain magical properties effect only the price of an item, not its overall plus. They fixed the price of skill bonus items, as well.

* Inclusion of templates at the back of the book allow for more ease of play, were miniatures are involved.

Cons

I have nothing bad to say about this book.

My boyfriend's birthday was coming up and instead of just getting him a steak dinner and some electronic device, I decided to get him something that was a little more exciting. DM's Guide. He wants to start a game this summer and this is a must so I bought him a couple books and we are on our way. Nothing says I love you and I want to be with you a long time than a Dungeons & Dragons book.

(plus it arrived the next day -it was great)

This is a great supplement for the DM. It gives you loads of great information in a clear manner. I really like the way this book is organised, it is quite intuitive. The re-vamp of Magic Items is a great improvement, as well as the introduction of Prestige Classes. My group LOVES prestige classes, maybe a little too much!

Overall if you want to introduce you group to the wonderful world of D&D 3.5 pick up this book plus the Player's Handbook 3.5 and you will find them both clear and easy to read.

Konichiwa.

I've been playing DnD for about three years now and most of the time I played the regular simple setting. My friends and I played also Forgotten Realms and then I bought Oriental Adventures 3rd edition.

Personally, I enjoy watching old kung fu and samurai movies so that was another reason to buy this book.

At this time, I am Dm-ing a story set in Rokugan and to anyone that will try that out I recommend watching James Clavell's Shogun, The Seven Samurai, Rashomon and reading Usagi Yojimbo,a comic book that will warm you up for this excellent setting.

Anyhow, I recommend this rulebook, but if you're sceptical, check out the PDF version. Then you'll know what I'm talking about.

I once had a copy of the AD&D 1st Edition Oriental Adventures, which I later sold. Later I wanted the information again, and I purchased this.

Much like the 3.X core books, Oriental Adventures is too intertwined with a particular setting, when it should be a rules variant. That is not to say that I don't like some of the information from Lot5R/Rokugan, only that there is too much of it.

Given that, it was able to give a Japanese flavor with some of the races, and the majority of the classes. I like the takes on old races I liked, and even the Nezumi and Vanara are interesting. Despite the connection with the Lot5R/Rokugan setting, I like the idea of the Shadowlands Taint.

In all, I'm pretty satisfied.

The long-awaited revision of the classic "Oriental Adventures" book (I once had the original copy, then foolishly sold it), the latest Oriental Adventures version is a definite thumbs-up.

Players are given new races, character and prestige classes, skills, feats and spells. For those wanting a preprepared campaign, a map of the Japanese-oriented land of Rokugan is included.

If you liked the first Oriental Adventures, you will definitely like the second.

As for the price - who cares? It's only money, and you only live once!!!

Awww yeah, now that's what I'm talking bout. Oriental Adventures rules... one of the better books ever made. Now you can be a ninja and/or a Samurai, and when you're being one of these classes as a player character, you can say things like "You dishonor me...!" before you roll your D20 sided dice for your attack.
But, perhaps if AD&D wanted to be more politically correct, they might consider changing the name of the book from the slightly insulting 'Oriental Adventures' to the much more PC 'Asian Adventures'. LOL. Buy this one.

Of course, it would help if you were knowledgeable about the L5R thing. I am not so some of this detial is allot to remember! But it is worthwhile. Next time your regualr group is getting defeated by the bad guys, don't kill or capture...Do what I did, send them to Rokugan! Great fun was had by all as the group struggled to find their way home.

Interesting, but not as useful as I'd anticipated. Good basic descriptions of different armor and weapons. Would have liked more on the wonderous items and non armor, no weapon items.

I had been searching for this book for a while, so when I finally acquired it, I was looking forward to making the re-acquaintance with this accessory. On reading the guide more thoroughly I was both impressed and disappointed. Impressed by the comprehensive history, more comprehensive barding coverage, addition of detail, and expansion of the often dubious area of spear/pikes & damage they inflict. However, once the euphoria of looking in these areas and descriptions of weapons and arms, the document disappointed as a whole. It had little that would add practical elements to adventuring, and would probably only stand one or two thorough reads, weapon summary excluded, and that alone does not make for a lasting document. A great idea, but could have been advanced further then it has been in this production.

I was a bit suprised becose of the babble about every thing. Every armor has one entire page of text and another page for a drawing, still it adds a few weapons that I was suprised that were not in the Player's handbook, for an example Bolas and Caltrops

Simply stated: If you want to play this game, you need to have this book. There's no way to do the game any justice without (You could always borrow a friend's, but you will eventually need to get one of your own if you are a serious player).

this guide doesn't even have all the weapons in the players handbook. It mentions the ability of some weapons to break other weapons but never gives rules for that, and pretty much leaves out everything about all weapons except their history. the armor pictures are pretty good though, but that just isn't enough

No surprises here. The book focuses on stuff a beginning player just learning the basics needs to know. Only a handful of races are covered in detail. Others, such as the Dragonborn, are mentioned as existing but the book provides no pointers and does not discuss their relative merits. The classes section only covers the four basics: Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard. There are sidebars that admit that other classes exist, but that is all you get. It is fairly obvious that space was not the reason the content is so skimpy; if you flip through the book you will see a high ratio of white to black: Wide margins and lots of blank spaces that could have contained text.

So surprises on authors' recommendations for feat and power selection either; it is more or less what you would choose anyway if you have read the rules and know how they work.

By the way, if you are confused about reviewers who are mentioning the sorcerer or druid, it is because they are reviewing the 3.5 version of this book and posting where the 4th edition book is being discussed.

I was very surprised at how much I was getting with this item. The book to explain the book is 100 pages longer then what it was supposed to explain, and used mostly the same words to do it. A very worthwhile investment if you have money and time to waste.

An Amazing resource for starting players. The D&D books can be overly complicated & confusing to new players & non-RPGers. This Helps ALOT in explaining vast amounts of info. Some of it is a little out of date(it's a 3.0 book)but still a great resource. There are 3 premade characters for 4 of the base classes & notes on all classes that really help you out in the begining. The top 10 spell & monsters lists are a gream way for a beginer player or DM. It includes a premade adventure& sample map!

Do not bother with buying this. You don't need it. D&D 4th Edition itself is already Dungeons&Dragons for Dummies, I really don't see the need for something like this.

3rd Edition for Dummies was necessary, but not this. WotC dumbed down and destroyed so much of what D&D used to be, a 5 year old can play this within 10 minutes.

Don't bother purchasing the book. Or 4E for that matter.

The book is almost perfect, i miss ideas for wizard, druids, rangers, paladins, barbarians, bards and monks.

but i understand the main idea, sorcerer, rogue, cleric and fighters are really easier to play and construct, that's because it is for newbies.

A must have for those who still play D&D 3.5. All the rules of the game in one book. Uptaded rules with errata.

This is absolutely necessary if u want to stay in 3.5. The text is clear and able to solve all your doubts of the 3.5 rules. The information is well organized and the flavor texts explain how the autors think the rules. The illustrations came for all other 3.5 books, so i'll find good and bad ones. If u don't care about the 4ed. or simply prefer the 3.5 rules, this is a must have item on your table, it helps a lot, with quick reference guide and clear explains about some problematics of the game.

The Rules Compendium adds little new material apart from the design notes from some D&D writers. I found that commentary interesting and worthwhile. The meat of the book itself, however, is a compilation of several years of rules development stretched out over dozens of products. The Rules Compendium condenses and organizes the rules of the game into a useful format. As an in-game reference, it is nearly complete, incorporating not only the material from the PHB and DMG but also rules such as swift and immediate actions added by later products.

The only warning I would make is that there is essentially nothing new in this book. It is useful whether someone has just a few books and would like all the rules in one place or they have lots of books and do not want to hunt through them to find something specific. If you are running an active D&D game, I can strongly recommend it, but it is not going to offer much to the casual player or someone looking for inspiration.

This is s great book to have if you want all the rules in one place!
It it also a must if you do not want to switch to 4th Edition D&D.

The only problem is sometimes the rule you are looking for is not where you would expect it, but that is overcome with use.

All in all a solid book that will see lots of use by any 3.5 D&D gamer.

This book is nicely priced at Amazon,but it ends up being another book you will carry-especially for an already heavy laden DM.It is a useful tool for the game table and it explains many rules quite efficiently,and even adds some usable twist to existing rules.
I would recommend this book more for a helpful player character at the gaming table,it is useful-but for a Dm it is just another book because it doesn't eliminate the need for any others.

Ok ill jump straight to it. Psionics using second edition rules (which is the correct way since third edition makes them nothing more then weak sorcerers) are not unbalbalancing in any way because of one very important aspect. All psionics have to be LAWFUL. That simple. They are not going to read random peoples thoughts, teleport into random rooms to steal, dominate or mind control anyone "just because". They need a good reason to do what they are doing, if they dont have a good reason then they are becoming chaotic and will loose access to their abilitys. A chaotic person doesnt have the discipline to do what a psion does.

In Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Ebberron, amd most campagins, magic is a invicable force that affects all things in a invisable weave (kinda like the Force in Star Wars) in Dragonlance they come from the moons, and in Dark Sun they come from living plants and animals, that is how mages get there power. A psionic gets his power soley from his mind, he can do just fine in a magic dead zone.

Finally psionics are not overpowered because i gurante they will not make all there power score checks when they need to, and they better have some allies there to help them. Also psionics in 2nd edition rules only have one power that can affect a group of enemys (called death field pshcyometabolics) and that comes with a great cost to the psion. All other powers are individual only, so really a 3rd level psionic has a better chance of beating a ogre then three goblins.

If you have looked at second edition youll see that the powers listed are unique in the way they work, with maitnance cost and power scores needed. Third edition psionics are just a different (wearker) type of sorcerer. Power may come from the mind but it does the exact same stuff. I run 3.5 edition campaign but use 2nd edition psionics. basically you use the chart giving in the 3.5 psionic handbook for skill points, feats, save throw, etc. but for the powers you use the 2nd edition handbook. To calculate a saving throw for a target I use this formula. 1d20 + penalty to power check + main stat modifier = will power save DC.

For example John the telepath is going to use psionic blast on a ogre. John has a wisdom of 18. Psionic blast is Wis -6. First he uses contact, since this power cant hurt the ogre i dont allow a saving throw (you may if you like but thats up to you) then the next round he rolls a d20. (wis of 18 - 6 = 12) he needs a 12 or lower to even activate the power. If he rolls higher then a 12 then the power doesnt even attempt to work, if he rolls lower then the power works. Assuming it works lets see if it hurts the ogre, he gets a Will save to ignore it. Save DC is 1d20 + 6 (the penalty to the power score) + 4 (wis mod). If you wanted you could just say that the d20 roll is allways a 10 (like magic works) but i find that using a random roll on every save makes psioncs feel different to.

I have more to add but I think ive written way to much, if youd like to comment good or bad, go nuts

This is the start of psionics in 2nd Edition. It is far surperios than the d20 version, which is absolute "garbage". Better abilities and much nicer, although some are overpowered.

Translate this into the d20 similar by making it similar to the Forbidden Kingdoms system, as psionics should be skills, not spells.

This book is great for AD&D players and Dungeon Masters alike. However, everything you can find in this book is also found in the Player's Option: Skills and Powers book as well. Save your money for the Player's Option book; the complete psionics handbook is a waste

This book is worth the buy, I was realy wanting to know what was contained in it and it was worth it. Buy this book it is extreamly useful in D&D especialy for Dragon Psionist but it's worth it.

The PHBR (Player's Handbook Reference) series is one of the most highly-regarded, and yet much-maligned, series of supplements ever created. Each sourcebook takes one of the races or classes of the AD&D game, and adds to it huge amounts of new detail - new equipment, spells, kits (sub-classes), lore, new rules, etc. The problem is that the players love these so much that the DM often feels compelled to buy into the rest of the series - an expensive proposition! Fortunately, these works were "reprinted" in the excellent AD&D Core Rules CD-ROM. This one introduces the powerful and alien class of the Psionicist - if you are not running a Spelljammer or Dark Sun campaign, you will want to think VERY carefully before allowing this class to players! The power and versatility of these characters is amazing. Details of this book include: the Psionicist class and restrictions, a full explanation of psionic powers, disciplines, and advancement, special abilities, the powerful Wild Talents, psionic combat (a great system), the great powers (Clairsentience, Psychokinesis, Psychometabolism, Psychoportation, Telepathy, and Metapsionics), running a psionics campaign, and great monsters! It's a wonderful book - and used carefully, it will add a whole new dimension to your games.

If you are really into wizards, you can get this and it will be an enjoyable evening or two of reading. But its not really needed. Want to make your wizard into an arcane enthusiast? Want to skew his spell selection towards illusionist spells? You can already do that based on what you have in the Player's Handbook (2nd Ed). It contains some good ideas for development and fleshing out of your character but the kits themselves are not that useful. Some new spells are interesting.

Think of this book as a starting point for your own research into historical wizard archetypes. There are thousands of books out there that you can go to to find more detail on how to play a tribal witchdoctor or a pagan warlock.

Please note this book is not really useful if you Play 3rd or 4th Edition of the game (other than for background into playing a wizard generally).

This wonderful book is a rules supplement for AD&D (2nd Edition). Seeking to expand the available information on the Wizard character class, this book contains information on schools of magic and specialization, wizard kits, combat and the wizard (really spell usage), and casting spell under unusual conditions. It also has lists of new spells (some not earlier brought over from 1st Edition), familiars, magical disease, and so forth.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent resource for AD&D. The kits are very interesting, and open up all sorts of new vistas for making magic interesting and unique in your campaign. But, the most helpful part to me was the chapter on combat and the wizard - instead of just searching the list and cherry-picking spells, it taught me how to select a well-balanced and useful list of spells. And, of course, I always like seeing new spells.

So, let me just sum up by saying that this is a great resource for anyone playing a wizard in AD&D, one that you should definitely acquire.

This was one of my first D&D and I still use it. It's a good information source and has several funny things.

The book is not their best handbook. It would be about 5th. And really does not have any good kits like the thiefs or Bards etc. The main thing to note is that D&D is now on its 3rd edition; and this book is for the 2nd. So really not practical. But can only be used for background.

This handbook has a good chapter on roleplaying mages and on spell research as well as spellcasting under adverse conditions. This book is good for customizing a campaign or making new spells, items, or schools as well. There are also a couple of new spells.

This ain't the best of the complete class books. I found most of the kits not very useful, and the description of the specialists was nothing more but repeating the Player's handbook - let's not mention the "special abilities" for specialist mages (I'm talking about a +1 save vs alteration magic at level 17 here!). If you want some more spells, especially some necormancy, then get this book, it has some really cool spells in it. But that's about all.

I bought this because I'm looking for more simple rules for D&D so I can start a new campaign with my 8 year old daughter & girlfriend's 10 year old daughter. It was exciting to get maps, miniatures, and dice in one box, but Wizards of the Coast has a similar set without miniatures that has different content in the box. It would be nice if they would lable the miniatures box "for skirmish or d&d" and the other box "for d&d", or perhaps just find a way to merge the two products. in order to interest new customers in the most beloved roleplaying fantasy game, it makes sense to make things easier and have less confusion in the marketplace. This product, and the competing product, both from WotC, make things more confusing for the uninitiated. This was the same with TSR when I was 12 and first got into D&D -- sad to see they haven't changed much in 20 years.

This box set has miniatures and dice coupled with a good price that is where the pros ends. The game tiles are cool but not necessary for a boardless board game. Most disapointingly it lacks a good rule book and the rules it does provide are woefully inadequate. There is another boxed set that is much better with a real (albeit softcover)rulebook. Keep searching it is much better.

I bought this game two years ago and am now an avid player of DnD. Buy this and when you need more, buy the core DnD rulebooks. Dungeons and dragons can be a wonderful hobby that I at least have grown to love. I now play Dungeons and Dragons with four other people. It has expanded my social group and inspires me to create worlds and characters of my own imagination rather than play on the computer and watch TV.

For parents:
Want to get your kids away from the TV set? Buy them this game. I am 14 years old and watch about 1/2 an hour a day. Now, getting away from Television.

As mentioned in other reviews, DnD is not an "evil" game. It uses magic, but what is the definition of magic? Something that we don't understand. Magic in DnD are things like Magic Missile which is a blue ball of force that shoots from your hands and damages your opponents. Play this game and have fun. I did. :-)

Ok I was a little nervous after purchasing it, thinking it would be bad. When it arrived. I forgot about my video games, and just played this over and over. This box includes 4 tiles, 16 minatures which includes 4 heros, 7 dice (Dice would be much more expensive bought anywhere else), Quick Start Rules (If you have someone who played D&D in "their time" just have them explain it), First Adventure Book, and Advanced Rule Book. I suggest purchasing this with the expanded minatures, and the Master's guide so you won't get confused along the way. I have written some adventures, and it really gets you thinking (probably a good gift for parents who have kids who love RPGs, because it is like a video game in a way. So if you get this, you won't regret it.

The 2004 (3rd ed) is still a good primer to introduce those new to boardless games to the greatest RPG ever invented. This boxed set has everything you need to play, but less pregenerated adventures than the previous boxed sets. You will hook newcomers on this amazing world of adventure and imagination, then discover you'll soon want evern more options than this set can provide (which was WIZARDS' plan in the first place). The hardcover D&D Player's handbook gives you the complete rules, with more race, spells etc.
This set comes with16 nice painted miniatures (4 heroes and the rest monsters) better than the punch-outs of the earlier set.
The set has 4 pre-genterated character sheets to start play immediately, along with the standard 7 dice, quick start rules, a small first adventure book and "advanced" rulebook, 4 double-sided map tiles for generating dungeons and combat. Also this set has monster stat card very handy for handling combat without constant pageturning. The set lists for ages 12 and up, but a good reader of 8 (along with an adult guide) would love this set.

(...)

The ninja class can add a great new dimension to the campaign. Even if you don't want your character to be a ninja, the new proficiencies, spells, weapons, equipment, and advanced martial arts rules can add some real zing to any other class. I used this book and 'The Complete Book of Dwarves' along with the 'Player's Option: Combat and Tactics' to make an awesome dwarven ninja with incredible fighting ability.
The chapters on playing and campaigning the ninja character is a must read for creating adventures that involve secrecy, and espionage.

There are many great handbooks out there for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition, but this is the best. There are no classes more interesting or intriguing than the ninja and their secret life(one that perhaps not even the other players may know about)
There are also many other great classes in this book. Try the Shinobi mages or fighters who rival any warrior or wizard of the same experience level.
Even if you're not interested in playing a ninja or any of the other classes in this book, you can use the information to make exciting adventures, plots and NPC villains.
Finally, the proficiencies and martial arts in this book are great for any character class you're using in your campaign.
Whether you're a player or DM, you cannot continue to play without this book!

This is a great book for hardcore ninja fans.The martial arts are great and the class is a lot of fun.

I will make this review short, everything you will find on this book, can be found in the much more complete D&D oriental adventure gamebook which is much more complete then this bad reprint.

This book was just so cool and so far the ninja is the best class that I have played yet. The book is just so good and well written and just cool to read. I recommend this class for any ad&d player that is getting bored of the original players in the player's handbook. Try this class it's the best.

What can I say about this book. Well it is useful, but I could have really done without it. It also is included on the core rules CD, however this is becoming difficult to find. There are some useful spells, but most don't warrant being put into a supplement. The magic items are worthless, don't even bother reading them. Some of the mage classes are interesting, but I give them mixed reviews. I could easily stick to regular specialist or kits from the wizard's handbook. This book has new spheres for priests which I didn't see any need for. Unfornately, these new spheres are used in the Faiths and Avatars book for specialty priests in Forgotten Realms as well as the specialty priests in the From the Ashes Greyhawk boxed set.

Hopefully for those switching over to 3rd ed D&D (I'm not), the new spheres or lack of them will be fully incorporated in the 3rd ed PHB.

Wild mages. They have great power and sole access to wild magic spells. Once powergamer players see the rules for them, they will want to play them. The priest spheres and available spells have been expanded greatly and thus this book is acually more useful to priests. Overall a useful addition to jaded parties

I'm an italian dungeon master and I've been playing AD&D a lot. Every serious DM has to admit that the spells and the magical items presented in the Player's Handbook and in the Dungeon Master's Guide are not completely satisfacting... This is my opinion! The Tome of Magic adds a lot of USEFUL new spells to the PH list and some FUNNY new magical items to the DMG list. What can I say? The new spells are surely worth the book's price; the magical items are not the best the writers could do... but if you remember that in this book there are new classes for wizards (elementalists, wild mages, etc) and new powerful schools of magic,... well, you must admit that you can't lose this book! Even the starting 2nd edition DM has to take a look at the Tome of Magic: it will be very useful to him!

The book did have some new spells and interesting items, although the Wild Mage class is lame, the elementalist idea is pretty cool. However, the spells and magical items are either too restrictive, worthless, or downright silly. There are a couple of good spells and items, but not enough. TSR probably held them back so they could force you to buy some other lore book.

There were a number of new concepts introduced into the AD&D magic system, which I now wonder how I lived without.

Wild Mages are a lot of fun, quite powerful, and almost as deadly to the party as to enemies (thus balancing them out with other mages).

New ways for priests to cast powerful spells, make them seem more like holy warriors, and less like walking bandages.

Metamagic: spells that affect other spells, is also an interesting and much needed addition to the spell lists.

If you like spellcasters, get this book. If you don't like spellcasters, get this book. It may change your mind.