I say this because that's the only thing good about the 4th edition. The new rules are literally computer RPGs in table top form, and the computer game they got it from wasn't all that good.

The races are akward (dragonborn), redundant (eladrin) and lacking (Where are the gnomes? The asimar?). Character classes are flavorless (or should I say "balanced") losing everything that made them a fighter, cleric, wizard, and thief. Now they are all the same "thing" just with different names with similar powers and abilities.

Did they streamline the rules at least one may ask? Well of course they did! They streamlined it to the point that it's no different from an oversimplified table top wargame, eliminating any room for characterization or customization! D & D is now a very linear hack and slash MMORPG that throws off that troublesome burden called IMAGINATION. Now that's progress for ya!

Well maybe I'm just an old curmudgeon who can't see the fact that 4th edition was tailored for those generations brought up on World of Warcraft and Everquest. "These people have the attention span and mental capacity of a gnat!" Pleads the poor WOTC staffer. "We can't stress their brains too much or they'll explode!"

Fine, you need to make a buck I understand.(But it does say something about the generations of today and its FRIGHTENING.) What I cannot forgive is the blatant greed that is infused in the new D & D. You see I'm one of those guys who couldn't wait to get the new rule book or campaign setting because I saw them as more icing for an already delicious cake.

What we have now is a stale pastry that needs a whole lot of extras to just make it palatable. 3.5, 3rd ed. and all the way down to D & D basic were complete games in themselves that allowed people to let their fantasies run wild. The fourth edition on the other hand is deliberately incomplete and made to box people in, forcing them onto one path, which the good people at WOTC know will become very old, very fast. And that's where the "essential" supplements come in, each of them promising to extricate you from the mind numbing blandness which is the Core Rulebooks. For a price of course.

Gygax must be spinning in his grave.

On a final note, when's the Pathfinder RPG coming out?

This book is the meat and potatoes of the new system. My favourite classes and race from the previous edition are missing from it, but I wouldn't knock even a half star off the rating for it as the system itself is just that much of an improvement.

The system draws inspiration and concepts from ye olde BECM D&D rules, as well as AD&D. And it unmistakably evolved from the d20 rules at the core of 3rd Edition. While the rules are very simple, from a tactical standpoint they offer a certain complexity of action and combat movement that moreso than any other edition begs for the use of miniatures (or a suitable substitute). Normally I would find that to be a drawback, but again the rules are just overall so much better that I don't mind.

If I could rate to the half-star, I might knock off a half a star for the formatting. The classes' by-level abilities are essentially like sawed-off spell lists for each class, and they're printed with each class in a sort of run-together fashion that seems a bit chaotic. And the index is a bit anemic.

And as for any reviews comparing the system to video games, or decrying it as the destruction of D&D - take into account that such things were said about 3rd Edition as well.

4e is an excellent miniature game. It's Heroquest without the cardboard. If that's what I wanted, I would be thrilled. However, I wanted D&D. 4e is an utter failure in that regard.

I've been an absolutely RABID fan of Dungeons and Dragons in all of its incarnations since about 1980. I had all of the 1st edition and 2nd edition books, 3.0 represented a big change for me, but I grew to like it - and then 3.5 really fixed some of the bugs in 3.0 making it one of the most modular and enjoyable systems I'd ever seen.

When the 4th edition of D&D was announced, it seemed premature. When the video of the presentations about 4th edition hit YouTube, I was intrigued - a lot of what I seeing sounded very promising. I began to let myself get excited about the new edition, then I read one of the preview books - and began to get nervous, but I figured, hey, this is just a preview - they'll work out the bugs. After all, version 3.0/3.5 had a few clunky spots, but if you worked through those, BAM, you had an amazingly well oiled machine, right? Then I get the 4th edition rulebooks. Wow, talking about a head shot. We have "new Coke" in game form.

First, I believe it is entirely misguided for WotC to try to turn D&D into a MMO, yet that's effectively what they've done. The various classes are too homogenous, their roles are too rigidly defined, all of the powers and abilities have to work on a square grid. While this certainly "simplifies" and "streamlines" the system, it's effectively thrown the baby out with the bathwater as there's no "system" left. Gone are perennial favorites like the Druid, bard, and monk, and we get the warlord???

Character races are also subjected to castration, no half-orcs, no gnomes, but hey we get tieflings and dragonborn??? Alignment has gone from a tapestry of various viewpoints and world views to a system that works fine as long as your mentality doesn't branch beyond the 3rd grade level. Spellcasters have less power options and abilities than the characters in any game of Diablo II, and Diablo II does them better.

Don't get me wrong, there are some interesting ideas out there - the Heroic, Paragon, and Epic tiers are a neat idea, but even they seem to be executed poorly - prestige classes in 3.5 did a far better job of doing the same thing.

I sincerely hope that 4th edition is improved as additional supplements are released, but I'm not holding my breath (and I AM holding my dollars until I see evidence of improvement). At this point I see 4th Edition as an interesting game of below average depth and quality. I fear Gary Gygax is rolling over in his grave to see the "Dungeons and Dragons" name on it.

I recently had my first exposure to D&D 4E with my old gaming group. We all met in college and have a combined 127 years of gaming experience (average being 24 years). In all we did enjoy playing 4E and have noticed the effects on MMORPG in this gaming.

Pros:
1)Easy to pick up and learn for new gamers. You learn the system with one class and then you can play any other class. You just need to familiarize the powers.

2)Synergy in classes and powers. You are rewarded for having a balances party all using their powers for the team goals.

3)Ease of combat. Our group was able to go through combat encounters quicker than previous version of D&D. We enjoyed the flow of the game.

4)Roles. Every party member falls into a roll and all are important to the group's success.

5)Rituals. Give us more. I love the rituals and mechanics for it. Also enjoy that anyone with the training can learn the rituals. Waiting for the ritual supplement

6)Power color coding. This was a nice way to delineate which powers were daily vice encounters.

Neutrals:
1)requiring Miniatures to play. I like using miniatures to portray the action, but at times just imaging the combat works fine. Pretty much is it mandatory that you have some form of map.

2)Feats in PHB. I would have like more feats in the book and equal numbers of specific feats for races and classes

3)Races. Love the new races, love the unique powers. Disappointed that I think a few more could have been added.

Cons:
1)Multi-classing. Seems multi-classing is not equivalent across the boards and picking up certain classes over other provide better advantages. This may be flushed out as the game matures.


Overall, I would recommend the game for old-timers and beginners

If you are an old campaigner in the D&D system then 4E is not for you. If you are migrating over to the world of D&D from MMORPG's then, first welcome and second, you will have an easy transition as WOTC seems to have been aiming at you for their target audience during the creation of 4E.

That said I must admit I do not hate this new version. The combat system is sleeker, the skill sets, spells and feats don't contain much of the confusion of 3.5 and the game looks like it will be much easier to run from a DM perspective. Streamlining some of these areas of the core rules was needed to move forward from 3.5 and should be considered a step forward.

However, the problem that I and my group of 20+ year veterans have is more in the changing of the flavor of the game towards dare I say it, the Munchkin crowd. The tiefling and dragonborn are clearly attempts to draw in the "It's cool to be evil" generation. The over simplification of the character alignment table just reinforces this attempt to draw the Munchkins away from their WoW sessions.

The system seems designed to progress a player through the lower levels quickly as they are just a necessary evil until reaching epic levels where the fun really begins. Again very WoW-like and right in the sights of the average instant gratification, "who needs to work my way to the top" Munchkin player.

With the investment I and my group have already made in the library of 3.5 books, and with WOTC's aim towards the MMORPG players we will not be spending any more of our time or money on products beyond the first 3 books we have already bought.

Almost every complaint about 4e is wrong. Many are coming from people not willing to try out the new game because at first glance it seems to different.

Personally I've played since the old blue box set and every edition up to 3.5. I love all of them. 3.0 and 3.5 added much to the game but they came with certain issues too. DMs hands were tied by complicated rules combinations, overly detailed monsters and flawed math that became apparent in low and high level play and made epic characters broken. All of this factors into the "sweet spot" of characters from level 5-12 in D&D 3.5.

Wizards of the Coast understood these issues and how they affected DMs, new players, and group dynamics. They looked at issues like the 5' step and full attack, open ended multi classing, multiclass spell casting, high level magic and planar travel, buff spells and ability bonus magic items (leading to the 6 must have items). WOTC decided to boil D&D down to what makes it D&D and make it as smooth playing as possible.

Common negative comments that are flat out wrong:

1) D&D plays like WOW now: This is so untrue! D&D still focuses on heroic characters being unique in the world, struggling against the forces of darkness and experiencing the heroes journey. Combat is much more cinematic, classes are much more iconic and customizable and the magic items and powers are about the hero and story now and not boosting stats or min/maxing your characters. This is not a MMO, from the get go D&D knows its a role playing game. The game has rules now for Quests, skill challenges, story based exploration and encounters and combat being more exciting with monster minions and leaders. Imagine the players fighting through hundreds of zombies to reach the evil lich and break his spell or the players leading armies of soldiers in an epic battle. With minions and leader class monsters, this is very easy to do now.

2) D&D is more video gamey now: Again not true. Many people are stating that 4e has more healing and more lives (represented by healing surges). Healing surges represent your life force, and are consumed as your cleric (or warlord) heals you. As healing surges are used up, players become much more prone to dying and can die easily if they are not healed. From what our players have noticed is that combat is deadlier and players feel more mortal and less video gamey with the new healing rules. Makes for very intense fights.

3) D&D has become a miniature game: This is not exactly true. Miniatures are no more part of the game then they were last edition. The main difference is that combat is more dynamic and has alot more moving around and doing heroic action. This of course is awesome, but does make it easier to run combat with miniatures than without. Personally, I was not a big fan of minis before 4e, but 4e has shown me how they can add to the game and make it still be a great roleplaying experience. Honestly, the group tactics, combat abilities of monsters and dramatic moments that happen in combat now are improved by using minis (or tokens or whatever).

4) They took out or change (gnomes, bards, barbarians, etc): Well, yes they did. But they promised all of those things to come back in future player's handbooks. They also gave us all of the rules, magic items and class abilities all in one book. The DMG has rules and advice players do not need at all and the MM is just monsters. The PHB now has all of the resources players need. It is the most complete version yet. Be patient and the missing materials will be out soon enough.

5) The wizard doesn't feel like a D&D wizard anymore: This is plain crazy. Wizards still have spell books, they still perpare daily powers, they still cast fireball, magic missile, shield, acid arrow, etc. They have awesome cantrips! For every player that says they are to weak now, another one finds ways to abuse the cool powers wizards still have. Also, wizard's start with the ritual caster feat and trained arcana skill, so they are very good at doing arcane rituals, which make up the non-combat spells. If anything, this is the best version of the D&D wizard yet!

6) There was no need to change 3.5! Yes there was. It was a pain for DMs to build adventures and npcs for. Every rule tied into every other rule. You could not tweak something easily and half the rules had to be looked up constantly no matter how many times your group used them (grapple anyone?). The new game is intuitive, exciting and full of great character creation, awesome monsters, fun rules and all around good D&D adventure. For the first time since I was a kid, I feel like I am playing a heroic fantasy roleplaying game instead of a game driven by its rules. The game is a breeze to DM, with easy to use drag and drop style creation tools. It is unreal how fun they made DMing again. No Dm I know says they will go back to a previous version of D&D after running 4e.

Anyrate, if you see someone claiming D&D 4e is a bad product, most likely they have not ran it or played it. It took me about 4 encounters to get past the changes and see the gems in 4e. DO NOT LISTEN TO THE NAYSAYERS! Try 4e for yourself. Start with Keep on the Shadowfell. It has everything you need to play and gives a good demo up through level 3. You will be glad you did.

The 4th Edition Player's Handbook (PHB) is a the embodiment of what Wizards of the Coast strove to do with 4th edition - it's fantastically simple. At first glance, even reading the book, the PHB feels skeletal. Incomplete. Without depth, creativity, or focus. All flash, no substance. But perhaps not.

The classes, the meat and potatoes of the book, aren't extremely deep in detail. They have one or two pages of broad, sweeping description as well as the details of some basic class features. The bulk of each class section are the daily, encounter, and at-will exploit/prayer/spell lists for each class. These powers have a brief flavor text entry but are largely made up of mechanical information - damage, attack, effect, keywords, etc. There are 10-12 pages of powers and abilities for each class, creating about 3-8 powers per level for you to choose from at each level.

What happened to magic? Are there powerful spells that players can cast? Yes. They are not, however, like previous editions. In 3E, arcane casters could perform a variety of spells - from short duration attacks and long duration rituals like Scry. In 4E, casters are a different sort of breed. Utility powers, things that players do that aren't directly related to combat, take the place of short duration buffs and abilities from previous editions. Expeditious Retreat, for example, is a wizard utility power that can be used once a day. Attack spells, like ray of frost, magic missile, and fireball are at-will, encounter, and daily powers. Especially powerful magical spells are called "Rituals" and are contained in the back of the PHB, where spells have generally rested. These rituals are the utilitarian role players have long relied on magic for. The collection is by no means extensive, a little over 45 rituals of varying level and power, but they are probably the most general and common rituals for players to use. Old favorites return like "Tenser's Floating Disk," "Knock," "and Leomund's Secret Chest," - several new ones are included as well.

My impression from the book is this: 4th edition takes a lot of the number crunching, statistics heavy material from 3rd and streamlines the mechanics. The large number of abilities players had previously have been replaced by a small set of core abilities and powers. Rather than approaching an encounter with a wealth of situation specific spells or being able to find the perfect solution to each presented encounter, players have a set of powers they carry throughout most of their adventuring career, learning to use these tools in a variety of situations.

Creativity is encouraged at all angles. The game feels shallow and flat because Wizards has removed much of the built in detail from previous editions and put the role playing, creative aspects in your hands. The book gives small pushes in certain directions but leaves the details of each character wholly up to you. Honestly - what's more creative than that?

ok i havent bought this version of DND yet but i have been looking over the various reviews for it, and from the sounds of it , I will hate it, and that is just my opinion after reading the Good reviews. I have played DND for about 15 years now (i started on 2nd ed). and from what i'm hearing this does not sound like DnD to me , sounds like WoTC is ruining what Dnd was. I also play many computer games, i hate WoW and this sounds like WoW to me , but in pen and paper.i do like Never winter nights and NWN 2 that were based off 3rd ed and 3.5 ed DnD. and after reading these reviews i am now praying to GOD that a future NWN 3 DOES NOT use 4.0 Dnd. any way just putting my two cents in from what i have heard here. but i am going to give it the benifit of the doubt for now and give it 3 stars untill a later time when i can get the book and play through the game some.

Having recently made the switch to 4th Edition and only have played for a few sessions, I would have to say the changes that were made were really good. Now instead of having a system where your character was only as good as the magic items, they made it so that it's the skills that make the character good, which I think makes for a more fun game. I would recommend anyone that is still playing 3.5 to make the switch.

In short, 4th ed was made to fit the model currently used by most MMORPGs, that being predefined character roles and skill trees. Sure this is probably fantastic if and when they ever convert D&D to an actual MMORPG worth playing, but it completely destroys one of the best historical aspects of the game - the character. My first impressions after reading the book were 1) what were they thinking with alignment? 2) where is all the magic? 3) multi-classing is nearly impossible and definitely not as flexible as the previous editions, and 4) it is impossible for me to convert the majority of my pre-existing 3.5 characters to 4th ed. The rules are so labotomized and stripped down that common character stereotypes that we have come to expect like monks and barbarians are not even possible. In summary, the game may someday have the character flexibility most of us have loved with the previous editions, but I'm sure it won't occur until WotC has drained our coffers buying numerous supplements which all contain minimal information that should have been included in this book.

I posted this warning in the DM guide section, but if you have played d+d before, this is the only 4th edition book you need to run the adventure modules, and pick up the monster manual if you are going to make your own adventures. All the magic items, combat rules and skill rules are contained in this book. There are no usefule core rules in the DM Guide, its all advice on how to prepare popcorn, and give levels to people who have been gone for 2 months because their family members died. Im not kidding, its in there.

Honestly, everyone is saying this is a dumbed down rule set, yeah, it is, but the challenge to dungeon and dragons has always been figuring out situations, and unless you just love rules for rules sake, this is an excellant system. I have been playing since Chainmail, and I am looking to lpay this summer with my neices and nephews, and this is a great way to start them playing. It takes a lot out of character creation, but it also makes all the classes more useful off the bat, and gives them more distinct roles. No longer will your first level mage throw one magic missle, then have to wait a day to cast again..

Its geared for fun, and lets face it, in D+D the fun isnt in the rules for most people, its in the social interaction and the enviroments the DM creates. This book is professionally laid out and presented, and is the only 4th edition book I would recommend. Use the rest of your money to get some minatures..

The 4th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons was obviously designed to cater to the World of Warcraft addicts and the younger crowd of computer RPG gamers. They even tried to make the game mechanics more like a computer RPG than traditional D&D: ie per-encounter spells. Also borrowing ideas and terms straight out of World of Warcraft, why didn't they just call this the World of Warcraft RPG.

The writers have done a great job on D&D 4e. It is much easier to use, and the game plays more smoothly, in my opinion.

People call 4th Edition many things- a World of Warcraft ripoff, a simplification of 3rd edition, a moneygrab by Wizards of the Coast considering D&D 3.5 was released not so long ago... but the one thing that most people are calling this is "different".

For long-time fans, here's a list of some basic things you'll need to come to terms with to start playing basic 4th edition: You have to roll to hit with Magic Missile (yes it can miss now); There is no Bard, Monk, or Druid (though these are promised in PHBII- see the moneygrab comment); No classes get any ability minuses anymore, only pluses (Elves have average Constitution, Halflings have average Strength); Wizards and all classes for that matter in fact now have at-will powers they can use without depleting their spells or powers per day.

Long-time D&D fans instantly scoff at a few of the above points (rolling for Magic Missile just seems intuitively wrong), but hey- it's a new edition. Every new edition means new mechanics, so let's go along with it- until you lean just how changed the mechanics are.

All of the rules, all of the combat, and all of the encounter information is all provided in terms of a square combat grid. Essentially, Wizards is shortchanging free-form players and pushing combat requiring miniatures. It's entirely possible to play a game without using a grid and miniatures, but you'll probably wind up doing more on-the-fly conversions than ever to make it happen. Many players are already using miniatures anyway, so this might seem great for them, but even then the flavor makes it seem more like you're playing a generic strategy game instead of D&D. Change the flavor text a bit and the rules could easily read "This power lets you move your tank two spaces to the left regardless of physical barriers" or "The Knight piece can only travel in the four cardinal directions". There's just no more real-world feel like "Fireball can travel up to 100 feet before exploding and damaging a 25-foot radius".

All of the characters have tons of at-will, per-encounter, and expendable refreshers that add up to players having more varied options than ever before in combat, especially at first level. This seems exciting, but anyone who's ever seen an MMO (like World of Warcraft) will quickly see exactly what this adds up to- combat is rarely going to be about just rolling a d20 and waiting for an attack to come out, and it's going to be more than ever about choosing from a list of fairly pre-fab powers to attack the enemy with. Even if you're just a "simple" Fighter, you still have access to a list of powers at first level that make a plain attack pretty useless. In the end, this does make for more involving combat, but the combat that comes out is tremendously different from previous editions (and again, tremendously more like a lot of MMOs out there).

The final shift I'll mention here is the shift away from "utility" powers and entirely toward combat powers, and I don't want to beat a dead horse, but that's again very MMO-like. Every class has a ton of new powers, but read between the lines and you'll see virtually all the powers involve damaging enemies. Wizards can't, for example, use a spell to create a rope when the party needs one. Nor can they use a spell to help their Rogue woo over a crowd when he gives a speech at a banquet (technically you can write powers called Rituals for this, but the basic spell list doesn't have this flexibility). Most of what they can do is apply Force damage, Elemental damage, or more Force damage. If you were to divide Wizard powers into direct attack spells and everything else, you'd find nearly all their powers are the exact same thing: "Deal X (choose type) damage to target". This same trend applies to every class in different ways.

So in the end, I'm left with a conundrum. I want to play D&D because I love the game that D&D has always been, even though the game has had some glaring flaws in every release. This edition has done a lot to address the flaws of previous releases, but in the process it creates something that just doesn't feel very much like D&D. Maybe the game that's in here is a really good one, but I'd feel a lot better if the cover said "d20 Fantasy Game" instead of masquerading around as a new edition of D&D. My suggestion is to look up some of the free sites out there that have produced try-before-you-buy quickstart intros to 4th edition, or find a friend who's bought it and see it firsthand. I can't recommend outright jumping into this edition to anyone.

To say that I am disappointed by this edition of the game is an understatement. The newest version of D&D has devolved into a pen and paper version of World of Warcraft. I quit World of Warcraft.

In theory, differences from previous editions of the game system aren't a bad thing. However, the game has changed enough of the core elements that I truly do not want to play. If it were not for the fact that my best friend really wants to try DM'ing this game, I would have posted my copy on eBay already. As it is, I am afraid that most people will dislike the game as much as I do and I won't be able to sell the PHB.

On the bright side, I hear that the DM side of the game is extremely easy to manage. So the tables have turned. In the old games, the players had to fight over the good DMs. Now, the DMs will have to fight over the players willing to move to this crappy edition.

There are enough posts with details (some intelligible, some not) that I do not feel it is necessary to list argument points.

I know a lot of other reviews have mentioned that the ink on this product is second rate so I decided to test the theory on mine that I just bought. So I willingly take a glass of water and spilled a little bit on a page in the PHB with colored art. I waited about 30 sec or so(the time it would take to grab a paper towel if we were all gaming) and cleaned up. Guess what? It looked like a paint by numbers water painting by a 1 yr old. SHODDY CRAFTMANSHIP. The ink looked like a big smudge of runny colored water. I tried the SAME thing with my 3.0 book - and it cleaned up with no problems, smudges whatsoever. Wizards is selling a sub-par item - don't let them rip you off too. Or at least tell your players not to have any drinks at all around the book (yeah, right)
Now on to the actual gaming aspect:
I enjoy WOW. I play WOW a lot. I will NOT stop playing it to play this garbage. Wizards is desperate to get new players to buy their products. The role-playing industry (like it or not) has been changed for good and bad by the MMORPG's. Hard covers are being replaced by hard drive space. However, the days of getting the gang togther are harder and harder to imagine and schedules are more hectic than ever - but if I long in to play WOW - all of my friends are there. Make sense?
Not to Wizards.
You cannot play this game and say it really is a great version of D&d - it's not. In fact as others have said it feels like a whole new game - something totally different. The classes all feel very similar - it's like creativity has been stifled and combat is now all that matters. The races seem like an attempt by Wizards to appeal to goths (tiefling), chic gamers (eladrin) young power gamers and fanboys (dragonborn) and all the old school gamers (everything else).
The game is similar to Savage Worlds in that you HAVE to have a battle map. We used dice because we didn't want to buy miniatures. It was kind of funny, I played my human mage as a d12. Combat is all about squares on the mat and how you can position your minis and manipulate the enemy. It reminded me of warhammer. Does this sound like D&D to you? No? Me neither.
It just felt like I was being forced to play a sad, pathetic version of Warcraft on a table top. NOTE TO WIZARDS OF THE COAST: YOU CANNOT COPY THE MAGIC OF WARCRAFT THIS WAY.
WOW is what it is. Funny that Blizzard Entertainment (makers of WOW)said they were inspired by D&D when they made the game - now things are the opposite.

It amazes hos many people say that 4th edition turns D&D into a miniatures battle game. If I am not mistaken, when D&D was first introduced that was its intent. To use miniatures on maps to help visualize the battle. It is the players, that through the years, decided that mini's were not needed and they aren't. Even with 4th edition, you don't have to have minis to get through a game.
I for one am happy with the revision of the rules. To me, 3.5 was trying to hard for its own good. It was possible to get bogged down in rules discussion for long periods of time during game sessions. Not as rampant as it was with 2nd edition, but it was/is still there.
I don't mind that they went back to the old tried and true stereotypical character classes. Everyone was a sort of jack of all trades in 3rd edition.
Not saying 3rd edition was bad, it also had its perks. There is just something about 4th that makes really excited. I haven't been able to run a game yet, but I have a feeling my group and I are going to love it.
Oh and this book is great, but could have used some more. Some things should have been in the DM guide. Still a good book though.

Why this 4.0 editions sucks

1 - Magic is gutted, ripped out and nuetered. great if you hate magic for some reason, terrible if you enjoyed the flavor cool items etc add to the game. And yes all you fanbois they gutted the magic to make it so non wizard classes didnt need magic items to be as powerful as wizards. It has in my opinion ruined the game the more than any other changes.

2 - Theres a grand total of 10 wonderous items we can use now. yay. 3.5 editons had hundreds of wonderous items.

3- Magic Item use tied to levels - I need to be level 18 to use a flying carpet? idiotic just like all their other changes. Now in their infiite wisdom we cant even ue magic items till certain levels. Just in case your DM gave you a +5 brilliant vorpal blade at 1st level last time......ya.

4 - Feels just like WOW (World of Warcraft) Very Very Very Very obvious from playing the game that is their intention. Ive read posts from developers even saying they copied WOW aspects alot for this 4.0 edition and its thier stated goal to make this game more like WOW to bring in the kiddies.

5 - Its NOT an Improvement at all. They just changed the game 100 percent just for the hell of it. Seriously its not a better game. Its not evil or terrible but its not bettter. So why the hell bother with it?

Dont buy these books would be my recomendation. Keep your 3.5 edition materials.

For a new player I guess you wouldnt know this edition isnt better so go buy it.

I gaurantee that 40-50% of the current D&D fanbase is not going to like this edition at all. In fact this edition might be the death of DnD unless Pathfinder or another 3.5 supplemental company takes off.

I'll make this review short. If you ever had a player who wouldn't be a spellcaster because the spell system was too complicated and different, this edition is for you. If you ever had a player who wouldn't be a dungeon master because creating encounters and monsters and NPCs was too complicated, this edition is for you. If you got sick and tired of DMing 3rd edition because of the constant drive for every skill point and attack bonus to be rigorously justified, this edition is for you. I've experienced all three categories, and I'll explain how this Player's Handbook fixes the problem in the first category in this review. The other explanations will be in the DMG and MM reviews I write.

In the 4th edition, no matter what flavor of character you play, you have basically the same resources to manage: skills, feats, and powers. Gone are the days when every class was like playing a completely different game. A new player doesn't have to be stuck with the fighter because she wouldn't know how to play the wizard properly. In other words, the type of character you roleplay is no longer dependent upon your level of rulesmastery. In my view, this is an unequivocal triumph, and allows players of all skill levels to play the character they want in the best known RPG. Sure, there are some sacrifices made, and you can find huge lists of them in several nit-picky one star reviews, but all of these pale in the face of the single greatest RPG accomplishment in the last 30 years.

Ok ok ok ok. So... This is my first review, and on a product which has a great Heritage, and unfortunatly an infamous present, and hopefully a hopeful future. So when looking at D&D 4th Edition, you notice some of the basics there trying to get to, showing you adventurers going into a typical Dungeon Crawl, and what looks like they're engaging monsters soon enough, it reminds me of the First AD&D Player's Handbook where you had the thief prying out the jeweled eye from a Demon statues eye socket. Although it doesn't have that 80's down in your Mom's basment feel to it, it's a nice cover in by it's self. But once you get past that things start to make you have mixed feelings about it (past the presentation of D&D basics [dice, attributes ect.]). The first thing is probably the cosmetic changes to the races, yes we're going on this banter again, the races.
Ok now why is everyone ranting and raving about the races? We'll for one, the gnomes, and the half-orcs are gone. This I didn't like so much, yes yes, we all know the people who go on the forums, declaring their loathing for the gnomes, and the half-orcs, saying absolutely no one played them at all. I would beg to differ, my group and I always play gnomes and half orcs, they provide great RP'ing value. But this isn't really so much the problem, since the stats for playing them (technically as a polymorph) are in the back of the Monster Manual. But what miffs me is the one thing that WOTC kept trying to sell off through the 3.x Dynasty is this ... *drum roll* Tieflings! Yes Tieflings, the A- stereotypical, "One of my parents dealt with a devil and now I'm an off shoot." deals. In the Forgotten Realms, Planar Handbook, and one other book that I can't bring to mind, WOTC was practically begging you to play Tieflings, I never saw the appeal in them, they just seemed too Cliche' to me. But now that they brought in a whole new edition, they decided hey why not just give this to the Player's Handbook, and let's make ourselves not seem so desperate anymore. Oh while we're at it, let's give people a dragon Hybrid to play with, because it's not like you don't know the 30 people that seem interested in D&D that want to be the dragon being that owns everyone.
Another thing that throws off the appeal is just the new looks and changes they did for the old races and the familiar appearance of the new Elven (oops fey, my bad) race, the Eladrins. Allow me to clarify, if you take a look at the Dwarf, and the Eladrin what do you notice... go ahead look... No? Ok well the people's assumtions of this being WOW isn't far off, the new look of the dwarf looks eerily close to the WOW dwarf, and the Eladrin, yep the blood elf. The Halflings dont have pointed ears, ok? But then again, you dont have to take these visualizations or races to heart, so this is just me ranting for the sake of ranting.
Ok Now that you've gotten past all this it's finally time to Role Play, which sometimes involve the skills. Now my group and I have made it up to 12th level, we play this twice a week, along with 3.5. This is just a personal problem with me and the skills, it feels at times like I'm also playing Oblivion, now dont get me wrong, Oblivion is a GREAT game, but it's a video game, I come to hang with friends to chat, laugh, kill a goblin or two, and build our town up from the ground so we can come back to level it. Now the need for simplification for the skills was needed, but I dont like the way their named, "Acrobatics" "Athletics" "Thievery". And through this it doesn't really allow too much independence, unless you choose a build before hand, and then your just you know... predetermined. And even with all of this, the only difference between two rogues and their thievery skill would be how much Dexterity they'll have. The perception I thought was a very nice thing to have, but passive insight... nah.
Now on to combat and the things that make the outcome to your favor. Now the battle it's self (The rounds encounters, what you can do ect.) Looks basically the same as in 3.x. But the biggest thing is that in order to speed it up, they made a new golden rule of one person is essentialy allowed on AoO once during any turn, I liked it, it did speed things up, but then again, why a whole new edition just to make that change? While your in combat you can use, "Powers" that every class can use. So everyone is a tweeked vanacian spell caster. Yes I say tweeked vanacian, because that's all they did to change it, have the abilities come back to you in degrees. This is good, but not with every single class. This is where all the complaints about the, "Things seem the same" comes in. And yes it all plays and feels the same, the only thing different is how your DM approaches to describe the action to you. Because it all bogs down to "This attribute vs. this Defense" Very simple, but yet simply boring. Oh for one more thing to add. Going into classes now, why do we need a cleric any more? Everyone has healing surges that can do her job for the PC's. Instead of getting rid of classes that have some value to them, get rid of the cleric, and the warlord, and I think we'll call it a deal.

Now some of you who troll these reviews may be miffed about what I have said and I don't blame you. But this is what I feel. But as a token to the people who just gave this a high score with out playing through some of it, but who are now playing it and bashing anyone who says they don't like the feel of it. It's a new edition, it's going to feel awkward at first, but as soon as some new classes come out, that compendium of powers, feats, and paths comes out too, and just a sprinkle of time and hope, we can learn to love it. That's why I gave it two stars, because there's hope. I do like the game, it's just that we just met, we have to hang out more, it's made a bad impression, but I don't believe in first impressions, just a better time to have with it.

So go ahead and troll now, but I warn you, I've got an AC of 22 Ah ha ha, sad...

I am sure by now that this review will be a rehash of what others have said, but I have never felt so moved to write a review, so I am just going to go with it. For starters, I have been either a player or a DM for over 15 years. I started in 1st edition and easily made the transition to the 2nd edition. I was really excited about the changes to the game mechanics that came with the 3rd edition. I never bought 3.5 because it seemed like a money-making scheme, but the point I am making is that I have loved this game throughout all of its various incarnations.

Therefore, I was looking forward to 4th Edition. I had heard that there would be more character customization from the ground up (sort of like Skills and Powers) and that it would be structured something like the new Star Wars Saga Edition. I was intrigued at the notion and very excited to see the outcome.

I cannot express to you how disappointed I was at the result. I agree with previous reviewers that this is not DND, and it is not a good system for roleplaying. I'll just give an itemized rundown:

How do I hate thee, 4th Ed? Let me count the ways
1. The book is cheaply made, so cheaply made that the ink comes off the pages if you rub it too hard.
2. Of the limited races available, three are related to elves. That's overdoing it a little bit, no? Also, not only is the "dragonborn" simply a silly idea that panders to power gamers, they look laughable. And the idea that they would have a breath weapon as opposed to a bite or a claw attack is absurd. Since they were adding the tiefling anyway, how about the aasimar? And as for a monster class, they could have done something better than the dragonborn. They already have with the half-orc.
3. The classes lost are not worth the classes gained. Who ever heard of DND without druids and bards? Instead, what did we get, the Warlord? Please! What place does a tactical leader have in a roaming band of adventurers? Frankly, with the people I play with, if somebody "ordered" one of their PC's to attack, I don't think it would be the NPC that would be getting the smackdown. Warlords are for military and tactical units, not loosely confederated treasure hunters.
4. It doesn't matter what you play, the characters end up the same. Your warrior class characters end up having the same armor class and damage potential as your arcane class characters. It's like they are all fighters who just do different types of damage. The classes are sort of like 1% and 2% milk--sure, the composition is slightly different, but they pretty much taste the same. BOOOOORRRRING!
5. The skills have been simplified to an alarming degree, again making characters homogeneous. I've personally never talked to a player who wants LESS options for making their character, so I'm not sure what the purpose was of that.
6. The alignment system desperately needs a revamp and always has (either that or needs to be eliminated entirely), but the revamp they did made the system even more nonsensical. They have removed most of the choices, so once again, the characters are the same.
7. I never really liked prestige classes because you have to spend time at lower levels making choices for skills, feats, etc. that you may not really want to get the prestige class you want, but this game makes a player's choices even more limited because you get shoehorned into a very small number of character paths.
8. Multiclassing is destroyed in this edition. What's the fun in THAT? And again, because of this, characters end up all looking the same.
9. I have no issue with the use of miniatures and maps in games, I use them when I run, but the requirement that they must be used smacks of a marketing ploy to me. I can't wait to see how many "must have" dungeon tile, game mat, and miniature sets come out after this.
10. Finally, my problem with this edition is that it doesn't seem to show any regard for DND players, those of us that have supported and loved this game for over 30 years. It seems to be attempting to attract an audience of video game enthusiasts with a faster pace and a dumbed-down presentation, as if to imply that people who play games like WOW are too stupid to understand anything more detailed(which is incredibly insulting). I think it is a huge mistake. I think that video gamers who don't already play RPG's will continue to play video games, and I think DND lovers will continue to play DND--3rd and 3.5 edition, that is.

I think as a tactical miniatures game this edition is fine. But they already made one of those, so I see this edition having limited appeal. What a shame. But not all that unexpected from a company that is owned by Hasbro.

Having never played Dungeons & Dragons before, I was hesitant when asked to play. I was told there was some sort of new book, so everyone would be re-learning, so I wouldn't feel out of place as a complete n00b. Here were people I had known in real life, asking me to play DnD! Up until then I didn't know anyone who had played!

So I went with some reservations. There was some connotations I has in my mind about what to expect. That night, I learned quick, had a blast, and was proven wrong.

I can't compare this to older versions, but I can say that this product for me, was great as a first timer.

This is a totaly new game, not D&D as we know it. Wizards have fixed some rules that needed fixing, and "fixed" a lot that worked fine.

I think that Wizards clearly is targeting the MMORPG marked. And in doing so they turned D&D into something of a hybrid. Elements like slots, minion, elite and solo monsters and powers per encounter seems off in a rpg game.

The game is like having a dad going throug midlife crisis. He is trying to be cool and is dying his hair, wearing a leather jacket and driving a Harley. And of course it is not working. He is trying to be something he is not, and it it a bit embarrassing. He should instead try to still be the same person, but freshen up his style.

D&D has lot of devoted players, and they had deserved a better treatment than this.

My main problem with this game is that I found the game too boring and very uninspiring.

Sure, you have all these powers, but all the classes felt the same and it didn't really matter as to whether you could do radiant, necrotic, fire, or cold damage and so on, they all worked the same in just doing hp damage and maybe a status effect that will last the next turn. This makes for an interesting 1st level game, but I cannot see doing the same thing over and over again for another 29 levels.

While it's really understandable for WotC to make the math work at all levels and for a balanced game, it made the game overall boring to play with no incentive to play because nothing feels really different.

Other posters have more in depth reviews of how they find the game awful so I won't repeat their criticism here, but you can count me as a "ditto" for most of their constructive comments.

I decided to go with the Paizo's gamesystem of Pathfinder RPG which is more like D&D 3.75.

You either love the new edition or you hate it. My best advice for anyone is to play it for a couple of months before outright decrying the game. It has some good and bad changes and is best left up to you to decide whether you like it. Please, though, don't base your decisions off of the reviews. Base it off actual play experience. I found several things that I liked that way, and a couple that I thought I would like, I did not. Is my review vague? Yes, Yes it is. That is intentional...you have to decide for yourself.

D&D has been around in one form or another for 31+ years, which is about as long as I've been playing. The advantage of D&D and the D20 game system in general is that everybody knows it. There's no huge learning curve needed to just start playing the game. Every previous edition of D&D has understood this basic strength.

Fourth Edition, plain and simple, is not D&D, and is not the D20 system. It's an entirely new game. Wizards of the Coast has made a huge mistake with this. They're trying to attract video game players by turning D&D into a pen and paper version of World of Warcraft. That tactic is simply not going to work. Current World of Warcraft players are not going to stop playing World of Warcraft to play this. Current D&D enthusiasts simply are not going to bother learning this new system, not when third party vendors are still supporting edition 3.5, and not while better RPG systems already exist (Note: This based on my discussions with customers from game stores in the fifth largest city in the US).

Bottom line, fourth edition is going to go over for Wizards of the Coast the same way that "New Coke" went over for Coca Cola. My advice would be to save your money, and stick with an older edition of D&D. At its best, fourth edition is simply not an improvement over what has come before it. It's just something different.

4th edition has fixed in not so subtle ways what people like me and my players, a regular unsuspecting group, didn't realize was botching and slowing our sessions. Stuff like no iterative attacks, streamlining of mechanics and letting the group control their RP at their leisure really bring up the game at my table to new levels of fun.

That the DM doesn't have to spend countless hours crunching stuff instead of brewing amazing encounters bring this thing from 4 to 5 stars

It's actually pretty easy to learn to play!

I have made just 3 converts (females at that) with how easy the game is and how everything is in the character sheet

An amazing product and worth playing before you say it's no longer dungeons and dragons

I don't mind at all that WotC has sacrificed some sacred cows to make the system more streamlined. I don't mind that you have to roll to hit with magic missile. I don't mind that you have to use miniatures, or a battlegrid. I don't mind that the game is more combat-oriented.

I do mind that the game just feels boring.

Sure, I can make a Dragonborn fighter and an Eladrin wizard. But they don't do anything spectacularly different. Except that the wizard is, for some magically unknown reason, unable to whack anything with his staff. All of the powers that they've added essentially boil down to XdY + Ability modifier damage, and if you're lucky, a 1-turn status effect.

I give great praise to WotC for making the classes blanaced. It's very difficult (if not impossible) to push your character off the RNG completely. The problem is that they made everything too balanced, so that no one does anything particularly flavorful.

Not only that, but the character you make is essentially straight-jacketed into one of the two (and sometimes three) predetermined character archetypes that are presented. Taking a power from a different character build is inefficient, because it takes a different attribute to use, which you probably don't have as high.

I don't care if my wizard impales people with ice spikes or burns them with fire, because there's functionally no difference. Defenses against particular damage types are so few and far between that you can do the same thing with the same spell, over and over again.

The elite and solo monsters that are presented are a joke. They have anywhere from 2x-5x the amount of HP a normal monster should have, and have an extra 10%-25% chance to end any effect on them every turn. Considering that combat against normal enemies takes forever, you spend all of your encounter and daily powers against the enemy, and then sit there and grind away at its massive amount of health with your piddly at-will abilities, which do precisely jack squat in the long run.

The rituals are dumb. All of them are assigned a cost. It takes 10% of your level-equivalent character wealth to detect a secret door. The rituals themselves are interesting, but I'd rather save up for the 3,000,000 gp required for a better sword (yeesh) than pay 5,000 gp every time I want to teleport.

It seems like the playtesters didn't go past about level 10. Magic items are ridiculously expensive. The higher-level encounters just don't add up with the math the designers used. And you're chokeheld to even fewer options the higher you go.

Overall, the system is great for a one-shot weekend thing. But if you want to make a long-running campaign, stick to one of the other editions.

no druid, no bard. but it would hardly matter if they were included, since all the classes feel the same.

Yes, D&D 4th edition is a different game.
Yes, D&D 4th edition is the same game we all love.

No, I am not contradicting myself. The new edition of the D&D game gleefully kills sacred cows left and right, replacing them with the latest in modern game design.

However, in its core and essence, it remains a game where you play with some friends, in your kitchen table, and pretend to be an axe-toting dwarf or a slutty elf sorceress. And THAT my friend, is the spirit of D&D.

First of all, I have very little to add based on all the other responses. If you want to know how this version of D&D is bad, they'll tell you. What we need to look at now are the implications of this new era of gaming. This edition does not allow for the flexibility necessary to tell fun, unique stories. Not really. Not if you think about the limits imposed by the system and the archetypal themes the designers have abandoned in favor of playability or, rather, simplicity. The kind of role-playing I like to do focuses on the story, and I have always had an ear toward writing when I'm gaming. It's not like that for everyone, and some people may like the "game" elements of this edition. I don't like what I've seen and read because I don't feel like I can tell a good story with this rules set. This edition is more about powers and miniatures and those other elements of D&D. It's less about a generic fantasy system where everything is possible and more about combat and what story the designers have set forth. Role-playing should be less about what tropes the system demands and more about your own imagination. Just look through the books and see how the designers are telling you how to play. What races do what. What classes work this way. What powers this type of character should have. How you should interact with the rest of the party. The list goes on.

Hands down the best version of D&D ever. Easier to use, but as complex as you want it to be.

I have been running games since high school. I have now run several games with the new rules, and I think this new edition is the best yet. I just introduced a whole group of players to the game with this edition, and they all had a blast. We are all looking forward to playing more games (and for myself, running more games). As a DM, this game is a life-saver. I can run better games with less preparation time. And the combats are more interesting even at first level.

Fourth Edition is a very odd mix of "simplistic" and (for lack of a better word) "fiddly."

On the simplistic side, the designers have created a game of Powers -- if you have the necessary Power, you can do cool stuff. If you don't have the necessary Power, you can't. And this isn't about throwing around magic and so forth; such abilities *should* rightly be considered Powers. This is more about options like tripping a foe, or disarming.

On the fiddly side of things, there can be literally dozens of active, short-duration modifiers and conditions to remember in a given combat. It gets to be pretty overwhelming.

There are other things I don't like about the game: (1) the deliberate introduction of massive geometry weirdness in tactical movement, (2) the idea that no matter how wounded, character are completely healed in six hours of rest, (3) the overwhelming focus of the game mechanics on combat, (4) the introduction of uninteresting character races, and so on.

There are also things I like about the game: (1) The switch from saving throws to avoid attacks to defenses that an attacker must hit, (2) the simplified and IMO more flavorful cosmology, (3) the general idea of "healing surges" as a sort of second wind mechanic.

The good:
I found after playing as a player in three sessions and then DMing three sessions that this edition is far easier to run as a DM. As a player you might find either the game is simplified or made more complex, depending upon what you used to play in 3.5. Fighters now have powers that make them more complex, where wizards have less powers. Much less prep time as a player or a DM. For example, I can make a bad guy in minutes rather than hours just by borrowing powers from other creatures. I found the Dungeon Masters Guide to be helpful for game prep but not really needed at the game table. Everything you need is in the Players Handbook for at the table play. Everything you need to prepare adventures is found in the Monster Manual and Dungeon Masters Guide.

The bad:
The monster manual is the slimmest I can recall seeing. Sure there are varieties, but these variants are really easy to make up on your own, I would have preferred to see more base creatures. The lack of "fluff" on the monsters was a bit disappointing. The Dungeon Masters Guide doesn't have instructions for crafting your own traps. The section on Non-Combat encounters (skill challenges) seems broken as written.

Overall opinion:
If you dislike the complexity of 3.5, or if you are not into having a rule for every thing, then 4.0 might be for you. At the very least, you can probably look around and find a 4E demo game running. Go give it a try.

I've been playing D&D for a long time and this is the worst, most horribly butchered edition of the game I have ever seen. Thank god Gary Gigax is no longer alive to see what they did to his creation. I will be staying with 3.5

This book is well written and most importantly it plays very well. If you have stopped playing D&D 3E because it just got too complex and time consuming, this edition is for you.

It makes DMing the game a lot easier, and it streamlines combat in a way that keeps everyone involved. This game has resurected our old gaming group. Not only that, the players that normally did not get too involved in combat are really getting to learn the ins and outs of their characters better than any previous edition.

For me, the most striking thing about 4e is that it looks like it lends itself to attracting new fans more easily. The gameplay should move forward in a more straightforward manner, the character creation is easier to understand (pick a race and class and then just select from a manageable selection of options).

The focus on roles should make building a party much easier for newcomers. In 3e, you can bork your party pretty severely by taking a character that's interesting to roleplay but leaves the party without some crucial capability, like having a lead fighter in light armor that can't tank for you, or simply by not having anyone play a rogue or a cleric. By explicitly establishing the important roles and specifying classes that meet them, it's a lot easier to understand how to build a workable party.

It's also nice that there are multiple options for every role except for controller (wizard). So if no one wants to play a rogue, you can tote along a ranger or a warlock. And if no one wants to be stuck playing the cleric, someone can play a warlord.

It's also nice that skills, especially, are drastically less broken and confusing than they were in 3.5. There's a manageable number, you can't min-max ranks any more, and if you want a cross-class skill for some reason (e.g. you want a ranger with thievery), you can simply spend a feat and you're done.

It seems like the goal of 4e is to put a lot more focus on being a *game*, and I won't be surprised if 4e attracts more WoW and Magic players looking for something that's still kind of recognizable.

Having said all that, I'm still not crazy about some of the changes. The new classes feel too much like 2e kits, where you have to pick one of the premade options. Yes, you get to pick and choose from a lot of customizable options (which is nice), but 3e gave you a lot more latitude to mix and match. Maybe this will feel less constraining after they have more of the promised volumes of PHB out, with a wider selection of classes to select from.

I'm going to start by throwing out a few things that may tell you if D&D 4E is or is not for you:

4th Edition may not be for you if:
* You want a system with completely transparent rules that work identically for you and the bad guys
* You love 3rd edition multiclassing rules and the ability of 3E to mix and match just about any piece
* You dislike being required to use a map and tabletop representation

You'll probably like 4th Edition if:
* You don't like spending hours to pour over every book to create characters and find the "best" feat, spell, etc...
* You enjoy fights and roleplaying in D&D, but don't want to have to think about it too much out an actual play session
* You like having a clear role and purpose to play in game

4th Edition (in my opinion) is a rather obvious evolution to a rather old game. The ultimate goal of 4th edition is to refocus D&D on the pieces that most people enjoyed and remove the pieces that caused the most consternation and frustration.

To be fair, there is a substantial (both active and vocal) subset of the 3E D&D community that feels that the modular nature of 3E was it's greatest strength and that they are removing that in 4E. WotC ultimately decided that that group was a minority and the problems with that piece were causing some of the biggest frustration for average or casual players becoming more involved. (I'll leave it to you to decide if that was a good decision).

4th Edition focuses on:
* Making all players relatively equal in power level
* Give everyone "stuff" to do every combat
* Simplify combat
* Distills most conflict (with combat or skills) into clearly deliniated encounters and leaves the in-between times to rules-minimal role-playing

There are many people who you will hear telling you that 4E is broken or a step backward for a vareity of reasons. I'd challenge that many of them are inflated or incorrect.

For example, many say that they shouldn't be required to play D&D on a map, and that that isn't an RPG - it's a miniature game. Those that have played through different RPGs and editions will acknowledge (if they are being honest with themselves) that in most map-less RPGs, the DM and players are frequently writing maps and positioning on a piece of paper, chalkboard, or whiteboard - or there are regular conflict where people are arguing about positioning, how close they are to a bad guy, why this guy shouldn't be able to hurt them, and so on. And sometimes those conflicts can end peoples interest in participating in this hobby.

Just like an RPG has rules, because we all learned that if we just "make pretend" you get into those childhood arguments of "I shot you/No you didn't", D&D designers have come to the realization over the years that short of a map, no one is going to picture a scene in their head exactly the same way.

Map's aren't a betrayal to the "true nature" of RPGs - they are a natural evolution that has been learned as time has passed.

If you are someone interested in the game I'd whole-heartedly recommend buying the Players hand book and Keep on the Shadowfell and trying it out. Don't let anyone tell you why you should or shouldn't play it and instead make the (rather minimal) investment of one book and see if you have fun.

I think you will.

4th Edition is not 3rd Edition. Not even close.

I've been waiting to write my review so that I could get a few weeks under my belt, both as a player, a DM, and a freelance writer. After a regular Pathfinder session (Paizo may not have converted, but our group did) playing a Gnome Warlock (yes, gnomes are playable... and enjoyable) and several introductory sessions as DM, I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed 4th Edition thus far. It seems to play faster than 3rd Edition did. There is more action, and the system itself actively encourages roleplaying and noncombat strategies. The skill lists encompass broad topics, which can be applied in many different ways, helping everyone to feel like they are a part of the action all the time.

Another thing that is almost immediately apparent: 4e is significantly more "gamey" than 3rd Edition (and 3.5) were. In my own opinion, that's not a bad thing. In fact, it reminds me of the olden days of measuring movement distance in inches. The fact is, Dungeons and Dragons IS a game. The forced separation of mechanics from story has made some of the people who were normally "I hit with my axe. I roll a 17." kind of players think twice about what their characters are doing. Some of that may have to do with my over-the-top characterization at times, but in large part, 4e has given players the tools to really cut loose and have fun with things. If you recognize that its a game (and the game realizes its a game), some of the restrictions seem a little bit less confining.

There are some things, however, that I do miss. Animal companions. Druids. Bards. There are a lot of "old favorites" that just didn't make the cut. Multiclassing is also more restrictive than I would have liked, and in many cases simply amounts to swapping a few powers here and there. Some of these things are likely to be added in the future (Animal Companions already confirmed for the Martial Powers supplement, and Druids all but confirmed for the PHBII). But for now, they are missed.

So, in the end, do I feel that 4e has lived up to the D&D legacy? Absolutely. I'd say it's roots are closer to second edition, then third however. For some people, 3.5 may be the type of simulationist game they were looking for. For people who just want action, adventure, and piles of fun and are willing to give up some of the book-keeping to get it, then I would definitely suggest finding a DM and giving 4e a try. This is the kind of game I would be willing to invite even nongamers to try. Its just that fun.

After two full sessions, our group is pretty excited about the new ruleset. One player didn't really mesh well with the fighter class, but rerolling a ranger has brought him around. Don't go into the game expecting 3.5e or even a reworked 3.5e (ala Pathfinder), but it is largely familiar to experienced players. It might take us a little while to get used to certain things (healing surges, marking, book layout, all the movement), but I'll give it four stars after five or six hours of play.

4E is a great product; don't let anyone tell you differently. While the game has decided to not include some previously accepted core classes and races, it still provides a nice balance of the old as well as some interesting options with the new. Also, the other classes will all be coming soon, whether in a supplement or online on the dndinsider website.

4E has decided to focus on exciting gameplay and balanced characters. It's really kind of hard to design a character that isn't useful, now, which is great. The Powers included in the book make most any character interesting and fun to play, from the Fighter to the Warlock, and the way play is separated into tiers is another nice addition.

One thing that may turn off veteran gamers is the lack of options, especially when compared to the more complex 3.5 edition. WotC have let it be known that further books and support will reveal more classes and races in the future so this concern should be mostly temporary. Even so, the current classes and races still offer enough variety for both new and veteran gamers to make a character they will enjoy.

The layout of the book is much more open and filled with more art. They attempted to update their look into more of a magazine layout and it worked well in some cases but, in others, ends up making the pages look a bit strange. The covers themselves are amazing and actually very beautiful; you cannot get the full effect looking at the picture online. The books haven't smudged for me yet but some people have reported that they are prone to that so some care should be taken just in case.

All in all, I think that 4E is a very fun game and a worthy successor to the DnD name. Is it still DnD? Most definitely. When you play the game at your table you will instantly know you are playing the same game, even if the mechanics have been overhau