Exclusive: The Table of Contents and Sorcerer From the D&D Player's Handbook

[JonB]

Exclusive: The Table of Contents and Sorcerer From the D&D Player's Handbook

Wizards of the Coast has given The Escapist an exclusive look inside the new Player's Handbook

Over the past week, shots of the interior art from the Player's Handbook for the new Dungeons & Dragons have been slowly making their way out [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136325-New-D-D-5e-Players-Handbook-Art-Revealed] into the wild. Wizards of the Coast has given us a few exclusive looks to share with you: The table of contents and the Sorcerer's class page.



The table of contents has a few surprises, like entire appendices on the Gods and Planes of the Multiverse. The extended section in the rules chapter on how to use ability and skill checks during the game will be very useful for newer players.

Now, the Sorcerer:




Featuring beautiful art and a bunch of nice story description, we can expect to have a good time reading the Player's Handbook classes chapter. Given the descriptions, it looks like Sorcerers will come in Dragon and Wild Magic varieties - with, perhaps, a third flavor if that second descriptive paragraph is meant to connote a flavor of magic.

[gallery=2897]

Looks like the book's going to be beautful. Agree? Disagree? Sound off in the comments.


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[castlewise]

I wonder what is in Appendix E...

 

[Sidmen]

I wonder what is in Appendix E...

Probably a list of all the Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Legend of Drizzt books.

That should fill up an entire page in 6pt font.

 

[Metadigital]

It looks like... D&D. I mean, I know what to expect, I was involved in the playtests from almost the very beginning. It's just... well, as you can see, it's basically the same old thing. The information is presented differently, and there's some tweaks, but there's no surprises in there. I know it's trying to appeal to the 1st-3rd edition people, but I dunno... if you already bought all those books I'm not sure I'm convinced it's worth it to buy a whole new set that does almost exactly the same thing again.

I wonder what is in Appendix E...

Have you accepted Pelor into your heart?

 

[JonB]

I wonder what is in Appendix E...

Probably a list of all the Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, and Legend of Drizzt books.

That should fill up an entire page in 6pt font.

My god, if they fill that with their own books I'll make Jim do a Jimquisition on it.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

*drool* Oh sorry, let me clean up a bit here.

I so wish to have a gaming crew again, preferably fresh meat to grind... er... new players to introduce the wonderful sensation that is (the Tomb of Horrors) a wonderful and fulfilling campaign. I want these for no other reason than to have them, my tabletop avarice knows no bounds (as does my hunger for the souls contained within character sheets).

 

[JarinArenos]

I'm greatly disappointed that we don't have the next few pages. We're lacking much of the meat of the class description... I was hoping to get a better idea of the sorcerer's mechanics.

 

[Mortuorum]

I'm greatly disappointed that we don't have the next few pages. We're lacking much of the meat of the class description... I was hoping to get a better idea of the sorcerer's mechanics.

Yeah, not really much to see here. In fact, if you've played 3.5 or Pathfinder, nothing at all to see here. One more page would have gone a long way towards getting my interested in picking up 5th. As it is... eh?

 

[Sidmen]

I'm greatly disappointed that we don't have the next few pages. We're lacking much of the meat of the class description... I was hoping to get a better idea of the sorcerer's mechanics.

Yeah, not really much to see here. In fact, if you've played 3.5 or Pathfinder, nothing at all to see here. One more page would have gone a long way towards getting my interested in picking up 5th. As it is... eh?

It does confirm the Races and Classes - and that there aren't any beasties in the Players Handbook - so you'll have to wait or draw on other sources for your games for a few months.

Unless they've drastically changed things from the last playtest packet, I'm rather interested in 5th edition myself. It seems like it's 3.5 without the horrible Feat bloat and actually interesting mundane warriors.

 

[JonB]

Unless they've drastically changed things from the last playtest packet, I'm rather interested in 5th edition myself. It seems like it's 3.5 without the horrible Feat bloat and actually interesting mundane warriors.

Pretty much precisely how we should all feel about 5th Edition right now. Seems like the track we're going down.

 

[Fasckira]

Well that sorcerer looks like he feels just absolutely fabulous.

 

[Fat Hippo]

Well that sorcerer looks like he feels just absolutely fabulous.

Well, wouldn't you? He's absolutely sparkling with magic, just downright dazzling!

 

[SnakeoilSage]

It might be just me, but the "Sorcerous Origin feature" sounds like a generic version of the Sorcerer Bloodlines from the Pathfinder system. Granted, it's two groups playing off the same core system, but you'd think they'd try something different.

 

[Berling's Beard]

Great scoop here! Appendix E was definitely what jumped out at me the most.

Everything else seems to be in order.

79 pages of Spells?!? Awesome.

Definitely a big fan of 5e already.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

79 pages of Spells?!? Awesome.

Definitely a big fan of 5e already.

I knew I'd find you drooling over that number. It seems ridiculous to me, but then again I'm wondering if 6 pages of feats is enough.

OT: A lot of fluff that seems pretty much the same as previous editions. It looks nice, but it doesn't say a lot about how it plays. I'm a bit concerned about metamagic popping up so frequently on the advancement table, as that has lead to some of the worst excesses of "solve every problem with magic", but I'll wait until I hear how they actually implement it in 5E.

Also, interesting in that they don't mention the Realms as such, but call it 'the world'. I'm wondering if they are backing off of putting the Realms up front all the time. Similarly, "Gods of the Multiverse" sounds like it might include more than one pantheon.

 

[warmachine]

Charisma based saving throw seems interesting. This suggests plausible realism is downgraded even further in favour of "cos he's awesome", which is what high magic fantasy needs. Does this mean WotC have solved the Linear Fighter, Quadratic Wizard problem?

 

[castlewise]

79 pages of Spells?!? Awesome.

Definitely a big fan of 5e already.

I knew I'd find you drooling over that number. It seems ridiculous to me, but then again I'm wondering if 6 pages of feats is enough.

OT: A lot of fluff that seems pretty much the same as previous editions. It looks nice, but it doesn't say a lot about how it plays. I'm a bit concerned about metamagic popping up so frequently on the advancement table, as that has lead to some of the worst excesses of "solve every problem with magic", but I'll wait until I hear how they actually implement it in 5E.

Also, interesting in that they don't mention the Realms as such, but call it 'the world'. I'm wondering if they are backing off of putting the Realms up front all the time. Similarly, "Gods of the Multiverse" sounds like it might include more than one pantheon.

I'm greatly disappointed that we don't have the next few pages. We're lacking much of the meat of the class description... I was hoping to get a better idea of the sorcerer's mechanics.

Yeah, not really much to see here. In fact, if you've played 3.5 or Pathfinder, nothing at all to see here. One more page would have gone a long way towards getting my interested in picking up 5th. As it is... eh?

If you want to see more meat you might want to look at the Basic pdf. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/basicrules It doesn't have Sorcerer, only Wizard, Fighter, Cleric and Rogue, but everything there is supposed to be taken straight out of the PHB.

There is a list of feats at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20140721 which I pasted below.


Alert
Athlete
Actor
Charger
Crossbow Expert
Defensive Duelist
Dual Wielder
Dungeon Delver
Durable
Elemental Adept
Grappler
Great Weapon Master
Healer
Heavily Armored
Heavy Armor Master
Inspiring Leader
Keen Mind
Lightly Armored
Linguist
Lucky
Mage Slayer
Magic Initiate
Martial Adept
Medium Armor Master
Mobile
Moderately Armored
Mounted Combatant
Observant
Polearm Master
Resilient
Ritual Caster
Savage Attacker
Sentinel
Sharpshooter
Shield Master
Skilled
Skulker
Spell Sniper
Tavern Brawler
Tough
War Caster
Weapon Master

 

[Roganzar]

The Feat selection seems geared more toward providing new options for characters, as opposed to having linear right/wrong builds for classes.

Can't wait. (even though I have too)

 

[castlewise]

The Feat selection seems geared more toward providing new options for characters, as opposed to having linear right/wrong builds for classes.

Can't wait. (even though I have too)

I think the new feat paradigm is good. Feats optionally replacing ability score increases means that you don't have to wade through lists and lists of feats if you don't want to, and replacing whole feat paths with one larger feat means you get to feel the impact on your character right away. My group uses the Basic Rules with the feats from the last version of the playtest packet. If you haven't seen that, and want to get a feel for what the feats will probably look like, its not too hard to track down.

 

[Breathing Meat]

"Cantrips"! Lovely. A return to form. I just need to find some local people whose interest in D&D survived the 4th Edition era.