August 2000: Player's Handbook Introduction, Chapter 1

Well, we have at last arrived. 25 years ago to the day, the 3e Player's Handbook was released. I'm not going to cover the whole book in a single post; that would be insane. But I will take it a chapter at a time, possibly two chapters at once depending on how short they are. But first, there are a few things that dropped on the same day on the WotC website: The first installments of the 'Map-a-Week' feature. There were three of them: A legend, and two maps, Village 1 and Village 2. Here they are, in miniature:

They also released a Conversion Manual to translate characters from 2nd edition to 3rd edition. I'm not going to review this; it just explains how to convert characters, magic items, and monsters over, so it's pretty straightforward.

Alright, now on to the main event. First of all, the new Player's Handbook is very, very dense. Small type, close spacing, and 286 pages (plus a special section at the end which I will discuss when I get there). It is packed with information to enable players to play just about any aspect of the game. Today, I'll go over the brief introduction and the first chapter.

Second, I have to give a shout-out to the cover. That is a thing of beauty. And the best part, which I just learned a short time ago, is that WotC actually produced a book with this cover and photographed it to make the front and back covers for the PH. It's got gems and gold filigree! And that book is a real thing! Awesome.

I should note that I have a first printing of the PH, which differs from what was available just a few months later. Specifically, there is no errata, and the ending section is different. It also came with a CD-Rom that included a character generator and a hidden module, although I don't have the CD-Rom with my copy (but I did find the module online). I'll discuss those later as well.

Alright, so the Table of Contents is actually only one page long, and half of it is a list of tables in the book. So it's compact. I also notice that the spells take up the largest section by far, at 103 pages. I shouldn't be surprised; spells have always been a major part of the game, and the number of spells is always expanding.

So, we'll be going over three sections today; the first is the 'Character Creation Basics', which precedes the Introduction. It's a two-page section that introduces the checklist to create a character. The first thing on the list is ask the DM about any house rules that might affect the character creation process. Good idea; if he doesn't want elves in his world, don't ask to play an elf or half-elf.

Most of this section is straightforward; ability scores, choose class and race, assign and...adjust? You can adjust your ability scores? Oh, it's just racial adjustments. I thought for a moment they were channeling the old BECMI system.

The interesting part here is the mention of 'starting packages'. It provides a shortcut to allow players to get their character's skills, feats, and equipment in a hurry. It's somewhat cookie-cutter, but it's not at all a bad idea. Considering that this is effectively a new system, it's a good idea to give players this kind of shortcut to get them started.

Racial and class features are next, selecting your character's feat (or feats, if they are a fighter and/or human), selecting skills, equipment and details (ironically, there's no detail on what this chapter will be about). Then you get your combat adjustments, pick your character's name, sex, and alignment, and even a character description. After that, play.

The section does include a smaller printing of the character sheet to show where everything on the checklist goes. That's a very handy feature, again because everything is new now.

The Introduction is next, and it's a single page. There's not much here, even with the dense type. There are possible adventure ideas or outcomes listed, what's needed to play (rulebook, character sheet, dice, pencil and paper, and a mini or some way to represent your character visually), and a breakdown of what you'll find in the rest of the book. Oh, and a bit on dice, and a sidebar on reminding players that this game is fantasy, not reality, so don't get super-caught up in what's going on. I shake my head that this was seen as necessary to include.

Alright, that brings us to Chapter 1: Abilities. The standard six ability scores are described here, and the relevant ability score for each spellcasting class is revealed. For wizards it's Intelligence, Wisdom is for clerics, druids, paladins and rangers, and Charisma for sorcerers and bards. I will note that we didn't get any Countdown information on druids or paladins, so they're coming in cold.

There is one ability score modifier table for all six abilities, and it includes the spell bonuses for higher scores. If you have a 12 in the relevant ability, your spellcaster gets a single additional first-level spell. At 18, you get one additional spell for each of the first four spell levels when you get access to those levels. If you can't cast a fourth-level spell yet, having an 18 Intelligence isn't going to make it possible for your wizard to prepare stoneskin.

The abilities aren't too heavily detailed; each is given a brief description of what it is and what it represents, then lists the combat and skill adjustments that it affects. It also includes a table of creatures with different scores in the relevant abilities. For example, the table for Strength lists a toad as having a Str of 1, a Rat 2, a gnoll 14, and a fire giant 30 or 31. There are similar tables for the other five ability scores as well.

Strength affects melee attack rolls, damage rolls for melee and thrown weapons, Climb, Jump and Swim skill checks, and Strength checks (for things like breaking down doors). Dexterity is for ranged attack rolls, armor class adjustments, Reflex saving throws (dodging things), and several skills (most of the traditional rogue skills are included). The table shows that a gelatinous cube has a Dex of 1, while an elder air elemental has a 32-33 Dex. That's pretty fast. Constitution affects hit die roll, Fortitude saving throws (poison resistance, etc.) and Concentration checks. This is a skill that affects spellcasters; we'll see it in a later chapter. Elves are shown as having low Con scores, while a horse has an 18-19 score.

For the mental ability scores, Intelligence affects how many languages your character knows, how many skill points you gain every level, and several skills that are affected by how smart you are. A carrion crawler has an Int of 1, a troll has 6-7, and a mind flayer has 18-19. Wisdom affects Will saving throws (mental resistance to effects), and modifies quite a few skills. Shriekers have a Wis of 2; a unicorn has 20-21. Finally, there's Charisma, which is personality plus looks. It affects a bunch of skills related to interpersonal relationships, as well as checks to influence someone else. Zombies have a Cha of 1; a large barghest has 18-19.

There's a sidebar that explains how to play the various mental scores as high or low, and an example of how to create a character's ability scores. It's exactly what you'd expect, so I'll move on to the most interesting part of this chapter: Changing ability scores. Every fourth level, you get to add one point to one of your ability scores. So you can increase an ability up to five points by the time you reach 20th level. You can also adjust your scores temporarily through magical means, either spells or items, or lose ability points due to poison or curses. Wraiths are mentioned as being able to permanently drain ability scores, which is a heck of a difference from previous editions where you actually lost experience levels. I don't know if this is a good change or not; it certainly makes fighting the undead a little less scary.

I'm going to experiment with these new rules by creating a character as I go through each chapter. Since the chapters follow the order of the 'Character Creation Basics', I'll be taking this one step at a time. First, ability scores.

The standard method is, as mentioned in the Countdown articles, 4d6 per ability, drop the lowest die, and arrange to taste. I'm going to roll them, but since I haven't picked a race or class yet, I won't assign them. My rolls are, in ascending order, 9, 11, 14, 14, 15, and 16. That's a pretty nice set. I like these dice; I will use them again.

So, that covers the introduction and first chapter of the new Player's Handbook. Next time, we'll go over the various races in the core game, and I'll pick a race for my character.