Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons)
TheDungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbookcontains all  the rules you need to create characters and begin adventuring with the world's  most popular role-playing game. Newcomers to the game will appreciate this  book's clear explanations, effective examples, pleasing layout, elegant rules,  and brilliant art. It's never been easier to create and role-play a heroic human  ranger, cunning elf wizard, or any other fantasy character from the game's 7  races and 11 classes.Old-school players will likewise be pleased, as the outdated AD&D; rules system  has been given a thorough overhaul. Gone are almost all the old restrictions on  race and alignment. Halfling sorcerers, half-orc paladins, dwarf barbarians, and  gnome monks are now possible. THACO, negative armor class, funky saving throws,  inflated ability scores, heat-based infravision, and just about every other  needlessly complex rule has been reworked into a faster, more consistent, and  more fun system. Players can choose unique special abilities for their  characters as they gain levels, which means that even two fighters of the same  race and class can have very different abilities. The end result of all these  changes is a dynamic game with more customized characters.Almost every page has some form of new artwork, and the art almost always serves  to explain a concept or illustrate a point. The book is filled with example  montages that help to show the difference between human, half-elf, and elf, or  relative size differences between creatures, or what the various levels of cover  and concealment look like. These illustrations make the rules much more clear.  The style of the artwork is consistent throughout the book and is a definite  departure from older editions of AD&D.; Instead of the classic medieval artwork  of Larry Elmore, the new book has the spiky, leathery, Mad Max-meets-Renaissance  look of the Magic: The Gathering card game.We would have preferred less radical artistic changes, but we love everything  else that Wizards of the Coast has done with Dungeons & Dragons. The rules are  fast and clear, and the characters--including the new sorcerer class and the  return of the monk, barbarian, and half-orc--are fabulous. If you're new to the  D&D; game, then this rule book is the perfect introduction. And if you're an  old-school gamer who played D&D; back in the day, then welcome to the new era of  D&D.; You won't want to go back.--Mike Fehlauer