The Books of 5e

I've had a fair bit to say about the system so far. But what about the books that contain those rules?

So far the Players Handbook and Monster Manual have been released and the Dungeon Master's Guide is due out December 9.

They are pretty books. Hardbound, printed on thick glossy paper in full color with some absolutely gorgeous illustrations. It's hard to put my finger on what precisely makes me say so, but the graphic design seems designed to illicit a sense of nostalgia. In the Players Handbook, there is a neat mix of representational art (that is to say, illustrations of people) with more non-representational art (that is to say, pictures of random assortments of stuff). Mixed in there are full page illustrations. At least for me, those recall the days of 2nd edition. Then each race and class entry features its own illustration, recalling third and fourth editions.

There is a little bit of editing that was missed. Drow are available as a playable "sub-race" of elves, and they have spell abilities that are listed as being usable once a day. However, most other abilities are listed as recharging on a short or long rest. Well, if you have the Monster Manual or check the free rules pdf on Dungeonsanddragons.com, you'll find that an ability listed as usable once per day recharges on a long rest. I guess it is a good thing the drow are an optional race.

Each monster and a fair number of the more mundane animals in the Monster Manual are illustrated. That makes it handy for descriptions. Just show the picture. The Monster Manual also features a collection of NPCs that you can use for encounters as well. The things that are missing, though, are notations on what stat is used to calculate save DCs or attack rolls for abilities, one of the more handy features of the 3.5 Monster Manuals. Also, there are a couple of templates (such as the dracolich and half-dragon), but they don't list how the template affects the Challenge rating of a monster. Presumably, that will be listed in the DMG.

Also, monsters and NPCs feature a curious mix of third edition and fourth edition in their experience values. Each monster has a Challenge rating, as low as 1/8 or as high as 30. And each Challenge rating has an experience value associated with it. The Challenge rating works more or less as it did in third edition. A party of four characters at the same level should be challenged by a monster of the same Challenge rating. Challenge also works like a monster's "level" for determining its proficiency bonuses. But the experience value a monster has at a particular Challenge rating is fixed. A level 20 party will still get 25 experience for defeating a Challenge 1/4 kobold. I'm guessing the DMG will have additional information on that as well.

In short, the rules are a bit incomplete, but the full core books aren't out either. I expect errata will follow the release of the DMG.