Rating: 
Summary: A good follow-up to a major revision
Review: The 3.5 books are not essential if you have 3.0 but they are very nice to have.The 3.0 system was a major revision of the D&D system that corrected most of the problems and silliness that accreted over the years. No major revision can get everything right; 3.5 is the minor follow-on that corrects a few play balance issues and extends a few things (such as adding a much more interesting damage reduction system.) Not a super-star but a solid effort. For those that suspect this is a moneymaking gimmick, I'm sure that is a factor but note that 3.5e includes in the base rules much that was previously in 3.0 supplements such as the epic rules, extra feats, etc.
Rating: 
Summary: Bravo
Review: Take the version 3 D20 rules, remove all the flaws and replace them with genius and you get version 3.5. Classes such as the ranger have undergone a complete overhaul and most other classes have been changed significantly. Also features new rules for gear for small characters, such as a halfling greatsword which really give more diversity and allow the small creatures to use a larger variety of gear with a damage penalty due to its size. Other changes include the addition of new feats granting the player skill bonuses that werte not available before, also feat like Manyshot, allowing an archer to fire multiple arrows in a single shot. Also some of the skills have been changed slightly. All in all it is a welcome change to a great system that did have its flaws. If you wish to know anything more about it e-mail me at majorgeneralpatton@hotmail.com
Rating: 
Summary: 3 to 3.1 to 3.5, what's next.
Review: Realistically, WoTC has done 3 editions of the same books in as many or even, dare I say, fewer years. After the first 3rd ed book came out, not more than a year passed and they came out with a revamped 3rd edition PHG and DMG. Frankly, it's getting to become the typical WoTC marketing scheme that seems so similar to their trademark Magic: the Gathering. You need to buy every book they ever made and be a rocket scientist just to figure out what is official and what isn't. Thank God I only bought 3.5 (on Amazon with their cool 30% discount) and that was only because I want to run Warcraft. Now, many of my friends who bought all the NEW editions, they seemed ok that WoTC again was revamping the DnD line but I had the best laugh of my life when they ALL griped about the half a page of material on party movement and their marching order. Who knew you could change your marching order until WoTC wrote up these rediculous rules? It's so sad that they even wrote anything about it but I suppose they need filler. My two points goes to the reworked Rangers and some of the simplified rule changes. My friends gave me points because I don't have to borrow their books to make characters anymore.
Rating:
Summary: Why 4 stars?
Review: This new book is really something special and anyone checking the text will notice the changes make for a better gaming experience, faster game, more clear explanations (be warned, the changes are primarily made to the text) One flaw I see is that the Druid Class is still (in my 14 year of D&D gaming still humble opinion) a useless waste! (Yet it's better than the ever useless Psionic Classes). The design of the spells is fabulous and to the date the WOTC just published only a 2 page errata, a plus against the extremely long errata of the initial books (3.0 that is). Yet there is a feeling in the air (and all throug the net) that the 3.0 books where first edited with an intentional enormous errata as part of a strategy to sell to us rpg fans the revised books, and it's obvious that the revised edition was even scheduled since the beggining. That's scary be cause you don't know how long your books will be up to date. It is my opinion that its great to make money but totally unethical to make it this way, after all, if you buy something flawed don't you have right to a minimum compensation or consideration. This book is a great choice if you don't care about the moral issue behind the screen.
Rating: 
Summary: More rules, more power gaming
Review: I see a lot of double reviews here by people who seem to think they can push up the ratings of this book by submitting the same review over and over and over... 3rd edition was rules heavy, I mean big time, well put together but also very very complex (so many modifiers interfered too much with gameplay). The 3.5 edition is just more and more rules put on top of an already rules heavy system. The "revised" classes are just more powerful versions of already powerful classes... things like "attacks of opportunity" threaten to make the dungeons and dragons game into more of a board game than a roleplaying game. The sad part is that many people out there buy whatever wizards of the coast makes and suddenly declares it "near perfection" Just wait until 4th edition comes out, when the gaming community buys it up like hot cakes and starts saying how flawed the 3.5 edition was, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
Rating:
Summary: Not perfect, but an incremental improvement
Review: First things first: If you already have Third Edition, you probably don't need this book unless you're the Dungeon Master. The material is by and large similar enough to 3.0 that you can continue using your PHB and trust your DM to advise you of any important changes. If you don't have 3e, though, or if you're a DM, this is the most usable, accessible, thoroughly playtested version of D&D yet. 3.5 came out of tons of feedback WotC received on 3rd edition, particularly through the RPGA's Living Greyhawk (basically a huge international multi-party campaign for D&D). It seems that there were a lot of play-balance issues that were not obvious during in-house development, but quickly emerged in the face of thousands of min-maxers trying to game the system. Some things were too strong, others too weak, etc., for the game to be as fun as it could have been. 3.5 is an attempt to fix those imbalances, as well as make everything just a little easier for the players and the DM. Examples:
--Skills have been condensed, so your hard-earned skill points go farther
--Rules for concealment and cover have been simplified. No longer does the DM have to try to figure out whether that rogue sniper has three-quarters' cover or only half cover.
--Spells that were being rampantly abused, such as haste, were doctored to fit the original design intent -- no more hasted sorcerers walloping your party with two fireballs per round. Some things were just altered so they made more *sense*. For example, 3rd edition rangers all had Two-Weapon Fighting, period. But the archetypal rangers, LOTR's Aragorn and Legolas, were known far more for their archery skills than for two-weapon fighting (Legs' tricky knife work in the movie version notwithstanding). So now rangers can choose whether to primarily follow the melee path or the archery path. They also get cool new ranger-like abilities, like the ability to run for days without tiring (again, harkening back to Aragorn and Legolas). Some people will always believe that things were better in the Good Old Days. More power to 'em -- let them curl up with their old boxed sets and dungeon modules and live in the 1970s. For those who are interested in playing a sweet fantasy RPG that has gone through more playtesting and fine-tuning than any other, take a look at D&D 3.5. Is it perfect? No. But it's the closest D&D has come yet, and it's well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth it
Review: The artwork, the paging is the same. No new breath there. Some classes are revised yes, but overall, those are just a few errata that could fill a little book of 20 pages or so. Publishing a revised version, while it is still the same game, would have been perhaps a good operation. Problem is that for a new edition, there is not enough revision, and for "just" a revised handbook, there is too much revisions in depths through the details (like classes, combat). This book is a gigantic erratum for a few dozen bucks and the hardcover. Period. In a sentence: if you possess already D&D 3.0, don't buy it. If you don't have any 3rd edition book, you can invest, because it's a good game (which would have 3 or 4 stars if it wasn't a "revised" book but a all new brand new system).
Rating:
Summary: 3.5 is the way to go
Review: This book is very similar to 3rd Edition, except that WoC fixed a lot of things that needed fixing. Monsters get sane amounts of damage reduction, and weapons need attributes that have something to do with the monsters weaknesses to bypass it. Fighters get cooler Feats. Everything is more balanced. My Advice is Ditch your 3e and buy 3.5!
Rating:
Summary: Honestly... what's the point?
Review: This book is not a "revision" as so many people are calling it. This book is an entirely new edition of the D&D game. Is that bad? Guess it really depends on you. I own quite a few rule books now, back from the late 1970's when I first started playing so for me to keep on buying new books is just stupid. The 2nd and 3rd editions of the game are really the only two we need, both have advantages and disadvantages... I have nothing against a new edition coming out, but to release one just 3 years after the old one... money is the only motivation here... not an attempt to evolve the game or make it better in some new and exciting way. If you have money to burn, buy the book.. or just wait awhile, the 4th edition of D&D should be here before you know it.
Rating:
Summary: Awful... burn it before you read it.
Review: 3.0 was a breath of fresh air into the D&D genre. A new system with new rules that kept most of the flavor of the 2nd edition of the game. 3.5 was not playtested, that much is painfully clear, there aren't any playtester credits in the back of the book. 3.0 had two full pages of fine print playtester credits. It can be summed up in one sentence: Some idiot out-there's houserules for actual D&D. Darkness spells light up rooms, druids turn people into frogs, dragons and horses are square... Pathetic. my only fear is that a new generation of gamers pick this peice of garbage up and begin to think it's D&D.
| 
