Rating: 
Summary: Very happy overall
Review: ..... I have almost everything published for 3.0 except for the Forgotten Realms stuff and compared to what hubby spends on PS2 games (not to mention what I've invested in Magic the Gathering cards), this is more than affordable. And, face it folks, companies are in business to make money. If you don't want to upgrade, don't buy the books.To the book, now. Wow...serious improvement on Bard & Ranger classes and the other classes came out ahead, too. Bards & Sorcerers getting to swap out obsolete spells is a major improvement and goes a long way to balancing the Sorcerer vs. the Wizard arguments. Also, Bluff was a nice addition for the Sorcerer, but a bit more could have been done to the class to make it more distinctive...not just a spontaneous-casting Wizard. For the most part the classes have become more balanced which can only improve the game. So far my players like almost everything I've shown them. We're still using the characters we started with when 3.0 came out and I've switched 'em all over to 3.5 now. Not too big a deal, except for the spell lists which I may take a while to incorporate. I personally won't be implementing the weapons sizes, but that's what House Rules are all about and frankly, I've never played any D&D game that didn't have those. The mechanics are much improved with a step-by-step grapple guide and better explanations overall. Confusing issues, like partial actions, have been removed. Others have detailed alot of the other changes here so I won't rehash...but I do want to say how very much I enjoy this book! For a "rushed" attempt at revision, I think Wizards did a bang-up job. Having only read the book once through so far, I'm not familiar with all the errors folks are talking about, so it might be better to wait for the reprint. I, for one, am satisfied with my purchase!
Rating: 
Summary: Wait for a reprinting
Review: Just like the first printing of the 3.0 rulebook, this rulebook contains many errors, inconsistencies, and contradictions. A rule will be spelled out on one page, only to be totally different on another. Just like the 3.0 Player's Guide, wait for the second printing, hopefully they will make corrections. Also, if you already have the 3.0 rulebook and don't want to buy the 3.5, you can download the new 3.5 rules for free. Yes, it's approved by WOTC, so all you tattle-tales can pipe down. There was a link on the WOTC webpage, if not, google around.
Rating:
Summary: Stop looking back....
Review: This revision makes this the best revision yet. Sure, it is close enough to 3rd edition to make people gripe. If
you are one of those, and already have 3rd edition, then don't buy this. I would not make the jump in the middle of a campaign either, since the character changes will drastically alter the
playability of different classes. If you are new to DND or just starting a new campaign, then this
is definately the direction you want to go. They are
easier to read and cover some areas that were lacking in 3rd edition.
Rating:
Summary: Worth it.
Review: This latest version of the Player's Handbook for D&D is the best yet, and is especially accessible to the new player. In general, it makes more sense and is more intuitive than any previous version. For those who already have the orriginal 3E version, here is an extended review: Basically, in almost every way, 3.5 is MORE powerful than 3E is. Most notably, every single 3.5 character class is equal to or better in every way than its 3E counterpart is. Barbarians have better range and defense. Bards have better (even useful) musical powers and more skill points. Clerics have better spell-lists. Monks have more feats and better attacks. Druids have better abilities and their Animal companion advances like a Familiar or Special Mount. Paladins have more Smite Evils and better spell-lists. Rangers have much better abilities, and more skill points. From a quick comparison, the only significant negative effects are: Druids can no longer turn into Plants without a feat. Paladins have slightly slower Remove Disease advancement. Rangers have d8 hit-points. Other changes of note: Weapons and sizes make much more sense (good). Keen Edge and Improved Critical no longer stack (bad). Haste effects more people but does less (good for fighters, bad for spell-casters). Summon Monster and Animal Companion are slightly better while Planar Ally/Binding are weaker and Gate costs XP (closing sneaky loop-holes). Limited Wish, Miracle and Wish are clearer, and always cost XP. Time Stop and the various Teleport and Polymorph spells are more clearly explained and make more sense. There are more spells in general, including especially Mass versions of many common spells like Bull's Strength and Cure Light Wounds. Overall, it probably IS worth he 20 bucks, if you have it to spend. I personally only give it 4 out of 5 stars, because hey, you probably already DID pay 20 bucks for the original. If you don't definately join the fun and buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: PHB 3.5 is it worth it?
Review: My first thought was why would I want to buy this book? After all my 3rd edition Players Handbook is doing just fine, and I refuse to buy a new version of a game system so soon after the last series was put out. To say the least I was a skeptic about the new 3.5 material. However after looking through the new 3.5 player's handbook I decided it was worth the price. The revised ranger, bard, and druid class design, the clearly described combat and action system, and both the revised and new feats were the clincher for me. Regards, Derek
Rating:
Summary: Slap in the face to D&D gamers everywhere
Review: Hmmm, well, well, Wizards of the Cash seems to think that D&D players around the world are inept fools. We all know what this 3.5 revision is all about. It's about WotC making more money. They don't care about us or our RPG game, they just want our money. Seems like WotC is bent on renaming D&D to "Dollars and Drains", and they are trying to turn our beloved game into some kind of Magic the Gathering revenue generating expansion pack. Even before 3.0 went to the printer, the "business" team overseeing D&D was laughing about the extra sales they were going to generate from 3.5. This revision, according to the original design team, wasn't supposed to happen until 2005. Most of the original design team for 3.0 has since been let go. Hmmm, I wonder why? They could have easily posted a lot of these changes as errata or put all of the changes into a small optional rules supplement, but they didn't. The amount of changes in the 3.5 books was artificially increased beyond what was needed to force everyone to buy all new books and to ensure a good stream of revenue generation. So what are the changes? Lots. With limited word space, I can only hightlight a few significant changes. Rangers are now back to d8 for hit points instead of d10. Half-elves are now suddenly the best diplomats in the game; always thought half-elves were the untrusted outcasts? Gnomes now suddenly favor the bard class; thought there were no bardic traditions among Gnomes?..guess I was wrong since 1st Edition. Virtually every monster is different. Your specialist wizard character, bard, ranger, and monk will have to be redone. Damage reduction has been completely reworked. Perhaps the worst change, weapons are organized by handedness rather than by size. There is now an increased focus on miniatures; only to get you to buy more. And to really frustrate the game, duration for ability score enhancing spells has been shortened. A lot of the new feats are just adding in a +2 bonus. Taking levels of a prestige class now forces you to pay multiclassing XP costs. Caster level is still a prerequisite for magic item creation. 95 percent of the artwork is exactly the same. There are no playtester credits; because they don't care about the playtesters. Basically, just change your PCs, NPCs and whole campaign just because Wizards of the Cash needs more cash. There are just enough changes that a player has to question and re-read everything. Now, in your game sessions, you will have to look everything up again. And hurry up an learn these rules before the 4.0 revision comes! It's true that some of the changes were really needed, but they had to put in a few rules that needed changing to have something to hide behind and try to make it look like this revision was really needed. You see even in this 3.5 Edition, WotC "still" left out rules that needed changing on purpose, because they are already planning to rip us again on a 4.0 Edition. Sounds like they are taking lessons from Bill Gates himself. I wonder if Wizards of the Cash has finacing plans so we can pay monthly installments as they keep churing out new rule book sets for us to buy...? It's sad, I've been a heavy RPG gamer for the last 22 years, and throughout that period I have helped introduce and evangelize D&D. But now, I'm stopping at 3.0 and just using a few selected rules from 3.5 as house rules. WotC's revenue plan for our game is really wrong, and 3.5 is just a big slap in the face to D&D gamers everywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Not "minor" changes.....
Review: WofC stated that people could play for hours and not notice the difference between 3.0 and the current version. It took me all of 20 seconds to realize several differences. Well, certain spell durations are different (mintutes instead of hours), Ranger class totally different (skill points, hit points, class skills). If you don't want to plunk down 90 dollars for all three core books I wouldn't buy only one core book. For adventures you will be redoing/looking at your spell lists, monsters, spells, and redoing the adventures. To me these are "minor" revisions. The books themselves are very very easy to read and have better explainations than 3.0 but, I didn't like being mislead that the "minor" changes to 3.0 can change characters to the degree that it does in 3.5.
Most of the "new" information has been "house" ruled in many campaigns already.
There are new spells, feats, and rules, that make the game different. I don't know if they make it better though. That is what playtesting is all about.
Rating:
Summary: PHB 3.5 is worth the investment
Review: Yes, yes, this is undoubtedly part of WotC's marketting scheme to get more $$ for their product line, but face it - it has been a few years since 3ed came out, and though it was by FAR the best edition of D&D, it did have some room for improvement. (Besides, I don't knock a company that uses smart sales tactics - no this is NOT just a simple rehash of 3.0, it is more.) Well, 3.5 PHB delivers all the improved goods - more explanations and examples, better organization and easier to read (and index), more spells, more feats, more skills, and a far better explanation and clarification of combat tactics (with new content as well), and more arms and armor. Several classes also get a good tweaking, and a few common rules are simplified without loosing their effectiveness. If you play D&D seriously, get this upgrade - it is well worth the investment.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Step Forward
Review: The D&D game has been in a state of constant evolution for about 30 years now--the 3.5 edition is the latest exponent of that evolution. This edition helps clarify some of the 3.0 edition rules as well as addressing some of the game balance issues in the previous edition. Some character types have been made more viable and fun to play; there are new skills (which are more accessible to a wider variety of characters)and abilities to choose from; rules for combat have been streamlined and clarified; and there are important revisions that affect all magic-using characters. Much is being made of the "planned obsolesence" of the previous edition. Monte Cook, one of the three credited authors of the previous edition, has said that the 3.5 edition was planned fromt he beginning. The actual product, however, goes far beyond a mere reprinting with errata. The new edition addresses many concerns voiced by the thousands of active D&D players. Regardless of the original vision for 3.5, here is what it actually is: a response to customers who have given ideas to improve the product. I loved the previous edition, and I am excited about the changes in the 3.5 edition, which I view as a definite improvement. That said, 3.5 is still comprised chiefly of old material. Most of the rules material is taken from 3.0 and 3.0 supplements. The art, which was largely criticized at the release of 3.0, is almost entirely the same. The rules changes are significant enough that 3.5 and 3.0 will not be smoothly compatible. It will be difficult to play the game out of the different rulebooks. If you have already bought the core rulebooks of the 3.0 edition, you will be re-purchasing a lot of your old material, with enough changes to make the new books all but indispensable to the continuing development of the game. Repetition of old material notwithstanding, I am pleased with with my purchase of the 3.5 edition rulebooks. I would like to have seen some new and better art, and I believe that the books could have been edited more carefully. Still, I bought the books for the rules, and they are, by and large, a significant improvement to an already superb treatment of the D&D game. I would recommend (and have recommended) the 3.5 edition rules to anyone who enjoys the role-playing experience of D&D. 3.5 will not be the last word in the evolution of D&D--the last 30 years is indication enough of that. But 3.5 is a good step forward.
Rating:
Summary: If you already bought 3.0 dont bother...
Review: First, I will ignore the economics of the new version.
I would also add that before buying you can find a list of changes on the WotC website, if you own 3.0 already check it out.
With this in mind I would conider this a unneeded revison. By far the most changes were to spells. For example, Polymorph other and polymorph self become Polymorph and Baneful Polymorph, not much difference other than duration. Also, Harm has been reduced to 10hp per level damage. Does any one out there with a PC cleric actually prepare Harm? (as reviewed in Dragon Magazine)
The one cool thing I found in the revision notes was that a Paladins warhorse is now a summoned creature. Very useful for those that travel by sea or Teleport often.
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