Player's Handbook: Core Rulebook I (Dungeons & Dragons, Edition 3.5)

Rating:
Summary: This is NOT Dungeons & Dragons
Review: This is not Dungeons & Dragons. It is a cartoonish parody of what made the game great.

d20 system? It's a clumsy, unintelligent mockery of what the game should be about - playing a role well.

I have played all editions of the game and recently made an educated decision to return to the original rules and play the game the right way, once again. My players are happier, I'm happier and the game is fun again.

Rating:
Summary: Awful wait for 4th edition, this is the pits.
Review: 3.5 is the single worst edition of D&D in the history of the game.
I'm amazed and horrified at how working off of such a good basis as the 3rd edition rules anyone save a complete moron could screw up so damn royally.

The spells Shapechange, Blasphemy, Holy word are souped up to stupid levels of power. A wizard can shapechange into a collosal dragon and breath for way more damage than the most damaging evocation spell in the game. His familiar can breath too since he can "share spell" with it. Holy word + bead of karma + good domain + orange ioun stone is the single most destructive spell in D&D history.
However for some unknown and mysterious reason "project image" got savaged as well as other perfectly fine spells like "otiluke's freezing sphere".

The 3.5 weapon system is pathetic over-complexity. They even failed to include weapon size in the random generation of treasure so if you play a halfling and your DM rolls for treasure you're never ever going to get magic treasure that fits your character.

The classes are completely out of whack with each other - the druid and clerics are clearly pet classes and are now ridiculously strong relative to the others. The ranger is pointless now that druid can both spot and listen and out-fight it because of ridiculous powerups like "natural spell" and handing out arcane spells willy nilly like "baleful polymorph" and "ice storm" at the same level that the wizard gets them.

The skills system is again, frought with problems. A polar bear has no chance to sneak up on you on the frigid flat wastes. Why? Because it needs cover or concealement to "hide". So a bush in the way will do it as will dim lighting but not the fact that its white on a white background. Brilliant move.
A wizard has basically no chance by the skill system of knowing anything about say a stone giant which he encouters at level 7 because the giant has 15 HD and his skill check is then 15+15 = DC 30. Anything "big" is likewise supremely mysterious to great wizards, like whales for instance.

Someone should learn simple math or do some simple playtesting when designing feats and spells. Improved trip 3.5 + enlarge person 3.5 grants you +8 to your opposed roll to trip someone. That allows you an equal chance of throwing quarupeds like horses flat on their back.
Likewise +1 to the DC for spell focus is NOT enough bonus. Did anyone review these changes? Anyone?

The races are again frought with design bias. The 3.5 dwarf is god and the 3.5 half-elf is dung.

No playtester credits in the back of the book - bad sign #1.
Different designers than the original book - bad sign #2.
All in all after a careful perusal - D&D 3.5 is a money grab and not worth the paper it's printed on.

Do us all a favor in 4th edition and get some playtesters as well as some older players who actually know how to design spells and keep them closer to their original intent.

Rating:
Summary: unnessesary redo
Review: Okay, i've been DMing version 3.0 for a couple years, and so my characters are fairly far along. I picked up the DM's guide and monster manual 3.5, and found it easy to convert those aspects. only one thing, no players handbook 3.5! i needed the new spells, so i got it, and thought it would also be easy to convert, too. Boy, was I ever wrong! they took off some skills that my PC's used extensively (animal empathy) so I had to let them re spend those. the ranger in the party had so many changes, he had to redo his character, as so many of the abilities he relied on were removed. I ended up not useing the "revision" (except the spells)at all! So, if your an experienced DM and use 3.0 rules, stick with it as far as players go, or your in for a nightmare. I gave it 3 stars because if you are just starting a campaign, it would probably be better. get the DMG and MM 3.5, as the improvements are useful even without the PH 3.5 (some Spell like abilities may need changing though).