Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not nice written
Review: Most of the reviews you can read for this book here is reviews written by experienced players. I am new in the D&D, and I take the book as a textbook, not as a handbook. I didn't read 1st and 2nd edition of the book. This is book that I read with more interest than I had for the most of the books I read in last time, but I have certain difficulties. It is relatively hard to follow the matter if you read book sequencially. The problem is that the matter is not categorised well, so the terms are used before they are defined. For example Class is the term that is used in 2nd Chapter, but it is defined in the 3dr one. Also, there is table about spells in the 1st chapter, buzt spells are defined in 11th. In the second chapter tte term dodge bonus is used that is defined in the 5th section, and so on. As a mathematician, I know that there is no matter that is so complex that cannot be present in consistent way. Unfortunately, this book isn't written by author(s) that are experienced enough in writting textbooks to make it consistent in way that is described above. It it was a book on the math, the number of stars will be a less than tree, but because it is book on game playing, and it is the only one (as far as I know) that deals with the matter of D&D character creating, so you are, in a way, forced to read this book if you want to be a player, I'll give the 3 stars for this book, and it can be taken as an award not as a punishment for the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough but Disjointed
Review: The 3rd Edition Player's Handbook is almost exactly what the Player's handbook should be. It gives the player a sense of what his or her character can do without bogging down on unnecessary rules. All the very basics of the game are there, from character creation, through skills, feats, item selections, and spells. Much more than tables and charts, the Player's Handbook gives a good idea of what a default campaign will be like and what the character can encounter, but doesn't require the player to memorize everything. Much of the job of running the game and knowing the rules is left to the DM, but this is a good thing. The DM is the one with the final say, the one who knows the world, and the one who should be charged with keeping the game running smoothly. My one complaint about the Player's Handbook, and the reason it has only four stars, is that the layout is atrocious in areas. The combat section in particular is great if you're reading right through it, but trying to use it as a reference is an absolute nightmare. Some better organisation would be very nice there.
Rating: 
Summary: so fun
Review: i really, really like the whole dungeons and dragons "world," or whatever one would call it that doesn't make one sound insane. i am a great fan of the fantasy literary genre, and i think that d & d is a great tribute to authors and artists who try to show us the impossible, if only because it allows us to live in the worlds they create. well, depending on your dungeonmaster, anyway. ^_^ i recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy, games, friends, and, of course, mountain dew... ;)
Rating:
Summary: It's not great and it's all down hill from here
Review: Most of the reviews that you see will heap endless praise on the Third Edition PHB as the hallmark of a new era in Role Playing Games. The caveat that most of these people don't mention is that they don't play with all the rules, just the ones they like. So without further ado: The Good
The combat system is much more concrete than in either of the earlier editions and provides for a more tactical (and therefore possibly more satisfying) monster smacking experience. The "Up is always good" system of die rolling simplifies the game (although in a very minor way). Unfortunately, there is now no reason to keep any d20s that have an average roll below 10. The Bad: Barbarian, Monk and Half-orcs are back, halflings are now wanna-be kender and gnomes get magical powers and are now wanna-be tinker gnomes. The Barbarian and Monk are not appropriate to a standard fantasy campaign, that's why they were dropped from the Second Edition and dropping them was the right choice. Half-orcs as a race are only good for one thing, munchkin combat machines. Very few of them should exist or survive to become adventurers, again they should have been left to a suplement. Defaulting the setting to Greyhawk. This means that all the books default to a campaign world without an actual development team (It was cancelled because of poor sales) and it means anyone who doesn't want to play in Greyhawk just might as well not buy the core books at all because half the space will be wasted for them. Third Edition is a power gamers dream. The characters classes are not very well balanced and it is extremely easy to power-game a character to the point where average characters will feel useless in comparison. The Ugly:
Multi-classing is great for barbarians, fighters, rangers, and rogues, but sucks for monks, clerics, wizards, sorcerers, and bards. There are silly weapons in the PHB, like the orc-double-axe, the two-bladed sword and the spiked chain. The first two are simply bad weapons, the last one is too good for what it is. Skill madness: In one week you can earn/make twice as much as you can earn/make in 5 days. It takes less time to make more complicated items. Wizards and Priests get fewer skills than Barbarians, Rangers and Druids. Spheres and granted powers were a great way to tailor specialty priests characters making them very different from one another. Domains are not a good way to differentiate clerics types, they have no restrictive impact on the characters so are only really good as a powergaming tool allowing players to pick some extra power abilities for their clerics. Even with domains, clerics are boring. They are the most powerful class in the game, but they are also the most tedious. The are incredibly powerful support characters who can support themselves and steal the limelight from fighters, rangers, barbarians, paladins and druids or support the fighters, rangers, barbarians, and paladins and bore themselves to tears. Overall: It just seems like Third Edition is a massive maneuver to pander to all of the vocal minorities who wanted specific changes in third edition without anyone stopping to think about the end result. Most disappointingly of all, is the simple fact that the Player's Handbook is one of the high points of the Third Edition books. It's not great and it's all down hill from here.
Rating:
Summary: 3rd edition got me back into roleplaying
Review: After getting engaged, I ended up on a hiatus from roleplaying for awhile. I guess 2nd edition was just getting old, and it was such a stretch to make interesting characters without having to always make your own classes and rules. Well, my friends recently got me to try 3rd edition, and it's a whole new ballgame now! Finally, a game where the rules are almost as flexible as your imagination. I've had countless great ideas for fun and interesting characters that can all be balanced and fun to play thanks to 3rd edition. There's just so much stuff that 'makes sense' now. Who in their right mind would have ever used a two-handed sword in 2nd edition, for example? You'd be cut down by the typical fighter dual-wielding 2 weapons! Now both of those basic fighter types can be equally as tough. A light armored fighter in 2nd edition? Yeah right, it sounded good, but it killed you when it came down to combat, there was so reason to NOT wear full plate all the time. But now, once again, 3rd edition gives both types equal strengths. And thieves in 2nd edition!? Give me a break! Fun as heck to roleplay, but there was so little they could do that a mage or priest couldn't do with a 2nd level spell. Not to sound like a broken record, but, once again, 3rd edition breathes new life into that class. You like priests, but sick of always having to have 90% of your spell slots used by "Cures"? Well, 3rd edition fixes that, now you're free to take a very balanced spell selection and convert to cures as needed. Talk about versility! You'd be amazed at the types of cool things your cleric can pull out of the ol' hat now! This book is your starting point to a new world of D&D, where the rules finally support your full imagination. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: The magic is back!
Review: I've been a Dungeons and Dragons fan for twenty years. I bought products out of habit. With all the excellent computer RPG recently released, I was beginning to worry that paper-based roleplaying games would go the way of TSR. The past couple of years I have bought fewer and fewer game products, and they mostly seemed to rehash products I already owned. Wizards of the Coast has fixed this game. Character classes and races are more interesting. (Other classes can finally compete with high-level wizards.) Multi-classing rules make sense, as does the skill system. Between the skills, feats, and prestige classes, character progression is not so predictible. Best of all, combat is faster and less cumbersome. I am very pleased with this version of the Players Handbook. If you're an old player, you'll enjoy this incarnation. If you're a new player, this rulebook is very accessible. I've looking forward to the rest of the 3rd Edition products. I hope 'traditional' roleplaying makes a comeback. If this product is indictive of what the Wizards Dungeons and Dragons products will look like, they I'm a believer again.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Work
Review: This is everything we've hoped for in an RPG. The artwork is splendid, but what's more, the rules have truly been improved. Skills and Feats bring Player Characters to life. New classes should help intice old-timers back for some new fun. And (sing it with me people) Ding-Dong the THAC0's dead!!! It's totally refreshed my interest in the game, and hopefully yours as well!
Rating:
Summary: Takes a little getting used to....
Review: I started playing D&D recently by buying this book along with the Dungeon Masters Guide. Now, considering the fact that I had no one who could explain what I could not understand, I think having figured it out within about 10 months was a great accomplishment ^_^. Anyway, to be frank, I think this book as well as the DM Guide are essential as references, but if you really want to start to play D&D you need to pick up a premade, level one one player adventure, buy some dice and grab a friend with alot of patience and play using the Player Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide as references. The authors skip around too much and alot of things are not where you expect to find them, as well as the fact that some parts of the character sheet aren't even mentioned (or in the index). I found that after my 5th time reading the book and writing notes on it, playing Dungeons and Dragons is not very hard. So basically... if you want to play D&D this is essential as a reference and I mean... I would suggest reading the chapters about races, classes, and combat but I learned best when bought a adventure for level 1 - 3 characters, sat down with my sister and DMed while she played. Good luck, and I hope my review helped.
Rating:
Summary: Vastly improved over 1st, 2nd Ed.
Review: Some reviewers below argue that this edition is a "step back" from 2nd Edition. I don't know what they've been smoking, but this is the best rules set ever to carry the D&D label. Heck, it ranks IMO as one of the best five role-playing rules sets ever. The gameplay is quicker, the options are wide open, and there's plenty of room for home rules and home brew settings. If you fear change, stick with 2nd Ed., or GURPS, or whatever you're playing now. If you're looking for something better, try D&D 3E.
Rating:
Summary: Fantasy as it was meant to be played!
Review: Everything that is good about Dungeons and Dragons has been preseved with new features such as Feats and Skill Points that finally give characters the depth and flexibility you've become accustomed to in other systems. You can even multiclass your character any time you level up without any cumbersome and artificial penalties to scare you away. Characters can grow and blossom and become whatever their destiny drives them to be. The illustrations are beautiful and the system has been streamlined to be simple and fast. Gone are the annoying rules and prohibitions that showed the old system's origins as a primitive tabletop wargame or clumsy attempts to balance the system in unnecessary ways. The only negative--but a significant one, is that creating and even more so leveling your character can take FOREVER, especially if you multiclass. Oh and if you're making a game where characters start out at higher than 1st level it just gets more insane. But if you're up for the challenge of spending some hard time doing paperwork as your character levels up, the benefits ar marvellous.
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