Rating: 
Summary: Just right
Review: Overall, the third edition of D&D is just right. It makes enough changes to make the rules system more logical and comprehensive, while maintaining traditional D&D forms (classes, the six ability scores, etc.) There are 2 places where this new system really shines:
1. Getting new players up to speed. While 2nd edition was a lot of fun, it could be quite daunting for the new player. (Proficiencies worked one way, thieving skills another. All ability scores went up to 18, and then increased in units of one, except for Strength, which had that weird percentile score.) Most of the little quirks have been removed, streamline into a mechanic using a twenty-sided die. Although some of the combat rules seem complex, they're really no worse than some of the old rules, once you counted supplements. And the new complexeties tend to make sense, so its not too bad.
2. The other place where the new D&D is great is for the DM who likes to throw curveballs. Your players might think they know that kobolds are wimpy excuses for cannon-fodder. Under 2nd edition, if you wanted to beef one up, you had to figure it out yourself, and this was somewhat haphazard. Now, you just add on a few class levels, everything adds together nicely, and voila! A kobold to be feared! The cons of third edition are relatively few. The aforementioned complexity in combat is one of them. The other is totally picky, and totally personal, but its my review, so I get to list it. :) The aesthetics are less than pleasing. The cover design is kitchy, the page borders are lame, the color art is acceptable (but the lack of full-page illustrations is not) and the brown lines in the text drive me mad. Most of this is nostaligia (well, maybe just my wish for full-page illustrations) and it really is a good system. And after a while, you forget that those annoying little lines are even there. :)
Rating:
Summary: Geeks and D&D? This game is for everyone
Review: After picking up a copy of this masterful tome of roleplaying knowledge, I was a little weary that I might end up being the "geek" of the school, but realized that, in fact, it opened a whole new world for me. This book dedicates itself to explaining the rules more clearly than I had originally thought. The character creation system, many pages of detailed artwork to better your experience, and wonderfully designed rules enabled myself to create my sole vision of an alter ego. No matter the person, anyone that buys this book will be in for a big surprise!
The spell system is easily accessible for newcomers to the game, and lists every major spell that one can cast. There are detailed descriptions of all the spells, also.
The only problem with D&D right now, is the fact that they keep raising the prices on their items. Yet, if you are a hardcore gamer and want plenty of hours of fun, that will last for a lifetime, then you need this tome...immediately!
Also recommended: Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Epic Level Handbook.
Rating: 
Summary: A Necessary Evil
Review: ...especially surprising coming from the ashes of one of the best role-playing systems, TSR's D&D.
Pluses:
1. Easy-to-browse format, with good organization of the myriad of various skills, feats, and spells.
2. Easy to use rules take the game away from those annoying geeks that turned me off from this hobby before. Literally anyone with imagination and rudimentary mathematical skills can master this game from a role-playing perspective.
3. All classes are decent, and even if they all sort of bore you can now freely mix-and-match them.
4. Freedom from the stereotypes of previous editions (Elves cant be Paladins, etc)
Cons:
1. Annoying cartoonish pictures and artwork. Since this is suppose to be the core book of not only D&D's Greyhawk setting but all of the D&D and D20 systems I find it rather odd that they choose to populate the pages will droll artwork that has its place in a cartoon show, but not in a rulebook. I want to use the book to create realistic alter ego and not some clownish, colorful doodles. It would have been a plus if WotC made a plain version of the core books and then released this version to the Greyhawk or D&D-only crowd. This material is free on the internet as part of WotC's D20 system, and they could make a ... version without the embarrassing artwork, really. My friends think that this is a juvenile hobby just because the book has childish artwork. I think the draw of Vampire, the Masquerade is due to the more "adult" presentation, and if the Player's Handbook had a black binding, cruder-grittier artwork, etc it would sell itself to the idle, self-conscience teenager.
2. Feat and skill system is broken. It is not like you can make a smooth talking Barbarian due to cross-classing of skills. Skills are given to Fighters and Clerics in paltry amounts, retarding your concepts. The feats are at first glance great ways to customize your characters. But the min maxing nerds make what should be a fun way of creating your character into a laborious, calculated fiasco. Expect to be ostracized if your 'friends' find your selections 'efficient.'
3. Text is dry in the wrong places and juvenile in the most critical. Related to the artwork, the 'heroic characters' such as 'Lindde the Halfling rogue' or 'Tordek the Dwarf Fighter.' They are there to re-enforce the stereotypes and to be examples for the rules. But this works poorly in reality. This book is a bore to read, but in order to play a roleplaying game with a vast pool of people, this tome is a necessary evil.
Rating:
Summary: Gameplay Hours Galore
Review: this book is roughly the same price as an adverage video game... yet no video game i have ever played has come near to fun of DND! The Players handbook is a guideline for puting rules to any person you could think of... It basicly shows you how to construct characters, shows you what they can do, could do, and soon will be able to do...
Rating:
Summary: Monstrous Gameplay, Rules and Background Information
Review: When I heard, of this great game, where you think almost everything up yourself, I just needed to try it.
I was lucky enough to have a seat at a Dungeons and Dragons Session.
OMG that roleplaying is cool indeed.
OMG the possibilities are endless.
OMG I want to have that too! Well since I live in the Netherlands, (the game isn't verry famous here :( ) I needed to find some store that sells it first, after a long search I found one, but all books where out, and the boss said it could take 6 months maximum.
Then I tryed it on the internet, i started with Amazon, and I just immediatly found it!!! I haven't received it (on the way though) but i looked in book of a friend of me, and it is awsome, everybody just should check out the 'free pages'
Rating:
Summary: After more than 20 years, they finally get it right.
Review: I was there pretty much from the beginning. Twice. Way back in the mid-70s, I started playing this new game called "Dungeons and Dragons", by a tiny company called TSR. It was the first of what would become an entire genre of games, the Role-Playing Games or RPGs -- sort of "Let's Pretend" with rules to codify the action and prevent arguments. While I never stopped playing RPGs, there were times I did stop playing D&D, or its successor variants, AD&D ("Advanced" D&D), BD&D ("Basic"), or AD&D2 ("second edition"). At the least, when I did play them I tended to change major parts of the game because ... well, there were so many clumsy and nonsensical pieces to the game rules. Then, in the very early '90s, I was contacted by a new company called "Wizards of the Coast" to review and assist them in tweaking a new product called "The Primal Order" into its final form. Those familiar with the game industry know that WotC struggled on, publishing high-quality RPG materials but not making much money, until it released as almost a side venture a card game... a card game called "Magic: The Gathering". This catapulted them from struggling to embarrassingly wealthy. Having shed RPG materials temporarily while riding the unleashed Magic tiger, WotC decided to get back into RPGs once the situation stabilized. It so happened that at this time TSR was itself almost bankrupt, so WotC bought the company that was once the 500 pound gorilla of the RPG world, and whose property, *D&D, was still the single best-known brand name. Having done so, they decided it was time to do a revision -- a third edition -- of D&D, and among many others I was invited to be a playtester. Unlike the prior rehashers, WotC's people were determined to fix many of the original's flaws and nonsensical rules, while trying to keep the flavor of D&D that made it different from most of its competitors. This was an ambitious task, one that I wasn't even sure could be done. Not only could it be done; it WAS done. Brilliantly. The game retains the core mechanics and overall feel that made it what it was -- leveled advancement, memorizable spells, strongly increasing power at higher ranks and so on -- but many of the things that made it very hard to comprehend are no longer. Gone are nonsensical racial limitations, preventing dwarves from deciding to be wizards or elves to champion their gods as Paladins; gone are arbitrary stat caps which prevented an effective description of strength and toughness beyond average human levels (as one would need for a Dragon). All creatures are now described in the same terms, so you can comprehend where they all stand with respect to each other. Magic makes more sense now in the D&D3 world. Where do magic items come from? Well, now you can even make them yourself and learn about it! Feats -- special abilities -- allow far greater customization of characters and permit you to play character concepts effectively that used to be just roleplaying ideas in the old editions (roleplaying ideas which seriously cost the player in terms of effectiveness of their character, even if that didn't make any sense). Are there still flaws in this edition? Sure, of course, it's impossible to make something this large and complex perfect. Some of the artwork drives me up a wall, there are character classes I wish they hadn't eliminated, and so on, but these gripes are trivial compared to the magnificent overall job they've done on this one. If you're an RPG player who hasn't gotten this yet, get it. If you've been curious about playing, now's the time. There are other RPGs out there, but the oldest of them all now has a new lease on life.
Rating: 
Summary: Great guidelines but can easily be changed
Review: There are so many tables rules and outlines of the basic game its hard to remember everything. Half your gaming session would be looking up rules if you stuck strickly to the book. The classes, races, and spells are great but does the book really NEED to tell us how much a cow costs?
Rating: 
Summary: Taking all the imagination out of the game
Review: Am I the only one who thinks that the more rules, tables, lists of skills and classes, etc. take out all the opportunity for you and your friends to sit around a table and exercise your imaginations rather than flipping to page 136 table 6-A to find the rule? Ugh. I quit playing this game because the only people left that seem to play it want to skim the rules for loopholes to maximize their power and can't take three steps in a dungeon without referring to a guidebook to see what advantages they can gain. BORING! The new rules are terrible! Bring back the old days when all you needed to know about your character fit on the front a sheet of scrap paper and everything else was in your brain.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I am a die hard D&D fan who has read many books on the game. Each specializes in a differant quality in the game. this book, however is all a player needs to exell at the game. all the other books are just books that will help you use your character to it's full potential and add more difference in character "classes." although it is just a "rulebook" it is also good reading material that stimulates the brain by showing you the blue prints for a fantacy character, to it's traits, likeable traits and dislikeable traits to its most deadly and trained weapon and skill mastery. any Player MUST read this book in order to know what is happening in the game and enjoy it to the Max. It is the Mot informative and excillerating books in all of D&D. Remember all other D&D accesories are NOT NECESSARY to play the game and be good at it. However if you would like to be the Dungeon Master, the person who makes up the scenarioes, you MUST get the Dungeons Master Guide.
Rating:
Summary: This is a step back
Review: I loved 2nd editions because of its unbalanced classes, races and spells. Well when the first time i saw 3rd edition i was surprised . Everything has changed. New classes are fine (even i dont know what is monk? i have never heared that some monk from some monastery just leave it and go to adventure.. thats absurd i think ) Races are also nice but when we look closer we can see that classes are even more unbalanced than 2nd edition. Fighter is much stronger then paladin , cleric is much stronger then druid , rogue is much stronger then bard and wizard is much stronger then sorcerer. Saving throws are quite good. But the worst thing in 3edition are spells and battle system. Spells are weak , components are really stupid (for example when you want to cast identify -common wizard spell , you need for ita pearl of 100gp value crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather , and then it must be drink by the spellcaster. This whole ritual takes 24 hours .?!?!?? Is this normal?
Combat system is bad because lets say 100 kobolds cant kill 10lvl fighter because they just cant hit him. (only 20 in d20) And when they have so much luck that they hit him the damage they do is d8-1 .It seems that they forget to make one rule , for example : for each other allie that is attacking the same enemy as you , you get +1 attack bonus and +1 damage.
Next the bonus system for abilites was used in other RPG Draci Doupe(R) from 1989.
D&D is a disapoiment for me.
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