Xanathar's Guide to Everything

I was quite shocked and surprised to find so many mixed reviews for this product. Some are rated down for what are clear packaging and shipping issues and have nothing to do with the product itself! I’m an older gamer and a DM. I cut my teeth on the second edition, but spent most of my youth playing AD&D 2nd Edition. I’ve played every edition since, except for fourth, quite extensively. And I have a lot of experience with other game systems like Star Wars, DC Heroes, MERP, GURPS, Rifts, and so on. Xanathar’s guide is functionally a compendium of all the “more” that’s been accumulating since the first major waves of books for 5th Edition D&D was released. My book came in great condition. The artwork and quality are excellent. Here are some of the most heavily featured sections of the book. Chapter 1: Character Options This section details the additional subclasses that have been steadily coming out via Unearthed Arcana. They have been cleaned up and balanced (though not all are perfect) for release in this single compendium. Many of the options include some revised takes on older class variations (like the Samurai and Swashbuckler), some new attempts at previously tried themes (A more evil-ish Paladin in the Oath of Conquest, or the Arcane Archer), and some completely new (to my knowledge) subclasses like the Horizon Walker, a ranger of the planes who moves through the multiverse. At the end of the chapter are some new, optional racial feats. Most of these are most interesting when used on some of the “weirder” races like the Dragonborn. Many of the changes and options in this whole chapter put a greater emphasis on role-playing centered classes and class options. Our group is more into the role-playing than the roll-playing. So that’s a plus. Combat-focused gamers may find some of the new classes underwhelming. Chapter 2: Dungeon Master’s Tools As a DM, this section is fantastic. It leads with some rules clarification and additional options if the DM wants to make things more interesting. There are also some visual helps regarding area of affect and how they are presented on grid-systems. Also included here is a much needed thorough breakdown of “fair” encounter building with tables and suggestions for DM’s. My favorite part of this section is the random encounter tables. They finally include tables for random encounters that are broken out by level and type of environment. And there is quite a collection. Pages and pages. And the tables all have really cool, interesting things your players could run into. Really, really fun and excited to try. Following that is some really good, thorough help regarding traps and how to make them more interesting, some ideas for down time and after that there is a nice collection of new magic items. Nerd candy to read. Also included are some ways to make magic items and their creation more interesting. Chapter 3: Spells New spells. Always nice. And at the end, multiple pages of names for quick name generation. If I had to say something negative, I’d say it’s a smaller book and it doesn’t anything super new like a completely new class or magic system. Another criticism is I wouldn’t recommend this to new players who are not going to DM. There’s a lot of “spoiler” information in here that may kill off the wow-factor of springing something new on a party that DM’s love to have. This is a fantastic book. I would say if I had to recommend three books to fans of 5e. 1 and 2 would of course be the Players Handbook and then the Dungeon Master’s guide. This would be number 3. It’s more of everything. More character choice, more race choices, more rules choices, more tables, more spells and more variety. And especially to DM’s this will be incredibly useful. It’s a book that I’ll have out in front of me every time I run a game. A great addition.

If you are a DM, you will want this book because it has a lot of things that would be helpful to your should your table wish to use it. Players will want this book for structure and ideas. The Class background-like options and This is Your Life are both helpful for players that need structure to make backstories. Racial Feats can also be completely optional. The descriptions about tools and their possible uses helps DMs that need structure to what tools may or may not be able to do and what the conditions for success would be. There's also some clarifications of existing rules in text - these are not Errata, but clarifications. An entire section on building encounters is included - this will be very helpful to DMs. There's also an entire section on designing traps in a structured way, structure for buying and selling magical items, and a section of additional spells. You can easily survive and run your table without this book, but it's a very helpful and useful one. While I've seen what books like this might do to Shadowrun, WOTC have produced a book that doesn't find itself "patching the game" like a Catalyst book usually does. My personal advice is - due to the nature of additional class archetypes and other such things - I'd rule that this book qualifies for the "+1 book" rule in Adventurer's League fashion. If your players use this book, it should count as their "+1 book".

Xanathar’s Guide to Everything absolutely underrated. Many people pass it up in bookstores because of its dimensional similarities to an adventure module, and they may even pass it up online because they fear it’s a simple add-on. However, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is a great addition to any Dungeon and Dragons fan’s collection, for its creative and in some cases, exclusive content. I mean, what else could you ask for, inside it’s 192 pages this book contains new classes, spells, and magic items, perfect for any player who is looking to spice up their character. The book also includes new in depth character backstory generator, one that has never before been inside a fifth edition handbook. This exculusive content easily surpases what most Dungeons and Dragons players expect, making the value of the book shoot up while the market price stays the same. Making the book a valuable purchase. Some negative reviews state that this book doesn’t have enough material for a Dungeon Master. This can be true, as the book seems to have more material for player's. However there are player tools inside the book that can be a great help to Dungeon Masters who need help creating Non-Player Characters (NPCs). The book also contains Dungeon Master-specific resources, such as a creative trap generator and magic weapons the Dungeon Masters can use to aid the allure of their dungeons. This shows that the book has a number of opportunities for the players and Dungeon Masters to take advantage of. So basically what I mean to say is that the resources provided by this simple add-on are not only a great help to players and Dungeon Masters alike, but can also be used for it’s exclusive resources, making it an excellent, and almost necessary choice for any Dungeons and Dragons player.

This is a supplement for the core books of Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. It is framed as the personal investigations of "the Xanathar". This is the title of Waterdeep's crime lord, who is typically a beholder. At least this one is. Many pages have little footnotes from this beholder that give his perspective of whatever is on the page in question. Being an insane and paranoid aberration, the Xanthar has a different perspective than the reader, providing both comic relief and additional flavor. This book provides great stuff for both dungeon masters and players. It's like a fusion of the player's handbook and the dungeon master's guide. Seriously, there are three chapters and there is something for everyone here. The first is new class archetypes, additional character flavor options and racial feats. The second provides options for tool proficiencies, random generators for encounters, guidance on traps, and downtime options, among many other things. The third chapter is a list of new spells, and both sides can take advantage of that. I liked reading about the additional archetypes, both for their mechanical traits and their roleplaying possibilities. For instance, the Divine Soul Sorcerer has a feature where they can learn cleric spells in place of sorcerer ones, and so I would like to play such a one with the acolyte background and start a running gag of "I'm not a cleric, I'm a priest". On the other hand, the Arcane Archer Fighter feels intensely limited. It can only use its magic arrows twice per short rest. Even the Battle Master gets more uses than that. Granted, a player can decide to use the magic arrows after the attack succeeds and they will eventually gain a feature so they never start initiative without one use but it feels limited because the number of magic arrows never grows. Nor do the effects last as long as the similarly limited Wild Shape used by the druids. Then again, it also gains stuff outside of magic arrows, like the ability to make their ammo "magical" for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance, while the Battle Master is entirely bound to its limited maneuvers. I've referred to this book frequently since I purchased it because of its DM advice. At the time I first read this book I had a party that included a character that liked to fly and one who liked to craft things, and this helps to manage both in the campaign. The downtime options are also appreciated for when they want to take a break from adventuring. I've used the random generator in a previous session, and it provided the seed for a springboard encounter. The good artwork continues here. The new archetypes get profile pictures, and all of them together makes for an interesting contrast. Furthermore, the section on traps has delightful illustrations of them at work, such as an adventurer clinging to top of a pit trap. Trickster Eric Novels gives "Xanthar's Guide to Everything" an A+

All six books, all three core, all three bad game supplements are on sale right now for about 20 bucks each on amazon this month, absolutely worth the price of admission! Now you could, like I, solely use apps like Fantasy Grounds (Steam client) and or free PDFs, But nothing replaces the feeling and ease of use of having physical copies of each guide in hand. Plus as a fun bonus they looks stunning in my bookshelf. Make you look even more professional as a DM in person. Lastly, all six together give you an extreme launching pad for designing, running and modifying premade or homemade campaigns! For 20 a pop, what is normally a $300 purchase turns into a $120 steal, never will you ever get a better deal on these books brand new. My only regret was getting the one book I did have before this sale but ce n'est pas grave. Now onto the book itself. I want to start by saying two things. One very unpopular thing, this is in my humble opinion a super mixed bag of a supplement book for which we only have the three and then of course all the many campaign idea books. It’s not a bad book but Volo has so much more in it, that I personally find more useful for modifying campaign creation complexity followed by Tome of Foes for the similar reasons, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is not a bad book, I’m glad I bought it, I enjoy reading it, some things are useful in it, but it really does seem to be the most insulary of the three supplement books. Why? Because if the book never got made what would we be missing? Additional content for classes which is the big one. Nothing to sneeze at, but even there some of what it adds is awesome others puzzling. Many DMs I know avoid this book entirely. Too many other factors to now keep up with while running the campaign. There is a reason somethings stayed back in the 3.5 edition. I might not completely agree I think if your group is willing to do the extra work and you can (life responsibilities withstanding) you should too. It’s just not super needed, it truly is supplemental. It also goes on to further clarify or as some people see modify core rules. Which once again, depending on how you see it might be awesomely helpful for the DM or terriblely restrictive for the players. Now for what I think is awesome is the new spell list. Once again your opinion of them might be different then my own but I think that is literally what this books biggest selling point is, handsdown. In fact, it’s why Tome of Foes often gets put lower on the list for most people. Personally the halfling section of Tome of Foes makes that rating impossible for me, as it genuinely makes me belly laugh out loud reading that entire section lol Either way, as you can see, I still bought it, I still love aspects of it, I just strongly caution that if not on sale (which it was when I got it, at 20 dollars) and instead of Volo and or Tome of Foes, God forbid before Player’s Handbook (which is ALWAYS your first purchase here) you might be a litte disappointed as it’s also physically the smallest of all six books size wise but exactly the same price, irregaurdless.

Fantastic book that gives so much more versatility to life the life of your adventurer the way you want them to live. I know some don't like these books as they 'pollute' the original, but I heartily disagree. Yeah, there are one or two things that appear to give an unfair advantage but hey, it's not across the board. I highly recommend getting this book....UNLESS you plan on getting a DnDBeyond subscription and track your characters via their character creator. Why? The options that you have in this book are not available in your character creator UNLESS you buy the digital book from their website. I wish I had known that as I would have bought them digitally instead.

Good quality book, not sure what the price holds up to nowadays if I would recommend buying here than Barnes and Noble since you end up saving more 🤙

I waited a bit to buy this out of curiosity for how well this publication would be received. Preliminary indications were that it would be heavily based on Unearthed Arcana previously released by Wizards of the Coast. If it was simply going to be a repeat of that Unearthed Arcana, I wasn't sure that was something I would use. Eventually, I saw and heard enough feedback on Xanathar's that I was convinced to buy it. Like my wait to purchase, I also wanted to have time to digest the publication before presenting a review. The very first chapter of the publication presents new sub-classes. This was a really nice beginning for me as I felt there was a lot of excitement with the new sub-classes. My son even decided his character for the next new campaign would be a Gloomstalker which he has in turn loved playing so far. Obviously there are many others and it is not my intent to name them all here but there are a lot of new sub-class options. There are also additional Feats in Xanathar's but these are race based which puts a new twist on them since Player's Handbook feats are not race specific. I have not had anyone choose any for characters in games I run yet but there are some interesting options here I am curious to see played out. There are more guidelines/clarifications of existing rules which I feel are helpful. The new rules on traps I feel are particularly helpful for both the player and the DM. There are also new guidelines to expand or clarify the use of tools and kits which I felt was much needed previously. Often these items would never come into play for some characters. All of this is presented from the point-of-view of an eccentric beholder (as if any socially functional beholder wouldn't be eccentric) while apparently reading to his pet goldfish. My only worry is, as insane as beholder's typically are, that this tome isn't simply some insanely wild fantasy created for the purpose of taking over all of Faerun. What if his goldfish, Sylgar, is a major deity in disguise, and the guide is a tool to beguile and enslave all who read it? There are also some new items and additional character options without going into too much detail. As a DM and player I do find this "Guide to Everything" a very welcome addition to my 5E library and not one that will simply sit on the shelf gathering dust.

良い状態できちんと届きました

I brought this book as I wanted some more options for my classes and this book delivered just that. The new spells for classes has also allowed me and friends to play our characters more to what we envisioned when making them. The first 60 pages is just new subclasses and after that is material for helping you create your characters in more detail such as why your paladin became a paladin or where you character grew up etc. As a DM this book also offers some good variant rules and some easy tables to help create a balanced encounter for your party. The tables are a helpful tool that I honestly have used quite a lot in the short time I have had the book. The section on traps will also help you fill out dungeons to help them more alive in the world your party is exploring. There are also resources to help you with magic items (buying and selling) as well as other downtime activities for your party such as gambling. TLDR: Good book for both DM and players with lots of class options and things to make your DMing easier.

Si estás leyendo esto ya sabes lo que estás mirando. Si no sabes qué libro estás mirando y estás leyendo esto, este no es el lugar para ver reviews o recomendaciones sobre el libro. Mira en otras páginas y cuando sepas sobre el contenido y lo que trae, si te conviene lo compras. Yo personalmente soy de hacer un poco el pirata buscando el pdf por ahí y después de echar un vistazo en profundidad decido si vale la pena el gasto. Este en concreto lo vale en mi opinión porque trae cosas bastante importantes que quieres tener a mano. Si has tenido o visto cualquier libro de tapa dura de esta empresa (los de D&D) ya te haces una idea de lo que es y de su calidad.

Questo libro contiene numerosi opzioni aggiuntive per giocatori e dungeon master. La prima parte aggiunge alcune opzioni per le classi di personaggi, quindi chi fosse in cerca di qualcosa di nuovo dopo aver giocato molti personaggi troverà materiale nuovo su cui costruire un personaggio nuovo. Per il dungeon master troviamo molte idee come una guida per costruire trappole, alcune chiarificazioni sulle regole e tabelle di incontri (che posso essere più o meno interessanti a seconda di come viene gestito il gioco). Sono presentati anche molti nuovi incantesimi, cosa molto gradita. Il libro è consigliato una volta che avete già usato fino in fondo il materiale messo a disposizione dal manuale del giocatore e dalla guida del dungeon master.

Die Kurzzusammenfassung der Rezension befindet sich am Ende! Ich habe mir als Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master dieses Buch als Ergänzung und Inspiration gekauft. Aufgrund der drei Rezensionen, die nur 2,5 Sterne ergaben war ich vorsichtig, da ich mich oft davon leiten lasse. Allerdings wurde ich nicht enttäuscht. Positiv: ---------------------------------------------------------------- - Wunderschönes Cover und Farbgebung passend zu den anderen Büchern - Artworks im Buch untermalen Erklärungen und Regeln, so dass eine tolle Atmosphäre gegeben ist - Inspirationen für Hintergründe, Motivation der NPCs/PCs, Quirks u.ä. - Durch die Tabellen ist, wie bei den anderen offiziellen Büchern auch, die Möglichkeit gegeben nicht nur PCs damit zu erstellen, sondern auch NPCs - Sinnvolle neue Subclasses, die für manche Charaktere eine komplett neue Ausrichtung bieten (Barbar als Beschützer durch die Hilfe seiner Urahnen --- Barbar, der Elemente beherrscht --- ein geschmeidiger Monk, der leichtfüßig über das Schlachtfeld tanzt mithilfe von Path of the Drunken Master - Erinnerung an generelle Regeln, die oft vergessen werden (z.B. Spell als Bonus Action, dann nur noch Cantrip möglich). Ich kannte sie alle, da ich oft das Problem hatte und im Internet nachschauen musste. Dieses Buch erspart den Schritt. - Schöne neue Rassen-Feats (Dragonborn sprüht statt Gift, Feuer, etc. ein Gebrüll aus, welches Fear auslösen kann und Attribute werden permanent einmalig erhöht) - Rassen-Feats auch für "untypische Rassen" wie Orks, Fey, Infernal, die aber auf reguläre Rassen wie Halb-Ork, Elfen, etc. umgemünzt werden können. - Schöne Effekte für das ausführen von Berufen mit dem entsprechenden Werkzeug(Cook's Utensils, Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit, etc.) für Köche, Schreiner, Fälscher, usw. Dabei verleihen sie gleich mehrere verschiedene "Fähigkeiten" je nach genutztem Skill. ----------------- Ein Auszug der Cobbler's Tool: --- Investigation (Footwear holds surprising number of secrets. You can learn where someone has recently visited by examining the wear and dirt that has accumulated on the shoes. [...] ---Arcana, History: Your knowledge of shows aids you in identifying the magical properties of enchanted boots or the history of such. ---Maintain Shoes: ... Und noch einige mehr (insgesamt 5 Stück allein für den Schuhmacher) ----------------- - Neue Challenge Rating / Kampf-Schierigkeit (oder auch Umgehung) fügt sich gut ein - Bereits fertige Encounter, die so auch im Internet verfügbar sind. Trotzdem eher positiv als negativ. Bedingt durch die vorgegebenen Eckdaten wie die Region, Gruppenlevel, Monsteranzahl fügt sich der Encounter passend in das jeweilige Gebiet ein. - Schöne magische Items, die auch oft einen sehr speziellen oder marginalen Effekt haben, was aber meiner Meinung nach die Gruppendynamik beim Lösen eines Problems fördert und man nicht Gefahr läuft einen Chrakter zu schnell zu "overpowern". - "Neue" Zaubersprüche Neutral: ---------------------------------------------------------------- - Ich habe mit Englisch absolut keine Probleme, schaue und lese vieles lieber auf Englisch, aber für manche könnte dies eine Herausforderung/KO-Kriterium darstellen - Die Namen sind meiner Meinung nach eine schöne Ergänzung, da sie sich sogar danach richten, ob es keltische, ägyptische oder französische Namen sein sollen (sodass ein schönes Klangbild entsteht in der jeweiligen Sprache). Anderen war es zu viel, für mich passt es. Irgendwie hätte ich mir gewünscht, dass ich Häkchen oder Anmerkungen in das Buch setzen kann. Viele dieser Namen kann man einfach online generieren oder mit Software auf dem PC ohne Internet. Es erfordert aber immer ein Medium (Telefon, Tablet, PC), das Internet hat. Natürlich kann auch die Fantasie zum Tragen kommen. - Winzige grammatikalische Fehler (an zwei Stellen), die aber absolut nicht stören. - Die Idee Würfel oder Formen für Zauberspruch Bereiche zu nutzen (zum Teil mithilfe von Würfeln) hatte ich auch ohne dieses Buch :-) - Primär für Dungeon Master geschrieben Negativ: ---------------------------------------------------------------- - Für den Preis hätte ich etwas mehr erwartet. Mit 200 Seiten ist es für mich knapp an der unteren Grenze. Bei meinem Einkaufspreis von 42€ kommt man auf über 20€-Cent pro Seite. Um einen Vergleich anzustellen, da in vielen anderen Rezensionen eben dieser Punkt aufkam: Player's Hanbook für aktuell 34€ mit 320 Seiten hat einen Schnitt von 10€-Cent/Seite. Insgesamt hat dieses Xanathar's Guide also rund 120 Seiten weniger und kostet aktuell(!) 6€ mehr. - Leider meiner nach zu wenige (der wirklich gelungenen) Zeichnungen - Kein Appendix zur Wortsuche (Lediglich Inhaltsverzeichnis) Kurzzusammenfassung ---------------------------------------------------------------- Ein Buch, das für Enthusiasten und Liebhaber geeignet ist, die gerne mehr "Arbeitsmaterial" und "Arbeitshilfen" hätten. Für neue Spieler und Anfänger gibt es wichtige Regeln nochmals erklärt und Inspirationen für die Charaktererstellung sind gegeben. Meiner Meinung richtet sich das Buch aber primär an Dungeon Master. Ich würde daher dazu raten erst das Player's Handbook sowie Dungeon Master's Guide zu holen, wenn man in die Welt eintauchen möchte. EDIT: Schreibfehler behoben