As the title suggests, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything Covers several major areas of interest for any Dungeons and Dragons player and even more so for a game master. Just how there is a little of everything in this book, I think anyone involved with playing 5E will be hard pressed to fail to find something which will help their game and they cannot wait to dive in trying.
Genre: Fantasy (RPG)
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Released: 2017
Stars: 4.5 Stars
Reviewer: Michael D. Griffiths
It starts with all the new subclasses for players and they are a bunch. Xanathar’s adds no less than Thirty-one ranging from a Shadow Magic Sorcerer to a Gloom Stalker Ranger. These new classes could allow a person to never have to play the same character twice even if they gamed for a hundred years. I found them very wide sweeping and fun.
Most of the rest is for the game master. Everything from new magic items to some very useful random encounter tables based on the character tiers are quite useful. Rules are updated and new concepts suggested. This goes on to the end where dozens of new spells are provided for both player and GM.
What is the quality of all the things presented within this tomb? I would have to say its up to par with the ideas in the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide if not just a tad better. This is no hasty presentation. You can feel the love for the game within the pages. The writers take their work seriously and just want to help you raise the bar of excellence for your play.
Downsides will probably be the sections different people will disregard. For instance, I have already used the wandering monster tables before I have even finished the book, but others my not like things not geared for their world. I for one will not get much out of the twenty pages of names provided. Taking the time to look something up instead of using my own imagination seems unlikely to occur.
Any serious player of 5E should grab this up. It will not unbalance a campaign, just enrich it. I for one say Hazah.
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