Review of the D&D Essentials Rules Compendium

Buy it.

Seriously. This is the first time in 4e where all of the rules of the game have been put together in one easily read and searched book. No more do you need the PHB1 for questions about filling out character sheets and PHB2 for rules on the Summoning keyword and PHB3 for psionics information. All of that (and much more) is in this book. What you won't find in this book is anything new. Some things, like skill DCs, have changed, but that's not new content. Everything here has come before, been updated, or is now clarified. Look for new stuff in other Essentials products.

Almost every single rule is in this book. Its 6x9  size makes it easy to fit in DM kits. The sturdy paperback construction means it can take a beating and its $20 price point makes it very affordable. The biggest thing that struck me is how expertly free of errors and typos it is--a credit to the amount of work Jeremy Crawford and the team put into it. They did an excellent job putting this together and editing it for clarity and brevity.

If you are a D&D 4E veteran, I recommend taking a step back and looking at this book as a new game. Don't get hung up on your preconceptions of how a 4E book reads or how it should be laid out. Wizards is taking an different approach to writing 4E books with the Essentials line. One of the first things a veteran will notice is that the book is written as if no books exist except for the Essentials books. Heroes of the Fallen Lands seems to cement this angle as an Essentials theme (but that's another article).

The book can be daunting at first. It exceeds 300 pages, has many tables and talks math occasionally, but once you get into it you'll find it much more approachable than its thickness would seem to indicate. The excellent organization of the topics makes the book a joy to read as concepts are introduced in an orderly manner, taking into account both the fluff and mechanical needs of the game. It can easily be read cover to cover.


The introduction has a brief history lesson on D&D and role-playing games. It also contains a brief summary of how D&D is played but avoids going into depth on any topic except that of using a d20 to make checks. 

The first chapter expands the concept of checks first outlined in the introduction. Ability, attack, skill and so on are explained in detail. Two more core principles are introduced here as well: specific beats general and round down. The Nentir Vale setting is summarized but ideas and suggestions for customizing the game world are included. This is great for new DMs who may be worried about deviating from the core or canon material. It gives a variety of examples of ways to differentiate your world from the core Nentir Vale setting and goes into some depth regarding the previously published settings and how they differ. Nestled in the midst of all of this is the Table Rules section. Poorly defined expectations and house rules can fracture a gaming group and kill an ongoing game, and this section aims to bring this into a player’s mind early so that won’t happen.

The second chapter focuses on defining the information presented on character sheets and monster statblocks. Level, origin, powers and feats, abilities and so are touched upon to give the player and DM an idea of the story implications of each entry as well as a few mechanical notes regarding its use. It continues with step by step character creation, leveling and retraining that has more detail than the original PHB1 character creation section. The placement of character creation rules felt out of place at first, but after looking back over it I agreed with its placement. Though I may have opted to include this info in another chapter.

Chapters 3 and 4 cover powers and skills respectively. In the power chapter the power template is broken down line by line and each keyword, bit of syntax and formatting is defined and explained, often with examples. The chapter flows right down the power entry and finishes with detailed definitions of keywords.

The skill chapter opens with how to make skill checks then moves onto reprints of PHB1 skill entries with the appropriate errata and updates applied. The best part here is the improvising with skills section. Each skill has a box following its entry giving a few example of uses of the skill that aren't within the defined rules, with a suggested DC for the check. This is an excellent addition. The last bit discusses skill challenges. This often maligned mechanic has come a long way since the first DMG and this section does a decent job on it. The basic components discussion leads into a sidebar discussing how to make long and difficult challenges a little more manageable with advantages and consequences. The book does its best to make sure a DM is aware that a failed challenge never stops the story. Penalize the party appropriately and move on. The attached example is a little flat, but I didn’t expect a good one here. The DM products coming later this year will hopefully have better examples.

Next is rules regarding traps, hazards and exploration. Resting, various environments and disease are tackled here. Take note of the disease section. It's quite good. The disease rules lay out how infection works and how to recover or succumb to the disease in stages. First the character is exposed, then infected and then they progress up or down the chart until he or she is cured or stuck at the end. That really popped out at me. Getting to the last stage of the disease is terrible. No more checks are made to try to get out of it. The effects are permanent until you find a more powerful way to end the disease--perhaps a remove affliction ritual or a raise dead spell.

Chapter 6 is what we've been waiting for--Combat. All of the rules we’ve seen before are included as we would expect. The best part here are the things we haven’t seen before. Rules regarding charge movement, beginning and end of turn effects and how to apply resistance, vulnerability and insubstantial are finally written down in an easy to read format. I assumed that the these previously unclear rules worked a certain way and it’s very satisfying to see the designers put these into a source book.

The last chapter goes into how equipment works. This includes vehicles, basic items and magic items. It too is well written and very clear on how powers are used. It also describes the new magic item rarity system.

The end of the book has three appendices. The first is for encounter building with notes on each monster role and its use. The second covers alternate treasure distribution through dice rolls in a table--a throwback to older editions. The last appendix goes into terrain features both mundane and fantastic. Finally we find a very thorough glossary and even more thorough index. These two sections are exceptionally complete and make searching for information very easy.

The book isn’t perfect. There are a few rules that could be further clarified--forced movement and charge come to my mind--and a few rules that could be expanded upon--rituals--and a few rules that are notably absent--chariot driving. Rituals seem to be going to the wayside in the Essentials line, but the lack of how driving carts and chariots works seems odd. Perhaps it is not used often enough to warrant spending the pages on it in a book meant for both players and DMs. Maybe these missing rules will reappear in a later product like the DM’s Kit.

In the end I have to say that no matter how you feel about the Essentials line as a whole you still want this book. It's complete. It's easy to read. It's inexpensive. There's no excuse for a 4e table not having this book.

...with--wait! Seriously?!

D&D Encounters is a great way to introduce new players to D&D. I running it and enjoy hearing the players talk about it and I look forward to it every week that I am able to run it. I honestly can't wait to seriously hurt my players with the upcoming Dark Sun material.

This week however was a blow out due to some bad design.

The encounter has a potentially awesome introduction that includes roleplaying with a dwarf wanderer. In the middle of the conversation a lizard mage and a bunch of dust devils attack aiming to kill the dwarf and then the PCs.

Sounds good, right?

First off the PCs can detect the approaching ambush with a passive perception of 20. The highest passive in the party is 17.

Uh oh...

Oh wait! DM fiat! The perception check is now active in response to the dwarf whispering, "It is not safe."

Oh, you guys failed it... Okay...

Populate the map, give a look at the tactics, and go!

Huh... All of the enemies won initiative.

Everyone gets knocked prone and the NPC gets seriously wounded. Now the dust devil in the middle explodes!

Dead dwarf?! He was standing--alive--a moment ago. Now he's dead? Oh, and the party is prone, bloodied, blinded and vulnerable to poison attacks...

Great.

*scratch that encounter power from the other two devils*

That is exactly how my game ran last night. Luckily the party rallied and I let them break a rule while I bent a few to give them a fighting chance. The frustration--both with a new venue and the encounter--was palpable. I backed off and didn't use a second explosion until near the end when I want to scare them again. The third never came.

The entire party survived, but is now a bloody mess nearly or completely out of surges. I must remember the psion's ritual to redistribute surges for the next session.

1. The passive perception check was unbeatable as written. This isn't the writer's fault. He didn't have the pregens when writing the adventure.
2. The skirmishers attacking the group had high initiative modifiers which practically guaranteed they would get 1.5 turns before the party acted.
3. +8 vs. Reflex on a 3d6+3 blind on hit encounter power on a level 3? The damage isn't the problem. It's the attack bonus and blind that break everything.
4. Burst 3 from an artillery that does a good chunk of damage and leaves an irritating condition?

#2 and #4 here aren't really that bad. On top of the other two, however, they just add insult to injury. Cut #1 and the encounter ends up being well balanced. Weaken #3 and the onslaught is survivable.

Modifying either #1 or #3 and the fight is still very tough, but not a round 1 unavoidable TKP.

No wonder so many stories online include players swearing not to come back next week.

I was all about the difficulty in the first session, but this was way, way out of line even for Athas--especially an Athas meant to introduce new players.

Here's the setup:


Here's after 1.5 rounds:




The ones without rings or on the ground are enemies. The PCs still haven't gone and the dwarf was killed by a lucky shot.

...with cubes.

Cast:

Ardan, an amnesiac elven monk.
Nissa, the versatile elven ranger.
Perra, a noble, if angry, dragonborn paladin.
Indus, the clever minotaur artificer.
Klemnon, stingy pacifist kalashtar cleric.

These 5 make up one of the newer squads of Whisps. They are played by people with experience ranging from last played 2e to "wait, I add my strength to my attack?" It looks like a solid group--both PCs and players.

Game Report:

Ardan slipped ahead of the group to see what the fire was about. Upon arriving he saw a large group of orcs terrorizing a small family of four. He tweeted a warning back to the group and together they charged into the clearing just as two of the orcs slit the throats of the old man and young girl and the teenage boy was placed on a wolf and sent into the forest.

The battle was fast and furious as the Whisps broke the orcs' line and ripped them apart. As the orc leader fell the remaining orcs fled.

The party helped the old woman out of her restraints and she begged them to save her grandson. They were on their way to the capital to ask the king for advice about some strange markings that appear on the boy's back during storms. She gave them a journal and pushed them to hurry after her grandson while she went to the road for help.

Klemnon's eyes lit up for a moment upon hearing about the mark, but none of the others saw it.

They set off to find the boy and before long found two cave entrances. One was above them on a small ledge. The other was a quarter of the way around the hill and heavily guarded by a group of human thugs.

Nissa went up the cliff to investigate and immediately spotted a gelatinous cube in the middle of the entrance. She dropped down quickly. They decided to go through the cube instead of the guards. Ardan lead the way using his stealth. He almost made it past the cube when he woke up a couple burrowing kruthiks and was slammed by the cube.

The group rushed in and was promptly engulfed by the cube as the kruthiks and bats swarmed. Despite conflicting priorities among the party they prevailed and rallied to knock the cube off the cliff and ready attacks against the bats' flyby attack.

They rested a moment before moving deeper into the cave. They shortly came into a large cave used for storage. Within the cave were a few men and a goblin. Tied up and gagged nearby was the teenage boy. A tall, handsome man with dark hair and gray eyes was reprimanding them before he saw the Whisps. He slew his failed minions with a wave of magic and ran out of the other exit tossing the boy over his shoulder as he ran. The party set off in pursuit.

The man made it out of the other entrance--surprising the human guards--leapt over a fallen log and suddenly changed into a huge steel dragon. With the boy in his claws he shouted to the guards, "KILL THEM!" as he flew east.

Best moments:

Knocking the cube off a cliff.
Batting a bat into a wall to kill it.
Nissa's sharpshooting from the woods.

...with a simple narrative hook

King Garvan has ruled Faringdale for almost 50 years. The first 5 years of his rule were tumultuous, but he succeeded in consolidating his rule and growing his small kingdom into a wealthy land. The main method by which this consolidation prevailed was by his use of a black group of mercenaries chosen from the best soldiers and adventurers around. This group operates entirely outside the constraints of the law. None of its members bear any insignia or other physical manifestation of their group yet they each know when another is present. The king quietly divides them into squads, often pairing new recruits with older members and rotating parties around so that no alliance within a group can threaten the others or the king. This group's primary mission is two-fold. Keep the peace. Protect the borders. To keep the peace they eliminate rebellious tendencies in the population--particularly the nobles--by means ranging from a letter of gratitude from the king to poison. The borders are protected by an extensive network of spies in all of the neighboring countries including the Metes Empire to the west of the Storm Horn Mountains, the dwarves of Adkar Keep to the north, and the island of Waverly off to the east. This group of mercenaries is completely loyal to the king and none are able to gain any unbalancing power due to the fragmented nature of the group. In the rare cases that a squad has gone rogue the other squads have fallen upon them with the force of a thunderbolt and removed the threat. If there was a name for this group it would be the Whispered Sentinels.

The main threat to Garvan's rule came in his fifth year as king from the Metes Empire to the west. They thought the young king weak and sent emissaries and spies to the various nobles offering them riches for their allegiance. Their spies also sowed dissension and discord amongst the people calling into question the king's fitness to lead and his birthright while building up the local noble's reputation.

That's when the Whispered Sentinels, or Wisps as the commoners call them, was formed. They quickly and quietly disposed of the spies and the traitorous nobles while aiding the loyal nobles in gaining more presitige and power in the king's new administration. When the Metes marched to invade, the Wisps were ready. Their spies reported on it and King Garvan used it to rally his people. The army was larger than any Faringdale had ever raised before and it camped in a defensible position in the mountains. When the Metes came through, they were ambushed and slaughtered though they numbered ten times the King's men.

The king keeps the patrols of the Sentinels going, but every year around the summer solistice he recalls them all to give them the most important of their missions--survey the land, find corruption, destroy it and report back. This year the king has asked them to pay special attention to any that could be his successor. All of the Sentinels noticed a weakness of heart and sense of urgency in the king's commands. They set out at once.

It's a well known fact that the king is without an heir. His wife died almost 20 years ago during a difficult childbirth. The baby did not survive either. The king, stricken with grief, never remarried and so has no heir. It seems the only thing he fears is losing another wife and child and so he has abandoned that method of obtaining a successor. Instead he has decided to choose one of his nobles. He hopes to find one the other nobles will be able to rally behind. The Metes Empire is still looming, just beyond the mountains, waiting for a moment of weakness to strike.

It's been 5 days since the party left the capital city on your way to Ekros City where the eladrin, Galen, rules. He is a favorite to be named successor to the king. You are still two days out of Ekros when you see smoke over the trees ahead.

...4d6 at a time

Wednesday was the opening session for D&D Encounters: Dark Sun: Fury of the Wastewalker.

It was a doozy of an encounter.

The players had just come from Undermountain where they encountered level appropriate fights built with the DMG and MM formulas. This time around the encounter was built with Dark Sun formulas. In order to better match the tone of the setting each monster had the potential to deal 20+ damage with a single attack--more than enough to knock out any PC with a critical hit.

The main goal was two-fold: collect supplies and escape the enemies. This goal caught my players by surprise because that's not the typical objective. In Undermountain the encounters were linear. Kill everything, move on, repeat.

To hammer the goals home to the players, I made sure to play up the fact that they were surrounded and the supply issues they would be facing without the caravan. The result was a bunch of PCs huddled around a cart spending 2 or 3 minor actions each turn to grab stuff. I thought this might be a bad idea with the enemy controller dropping area attacks on them, but they weathered the onslaught and right as enemy reinforcements arrived they were able to escape into the desert.

This encounter has taken a beating online. It seems like every forum has a number of people objecting to the difficulty. One of the more common thoughts was,

"The narrative sets the tone. The monsters don't need to be more damaging."

If you tell them the world is savage and life is extinguished almost effortlessly and then deal 8 damage to them, they will eventually not care what you say about the savagery of the world. Deal 18 damage to them, however, and they will fear every creature they meet.

That seems to have been the main idea with this first session. Scare them. Scare them bad. Unfortunately, many groups are not up for this level of challenge. New players can be turned off real quick when their character spends most of the fight rolling death saves. I regret that earlier today I was not giving any latitude for people who said it was too hard for their table. It definitely can be if the players don't receive the clues about their objectives, don't work together, or any of a number of other things that could go wrong and result in the party getting butchered. New players in particular are likely to be turned off by such an event since they won't understand why things went badly.

Players need to be taught to treat every encounter as obscenely difficult in Athas. This encounter attempted to do that. If they don't, they'll end up skewered and scoured from the earth by the sands when they hit the climatic fights.

DMs on the other hand need to be very careful running this round of D&D Encounters. Make sure they fear Athas's creatures, but make sure the players are having fun. The only way to do D&D wrong is to not be having fun.