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.
