Pyramid Review, Take 3
Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition
Published by Wizards of the Coast
Written by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams
300 pages and Demo CD-Rom; $19.95
I managed to get my hands on a copy of Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook about a week ago, and a day hasn't passed since then that I haven't read or re-read parts of the book, fooled around with the CD-ROM or played the game with some friends. The design team smoothed out the rough edges from Advanced Dungeons & Dragon 2nd Edition and added tons of new goodies to make D&D 3rd Edition the best combat-oriented RPG you can buy. Most of the rules have changed but the spirit of the game remains the same: it's all about slaughtering nasty creatures and creating a legendary hero in the process. If you strongly prefer games where combat rarely occurs you probably won't enjoy D&D 3rd Edition any more than you would have enjoyed AD&D. On the other hand, if chopping an Ogre in half with a huge sword, frying a dozen Goblins with a fireball or destroying legions of the undead with divine grace sounds like fun you will love this game.
Neither rules nor dice restrict the character you can create. In older editions, powerful classes such as the Paladin had stringent ability requirements and high experience costs to advance in level. D&D 3rd allows any race to be a member of any class and eliminates ability score requirements. Furthermore, every class uses the same experience chart to advance in levels. Powerful . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: August 25, 2000
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