Xanathars Guide to Everything (Dungeons Dragons, 5th Edition) by Wizards of the Coast

Xanathars Guide to Everything (Dungeons Dragons, 5th Edition) Reviews

• 
  Stewart Tame

  Yes, it's an RPG source book. And yes, I read it straight through–skimmed a bit on the tables. It was fun!
  
  That said, anyone without an interest in Dungeons & Dragons will probably want to give this a miss. And, if you're unfamiliar with D&D, you're better off starting with the Player's Handbook. Xanathar's is a supplemental volume, suggesting additional character classes and magic among other goodies. It's designed to be used with the 5th Edition rules (the current standard, as of this writing), though specific familiarity with them isn't mandatory. Just a general knowledge of tabletop RPGs should be sufficient. My personal D&D experience is pretty much all 1st edition–old school gamer here–but I had no trouble getting into the text.
  
  My favorite bit was probably the Wizard spell, Steel Wind Strike. It seems to be inspired by anime, and allows the character to brandish a blade, vanish from sight, attack up to five enemies within range, and then appear next to one of them. It's a very cool move to contemplate.
  
  If you desire to add some extra flavor to your AD&D 5e game, this book has some great ideas in it. Recommended!
  
• 
  Dan Schwent

  Similar to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, this is a collection of bells and whistles for D&D 5e players and dungeon masters alike. There are more subclasses, more spells, more magic items, and more DM tools. Some 2e kits made their way back into the game as subclasses, like the blade option from the Complete Book of Bards to the Kensei from whatever book that was in. There are also more ways to flesh out backgrounds and quirks. The DM tools are good too, from the collections of traps to tables for generating random names. I'm going to read this again but it feels more useful than the Tasha's book to me.
• 
  Adam Cleaver

  Not really a story so hard to give it a star review, however, as an expansion to the D&D rules this is a really good addition to the main rule books. I like the idea of fleshing out the characters backgrounds in the game and being able to use new additional abilities. For me the character design is a major part of the fun of D&D and this just makes this part more enjoyable and really does let you make a more detailed and a more umique type of character. - So if you are looking for more player options give this a read.
• 
  Lena

  Roll for adventure, no preplanning needed! The encounter tables are awesome! There are even downtime tables. Are you a low, middle, or upper class carouser? Life’s great questions, lol.
  
  This is where you find Path of the Zealot, which doesn’t look a tenth as cool as whatever homebrew made Yasha from Campaign Two of Critical Role.
  
  Infernal Constitution was the most useful find.
• 
  Diz

  This is worth picking up for players and DMs for the additional character options. The additional spells and and magic items are nice to have as well.
• 
  Shadowdenizen

  4.5 stars. The D&D 5E line continues to impress. This book expands substanstially on the core rules, but manages to (mostly) avoid power-creep, and feels useful as a great supplement/ add-on to most campaigns.
  
  And I enjoy the snarky asides from the titular character sprinkled throughout the book.
• 
  Jason

  Truly an epic addition to 5e DnD. This makes generating a character for a first time player (or veteran) even easier. The layout of the book and the charts are just well placed and though out. Allowing players to create a well rounded character via dice rolls if they want. This provides a much faster path to filling in a characters back story or at least provides you with enough starting points to round them out with greater ease.
  
  It even has a section that helps you generate a freaking name for your character! Add to that the new charts and game creating help it provides for DM's, this book is a fantastic tool for both players and DM's.
  
  Having toyed around with several of the new character class options already in actual game play I can honestly say..these options are wonderful. They add a nice bit of flavor to the standard character archetypes (honestly Cleric of the Forge is how you make your healer the tank of your party).
  
  I can't recommend this book enough for both new and returning DnD players.
• 
  Becky

  This is a really great resource, and has some of my favourite class expansions.
• 
  Ivan

  Ono što se zove role playing games igram od čini mi se devete godine, dakle od neke '89. a Advanced Dungeons & Dragons od '95. Tri godine kasnije, prešao sam na Skills & Powers i potpuno preskočio 3.x ediciju pravila, sve do Pathfindera 2008. ili beše 2009. Dvadeset godina nakon što sam prvi put bio game master.
  
  Danas je moj omiljeni sistem zapravo moja teška modifikacija Pathfindera, koju grupa kolega kojima trenutno vodim od milja zove Nightfinder. Međutim, jasno mi se ukazuju pismena na zidu, osećam u koju stranu vetar duva i shvatam da je budućnost D&D 5e, makar što se tiče mog igranja, ako već ne vođenja u tom sistemu.
  
  Govoreći strogo u svoje ime i bez pretenzija da dajem ikakav objektivan sud, 5e je odveć jednostavan, preterano uprošćen sitem i uštrojen u svemu što ne predstavlja čist combat encounter, iako smanjena matematika i suspregnuti power creep predstavljaju neizmernu prednost.
  
  To rekavši, Xanathar's Guide To Everything uvodi solidan broj mehanika koje meni ovu igru čine zanimljivijom i nadahnjuju me da pravim likove i razmišljam o njima u granicama ovog sistema (umesto nekog drugog). Međutim, u delovima kada XGtE pokušava da pokrije makar neke situacije koje su komplikovaniji sistemi kakav je Pathfinder odavno izgustirali, kao što je jednostavno padanje s velike visine ili vezivanje čvorova, pokazuje se krajnje priprostim i kilavim, u nedostatku boljeg izraza.
  
  Deo koji mi je izmamio osmeh ispod brka zapravo je spell-list (iako me nervira što u opisu spellova ne stoji kojoj su klasi namenjene), koji sadrži i neke stare znance sa sve njihovim punim imenima (Melf's Minute Meteors mi prvi padaju na pamet).
  
  Premda i dalje držim da je za ambicioznije i dugovečnije kampanje, koje imaju želju da prerastu hack & slash element RPGa potreban ozbiljniji sistem, D&D 5e polako poprima obrise solidne igre, a XGtE predstavlja krupan iskorak u tom smeru.
  
  Prava je šteta što WotC ne koriste talas popkulturnog hajpa na kojem je 5e sada jezdi, ali je tokom prethodne godine svetlost knjižara i tableta ugledalo nekoliko izvanrednih 3pp dodataka ovom sistemu, što u vidu settinga, odnosno igraćih svetova, što u vidu dodatne mehanike, koja po pravilu u manjoj ili većoj meri prati te svetove.
  
  Xanathar's Guide To Everything se utoliko manje dojmi kao nezavisna publikacija, a više kao vezivno tkivo između Player's Handbooka i Dungeon Master's Guidea i tih 3pp publikacija, pomalo popunjavajući mesom i dalje relativno ogoljeni kostur D&D 5e-a.
  
  Sve u svemu, ipak solidan proizvod za sve pasionirane igrače i rekao bih nezaobilazan dodatak svetom trojstvu D&D pravila.
• 
  Andrew Nguyen

  As a player, I mostly wanted a compendium of new spells and sweet new classes. This book offers some thoughtful lower level spells and additions for some of the more boring classes (i.e. fighter)
  
  I find a lot of the book’s additions such as a list of minor magical items and role playing ideas to not be as interesting to me.
• 
  Brian

  My favorite supplemental book for 5e. This is a great resource for players as well as DMs. Players have several new subclasses with added tidbits unique to each class. For those needing help with backstories, there are a ton of charts to inspire or random roll to get you going.
  
  DMs have plenty of options from random encounter tables by type, to additional rules for falling, sleeping, traps, and downtime. Common items are added to the magic items from the DM Guide and handy charts breaking down those items into Minor and Major and then sorted by rarity.
  
  Xanathar brings more spells to the table, many of which where brought over from Princes of the Apocalypse and rebalanced.
  
  The book includes several hundred names to again inspire or randomly roll. There are 100 names for every race in the Player's Handbook, split between female and male names. The Human options are categorized by sample nation from Mezo-American to the far East to ancient Roman and Greek names.
  
  This book should be in every player's collection and is just as important as the Holy Trinity of the PHB, DMG, and MM.
• 
  Colin

  A slightly random grabbag of improvements to 5e. A lot of the new subclasses are seem very fun, and definitely things that I'd want to play. The really useful parts of this, however, are definitely the DM improvements. There are lots of improvements to rules that I've worried about: how to allocate magic items without just using the random tables, and rules for tool proficiencies, which otherwise seem to do almost nothing for most of the game.
• 
  Robin

  There isn't much of a coherent theme to this supplement — it's a grab bag of new character options and optional rules for the Dungeon Master, much like the old Best of Dragon Magazine books — but there's probably something here to appeal to everybody. Production values are high and the color commentary from the eponymous Xanathar is amusing.
• 
  Kit

  The jokes are bad, but that's not why you read this book. :P
• 
  Eskil

  Siden en av de viktigste medspillerne mine er på den andre siden av Atlanteren er det vanskelig å få til noe mye døndzjenkrååling, så da er det vel ikke noe anna å gjøre enn å lese en regelbok fra perm til perm. Eller to, for den saks skyld.
  
  "Xanathar's Guide to Everything" er et systemsupplement til spillerhåndboka og Dungeon Master-håndboka. Den forutsetter også sånn halvveis at du har de to pluss monstermanualen, men siden jeg er litt gnien har jeg ikke dem, oops. I "Xanathar" finnes to til fire ekstra underklasser for hver klasse, samt nye rasebonuser og lange tabeller man kan bruke til å fylle ut bakhistorien til karakteren sin, fra fødsel til yrkesutøvelse. Det utgjør omtrent en tredjedel av boka.
  
  Den andre tredjedelen er full av verktøy som virker veldig nyttige for både nye og mer erfarne Dungeon Mastere. Den inneholder regler, forslag til hvordan man kan gjøre diverse aspekter av spillet mer interessant og nyttig, flere feller man kan fange karakterene i (inkludert hvor mye XP de bør få, flere måter fellen kan løses på, pluss, pluss) og har tjue sider med tabeller man kan bruke til å rulle tilfeldige vanskelige situasjoner heltene kan havne i. I tillegg er det over ti sider med forslag til hvordan spillere og DMer kan samarbeide for å gi karakterene deres noe å drive på innimellom eventyr for å gi både dem og verdenen en mer virkelighetsnær smak. Det var også en seksjon om magiske gjenstander som gjorde meg oppmerksom på at gruppa mi har fått alt for få magiske gjenstander så langt.
  
  Siste tredjedel er delt mellom en liste over de nye trylleformlene boka introduserer og lister over mulige navn man kan bruke på karakterene sine og skapningene de møter i løpet av eventyrene sine. I klassisk D&D-tradisjon er navna delt inn i "ikke-mennesklige navn" (seks sider) og "mennesklige navn" (12 sider, sortert etter kulturen de tok dem fra (f.eks. "japansk, meso-amerikansk, niger-kongo, norrønt").) Det er alltid vanskeligere å komme på navn til ikke-mennesker, så jeg gir dem bare vanlige navn uansett siden jeg synes det er litt pinlig å bruke for mange fantasy-ord. Derimot er det nok mange som kunne tenkt seg litt flere navn å piffe opp ikke-menneskene sine med.
  
  Som supplement til de tre kjernebøkene (spillerhåndboka, DM-boka og monstermanualen) funker boka kjempegodt. Det var flere ting jeg ikke kunne slå opp i de to sistnevnte siden jeg bare har "Xanathar" og spillerhåndboka, men jeg syntes likevel at jeg fikk mye ut av boka. Den bruker litt mer humor enn for eksempel spillerhåndboka, og jeg koste meg med tabeller som "Upper-Class Carousing Complications" og "Crime".
• 
  Henry Z F2

  (It's a little difficult to write a review since this is more of a guide than novel, but I'll try my best. Don't expect any fancy language tho. Also, sorry, this review might be a little confusing if you haven't played dungeons and dragons, it's really hard to explain what I like in normal people words.)
  I was extremely impressed by the presentation of this book, all the pages were well pressed and cut, it had think, colored pages, and the hardcover art was beautiful. Even the back had two different textures, a matte black and a glossy.
  I also think the new subclasses for the game (dungeons and dragons) were really creative and interesting. Some of them were a little weak, but nothing a talk with your dungeon master can't fix. These are my favorite new additions: Horizon Walker Ranger, College of Swords Bard, Samurai Fighter, and Storm Sorcery Sorcerer.
  I also enjoyed the section about adamantine weapons.
  This is a really good book, it's great for any dnd collection, and will help your party for years and years to come.
  
• 
  Mack

  Excellent addition to Dungeons & Dragons 5e, but also a lot of really helpful tables that could work with any D&D edition and fantasy-based table RPG. The tables are supremely helpful, both for idea generation to fit specific parameters or for randomly generating characters and encounters quickly. Love it!
• 
  Jessica

  A super helpful expansion to the encounter design guidance. And all the fun subclasses!!
  
  Is it too much to ask for a consolidated set of rules / spells / items / subclasses / notes, though? Reading through 4 books at once because they all cross-reference each other instead of duplicating text is aggravating. An unexpected outcome of reading this straight through is the resolve to reflect and refine my own professional writing so documents and their addendums and appendices can be understood in isolation.
• 
  Carlos Gutiérrez

  Pues la verdad es que salvo el primer capítulo, con nuevas subclases, no le encuentro mayor interés al manual. Personalmente me quedo con Tasha.
• 
  Eric

  NNEEEERRRRRDDD!!
  
  'Tis true.
• 
  Zoe's Human

  A fantastic expansion to the core books for D&D 5E that offers fun alternate pathways and abilities for players, tools for tweaking your backstory, and much more for both players and DMs.
• 
  Daniel A.

  I've said before that the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons has greatly benefited from
  the Wizards RPG Team's having released a comparative minimum of new rulebooks for D&D, particularly, as compared with fourth edition, and third and 3.5 to a lesser extent. To that effect,
  Xanathar's Guide To Everything—amazingly enough, only the third book of new rules in at least as many years—fulfills the adage that less is more, insofar as the new rules provided therein bolster and supplement those in the
  Player's Handbook.
  
  Xanathar's Guide to Everything is divided into two sections—one for PCs, and one for DMs—and this accounts for the bulk of its value as a new rule book; certainly, compared with
  Volo's Guide to Monsters (the only part of which I can use being that on monster PCs), Xanathar's Guide is a vast improvement. The fact that several of the new builds for the "core" PC classes intrigue me, arguably more than some of the original builds in some cases, is an argument in Xanathar's Guide's favor, and that the main portion of the information for DMs consists of elaborations on information already provided in the Player's Handbook is equally so. Moreover, those parts of the second section that aren't so geared supplement the PHB without being absolutely vital, and the tables for generating character names is an added nice touch, even if the tables for generating human names based on real-world ethnic groups has a tinge of cultural appropriation.
  
  That being said, Xanathar's Guide to Everything mostly works, both on its own level and as part of a larger D&D continuity of sorts. That 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons is playable even without this volume, and that this volume contributes to that playability (rather than, say, 4th edition's having limited actual playability absent
  Player's Handbook 2 and
  3), makes Xanathar's Guide to Everything all the more worth it.
  
• 
  Steven

  Good additional information that actually helps new players develop backgrounds and story for their characters. Nice supplement to the core book.
• 
  Kevin Leung

  For players, I think this book could be a useful addition. It adds several options for character creation that might appeal as new ways to play as well as new backgrounds to draw on. It doesn't feel as massive as, say, prestige classes from 3rd edition rulebooks, but it's fun to see the Kensei and Arcane Archer again.
  
  As a DM, I feel like I didn't get as much out of it. By far, the most useful part was on traps: I admittedly had been de-prioritizing traps in my dungeon design since they didn't add helpful tension to my game. They either annoyed my players or made them paranoid, and neither of those were fun. However, there was really great inspiration here that I will have to revisit. Having said that, I could have imagined getting the same in a good blog post online and not an expensive rulebook.
  
  If you're seriously playing 5e, you may feel obligated to get the book just to complete your set of rules. However, I wouldn't recommend more than one in a group since you shouldn't need to refer to it too often.