Xanathar's Guide to Everything
This is a supplement for the core books of Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. It is framed as the personal investigations of "the Xanathar". This is the title of Waterdeep's crime lord, who is typically a beholder. At least this one is. Many pages have little footnotes from this beholder that give his perspective of whatever is on the page in question. Being an insane and paranoid aberration, the Xanthar has a different perspective than the reader, providing both comic relief and additional flavor.
This book provides great stuff for both dungeon masters and players. It's like a fusion of the player's handbook and the dungeon master's guide. Seriously, there are three chapters and there is something for everyone here. The first is new class archetypes, additional character flavor options and racial feats. The second provides options for tool proficiencies, random generators for encounters, guidance on traps, and downtime options, among many other things. The third chapter is a list of new spells, and both sides can take advantage of that.
I liked reading about the additional archetypes, both for their mechanical traits and their roleplaying possibilities. For instance, the Divine Soul Sorcerer has a feature where they can learn cleric spells in place of sorcerer ones, and so I would like to play such a one with the acolyte background and start a running gag of "I'm not a cleric, I'm a priest".
On the other hand, the Arcane Archer Fighter feels intensely limited. It can only use its magic arrows twice per short rest. Even the Battle Master gets more uses than that. Granted, a player can decide to use the magic arrows after the attack succeeds and they will eventually gain a feature so they never start initiative without one use but it feels limited because the number of magic arrows never grows. Nor do the effects last as long as the similarly limited Wild Shape used by the druids. Then again, it also gains stuff outside of magic arrows, like the ability to make their ammo "magical" for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance, while the Battle Master is entirely bound to its limited maneuvers.
I've referred to this book frequently since I purchased it because of its DM advice. At the time I first read this book I had a party that included a character that liked to fly and one who liked to craft things, and this helps to manage both in the campaign. The downtime options are also appreciated for when they want to take a break from adventuring. I've used the random generator in a previous session, and it provided the seed for a springboard encounter.
The good artwork continues here. The new archetypes get profile pictures, and all of them together makes for an interesting contrast. Furthermore, the section on traps has delightful illustrations of them at work, such as an adventurer clinging to top of a pit trap.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Xanathar's Guide to Everything" an A+
Click here for my next book review: Sword Art Online Progressive volume 1
Click here for my previous book review: Monster Manual for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration). His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
This is a supplement for the core books of Dungeons and Dragons fifth edition. It is framed as the personal investigations of "the Xanathar". This is the title of Waterdeep's crime lord, who is typically a beholder. At least this one is. Many pages have little footnotes from this beholder that give his perspective of whatever is on the page in question. Being an insane and paranoid aberration, the Xanthar has a different perspective than the reader, providing both comic relief and additional flavor.
This book provides great stuff for both dungeon masters and players. It's like a fusion of the player's handbook and the dungeon master's guide. Seriously, there are three chapters and there is something for everyone here. The first is new class archetypes, additional character flavor options and racial feats. The second provides options for tool proficiencies, random generators for encounters, guidance on traps, and downtime options, among many other things. The third chapter is a list of new spells, and both sides can take advantage of that.
I liked reading about the additional archetypes, both for their mechanical traits and their roleplaying possibilities. For instance, the Divine Soul Sorcerer has a feature where they can learn cleric spells in place of sorcerer ones, and so I would like to play such a one with the acolyte background and start a running gag of "I'm not a cleric, I'm a priest".
On the other hand, the Arcane Archer Fighter feels intensely limited. It can only use its magic arrows twice per short rest. Even the Battle Master gets more uses than that. Granted, a player can decide to use the magic arrows after the attack succeeds and they will eventually gain a feature so they never start initiative without one use but it feels limited because the number of magic arrows never grows. Nor do the effects last as long as the similarly limited Wild Shape used by the druids. Then again, it also gains stuff outside of magic arrows, like the ability to make their ammo "magical" for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance, while the Battle Master is entirely bound to its limited maneuvers.
I've referred to this book frequently since I purchased it because of its DM advice. At the time I first read this book I had a party that included a character that liked to fly and one who liked to craft things, and this helps to manage both in the campaign. The downtime options are also appreciated for when they want to take a break from adventuring. I've used the random generator in a previous session, and it provided the seed for a springboard encounter.
The good artwork continues here. The new archetypes get profile pictures, and all of them together makes for an interesting contrast. Furthermore, the section on traps has delightful illustrations of them at work, such as an adventurer clinging to top of a pit trap.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "Xanathar's Guide to Everything" an A+
Click here for my next book review: Sword Art Online Progressive volume 1
Click here for my previous book review: Monster Manual for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition
Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration). His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.
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