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The Player's Handbook, released in 2014, is one of the three core rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition. It is the primary rulebook which describes how to play Dungeons & Dragons, and is considered necessary for play. Unlike the other two core rulebooks, which are mainly reserved for use by the Dungeon Master, the Player's Handbook is intended for use by all players of the game.

Player's Handbook is commonly abbreviated to PH or PHB. The officially supported abbreviation PH is more technically correct, as "handbook" is one word, but usage of PHB is common in the D&D community.

Content[]

The Player's Handbook is mainly divided into a preface and introduction, three main parts totalling eleven chapters, and five appendices.

Cover[]

Snurre Dungeon200

King Snurre as he appeared in Dungeon Magazine #200.

According to the book's credits page, the cover of the Player's Handbook depicts the fire giant king Snurre, calling his hell hounds to help him fend off invading adventurers. Snurre here is dressed in a cloak crafted from white dragon hide.

King Snurre appears in the clasic AD&D adventure module G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (1978), collected in the G1-3 Against the Giants (1981) trilogy. In this adventure, the player characters attack Snurre's volcanic hall, where he is guarded by two hell hounds. This scene is canonically located in the World of Greyhawk D&D setting.

Snurre's hall later appears in the AD&D adventure module Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff. Hall of the Fire Giant King was reprinted for D&D 4th edition in Dungeon #200 (Mar 2012), and for D&D 5th edition as part of Tales from the Yawning Portal (2017).

The cover art is drawn by Tyler Jacobson. A higher resolution wallpaper of this image can be found at Wizards.com.

Disclaimer[]

A jocular disclaimer appears on the credits page:

Disclaimer: Wizards of the Coast is not responsible for the consequences of splitting up the party, sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face, accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears, storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading, angering a dragon of any variety, or saying yes when the DM asks, "Are you really sure?"

This references several well-known Dungeons & Dragons tropes:

  • Splitting up the party: A common D&D aphorism is "don't split the party". Doing so increases the danger to the party in the event of a combat encounter.[1]
  • Sticking appendages in the mouth of a leering green devil face: A reference to the large green devil face found in the Tomb of Horrors, an infamously deadly dungeon. The devil face contains a black portal, which is secretly a sphere an annihilation that destroys anything placed into it.
  • Accepting a dinner invitation from bugbears: A reference to classic adventure module B2 The Keep on the Borderlands (1981), where a bugbear lair has signs outside offering free hot food and board to all humanoid visitors. The bugbears' meat skewers are actually swords, which the bugbears will use to strike the visitors in an unexpected surprise attack.
  • Storming the feast hall of a hill giant steading: A reference to the classic adventure module G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (1978).
  • Angering a dragon of any variety: A popular online catchphrase is "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup." This in turn is a parody of a quote from The Fellowship of the Ring: "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."[2]
  • Saying yes when the DM asks, "Are you really sure?": It is common for the Dungeon Master to ask the player "are you sure?" as a subtle warning that the action they have just described is likely to result in catastrophic failure. If the player fails to get the hint and persists, a particularly kind DM might ask a second time, "are you really sure?" The player who answers "yes" to this is likely to suffer catastrophic failure.

Preface and introduction[]

The book opens with a preface by Mike Mearls, written in May 2014.

This is followed by a short introduction explaining the core tenets of the game, including the core game loop, the use of polyhedral dice, the d20-based resolution method, advantage and disadvantage, the three pillars of adventure (exploration, social interaction, and combat), and the existence of magic. Notably, it defines that the core setting of D&D is the multiverse of all D&D worlds, rather than any one specific world. However, officially published sourcebooks for D&D 5th edition would prioritize the Forgotten Realms setting.

The introduction begins by giving a short example of play, describing two sample players named Phillip and Amy. According to writer James Wyatt, both players are named for the spouses of writers who worked on the book;[3] Phillip is likely named for Jeremy Crawford's husband Phillip Lienau.

Part 1[]

This section primarily describes how to create a new Dungeons & Dragons character. It takes up nearly half of the book's length.

Chapter 1 provides step-by-step instructions for creating a new character.

Chapter 2 details the initial playable races: dwarf, elf, halfling, human, dragonborn, gnome, half-elf, half-orc and tiefling. The first four, which appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons 3-Volume Set (1974), are listed as common races, while the other five are uncommon. Several of the races are divided into sub-races: dwarves into mountain dwarf and hill dwarf; elves into high elf, wood elf and drow; halflings into lightfoot and stout; and gnomes info forest and rock gnomes.

Chapter 3 details twelve character classes: barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard. Each class has one or more archetypes.

Chapter 4 describes personality and background. Backgrounds are an additional character customization option which describe the character's origins prior to becoming an adventurer, and can grant additional skill proficiencies and unique abilities.

Chapter 5 describes equipment. Unlike the D&D 4th edition Player's Handbook, magic items are not described in this book.

Chapter 6 offers further purely optional customization options, including feats and rules for multiclassing.

Part 2[]

Part 2 mainly describes rules for playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Chapter 7 describes how to roll ability score checks and saving throws, and how to use D&D 5th edition's advantage/disadvantage system.

Chapter 8 gives rules for non-combat activities, including travel, social interaction, resting, and downtime activities between adventures.

Chapter 9 gives rules for combat, including initiative, attacking, damage, and mounted and underwater combat.

Part 3[]

Chapter 10 describes the rules for spellcasting.

Chapter 11 contains the spell lists for each character class, and the descriptions of all spells in the Player's Handbook.

Appendices[]

Appendix A is a list of all the status conditions which can be afflicted on a character or monster in the game. Only fourteen status effects exist in the game. It also describes the rules for exhaustion.

Appendix B lists the deities of various major Dungeons & Dragons pantheons, as well as those of real-world myth. They include the Forgotten Realms pantheon, Greyhawk pantheon, Dragonlance pantheon, Eberron pantheon, Monster pantheon, Celtic pantheon, Greek pantheon, Egyptian pantheon, and Norse pantheon.

Appendix C briefly describes the planar cosmology of D&D, as described in the context of the traditional Great Wheel layout. This closely resembles the cosmology as understood during D&D 3rd edition, with minor changes to accomodate concepts introduced in D&D 4th edition: an Elemental Chaos, which surrounds the edges of the four traditional elemental planes of air, earth, fire and water; the Feywild, previously known in third edition as the Plane of Faerie; and the Shadowfell, synonymous with the Plane of Shadow.

Appendix D provides statistics for various creatures which player characters are likely to interact with, primarily animals which can be selected as a familiar or animal companion. They include the bat, black bear, boar, brown bear, cat, constrictor snake, crocodile, dire wolf, frog, giant eagle, giant spider, hawk (falcon), imp, lion, mastiff, mule, owl, panther, poisonous snake, pseudodragon, quasit, rat, raven, reef shark, riding horse, skeleton, sprite, tiger, warhorse, wolf, and zombie. Further animals are provided in the Monster Manual (5e), Appendix A: Miscellaneous Creatures (2014).

Appendix E provides a recommended reading list. (see Appendix N).

At the back of the book is a three page character sheet.

Development and release[]

Jeremy Crawford was lead designer on the D&D 5th edition Player's Handbook, and joint lead designer on D&D 5th edition overall with Mike Mearls. Crawford has credits on D&D sourcebooks as far back as D&D 3rd edition's City of Stormreach (2008).

According to the credits page, the Player's Handbook was released on August 2014.

Reception and influence[]

Dungeons & Dragons saw unprecedented success with D&D 5th edition, with profits growing year-on-year. In 2018, the Player’s Handbook reached #21 in Amazon's list.[4]

External links[]

References[]

  1. "It's this common wisdom that has been passed down, and it's become like a shibboleth: it's this thing we say to each other to reinforce the idea that we're all part of the same group; we all know the same things; we're all having the same conversation. I say 'don't split the party' to show off the fact that I know the common wisdom." Let's Split The Party! Running the Game #66
  2. Origins of quote: "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
  3. Tweet. "Fun fact: The example of play on page 5 of the Player's Handbook uses the names of two writers' spouses as the player examples. So you could argue that the opposite rule is in the PH... ;) #wotcstaff"
  4. How Well is 5th Edition D&D Selling?, Unpossible Journeys


Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbooks
Players Handbook (1e)Player's Handbook (2e)
Player's Handbook (3e)Player's Handbook (3.5)Player's Handbook II (3.5)
Player's Handbook (4e)Player's Handbook 2 (4e)Player's Handbook 3 (4e)
Player's Handbook (5e)
Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition
Core rules
Player's HandbookMonster ManualDungeon Master's GuideStarter SetEssentials Kit
Print supplements
Acquisitions IncorporatedEberron: Rising from the Last WarExplorer's Guide to WildemountFizban's Treasury of DragonsGuildmasters' Guide to RavnicaMonsters of the MultiverseMordenkainen's Tome of FoesMythic Odysseys of TherosStrixhaven: A Curriculum of ChaosSword Coast Adventurer's GuideTasha's Cauldron of EverythingVan Richten's Guide to RavenloftVolo's Guide to MonstersXanathar's Guide to Everything
Digital supplements
Adventure with MukDomains of DelightElemental Evil Player's CompanionMinsc and Boo's Journal of VillainyMordenkainen's Fiendish Folio Volume 1Muk's Guide to Everything He Learned From TashaOne Grung AbovePlane Shift: AmonkhetPlane Shift: DominariaPlane Shift: InnistradPlane Shift: IxalanPlane Shift: KaladeshPlane Shift: ZendikarThe Tortle PackageWayfinder's Guide to Eberron
Print adventures
Baldur's Gate: Descent Into AvernusCandlekeep MysteriesCritical Role: Call of the NetherdeepCurse of StrahdGhosts of SaltmarshIcewind Dale: Rime of the FrostmaidenOut of the AbyssPrinces of the ApocalypseStorm King's ThunderTales from the Yawning PortalTomb of AnnihilationTyranny of Dragons (Hoard of the Dragon QueenThe Rise of Tiamat) • Waterdeep: Dragon HeistWaterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad MageThe Wild Beyond the Witchlight
Digital adventures
The Barber of SilverymoonInfernal Machine RebuildLocathah RisingThe Lost KenkuLost Laboratory of KwalishReturn to the GlorySix Faces of DeathX Marks the SpotA Zib For Your Thoughts
Licensed products
Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons Starter SetDungeons & Dragons vs. Rick and Morty
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