Publication:Player's Handbook (2e)

Player's Handbook (2e)

System: Dungeons and Dragons 2e  Abbreviation: PHB  Author: David Cook  Publisher: TSR  Item Code: 2101  Publication Date: 1989  Format: Hardcover  Page Count: 256  ISBN-10: 0-88038-716-5

Product Blurb This is the indispensable encyclopedia of fantasy role-playing and also the perfect companion to the referee's 2nd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide. Everything players need is here: how to determine a character's Strength, Wisdom, Charisma, and other abilities; the differences among the various fantasy races, from elves and halflings to dwarves, gnomes, and others; complete rules for character improvement; the most advantageous mapping and combat procedures; and much more, all in this easy-to-use, revised version of the classic role-playing rulebook. With this 2nd Edition, the best-selling role-playing game in history gets even better! This text is quoted from promotion material. Text and images are copyrighted by the original publisher.

Player's Handbook (2e)

System: Dungeons and Dragons 2e  Abbreviation: PHB  Author: David Cook  Publisher: TSR  Item Code: 2159  Publication Date: 1995  Format: Hardcover  Page Count: 320  ISBN-10: 0786903295

Product Blurb Here is the indispensable encyclopedia of fantasy role-playing. Everything the player needs is here: how to create a mighty hero or crafty wizard; unique aspects of the elves, dwarves, halflings, and other fantasy races; all the weapons, armor, magical spells, and rules for thrilling battles against supernatural monsters. This fresh, new format for the Player's Handbook is your complete and illustrated guide to the world of heroic adventure! This text is quoted from promotion material. Text and images are copyrighted by the original publisher.

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition Player's Handbook was a 256-page hardcover book written by David "Zeb" Cook and released in 1989. The original cover art is by Jeff Easley, and the book featured eight full-page color illustrations, as well as other interior illustrations by Douglas Chaffee, Larry Elmore, Craig Farley, John and Laura Lakey, Erik Olson, Jack Pennington, Jeff Butler, Jeff Easley, Jean E. Martin, and Dave Sutherland.

The Player's Handbook for 2nd edition was compatible with 1st edition rules, but was streamlined and clarified. The book included information on how to play the standard character classes: warriors (including fighters, paladins, and rangers), wizards (including mages and specialist wizards such as illusionists), priests (clerics and guidelines for variance by mythos, including the druid as an example), and rogues (including thieves and bards); while most character classes remained about the same as in the 1st edition rules, the bard was regularized, and the assassin and monk were dropped. TSR, Inc. also removed some races from the game, such as half-orcs, although some of these were added back into the game in supplements, such as The Complete Book of Humanoids. Optional rules for skills, known as proficiencies, were added, and sections describing role-playing, combat, magic, time and movement, equipment, and spell descriptions were all expanded. The book included major changes regarding character classes, races, and magic, and incorporated many new rules that had been published in supplements such as Unearthed Arcana and Dragonlance Adventures.

The 2nd edition Player's Handbook was an Origins and Gamer's Choice award winner. Lawrence Schick, in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, called the book "a vast improvement" over the 1st edition book; he noted that the monk character class had been "banished to Oriental Adventures where it belongs", but commented that the spell descriptions "have positively bloated to over 100 pages".

In 1995, a new version of the 2nd edition Player's Handbook was released as part of TSR's 25th anniversary; the book was revised, becoming sixty-four pages larger, mainly due to layout changes and new artwork. A new foreword in this edition specifically stated that the book was not Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition.

External links

• The 2nd Edition Player's Handbook at the TSR Archive
• The revised 2nd Edition Player's Handbook at the TSR Archive

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