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The '''''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition Player's Handbook''''' was a 256-page hardcover book written by [[David Cook|David "Zeb" Cook]] and released in 1989.<ref name="HW">{{cite book|last=Schick |first=Lawrence|title=Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games|publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1991|isbn=0-87975-653-5 |pages=84–85}}</ref><ref>[http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=144 AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Ed. (1989)] at the Pen & Paper RPG Database. Retrieved November 22, 2008.</ref><ref name="history">{{cite web| url=http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DnDArchives_History.asp| title=The History of TSR| publisher=[[Wizards of the Coast]]| accessdate=2005-08-20| archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wizards.com%2Fdnd%2FDnDArchives_History.asp&date=2008-10-04| archivedate=2008-10-04}}</ref> The original cover art is by [[Jeff Easley]], and the book featured eight full-page color illustrations,<ref name="HW"/> 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 [[David C. Sutherland III|Dave Sutherland]].
The ''Player's Handbook'' for 2nd edition was compatible with 1st edition rules, but was streamlined and clarified.<ref name="HW"/> 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 [[bard]]s); 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.<ref name="HW"/> [[TSR, Inc.]] also removed some races from the game, such as half-orcs,<ref>[http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/archetypology21dec01.html To Be Orc Not To Be] from RPGnet. Retrieved on November 22, 2008.</ref> although some of these were added back into the game in supplements, such as ''[[The Complete Book of Humanoids]]''.<ref>{{Cite_Pub|The Complete Book of Humanoids}}</ref> 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.<ref name="HW"/> 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.<ref name="HW"/> [[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".<ref name="HW"/>
