Games - Dungeons & Dragons manuals

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	Games - Dungeons & Dragons manuals

A listing of manuals for the Dungeons & Dragons
fantasy role-playing game.

Several manuals are required for the Dungeons & Dragons
fantasy role-playing game. The current Dungeons & Dragons requires three core rulebooks: the Player's Handbook
, the Dungeon Master's Guide
, and the Monster Manual
. Variations of these three books have formed core manuals since the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, however many and varied different optional manuals have existed for all versions of Dungeons & Dragons.

Because of the d20 System and Open Gaming License, with 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons there are many other optional manuals which are not officially "Dungeons & Dragons" but are fully compatible with Dungeons & Dragons. These can vary the game a lot or a little. Some of these options rather than being optional extra manuals can be used to replace some or all of the standard manuals. One most popular of these alternate manuals is Arcana Unearthed which is an alternative Player's Handbook. Castles & Crusades has alternatives for all the core manuals, producing a simpler D&D type game.

Current (v3.5) Dungeons and Dragons

The revisions made by the game's v3.5 edition made a number of previous rulebooks obsolete, however others are still almost fully compatible with the revision. There were new editions of the core books. The Psionics Handbook
was replaced with the Expanded Psionics Handbook. The third edition's had five softcover rulebooks focusing on character classes: Sword and Fist (fighter and monk), Tome and Blood (sorcerer and wizard), Defenders of the Faith (cleric and paladin), Masters of the Wild (barbarian, druid, and ranger), and Song and Silence (bard and rogue), were updated into four revised and expanded hardcover rulebooks for 3.5 edition: Complete Warrior
(barbarian, fighter, ranger), Complete Divine
(cleric, druid, paladin), Complete Arcane
(sorcerer, wizard), and Complete Adventurer
(bard, rogue).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st edition)

The popularity of the first three core rulebooks the Monster Manual
(1977), the Players Handbook(1978), and the Dungeon Master's Guide
(1979), encouraged TSR to publish more and more books. Before the second edition of the game was released, there were over a dozen hardbound sourcebooks. Many were sourcebooks and optional rules, however Unearthed Arcana
(1985) represented a significant suplement for both the Players Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.

The first edition manuals, though no longer official play items, are highly prized by collectors, particularly early printings. Examples in good condition (which is rare since these books got a lot of use from players) can fetch prices many times their cover value.

2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

The 1989 2nd edition saw a complete revision of the Players Handbook and the Dungeon Master Guide. The Monster Manual replaced by the Monstrous Compedium loose leaf binder which was in turn replaced by the Monstrous Manual (1993)

The second edition expanded the number of books, most notably with the "Complete Handbook" or "Complete Book of" series, which featured handbooks for almost every race and class; gnomes and halflings shared one handbook, and the only specialist wizard to receive his own handbook was the necromancer. Several other archetypes, such as the barbarian, and campaign-specific concepts, such as the gladiator of Dark Sun, were also given their own handbooks. The handbooks introduced the concept of "kits", which were essentially specialized versions of character classes. Many of these, such as the Bladesinger (an elven fighter/wizard who could fight and cast spells at the same time), were considered to be grossly unbalanced, both in comparison to other kits and in particular to characters who did not use kits.

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