Essentials

Click here for some info on upcoming D&D products. One of them is the D&D Essentials Kit. I have to admit, the name brings back some unpleasant memories of Fourth Edition. Late in the run of that ill-fated edition, the D&D design team released a series of books and game aids that constituted the "Essentials" product line. The centerpiece was a pair of digest-sized Player's Handbook-style rulebooks with new builds for core character classes. Fourth Edition had already become so broken that new characters built using only the PHB were woefully underpowered compared to characters built using all of the available materials -- conveniently collated within the D&D Insider app. The Essentials builds were jacked-up so that new or casual players could bring simple but powerful characters to the table. My memory of this line is, essentially (pun intended), the last gasp of a failed experiment. I sincerely hope the new D&D Essentials Kit is a great new introductory set (akin to Paizo's Pathfinder Beginner Box and the super-cool new Starfinder Beginner Box) and not an attempt to monkey around with the beautiful Fifth Edition ruleset.