D&D 5e Starter Box
On July 3rd, 2014 Wizard’s of the Coast (WotC) launched the newest edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The previous moniker of #Next was dropped and it is now simply D&D and if needed D&D5e.
This was a two-pronged launch. The D&D Starter Box aimed at new DM’s or new Groups of players – which I’ll be reviewing here. And the simultaneous launch of D&D Basic, the free rule set was also available for download at the official D&D website – Which I’ll be reviewing as soon as I have a chance to fully pour over it.
Disclaimer- I’m unabashedly a fan of D&D. It was my original gateway to RPG’s and despite years of playing it wrong or with horribly broken house rules, it is still my greatest RPG love, so my opinion is clouded by that. –Be Advised.
My initial thoughts of the Starter Box are positive. I think the cover art is amazing and reminiscing enough of the Mentzer Red box I started on that it evokes that nostalgia I think they were going for.
The text on the cover is minimal allowing for maximum art, which I think is smart. Much like a book cover, the art will likely be the first draw if someone see’s the box at a retail store (Meijer, Wal-Mart, Target) or a brick-n-mortar book store (Book’s a Million, Barnes & Noble). The STARTER SET is actually the most prominent text on the front, followed by D&D and then lastly Dungeons&Dragons. I’m fine with all these choices. If you truly picked up the box not really knowing what it is, then the fact that it’s the Starter Set is likely the best thing it tells you. Next is that its D&D which is still ubiquitous with Role Playing Games and likely more vernacular than Dungeon & Dragons. My only critique of the box, so far, is that the side of the box is very plain compared to the front. It still has STARTER SET prominently displayed, but is otherwise mostly black with heavily shaded art of a PC and the Redstripe Dungeons and Dragons logo. Going back to my earlier point of this being picked up in a store, it will likely be turned bookcase style and the side is what will be seen first, not the cover. I would have liked a little more ‘umph’ from the side art/text.
The box itself is larger than necessary to contain the contents, which are
A set of dice.
The Starter Set Rulebook
The introductory adventure module: Lost Mines of Phandelver
5 Pre-gen characters
Human Fighter (Melee focused)
High Elf Wizard
Lightfoot Halfling Rogue
Hill Dwarf Cleric
Human Fighter (Ranged focused)
A blank Character sheet**
The reasons the box is deeper than needed are, in theory, so that the DM could add in extra notes, maybe a module or two. More character sheets, pens, paper, more dice, etc. Ostensibly, it is that larger so that when it is turned bookshelf style on store shelves it will be large enough to show the STARTER SET text and been seen by potential customers.
Let’s talk about the Dice.
They are a “Full Set” of a light blue marbled color polyhedrals. That means a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20. Color wise they are bright and the numbers are solid white (with my aging eyes, I now prefer more solid colors for the die and solid white numbers – easier to read at the table). They are nicer than the dice I recall getting in any other boxed sets (except for the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire started boxed set).
My only complaint about the dice is that I would prefer they come with a true full set of dice (assuming this is truly a STARTER SET, then likely the people buying it don’t already have a ton of extra dice floating around) with a second d10 (% style) and 3 extra d6’s. It’s a small quibble, but it would be nice if they would give info on where/how to buy the same type so people could get a full set if they so wished.
Let’s talk about the Starter Set Rulebook
It clocks in at 31 pages. The paper is thin and glossy – not my favorite. Too much glare at the table. The full color printing is nice. The cover is the same art as the box cover but expanded to show other PC’s not visible in the box cover.
There are 4 chapters to the Starter Set Rulebook
- How to Play
- Combat
- Adventuring
- Spell casting
The back page is an Appendix covering all the conditions (Blinded, Grappled, Stunned, etc, . . .)
How to Play
The How to Play section runs page 2 thru 8 and contains the things you expect it too. It has a brief explanation of what D&D “IS” how the PC’s and the DM’ work together to create a story. This includes two brief examples of play, as seen in any number of RPG books.
It contains an overview of the structure of play, essentially part group story-telling and sometimes turn by turn play (combat, for example)
It then goes over the some rules.
1. The Core Rule. Roll d20, add / subtract modifiers. Compare result to target number to see if you succeed or not.
2. Advantage & Disadvantage (one of my favorite rules! I LOVE THIS)
If you have advantage you roll 2 d20’s and take the more favorable. If you have disadvantage you roll 2 d20’s and take the least favorable. If you have advantage and disadvantage they cancel each other out (even if you have 8 advantages and 1 disadvantage – still cancel each other out).
- Ability Checks – Using the 6 Abilities to accomplish tasks and how they could be subdivided into skill checks
- Saving Throws, a special ability check to avoid specific types of damage.
It also touches on passive perception, which was not in the early version of the Playtest packets, but I’m happy to see a return.
Overall, I’d say the How to Play portion does its job, but it would be nice to seem more play examples for each section.
Combat
The Combat section runs page 8 thru 13 and covers the basics of D&D 5e combat.
I don’t want to go to in-depth in this section, which is better left for a future review of the free D&D5e Basic set.
I will mention that in the How to Play section it hits on that some DM’s might use Maps and Mini’s but there is no real mention of that in combat. While there are some tactical movement decisions (opportunity attacks, disengage) it’s not presented as tactical mini game.
Two other quick notes, It does talk about breaking up your move action. This is a change I really liked from the Playtest (almost as much as Advantage / Disadvantage). Essentially, if you have 30 feet of movement you can move part of it, do something (attack, interact with an object) and then move the rest of it. It seems simple but was missing (minus house rules) from D&D for a long time.
Secondly, critical hits. You double the dice and then add modifiers. This includes any dice you would roll for the damage such as Sneak attack. While I like this, I will continue to use my house rule where Crits are Max damage + the damage roll again. For me, there is nothing worse than rolling that Natural 20 and then following it up with two 1’s on the damage dice. So this way the minimum damage is max+1, so that Crit means something.
Adventuring
The Adventuring section runs page 14 thru 20. It covers Travel, Resting, Rewards (XP and treasure) and has a lengthy section on equipment
Spell Casting
The spell casting section runs page 21 thru 30 and covers Wizard (no longer Mage) and Cleric spell casting. There continues to be discussion online about the difference between spell level and PC levels. Maybe it’s that I’ve been playing for so long I am past it, but it is odd that the level of the spell you can cast does not equal your character. But with a chart it’s easy enough to figure out.
There has also been a lot of confusion specifically about how spell slots and prepared spells work. (I’ve seen easily half a dozen posts on Google+ pages ) I’m not sure this does a good enough of a job explaining this here.
The rest of the chapters covers area like Components, Concentration (a new addition I like that keeps Spell casters from stacking spells) Duration, and has a condensed spell list.
Appendix
The last page of the booklet is an Appendix that covers all of the conditions that could affect a monster or PC.
And that’s it. Oh, wait! There is more. The Lost Mine of Phandelver introductory module. That will be reviewed later, after a detailed reading and if possible a run-through of it with a group.
My last comment is not about what’s in the box, but what isn’t; a DM screen. The price of the box is quite reasonable at 19.99 retail (and around 12.00 on Amazon). I would gladly have paid another 4 or 5 bucks to get those extra dice I mentioned earlier and a DM screen.
Would I recommend buying this product? Maybe.
It depends on why you are getting it. If you are already involved in RPG’s and just want to check out the new version of D&D I think the free PDF would be the way to go. Even if you are kinda new to RPG’s there are so many resources available these days to help explain how to play RPG’s (like my very own website, for example) that I’m not sure that a Starter Set is needed when you have a free version of Basic D&D.
If, however, you have never played before at all, or maybe only once at a friend or cousin’s house then this Starter Box might just be the gateway you’re looking for. It will allow you to get a group together and start playing right away (Pre-gens for the players, simple intro adventure for the DM, a set of dice to share) and might just be the start of a life-long obsession, err . . . hobby. If so, welcome to the club!
~Michael
The Rpg Academy
**The Starter set does not come with rules to create your own PC’s, but the free Basic Rules PDF does and both are currently available.
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