Essentials Kit Rulebook

by Wizards of the Coast

Paperback

First published June 24, 2019

About the author

Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]

Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.

Reviews

[Stephanie Sirois · Rating 5 out of 5]

This takes everything a player needs to know and compresses it into a short guide.

Perfect for players who want to start off at a run, without fumbling their way through the admittedly bulky and often confusing handbook.

Create a character in D&D Beyond and read through this and you'd be ready to play.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the rulebook to one of (now) several introductory-level adventures for Fifth Edition D&D. The rules are simply an edited, shortened version of what one finds in the “Player’s Handbook.” Compared to both the free downloadable “Basic Rules” and the rules included with the “Starter Set,” the most immediate and obvious difference is the addition of one class – the Bard – not usually regarded as among the usual four “Basic” classes of warrior, magician, healer, and rogue. There are more spells, and the class level goes to sixth, rather than 3rd or 5th, but otherwise it is pretty familiar stuff. One odd choice was to not include the combined spell lists for each class separate from the class description itself. There is no one page you can go to to find out if “Burning Hands” is a Wizard spell, a Bard spell, or a Cleric spell (or is available to multiple classes), you have to check each class independently. Really, since the 5th Ed standard is to list all the spells together, this information should be a part of the standard “stats block” for spells, along with range and duration.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this as the rulebook for a new-players D&D campaign this year. Although it's a very basic set of character options, spells, and items, it's more than enough for a starter campaign. I'm hesitant to buy all the core D&D books AGAIN with the latest edition, so I'm happy to be getting so much value and providing so much entertainment to my players with these core rules and options. It's a pretty solid rulebook, although it has some confusing bits for new players and could be indexed better.