Rules Compendium
By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer
Initiative Round
The Rules Compendium is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Wizards of the Coast. This 160-page full-color hardcover is edited by Chris Sims and features cover art from Warren Mahy depicting a warrior with dual axes facing an unseen foe. The interior art is recycled from other sources. The Rules Compendium retails for $26.95.
Which comes first; frightened or cowering? How much damage would a character take if he fell from a 100-foot cliff into the water below? How much time would it take for the rogue to make his dagger look like a wand (perhaps as part of a disguise)? What is the DC necessary to discern a creature in gaseous form from normal mist or fog?
Could you answer any of those questions right off the top of your head? Unless you have an eidetic memory, my guess is probably not. But, you might know where to find the answers. Sure! It’s in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Wait! Or was it in Heroes of Horror? Or maybe I saw it in the Dungeon Master’s Guide II. Wait, I know it’s here somewhere…
Or, you could just grab your copy of the Rules Compendium and reference what you need without all the hassle. Does frightened or cowering come first? Well, it’s right here on page 53, under “Fear.†Falling into water? That’s page 52. Disguising objects? Hmm, page 106, under the “Objects†heading. How can you tell a gaseous creature from normal fog? With a DC 15 Spot check, according to “Gaseous Form†on page 58.
That’s basically the Rules Compendium in a nutshell. From the basics (how to multiply) to the obscure stuff (as noted above), it’s probably found here. In short, this book is a reference work to help you get past the little snarls that tend to slow down your games (like when the DM sighs and reaches for the stack of rule books to try to determine whether DR 10/cold iron is supernatural or extraordinary).
The book has a well-labeled table of contents and an index that is sufficient to find most things you might need (if not all). Even if that fails, the chapter listings are printed on the outside edge of the pages, so it is easy to flip through the book until you spot the one that looks like what you need. And this isn’t just a collection of rules from the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Player’s Handbook, either. No, you can find data from materials as recent as the Magic Item Compendium herein.
Alongside these many references are sidebars with insights from the designers of the D&D game. Have you ever wondered how and why a particular rule is discarded? Mike Mearls explains it in “Why Rules Die.†Or you might be interested in Chris Wilkes’ house rules for falling damage, or James Wyatt’s discussion of how DR evolved.
Critical Hit
Anyone who has ever played D&D with more than just the core books knows how useful a collection of rules all in one place can be. I don’t think there’s anything more to be said about that.
Critical Fumble
Useful? Yes, but only if you plan to ignore 4E, which is on the horizon. Before the imminent release of that product was announced, a book like this might have been a decent seller, if not a particularly fast mover, but with 4th edition coming, I predict that most people are going to question the logic of buying a book that collects and reprints rules for a system that is being abandoned.
Another problem is that the book falls short of its intended goal. Specifically, not all of the rules are found here. For example, there is relatively little information on environments beyond that which is found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, even though a lot more in-depth material was presented in Sandstorm and Frostburn. And if you’re looking for expanded tables for skill use, such as found in those volumes, you’re out of luck. Well, maybe in the Skills Compendium.
Finally, even though the book states that the rules are drawn from multiple sources, it seems that most of them come from either the Dungeon Master’s Guide or the Player’s Handbook. I can cite very few that originate from outside those two references. I would expect that the bulk of the rules here would be from those books, but I also expected a lot more coverage of obscure rules from other works.
Coup d’Grace
In the end, I have to rate this product a solid C. There is very little new material presented here; the book fails to even meet its own expectations. The bottom line is, if you plan to switch to 4E when it hits the stands, don’t waste your money. On the other hand, if you are planning to stick with 3.5, then you have to decide for yourself if it is worth getting just to have the major rules combined in one volume.
Since there is nothing new in the way of mechanics here, I elected to go with a single letter grade, as opposed to our usual, more detailed system.
Review Scores
Final Grade: C
On the other hand, I found
On the other hand, I found this book to be a gold mine of information and easy rules accessibility. No, it doesn't have every rule from every 3.5 splatbook, but it does cover the important ones in a very concise format that is easy to read and understand. Chris Sims did a good job with the task of editing this book. I give it an A.
Thanks for the review, John!
Thanks for the review, John! Good as usual.
John is definitely correct that there's little new material here, although a comparison of rules in Rules Compendium to those in other books shows a solid aim at completeness and clarity.
The review contains a couple factual errors, though. Rules Compendium does contain weather information from sources such as Frostburn and Sandstorm, integrated with stuff from the DMG. (Not all of it, but the most important stuff for running a game is in there.) It also contains every important skill check DC from multiple sources, such as the Complete series and the "environmental" series, integrated where relevant. Any DCs left out were left out on purpose. It also contains some integrations of rules where two or more sources had similar but divergent subsystems.
Thanks again, John and Steve.
Well, I did say that the
Well, I did say that the bulk of the material was from the the DMG and PH. I did not mean to imply that there was nothing new here, just that a lot of what I feel should have been included wasn't. Why were DCs left out, for example? For example, I could not find an entry on Balance checks in various levels of surf (covered in Stormwrack). Possible I missed it, but I just don't recall having seen it.
This is a great point to
This is a great point to talk about. Thanks for the opportunity.
Stormwrack Balance DCs are an example of something that can be easily extrapolated from the existing rules, and they even seem contrary to the overarching Balance rules in some instances. Heeling deck is the same as moving surface, as is light surf. Heavy roll and surf are the same as a violently moving surface. Green water is really a slippery and difficult terrain situation; a yardarm is a narrow surface about 6-inches wide (in my game, the DC would probably be 17 or so, since the roll of the ship should play a part too, but that's interpretive).
The secondary reason such specific situational DCs were cut is space.
Could the DCs be
Could the DCs be extrapolated from the existing rules? Sure they could; but then why print them at all (in the aforementioned Stormwrack, for example)? All I'm saying that if you're going to produce a book called the Rules Compendium, then all the new rules should be present therein.
Lack of space is a judgment call, but as a consumer, I'd be more likely to purchase a book like this if I knew it was going to have everything, even if it meant paying a little more.
I'm not saying it isn't useful; just not as useful as it could have been (in my opinion).
As for the book being a bestseller on Amazon, I guess I should be surprised, but somehow I'm not.
Amazon frequently offers big savings, particularly when an item is pre-ordered. That, combined with the fact that it is sight unseen, might account for the popularity.
Maybe I'm wrong. It's entirely possible that people find it useful, but to me, it seems a pointless for those of us considering switching to 4E. Even if I weren't, I passed on buying this book twice when I had the opportunity for the very reasons I cited (before I knew I was going to be receiving a review copy).
a) Factoid: This book is
a) Factoid: This book is currently the bestselling RPG book on Amazon.com.
2) I've found it a very useful book. It consolidates most of the commonly-used info that I need, obviating the DMG for anything but magic item info when I'm at the table.
I think it's a nice send-off for 3.5, and foresee it making the D&D I play for the next six months more enjoyable. It give it at last a B.