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Iskandar Player's Handbook 5E

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M.T. Black Games

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$3.95

$6.95

A Complete Set of Rules for the World's Favorite Roleplaying Game!

Iskandar! City of the Shining Spires! Where merchants are masters and coin is king, but thieves and assassins rule the night. Where gods and priests walk side by side even as unspeakable wealth peers down upon crushing poverty. Where guilds and great houses spar for political supremacy while fiendish hordes muster just over the horizon. Iskandar! Home to all that is wondrous, noble, and laudable, and to all that is lewd, wanton, and vile.

Prepare to venture into this world of epic fantasy! With over 500 pages of content, the Iskandar Player's Handbook contains everything you need to play in this world of heroic adventure. The book includes:

A complete set of rules for the fifth edition of the world's favorite roleplaying game (no other rulebooks required)
12 amazing ancestries (no elves!)
36 superb subclasses (including the acrobat, spellsword, troubadour, and many more)
Dozens of new and remastered spells
Countless hints, tips, and optional rules to improve your game
Never-before published lore about Iskandar and the world around it
And much, much more!

Welcome to the world of Iskandar, where endless adventure and untold excitement await!

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Reviews (3)

Discussions (9)

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Geoffrey W February 12, 2024 5:53 am UTC

PURCHASER

So, I think you might need to give the text of this book a more thorough editing. In a bunch of places you make reference to things that are in the 5e PHB as if they're in this book. Most obviously are the class options (Martial Archetype, Cleric Domains, etc). The lists you give are the player's handbook lists and you say they're "at the end of the class description." Except they're not. They're in the 5e PHB. You've got *different* options at the end of the class description in your book.

M.T. B February 13, 2024 3:25 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Thanks Geoffrey, I appreciate it. I'm correcting those subclass references in the next edition.

Samuel T February 07, 2024 2:30 am UTC

Hello! I'm not familiar with this setting or the creative team. I like 5e but sometimes want something a little more indepth mechanically (I play HERO, IKRPG 2012, PF2e, and have been gazing longingly at D&D 4e). Is this something that might scratch my mechanical itch?

M.T. B February 07, 2024 11:03 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

Hi Samuel, my book doesn't add much mechanical crunch to 5E. I strongly recommend you check out Advanced 5E by EnPublishing, as it does exactly what you are looking for.

cheers,
MTB

Samuel T February 08, 2024 1:52 am UTC

I *really* respect your answer, thank you :)

Jon-Paul A August 22, 2023 3:30 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Hi. One of the reviews says fantastic art work. I can’t see any: it’s just text. Is my download correct?

Christopher J September 05, 2023 5:30 am UTC

PURCHASER

There's no art, and I don't know what that reviewer was talking about.

Jeremy H June 05, 2023 4:03 am UTC

PURCHASER

This looks a bit like the 5e SRD given a fresh look? If so, I approve. How much of the source material is in here? Are there monsters, etc.?

M.T. B June 07, 2023 6:43 am UTC

PUBLISHER

It's probably about 80% SRD. There's lots of non-SRD content in there including 36 subclasses etc.

It only includes the SRD content you would find in the player's handbook, so there are no monsters or magic items.

Jeremy H June 13, 2023 3:23 am UTC

PURCHASER

Very cool. I'll check it out. I also like the chonky A5 format. Any plans for a DMG equivalent?

M.T. B June 15, 2023 5:26 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Yes! I have lots of ideas about what should be in a DM handbook. I also plan to do a full campaign guide for Iskandar. If you want to keep up with my plans, I recommend signing up to my weekly newsletter: https://www.mtblackgames.com/newsletter

I send out mostly free D&D resources, but I also keep folks updated about my Iskandar material

jason M March 16, 2023 8:25 am UTC

I thought it might have been a homage to Star Blazers aka Spaceship Yamoto

M.T. B March 16, 2023 10:41 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Loved that show! But the word Iskandar is an ancient variant on the name Alexander, and was used in the Caucuses and the Middle East. It seems to be popular in Malaysia and Indonesia these days.

Jonathan S March 02, 2023 9:12 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I will be giving this a full review when I get the chance. I have some serious qualms with how this player's handbook was handled.
1. It would have been far better to handle this book as a splat book rather than a complete rules book because this book is 95% 5e rules copy/pasted.
2. M.T. Black is an excellent writer and it shows in the small percentage of content here that is original to M.T.. BUT and this is a big BUT, the game design is not anywhere near the quality level of the writing. It lacks even being sufficient.
a. If M.T. was going to make a ruleset, why were all the problems of 5e kept and even exacerbated by Black's changes?
b. Beast master has a class feature that gives 1/4 CR creature. Not only is this useless, a low level spell from any spell caster is a far better option.
c. A Druid that uses wildshape to rage or give others rage as a standard action. Any thoughts about action economy here? Why is Black reproducing a feature from another class?
...See more d. The barbarian Stormheart gets an extra 1d6 thunder damage at 3rd level every round which scales with level. While, the Bear Shirt(an odd name in English) is the Frenzied Berserker(Berserker of 5e) which is improved by requiring a DC to get exhaustion BUT, has to use a bonus action to attack when the Stormheart and other subclass features of other classes GET THE DAMAGE FOR FREE or cheaper. Poor game design. BTW, notice how the Stormheart's is magical.
e. Playing a Ranger in this setting is pointless. Every other class can do the job better than you and you have class features that lean hard into the useless Favored Terrain feature rather than using the alternate features of Tasha's.
f. A Druid subclass that focuses on being able to get flight before 8th level and physical combat while still only doing so with the standard CR progression of the base druid?????
g. Monks are still terrible and overshadowed by every other class and in fact, the rogue now has a subclass that is a way better monk than the monk.
3. The book uses Ancestries which represent the various kinds of humanoid species a player can take for a character. The abilities of these ancestries replicate various class features or are simply better than them, some of which are ridiculously OP.

There is no central guiding design philosophy or criteria for any of the classes, ancestries, or abilities in this book. Class abilities will overlap each other which will overlap ancestry abilities. Little thought is given to action economy and what should and should not cost, such as what uses a bonus action has in light of other abilities that a particular class has or other options available in 5e to use a bonus action from feats or spells.

M.T. Black is a fantastic adventure writer, but has not given the same kind of attention to detail and extensive thought to game design as Black has given to writing or world building.

My suggestion is don't buy this book and instead just get the Iskandar Sourcebook with the standard 5e rules. There is nothing here that is done better and in fact, it will only create balance problems and classes that no longer have their signature roles, which is one of the central reasons behind role-playing. A huge copy/paste job of 5e with added content that didn't spend enough time being workshopped or playtested.

M.T. B March 04, 2023 1:53 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Hi Jonathan!

I appreciate you taking the time to review my book and treat it seriously, even if you are largely critical. I'm also grateful for your positive comments about my work in general.

Your big question is: why did I include so much content from the 5e SRD rather than simply create a setting book and exclude the SRD content? It's a good question since about 80% of my book is SRD (not 95%).

I went back and forth on this very question over the last 18 months. I could just publish 80 pages and tell everyone to read their official PHBs for the rules (tell them implicitly, as the OGL does not permit us to refer to the PHB explicitly). On the other hand, there is something attractive about giving someone ALL the rules they need to play the game rather than saying, "Thanks for buying the book! You do, of course, need this other $40 book as well to play."

Two things made me finally decide to include all the core rules. Firstly, OneD&D is moving...See more the game in a direction that I'm not entirely happy with and which may not be compatible with some existing content (for example, subclass progression). So including a baseline set of rules became very attractive - I can say to potential players: "Here are the rules this setting assumes--this is the flavor of D&D I am playing and promoting."

Secondly, of course, was the attempt by WOTC to deauthorize the OGL. That immediate threat may have abated, but it convinced me I wanted a self-contained rulebook that put me beyond the reach of corporate shenanigans. Furthermore, some people have vowed they will not buy books from WOTC any longer, so including a complete ruleset enables them to keep playing the game they love with my setting.

Some folk have called my PHB a "5E clone," and I think the designation is valid, though I prefer "5E remix". Someone on RPG.NET wrote a post called "Here come the clones." I think they are right that there will be many 5E clones published this year and onwards for the reasons I've mentioned above. People who would have published pure setting material in the past will now feel compelled to include a complete ruleset. Several larger companies are doing the same, most notably Kobold Press with "Black Flag."

I included some of this explanation in the book's postscript, but I am genuinely grateful for the chance to talk further on this issue. Thank you!

Your second major criticism is, having included all the core 5E rules, why didn't I fix more? This is a balancing act, and I may have been more cautious than needed. I tackled the things that stuck out to me, but left other things in place. Like you, one of my designer friends said, "Why didn't you fix the ranger?" But I've personally had good experiences with the 5E ranger. So instead, I rewrote things like the surprise rules and turned alignment into something more useful. These reflect our different lenses and priorities.

Regarding your subclass criticisms, I appreciate the feedback, and we can certainly have a productive discussion about balance. For example, my beast master is pretty much taken from LevelUp, as I thought they did an excellent job of fixing the classic beast master. And I don't consider giving a sky druid the ability to fly in beast form unbalancing. These sorts of discussions are the lifeblood of the 5E design meta, and I look forward to your fuller comments as I will make revisions where I'm convinced. Please also take the time to note which subclasses you approve.

kind regards,
MTB

February 26, 2023 7:12 pm UTC

PURCHASER

I had no idea you were working on this. Very cool to see new ancestries/races, subclasses, backgrounds, and feats given context for the Iskandar setting, and at a generous price-point.
I see it seems to include the entirety of rules from the 5e SRD; I haven't had time to read the whole thing, but I'm wondering if there are any areas of the rules that you have altered/changed or added?

M.T. B February 26, 2023 11:17 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

Yes, I've highlighted optional rules in sidebar text to make it easier to identify them. I've also included rules hints and tips in sidebar text. In several places, I felt like the rules wording was so poor that I simply replaced it altogether. The biggest example of that is my explanation of how surprise works. Another, perhaps unexpected, example is my explanation of the alignments. There are numerous other places where I've tweaked the text.

I also remastered a good number of spells, though I gave them new names that hopefully indicate the heritage. For example, "acid splash" became "acid bubble." It's early days, but folks who have taken the time to go through my rules chapters have generally expressed appreciation for the layout, the annotations, and the clarifications.

M.T. B February 26, 2023 11:24 pm UTC

PUBLISHER

I'm also rather fond of the little character vignettes I attached to each class...

Ismael A February 23, 2023 6:06 am UTC

I imagine a POD option would be tricky, but any tips on printing this out?

M.T. B February 23, 2023 6:37 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Turning this into a POD would be expensive for me as I'd need to get the layout redone. If it sells well and gets well received, that is a possibility.

If you want to print the PDF, there are several services that turn PDFs into books. The main thing to realize is that this is a "digest-sized" book - the page size is 6" x 9"

Dani J February 23, 2023 4:54 am UTC

PURCHASER

Is this a compilation of all Iskandar books? If not, what other books do you recommend?

M.T. B February 23, 2023 6:34 am UTC

PUBLISHER

This is primarily a rulebook, player options, and an overview of lore. The other Iskandar books are underneath the banner that says "More best-selling titles from M.T. Black." They have blue covers. If you click on those, you will be able to see big previews.

Ismael A February 23, 2023 6:40 am UTC

Oh! The fact that it is a digest book is very helpful to know.

M.T. B February 23, 2023 8:59 am UTC

PUBLISHER

Yes - if you print it out at home, I recommend you print it in 2UP