''Player's Handbook 2'' is a supplement to the 4th edition of the ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

The ''Player's Handbook 2'' includes eight classes: the avenger,

barbarian A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...

, bard, druid, invoker,

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

, sorcerer, and warden, and five races: the deva,

gnome A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...

, goliath, half-orc, and shifter.

Publication history

The 4th edition ''Player's Handbook 2'', subtitled ''Arcane, Divine and Primal Heroes'', was released on March 17, 2009. The book was designed by

Jeremy Crawford Jeremy Crawford is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is most widely known for being the Lead Rules Designer for Wizards of the Coast. Career Jeremy Crawford co-designed and edited the ''Blue Rose'' role-playin ...

Mike Mearls Michael Mearls is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. He was the senior manager for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' research and design team. He co-led design for the 5th edition of the game. He also worked ...

, and

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

, and featured cover art by Daniel Scott and interior art by

Steve Argyle Steve Argyle is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games, mainly ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Career Steve Argyle's ''Dungeons & Dragons'' work includes books such as ''Complete Champion'' (2007), the 4th edition ''Dungeon Master's G ...

Eric Belisle The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

, Michael Bierek, Devon Caddy-Lee,

Mitch Cotie Mitch is a short form of the masculine given name Mitchell (given name), Mitchell. It is also sometimes a nickname, usually for a person with the surname Mitchell (surname), Mitchell. It may refer to: People * Mitch Altman (born 1956), hacker a ...

Thomas Denmark Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Eric Deschamps Eric Deschamps is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Career His ''Dungeons & Dragons'' work includes interior art for '' Sharn: City of Towers'' (2004), '' Explorer's Handbook'' (2005), '' Dragon Magic'' (2006), '' Complete ...

Brian Despain Brian Despain is an artist whose work has appeared in galleries, in video games, on book covers and in role-playing games. Career Despain has worked as a graphic designer, 3D modeler, photo retoucher, and illustrator. He worked for ten years in ...

Vincent Dutrait Vincent Dutrait (born 1976) is a French illustrator. He studied at the École Émile Cohl from 1994 to 1997, where he later taught between 1999 and 2003. Born in 1976 in Provence, he now lives with his wife in the north of Seoul, South Korea. ...

, Steve Ellis,

Wayne England Wayne England (d. 9 February 2016) was an English artist whose work regularly appeared in role-playing games, wargaming rulebooks and magazines and was used on cards for collectible card games such as ''Magic: The Gathering''. He died on 9 Feb ...

Howard Lyon Howard Lyon is an American fantasy artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games and ''Magic: the Gathering''. Early life and education Howard Lyon was born in Mesa, Arizona and studied illustration at Brigham Young University (BYU) worki ...

, Mike May,

Raven Mimura Raven Mimura is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Early life and education Raven received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design. He spent a year teaching art and building his portfolio ...

, William O'Connor, Hector Ortiz,

Wayne Reynolds Wayne Reynolds is a British artist whose work has appeared in comics and role-playing games. Early life and education Wayne Reynolds was born in Leeds, UK. He attended art college in Dewsbury and Middlesbrough. Games Wayne Reynolds has continue ...

Chris Seaman Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...

John Stanko John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Matias Tapia Matias is a form of the given name Matthew. In German-speaking Europe it is most often written as Matthias. It appears in this form in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Alternate spellings are: Mathias, Mattias, Mattis, Mats and Matti. Matias ...

Franz Vohwinkel Franz Vohwinkel (born 1964 in Munich, West Germany) is a German artist and illustrator whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Works Vohwinkel drew the cover art for the book ''Dataware'' (1998) for TSR's ''Alternity'' game, and illustra ...

Eva Widermann Eva Widermann (born June 6, 1978) is an illustrator and concept artist whose work appears in role-playing games. Education She went to the Scholastic of Graphic & Design, Munich. Career Widermann started her graphic design career in 1998 and wor ...

, and

James Zhang James Zhang is an artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. Career Zhang has done interior illustrations on a number of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' books for Wizards of the Coast, including '' Sharn: City of Towers'' (2004), the ''Eberron ...

. Shannon Appelcline commented that with Fourth Edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'', Wizards planned to publish just three books for each setting, beginning with the poorly-received ''

Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide'' is a supplement to the 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Contents The ''Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide'' includes everything a Dungeon Master needs to run a 4th edition ''D&D'' ...

'', ''

Forgotten Realms Player's Guide The ''Forgotten Realms Player's Guide'' is a supplement to the 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Contents The ''Forgotten Realms Player's Guide'' presents the changed Forgotten Realms setting from the point of view of ...

'' and ''

Scepter Tower of Spellgard ''Scepter Tower of Spellgard'' is an adventure module for the 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game. Plot summary In ''Scepter Tower of Spellgard'', a mysterious presence has taken up residence in one of the towers ...

'' in 2008, and "The next year saw the clockwork production of ''

Dungeon Master's Guide 2 ''Dungeon Master's Guide 2'' is a supplement to the 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Contents ''Dungeon Master's Guide 2'' gives expansions for the Dungeon Master to add to a campaign. The ''Dungeon Master's Guide 2 ...

'' (2009), ''

Monster Manual 2 ''Monster Manual 2'' is a supplement to the 4th edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game. Contents ''Monster Manual 2'' presents hundreds of monsters for ''D&D'' campaigns. Monsters such as centaurs and frost giants make their fir ...

'' (2009) and ''Player's Handbook 2'' (2009), as well as the reappearance of Eberron through the typical two books and an adventure – the latter released as part of Free RPG Day. These setting books were much better accepted, perhaps because the 4e nay-sayers had now moved on to other games."

Reception

The book reached No. 28 on ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''s bestseller list the week of March 26, 2009 and No. 14 on the ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''s non-fiction bestseller list a week later.

References

{{D&D topics Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2009