Overall I love it. BUT it's pretty broken.

As a DM, I love this book, but to use it I'm going to have to DM override a large amount of the book to keep it from breaking my campaign.

The ideas in the book and the layout are wonderful. BUT the mechanics are seriously broken as written.

Like most DM Guild content it's clearly never been tested.

For example, as written, every wizard in your world would now have a Buckler. The one thing that prevents wizards from using shields it that they do not have proficiency with shields. The buckler by-passes that and grants everyone proficiency. So there is no reason why a wizard would not have a buckley for the +1 AC when there's no negative drawback preventing it.

So yes this book "world breaking"? Yes - very much so if taken as written.

So I repeat: As a DM, I love this book, but to use it I'm going to have to DM override a large amount of the book to keep it from breaking my campaign.

UPDATE: MT Black released an errata for this book and is actively fixing a lot of the issues I had with it (starting with the Buckler). So that was my major issue with the book. Changing to 5 stars. :)

Xanathar's Broken Thought Bubbles

REVIEW UPDATED / REWRITTEN APRIL 2020.

This is an attractive, creative book from talented creators. It's a shame, then, that the actual rules it presents are ruinously broken.

==

Let's start with the good:

• There's more than 100 pages of content here, very little of it "filler".
• There's magical items, there's foreign and exotic non-magical weaponry, there's new mounts, new rules for piecework armour, and more.
• It's all laid out with the professional, attractive graphic design found throughout the author's more recent DM's Guild releases.
• It's overflowing with gorgeous original artwork.
• The writing is clear, well-proofed, and easy to read.
• And possibly most importantly, there's a LOT of creativity that's gone into this book. It's bursting with ideas.

For some players of 5E, this is all I need to say. I know a lot of groups handwave the rules. They're here for the ideas and the roleplaying, and the deep tactical battles that 5E offers aren't a feature that attracts them. For this group of players, I can be very clear - you will probably love this book. Go for it.

==

For everyone else - let's talk about the bad:

This is a broken pile of nonsense that has clearly not benefited from playtesting, editing, or reference to the design principles underpinning 5E.

It will break your game. You will not have fun with these items because you'll be too busy adjudicating rules disputes about them and having them trivialise your encounters.

You'll find armour that will take your AC well outside the principle of Bounded Accuracy and ensure nothing in the Monster Manual will ever lay a finger on you again. You'll find +3 non-magical shields. You'll find non-magical Thrown weapons that do 1d8 damage or more. You'll find mounts with climb speed, poison immunity and/or multi-attack. You'll find armor that turns all single-target heals into multi-target heals. You'll find armor that boosts the AC of allies and isn't subject to stacking limitations.

I could go on but there's so much in here like this - items that aren't so much creative within the bounds of 5E so much as ignoring the design decisions that make it work. Very little of this stuff should be allowed anywhere near a table, and certainly not at the suggested levels of rarity in the book.

I simply can't recommend this book to anyone for whom the quality of the ruleset is one of the things they enjoy about 5E.

==

DEVELOPMENTS: In late March / April 2020, creator MT Black very kindly responded to my review, and did so in terms far more generous than I might have used if someone had given my work such scathing criticism. As a result of that communication, they have made a downloadable errata available at the book's product page. (Not one of the files in the purchasable package, but rather linked to in the product description.)

However, as at this writing (1 April 2020), the errata are very brief and do not substantially address any of my concerns with the book's contents. I thank MT Black for the additional material but it does not alter my view of the product.

I will, however, strongly recommend MT Black's other work and suggest you not let this book dissuade you from exploring it. I'd particularly like to single out their adventure "Beneath the Ruins of Firestone Keep" as a particularly great example of a traditional 1st level dungeon crawl delivered with excellence, and one that I enjoyed immensely when my partner ran it for me. Go check it out!

A lot of thought and energy went into this supplement. I really enjoyed the new weapon/armor options, particularly the shields. And the various magic items are really interesting. A warning, the first part is probably only for groups/DMs looking to add a little more complexity to combat. However, the magic items section is a great spark of ideas for interesting items that might add flavor and abilities without over-powering too much.

Great offer with the pdf/printed version combo. WHile I wait for the printed version I've had a read through my pdf copy and really like the inclusion of the variant weaponry and armour materials. Many of them are familiar from older editions and its great to see them given the 5e update. While its a shame I can't inlcude them in my Adventurers League games I'm totally going to be adding them into my home games.

Many of the items while not being over powerful have flavourful abilities and bonuses which I find much more useful and entertaining. The few that immediately spring to mind are the Swashbuckler's Leathers (as I play a swashbuckler), the Arcane Thieves Tools (which I can already imagine being really useful for Arcane Tricksters), and the Wand of Incontinence (just because I think its hilarious to make your opponent wet himself).

The general content of this book is pretty good. Nothing fantastic in the regular gear and the magical stuff but its pretty good. Where this book shines is the notes from Xanathar. They do an excellent job of keeping it going from the Guide to Everything. Even working in a perfect Hitchhiker's Guide reference. Which, as soon as I read it, made me write this review. There is nothing bad or broken in my opinion, in the way of gear. This is a good addition to every collection.

Personally quite disappointed after reading all of the reviews on here, though there are some highlights that I found really fun... After a good read of the 100 pages (massive product) here are my problems:

• A large portion of the equipment are various exotic / historic weapons. Whilst some may find this useful, this kind of thing is rudimentary mechanics that can be thought of in seconds, or even bypassed entirely by reflavouring an existing weapon block. Some of them are purely aesthetic changes to existing weapons, and when you're paying $10 for a PDF you do not expect it to be filled out with pure guff.
• Some of the magical items are extremely derivative of their original use. EG; Axe that makes you run, shield that helps you heal, and they should be accompanied by a brief history of the item (like the axe 'Hew' from the starter set) to really bring them to life. Saying this, some of the items have lavish and beautiful descriptions with interesting anchors for plot hooks, so perhaps I'm being a bit nitpicky! Some points I loved:
• The 'special loot' stuff was great, as were the consumables and the 'extras' toward the end of the pack. I even got inspired to implement a new magical-item crafting rule from one of them!
• Beautiful design, well crafted. Keeps with the Xanathar theme splendidly.

This is awesome. Definitely worth the money. An update to some visuals and it's at Wizard's standards in my opinion. Good stuff.

True to label, an extraordinary and rich volume indeed. It captures well the humor and the horror of Xanathar and everything we have come to know and love about his world. I'd recommend this book to DMs, especially if they plan to run campaigns and quests and heists centered on Xanathar and his treasures. Players be warned, I'd venture to say getting your hands on this loot may cost you more than you're willing or able to pay...

The book's presentation is marvellous with top grade formatting and layout. The artwork is beautiful, vivid and brings the content to life. I'd welcome more art but recognise not every item can be portrayed in a work of this nature (but how wonderful would be to see Xanathar's Deeper Vaults: A Visual Guide!).

A great resource for fun and intriguing magic items. One of the great voids in WotC releases thus far has been a fairly scanty assortment of magic items of all power levels, which has been more than filled from Xanathar's Vault. Very helpful for the DM looking to spice up treasure hoards!