A couple of weeks ago I talked about my frustration with the index in the 4e D&D Player’s Handbook, and vowed to make something better. So, I went out and did it.
Download the new and improved 4e PHB index here! (v2 — Updated 8/11/08)
Updates 8/11/08:
Added “attacking objects,” “unarmed strike,” Channel Divinity feat powers, and updated bookmarks.
By fan request, here are the indexes as separate file downloads: General index | Powers by Name index
Design Notes
Rule #1: Be Thorough. And so I was, sometimes to the point of redundancy. For example, you can find cleric under “cleric” or “classes>cleric.” I tried to think of how people would be looking for terms, and then covered those possibilities. I don’t think any entry appears more than twice, and most aren’t doubled up, but where I felt it necessary I did it. I don’t think things got too cluttered by it.
Rule #2: Break Things Out: The published index has some items out of alphabetical order simply because they appear in a sidebar with a long name. “Pull, push, and slide” is a perfect example. If I need to know what “slide” means, I’m going to the index (since there’s no glossary available), but I’m not going to find it in there because I didn’t look under “pull?” WotC, please. The index could save a lot of space if there was a glossary, but there’s not so I decided this index should pull double duty. Need to know what effects “blinded” has on your character? This index tells you where to look.
Rule #3: Shed the Alphabetical: The index spreadsheet I made was incredibly granular, down to three different ways to index Powers. I think it had something like a dozen worksheets. In the end, though, I ditched almost all of the sub-indexes since the information was found in alphabetical order in the main text. If you need to find Raise Dead, it’s as easy as finding Rituals and then paging forward. Same went for skills, feats, and magic items.
Rule #4: Don’t Presume: It would have been easy for me to make this index into something geared completely toward me and my way of thinking, but I really tried not to do that. Entries that seemed obvious or unnecessary to me might be the opposite to someone else. For example, the entries for the “planes” like Far Realm and Feywild. While there’s really very little info on them in here, someone might want to know someday, so they stayed in.
Rule #5: Legacy Entries: This might be the most controversial, and in the end I didn’t do too much of this, but I decided that since some things had changed between editions that people might want to look for them in the index. For example, I included “shields” as a subset of magic items, even though they’re now covered by “arms slot items.” Someone new to 4e might not remember that, though, and so I thought I’d be helpful. Powers like eldritch blast and turn undead get called out in the index for the very same reason.
Well, there you have it. Feel free to suggest alterations, additions, and subtractions, or even whole new sub-indexes in the comments, or by emailing me.
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5:05 am on August 9th, 2008 1
Now THAT is what the index should have been in the first place! Utterly brilliant work. Can’t fault it. That’s going straight into the back of my PHB, where it belongs.
A thousand times, thank you.
7:10 am on August 9th, 2008 2
Sheer Brilliance. I’m stumbling this right freaking now!
Thanks man!
8:27 am on August 9th, 2008 3
You should add an entry for unarmed strike, but in 4e it is an improvised weapon. (Useful as a legacy entry)
9:50 am on August 9th, 2008 4
[...] de procurar coisas mais específicas. Para consertar isso o cara animado do The Gamer Dome fez uma versão bem expandida do index, com nada menos que sete páginas, com divisões para as tabelas e uma parte só com os poderes! [...]
10:00 am on August 9th, 2008 5
Yes! thank you! I’ve forwarded this to all my players, and I too am stumbling / digg’ing this right now.
11:04 am on August 9th, 2008 6
@Wanderer: Great suggestion, I’m adding “unarmed strike” in there for the inevitable v2.
11:49 am on August 9th, 2008 7
@greywulf: Glad to hear it. I hope to see lots of appended PHBs at Gencon next week.
@ChattyDM: Thanks Chatty! Think some printed indexes would make good crowd handouts at Stupid Ranger’s Sunday morning game?
@Jonathan: I appreciate it. I’ve really been enjoying your blog since I discovered it through the RPG Bloggers Network!
2:09 pm on August 9th, 2008 8
Great work! This is what the index should have been in the first place. Going to be pointing some people here myself.
2:18 pm on August 9th, 2008 9
@Ninetail - I appreciate the links!
4:46 pm on August 9th, 2008 10
That’s a great idea… how about I print some for my GM-Fu seminar?
4:47 pm on August 9th, 2008 11
Thank you! My biggest criticism of WoTC materials is the sometimes-logic defying organization of the info. (The 3.0 PHB was particularly bad, IMO. 3.5’s primary worth was in improving the organization of the info.)
Your effort is very much appreciated here!
4:53 pm on August 9th, 2008 12
@Chatty: That would be rad!
@Anarkeith: Thanks bud! The index was the first thing I saw that peeved me, and paired with the lack of a glossary I found that it made the book a disappointment from an informational standpoint. So, I decided to do something about it…looks like I wasn’t alone!
5:34 pm on August 9th, 2008 13
Someone needs to do a new index for the Monster Manual like this! Pleease.
5:53 pm on August 9th, 2008 14
@Urza: That’s an interesting idea, Urza. What would you put in a Monster Manual index?
They at least included a glossary in the MM, as well as a Monsters by Level chart. They have that darn unfortunate thing of, for example, putting Bugbear under “goblin,” but the DDI Encounter Generator can sort monsters by name, subtype, and all sorts of other things, so I think that’s a better tool for sorting monsters.
What kind of MM index would be useful to you?
10:04 am on August 10th, 2008 15
Great job! Plz add “objects” and/or “attacking objects”, as I would never think to look up “break or burst DCs” when the players need to bust up doors, chests, etc.
10:49 am on August 10th, 2008 16
@Entropy: Done! Good suggestion!
10:21 pm on August 10th, 2008 17
[...] Download it now from thegamerdome.com [...]
11:24 pm on August 10th, 2008 18
Great work, really useful! I did note one minor omission: the powers index doesn’t include the Channel Divinity powers granted by feats, which are particularly hard to find since they’re not with all the others.
Thanks very much for your effort; it’s much appreciated.
11:35 pm on August 10th, 2008 19
@Ben: Dangit, I specifically told myself not to leave those out…then I did! I’ll put those in and update the file!
10:47 am on August 11th, 2008 20
[...] over at The Gamer Dome has kindly used his time on our behalf and given us a real index. I highly recommend you go grab a copy and print it out and stuff it in the back of your PHB. [...]
2:20 pm on August 11th, 2008 21
Damn nice job on this, Propagandroid!
You clearly put a lot of thought into it, and it shows. Really nice work.
2:59 pm on August 11th, 2008 22
@Martin: Thanks a bunch! It definitely took up a lot of my Gencon prep week, and stalled out some of my other posts, but I think in the end it was worth it!
1:42 pm on August 12th, 2008 23
This is great. If your still doing work and so inspired, I, for one, would love to see a combined index that included the DMG and the introductory, appendix portions (character races, glossary, etc.) of the MM (not a listing of each monster itself that’s indexed well enough — though maybe references to the PC races as monsters could be added to the appropriate index point for humans, elves, eladrins, etc.), as well as a full fledged glossary.
1:44 pm on August 12th, 2008 24
Here’s another version out there too: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/4e_Glossary_(4e_Other)
8:58 am on August 13th, 2008 25
[...] with that I leave you with the note that I have put Version 2 of my PHB index up on the site, so if you downloaded the first version and want the updates, go ahead and download [...]
10:25 pm on August 14th, 2008 26
[...] Download the New 4e D&D PHB Index! - This is fan made. [...]
3:33 am on August 15th, 2008 27
[...] The Gamer Dome: Wish the 4e PHB had a longer, more detailed index? Wish no more — Propagandroid has you covered. He did a damned nice job on it, [...]
6:48 pm on August 26th, 2008 28
[...] impoved PHB index does much to improve the usefulness of the book. [...]
5:04 pm on September 23rd, 2008 29
[...] The Gamer Dome - A FULL index for the 4e PHB (better than the one included!) [...]
3:05 pm on September 25th, 2008 30
Wow. Awesome job! Thanks!
10:48 am on September 29th, 2008 31
THANK YOU! I was just complaining about how craptastic the new index is. For the most part I am really happy with how the book is laid out and it’s contents, but the index was one of the books weakest points… This is exactly what I needed
2:14 am on October 11th, 2008 32
Thank you, thank you, Thank you
12:37 pm on December 1st, 2008 33
[...] Download the new & improved 4e PHB index! [...]
8:14 pm on December 24th, 2008 34
Congratulations on such an excellent index… and shame on WotC for such a poor one!
10:22 pm on December 26th, 2008 35
Thanks a bunch Niotna!
7:49 am on May 7th, 2009 36
[...] The Gamer Dome - A FULL index for the 4e PHB (better than the one included!) [...]