Player's Handbook

The Player's Handbook (spelled Players Handbook in first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D), abbreviated as PHB) is the name given to one of the core rulebooks in every edition of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). It does not contain the complete set of rules for the game, and only includes rules for use by players of the game. Additional rules, for use by Dungeon Masters (DMs), who referee the game, can be found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. Many optional rules, such as those governing extremely high-level players, and some of the more obscure spells, are found in other sources.

Since the first edition, the Player's Handbook has contained tables and rules for creating characters, lists of the abilities of the different character classes, the properties and costs of equipment, descriptions of spells that magic-using character classes (such as wizards or clerics) can cast, and numerous other rules governing gameplay. Both the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Player's Handbook give advice, tips, and suggestions for various styles of play. For most editions of D&D, The Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual make up the core rulebooks.

The first Players Handbook was released in June 1978 as a 128-page hardcover. It was written by Gary Gygax and edited by Mike Carr, who also wrote the foreword. The original cover art was by D.A. Trampier, who also provided interior illustrations along with David C. Sutherland III. Numerous foreign editions of the Players Handbook were published, including versions for the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Germany. Games Workshop (U.K.) published a softcover version also in 1978. In 1983, TSR changed the cover art of the Players Handbook, although the interior contents remained the same. This printing featured cover art by Jeff Easley. Printings with this cover also bear an orange spine that fits in with other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books. Dealers continued to place orders for the 1st edition Players Handbook even after 2nd edition was released, causing the final printing to be in July 1990, a year after the release of 2nd edition.

Shannon Appelcline highlighted that Dungeons & Dragons "is one of the few roleplaying games to maintain a split between core books for players and game masters throughout most of its history" and this split started with the release of the Players Handbook (1978), followed by the release of the Dungeon Masters Guide (1979). The AD&D core game rules were divided between these books, and the open-ended nature of the new rules mandated that for game campaigns to be run successfully they would now need a referee or Dungeon Master. The Players Handbook contained the information that players needed for playing the standard character classes: cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, paladin, magic-user, illusionist, thief, assassin, and monk. The book also included information on non-human races, such as dwarves, elves, and halflings, as well as character abilities, equipment such as armor and weapons, descriptions of spells, and optional rules to add psionics to the game. Appelcline noted that TSR mostly published books aimed at Dungeon Masters after the release of the core rulebooks until "the release of Unearthed Arcana (1985), which could easily have been called 'Player's Handbook 2', and Oriental Adventures (1985), an 'alternate players handbook' for the east".

In 1999, a paperback reprint of the first edition was released. In 2012, Wizards of the Coast released a new printing of the original book, billed as the "1st Edition Premium Player's Handbook", as part of a set of limited-edition reprints of the original 1st Edition core rulebooks: the Monster Manual, Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide. These premium versions of the original AD&D rulebooks were reprinted with the original art and content, but feature a new cover design. Purchase of the reprinted Player's Handbook helped support the Gygax Memorial Fund—established to immortalize Gary Gygax with a memorial statue in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

The original Players Handbook was reviewed by Don Turnbull in issue No. 10 of White Dwarf, who gave the book a rating of 10 out of 10. Turnbull noted, "I don't think I have ever seen a product sell so quickly as did the Handbook when it first appeared on the Games Workshop stand at Dragonmeet", a British role-playing game convention; after the convention, he studied the book and concluded that "whereas the original rules are ambiguous and muddled, the Handbook is a detailed and coherent game-system, and very sophisticated." Turnbull felt a bit of apprehension at the amount of time it would require to digest all the new material, but concluded by saying "I said of the Monster Manual that it was TSR's most impressive publication to date; that is no longer true—this accolade must belong to the Handbook which is nothing short of a triumph."

Scott Taylor for Black Gate in 2014 listed the 1st edition AD&D Player's Handbook cover by artist David Trampier as #1 in "The Top 10 TSR Cover Paintings of All Time". Then in 2016, Taylor listed the Player's Handbook as #5 on the list of "Top 10 'Orange Spine' AD&D Hardcovers By Jeff Easley, saying "you aren't going to top Trampier's version, but nonetheless, for many players who didn't start D&D in the 1980s, THIS is their Players Handbook, and many of us have imagined this fantastic fight as we sat around a gaming table."

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Player's Handbook was a 256-page hardcover book written by David "Zeb" Cook and released in 1989. The original cover art is by Jeff Easley, and the book featured eight full-page illustrations in color. Gary Gygax originally started development of the next edition of AD&D and planned on incorporating rules revisions from the Unearthed Arcana (1985) and Oriental Adventures (1985) in a new Player's Handbook. However, Gygax was forced out of TSR by the end of 1985 "and his plans for second edition were abandoned". In 1986, Editor Steve Winter convinced management at TSR that the game needed more than a "reorganization" and instead that the game "should be redeveloped"; Winter and Cook then spent several years developing AD&D 2nd Edition. In August 1987, Director of Games Development Michael Dobson outlined that "the two core books were to be done by December 1987, then turned over to the RPGA for playtesting in early 1988, then returned to TSR for redevelopment in late 1988" aiming to release in "March or April 1989". Shannon Appelcline highlighted that "Dobson's scheduling was quite accurate, as the 2e Player's Handbook (1989) appeared in February 1989, then the 2e Dungeon Master's Guide (1989) in May".