Player's Handbook 3

Been flipping through the new Player's Handbook 3 this morning and here are some first impressions;

We are getting very far away from the archetypal fantasy races of gnomes, elves, dwarves, etc.. Now you can play a wilden, which is a living plant or a shardmind, which is a crystalline creature fromed of fragments of something called the Living Gate. We're certainly not in Middle Earth any more, are we?

Oh joy. Psionics are back. Makes sense I reckon, since the announced release of the revised DArk Sun setting for GENCON this summer. There are your low grade psionics either, not with disciplines going up to level 29. Monks are back as well and it looks like D&D has stolen some ideas from the Runequest RPG with the creation of the Runepriest character class.

The Epic Destinies section recalls the Immortals set from the original Dungeons & Dragons game. Quoting from the Universe Mind epic destiny: " When your name is spoken, you notice, and if the need is great enough, you provide a crucial insight." Sounds to me as if you just became a god in the game.

Finally, seemingly almost banal after the new races and Epic Destinies, there're lists of new skill powers and feats, as well as more magic items, including a number targeted at teh relaunched monk class, becaeu, well, monks aren't tough enough on their own.