Our Player's Handbook is quite literally falling apart. We've had it for about a year, but many pages simply aren't sticking to the binding. We take good care of it, we aren't throwing it around, we're just using it. Dozens of pages fall out at a time and it's not only frustrating to use, but disappointing to see.
I had heard that this was a common occurrence with the first printings for DnD 5e. Is that true? If so, what can I do about it as far as replacing or repairing it?
Yes, they had a problem with the glue they used for the first printing, is my understanding. Our first PHB was falling apart within weeks. We called WotC and they sent a Fedex call tag to pick it up, and replaced it for free, but it took 3 weeks, door to door. It wasn't the whole first printing that had problems. The replacement that we received was also content-wise the first printing (un-errata'd) but had an obviously more flexible glue used for the binding.
Our FLGS owner had originally been told that Wizards would only deal directly with customers, and not with him, regarding the defective books, which is why we went through Wizards directly. But when I told him that I'd read online that other gaming stores were able to replace the book for their customers, they called and asked again and were told that they could indeed replace defective books and would be compensated for them.
So, in the interest of not being without your book for 3 weeks, if you bought it locally, I'd suggest bringing it back. If they still copies in stock, you should be able to exchange it right in store.
My copy of the 1st printing of the 5th edition Player's Handbook certainly started falling apart after light use. Basically folio-like "chunks" of about 15 or 20 pages of the book separated cleanly from what looks like some kind of heat-set plastic binding glue. This happened to me twice in two different parts of my book, and the first time the separation only happened toward the top, but the "chunk" remained attached at the bottom. The second time, the "chunk" was almost entirely unattached, top to bottom.
Fortunately, if you are in a similar scenario it is not too difficult to repair your copy of the PHB, as the pages come out so monolithically en masse. To repair:
I did this repair months ago, and have been using my 1st printing of the 5th ed PHB pretty heavily since, and it is working very nicely. So nicely, in fact, that you cannot tell that there was ever a problem with the binding. Again: go very thin with this glue, as it will expand and foam if you go at all thick, and do not get it on anything but the old binding glue.
Caveat for the book binding nerds: Yes, I know Gorilla Glue is not a good book-binding glue in general, and when I perform a new bind I do not use it. But this is a very specific repair—some sections falling out, and not even entirely out—on specific materials. :)
Update 5-5-16: For those wondering about how this repair holds up under heavy use: the PHB has held up beautifully with the repair job I described in this answer to date.
Threads at wizards.com, ENWorld, and Giant in the Playground discuss this. The general takeaway seems to be that your store should be able to replace yours, and they then work with the distributor to rectify their accounts.
As for how common it is, I can't find anything definitive (like a statement from WotC saying "sorry, print run 37-C had a clogged nozzle, so we expect those two thousand to be poorly glued..."). Your guess is as good as mine.
Yes. It is not restricted to the PHB either, the whole initial release has binding problems.
My local library's copy of the MM had pages coming loose, a month or two after purchase.
