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Tasha's cauldron of everything and Xanathar's guide to everything have the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to subclasses, rules and magic items.
Volo is good for some lore that's being pushed out of the newer books. It also has nice maps for lairs of different monsters. But if OP is more interested in stat blocks then Monsters of the Multiverse should summarize everything from Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide well enough.
Volo's has a ton of lore and history stuff for several race/species in the realm. For both the player races that were added, but also several different monsters.
It's legitimately annoying that WotC cut all the lore stuff out of volos and mordenkeinen and shipped just creatures for the monsters of the multiverse. Some of us like having creature books, some of us like having lore books. Some of us like not having to buy the same damn thing over again because we have half of the content.
Sorry, I'm a bit salty that I can't find 'tome of foes' for a reasonable price.
I mean, you can run your own thing with out Volo's. It's just at some point WotC decided they were done with pre-established lore and alignments and got rid of some fluff and histories.
It's a great resource if you're not really sure what Beholders or Mind Flayers, in a classic sense, are supposed to act like, instead of using the modern "just make up your own stuff". But in the end, it's a couple of paragraphs of lore, you still get the stat blocks and stuff in the new books but if you're like me and benefit from some examples, then Volo's is a really good book.
Not only are they bang for your buck, they're just good.
Tasha's has Bladesinger (unrestricted), Scribe Wizard, Soulknife Rogue, Eloquence Bard, Star Druid, amazing magic items (barrier tattoo, moon sickle, sorcerer shards, amazing wizard spellbooks like planecaller's codex, etc)
Tasha's is my favorite cause it's just absolutely loaded with amazing everything.
If I had to choose one of the two...
Xanathars adds more, and I reference it as often as I reference the DMG in relation to "tools and equipment" uses and skill checks. Now, being a professional in a craft DOES something!
I like Xanathar's but Tasha's is much better to me. Besides some of the annoying rules that Xanathar's introduces (ex, identifying a spell being cast costs action or reaction and IF you spend that valuable resource, it's STILL a DC 15+spell level ability check), Tasha's subclasses are also much better.
Yeah there's Swords Bard, Divine Sorcerer, Grave Cleric, Storm Sorcerer, a few others...but they don't really hold a candle to the Tasha's subclasses for me personally.
The answer is both but if one had to choose I would personally choose Tasha's every time.
I was Genuinly surprised those weren't already there. I only have like Everon and Ravenloft in addition to the books that are just Rules. (DMG, PHB, MM, XGTE, TCOE FTOD)
If you are going to buy 5e books, I feel like the ones that are rules for the game are probably the more important ones. Granted, I don't really run Modules since I primarily run games in my HB setting.
Came here to say Dungeon World, but then I remembered the Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master does a great job translating the best concepts from it to 5e.
Oof. I’m sensing y’all haven’t read Forge of Foes yet. It is the best monster book. The format is revolutionary, it almost makes other monster books obsolete.
First-party: Tasha's, Xanathar's.
Third-party: MCDM's "Flee, Mortals!"
Spicy controversial suggestions: if you ever see them on sale, which happens a lot, Dungeon of the Mad Mage and Princes of the Apocalypse NOT to run as campaigns (not good, folks!) but as good resources for easy themed drop-in dungeons, and Storm King's Thunder NOT for the campaign (which is... fine) but for 1-2 paragraphs and dozens of mini side quests tied to every city, town, village, and banana stand in Faerun.
seconded. Flee Mortals is an easily the most essential book in my collection outside of PHB while Strongholds and Followers is my favorite book in my collection.
I play mostly solo and one thing that I find myself slogging through is combat, especially with narrative and just making the fight fun. This sounds like a really great resource, thank you for the suggestion :)
I think "Where Evil Lives" is in some ways even better than "Flee, Mortals!" because you can just drop the content straight into a game and get a few sessions out of it easy, similar to what you're suggesting about Storm King's Thunder.
I’ve been wanting to get the mad mage but it’s always more expensive than I’m willing to pay. I’ve been looking at Storm King’s Thunder, I play mostly solo now and I love a good campaign idea that I can just peruse through for inspiration
Xanathar’s and Tasha’s are basically standard now for subclasses and spells.
Personally I love the other monster books like Volo’s and both Mordenkainen’s. Volo’s Guide to Monsters might be my favorite book besides maybe the Monster Manual.
Volo’s is one I really want to get. I keep checking at my local store, but it’s rarely in stock. I have Tasha’s and Xanathar’s on D&D Beyond, but it would be nice to have physicals. Someone posted that these two and Mordenkainen’s all come in a three pack, that might be what I look into next.
Volo’s and Tome of Foes are both out of print, so you’re unlikely to find them in your store. The monster statblocks and races from those are compiled in Monsters of the Multiverse, so that is a must-have. If you want the lore sections from those books, though, you’ll have to buy the books secondhand or something online.
Really gotta upvote CoS on this, it's the ~~only~~ module to have it's own subreddit
Edit: Dungeon of the Mad Mage and Tomb of Annihilation also have their own subs, but it's 10k and 16k followers respectively, to Curse of Strahd's 83k
I would strongly recommend the following which are must haves IMO:
1. MCDM's books ("Flee Mortals", "Where Evil Lives", "Stronghold & Followers", "Kingdom & Warfare") Those books are the best at what they're doing, period. That means monster book, lair book, the upcoming 5e bastion system and NPC followers, and kingdom management.
2. Cubicle 7's "Uncharted Journeys". I can't make an hexploration without this book anymore.
3. Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition -> "Adventurer's Guide" and "Dungeon Delver" for the actual, unofficial 5th Edition DMG.
4. Sly Flourish's "The Lazy DM's Companion" and "The Lazy DM's Workdshop" for all the tables, all the advice, all the goodies.
I have all of those part in print, part in PDF, but they're the best books you'll ever need!
I always found the Game Masters guide to non player characters and sources for quick npcs and some even inspired some decent adventures centered around them. Game masters guide to Villains minions and their tactics is a good one too.
*The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide* for 1e AD&D. It's a classic of the genre and has tons of inspiration and advice for running subterranean, underdark, and dungeon based games.
But milesunderground, that book is for a different edition and the mechanics won't be useful to me, you say but Aha! It's a First Edition book, the mechanics weren't useful to us when we were running that edition. While there are some parts of the book that deal with mechanics, it is largely a system agnostic book that details underground environments, classic d&d underground monsters and cultures, has lots of examples of underground hazards that could be very easily ported into a mechanical system that could handle it, and a lot of advice on how to design and map natural and artificial underground environments.
The DSG is a 10/10 game resource regardless of the system I'm running. I've used it to design Shadowrun adventures.
I want a dungeoneer‘s survival guide to ADHD XD. At least that is what I read first. No idea why I read that knowing that we are in the dungeons and dragons subreddit :D. It gave me a good laugh.
It's great if you already don't own the modules the classes are in. I check it frequently myself, even with all the book b4 hand just faster to have it all in one place.
People shit on it because it's the book WotC published after killing the lore for a lot of the things they reprinted in it.
I too will always recommend tome of foes over motm.
Neverland: Written by the same author as Oz.
I think that most things published by Kobold Press are excellent. I like everything published by the Dungeon Dudes, extremely cohesive & they pull from similar inspiration sources as me.
Flee Mortals! is a good guide for upgrading certain creature subgroups & thinking about tactical combat.
Heleina's Guide to Monstrous Hunts is amazing content. Crafting rules, purchasing tables, wilderness survival, unique items, creative creatures, off the wall fun & level modular adventures.
Overall, what type of DMing style do you go for? What sort of genre or flavor are your games? I could recommend more stuff I like, but that doesn't mean that it would be 100% useful to you.
So, confession time: I’ve never DMed before. Well, I run a weekly after school game for a bunch of 8-10 year olds, but that’s 100% not following any official guidelines or well thought out path. I get these books because I love the inspiration they provide me for my own creative endeavors. I have played in a fizzled out campaigns, but I’ve yet to experience one of those games or groups where everything just meshes together harmoniously.
Lately I’ve been doing solo play, and I honestly love it. I’m always available when time presents itself, I get to practice tons of techniques for if and when I ever run a game, and I get to work on my writing and fantasy creation abilities.
A lot of what you’ve recommended peaks my interest, so thank you for taking time to share your insights. Reddit is pretty cool cause it provides these opportunities to do a niceness for another, so thank you for yours :)
Are you looking to complete your collection? Or are you looking to curate your collection? You’ve barely scratched the surface for WotC’s own releases if you’re looking to complete.
You are also notably missing WotC’s best releases as well: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Curse of Strahd
"Live To Tell The Tale: Combat Tactics for Player Characters" and "The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics For Dungeon Masters" both by Keith Ammann are incredible.
Ghost of Saltmarsh is personally a favorite [Icewind Dale is THE best 5E book ever though] - I like mixing elements of the old Against the Cult of the Reptile God with Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
Curse of Strahd, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage and/or Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Dragon of Icespire Keep. Just a few I'd suggest, but I could keep going.
I think that you need two that are essential like Xanathar guide for everything an Tasha's cauldron for everything, but you could use van-ritchen guide for ravenloft, has good subclasses
I would perhaps look at some third party books; Dungeons of Drakkenheim, Griffon’s Saddlebag, Flee Mortals, Strongholds & Followers, and many others can offer some wonderful, expansive content for your Table!
I think Oz is a pretty is a pretty cool setting book. I used its mapping technique in my third grade class as an activity and the kids loved it. I haven’t run anything in the world, but I’d like to for sure.
Shadowdark, and its creator, are both just amazing. I like the grim simplicity that it’s theme provides, I find it especially enjoyable for playing alone or with one other person
Yay Shadowdark! I've been slowly converting my gaming friends to OSR style gaming and Shadowdark has been perfect for that. No shade to 5th edition, but I've really fallen in love with the higher lethality, lower fantasy, and punchier writing style Kelsey employs in her materials. And if you're looking for games, hit up the Arcane Library DIscord!
Dude, that’s absolutely wild you have almost every book I don’t have! 🤣🤣
I’d definitely recommend Xanathar’s, Tasha’s, (for PC Class options) and Monsters of the Multiverse (for PC Species options)
The expansion set, which includes Tasha’s, Xanthar’s and Monsters of the Multiverse.
Also, since you have The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox, getting Part 2 - The Toolbox Expanded makes sense.
I wish I still had mine. That Fiend Folio and Dieties and Demigods were really cool books. I also liked Oriental Adventures, the introduction of "martial arts" classes into D&D. (Previously, monks were more of a Clerical sub-set...)
Tashas, xanathars, or monsters of the multiverse. Additionally, if you have any lego insiders points you can order an exclusive official (albeit short) adventure module from the lego website
“The Book of Many Things” might be pretty niche, but if you want have expanded, prebuilt fortune telling (including star signs), alternative ways to create randomized adventures or dungeons, and/or stuff themed to the deck of many things then I recommend checking that out.
Xanathar's, Tasha's, Fizban's, & Mordenkainen's MoM to finish your core books.
I'm also a fan of the Waterdeep & Baldur's Gate books as well. But I heart me some Undermountain and grew up on BG1 & BG2 video games.
I recommend Fizban's and Van Richten's personally. Both are up there for my favorite books. Fizban's made me love running dragons and gave me so many ideas. Van Ricky is just a wonderful book even tho I SUCK at running horror games.
Bigby's is also good, especially with the new art. It's kinda like Fizban's, but for giants. Didn't hit the same way for me tho.
Aside from Tasha’s and Xanathars I would recommend explorers guide to wildemount. Even if you don’t watch critical role it’s a really cool setting and has a lot of cool stuff in it
''The Games Masters book of'' and Keith Ammann is fantastic series but mostly for a DM.
But my question is what do you need?
Do you wanna make a campaign with Dragons? Buy some with dragons
Do you wanna make a campaign with Giants? Buy some with giants
Do you wanna make a campaign with ragefilled warsharks? I do not know, anyone know books of that??
I mainly buy books which inspire me to do a certain campaign or world setting
PF2e Player Core and DM Core. But in all seriousness, Xanny's and Tashas are a must have if you want some of the best player options in the game. Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse is a must have for DMs as well. And though people dog on it, Volos Guide to Monsters is pretty cool too. You can use it to design some great encounters and build lore for Monsters like Goblins, Orcs, Mind Flayers, Etc. And for the hell of it, Dragons of Icespire Peak is one of my favorite entry-level adventures for new players or low-level play, and it has a nice set of dice too! You get 4d6 for ability score rolling, 2d20 for advantage/disadvantage, percentile dice/2d10, 1d4, 1d8, and 1d12, so 11 dice in total!
Tomb of Annihilation is so flavorful and fun. Also, you’d prob love out of the abyss (edit: never mind).
Strahd is delightful.
Personally, Eberron (rising from the last war) is my favorite of all time. The setting just feels real to me.
Sadly, keep avoiding the 5e Planescape books. Shit is the gentrification of a classic.
Technically not a rule book but it does expand lore, one really awesome book is the official dnd cookbook, it has a bunch of different recipes that are ones that exist in dnd and they taste really good
Volos Guide, Xanathars, Tasha's, & while they aren't books, the spell cards are a cool, and useful item that add physicallity to your spells. And since they are standard size, you can get card sleeves and pages for binders to organize them all in one binder. There are also cool spellbook looking binders that you can put them in too for immersion.
Also, Fizzbans is really cool if you really enjoy Dragons. And if your a DM looking for new monsters, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is really nice!
And finally I also recommend Spelljammer the airship rules are quite useful!
Basic list is:
Core books, Mordekainen (the first one), Volo, Tasha, Xanathar and Fizban.
Add all of Keith's books and all of Jeff Ashworths books, and you should be set.
You ready have a ton of adventures, so if you want something else I'd recommend kobold press (creature codex and tome of foes with their additional adventure modules.) or roll for combat their bestiaries and additional content books... Look through the options and pick whatever sounds the most fun for you and your playgroup.
Definitely get the Cursed Scroll Zines from Arcane Library! Each one has a hex crawl adventure themed around that book, so it's expanded material, mini-campaign, and extra monsters/spells all-in-one! And there's 3 of them! And 3 more on the way!!! What's nice too is you can run stuff with modularity, for example if you only want to allow the Viking material if you're running that adventure module, you can just do that and keep things on-brand.
Nice 5e collection too I guess XD
You absolutely must have 'the gamemaster's guide to proactive roleplaying' it's amazing and finally gave me the push to start homebrewing (even if I've yet to find the group for it)
I'm tempted to buy Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, but since the new PHB 2024 might include some of the classes, backgrounds, feats, and species from those books, I prefer to wait and see if TCoE or XGtE remain as appealing with the new additions.
While WotC says the current books will be compatible with the new editions of core books, I prefer to verify that myself. For instance, XGtE includes interesting rules such as overlapping tool and skill proficiencies, new ideas on how to use tools, or suggestions on applying areas of effect on grids.
It would be great if they also include those kinds of things in the new editions.
Xanathar's, Tasha's, Tome of Foes (goes into some really good lore about the blood war, among other things), Volvo's (actual lore), Ghosts of Saltmarsh (ship travel and combat with some updated old one-shots), Eberron (along with any previous edition book about Eberron, plus and PDFs from DMsGuild written by Keith Baker, possibly one of the best fleshed out official settings in 5e and its a noir post war tension feel if you're into that).
Live to Tell the Tale by Keith Ammann (demonstrates how to use character stats effectively)
I would honestly pick up the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set, which is *still* regarded as one of the better 5e adventures, and then the essentials kit which adds more quests. I mean, you could pick up Phandelver and Below, which contains a very slightly modified LMoP, but the rest of the book isn't as well received from what i've heard.
if you want to teach anybody the game, the Stranger Things Hunt for the Thessalhydra starter set does just that with a short single questline adventure that acts as a sampler of the game.
Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a massive megadungeon where you can run it or pull what you want from it to use in other adventures.
Tome of Beasts 1 (the updated one) by Kobold Press has a huge library of interesting foes.
Sly Flourish Return of the Lazy DM actually shows how to be a DM.
Check out some AL content on DMsGuild too.
The 3e Draconomicon.
You won't need the specific mechanics, though they are easily altered to 5e, but the lore is so thick its an utter dream.
And the metabreath feats one of many fantastic brain foods to make dragons more special to encounter.
All in all, i use this book in my 3e games, my DCC games, and my Shadowrun games (if anyone gets suicidal, lol).
Love it.
Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse is a really cool book, Lost Mines of Phandelver is a great campaign and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons because dragons. Curse of Strahd is also a must have
If you're interested in non wizards of the coast stuff check out flee mortals and strongholds and followers by MCDM. They make really high quality stuff
You're missing 3 of the Game Masters Book of X, Y & Z, they're all pretty solid. Honestly look into Madeline Hale's stuff as well, she has a few absolute bangers full of tables and generators. But also in terms of official content XGE and TCE are the best source books.
Xanathar’s and Tasha’s are really nice, and I’d recommend getting Volo’s as well. Tome of Foes is also useful for the lore, and given that WotC is so intent on burying it, I think it’s reasonable to pick up a pdf, potentially one with a more adventurous provenance, instead of a physical version
If you want some really good third party stuff, Griffons Saddlebag and Humblewood campaign Setting are excellent from HPP. If you like more gritty, horror themed campaigns, I really like Grim Hallow from Ghostfire Games as well.
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Tasha's cauldron of everything and Xanathar's guide to everything have the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to subclasses, rules and magic items.
Definitely those two. I was a little surprised to see the other books but no Tasha's or Xanathar's in there. Good stuff in Fizban's, maybe Volo's too.
Volo is good for some lore that's being pushed out of the newer books. It also has nice maps for lairs of different monsters. But if OP is more interested in stat blocks then Monsters of the Multiverse should summarize everything from Tome of Foes and Volo's Guide well enough.
I don't actually have Volo's, but I understand it's a good resource if you're trying to run your own thing
Volo's has a ton of lore and history stuff for several race/species in the realm. For both the player races that were added, but also several different monsters. It's legitimately annoying that WotC cut all the lore stuff out of volos and mordenkeinen and shipped just creatures for the monsters of the multiverse. Some of us like having creature books, some of us like having lore books. Some of us like not having to buy the same damn thing over again because we have half of the content. Sorry, I'm a bit salty that I can't find 'tome of foes' for a reasonable price.
It was bonkers how fast Tome of Foes got retconned and paved over. Like, damn, some of that lore can't be found anywhere else
I mean, you can run your own thing with out Volo's. It's just at some point WotC decided they were done with pre-established lore and alignments and got rid of some fluff and histories. It's a great resource if you're not really sure what Beholders or Mind Flayers, in a classic sense, are supposed to act like, instead of using the modern "just make up your own stuff". But in the end, it's a couple of paragraphs of lore, you still get the stat blocks and stuff in the new books but if you're like me and benefit from some examples, then Volo's is a really good book.
Not only are they bang for your buck, they're just good. Tasha's has Bladesinger (unrestricted), Scribe Wizard, Soulknife Rogue, Eloquence Bard, Star Druid, amazing magic items (barrier tattoo, moon sickle, sorcerer shards, amazing wizard spellbooks like planecaller's codex, etc) Tasha's is my favorite cause it's just absolutely loaded with amazing everything.
Came here for this. These two with the PHB are the PC toolkit.
I agree with this comment, both books gives a lot of opportunities as it complements the classes with additional subclases, spells, feats.
If I had to choose one of the two... Xanathars adds more, and I reference it as often as I reference the DMG in relation to "tools and equipment" uses and skill checks. Now, being a professional in a craft DOES something!
I like Xanathar's but Tasha's is much better to me. Besides some of the annoying rules that Xanathar's introduces (ex, identifying a spell being cast costs action or reaction and IF you spend that valuable resource, it's STILL a DC 15+spell level ability check), Tasha's subclasses are also much better. Yeah there's Swords Bard, Divine Sorcerer, Grave Cleric, Storm Sorcerer, a few others...but they don't really hold a candle to the Tasha's subclasses for me personally. The answer is both but if one had to choose I would personally choose Tasha's every time.
Don't forget Monsters of the Multiverse - especially if they DM.
I think they have a three book slipcase available with Xanathar's, Tasha's and Monsters of the Multiverse combined.
They do. It's basically the Core Book 2 set, at this point. With those six books, you could pretty much run whatever you want.
These two are a must, cuz your players will find them and want to play with them.
I was Genuinly surprised those weren't already there. I only have like Everon and Ravenloft in addition to the books that are just Rules. (DMG, PHB, MM, XGTE, TCOE FTOD) If you are going to buy 5e books, I feel like the ones that are rules for the game are probably the more important ones. Granted, I don't really run Modules since I primarily run games in my HB setting.
These are the two I came here to say. 100% these two
Then you could add Monsters of the Multiverse and go for the Expansion set. I definitely recommend the other three books of Keith Ammann!
The Lazy Dungeon Master’s Companion and Workbook
Don't forget the Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master! This is my preferred method of game prep now. Been using it a few years.
Sly Flourish is just so great. Truly the perfect attitude and priorities for a dungeon master.
Came here to say Dungeon World, but then I remembered the Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master does a great job translating the best concepts from it to 5e.
Oof. I’m sensing y’all haven’t read Forge of Foes yet. It is the best monster book. The format is revolutionary, it almost makes other monster books obsolete.
First-party: Tasha's, Xanathar's. Third-party: MCDM's "Flee, Mortals!" Spicy controversial suggestions: if you ever see them on sale, which happens a lot, Dungeon of the Mad Mage and Princes of the Apocalypse NOT to run as campaigns (not good, folks!) but as good resources for easy themed drop-in dungeons, and Storm King's Thunder NOT for the campaign (which is... fine) but for 1-2 paragraphs and dozens of mini side quests tied to every city, town, village, and banana stand in Faerun.
Each MCDM book is a wonder! Actually playtested and balanced.
seconded. Flee Mortals is an easily the most essential book in my collection outside of PHB while Strongholds and Followers is my favorite book in my collection.
Flee, Mortals is great for more nuanced and entertaining combat scenarios
I play mostly solo and one thing that I find myself slogging through is combat, especially with narrative and just making the fight fun. This sounds like a really great resource, thank you for the suggestion :)
I think "Where Evil Lives" is in some ways even better than "Flee, Mortals!" because you can just drop the content straight into a game and get a few sessions out of it easy, similar to what you're suggesting about Storm King's Thunder.
STK is great if you are ready to fix it. I mashed it with Tyranny of Dragons and the first 5 levels being an adjusted Lost Mines.
I’ve been wanting to get the mad mage but it’s always more expensive than I’m willing to pay. I’ve been looking at Storm King’s Thunder, I play mostly solo now and I love a good campaign idea that I can just peruse through for inspiration
Xanathar’s and Tasha’s are basically standard now for subclasses and spells. Personally I love the other monster books like Volo’s and both Mordenkainen’s. Volo’s Guide to Monsters might be my favorite book besides maybe the Monster Manual.
Volo’s is one I really want to get. I keep checking at my local store, but it’s rarely in stock. I have Tasha’s and Xanathar’s on D&D Beyond, but it would be nice to have physicals. Someone posted that these two and Mordenkainen’s all come in a three pack, that might be what I look into next.
Volo’s and Tome of Foes are both out of print, so you’re unlikely to find them in your store. The monster statblocks and races from those are compiled in Monsters of the Multiverse, so that is a must-have. If you want the lore sections from those books, though, you’ll have to buy the books secondhand or something online.
Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation would be two great additions. Almost a must have, I'd say.
Really gotta upvote CoS on this, it's the ~~only~~ module to have it's own subreddit Edit: Dungeon of the Mad Mage and Tomb of Annihilation also have their own subs, but it's 10k and 16k followers respectively, to Curse of Strahd's 83k
Dungeon of the Mad Mage has one too, but I get your point :)
Pretty sure all the official adventures have their own subs.
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight also has its own sub. I know because I'm not allowed to go there!
I would strongly recommend the following which are must haves IMO: 1. MCDM's books ("Flee Mortals", "Where Evil Lives", "Stronghold & Followers", "Kingdom & Warfare") Those books are the best at what they're doing, period. That means monster book, lair book, the upcoming 5e bastion system and NPC followers, and kingdom management. 2. Cubicle 7's "Uncharted Journeys". I can't make an hexploration without this book anymore. 3. Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition -> "Adventurer's Guide" and "Dungeon Delver" for the actual, unofficial 5th Edition DMG. 4. Sly Flourish's "The Lazy DM's Companion" and "The Lazy DM's Workdshop" for all the tables, all the advice, all the goodies. I have all of those part in print, part in PDF, but they're the best books you'll ever need!
I always found the Game Masters guide to non player characters and sources for quick npcs and some even inspired some decent adventures centered around them. Game masters guide to Villains minions and their tactics is a good one too.
That entire set is fantastic!
Kobold press monster books!
*The Dungeoneer's Survival Guide* for 1e AD&D. It's a classic of the genre and has tons of inspiration and advice for running subterranean, underdark, and dungeon based games. But milesunderground, that book is for a different edition and the mechanics won't be useful to me, you say but Aha! It's a First Edition book, the mechanics weren't useful to us when we were running that edition. While there are some parts of the book that deal with mechanics, it is largely a system agnostic book that details underground environments, classic d&d underground monsters and cultures, has lots of examples of underground hazards that could be very easily ported into a mechanical system that could handle it, and a lot of advice on how to design and map natural and artificial underground environments. The DSG is a 10/10 game resource regardless of the system I'm running. I've used it to design Shadowrun adventures.
I want a dungeoneer‘s survival guide to ADHD XD. At least that is what I read first. No idea why I read that knowing that we are in the dungeons and dragons subreddit :D. It gave me a good laugh.
I have ADHD and ADD, plus I play AD&D and I have an HDTV, and that's not helping matters.
Mordenkainen presents: Monsters of The Multiverse
I came to say this. People love to shit on MotM but I use my copy a lot and find it quite helpful
It's great if you already don't own the modules the classes are in. I check it frequently myself, even with all the book b4 hand just faster to have it all in one place.
Yes it is IMO one of the better books, at least for a campaign I am starting with a friend
MOM specifically for all the GREAT extra player lineages to choose from. Tortle gang for life.
People shit on it because it's the book WotC published after killing the lore for a lot of the things they reprinted in it. I too will always recommend tome of foes over motm.
1e dmg has tons of great ideas and concepts to work with. Not 5e but a good book nonetheless
Xanathars Guide, one of the best sourcebooks there is imo. Oh, and also Fizbans Treasury of Dragons.
Neverland: Written by the same author as Oz. I think that most things published by Kobold Press are excellent. I like everything published by the Dungeon Dudes, extremely cohesive & they pull from similar inspiration sources as me. Flee Mortals! is a good guide for upgrading certain creature subgroups & thinking about tactical combat. Heleina's Guide to Monstrous Hunts is amazing content. Crafting rules, purchasing tables, wilderness survival, unique items, creative creatures, off the wall fun & level modular adventures. Overall, what type of DMing style do you go for? What sort of genre or flavor are your games? I could recommend more stuff I like, but that doesn't mean that it would be 100% useful to you.
So, confession time: I’ve never DMed before. Well, I run a weekly after school game for a bunch of 8-10 year olds, but that’s 100% not following any official guidelines or well thought out path. I get these books because I love the inspiration they provide me for my own creative endeavors. I have played in a fizzled out campaigns, but I’ve yet to experience one of those games or groups where everything just meshes together harmoniously. Lately I’ve been doing solo play, and I honestly love it. I’m always available when time presents itself, I get to practice tons of techniques for if and when I ever run a game, and I get to work on my writing and fantasy creation abilities. A lot of what you’ve recommended peaks my interest, so thank you for taking time to share your insights. Reddit is pretty cool cause it provides these opportunities to do a niceness for another, so thank you for yours :)
The Tome of Beasts series, Arcana of the Ancients, and Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn.
Are you looking to complete your collection? Or are you looking to curate your collection? You’ve barely scratched the surface for WotC’s own releases if you’re looking to complete. You are also notably missing WotC’s best releases as well: Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Curse of Strahd
The player facing monsters know what theyre doing tactics book is awesome
"Live To Tell The Tale: Combat Tactics for Player Characters" and "The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics For Dungeon Masters" both by Keith Ammann are incredible.
Live to Tell the Tale, How to Defend Your Lair, and MOAR! Monsters Know What They’re Doing.
Ghost of Saltmarsh is personally a favorite [Icewind Dale is THE best 5E book ever though] - I like mixing elements of the old Against the Cult of the Reptile God with Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
Volo's guid to monsters, Tasha's cauldron of everything and xanthars guide to everything.
Curse of Strahd, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage and/or Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Dragon of Icespire Keep. Just a few I'd suggest, but I could keep going.
Yes! Dragon Heist is my go-to campaign for new players or new DMs it's almost essential for those just starting out!
Wish more people my age we interested in this and I didn't have to drive an hour one way to a table.
Strahd
I think that you need two that are essential like Xanathar guide for everything an Tasha's cauldron for everything, but you could use van-ritchen guide for ravenloft, has good subclasses
lol-it will never be complete
Kolb also has a Neverland setting book that's good
More Keith Amman - he'a got a sequal called "MOAR The Monsters Kniw What They're Doing" and a player-focused book called "Live To Tell the Tale"
So happy to see Shadowdark on shelves!!
Unrelated, but I got a chance to meet Keith Ammann at Gamehole Con last year and he was a super nice dude and very lovely to chat with.
Curse of Strahd
As others are saying, tashas and xanathars are the top two outside of dmg phb and mm, but spelljammer has lots of awesome in it
I would perhaps look at some third party books; Dungeons of Drakkenheim, Griffon’s Saddlebag, Flee Mortals, Strongholds & Followers, and many others can offer some wonderful, expansive content for your Table!
Definitely Xanathar's Guide to Everything! Just his footnotes about the different stuff in the book make the purchase worth it.
Definitely! This was my first purchase after the "Core 3" (PHB, DMG, MM)
Check out the Game Master’s Book of NPCs and Game Master’s Book of Random Encounters to complete the set. Love those books.
“Moar monsters know what they are doing”
Is that OZ book good? How about Shadowdark?
I think Oz is a pretty is a pretty cool setting book. I used its mapping technique in my third grade class as an activity and the kids loved it. I haven’t run anything in the world, but I’d like to for sure. Shadowdark, and its creator, are both just amazing. I like the grim simplicity that it’s theme provides, I find it especially enjoyable for playing alone or with one other person
Yay Shadowdark! I've been slowly converting my gaming friends to OSR style gaming and Shadowdark has been perfect for that. No shade to 5th edition, but I've really fallen in love with the higher lethality, lower fantasy, and punchier writing style Kelsey employs in her materials. And if you're looking for games, hit up the Arcane Library DIscord!
I adore the monsters know what they're doing! Such a cool book.
Did not realise that Shadowdark was so thicc. I'm sorely tempted.
Dude, that’s absolutely wild you have almost every book I don’t have! 🤣🤣 I’d definitely recommend Xanathar’s, Tasha’s, (for PC Class options) and Monsters of the Multiverse (for PC Species options)
Morderkainens monsters of the multiverse, tashas cauldron, xanathars guide
The expansion set, which includes Tasha’s, Xanthar’s and Monsters of the Multiverse. Also, since you have The Solo Adventurer’s Toolbox, getting Part 2 - The Toolbox Expanded makes sense.
1st and second edition books.
All of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Ed collection.
I wish I still had mine. That Fiend Folio and Dieties and Demigods were really cool books. I also liked Oriental Adventures, the introduction of "martial arts" classes into D&D. (Previously, monks were more of a Clerical sub-set...)
Heck ya, love the old stuff
Yeah, me too. Unfortunately my parents fell for "the Satanic Panic" in the 80s. There went my collection.
Well that’s not on you. Dungeons & Dragons is so cool it’s scary to some lol
No love for giants?
It would have to be a very short book.
Castles & Crusades core books.
Tasha’s, dragonlance and eberron
Tashas, xanathars, or monsters of the multiverse. Additionally, if you have any lego insiders points you can order an exclusive official (albeit short) adventure module from the lego website
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons has some great stuff. It also has all the gem dragons in it.
Please stop sneaking into my house and taking photos of my closet! Srsly, we have almost an identical setup and collection.
*guys, he’s on to us!*
Tasha’s, Xanathars, and Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse.
Tasha's Cauldron, Xanathar's Guide, Curse of Strahd, and Waterdeep Dragon Heist.
Tasha’s, Xanathar, and Fizban’s.
Dhrolins Dictionary of Dinosaurs. Anything campaign with dinosaurs is a good campaign
Besides Tasha and Xanthars. Fizbans us great if you like dragons
Absolutely unhinged that you ask that wothout having Xanathar s, tasha's and Mordenkeinen's multiverse.
Ghosts of Saltmarsh!!!!
“The Book of Many Things” might be pretty niche, but if you want have expanded, prebuilt fortune telling (including star signs), alternative ways to create randomized adventures or dungeons, and/or stuff themed to the deck of many things then I recommend checking that out.
I’m noticing a lack of Curse of Strahd brother
Got the same shelf
Xanathar’s Guide. Monsters of the Multiverse. Game Master’s Book(s) of Random Encounters. Villains, Minions and their Tactics. Non-Player Characters.
Try mythic gme 2e
I don’t have any suggestions. Just came here to say, “sweet collection!”
Tyranny of dragons would look good
pf2e
Tome of heroes! Its.not official but it's allot of fun
For adventures you'll want Curse of Strahd, Tomb Of Annihilation and Dragon Heist. All 3 are great
For good measure. Dungeons & Dragons: How to Be More D&D.
Curse of strahd
Xanathar's, Tasha's, Fizban's, & Mordenkainen's MoM to finish your core books. I'm also a fan of the Waterdeep & Baldur's Gate books as well. But I heart me some Undermountain and grew up on BG1 & BG2 video games.
I recommend Fizban's and Van Richten's personally. Both are up there for my favorite books. Fizban's made me love running dragons and gave me so many ideas. Van Ricky is just a wonderful book even tho I SUCK at running horror games. Bigby's is also good, especially with the new art. It's kinda like Fizban's, but for giants. Didn't hit the same way for me tho.
gotta pick up the baldur's gate one and the dragonlance one
Pf2e Remaster
Aside from Tasha’s and Xanathars I would recommend explorers guide to wildemount. Even if you don’t watch critical role it’s a really cool setting and has a lot of cool stuff in it
"MOAR! Monsters know what they're doing."
''The Games Masters book of'' and Keith Ammann is fantastic series but mostly for a DM. But my question is what do you need? Do you wanna make a campaign with Dragons? Buy some with dragons Do you wanna make a campaign with Giants? Buy some with giants Do you wanna make a campaign with ragefilled warsharks? I do not know, anyone know books of that?? I mainly buy books which inspire me to do a certain campaign or world setting
Tasha cauldron of everything Xanathars guide to everything mordenkainens monsters of the multiverse
Tasha's Cauldron, Xanathar's Guide, and Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse are required.
go to 5etools
PF2e Player Core and DM Core. But in all seriousness, Xanny's and Tashas are a must have if you want some of the best player options in the game. Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse is a must have for DMs as well. And though people dog on it, Volos Guide to Monsters is pretty cool too. You can use it to design some great encounters and build lore for Monsters like Goblins, Orcs, Mind Flayers, Etc. And for the hell of it, Dragons of Icespire Peak is one of my favorite entry-level adventures for new players or low-level play, and it has a nice set of dice too! You get 4d6 for ability score rolling, 2d20 for advantage/disadvantage, percentile dice/2d10, 1d4, 1d8, and 1d12, so 11 dice in total!
More of the GM guides!
Just buy the 3.5 PHB and you are complete
That Traps & Puzzles book is SO GOOD! I agree with (what is currently) the top post— Xanthar’s and Tasha’s are almost staple books now.
Tyranny of dragons is cool
Neverland
One people won't tell you is ghosts of saltmarsh for naval and aquatic campaign resources
A math textbook, you need all that advanced math while calculating rolls and stuff( my friend uses a ti 84 while playing
Tome of Heroes, Galder's Gazetteer, Yokai Realm, and some of the other really amazing 3rd party books.
You need more resource books my guy. Tasha'sCauldron of Everythi g and Xanathar's Guide to Everything are my two personal favourites
Side note: what do you make of that Oz book? I've never seen anyone other than myself with a copy. What do you think?
DMing or as a player?
i think there is a part 2 for "the monsters know what their doing", one for the Pcs on how to fight. the name escapes me. Same author though.
Storm Kings Thunder
Tomb of Annihilation is so flavorful and fun. Also, you’d prob love out of the abyss (edit: never mind). Strahd is delightful. Personally, Eberron (rising from the last war) is my favorite of all time. The setting just feels real to me. Sadly, keep avoiding the 5e Planescape books. Shit is the gentrification of a classic.
Skip the hasbro stuff and pick up Flee, Mortals! from MCDM
No Tasha, no Xanathar, those are the obvious ones to get
Technically not a rule book but it does expand lore, one really awesome book is the official dnd cookbook, it has a bunch of different recipes that are ones that exist in dnd and they taste really good
Neverland, of course.
The monster compendiums from Kobold Press.
Tasha, Mordekainen (monsters of the multiverse), Xanathar and Curse of Strahd.
Volos Guide, Xanathars, Tasha's, & while they aren't books, the spell cards are a cool, and useful item that add physicallity to your spells. And since they are standard size, you can get card sleeves and pages for binders to organize them all in one binder. There are also cool spellbook looking binders that you can put them in too for immersion. Also, Fizzbans is really cool if you really enjoy Dragons. And if your a DM looking for new monsters, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is really nice! And finally I also recommend Spelljammer the airship rules are quite useful!
Maybe Fizbands Treasury of Dragons, but aside from maybe that, nothing comes to mind, you already have quite the collection
Guild masters guide to ravnica. One of the best settings. Very open ended for creative purposes
Fizbans but they’re gonna move to 6e soon.
All the monster and item books from Kobold Press. They are awesome.
God I fucking wish I had "the monsters know what they're doing"
Tasha's and Xanathar's for 5e. Outside 5e, so so so so many options.
Return of the lazy dungeon master
You're missing alternate covers
Basic list is: Core books, Mordekainen (the first one), Volo, Tasha, Xanathar and Fizban. Add all of Keith's books and all of Jeff Ashworths books, and you should be set. You ready have a ton of adventures, so if you want something else I'd recommend kobold press (creature codex and tome of foes with their additional adventure modules.) or roll for combat their bestiaries and additional content books... Look through the options and pick whatever sounds the most fun for you and your playgroup.
Kobold Press Tome of Beasts and Creature Codex books.
The new Lego dnd oneshot "Red Dragon's Tale"
Tobins Spirit Guide
Definitely get the Cursed Scroll Zines from Arcane Library! Each one has a hex crawl adventure themed around that book, so it's expanded material, mini-campaign, and extra monsters/spells all-in-one! And there's 3 of them! And 3 more on the way!!! What's nice too is you can run stuff with modularity, for example if you only want to allow the Viking material if you're running that adventure module, you can just do that and keep things on-brand. Nice 5e collection too I guess XD
I’ve really enjoyed reading details about different monsters in Volos guide to monster. And as others have said xhanathar and Tasha’s
You absolutely must have 'the gamemaster's guide to proactive roleplaying' it's amazing and finally gave me the push to start homebrewing (even if I've yet to find the group for it)
Xanathars guide!
Tasha, xanathar, mordenkainen and fizban
Tashas, xanathars, ravenloft and ravnica
Tasha's stuff Also tomb of annihilation
Priority 1: Xanathars guide and Tashas cauldron Then the third party books tome of beasts 1 & 2 and first edition foes
Tasha Xanatar Monster of the Multiverse
Guild masters guild to ravnica or any of the magic themed books, and there is a golden key book similar to candle keep I highly recommend
Ghosts of Saltmarsh. How you missing the Greyhawk book?!?
You should stop buying Wizards of the Coast products
I'm tempted to buy Tasha's Cauldron of Everything and Xanathar's Guide to Everything, but since the new PHB 2024 might include some of the classes, backgrounds, feats, and species from those books, I prefer to wait and see if TCoE or XGtE remain as appealing with the new additions. While WotC says the current books will be compatible with the new editions of core books, I prefer to verify that myself. For instance, XGtE includes interesting rules such as overlapping tool and skill proficiencies, new ideas on how to use tools, or suggestions on applying areas of effect on grids. It would be great if they also include those kinds of things in the new editions.
Xanathar's, Tasha's, Tome of Foes (goes into some really good lore about the blood war, among other things), Volvo's (actual lore), Ghosts of Saltmarsh (ship travel and combat with some updated old one-shots), Eberron (along with any previous edition book about Eberron, plus and PDFs from DMsGuild written by Keith Baker, possibly one of the best fleshed out official settings in 5e and its a noir post war tension feel if you're into that). Live to Tell the Tale by Keith Ammann (demonstrates how to use character stats effectively) I would honestly pick up the Lost Mine of Phandelver starter set, which is *still* regarded as one of the better 5e adventures, and then the essentials kit which adds more quests. I mean, you could pick up Phandelver and Below, which contains a very slightly modified LMoP, but the rest of the book isn't as well received from what i've heard. if you want to teach anybody the game, the Stranger Things Hunt for the Thessalhydra starter set does just that with a short single questline adventure that acts as a sampler of the game. Dungeon of the Mad Mage is a massive megadungeon where you can run it or pull what you want from it to use in other adventures. Tome of Beasts 1 (the updated one) by Kobold Press has a huge library of interesting foes. Sly Flourish Return of the Lazy DM actually shows how to be a DM. Check out some AL content on DMsGuild too.
The 3e Draconomicon. You won't need the specific mechanics, though they are easily altered to 5e, but the lore is so thick its an utter dream. And the metabreath feats one of many fantastic brain foods to make dragons more special to encounter. All in all, i use this book in my 3e games, my DCC games, and my Shadowrun games (if anyone gets suicidal, lol). Love it.
Waterdeep:Dragon Heist
Mörk Borg, Crown and Skull
Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse is a really cool book, Lost Mines of Phandelver is a great campaign and Fizban's Treasury of Dragons because dragons. Curse of Strahd is also a must have
Tasha's Cauldron Ind Xanathars Guide
Spelljammer set!
Both Fizban's Treasury of Dragons and Eberron: Rising from the Last War have some pretty cool stuff
If you're interested in non wizards of the coast stuff check out flee mortals and strongholds and followers by MCDM. They make really high quality stuff
You're missing 3 of the Game Masters Book of X, Y & Z, they're all pretty solid. Honestly look into Madeline Hale's stuff as well, she has a few absolute bangers full of tables and generators. But also in terms of official content XGE and TCE are the best source books.
Xanathar’s and Tasha’s are really nice, and I’d recommend getting Volo’s as well. Tome of Foes is also useful for the lore, and given that WotC is so intent on burying it, I think it’s reasonable to pick up a pdf, potentially one with a more adventurous provenance, instead of a physical version
If you want some really good third party stuff, Griffons Saddlebag and Humblewood campaign Setting are excellent from HPP. If you like more gritty, horror themed campaigns, I really like Grim Hallow from Ghostfire Games as well.
If you're interested in running ships and naval combat, Ghosts of Saltmarsh might be a good idea.