Everyone eventually wants to buy all of the content for D&D 5th Edition. What I would like to do is come up with a list of books prioritized based on player recommendations. So if you could only buy 2 books, (and I suspect that the PHB would be one of them) which 2 would they be?
Well you can access a large amount of creatures through the free SRD content, so probably the Dungeon Masters Guide would be the second book or one of the adventure modules maybe the Lost mines of Phandelvar if you are new to 5e (or new to rpgs in general).
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
From a player perspective, I think that the number one choice is the Player's Handbook - additional subraces, subclasses, spells etc.
The 2nd book I would suggest probably Xanather's Guide to Everything (more subclasses, spells and other options) or possibly Volo's if you want more races.
Indeed, it varies greatly depending on whether you are a player or a DM and how you will use the site.
For Players, I'd agree with Sithenin and Inquisitive Coder that Player's Handbook and Xanathar's is a good combo, unless player races from Volo's are more appealing to you than the subclasses in Xanathar's (and that fact the you can homebrew races but can't currently homebrew subclasses means that if you want both, you are better off buying Xanathar's and homebrewing races from Volo's)
As a DM, I can think of three excellent combos:
-Players' Handbook and Volo's (rather than Monster Manual, since so many of the Monster Manual monsters are also in the free SRD)
-Players' Handbook and Monster Manual (if you want all of the MM monsters more than the options in Volos)
-Players' Handbook and an Adventure: if you want to have the Adventure available in DDB. Any monsters not in the MM will be included in the Adventure, most of the MM manuals are also SRD, any remaining monsters you need for the adventure can be homebrewed.
And one DM option that bends the "rules" you stipulated:
-Players Handbook and the monsters (but not compendium) from both Monster Manual and Volo's (which comes to about $33, just over the cost of one of them as a whole "book")
-Players' Handbook and an Adventure: if you want to have the Adventure available in DDB. Any monsters not in the MM will be included in the Adventure, most of the MM manuals are also SRD, any remaining monsters you need for the adventure can be homebrewed.
I could never go with an adventure for one of my 2 picks as a dm because that would mean running only that adventure, or the monsters from that adventure forever. There are plenty of free adventures out there and personally I think it's easier to homebrew an adventure than to create a balanced/level appropriate monster from scratch.
Honestly it would depend on a good chunk of things: For everyone be it physical or D&D Beyond: the Players Handbook is basically essential as it has the best chunk of options and rules even over the SRD.
For both new and experienced players (for both Physical and D&D Beyond): Xanather's (though maybe go just with the physical PHB for now)
For Newer DMs: Physically and D&D Beyond, I'd say the DMG as the DM can get a good overview of monsters from the SRD to use until they get enough experience to make their own. While the DMG gives a good overview of many things more experienced DMs rule just on the fly.
For experienced DMs: Either the DMG (as it gives a good overview all in all) or Volos for a bit more diversity (as an experienced DM would have enough of an idea about things to make their own rules on stuff covered in the DMG). Monsters are something not that difficult to create for an experienced DM. I would likely tend to the DMG on the physical side and Volos on the digital side overall however (but not really enough to say one way or the other categorically).
-Players' Handbook and an Adventure: if you want to have the Adventure available in DDB. Any monsters not in the MM will be included in the Adventure, most of the MM manuals are also SRD, any remaining monsters you need for the adventure can be homebrewed.
I could never go with an adventure for one of my 2 picks as a dm because that would mean running only that adventure, or the monsters from that adventure forever. There are plenty of free adventures out there and personally I think it's easier to homebrew an adventure than to create a balanced/level appropriate monster from scratch.
True enough; I guess I wasn't thinking in terms of only *ever* having two "books," but more in terms of "if you can only pick 2 to start with"
I must be the only one who thinks the DMG is the most superfluous of the core books.
everyone needs the Players handbook, after that it depends. I’d say the monster manual, but as mentioned, there are an awful lot of monsters available for free.
This is actually something we could not do, you would need the base books to play, and that would be PHB, DMG, and MM. You could not pick just 2, unless you were gonna pick 2 after having these three Base books. After those I would say Xanathar’s and Volo’s.
Isn't the DMG where all the magic item descriptions are, tho? Or is some/most of that SRD now?
Some of them are in the SRD and the Basic Rules---you can filter the listings here by source. When I did, I got 13 pages of items as being from the Basic Rules (I don't see the SRD as a separate listing, so I'm guessing it's considered part of the "Basic Rules" for the purposes of filtering)
This is actually something we could not do, you would need the base books to play, and that would be PHB, DMG, and MM. You could not pick just 2, unless you were gonna pick 2 after having these three Base books. After those I would say Xanathar’s and Volo’s.
Actually, with the free Basic Rules (and/or the SRD-System Reference Document), it is possible to play without any of the books. There aren't as many options, but it is possible. I find the lack of the PHB the most limiting, which is why I included it as a "must have" if one could only get 2 books.
Ok, I was assuming we were only having the option of books without anything online. With that bit of info now, I probly wouldn’t even get the books, just the collections of some of the monster bundles and others like that. You don’t exactly need the book, book for that information. Some of the monster stuff is probably what I would bundle up on.
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Everyone eventually wants to buy all of the content for D&D 5th Edition. What I would like to do is come up with a list of books prioritized based on player recommendations. So if you could only buy 2 books, (and I suspect that the PHB would be one of them) which 2 would they be?
Well you can access a large amount of creatures through the free SRD content, so probably the Dungeon Masters Guide would be the second book or one of the adventure modules maybe the Lost mines of Phandelvar if you are new to 5e (or new to rpgs in general).
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
From a player perspective, I think that the number one choice is the Player's Handbook - additional subraces, subclasses, spells etc.
The 2nd book I would suggest probably Xanather's Guide to Everything (more subclasses, spells and other options) or possibly Volo's if you want more races.
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As a DM, Player's Handbook and the Monster Manual. As a player, Player's Handbook and Xanather's.
DMG and either PHB, XGtE, or MM.
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Indeed, it varies greatly depending on whether you are a player or a DM and how you will use the site.
For Players, I'd agree with Sithenin and Inquisitive Coder that Player's Handbook and Xanathar's is a good combo, unless player races from Volo's are more appealing to you than the subclasses in Xanathar's (and that fact the you can homebrew races but can't currently homebrew subclasses means that if you want both, you are better off buying Xanathar's and homebrewing races from Volo's)
As a DM, I can think of three excellent combos:
-Players' Handbook and Volo's (rather than Monster Manual, since so many of the Monster Manual monsters are also in the free SRD)
-Players' Handbook and Monster Manual (if you want all of the MM monsters more than the options in Volos)
-Players' Handbook and an Adventure: if you want to have the Adventure available in DDB. Any monsters not in the MM will be included in the Adventure, most of the MM manuals are also SRD, any remaining monsters you need for the adventure can be homebrewed.
And one DM option that bends the "rules" you stipulated:
-Players Handbook and the monsters (but not compendium) from both Monster Manual and Volo's (which comes to about $33, just over the cost of one of them as a whole "book")
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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I agree, that could be a good alternative option.
I could never go with an adventure for one of my 2 picks as a dm because that would mean running only that adventure, or the monsters from that adventure forever. There are plenty of free adventures out there and personally I think it's easier to homebrew an adventure than to create a balanced/level appropriate monster from scratch.
Honestly it would depend on a good chunk of things:
For everyone be it physical or D&D Beyond: the Players Handbook is basically essential as it has the best chunk of options and rules even over the SRD.
For both new and experienced players (for both Physical and D&D Beyond): Xanather's (though maybe go just with the physical PHB for now)
For Newer DMs: Physically and D&D Beyond, I'd say the DMG as the DM can get a good overview of monsters from the SRD to use until they get enough experience to make their own. While the DMG gives a good overview of many things more experienced DMs rule just on the fly.
For experienced DMs: Either the DMG (as it gives a good overview all in all) or Volos for a bit more diversity (as an experienced DM would have enough of an idea about things to make their own rules on stuff covered in the DMG). Monsters are something not that difficult to create for an experienced DM.
I would likely tend to the DMG on the physical side and Volos on the digital side overall however (but not really enough to say one way or the other categorically).
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Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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1. PHB
2. DMG
3. MM
4. XGtE
5. Volo's
I must be the only one who thinks the DMG is the most superfluous of the core books.
everyone needs the Players handbook, after that it depends. I’d say the monster manual, but as mentioned, there are an awful lot of monsters available for free.
Xanathar’s guide is pretty tempting.
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Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
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Isn't the DMG where all the magic item descriptions are, tho? Or is some/most of that SRD now?
This is actually something we could not do, you would need the base books to play, and that would be PHB, DMG, and MM. You could not pick just 2, unless you were gonna pick 2 after having these three Base books. After those I would say Xanathar’s and Volo’s.
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
Ok, I was assuming we were only having the option of books without anything online. With that bit of info now, I probly wouldn’t even get the books, just the collections of some of the monster bundles and others like that. You don’t exactly need the book, book for that information. Some of the monster stuff is probably what I would bundle up on.