I'm a new dungeon master with an all new group and I wasn't sure which books to get. I can only get 2 books atm. My friend who is one of the players has the players handbook so was thinking about getting the monster manual and dungeon masters guide since I thought I would only really use the phb during game and he'd be fine with that.
What 2 books do you think I should get? All help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
Yes. The three books, DMG, Phb and monster manual represent the core of the system.
However, of those, the PhB is the most important for both the players and the DM. All the rules to play the game are in the Phb. The DMG contains some optional rules that I would mostly not use, magic item and treasure information, material to help a DM creating a campaign world, creating new monsters and creatures and similar content to help a DM create and run their world ... but the mechanics are mostly in the PHB.
The monster manual is a reference source with a wide range of different creatures that can be used to populate the game world.
If you already know the content in the PHB reasonably well then it will be fine if one of the other players has it and brings it along to the session. You can also access the basic rules online for free. On the other hand, if you don't know the PHB material that well then you should borrow the PHB if possible to read it over. The rules on combat (stealth, surprise, to hit rolls, advantage/disadvantage), spells (targeting, components, range, duration, concentration, listings), equipment (armor, weapons, many miscellaneous items), characters (creation, race, class, class features, multiclassing, feats), skills and their applications, traveling and interacting with the world, downtime etc are all in the PHB.
The game can be run with just the PHB and monster manual but for a new DM, the DMG might offer some insights and suggestions that would be useful.
So, without access to a PHB, I would get the PHB and monster manual first. With access to the PHB that you could borrow from time to time as well as access during the session (supplemented with the basic rules and other online resources) then it would be ok to get the DMG and monster manual (but I would pick up your own copy of the PHB at some point).
Are you running a published campaign? Because then that might bump the DMG out. That is, get MM and whatever campaign you’re running.
But actually, since you’re all new, you might want to run Lost Mines of Phandelver, which is free on dndbeyond. If that’s the case, stick to DMG and MM.
The three core books are a must, as everyone here already stated, and you'd definitely want your own copy of the PHB. After you get a feel for those books, you'll probably want to get the expansion books: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Mordenkaninen's Tome of Foes (out of print but can still be found and I prefer it over the new Monsters of the Multiverse book that replaced it). Those books will help you and your players with a ton of added content.
Also, if you're new to DM'ing, the books alone may or may not make complete sense to you in how to use and how to run a campaign. That's where you really want to seek out information elsewhere like here, YouTube, reddit, Discord, and/or any number of online resources. As a new DM myself, there were some things that just reading in the book(s) I didn't quite understand the concept. That's where YouTube and reddit really helped me out.
Edit: also meant to add Volo's Guide to Monsters. That and Tome of Foes were preferred over Monsters of the Multiverse for me.
Most of the rules-rules in the PHB are free, published as the Basic Rules. Most of the remainder that's in the PHB only is extra races, spells, feats, and subclasses, which you'll want to be familiar with to know your players' characters' abilities, but in terms of knowing the rules of running the game, the Basic Rules should cover most of that.
The three core books are a must, as everyone here already stated, and you'd definitely want your own copy of the PHB. After you get a feel for those books, you'll probably want to get the expansion books: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Mordenkaninen's Tome of Foes (out of print but can still be found and I prefer it over the new Monsters of the Multiverse book that replaced it). Those books will help you and your players with a ton of added content.
Also, if you're new to DM'ing, the books alone may or may not make complete sense to you in how to use and how to run a campaign. That's where you really want to seek out information elsewhere like here, YouTube, reddit, Discord, and/or any number of online resources. As a new DM myself, there were some things that just reading in the book(s) I didn't quite understand the concept. That's where YouTube and reddit really helped me out.
I'd agree with eventually getting Tasha's and Xanathar's - they have quite a bit of useful supplementary material and player character options. However, personally, I would then get Monsters of the Multiverse rather than the out of print Tome of Foes.
There are a couple of reasons. MotMM has a lot of updated player race options from Volo's (also out of print) and elsewhere. It also has most of the creatures from ToF and uses whatever newer stat block format that WotC is shifting to using. I haven't compared the roster of creatures in ToF to MotMM but in most cases the difference won't matter to most DMs. There are lots of monster choices between the MM and MotMM that whatever additional is in ToF won't usually be missed.
If you can only buy two, then the monsters list and encounter builder here on D&D Beyond will do you. So I'd suggest Players Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.
As to progressing on, I'd avoid Tasha's Cauldron it really wasn't worth the money and is to date my biggest regret when it comes to buying source books. Xanathar's was much more helpful to me as a DM.
If money is a limit and you want to maximise your progress as a DM though, I would suggest the Essentials Kit and Dungeon Masters' Guide. That way you have the core DM stuff you *need* and an adventure to start learning to DM from.
I'm a new dungeon master with an all new group and I wasn't sure which books to get. I can only get 2 books atm. My friend who is one of the players has the players handbook so was thinking about getting the monster manual and dungeon masters guide since I thought I would only really use the phb during game and he'd be fine with that.
What 2 books do you think I should get? All help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
You're correct. Definitely get those three core books first. Everything else builds off of one or more of those books.
Yes. The three books, DMG, Phb and monster manual represent the core of the system.
However, of those, the PhB is the most important for both the players and the DM. All the rules to play the game are in the Phb. The DMG contains some optional rules that I would mostly not use, magic item and treasure information, material to help a DM creating a campaign world, creating new monsters and creatures and similar content to help a DM create and run their world ... but the mechanics are mostly in the PHB.
The monster manual is a reference source with a wide range of different creatures that can be used to populate the game world.
If you already know the content in the PHB reasonably well then it will be fine if one of the other players has it and brings it along to the session. You can also access the basic rules online for free. On the other hand, if you don't know the PHB material that well then you should borrow the PHB if possible to read it over. The rules on combat (stealth, surprise, to hit rolls, advantage/disadvantage), spells (targeting, components, range, duration, concentration, listings), equipment (armor, weapons, many miscellaneous items), characters (creation, race, class, class features, multiclassing, feats), skills and their applications, traveling and interacting with the world, downtime etc are all in the PHB.
The game can be run with just the PHB and monster manual but for a new DM, the DMG might offer some insights and suggestions that would be useful.
So, without access to a PHB, I would get the PHB and monster manual first. With access to the PHB that you could borrow from time to time as well as access during the session (supplemented with the basic rules and other online resources) then it would be ok to get the DMG and monster manual (but I would pick up your own copy of the PHB at some point).
Are you running a published campaign? Because then that might bump the DMG out. That is, get MM and whatever campaign you’re running.
But actually, since you’re all new, you might want to run Lost Mines of Phandelver, which is free on dndbeyond. If that’s the case, stick to DMG and MM.
The three core books are a must, as everyone here already stated, and you'd definitely want your own copy of the PHB. After you get a feel for those books, you'll probably want to get the expansion books: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Mordenkaninen's Tome of Foes (out of print but can still be found and I prefer it over the new Monsters of the Multiverse book that replaced it). Those books will help you and your players with a ton of added content.
Also, if you're new to DM'ing, the books alone may or may not make complete sense to you in how to use and how to run a campaign. That's where you really want to seek out information elsewhere like here, YouTube, reddit, Discord, and/or any number of online resources. As a new DM myself, there were some things that just reading in the book(s) I didn't quite understand the concept. That's where YouTube and reddit really helped me out.
Edit: also meant to add Volo's Guide to Monsters. That and Tome of Foes were preferred over Monsters of the Multiverse for me.
Most of the rules-rules in the PHB are free, published as the Basic Rules. Most of the remainder that's in the PHB only is extra races, spells, feats, and subclasses, which you'll want to be familiar with to know your players' characters' abilities, but in terms of knowing the rules of running the game, the Basic Rules should cover most of that.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
I'd agree with eventually getting Tasha's and Xanathar's - they have quite a bit of useful supplementary material and player character options. However, personally, I would then get Monsters of the Multiverse rather than the out of print Tome of Foes.
There are a couple of reasons. MotMM has a lot of updated player race options from Volo's (also out of print) and elsewhere. It also has most of the creatures from ToF and uses whatever newer stat block format that WotC is shifting to using. I haven't compared the roster of creatures in ToF to MotMM but in most cases the difference won't matter to most DMs. There are lots of monster choices between the MM and MotMM that whatever additional is in ToF won't usually be missed.
If you can only buy two, then the monsters list and encounter builder here on D&D Beyond will do you. So I'd suggest Players Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide.
As to progressing on, I'd avoid Tasha's Cauldron it really wasn't worth the money and is to date my biggest regret when it comes to buying source books. Xanathar's was much more helpful to me as a DM.
If money is a limit and you want to maximise your progress as a DM though, I would suggest the Essentials Kit and Dungeon Masters' Guide. That way you have the core DM stuff you *need* and an adventure to start learning to DM from.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
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