I've been a GM for quitezme time, but is a total newbie when it comes to d&d. I'm a bit concerned for how many sourcebooks I should use when creating my campaigns and adventures. So far I have the three rulebooks as well as Xanathar, Volo and Mordekainens bolks. Is it too much to incorporate all of them in a campaign? And even more importantly: how many sourcebooks should I alow my players to use? I'm afraid that as a beginner I'll either alow to few and make some players unhzppy, or alow too many and have the characters become too op.
How many do you think is enough, which ones do you feel are the best ones and why?
It’s not too much to incorporate elements from all the sourcebooks into a campaign, as long as you’re clear on what the rules mean, and where they are in case you need to defend them in front of rules lawyering players. You’ll find you may only need a piece here and there from each of the books. Some spells, subclass options, and maybe a few rules on managing edge cases from Xanathar’s; maybe a monster from MTF or Volos. It’s really no big deal to sprinkle in monsters from other sources. It’s not like they come out rolling a d100 for initiative, making people say “Wait! You never said we’d be facing Volo’s Monsters!” If you’re doing a good job as a DM, all they see are setting-appropriate monsters and magic items.
I don’t think you have to worry about characters being too op from mixing and matching sourcebooks, if that’s what you’re worried about. I remember what a problem that got to be in other editions (looking at you late 3.5). But they’ve done a really good job of limiting power creep this time around. It helps that while they release new subclasses, they’ve only added one new full class (Artificer) in the Eberron book, and gotten rid of prestige classes altogether. Also there’s relatively few chances to make decisions about your character’s development (in mechanical terms), so there’s few chances to play games with what you choose. Some characters will still be better than others, but in general they end up being close in power and nothing gets too crazy.
To keep it balanced, use the AL rule of PHB+ 1. That means a player can only use the Player's Handbook and one of the other books to make their character with.
You've really managed to save me a lot of trouble!
I haven't heard of this AL rule before. Where can I read more of it? Also, (this might sound stupid) is it supposed to limit me as a GM as well? Or only my players?
I can’t speak to adventurers league, but if you’re the DM, use what you want. The issue I could see would be if you use a published setting, like eberron or ravinca. That would basically force players to use that same book, since they might otherwise miss out on setting specific features like guilds or houses. but if your player really wants a subclass in Xanathar’s, and now they can’t use it because you are saying eberron, they could get upset.
The game I’ve been playing in for years now has a wide open policy, as long as it’s officially published, we can use it, and no one has yet created some ridiculous character. TBH, we barely even multi class.
You've really managed to save me a lot of trouble!
I haven't heard of this AL rule before. Where can I read more of it? Also, (this might sound stupid) is it supposed to limit me as a GM as well? Or only my players?
It's Adventure League. It's a set of standard rules so you can take an AL character to any AL session in the world and play. By using phb+1 you keep a balance to what abilities players might get.
But it does limit players from picking up say Wildemount content or Ravnica content.
As the DM of course you're not limited by anything, and as a player there's something like over a trillion possible combinations of race/class/ feat/ skill combinations in the PHB alone.
But it's just a suggestion for balance. You could easily say "every book but Volo's" or "every race but Yuanti" or even "every class but Druid" if you want.
The core three books: PHB, DMG, MM; and I find these very useful as well: XGtE, VGtM, SCAG, E:RftLW, WGtE. I never use the AL PHB+1 rule, to me “standardized D&D” defeats the purpose.
I handle things on a basis of: What I really like and must have, What I like, What I don't like, and What I personally refuse to deal with. D&D has become progressively more and more cosmopolitan to the point it doesn't sometimes feel like D&D to me but more like Star Wars. I generally do not like or include the Warforged and a great deal of Ravnica, though I do allow the Artificer and some guns in a limited way, if the players lean that way. Other races may be allowed but be noted to have negative social / role playing aspects players should hear about up front, since it's a wee bit rude to just throw that out mid game. For a Campaign of your own, I generally recommend a fairly short Invitational Guide to what is and is not allowed along with any other house rules you plan to use, including method of character creation.
That's a lot of good suggestions and ideas. Thanks! I don't think I'll enforce the AL rules on my party as there doesn't seem to be much worry for unbalanced characters in this edition. I'm fairly restrictive with multiclassing (there needs to be a better reason than Rogue: "Hey! I just gained a level! Chopping down these orcs have really taught me a lot on druids, their laguage and spells".
Thanks for all the input, It's really helpful!
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Hi everyone!
I've been a GM for quitezme time, but is a total newbie when it comes to d&d. I'm a bit concerned for how many sourcebooks I should use when creating my campaigns and adventures. So far I have the three rulebooks as well as Xanathar, Volo and Mordekainens bolks. Is it too much to incorporate all of them in a campaign? And even more importantly: how many sourcebooks should I alow my players to use? I'm afraid that as a beginner I'll either alow to few and make some players unhzppy, or alow too many and have the characters become too op.
How many do you think is enough, which ones do you feel are the best ones and why?
Thanks mates!
It’s not too much to incorporate elements from all the sourcebooks into a campaign, as long as you’re clear on what the rules mean, and where they are in case you need to defend them in front of rules lawyering players. You’ll find you may only need a piece here and there from each of the books. Some spells, subclass options, and maybe a few rules on managing edge cases from Xanathar’s; maybe a monster from MTF or Volos. It’s really no big deal to sprinkle in monsters from other sources. It’s not like they come out rolling a d100 for initiative, making people say “Wait! You never said we’d be facing Volo’s Monsters!” If you’re doing a good job as a DM, all they see are setting-appropriate monsters and magic items.
I don’t think you have to worry about characters being too op from mixing and matching sourcebooks, if that’s what you’re worried about. I remember what a problem that got to be in other editions (looking at you late 3.5). But they’ve done a really good job of limiting power creep this time around. It helps that while they release new subclasses, they’ve only added one new full class (Artificer) in the Eberron book, and gotten rid of prestige classes altogether. Also there’s relatively few chances to make decisions about your character’s development (in mechanical terms), so there’s few chances to play games with what you choose.
Some characters will still be better than others, but in general they end up being close in power and nothing gets too crazy.
To keep it balanced, use the AL rule of PHB+ 1. That means a player can only use the Player's Handbook and one of the other books to make their character with.
Thanks every one!
You've really managed to save me a lot of trouble!
I haven't heard of this AL rule before. Where can I read more of it? Also, (this might sound stupid) is it supposed to limit me as a GM as well? Or only my players?
I can’t speak to adventurers league, but if you’re the DM, use what you want.
The issue I could see would be if you use a published setting, like eberron or ravinca. That would basically force players to use that same book, since they might otherwise miss out on setting specific features like guilds or houses. but if your player really wants a subclass in Xanathar’s, and now they can’t use it because you are saying eberron, they could get upset.
The game I’ve been playing in for years now has a wide open policy, as long as it’s officially published, we can use it, and no one has yet created some ridiculous character. TBH, we barely even multi class.
It's Adventure League. It's a set of standard rules so you can take an AL character to any AL session in the world and play. By using phb+1 you keep a balance to what abilities players might get.
But it does limit players from picking up say Wildemount content or Ravnica content.
As the DM of course you're not limited by anything, and as a player there's something like over a trillion possible combinations of race/class/ feat/ skill combinations in the PHB alone.
But it's just a suggestion for balance. You could easily say "every book but Volo's" or "every race but Yuanti" or even "every class but Druid" if you want.
The core three books: PHB, DMG, MM; and I find these very useful as well: XGtE, VGtM, SCAG, E:RftLW, WGtE. I never use the AL PHB+1 rule, to me “standardized D&D” defeats the purpose.
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I handle things on a basis of: What I really like and must have, What I like, What I don't like, and What I personally refuse to deal with. D&D has become progressively more and more cosmopolitan to the point it doesn't sometimes feel like D&D to me but more like Star Wars. I generally do not like or include the Warforged and a great deal of Ravnica, though I do allow the Artificer and some guns in a limited way, if the players lean that way. Other races may be allowed but be noted to have negative social / role playing aspects players should hear about up front, since it's a wee bit rude to just throw that out mid game. For a Campaign of your own, I generally recommend a fairly short Invitational Guide to what is and is not allowed along with any other house rules you plan to use, including method of character creation.
That's a lot of good suggestions and ideas. Thanks!
I don't think I'll enforce the AL rules on my party as there doesn't seem to be much worry for unbalanced characters in this edition. I'm fairly restrictive with multiclassing (there needs to be a better reason than Rogue: "Hey! I just gained a level! Chopping down these orcs have really taught me a lot on druids, their laguage and spells".
Thanks for all the input, It's really helpful!