Hi! I’m pretty new to D&D Beyond, and I was trying to decide what books to buy, but there’s a lot of them, so I was wondering which ones are the best. I’m more into character creation than DM stuff, so I’ll probably get Player’s Handbook, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (since it has a ton of races), and the two subclass options from Dungeon Master’s Guide. Anything else that y’all think would be really important? I don’t know what’s in a lot of the books, so for all I know, I could be missing out on some crucial stuff.
Xanathar's Guide to Everything has a lot of subclasses and spells, as well as some neat racial feats.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has even more subclasses and spells, plus giving the ability to Customize Your Origin and pick Optional Class Features (requires the full book to use those.)
There are the basic rules available of you wish to try the game for free, plus an adventure - Lost Mine of Phandelver. Not my favourite, but it's free, so not bad.
If you are committed to paying, my recommendations are:
1. PHB. Get full book.
That's about it. After that, it's all very optional. Bear in mind that you get the monsters for free with the adventures, so don't buy books for the monsters unless you're homebrewing. Also bear in mind that if you buy a part of a book, say the Artificer Armourer subclass from Tasha's, then the whole book will be discounted by what you paid for it. There's no losing out by buying piecemeal, so buybl what you need. One day, you might find that it's only $2 to finish the book and do so - but you don't need to rush buying it to save money.
Books I'd recommend if you're wanting to expand are Xanathar’s and Tasha's. Good books, although not essential.
As for Monsters of the Multiverse...I'd actually recommend waiting. There quite a few playable races in the PHB, I'd stick with those until you get the itch to expand. It'll make you appreciate them more as well as saving pennies. When you do want the other races, buy the pack of them rather than the entire book - unless you're homebrewing adventures.
Beyond that, it's any adventures you fancy running. If you want advice on those, let us know your tastes and we'll see if we can fine one that you might like.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I recommend getting the essentials kit (physical bundle product) for new players that haven't bought anything yet.
It comes with everything you need to play an adventure (that it comes with) including some slightly expanded basic rules, but also comes with 2 codes for DDB. 1 gives you half off the PHB, the other gives you a free digital copy of the adventure the bundle comes with as well as 3 follow-up adventures free.
After that: XGtE, TCoE, and MotM gives you the most player options.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi! I’m pretty new to D&D Beyond, and I was trying to decide what books to buy, but there’s a lot of them, so I was wondering which ones are the best. I’m more into character creation than DM stuff, so I’ll probably get Player’s Handbook, Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (since it has a ton of races), and the two subclass options from Dungeon Master’s Guide. Anything else that y’all think would be really important? I don’t know what’s in a lot of the books, so for all I know, I could be missing out on some crucial stuff.
-Wintyr, They/Them; He/Him
*roars in Draconic*
Xanathar's Guide to Everything has a lot of subclasses and spells, as well as some neat racial feats.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has even more subclasses and spells, plus giving the ability to Customize Your Origin and pick Optional Class Features (requires the full book to use those.)
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Thank you! I’ll be sure to check them out.
-Wintyr, They/Them; He/Him
*roars in Draconic*
There are the basic rules available of you wish to try the game for free, plus an adventure - Lost Mine of Phandelver. Not my favourite, but it's free, so not bad.
If you are committed to paying, my recommendations are:
1. PHB. Get full book.
That's about it. After that, it's all very optional. Bear in mind that you get the monsters for free with the adventures, so don't buy books for the monsters unless you're homebrewing. Also bear in mind that if you buy a part of a book, say the Artificer Armourer subclass from Tasha's, then the whole book will be discounted by what you paid for it. There's no losing out by buying piecemeal, so buybl what you need. One day, you might find that it's only $2 to finish the book and do so - but you don't need to rush buying it to save money.
Books I'd recommend if you're wanting to expand are Xanathar’s and Tasha's. Good books, although not essential.
As for Monsters of the Multiverse...I'd actually recommend waiting. There quite a few playable races in the PHB, I'd stick with those until you get the itch to expand. It'll make you appreciate them more as well as saving pennies. When you do want the other races, buy the pack of them rather than the entire book - unless you're homebrewing adventures.
Beyond that, it's any adventures you fancy running. If you want advice on those, let us know your tastes and we'll see if we can fine one that you might like.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I recommend getting the essentials kit (physical bundle product) for new players that haven't bought anything yet.
It comes with everything you need to play an adventure (that it comes with) including some slightly expanded basic rules, but also comes with 2 codes for DDB. 1 gives you half off the PHB, the other gives you a free digital copy of the adventure the bundle comes with as well as 3 follow-up adventures free.
After that: XGtE, TCoE, and MotM gives you the most player options.