Im a relatively new player who usually is the DM in my home games. As the title says, I already have the dam's guide and the PHB, but I don't know what other books to get. Ive cut it down to the monster manual, xanathars guide to everything and the volo's guide to monsters. I also like playing as unique characters with obscure races and weird classes (eg: a fairy totem warrior barbarian (fairy stats from custom races)).I also like to keep my plates on edge with strange enemies and different encounters. Any help is much appreciated, thank you.
Most definitely Monster Manual, followed by either Volo's Guide to Monsters or Xanathar's Guite to Everything, depending on what you are more interested into (Volo = more weird races + new monsters and a lot of info on monsters in general ; XGtE = more class options and variant rules that can be interesting to spice-up your game)
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I started with the Player's Handbook, then went with the Dungeon Master's Guide, followed by the Monster Manual. That was what I used for awhile, and then eventually grabbed Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and just recently got Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes. I plan to backtrack and get the others eventually, but really the first three are all you need, and you can even get by with just the first two for your first few player levels.
PHB. DMG, and MM... and the quote in my signature is taken directly from the next source I own and the next source would recommend beyond those three.
(Sidenote: I own PHB, DMG, and MM in physical books and own PHB and XGtE as digital here on DDB.)
(Sidenote: The free Elemental Evil Player's Companion is automatically included with DDB's features and is freely downloadable as a PDF from the official WotC site as well. It includes a few more races. So... free stuff ftw.)
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
To me, the Monster Manual is worth it if you are going to end up using any published adventures at all. It is assumed that you have access to the holy trinity (PHB, DMG, MM) when reading through these adventures, and it will reference each of them many times.
But that being said, both Volo's and Xanathar's are well worth it. You can't choose wrong between the two, since they both have a wealth of additional fun options.
I have no interest in playing as a DM, but I recently bought Xanathar's Guide, and there is a STARTILING amount of info in there for DM's. It gets really specific, and I'm really impressed looking at the amount of thought that I see there.
Im a relatively new player who usually is the DM in my home games. As the title says, I already have the dam's guide and the PHB, but I don't know what other books to get. Ive cut it down to the monster manual, xanathars guide to everything and the volo's guide to monsters. I also like playing as unique characters with obscure races and weird classes (eg: a fairy totem warrior barbarian (fairy stats from custom races)).I also like to keep my plates on edge with strange enemies and different encounters. Any help is much appreciated, thank you.
Monster's Manual
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Agreed. That’s the foundation that all the monsters in other books build on.
Professional computer geek
Most definitely Monster Manual, followed by either Volo's Guide to Monsters or Xanathar's Guite to Everything, depending on what you are more interested into (Volo = more weird races + new monsters and a lot of info on monsters in general ; XGtE = more class options and variant rules that can be interesting to spice-up your game)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
There are enough free monster stats in basic rules to justify waiting to get monster manual (in my opinion).
XGtE is one of my favorite books. As many character options as the PHB and half as many rule and campaign options as DMG.
I started with the Player's Handbook, then went with the Dungeon Master's Guide, followed by the Monster Manual. That was what I used for awhile, and then eventually grabbed Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and just recently got Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes. I plan to backtrack and get the others eventually, but really the first three are all you need, and you can even get by with just the first two for your first few player levels.
I personally went in this order:
Player's Handbook
DM's guide
Xanathar's Guide to Everything
im a tad bit fruity
PHB. DMG, and MM... and the quote in my signature is taken directly from the next source I own and the next source would recommend beyond those three.
(Sidenote: I own PHB, DMG, and MM in physical books and own PHB and XGtE as digital here on DDB.)
(Sidenote: The free Elemental Evil Player's Companion is automatically included with DDB's features and is freely downloadable as a PDF from the official WotC site as well. It includes a few more races. So... free stuff ftw.)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Basic:
Players Handbook (PHB) > Monster Manual (MM) > Dungeon Masters Guide (DMG)
Expanded:
Xanathar's Guide to Everything (XGtE) > Volo's Guide to Monsters (VGM) > Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes, or a Campaign/Adventure Setting Book
To me, the Monster Manual is worth it if you are going to end up using any published adventures at all. It is assumed that you have access to the holy trinity (PHB, DMG, MM) when reading through these adventures, and it will reference each of them many times.
But that being said, both Volo's and Xanathar's are well worth it. You can't choose wrong between the two, since they both have a wealth of additional fun options.
Homebrewed by PhantomTim: Weapons | Items
If you are playing a specific world, buy that book, whichever one. Wildemont, Ravinca, etc.
If you are playing in a home brew, multiple worlds, etc. than XANTHER'S GUIDE.
Has most of the spells and most of the subclasses. Along with a bunch of other important stuff.
I have no interest in playing as a DM, but I recently bought Xanathar's Guide, and there is a STARTILING amount of info in there for DM's. It gets really specific, and I'm really impressed looking at the amount of thought that I see there.