Any other books out there worth it?

[Necron]

So it's been... What? Since Q3 2014 when 5E came out... Have any other must have books come out yet?

I know they seem to begoing in a whole quality over quantity direction.... and seem to think adventures are where it's at but.... Not one splat in like 18 months?

I have no intention to ever buy a canned adventure. Every session I run is pure me, why would I want to pay WOTC to do the fun part of my job as DM?

But I am finding that while the core books are good, where are all the sourcebook options from 3.5 or 4? Where are the thousands of additional monsters? Spells? Feats? Items? Class Options? Psionics?

Are there any legitimate options out there with sizable crunch to add character/monster options to go buy? Or are are all the options hidden in crappy adventures? Is 5E really just going to be a go homebrew it yourself generation of D&D?

Sort of disappointed that there aren't a few more non adventure books worth buying. Am I just a 3.5e guy trying to live in a 5e world?

[mgshamster]

New race, class, spells, backgrounds in the Sword Coast Adventure Guide (the only true splat book out there).

Some new background options in Out of the Abyss and Curse of Strahd.

A few new races options in the free players guide to Princes of the Apocalypse.

Last week they announced a new monster playable races book and a Volo Guide to give greater details on certain monsters. Plus with the new adventure coming out, there will be new rules for a new mechanic on rune magic. And likely some new backgrounds. I think they're also going to release a MM2, but I'm not certain.

[MrStabby]

So there is the DM guild, a kind of amateurish home brewers forum. It might have what you want.

Personally it isn't for me for the same reason you won't buy other peoples adventures. I enjoy enabling characters with my players and have no interest in delegating that to someone else.

[BrianDavion]

There's the sword coast adventurer's guide. it's primarily a campaign setting type book, but has some crunch in it. 2 new Barbarian primal paths, 1 new Cleric divine domain, 1 new fighter archtype, 2 new Monk Monastic Traditions, 1 New Paladin Oath, 2 new rogue archtypes, 1 new sorc Orgin, 1 new Warlock Pact, and 1 new Wizard tradtion.
as well as 12 new Orgins, and 3 cantrips.

[BrianDavion]

New race, class, spells, backgrounds in the Sword Coast Adventure Guide (the only true splat book out there).

Some new background options in Out of the Abyss and Curse of Strahd.

A few new races options in the free players guide to Princes of the Apocalypse.

Last week they announced a new monster playable races book and a Volo Guide to give greater details on certain monsters. Plus with the new adventure coming out, there will be new rules for a new mechanic on rune magic. And likely some new backgrounds. I think they're also going to release a MM2, but I'm not certain.

I imagine MM2 will come out eventually and mostly just serve as a collection of critters culled from their adventures

[Necron]

I imagine MM2 will come out eventually and mostly just serve as a collection of critters culled from their adventures

Would general thought be that they'll eventually publish tome of blah style books with collections of options from the adventures?

[JackPhoenix]

I'm pretty sure "MM2" is called Volo's guide to monsters. With the release rate so far, I wouldn't count on getting another monster book anytime soon... why would WotC release that sort of thing two years in a row?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Are there any legitimate options out there with sizable crunch to add character/monster options to go buy? Or are are all the options hidden in crappy adventures? Is 5E really just going to be a go homebrew it yourself generation of D&D?
Pretty much. SCAG has a tiny amount of new stuff, as does the Temple of Elemental Evil Player's Companion, but in general they're just not releasing much. I think they saw Pazio making most of their money from adventure paths and figured that was the way to go-- I heard somewhere that D&D doesn't make them much money.

[mgshamster]

I'm pretty sure "MM2" is called Volo's guide to monsters. With the release rate so far, I wouldn't count on getting another monster book anytime soon... why would WotC release that sort of thing two years in a row?

You're right.

This is what Volo's Guide will have (release date November 15):

1) over 100 new monsters (effectively making this a MM 2).
2) New playable monster race options. So far we know of the Orc, goblin, and firbolg.
3) An expose on classic monsters, giving more detail on the monster lore and lairs. So far, we know about orcs, gnolls, Kobold's, mind Flayers, beholders, and yuan-ti.

[Fruitbat1919]

I'm looking forward to the Volo guide to Monsters. Really loved the 4th ed TttNV Monster Vault. Maybe though it's the fluff with the monster stats I love🙂

[Belac93]

There was a tweet a few days ago that also teased a possible catfolk race coming out, and there is a list of unearthed arcana in my signature (stuff that is released by wizards for a bit of playtesting every 2 months).

[Azedenkae]

Stuff in the first post.

Hi mate,

I think with 5e, what has been going on is that Wizard is trying to cater to newcomers, like brand new ones. Which is why to 3.5ers, or even 4ers like me, it does seem a bit lacking. There's not enough... choices to play with, at least not as much as we are used to. But it has to be considered that given how there are many newbies - or at least part of the target audience is them, the books that has been coming out almost is to provide a basis for them to build up on. I myself have never DMed until about two weeks ago, and I really appreciate these pre-made adventures. It gives me ideas and teaches me how to deal with situations, even if I may or may not agree with them - which eventually will build up my own way to run campaigns. But they are useful though.

Anyways, a bit of imo why I think it's not bad/why Wizards is publishing so many campaigns.

To answer your question, SCAG (Sword Coast Adventure Guide) to me has been a lot of fun. While it does not add that much more to races, classes, and backgrounds, it is good to see more general stuff about Faerun and the world.

Otherwise... still waiting on the next PHB. :P

[Slipperychicken]

Elemental evil player's guide has a lot of races and spells in it. Unearthed Arcana articles are also good for new options, even if they're half-baked.


I think WotC simply heard all our complaining about power creep that happened partly through splatbooks in 3rd edition, so they're just not going to put out as many character options as quickly.