What books do you need to run 5e? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Grod_The_Giant

2016-08-22, 03:48 PM

You don't need anything beyond the three core books, no. You barely need the DMG; if you can copy the encounter rules from a friend, you can do without it entirely as long as you're prepared to make up your own magic items as-needed. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide is utter crap; there's one or two interesting archetypes* and two game-changing cantrips**, but the rest of it is just setting information. The Elemental Evil Player's Companion is nice, with some new races and spells, but it's a pretty standard player-splat that just happens to be free--there's nothing really new there.

Everything 5e (https://drive.google.com/open?id=18y_5XYSAnPwx0ibtXJER2k7gEFA8z4A8QySK0wngi _Y), for reference.

*Sun Soul "kamehameha" Monk and Bladesinger Wizard, mostly
**The melee cantrips (Green Flame Blade and Booming Blade) you may have heard about, they give anyone who takes them a scaling bonus to damage that comes out roughly similar to Extra Attack. Great for gishes and anyone who multiclasses a lot.

Tanarii

2016-08-22, 03:50 PM

On the DMG:
You don't really need it. But it's a great idea to read the "Running the Game" section a couple of times somewhere along the line before trying to run your first game. It fills in a lot of the blanks and corrects a lot of common misconceptions about how the rules should be applied. Lots of "experienced" DMs seem to make the mistake of skipping over or not really digesting & thinking about this section. (I don't advocate piracy or anything like that. Ask a friend if you can borrow it for a few days or a week.)

The campaign & adventure stuff in the DMG before that it more or less useful depending on how much you want to create a game that's used in a more classic D&D way, or how new you are to D&D. IMO even experienced DMs can potentially benefit from reading everything before the running the game section. But if you've got lots of DMing, adventure building and world building experience, you can get by without it just fine. If you're running existing modules in an existing campaign world, you don't need it. And if you know exactly what you want to do or already have an existing campaign, you don't need it.

The DMs toolkit section is more a reference section of handy variant rules and ways to do make things up yourself. If you run stuff straight out of the box without variants, don't make up your own monsters, classes, backgrounds, spells, etc, you can do without. (Or if you don't feel you need an assist for that stuff.)

Edit: The building an encounter rules portion of the DMG is online, http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
The running the game portion isn't included, which is a damn shame. It's mostly just encounter building and some monsters.

Addaran

2016-08-22, 04:42 PM

You already have all the books needed. Theorecally, you can do with none, since there's the light-version of the player handbook for free ( you just don't have all the classes/archtypes).

Wizards give a free teaser of at least one of their adventure: http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/DDEN_PrincesoftheApocalypse.pdf
Could be useful to see example of encounters/story.

BobTheOrc

2016-08-22, 06:51 PM

Other than the obvious three core rule books what would you recommend?

I've got the three core rule books and the starter set but I'm wondering if that's enough is there something else I should be considering picking up?

You really don't need more than the core three, unless you're running a published campaign and need that.

SpawnOfMorbo

2016-08-22, 06:55 PM

Belac93

2016-08-22, 06:58 PM

You don't need anything else, but I would suggest picking up either the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (some new subclass and subrace options), or Volo's Guide to Monster's coming out in November (bunch of new monsters, and some new races).

2D8HP

2016-08-22, 07:17 PM

While on another thread I posted a
long rant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21127207#post21127207) on how I prefer real bound and printed books, if you have.paper, ink, and a printer, you don't actually need any books at all!
See the player's basic rules here (http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/players-basic-rules), and the
DM's basic rules here. (http://dnd.wizards.com/node/6526).

While I often go on rants about how things were better in "Ye olden times", it's pretty hard to beat free!
:biggrin:

Arkhios

2016-08-23, 12:25 AM

Well sadly this edition only has one splat book, so you basically have everything you will really "need".

Sadly? I'd say thank the gods of the multiverse! :biggrin:

Only one? Why waste good paper on nonsense crap that's bound to get fiddly and eventually cause the whole game to fall apart from too many conflicting exceptions. Yeah. One splat book is enough for now.
The proverb "less is more" is especially true with splat books. Less set-in-stone lore leaves more room for imagination. :wink:

Quintessence

2016-08-23, 01:12 AM

Sadly? I'd say thank the gods of the multiverse! :biggrin:

Only one? Why waste good paper on nonsense crap that's bound to get fiddly and eventually cause the whole game to fall apart from too many conflicting exceptions. Yeah. One splat book is enough for now.
The proverb "less is more" is especially true with splat books. Less set-in-stone lore leaves more room for imagination. :wink:

Speak for yourself, I want my Eberron and Artificer :(

Arkhios

2016-08-23, 01:58 AM

Speak for yourself, I want my Eberron and Artificer :(

Patience, young padawan. Patience.

Keith Baker himself suggested (http://keith-baker.com/hacking-5e-eberron/) using your imagination, reskinning, and reflavoring before official support is out.

Quintessence

2016-08-23, 02:38 AM

Patience, young padawan. Patience.

Keith Baker himself suggested (http://keith-baker.com/hacking-5e-eberron/) using your imagination, reskinning, and reflavoring before official support is out.

Yeah I saw that... The problem is that nothing is quite like the artificer. I did find some homebrew I want to try though for a artificer.

I'll just keep waiting until I am old and gray.

Hopeless

2016-08-23, 03:43 AM

Some of us would love to run Final Fantasy meets Casablanca that is Eberron!😉

SpawnOfMorbo

2016-08-23, 08:25 AM

Sadly? I'd say thank the gods of the multiverse! :biggrin:

Only one? Why waste good paper on nonsense crap that's bound to get fiddly and eventually cause the whole game to fall apart from too many conflicting exceptions. Yeah. One splat book is enough for now.
The proverb "less is more" is especially true with splat books. Less set-in-stone lore leaves more room for imagination. :wink:

Sarcasm or not...

This game is already fiddly, the lack of support for the multitude of settings, playstyles, and character types is down right pathetic on WotC's part.

imneuromancer

2016-08-23, 09:25 AM

Well sadly this edition only has one splat book, so you basically have everything you will really "need".

Sadly? Anyone who has played 2e/3e/4e/Pathfinder would say, "thankfully."

SpawnOfMorbo

2016-08-23, 09:31 AM

Sadly? Anyone who has played 2e/3e/4e/Pathfinder would say, "thankfully."

WRONG

Every single person I've played 2e, 3e, and 4e with are begging for more splat support.

I've played all of them and would rather a company put effort into their product then be lazy.

Logosloki

2016-08-23, 09:41 AM

At minimum the free basic rules. There is Player's basic and DM's basic.

Both resources will give you a good selection of Races, Classes, Backgrounds, NPCs and magic items to get you going. Use these as the template to make your own stuff as needed.

Outside of that there is the Unearthed Arcana series , The companion PDFs to the adventures that Wizard puts out, A very nifty pdf on Zendikar and I think there are some adventures for free from the Adventures league (someone did say to me, never followed it up). After that there are plenty of free/pay what you want resources on the DM's guild.

In short, you could run the game on a budget of the cost of power, an internet connection and paper (unless your country's libraries will provide the internet and power for you, then you just need paper and even then that is more convenience).

CorranH

2016-08-23, 09:54 AM

Speak for yourself, I want my Eberron and Artificer :(

There is an Unearthed Arcana (http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/UA_Eberron_v1.1.pdf) on Eberron that has an Artificer path for the wizard class

Tanarii

2016-08-23, 09:56 AM

Sadly? I'd say thank the gods of the multiverse! :biggrin:
Yeah, I'm glad I don't have to keep a stack of books in the corner to paw through during play any more. It's all very well for players to have more options, but when they never actually write down the full text of the feature or spell they're using, so you have to go back to the book to make a ruling on the damn thing ...

Not to count how splat material, official or not, has historically been notoriously unbalanced ...

It's fine as long as the splat isn't official, like UA. But as soon as it is, everyone and their mother assumes it's there for use and the default/baseline way to play. I mean, look at SCAG. You can't find a magical melee Build thread any more without the SCAG cantrips raising their ugly head, and even for builds not focusing around that they're usually assumed. (Edit: for reference, I allow SCAG material in FR based adventures, which are most of my one shots. Not in my baseline campaign.)

Another example are Point Buy and Feats. They're a variant rule in the PHB itself. They're commonly used, enough so it makes some sense to assume they're in play. But including them as official makes some people get all smack talky if you dare suggest that they might not be a part of a game somewhere.

Daishain

2016-08-23, 10:19 AM

Sadly? Anyone who has played 2e/3e/4e/Pathfinder would say, "thankfully."
Nope, definitely not. Now it might be true to state that those who got frustrated with 3.x with all the unbalanced splat to the point that they quit playing would all say "thankfully", but that's a rather niche group. I'm actually playing with a Pathfinder group that has sworn not to make the move to 5E until it "gets its act together" in regards to content.

Myself, while I see the problems inherent in letting splat get out of control, I keep looking for ways to greatly expand upon 5e's default options, and a moderate quantity of officially vetted splat content would help greatly in that regard. Whether or not WOTC can keep the balance is another question and to some degree irrelevant. Balance tweaking content is a heck of a lot easier than producing homebrew from nothing.

2D8HP

2016-08-23, 11:17 AM

WRONG

Every single person I've played 2e, 3e, and 4e with are begging for more splat support.

I've played all of them and would rather a company put effort into their product then be lazy.I'm guessing that "splat" means PC options, I'm neutral on that, and I have never played 2e, 3e, and 4e.
I have played a lot of 0e, 1e long ago, and now 5e, and what I would very much like to see is print on demand and mail order of the riches at the DM's Guild instead of only pdf's (or to be able to have FLGS's get them for me) , and the ability to order by phone (Because of some theft, I don't feel safe ordering "online").

Arkhios

2016-08-23, 11:55 AM

WRONG

Every single person I've played 2e, 3e, and 4e with are begging for more splat support.

I've played all of them and would rather a company put effort into their product then be lazy.

Wrong (without caps and emphasis), because I've played 3e, Pathfinder, and 4e very actively, and I still prefer not to have the dizzying amount of books and additional material to scour through to be completely aware of every possible option. It's exhausting and frustrating.

imneuromancer

2016-08-23, 12:06 PM

I'm actually playing with a Pathfinder group that has sworn not to make the move to 5E until it "gets its act together" in regards to content.

Some people just want to see the world burn.

Belac93

2016-08-23, 02:15 PM

I want a couple more splatbooks (like, EEPG/SCAG/Volo's guide to monsters races) that have several options, and then just some small little tidbits in published adventures (new subclass, new race, that sort of thing).

I do agree that we don't need a ton more, but one or two would be great.

Daishain

2016-08-23, 02:19 PM

Some people just want to see the world burn.
And some just want a plethora of character options so that they can make their niche character concept without bugging the DM for homebrew. Is that really something horrible?

BW022

2016-08-23, 02:48 PM

Other than the obvious three core rule books what would you recommend?

I've got the three core rule books and the starter set but I'm wondering if that's enough is there something else I should be considering picking up?

If you are a new DM... I would recommend the three core books and a setting book -- either Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Eberron, etc. WotC only has the Sword Coast Adventurer's book (Forgotten Realms) published for 5E. However, older 3/3.5 books for these settings typically work fine. Some are even available free for download. You will typically find that these save a lot of work coming up with a consistent world.

Add to this...

Friends to play it with
Place to play
Dice, pens, paper

A number of game stores, comic shops, gaming clubs, etc. may be in your area or have a website. There is also organized play games around. These can be great places to find people already playing. I would generally recommend that you play as a player under 5e for a few sessions in order to get a better handle on the system before DMing yourself.

TheOctopus

2016-08-23, 02:49 PM

Technically, you've got everything you'd ever need to run 5E already. More than you need, really, especially since the basic rules are free.

The Unearthed Arcana stuff is pretty decent, for the most part, if you want player-focused stuff. And the Tome of Beasts by Kobold Press is seriously awesome if you're looking for cool, brutal new monsters to threaten the party.

Tanarii

2016-08-23, 02:57 PM

And some just want a plethora of character options so that they can make their niche character concept without bugging the DM for homebrew. Is that really something horrible?Only when players assume that splat content will be available in a campaign, and throw attitude when it's not allowed.

Edit: of course, if your group is a bunch of friends gaming together, it's reasonable for the DM and players to work together to resolve what is and isn't allowed. That hasn't been the type of game I've played in since college, so I don't tend to assume that's what a 'normal' game will look like. :smallwink:

Quintessence

2016-08-23, 03:23 PM

Sadly? Anyone who has played 2e/3e/4e/Pathfinder would say, "thankfully."

Interesting because I played all of those and I still am looking for at least 2-3 more books :/

Hopeless

2016-08-23, 03:45 PM

So say I'd want to run 5e Faerun is the Sword Coast book essential?

Quintessence

2016-08-23, 03:49 PM

So say I'd want to run 5e Faerun is the Sword Coast book essential?

Not at all, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (SCAG) is a fairly barebones book when it comes to character options and instead focuses more on lore and world building.

Tanarii

2016-08-23, 03:50 PM

So say I'd want to run 5e Faerun is the Sword Coast book essential?How well do you know the forgotten realms, and how much do you care about the changes made to the setting between whatever edition you last played/ran it and this edition?

IMO it's got lots of good background info a DM can use to build a campaign off of. OTOH in AD&D 1e my 'set in Forgotten Realms' campaign involved skimming the books to get a rough idea of what the Dalelands & Cormyr were about in terms of political structure, and then basically inventing everything except the Map. You could totally do that without the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

Edit:
Not at all, the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (SCAG) is a fairly barebones book when it comes to character options and instead focuses more on lore and world building.
That's not an argument against buying it if you're planning to run a campaign in Faerun. It's an argument against buying it if you're planning on being a player in a campaign in Faerun.