What 5th edition books should I be buying?

jayoungr · Jun 4, 2019

der_kluge said:
So yea, great suggestions. I've added both monster books, and Arcanis to my list. Those look like great resources.

What was the main thing you liked about Xanathar's Guide to Everything, by the way?

Are there good resources around POIs? I've been wanting a good book that has generic places of interest that I can use to populate a city with. Like what Bluffside had (and I use a lot of those, honestly), but something a bit more generic. Like, here's a blacksmith, what he can make, his personality, and plot hooks around the blacksmith, etc. Something like that would be gold - otherwise, I'll go write the dang thing myself.

Do you mean something like this? (It's for Pathfinder, but the fluff would still work for 5E.) https://www.dmsguild.com/product/18834/Magic-Merchants-1-House-of-the-Transformed-Toad

Here are a bunch of shopkeeper NPCs with quests, although it doesn't include descriptions of places: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/270469/Shopkeeper-NPCs

There's a free series of encounters with NPC stats--not so much location-based, but they're free, so you might as well check them out to see if there's anything you can use:
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/266699/So-a-Wizards-Apprentice-and-a-Demon-Walk-Into-a-Magic-Shop
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/231101/So-a-Cleric-and-a-Vampire-Walk-into-a-Tavern
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/267575/So-a-Blind-Woman-and-a-Medusa-Walk-Along-the-Road

And here are a couple of free inns/taverns (no stats needed):
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/142388/The-Broken-Coin-Inn?cPath=338_10504
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/118775/The-Cozy-Hearth-Inn?cPath=338_10504

I'm sure there's plenty more like this if you poke around a little on Drivethrurpg and the DMs' Guild.

Greg K · Jun 4, 2019

Here is a bunch of stuff that I like from the DMs Guild organized by author/publisher. Most of it is free or Pay What you Want

5MWD (ENWorlds own "Jester" David Gibson) (edit: Also check out his website 5MWD.com)

[*]5MWD Presents: Maneuvers & Commander $.50
[*]5 Minute Work Day Presents: Legendary Monsters $.50
[*]5MWD Presents: Variant Rules $.50

5 New Playable Backgrounds (Adam Thomas)

No Magic D&D (Arcana Games)

Martial Arms Training Manual (Clan Crafter Hralding)

B.A. Morrier

Expanded Rules for Damage Types (B.A. Morrier)
Variant Rules for Cantrips (B.A. Morrier)

David J. Moore

Music Aeternam: A Bardic Handbook
Teachings of the Inner Temple $1.99

(Not So) Legendary Actions (Igor Moreno)

15 New Backgrounds (James Introcaso)

The Warlord (Jody Lee Johnson) (Note: There is also a Marshall class by the author that is an older version of this class)

Blood Magic 5e (Joshua Raynack)

Improved Backgrounds (Mean Eye Games)

Shaman Class (Michael Wolf)

Shaman Class by Pattycakee (Patrick Mitrega)

Benjamin Huffman (Sterling Vermin Publishing) (Note: also check out Sterling Vermins website)

[*]Scholar Class
[*]Sorcerer Revisited

Grimlore's Grimoire (Trevor Armstrong)

Walrock Homebrew (Note: Also check out Walrock Homebrew's website

[*]Fortresses Temples & Strongholds (already mentioned)
[*]Traders & Merchants
Expanded & Exotic Weapons
Codex of the Waves

ART! · Jun 4, 2019

I'd recommend Cubicle 7's Adventures in Middle-earth, if you want a look at lots of little ways to tweak 5E to achieve a different tone. It's very good in every way you would want a 5E 3rd party product to be good. I'm talking about the Player's Guide here. I haven't actually read the Loremaster's Guide, but I imagine there's a lot of good stuff there, too.

77IM · Jun 4, 2019

If we are getting into digital, the best thing I've spent money on, by far, is ENWorld En5ider. There's a huge diversity of stuff there, most of it is very high-quality. The articles are just long enough to have some meat, while being short enough to digest easily.

Satyrn · Jun 4, 2019

DM Dave1 said:
Both enormous Kobold Press monster books are chock full of such a great variety of monsters that it is a challenge to not find something to fit your desired CR, environment, monster type, alignment, etc.

Do they have low-CR demons and devils?

The biggest lack for me is a variety of fiendish fodder.

Ralif Redhammer · Jun 4, 2019

My recollection is that there are a few, but most of them are mid-to-high CR.

Satyrn said:
Do they have low-CR demons and devils?

The biggest lack for me is a variety of fiendish fodder.

jayoungr · Jun 4, 2019

Satyrn said:
Do they have low-CR demons and devils?

The biggest lack for me is a variety of fiendish fodder.

Some, depending on how low you're talking about. The Tome of Beasts has an Ink Devil of CR 2, then several devils and demons in the 6-9 range and some more in the 11-14 range. The Creature Codex has a CR 1/2 devil and a CR 4 devil, as well as demons ranging from CR 2 to CR 9.

Swarmkeeper · Jun 5, 2019

Satyrn said:
Do they have low-CR demons and devils?

The biggest lack for me is a variety of fiendish fodder.

Here are the CR 0 to 5 Fiends from Tome of Beasts and the Creature Codex that I see:

1/4
Kalke - Fiend - ToB

1/2
Execrable Shrub - Fiend - CC
Fire Imp - Fiend (Devil) - CC

1
Gumienniki - Fiend (Shapechanger) - CC

2
Ink Devil - Fiend (Devil) - ToB
Kuunganisha - Fiend - CC
Wind Demon - Fiend (Demon) - CC

3
Pishacha - Fiend (Demon, Shapechanger) - CC
Plaresh - Fiend (Demon, Swarm) - CC

4
Rattok - Fiend (Demon) - CC
Spawn of Chernobog - Fiend - CC
Wind’s Harp - Fiend (Devil) - CC
Yek - Fiend (Demon) - CC

5
Bouda - Fiend (Shapechanger) - ToB
Cipactli - Fiend (Demon) - CC
Dream Eater - Fiend - ToB
Karakura - Fiend (Shapechanger) - CC
Spawn of Akyishigal - Fiend (Demon) - ToB
Spawn of Arbeyach - Fiend (Devil) - ToB
Spawn of Parzelon -Fiend (Devil) - CC
Spree - Fiend (Demon) - CC

Swarmkeeper · Jun 5, 2019

Greg K said:
Here is a bunch of stuff that I like from the DMs Guild organized by author/publisher. Most of it is free or Pay What you Want

5MWD (ENWorlds own "Jester" David Gibson)

[*]5MWD Presents: Maneuvers & Commander $.50
[*]5 Minute Work Day Presents: Legendary Monsters $.50
[*]5MWD Presents: Variant Rules $.50

5 New Playable Backgrounds (Adam Thomas)

No Magic D&D (Arcana Games)

Martial Arms Training Manual (Clan Crafter Hralding)

B.A. Morrier

Expanded Rules for Damage Types (B.A. Morrier)

Variant Rules for Cantrips (B.A. Morrier)

David J. Moore

Music Aeternam: A Bardic Handbook

Teachings of the Inner Temple $1.99

(Not So) Legendary Actions (Igor Moreno)

15 New Backgrounds (James Introcaso)

The Warlord (Jody Lee Johnson) (Note: There is also a Marshall class by the author that is an older version of this class)

Blood Magic 5e (Joshua Raynack)

Improved Backgrounds (Mean Eye Games)

Shaman Class (Michael Wolf)

Shaman Class by Pattycakee (Patrick Mitrega)

Benjamin Huffman (Sterling Vermin Publishing) (Note: also check out Sterling Vermins website)

[*]Scholar Class
[*]Sorcerer Revisited

Grimlore's Grimoire (Trevor Armstrong)

Walrock Homebrew (Note: Also check out Walrock Homebrew's website

[*]Fortresses Temples & Strongholds (already mentioned)
[*]Traders & Merchants

Expanded & Exotic Weapons

Codex of the Waves

This is a great list!

I'd also add these Pay-What-You-Want PDF cornucopias (cornucopiae?) from DriveThruRPG and DMsGuild:

Nerzugal's Game Master Toolkit
Nerzugal's Dungeon Master Toolkit
Nerzugal's Dungeon Master Toolkit 2

Xaelvaen · Jun 5, 2019

der_kluge said:
But I'm left wondering if there are any really good 5e books from 3pp that I should be really checking out - PDF or book form. What am I missing?

Mini-Dungeon Tome - over 130 adventures for 5th edition, each roughly only 2 pages long. Great for random drop-in data for practically any setting and terrain. There is also an available map pack for this, which I got the VTT version.

Limitless Monsters - new monsters with attached plot hook ideas.

I backed both of these books in kickstarter, and am quite fond of them. I recommend giving them a look.

Player's Options - Talents - from the DM's guild, a book that adds a new customization to characters, relatively well balanced. I haven't checked out the second one, yet.

What 5th edition books should I be buying?

jayoungr

Legend

Greg K

Legend

ART!

Deluxe Unhuman

77IM

Explorer!!!

Satyrn

First Post

Ralif Redhammer

Legend

jayoungr

Legend

Swarmkeeper

Hero

Swarmkeeper

Hero

Xaelvaen

Stuck in the 90s

Similar Threads