D&D 5E What Books Would You Buy

[Dausuul]

It's really impossible for me to answer this question ahead of time, because what I buy is going to depend on a ton of factors. The one thing I can say for certain is that I will buy the core three: PHB, DMG, Monster Manual. Beyond that? It all depends on what's in the books and what I find myself looking for. Heck, it's possible that I will buy the core three, read them, be utterly repulsed, and swear off 5E forever. I think this is highly unlikely (most of what I've seen in the playtest to date has made me very optimistic about 5E), but it's not inconceivable.

That said, of the titles listed above, the ones that would be most likely to catch my eye:

• Player's Handbook
• Dungeon Master's Guide
• Monster Manual
• Manual of the Planes
• Deities and Demigods
• Dungeoneer's Survival Guide
• Wilderness Survival Guide
• Tome of Magic
• Magic Item Compendium/Adventurer's Vault

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Core three are my only "must have" books. Psionics Handbook, Oriental Adventures and Tome of Magic are my "almost core". They usually represent character options that I don't want to be automatic in my games, but that I want to have around, just in case.

 

[TerraDave]

I have no problem with books that have been (substantially) updated/revised for a new edition, as long as they are good.

So I would like the books on that list to be good enough that I get almost all of them.

 

[DEFCON 1]

If the 5E game is released this summer with the functionality of DDI intact for use in this new game... then that is my one "must-have" purchase.

I personally am a believer that the age of hardcover books has passed, and that a subscription model to get all my information electronically is my go-to for the future. As I also believe that is how WotC would prefer most of us played the game (since production costs are much less for getting the info out there through DDI than they are for printing and shipping hardcover books)... I wish to support them in their preferred method.

I might end up buying the three core books anyway just as a thank you (or especially if DDI doesn't have 5E functionality right off the bat)... but that'll be most likely the only books I'll buy. I found in 4E that my hardcover monster manuals, adventurer vaults, and splatbooks to be my least-opened material since the info was all available to me through DDI.

As far as other story-based material is concerned... I would expect that is most cases I wouldn't need those either, as the story material (from like Manual of the Planes, Deities and Demigods etc.) would be rather unchanged from previous editions of the books, and any crunch would eventually appear in DDI. Which I am fine with. To me... being a DDI member will be my way of supporting Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons & Dragons. I won't need to buy dead trees to do it.

 

[Umbran]

I personally am a believer that the age of hardcover books has passed, and that a subscription model to get all my information electronically is my go-to for the future. As I also believe that is how WotC would prefer most of us played the game (since production costs are much less for getting the info out there through DDI than they are for printing and shipping hardcover books)... I wish to support them in their preferred method.

Meanwhile, I'm on the other end of the scale. If the game really needs electronic support to be playable, I'm not really into it, thanks.

I'm probably good for the trinity - PHB, DMG, MM - so that I can play with the system. I'll worry about the rest only after I've seen if I'm really going to play the game enough to warrant them.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Meanwhile, I'm on the other end of the scale. If the game really needs electronic support to be playable, I'm not really into it, thanks.

How DARE you! Not embracing our online overlords! Shame, sir! Shaaaaaaaaaame!!!

 

[DMZ2112]

I'll buy the core books and the Manual of the Planes, because yay metasetting. Deities and Demigods is a toss-up, but I probably come down on the side of purchasing it (again, metasetting). I'll probably also toss in the survival guides because I haven't bought anything like that since AD&D1 and I like the D&D5 exploration rules.

I'll also buy the "Complete Book of Humanoids," but I'd prefer to see a system for monster characters built right into the MM, the way it was in D&D3.0.

I personally am a believer that the age of hardcover books has passed, and that a subscription model to get all my information electronically is my go-to for the future.

I dunno. If buy a book -- hell, if I buy /anything/ -- whether it's physical or electronic, I expect to have permanent access to it. I haven't yet embraced this crapsack future where corporations own the world and we just lease it from them.

Of course Wizards wants us to pay subscription fees -- it's practically free money! But I'm flabbergasted that any consumer would refer to that as their "go-to for the future." It's tossing gold pieces into a Sphere of Annihilation.

Personally, I'm with [MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION] -- I'll stick to paper or PDFs. If DDI ever becomes essentially mandatory the way it is for D&D4 I'll be sadly going back to Pathfinder without ever paying DDI a red cent. It's a social justice thing, for me -- subscriptions to game content are consumer abuse. I work too hard for my money to pay for access to content I've already purchased.

 

[amerigoV]

None of them anymore. Wizards is off the "buy sight unseen list". I do not mean it in a vicious way, just that what I want out of them now (settings, ideas, good adventures) does not seem to be in their product line. That does not mean I will not buy their products, but I do want to peruse them, get reviews, etc before getting them.

In the end, I probably will not get the main rules. I have plenty of systems where a fighter can kill an orc - I don't really need another one. I just want adventure/setting stuff that might look interesting and convert it to my preferred rule-set.

 

[DEFCON 1]

But I'm flabbergasted that any consumer would refer to that as their "go-to for the future." It's tossing gold pieces into a Sphere of Annihilation.

Nope... it's the realization that there's just too much crap lying around the house which never gets any use, that takes up too much space, and is too much of a pain in the tuchas to move around. Anyone who uses Steam for their computer game purchases probably feels the same way. Easily storable, easily portable, able to be downloaded regardless of the computer I'm on. It's perfect. Yes, if Valve sometime in the future goes up in smoke, I'd be out all those games... but let's get real here. At that point in time, the games would be so outdated, I'd never be playing them anyway.

And I feel the same about RPGs. In 10 years time... I'll probably be playing new RPGs, and thus wouldn't care at all if my 4E access got shut down. Hell... I've got all my 3.0 and 3.5 books in my closet and I haven't opened any single of them since 4E's release. So if my game closet got set on fire and burned down... I'd feel just as little loss to those hardcover books that I'll eventually feel if DDI access to 4E gets shut down.

The future is now... and for myself, having "stuff" around the house is no longer necessary.

 

[Umbran]

I dunno. If buy a book -- hell, if I buy /anything/ -- whether it's physical or electronic, I expect to have permanent access to it. I haven't yet embraced this crapsack future where corporations own the world and we just lease it from them.

Sometimes, renting content makes sense. TV and movie media, for example. There are few shows I really rewatch so frequently that I need to own a physical copy of the media. Netflix and On Demand content are fine. And yes, sometimes the show I was hoping to watch next month falls off Netflix. Boo hoo.

Game content is a little different. Typically, once I start using it, I expect to be referring to it for an extended period of time. Then, I really want my own copy.

Moreover, though, I find that if the game is so mechanically complicated or intractable on paper that I need a software tool to help manage it, then perhaps that game is not for me.