D&D 5E (2014) Advice on Books?

[robus]

As @dave2008 mentioned, I've been active on the Pathfinder boards for about a year all during the playtest, so there's lots to dig for over there. I'm happy to chat direct through the board's message system, if you want, but don't want to sidetrack this thread.

No worries, my curiosity has been satisfied

 

[darjr]

I just have to say I really dig that the PHB is still the go to book for new folks. Outside of the essentials or starter boxes.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

Basically what @S'mon and @dave2008 have said.

In addition, Volo's and Mordenkainen's also contain character options, as they have player races.
If you're going for D&D Beyond, you could buy these options individually iirc.

- The PHB has the Path of the Berserker, and Path of the Totem Warrior barbarians; the College of Lore, and College of Valor bards; the Knowledge, Life, Light, Nature, Tempest, Trickery, War domain clerics; the Circle of the Land, and the Circle of the Moon druids; the Champion, Battle Master, and Eldritch Knight fighters; the Way of the Open Hand, the Way of the Shadow, and the Way of the Four Elements monks; the Oath of Devotion, the Oath of the Ancients, and Oath of Vengeance paladins; the Hunter, and Beast Master rangers; the Thief, Arcane Trickster, and Assassin rogues; the Draconic Bloodline, and Wild Magic sorcerers; the Archfey, Archfiend, and Great Old One warlocks; the Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation wizard traditions.

- Curse of Strahd has the Haunted One background.

- Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica has the Order domain cleric; the Circle of Spores druid; the loxodon, minotaur, simic hybrid, and vedalken races; and the ten guilds as character backgrounds. These guild backgrounds also give guild spells that are added on to PCs with spellcasting capabilities.

- Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes has Tiefling subraces; Elf subraces - seasonal eldarin, sea elf, shadar-kai; the Duergar dwarven race; the Githyanki, and Githzerai races.

- The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide has the Path of the Battlerager, and the Path of the Totem Warrior barbarians; the Arcana domain cleric; the Purple Dragon Knight fighter; the Way of the Long Death, and the Way of the Sun Soul monks; the Oath of the Crown paladin; the Mastermind, and Swashbuckler rogues; the Storm Bloodline sorcerer; the Bladesinger wizard tradition.

- Tomb of Annihilation has the Anthropologist, and Archaeologist backgrounds.

- Volo's Guide to Monsters has the aasimar, firbolg, goliath, kenku, lizardfolk, tabaxi, triton races, as well as a smattering of monstrous races.

- Xanathar's Guide to Everything has the Path of the Ancestral Guardian, the Path of the Storm Herald, and the Path of the Zealot barbarians; the College of Glamor, College of Swords, and College of Whispers bards; the Forge, and the Grave domain clerics; the Circle of Dreams, and Circle of the Shepherd druids; the Arcane Archer, Cavalier, and Samurai fighters; the Way of the Drunken Fist, the Way of the Kensei, and the Way of the Sun Soul monks; the Oath of Conquest, and the Oath of Redemption paladins; the Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker, and Monster Slayer rangers; the Inquisitive, Mastermind, Scout, and Swashbuckler rogues; the Divine Soul, Shadow Magic, and Storm Bloodline sorcerers, the Celestial, and the Hexblade warlocks; the War Magic wizard tradition; and a smattering of other character options. In particular the "This Is Your Life" character creation tool is excellent.

Hope some of that is helpful.

From the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide you missed the Undying Pact Warlock. For the sake of comprehensiveness of course!

 

[aco175]

I would just get the free basic rules online and play one of those classes until you like 5e enough. Buy the PHB after you play a few weeks and like it enough to spend the money.

 

[Maestrino]

Also, just for completionism, the Acquisitons Inc. book has the Verdan race, five new character backgrounds, and about five new spells, and a boatload of fluff to fit characters into an Acq Inc-style campaign.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The group is largely meat-and-potatoes when it comes to races. Exotic races aren't appealing. I don't know about the other players, but for things like Backgrounds, I tend to find pre-published backgrounds to be limiting, so I usually make up my own. It sounds like I don't need things like "Curse of Strahd."

The majority of 5e books are more or less adventure paths. If you're leaving PF because PF2 has disappointed you, you won't find much of a haven in 5e, it's intentionally limited on the player/crunch side.

 

[Parmandur]

The majority of 5e books are more or less adventure paths. If you're leaving PF because PF2 has disappointed you, you won't find much of a haven in 5e, it's intentionally limited on the player/crunch side.

The OP's group dissatisfaction was on the side of managing combat, actually, and PF2 being sufficiently different from PF1 lost the sunk-cost advantage of system familiarity.

 

[PsyzhranV2]

Also, just for completionism, the Acquisitons Inc. book has the Verdan race, five new character backgrounds, and about five new spells, and a boatload of fluff to fit characters into an Acq Inc-style campaign.

Also for further completionism, Ghosts of Saltmarsh has four character backgrounds (Fisher, Marine, Shipwright, and Smuggler) and Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus has one (Faceless).

 

[zztong]

The majority of 5e books are more or less adventure paths. If you're leaving PF because PF2 has disappointed you, you won't find much of a haven in 5e, it's intentionally limited on the player/crunch side.

Its hard to list reasons because there's 6-8 people at the table each week with their own opinions. I don't mind reflecting on this, but it wasn't the topic. I don't know that the table was largely upset with combat. I think I'd say character generation was the most common frustration.

Out of all of the Fantasy RPG choices, 5e floated to the top as next to try because 2 players have prior experience with it and 1 player has enjoyed some podcast that uses it. The core of the group largely has no experience with 5e, myself and the DM included. Reduced crunch is actually appealing to many at the table either because they're just no into detailed game systems or because they're an aging professional that can't throw lots of time at a game away from the table.

I think I mentioned elsewhere that while we had been playing PF1, it was because many years ago we learned it. The group dynamic has changed. I doubt we'd be considering PF1 today if we were forming.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Its hard to list reasons because there's 6-8 people at the table each week with their own opinions. I don't mind reflecting on this, but it wasn't the topic. I don't know that the table was largely upset with combat. I think I'd say character generation was the most common frustration.

You'll find chargen in 5e option-poor compared to 3.x/PF1. There's XGtE & SCAG offering some additional stuff, but, the former is heavy on the exotic races, and the latter is really just a few pages of such content.
However you find combat, expansions/'variants'/alternatives to what you find in the PH are in the DMG.

Everything else is setting/AP type content.

Out of all of the Fantasy RPG choices, 5e floated to the top as next to try because 2 players have prior experience with it and 1 player has enjoyed some podcast that uses it. The core of the group largely has no experience with 5e, myself and the DM included.

And, y'know, it's the current ed of D&D, of course. Something to be said for that, regardless.

Reduced crunch is actually appealing to many at the table either because they're just no into detailed game systems or because they're an aging professional that can't throw lots of time at a game away from the table.

Thus not just sticking to PF1?
In that case, the above answers hold. Core is all you'll likely have much use for.[/quote]