D&D 5E Best and worst of 5E

[Morrus]

In an exercise in extreme positivity and negativity — what’s your favourite official 5E book, and what’s your least favourite?

And... most importantly... why?

 

[Retreater]

I'm a DM, so my books are going to be DM-focused rather than player crunch focused. And if you're going to DM 5e, the only resource you should need is a solid adventure (well, maybe monster stats).

Best: "Lost Mine of Phandelver"
A brilliant intro to 5e, which I've run 3-4 times. Great sandbox to explore with room to expand. Nothing too wild - presents a "core" D&D fantasy experience with goblins, dragons, undead, and big treasure.

Worst: "Horde of the Dragon Queen"
Railroad adventure on a literal caravan. Imbalanced encounters. Massive leaps in logic to get to where the group needs to go. A travel log of the FR, without enough detail to present the FR. No time to actually enjoy the scenery, because you're whisked away to another location immediately.

 

[Enrico Poli1]

Best: PHB.
Because bounded accuracy, centrality of roleplay vs rollplay, rulings over rules, caster supremacy dealt with, magic items economy gone, incredibile art, retrocompatibility.

Worst: PotA is so utterly boring we couldn't finish it.

 

[Vael]

Ignoring the Core books:

Best: Xanathar
PHB2 and DMG2 wrapped into one solid book. Excellent additions to expand 5e.

Worst: Horde of the Dragon Queen
It was not a great start for 5e with such a frustrating to run adventure. The plot was railroady without enough connective tissue to make the railroad make sense.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

In an exercise in extreme positivity and negativity — what’s your favourite official 5E book, and what’s your least favourite?

And... most importantly... why?

Favorite is probably XGtE. It gives excellent advice and resources, fun lore, and reads well.

Least is, by lightyears, MToF. The lore changes the worlds of dnd for no discernible reason, often for the worse. Corellon and Moradin come across as not worthy of being served by any good person. Raven Queen would be better off with no 5e representation. The gnome and halfling lore seems half-assed and mediocre, and doesn’t really even try o explore who these folks are and what makes them interesting.

It’s got a few good monsters, at least? Maybe I’d like it if the Blood War wasn’t completely boring to me?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Phb because it opened the door and set the stage for 5e. Use it all of the time.

HotDQ is the worst. For all the reasons mentioned upthread.

 

[DWChancellor]

Favorite: PHB

It is so rich, so essential, so wonderfully illustrated and evocative. Turned people right around from 4E (many haters and lovers)

Least favorite: PHB

The index is maddening in such a crucial book. It is the rotten pickle that ruins the soup for me.

Runner up - Horde of the Dragon Queen. I don't know what Kobold Press was thinking. I don't know what Wizards was thinking. There is no way anyone was happy with how this turned out in the end. A disservice to both houses from normally reliable authors.

 

[Xenonnonex]

I am sensing a theme here.

 

[aco175]

I like LMoP. For a started adventure I got so much mileage out of it. It also rekindled my like for FR. Some of this may be the opening of FR copyrighted material through DMsGuild.

Worst would have to be the Monster Manual. Most all the monsters were placed in the other books and online so it sits on the shelf and does not get used. A second would be the DMG. It was not as useful as the 4e DMG and aside from the magic items, limited to its use.

 

[Zardnaar]

Best Midgard Stuff Kobold Press, Heroes Handbook, Midgard Worldbook, Tome of Beasts.

Worst.

Horde of the Dragon Queen. It's just bad. They have an excuse at least.