D&D General Best D&D product of any edition (non-core book)

[GMMichael]

The Complete Bard's Handbook.

It revolutionized bards and turned them into the party-leading heroes they were always meant to be.

Sadly, no one bought it, and bards are still de facto NPCs.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I assume "core" here is being defined narrowly, in the sense of the first three books published for the edition? Namely PHB(1)-equivalent, DMG(1)-equivalent, and MM(1)-equivalent?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

The Complete Bard's Handbook.

It revolutionized bards and turned them into the party-leading heroes they were always meant to be.

Sadly, no one bought it, and bards are still de facto NPCs.

The problem is, no one could find a complete Bard so they could follow the guide. All of them were missing a critical piece.

 

[Distracted DM]

It was the first or one of the first 2e books for FR that came out. It has the town of Daggerford fleshed out along with several smaller adventures for low-level play before a larger adventure for level 5ish. It also has some regional maps and stuff for the DM on how to play. I was able to use it for the main adventure and later for another one in the region since there are many other areas mentioned. It was a bit like LMoPhandelvar or the follow-on Icespire Peak.

It was largely updated and remade and expanded in the D&D Next playtest below.

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Oh I have Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle! OK so GoDC is basically the updated version of Under Illefarn?

 

[Bill Zebub]

I6: Ravenloft

 

[Nakana]

2e & 3e:

• All of the Diablo books.

4e:

• Rules Compendium (don’t know if that would be considered a core book or not)
• Monster Vault: Threats of the Nentir Vale

5e:

• Essentials Kit. It has everything you need to create and play characters to Level 5, plus one of the best micro-campaign guides I’ve ever seen. It’s such a great product that I never needed to buy anything else for 5e.

 

[Clint_L]

For me it’s DnDBeyond and it isn’t close.

 

[CacklinSlayers]

3e: Dungeon Master's Guide II. Part I was a great source of inspiration, but this one actually learned me how to DM!

5e: Volo's Guide to Monsters. A treasure trove of fun and useful D&D lore. Soooo many great campaign ideas in here.

 

[DaveMage]

Oh - one I forgot:

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue (2E)

Jam-packed with coolness.

 

[Cadence]

For me it’s DnDBeyond and it isn’t close.

For a second I was reading the requirement as a book that was non-core, but it is any product that isn't a core book. So, checks out and is a super strong contender!