D&D 5E Can You Run Princes of the Apocalypse With Basic?

[AtomicPope]

You'd need the PHB and MM to run the game since there are evil Druids who have spells that are not listed in the Basic rules like Faerie Fire, Flame Blade, and Thunder Wave and creatures like Cloud Giants, Duegar, Kenku, Orogs, and Umberhulks. Basically lots of monsters and a few spells that are spoiler alerts at this point. I know there's one magic item that's not listed in the book or the PDFs and some of the healing potions are not either, meaning you'll need the DMG.

WotC could have added about 10 more pages for monsters and magic items but having a full spell list for Druids is probably too much. I suppose if you used monster substitution, a bit of imagination (doubling the effects of greater healing potions), and bought a PHB you could run this supplement without too much trouble.

 

[Iosue]

You'd need the PHB and MM to run the game since there are evil Druids who have spells that are not listed in the Basic rules like Faerie Fire, Flame Blade, and Thunder Wave and creatures like Cloud Giants, Duegar, Kenku, Orogs, and Umberhulks. Basically lots of monsters and a few spells that are spoiler alerts at this point. I know there's one magic item that's not listed in the book or the PDFs and some of the healing potions are not either, meaning you'll need the DMG.

Once again, WotC's plan is that you only ever need the Basic Rules to play any adventures. The PHB, MM, and DMG are completely optional purchases. This was outlined in this Legends & Lore, where Mearls said:

As we introduce new storylines like Tyranny of Dragons, we’ll also make available free PDFs that provide all the rules and stats missing from Basic D&D needed to run the adventures tied into the story. The adventures released as part of Tyranny of Dragons are playable without requiring any of the core rulebooks or the Starter Set. With just the Basic Dungeons & Dragons rules, you can play D&D for years.

Both Tyranny of Dragons books had something like 50 monsters, nearly 40 spells, and 10 or so magic items each that were not in the Basic Rules. There is another PDF for PotA on the way, confirmed by Mike Mearls, that will have the monsters, spells, and magic items that are needed for PotA but are not included in the Basic Rules as they currently stand.

WotC may change course in the future, but for right now their plan is that you never need to have any of the PHB, MM, or DMG in order to play WotC's published adventures.