D&D 5E Do you ACTUALLY use 3rd Party Books?

[ZeshinX]

That is wild. We always viewed Dragon magazine as a catalog for the crazy new stuff we were going to use that month, even some of the more boring "NPC" classes like the cloistered cleric.

We had some serious fun with the Bandit and Archer-Ranger "NPC" classes. I do miss 1e/2e. Not the system as much as the fun times with them, haha.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We had some serious fun with the Bandit and Archer-Ranger "NPC" classes. I do miss 1e/2e. Not the system as much as the fun times, haha.

We had so many half-ogres, anti-paladins, witches and jesters.

 

[ZeshinX]

We had so many half-ogres, anti-paladins, witches and jesters.

Oh man...half-ogres...lol. I recall a friend playing one and his battle cry was "It's all ogre now!" I swear the Skyrim mod Beyond Skyrim: Bruma somehow stole that from us when I saw it on a loading screen.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Man, I can't get my players to stop showing up with third party content, like a cat with a dead bird. Fortunately, 5E third party content is a lot better than much of it was during the 3E glut. I rarely have to say no any more.

We have one guy in my group that goes out an finds the most ridiculous, unbalanced stuff out there, and then wants to use it. I flatly state no third party stuff, but the other DM I alternate with lets him use it, and the inevitable power creep gets in. Then he gets bored like around 6th-7th level and wants to change to something else new and shiny and unbalanced...

To answer the original question posed here though, I use only one third party book, or, to be more precise, one set of them: our own @Nixlord 's Monster Manual Expanded books. I actually looked into Level Up, but it just seemed to be adding complexity for complexity's sake, when I find it much easier to run a simpler, more streamlined vanilla game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I wish I had this problem. The last time a player showed up with anything non-WotC would have been about four or five years ago when I ran a Dragonheist campaign - he wanted to play a sentient skeleton. Loved the idea and ran with it. Totally cool.

But, other than that? Any time I've put anything non-WotC in front of the players, they just turn up their noses. I wanted to use some fairly cool ship combat rules - a bit crunchier than Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but, not a lot. Couldn't even get them to read the pdf, never minding actually using it.

And it's been that way since the 3e days. Hell, even back then I couldn't even get them interested in Dragon mag stuff.

I'm sorry. Your group would frustrate me quite a lot, to be honest.

 

[Hussar]

I'm sorry. Your group would frustrate me quite a lot, to be honest.

Oh, dude, it's certainly not just my current group. It's been this way since the OGL hit the streets. Many groups, many players. Zero interest in anything non-WOtC. I agree that its frustrating though.

 

[Steampunkette]

At this point I -write- Third Party Books so you'd best believe I'll be using them, forever.

My first one just hit $10k... with 15 days to go!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Oh, dude, it's certainly not just my current group. It's been this way since the OGL hit the streets. Many groups, many players. Zero interest in anything non-WOtC. I agree that its frustrating though.

This is an attitude that, post 3e, I cannot understand.

 

[Hussar]

This is an attitude that, post 3e, I cannot understand.

At a guess, I would say its a combination of not really trusting 3pp to be balanced, combined with people wanting to use the books that they are buying. So, if you buy some WotC splatbook in the 3e days, you wanted to use it. Or conversely, if people bought Tasha's (again, for example) they want to use it. And since players are far more likely to buy WotC books than anyone else's, it does kinda make sense.

I still don'&t like it much though.

 

[ZeshinX]

Well, this thread inspired me to pick up Kobold Press' Tome of Heroes....so, yay!

In case it matters, I like the 5e system and plan to continue playing it despite WotC/Hasbro's foolishness. I just won't buy any WotC/Hasbro products. I blame WotC/Hasbro leaders for the debacle, not the game system itself.